Non-commentated version of this chapter here for those that don’t want to interrupt their reading of the story with my rambling.
Chapter 27 – Upfront investment!
“…..so the result is about a thousand slimes and a thousand mouse people.”
I listened to Serena’s report with closed eyes.
There is no way there are that many…..no, let’s look at reality here.
When I gingerly opened my eyes, I could see a mass of mouse people and slimes fill the entire public square.
“To think that Prince Alec had a power like this….”
Serena still looked like she could barely believe it. Although the slimes didn’t really change, she is apparently shocked how much the mice have transformed.
I’ve just finished making every slime and mice gathered by Elyc and Tia my Servants.
The mouse people grew to the size of a small dog and the volume of their voice has also increased. All that squeaking made the place sound very busy.
There are enough of them that it’s no wonder Serena almost fainted back there.
(TN: I don’t think it was exactly because of their number that happened.)
Another thing I was curious about was the individual differences between the new Servants, but there was no significant divergence there.
The mice only grew to the size of a small dog, became bipedal, and were able to speak to me now. Although there are a few that grew to child-sized as well….
As for the slimes, there was no apparent change when they became my Servants. Perhaps it’s more difficult for monsters to change their shape. However, all of my Servants were able to understand my speech.
(TN: More difficult to change like the undead monster Serena was turned into, that grew an entire human body out of nothing when turned into a Servant?)
Anyway, I somehow ended up getting around two thousand new Servants.
Also, mice and slimes are famous for their high reproduction rate…..
“The slimes will be fine if we just give them water I think….”
I nodded at Elysia’s anxious words just now.
“The mice will not be that easy. Tia, we will prepare food, but…”
“Squeak! We will think on when to make children if the King says so-ssu! We do that to begin with-ssu.”
Tia, who I appointed as the mouse people’s leader, said.
(TN: Was she really the best choice for a leader among that thousand mice? Appointing someone as the leader based on who you bumped into first sounds like a terrible idea.)
Food is in short supply on this island.
That was most likely the reason why they tried to restrict their population.
I’m kind of curious about why she called me King, but I don’t really care what they call me.
(TN: Yeah, there could no way be serious political repercussions from leaving this alone because he can’t be bothered to correct them right at the start. No sir.)
“That would be helpful…. We will of course prepare food for the slimes as well. So could you hold off on splitting for a while?”
Elyc and Eleanor bounced once as their reply.
It seems the slimes were careful about their food supply and population size as well.
(TN: Honestly, if they have a proper civilization in place from all intents and purposes, then why does everyone consider them nothing but pests? Is this story really so dark that they casually try to murder perfectly sapient beings like it’s routine on the regular? Even Yuuri tried to enthusiastically squash Tia with the tacit approval of the MC and Elysia and the only reason she didn’t is because Tia was too fast to be hit. And now they are all buddy-buddy. I’m kind of scared to find out whether farm animals are sentient as well.)
“For the time being, I would like to arrange it so that they can procure their own water and food.”
(TN: They lived perfectly fine on their own so far. Why would they need to have you tell them how to live in their own homes?)
We will need to get food from the capital, or Lobrion, or even another city for now. Then arrange for them to hunt and fish for their own food.
(TN: Once again, they are not refugees or new settlers or anything like that. All those monsters already lived here. The MC here is being the annoying guy that shows up one day out of nowhere and starts ordering people around who were perfectly fine until then without consulting anyone at all.)
The water problem can be dealt with by Water Magic, but it would be better if they could drink whenever they wanted still.
“Tia. Do you know a place around here that has a lot of drinking water?”
“I know a place where drinkable water flows underground-ssu!”
So there is an underground water supply.
I turned towards Serena.
“Is there an underground waterway in this city?”
“I think every provincial capital has a water and sewage system. I know how those roughly work, but when I came here you could drink from the tap and the sewage system worked as well….. Of course it’s been more than a thousand years since I came here, so it’s unknown whether they are still functional.”
It takes money to repair the waterways and you need people with the skills to do it as well.
Nowadays, I’ve heard that even those cities that used to have waterways in the ancient days have mostly long since abandoned them.
“Got it. Let’s check on those waterways first then. The last topic is our food reserves, but first…..Yuuri.”
“Yes? What can I help with?”
“I would like the blue-hair brigade to make some miniature crossbows for the mouse people. Can you do that?”
(TN: Jesus, another ‘heh it would be kinda cool if I did that’ idea from the author without any further thought. And I don’t think this is intentionally done to portray the MC as an inexperienced and less than worldly person.)
The mouse people became larger than they used to be, but they are still small.
So rather than close quarters, they would be more suited for ranged combat.
The power would be limited, but it should still be enough to take down Arrow Crows.
Weapons would be needed for both self-defense and hunting.
Yuuri answered, full of confidence.
“Oh, crossbows! I learned how to make those at the mines, so we can do it! I will try to make ones that are easy to use as much as possible.”
“I see. No need to worry about the material expense; try to make them as good as possible. You can use the feathers and beaks of the Arrow Crows for the bolts as well.”
I took out a pouch containing fifty gold from my 《Pandora’s Box》 and gave it to Yuuri.
“T-this much…..is this really fine?”
After accepting the pouch, Yuuri just kept staring at it anxiously.
Perhaps she was thinking if she’s fine being trusted like that.
Of course I trust her.
(TN: Since he can kill her with a thought since she is his Servant of course. Putting the logical reason aside, whyever wouldn’t he trust someone who had no compunctions about letting an invading army slaughter an entire city for a shaky promise from someone she had no reason to trust? It wasn’t like demons were reportedly treated better in the Monster Kingdom.)
“It’s fine. I believe Yuuri and the blue-hair brigade will be able to make something good.”
“…..we will create quality items for sure!”
“I’ll be counting on you then. If you have money left over, then make some knives and armor as well.”
Yuuri bowed deeply in agreement.
However, it will take some time until the weapons are ready and they are able to go hunting.
(TN: Really? So the time it takes to make something isn’t handwaved away in this case? Last time it took about as much time for them to make stuff as it would in a generic mmo. Just push the button if you have everything in the inventory and voila, done.)
“So we will need to get from somewhere else for now….. I guess we could buy it from the monastery of the great temple in the capital.”
(TN: Why would they sell something like that there? They usually only do subsistence farming at places like that.)
Elysia was visibly surprised by what I said.
It’s the same monastery that Elysia used to live at and where demons and people with Dark Crests like me work.
They were making tools and farming food there.
Their livelihood mostly depends on the money they get from selling those.
I just thought that by purchasing food from there I may be able to improve their lifestyle a bit.
“Alec-sama….. Leena and the others will be happy for sure.”
Elysia replied with a smile.
It would be a shame to let all that gold idle in my 《Pandora’s Box》.
Let’s not be stingy with using that money and make Alus Island….. no, the whole Tialus someday, a prosperous place.
For that, we will need more money.
We can go with the slow and steady route to get more, but maybe putting it on a horse race would be best. Just put all of it on…… ah, no no, that’s a bad idea.
(TN: I’m shocked that he would even realize it.)
“…..let’s start with ensuring safety on the island. I’m counting on you, everyone.”
(TN: Counting on them while out of the 2000+ population there is a grand total of one person who can properly fight and one who somewhat can but never had proper instructions. Ah, I forgot the master swordslimes.)
“Yes!”
Starting with Elysia, everyone answered energetically.
So that’s how I started managing the Tialus territory.
However, at that time I forgot what I received from adding two thousand new Servants to my retinue.
(TN: This however, I am not the least bit shocked about.)
thx for the new chapter~ ^_^