AWDC Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Ricardo’s Engagement

Even before Waomou declared himself king, various movements were already happening in Toriholi Village.

One was the increasing influx of farmers into Toriholi Village.

“If you go to Toriholi Village, you can cultivate fields with peace of mind,” they said, and the number of people settling in the village was rapidly increasing.

The population of Toriholi Village exceeded 20,000 in one fell swoop.

Seeing this trend, I changed the administrative divisions of the village. The Datar Plateau settlement area was separated from Toriholi Village, and three villages, Great Datar, Middle Datar, and Upper Datar, were established to the south of the village. The reason for not naming them Great, Medium, and Small, or Upper, Middle, and Lower, was to avoid villagers from teasing each other with poorly chosen names.

Each village in Datar had greatly expanded its cultivated land, centered around the waterways, and the administrative capabilities of the distant Toriholi Village could no longer keep up.

And Toriholi Village had become less of a farming village and more of a town for light industry, commerce, and administration. Many residents worked in workshops for paper, glass, and other crafts, and the number of stores providing services to these people had also increased. It also played a role in supplying and receiving goods to and from the three Datar villages in the back.

Each village in Datar is also planning to be further subdivided in the future. Eventually, they were also considering a plan to dig a new tunnel through the Lean Ridge and run a waterway to the central part of the desert.

Farmers were flocking to such a village one after another.

They had all undergone training at the model farm and learned how to cultivate the desert settlement area, and most of the farmers were trying to work seriously. Some were dishonest, but these were eliminated. These dishonest people seemed to eventually join the mob, but I didn’t care. If they were promised that they could get farmland if they worked seriously, there were few settlers who would be dishonest.

Jim Keene is in charge of the governors of the three Datar villages. Roy Keene was already too burdened to oversee the vast Datar Village, so young Jim Keene was working hard. John Keene is in charge of military affairs, security, and police in the entire area of Toriholi Village and Datar Village, and George Keene is in charge of government office work. In other words, the Roy Keene family’s actual job authority had changed. Of course, Roy Keene was still in an important position, but he had left the practical work to his sons.

Also, the lord was gradually assigning work to Ricardo. He was trying to instill in him the mindset of a lord from now on.

And Ricardo had a great marriage proposal come his way.

His partner was none other than the youngest daughter of the Gregg family, one of the two major ducal families in the Flandreuk Kingdom. We were nothing but surprised by the offer from Duke Gregg, who was trying to marry off his beloved youngest daughter to the heir of the insignificant baronial family of the lord of Toriholi Village, a remote and out-of-the-way place.

“This is a big deal,” the lord couldn’t hide his bewilderment at this happy proposal.

By the way, only Roy Keene and I were being consulted.

“Looking at the development of Toriholi Village, they are probably buying into our family’s future potential, but the difference in family status is too great.”

That’s right. If it were a viscount family, even if it was said to be of higher status, it wouldn’t be considered disproportionate given our family’s strength. But if it was an earl family, it would be a different story, and various speculations would be intertwined among the nobles, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the imbalance was slandered. And this time, it was a completely different dimension, jumping over counts and marquises. The other party was one of only two ducal families in our country, and it could be said that they were a family equal to the royal family, having held vast territories since the founding of the nation.

“What should we do?” The lord held his head in his hands again.

The Robertson family originally came from Lord Midland’s servants. Even now that they have become nobles, they are paying their respects to the Midland family. It was as if they were avoiding the storms of the world by following the Midland family. Such a difference in status between a grand duchy and a weak nobility.

On the other hand, the difference in family status with the Gregg family was clearly immense. It was definitely a difference in status that would cause ripples among the nobles.

“Toma, you be the point of contact and decide what to do about this.”

(Whoa, no way. I can’t do that.) I couldn’t help but want to raise an objection.

But recently, all contacts from both the Midland and Gregg families had been addressed to me.

Of course, I had reported in detail to the lord and Roy Keene, but the decision had been left to me.

This marriage proposal was to be decided by the heads of the Gregg and Robertson families, so the story was brought to the lord.

But why do I have to decide on this important marriage proposal?

I fiercely protested with my eyes to the two of them. But the two of them were acting as if they were saying, “You decide what to do with this Robertson family.”

I made up my mind and decided to listen to Duke Gregg’s thoughts anyway.

I took Peck and four attendants with me and traveled a long distance to knock on the door of the Gregg family. Toriholi Village was located at the southernmost tip of the country, while the Gregg Duchy was located at the western end. I had visited Midland several times, but I had never been to Gregg before.

On the way, I also saw refugees camping out to escape the turmoil of the capital, and it was by no means peaceful. However, since our group was fully armed, we were not in a situation where we were being picked fights with.

While seeing the ravaged state of the country around the capital, I was able to safely enter the territory of Duke Gregg. As expected, the security in the territory was good, and the faces of the residents showed that they were living in peace.

Duke Gregg’s territory was a plain opened up in the western mountains. It had a high-quality salt mine in its territory, was economically blessed, and had a family with a high reputation as a martial family since the founding of the nation.

We were immediately invited into a vast mansion befitting that family status. I had contacted them in advance, but the fact that they allowed me into the mansion without any questions at the gate showed that Duke Gregg highly valued our family.

“It’s been a while,” I had met Duke Gregg at the time of Prince Michael’s death.

After exchanging the usual greetings, we began talking alone.

“Why did you suddenly start the marriage proposal with Ricardo?”

“The Robertson family has vast territories that surpass our family and Midland. Until now, it has been a shitty desert, but if the land is successfully cultivated, it will be reborn into a territory comparable to our family.

Originally, your place and Midland were in a master-servant relationship, and if things continue like this, Midland’s advantage will only increase. This is a bit of a problem.

That is not a favorable thing for our family. That is why I want to become related to your place through marriage,” he grinned mischievously.

“But our family will be criticized by various families.”

“Your place already has the power to not be a problem for ordinary nobles. You don’t have to worry about the envy of other families. More than that, what do you think about the current turmoil?”

The topic was suddenly changed. Duke Gregg considered the meeting with me to be a rare opportunity to discuss how to overcome the domestic situation. You could even say that he set up his daughter’s engagement story in order to call me out. Well, even in my opinion, Ricardo’s marriage was not a bad story. He would be able to connect with the grand ducal Gregg family. The envy from other families, in essence, the Robertson family’s attitude towards the world was important. I thought that recognition was correct, and I decided not to dwell on the engagement story any further.

“The secret maneuvers of the Bawa Roma teachings are a problem, aren’t they? I thought the rebellion would subside soon, but I couldn’t read the movements of the cult. I didn’t realize they had that much power.”

“You’re raising the cult members up quite a bit. The guys who move for the sake of bread will easily collapse if there’s any trigger.”

“Yes, I know that they’re just dangling people with bread.”

“They think they can do anything. They think everything they do will go well. But, these guys will immediately become suspicious if they stumble even once. They’re the kind of guys who will immediately become depressed if they realize their power is inferior.”

“What do you think is the trigger for that stumble?”

“It would be to show them our power. They are overconfident in their own power. If that is shattered, they will not be able to recover.”

“So, we’re going to clash somewhere, aren’t we?”

“However, they are at their peak right now. If we go and clash with them here now, our power will also be considerably lost.”

I agreed with this view. We continued to have in-depth discussions about who would clash with the cult where.

“In any case, they will start marching on us sooner or later. But they don’t have the military strength to attack the west where I live, the east of Midland, and your south at the same time.

They will concentrate their troops on only one place. At that time, the other families will attack them from behind.”

It took the form of a kind of secret agreement with Duke Gregg.

The engagement story was put on hold, but we also agreed to hold a marriage between the two families next year, when the mourning period for Prince Michael is over.

“Take it easy for a little while,” Duke Gregg said, but I wasn’t in a situation where I could leisurely watch the chaotic world.

From the story with Duke Gregg, a clash with the Bawa Roma teachings was inevitable, and in that case, Gregg, Midland, and Robertson would definitely be the ones to bear the brunt.

Among them, it was good to see that our family, which had the weakest military power, would be the target.

I stayed only one night, returned to Toriholi Village, decided to proceed with the engagement, and began to prepare for defense.