AWDC Chapter 99

As a result of the political upheaval caused by Hōfa, Lord Midland, Lord Gregg, and I left the capital Ryadra and returned to our respective territories.

There, we decided to manage our own territories, but the problem was that each of us tended to become isolated. Because Flanderk had the capital in the center, the usual routes went through the capital to travel between each other. That became troublesome with this coup. It’s not impossible to trade via the capital, but sometimes transit taxes are demanded, and sometimes goods are confiscated.

To improve this situation, we tried to improve the roads so that we could travel between our territories. It’s not that there weren’t any roads before, but in some places the road width was narrow, making it difficult for carriages to pass. In addition, it passed through the territories of many nobles, including those who were opposed to us.

Naturally, the opposing nobles didn’t silently watch our trade. We used various political means to bring these opposing nobles to a neutral position and prevent them from interfering with trade. Of course, money was involved, and naturally, we also explained that if trade became active, the territories of the related nobles would benefit. It took years to use various methods to ensure that there was at least no opposition to the road improvements.

Along with the road improvements, rail carriages were also to be installed, which was expected to dramatically increase the flow of people and goods. By establishing post stations at key points along the highway and stationing guards, we connected Toriholi with Gregg and Toriholi with Midland. There were mountainous areas, but thanks to the construction technology cultivated in crossing the Datar Plateau and the “Lean Ridge” tunnel construction, the construction itself was not difficult. It seemed that improving the roads was the easiest part. The Midland and Gregg route passed near the capital, so we couldn’t get the consent of the nobles in the ruling government’s territory, and we still haven’t been able to improve it.

The Solbeni government didn’t mind the road improvements, but they didn’t like the rail carriages. The reason wasn’t explained, but the policies of the previous government are usually disliked by the new government. Perhaps the Solbeni government viewed the rail carriages with resentment. However, it was also true that the rail carriages around the capital were useful for daily life and boosted business, so they couldn’t be abolished. But they opposed new rail carriages for various reasons. If it was a remote area connecting the south with the east and west, we could ignore this opposition, but in the central area, our demands weren’t met.

In any case, we could only lay rails in areas not subject to interference from the current government, and it took three years. It could be said that Solbeni feared that Midland and Gregg would be connected, traffic would become active, and their economic power would increase.

The population of both the eastern and western regions exceeds 500,000, but the entire southern region is only a little over 150,000. Even so, it was significant that the two regions were connected economically.

And today, the connection between Toriholi and Gregg, which had been difficult until the end, was completed. The first carriage leaving Gregg territory was to enter Milona. The final station was Toriholi, but Milona, a key transportation hub, reigned as a relay station on both lines. To commemorate this, Prince Raphael, Lord Gregg, and Lord Midland were holding an opening ceremony in Milona. Naturally, the Robertson family also participated in this event, with the lord and his wife, Ricardo and his wife, and my family all gathering. The reason why the commemorative ceremony was held in Milona was because Prince Raphael resided there. This spring, the Milona family was also blessed with an heir, further enlivening the celebration.

“How have you been?” Elliott said as he got off the first carriage.

“It’s been a while,” I said after exchanging greetings, and then the meeting began.

The lord and I, along with Ricardo, joined from Toriholi. This was also a stepping stone for Ricardo to replace the lord in the future.

The Gregg family brought Elliott and his eldest son, James. He was already 28 and a fine heir.

The Midland family was Richter and Sarah. Sarah was a handsome young man of 19. This would later become a source of headaches for me, but let’s not touch on that here.

Prince Raphael joined them and opened his mouth.

“Well, I’m happy to be able to gather with everyone like this after a long time.”

“First, it is expected that the improved traffic will strengthen our economic relations and stimulate industry. Let’s present the special products of the three regions and announce what we can complement each other with, and what competes with each other.”

From the southern region came wheat, paper, and steel. From the west in Gregg came salt, iron and copper products, and from the east in Midland came clothing and daily necessities.

Toriholi Village also produces a lot of glassware, but Midland has been making it for a long time.

Using my knowledge, lamp production began in Toriholi, but unfortunately, the number of craftsmen and their skills were superior in Midland. After a while, lamps began to be made in Midland, and the evaluation of Midland-made lamps became higher. As for sheet glass, the manufacturing method is still only known in Toriholi, so it still has a monopoly on window glass and mirrors.

“It seems that we can make the clothes and shoes you taught us well,” Richter said.

When I was in the capital, I taught the craftsmen of Midland how to make shoes and clothes. However, I didn’t actually teach them by hand. When I lost consciousness and collapsed in Toriholi Village, Ilse, the old woman who helped me, carefully stored the clothes and shoes I was wearing.

The clothing in this world was considerably behind. Eventually, I was thinking of showing the clothes and shoes I brought and having them make the same thing. However, Toriholi Village had a small population and not many good craftsmen. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to get clothes and shoes like in the original world for a while, but I changed my mind after seeing the situation in Midland. Midland had a large population, and weaving and other things had been popular for a long time, and there were many craftsmen. I showed Richter the clothes and shoes and handed them over, telling him to imitate them even if he couldn’t return them to their original state.

It seems that the way of cutting and sewing techniques had a great influence on the craftsmen of Midland. There were some things that couldn’t be made with the technology of this country, such as zippers, but the craftsmen worked hard to try to imitate them somehow.

Richter showed the results at this meeting.

It would have been difficult to create fabrics woven by machines in my previous life with handlooms. As for leather shoes, the materials themselves, such as synthetic leather and rubber, are not available in this world. It’s no wonder they had a lot of trouble.

I also gave advice on the mechanization of weaving and spinning many times, but sewing machines have not yet been created. However, there was no doubt that the clothes and shoes I brought were a great stimulus to the craftsmen of Midland.

The craftsmen of Midland carefully unraveled the clothes and disassembled the shoes to study them.

“The things you brought were made with amazing technology and were difficult to imitate, but we finally managed to make something decent, so I brought it to this meeting.”

What he showed to everyone was so well-made that it was hard to believe it was made by hand.

“Could this become a special product of Midland?”

“How much are you going to sell this for?”

“Wait, wait, this is still a prototype. I’ll test it before giving it to everyone.”

“Are you just showing off to us without intending to give us any?”

In this way, the meeting was lively with the clothes that Richter had brought.

“And then, look at this,” Elliott said, as if showing off.

It was a black stone.

“This coal is smokeless anthracite.”

(Hey, hey, Elliott. Don’t show off something like that.) Unfortunately, anthracite wasn’t produced from the Toriholi coal mine. Anthracite is formed when ancient plants are fossilized, and carbonization progresses further than bituminous coal, so little smoke is produced. It’s easier to use and more popular for home use.

Before, I had told him to see if coal could be mined in Gregg, and he had found something like this.

“With this, no household will have trouble with fuel. Do you know how much there is?”

“I haven’t explored the whole area yet, but it seems that it will come out from anywhere if you dig into the ground.”

(Seriously, I searched the wide plains of Datar and finally found it, but some places have it in abundance.)

“I’ll teach Gregg how to make briquettes, so please distribute them quickly.”

I thought it would be better for Gregg to make them rather than Toriholi being particular about making briquettes.

Well, our Toriholi can produce wheat, and paper is still not produced anywhere else. If a blast furnace is built, we can mass-produce steel products. It would be greedy to try to make everything.

In any case, each of us came up with special products to share.

We decided to set the tax only on the transit tax and not on the goods themselves. The transit tax will be used for road maintenance costs and will be kept as low as possible. If each other’s territories become richer, the tax revenue will increase accordingly. It’s better not to be blinded by immediate tax revenue now. This was my claim, and that opinion was almost completely accepted.

After that, the merchants can freely decide the price.

After that, there was a social gathering, and many nobles from not only the southern region but also the eastern and western regions joined and it was a lively event, and when that was over, a dance party was held.

I’m not good at these kinds of events and always avoided them, but today was my eldest daughter Marina’s debut at the dance party.

I can tell that Marina is also excited, looking forward to this day.

It’s great that my daughter is going to a dance party, but I don’t want her to be too noticed or spoiled. But on the other hand, I don’t want her to be ignored by everyone either.

As I was watching with complicated eyes, Sarah came to invite Marina to dance.

Sarah is the heir to Midland, you know. It’s strange to dance with such a person right away. Without knowing my gaze, my daughter happily took Sarah’s hand and entered the dance circle.

“How is it, aren’t they a good match? We can proceed with the story as it is,” Richter immediately suggested to me.

“Don’t be ridiculous. My daughter is only 15 years old. It’s too early,” I said indignantly.