A Certain Village in the Monster Domain
"Is it really okay for me to sit here? This is the Captain's room, you know."
"Of course! It's a new airship, and this is its maiden voyage. It would be good luck if the princess sat here!"
The meeting concluded in about three days. Although we had settled the major agreements on the first day, there were still minor discussions and price negotiations for the airship. As expected from a commercial city-state, they nearly drove the price below cost. Fortunately, my Father entrusted the negotiations to Mr. Volken, who managed to close the deal at a reasonable price.
I am currently in the Captain's office of the new, large airship “Sylphie”, the first of its kind, sitting at the Captain's desk. This seat rightfully belongs to Captain Pash, who stands before me, but for some reason, they insisted that it would bring good fortune and prestige if I were the first to sit here.
"Well, it's fine since this isn't a warship, but you're still the Air Force's Second-in-Command, so stay sharp. Also, I'm not going to be doing any commanding. I'll leave the general planning and budget matters to you."
"It seems my workload will increase. But no matter! I'll accomplish it. I will no longer be called useless or a waste."
It seems he was treated as rather expendable.
"While the warship will take some time, its control systems will be unified with this one, so make sure to learn thoroughly. In actual combat, I'll be with the ground forces."
"I oppose the top of the Air Force collaborating with the ground forces. I'd rather you remain here, commanding from a position of strength."
"With the manpower shortage, it can't be helped. I'm a magician, after all. Also, I plan to establish a new unit within the Air Force, so you'll need to select the personnel."
"Personnel? We've been constantly recruiting as scheduled. And this new unit..."
I explained to him my plan to create a unit in the Air Force that would use airplanes. I spent about three hours detailing the roles and operations of fighter jets and bombers.
"I understand. I’ll swiftly select trustworthy individuals."
As expected of someone who has managed entire units, he grasped the concept quickly. Moreover, since this new unit had no vested interests tied to it, reforming it would be relatively easy. He was also quite open to my ideas, listening carefully if the argument made sense. This was a huge advantage. The Air Force doesn’t treat me like a child. They recognize me as both a superior officer and a royal. It's different from the knights in the castle. This must be what it’s like in the military.
Captain Pash left the captain's office. Although there haven't been any malfunctions, there have been several operational errors. The control systems and maintenance routines are completely different. Although manuals have been distributed, there’s not enough time.
I got to work on the mountain of paperwork stacked on the desk—well, actually scattered around the entire room. Documents related to the Air Force, as well as those from the Technical Development Bureau. Mr. Volken had dumped them all on me, saying, "It's part of your experience."
Well, it's just paperwork, so it's no problem. The next generation of armaments from the Technical Development Bureau has already been decided: magic weapons. Henceforth, all regular weapons and armor produced in Arland will be for export. The techniques for magic tool enchantment and auxiliary magic for weapon transformation are complete. I’ll just pass this information to my Master, and they’ll take care of production. Since Master is now officially my adjutant.
"Princess, about the upcoming route... What is this enormous stack of documents?"
"Mr. Volken pushed all this work onto me, saying it was my responsibility."
"... I see. As for the route, if we continue at this pace, we’ll reach the area near the destination in about two days. This ship is already the fastest on the continent."
"The problem is the shortage of mechanics. The maintenance team seems to be struggling… Hmm, but we should reach the destination on schedule.
Once we arrive, I'll use detection magic to search for signs of people in the area. There shouldn’t be none at all.
After the advance party clears the landing site by cutting down trees, we’ll explore the surroundings and retrieve the target item. How’s the chainsaw working?"
"It’s proving to be quite useful. It should greatly aid in the development."
"Good. Then we should begin mass production."
I had already set things in motion. My duplicates were working inside the Treasury, each carrying out their respective tasks. Since they are not living beings, they can be placed inside the sealed Treasury. With sheer numbers, they were completing the half-finished prototypes, such as printing machines, paper manufacturing facilities, and weapons production.
At this rate, we’ll lose to the Empire. That’s why I’m using technology as a weapon. This is all I can do for Iris.
And to do that efficiently, we need resources. So I will secure those resources.
For two days, I immersed myself in work in the captain's office.
"Princess!"
"Nnngh... so noisy..."
Alicia entered just as I had collapsed on the desk. Her loud voice caused me to accidentally crush the pen I was holding.
"Why are you working?! You promised to rest!"
"I did rest, for about 30 minutes."
Thanks to that, the pile of documents had been reduced significantly.
"But this isn’t the time for that! You need to come to the bridge immediately. Something strange is happening."
Ugh... I’m so tired. But I have no choice. Grabbing hold of Mr. Coote’s tail, who had been curled up napping like a puppy since we entered this room, I headed to the bridge.
"What happened? If it's wyverns, we can just run away."
"No, it’s not that. As we approached the destination, we used a crystal to scout the surroundings and found what appears to be a settlement. Smoke is rising from a chimney, so it’s certain someone is living there."
"The report said the settlement was destroyed, though?"
Even if survivors from the expedition were still alive, how could they have survived for over 200 years surrounded by monster territory?
"... This is just my personal opinion, but the report stated that the settlement was destroyed by monster attacks and that the survivors fled. However, I think the survivors didn’t actually flee, but instead managed to stay alive there."
I see. So while the report wasn’t wrong about the attack, the survivors managed to fend it off and live through it. That’s a huge problem! It’s a Royal blunder. Has the Kingdom really abandoned its people for this long, with no support? I vaguely remember that the son of the Count who led the original expedition was listed among the escapees, and even though no one remembers him well, the record mentions that the King at the time comforted him with a "Well done for surviving." And that house still exists today.
"Captain, is the princess’s guard ready? Should we land?"
"We can’t! They might harbor resentment against the kingdom. There’s no way I can let the princess go into such a situation."
"No, I’ll go. We need to assess the situation. They might be victims, and to resolve this quickly, I must be the one to speak with them. If they’ve survived this long, there must be a leader. Leave minimal security and workers behind and land in what appears to be the central square."
"... Understood. Prepare for landing!"
"Roger that. The ship will now enter landing mode. I repeat, entering landing mode."
A soldier holding a device like a radio announced over the internal broadcast that the ship was entering landing mode. Even though there’s almost no shaking, it’s a rule to stop operations during landing in case something happens.
As the airship descended, red warning lights spun around the ship’s interior.
After a short while, there was a light jolt, indicating we had landed in the square. Depending on the type of airship, some have retractable boarding stairs. The crew immediately lowered the stairs, and I descended into the square with my guards, but...
"There are a lot of muscular men."
In the square stood a group of half-naked people armed with what looked like spiked brass knuckles. They were probably being cautious, but their muscular bodies were covered in fur from monsters or animals, and their shoes were also made from fur. Why the brass knuckles?
"We are the Arland Kingdom's Air Force. We request a meeting with the representative of this settlement."
Captain Pash shouted out, but the group bristled with hostility.
"Who the hell are you? If you lay a hand on our Village Chief, we won’t hesitate to kill you!"
One of the villagers? brandished his brass knuckles, and my guards tensed, hands on their sword hilts, ready to draw at any moment. I hurriedly stepped in to stop them.
"Let’s lower our weapons first. Everyone, put your weapons on the ground. We can’t talk like this."
"Tch."
When my guards lowered their weapons, the villagers started to look confused. Starting a fight out of nowhere doesn’t make sense. We need to talk first.
What do you think about this chapter?
