CH 172
Gabriella and Alexandra were slightly teary-eyed once they could see the nostalgic ramparts in the distance.
“I never thought I’d be able to return to Carruzan again,” Gabriella said.
“That’s right, Mother…” Alexandra said. “This is thanks to Floto’s… or rather, Flora’s efforts…”
The two of them stare deeply at the walls of Carruzan from the window of the carriage. And there was another person who was similarly nostalgic about all this scenery.
“Woah… so many good memories… I thought I wouldn’t be able to come back here…” Louisa said.
She was looking at the town she spent her childhood in and savored the various memories that were dear to her heart.
“Hmm,” Mikoto hummed. “So that’s the town where Flora grew up. Well, well, not that splendid isn’t it?”
“It really isn’t,” Claudia said. “It’s the first time I’ve come to Carruzan, but it’s not as amazing as other places I’ve seen.”
Certainly, Carruzan was quite splendid for a rural city. Even from a distance, you can clearly see its scale and prosperity.
However, for Mikoto, the Princess of the Demon Kingdom, and Claudia, who was born and raised in the royal capital and has seen other large cities due to her work, it wasn’t particularly amazing. You can’t underestimate it, but it’s not the best. That’s their honest opinion.
Arrangements were made for the 5 ladies so that they would have equal opportunities to be in the same carriage as Flora during the trip. Only Katharina was inevitably always with Flora, but the other members took turns sharing the other seats. Right now, Flora, her parents, Katharina, and Christa were riding in the leading carriage ahead of them. Everyone else was gathered in this carriage.
“Huh? … What the? Did we just pass it by?” Claudia asked.
The carriage passed through the gate and entered the town, continuing northwards and passing through Carruzan and into the forest. The other members also looked at each other without understanding what was going on.
“Woah!” Louisa cried. “It’s amazing they’re still farming and ranching here.”
“Yes, it is quite so,” Alexandra said.
They look nostalgically at the farm north of Carruzan’s ramparts. Louisa worked here and Alexandra passed by this place many times on her way to Floto’s cabin in the woods. It should be such a familiar sight, but more things are completely unfamiliar.
“Putting that aside, this a beautiful highway,” Alexandra said. “The carriage hasn’t shaken at all since a while ago.”
“Now that you mention it…” Louisa said.
They finally realized. The carriage had been vibrating while running through the town of Carruzan, and now stopped shaking entirely as it entered the highway in the forest. If you think about it normally, the road inside the walls should be of better quality. Even so, even though this area is in the forest, the roads are better maintained than in the capital’s walls.
Why is there such a good road in such a forest? While looking at the outside of the carriage that continued to run, the forest suddenly opened up and another town appeared.
“Amazing!” Louisa cried.
“When was this built…?” Alexandra asked, surprised.
Those who don’t know the circumstances will only think that it’s just a town in the forest. However, for those who know that this place was just a wild forest until just a few years ago, it’s surprising that a town like this was now standing in its place. Even when they explained it to everyone, they didn’t believe them at first.
“You’re saying… a town like this was built in so few years?” Claudia asked.
“Quite the feat to do so,” Mikoto said. “Just opening a town in that time is a big deal.”
While looking out the window at the settlement they were passing by, each of them has various thoughts.
“Hey, wait a minute! Isn’t this town really big?” Claudia asked.
“And there are so many things I haven’t seen before,” Alexandra said.
Certainly, there are few large buildings in the town. There are not many tall buildings with many stories, and they mostly use wood in their materials. It feels like a rural town compared to the stately streets lined with high-rise brick buildings. However, this town is well maintained and full of facilities that they had never seen before. Also, the town was very lively, and they thought it was livelier than the royal capital.
“Wow… what an amazing town!” Christa cried after they reached the depths of the town and got off.
“Fufu, thank you, Christa. Now then… everyone, let me welcome you to Caanburg,” Flora said as she welcomed them before a giant mansion.
As a side note, since Manor Lingerburg is located in Carruzan, normally Gabriella and Alexandra would normally return to their home. However, even though it was managed by House Carruthers, no one lived there for many years, so Manor Lingerburg is unsuitable for habitation right now. So, until it’s cleaned out, Gabriella and others will live in Manor Caan and Manor Carruthers.
After the incident with House Nassam and Kaspar were settled, Hannah decided to serve House Lingerburg again and served Gabriella at the Carruthers Residence in the royal capital. She came back with them on this trip home, but she wasn’t here with them. Hannah should be on her way to Manor Lingerburg to clean it up.
Of course, if Hanna alone was cleaning the oversized Manor Lingerburg, it would take a long time before anyone could live there. Houses Carruthers and Caan have also been involved, but Hannah is in charge of Manor Lingerburg’s maintenance.
And now that they had arrived at Manor Caan, everyone found a series of surprises waiting for them.
“Wait! What’s going on with this mansion?!” Christa yelled.
To some extent, the Carruthers Residence in the royal capital also has equipment from Flora’s inventions, but as Manor Caan had incorporated all these innovations and systems from the construction stage, everything is of a different quality. They couldn’t even imagine what it meant that the entirety of Caanburg, rather, all of Caan territory had water and sewage infrastructure.
To begin with, people other than those who already live here do not understand the concept of sewage systems. The ubiquitous system is a drainage ditch that runs through the middle of a town’s alleyways before discharging into a river. But the town has no sewage ditch where the sewage flows.
If you go out into the town, you will immediately know that there is a gutter. However, they were told that there is no sewage running through the gutters, and that rainwater only flows through it when it rains. They do not understand what it means. So where does the sewage that should be out here go instead?
Even if it is said that the secret is the sewage being underground, it is not convincing. How much money, labor, and materials would be required to bury a drainage channel underground? Flora even claimed that it is stretched all over the town and brought to a place called a sewage treatment plant. They can’t hide their surprise when they learn this town is so beautiful because of all the time, money, and effort that went into it.
All the waste flows through the sewage system and is carried to the treatment plant, where it is treated to be as harmless as possible before being discharged into the river. Considering the advanced nature and cost of this system, you can’t just call this a small town in the woods.
Attention is paid to small details and invisible systems, and advanced technology is adopted. Everyone was reminded once again that the town of Caanburg is an extraordinary settlement.
“Fufu, thank you, Christa. Now then… everyone, let me welcome you to Caanburg,” I said.
Huh? This doesn’t look like my house.
While welcoming everyone who got off the carriages…, I look at my house while being careful not to lose my smile. This building should certainly be where Manor Caan is. But its appearance is completely different from Manor Caan I know.
It seems that someone arbitrarily expanded and renovated while I was away from my territory to attend school. I didn’t receive any such report, so I was surprised when I saw my own house. I pretended to be calm in front of everyone, but if I was the only one there, I would definitely have screamed.
I entered my office while everyone was being guided through the house by the servants. It should have been only half a year ago, but I feel nostalgic. Anyway, why has Manor Caan changed so much? Let’s find the person who knows it, or rather, the culprit behind all this.
“What has been going on in this house, Sigmund, Ignaz?” I asked.
For the first time in a long time, I interrogated the two people cowering before me. Sigmund was my History and Domestic Affairs tutor, but now he’s been hired as an adviser to House Caan after my tutoring was over. Ignaz is a Guard Captain, so he should know a lot.
By the way, all my other tutors have also been hired to serve me since the tutoring ended and I’ve been having them work for Caan territory. I’ll take a closer look at everyone later if I have the chance, but Sigmund is here and should know what went on.
As a former court official involved in domestic affairs, Sigmund is now an adviser to the Caan Estate. Of course, he should know why Manor Caan is like this.
“Right,” Sigmund said. “The construction of the town has settled down and House Caan’s finances have stabilized, so it was decided that Manor Caan should be renovated and expanded to match.”
So that’s what happened, but it shouldn’t have! Why didn’t they even say a word about this to me…? I’m not saying don’t do extra renovations. Of course, it will be expanded if necessary. Or maybe rebuild it or increase it in another place. The problem is why no one said anything at all.
“Why did you do this without consulting me first?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Sigmund asked. “As your Internal Affairs Administrator, I do believe I was granted the power to build any public buildings necessary?”
There is no doubt about it. After I left here, if everyone had to send me a message at the royal capital asking my permission to build something, nothing would get done. I did stipulate that such things can be freely built if necessary within the budget and authority determined then. However…….
“Yes, I did indeed stipulate that you can build any facility you would need. But this is Manor Caan, is it not…? It’s my house.”
“That it is,” Sigmund replied. “However, this is also the government building that oversees the Caan Knighthood. We needed to expand the government building to accommodate the increase in personnel and operations.”
Ugh……. when he says it like that, I can’t argue. It depends on how much it is my house and how much it is a government building. It might be my fault for keeping the distinction so vague.
But….anyone would be surprised if your house was remodeled without your knowledge… I wanted you to have at least contacted me about it.
""
Besides, I can’t shake the feeling that it was just expanded as a mansion rather than as a government building. The number of government official offices and job vacancies has indeed increased, but I feel that the structure has just been made more luxurious and spacious.
“It is also a job of a Lord to invite guests to his mansion,” Sigmund said. “If they are given a modest reception in a shabby house, their work will be hindered. A powerful person needs to live in an appropriate home, lead an appropriate life, and behave as their role demands and as they are expected to.”
“Uu… I understand that, but…” I mutter.
What Sigmund says is correct. My current position is that such things are required regardless of whether I personally want them or not. You can’t live in a humble stable when even a King would come to visit you.
I understand that, but… I don’t want to understand it… or maybe I don’t understand it…
Well, it’s fine. It is useless to say that now that it’s done. It doesn’t change that the house has already been remodeled. Well then, let’s move on to the next.
“Hah… so, do I have any appointments for the holidays?” I asked.
“Yes,” Sigmund replied, handing me a piece of paper like he had expected that question. “Please see here.”
I glance over it.
“Is this all of it…?” I asked.
This is my schedule. It’s written as a mess. 2 months of vacation, of which there would be 10 days for the return trip, with 3 days in reserve. About 34 days was open time. The schedule is so densely packed in that I wonder if I can really do it all even if I use all of those 34 days just working.
“We expected you to leave for the royal capital again 13 days before just in case,” Sigmund said, “but from your schedule today, we understand now that 10 days is enough. We would like to take advantage of the time we gained from your early arrival and the delay of your departure.”
“Huh… you’re saying there’s more…?” I asked.
Certainly, the travel time was expected to be 10 days. I arrived in 7 days, so there are already 3 days leftover. Besides, if we take 3 days for spare time, if we add 3 extra days to the 10-day trip, it will be 13 days for travel, but if we can move in 7 days, even if we add 3 extra days, just 10 days will be enough. It seems that Sigmund intends to add more appointments for the 6 new unexpected days thanks to my promptness. Sigmund doesn’t seem to want to let me rest.
However, some inspections have been planned for a long time, and there are places and things I want to see myself. I talked with Sigmund so that I could add the inspection I wanted now that my schedule was freer than he’d initially imagined.
“I never thought I’d be able to return to Carruzan again,” Gabriella said.
“That’s right, Mother…” Alexandra said. “This is thanks to Floto’s… or rather, Flora’s efforts…”
The two of them stare deeply at the walls of Carruzan from the window of the carriage. And there was another person who was similarly nostalgic about all this scenery.
“Woah… so many good memories… I thought I wouldn’t be able to come back here…” Louisa said.
She was looking at the town she spent her childhood in and savored the various memories that were dear to her heart.
“Hmm,” Mikoto hummed. “So that’s the town where Flora grew up. Well, well, not that splendid isn’t it?”
“It really isn’t,” Claudia said. “It’s the first time I’ve come to Carruzan, but it’s not as amazing as other places I’ve seen.”
Certainly, Carruzan was quite splendid for a rural city. Even from a distance, you can clearly see its scale and prosperity.
However, for Mikoto, the Princess of the Demon Kingdom, and Claudia, who was born and raised in the royal capital and has seen other large cities due to her work, it wasn’t particularly amazing. You can’t underestimate it, but it’s not the best. That’s their honest opinion.
Arrangements were made for the 5 ladies so that they would have equal opportunities to be in the same carriage as Flora during the trip. Only Katharina was inevitably always with Flora, but the other members took turns sharing the other seats. Right now, Flora, her parents, Katharina, and Christa were riding in the leading carriage ahead of them. Everyone else was gathered in this carriage.
“Huh? … What the? Did we just pass it by?” Claudia asked.
The carriage passed through the gate and entered the town, continuing northwards and passing through Carruzan and into the forest. The other members also looked at each other without understanding what was going on.
“Woah!” Louisa cried. “It’s amazing they’re still farming and ranching here.”
“Yes, it is quite so,” Alexandra said.
They look nostalgically at the farm north of Carruzan’s ramparts. Louisa worked here and Alexandra passed by this place many times on her way to Floto’s cabin in the woods. It should be such a familiar sight, but more things are completely unfamiliar.
“Putting that aside, this a beautiful highway,” Alexandra said. “The carriage hasn’t shaken at all since a while ago.”
“Now that you mention it…” Louisa said.
They finally realized. The carriage had been vibrating while running through the town of Carruzan, and now stopped shaking entirely as it entered the highway in the forest. If you think about it normally, the road inside the walls should be of better quality. Even so, even though this area is in the forest, the roads are better maintained than in the capital’s walls.
Why is there such a good road in such a forest? While looking at the outside of the carriage that continued to run, the forest suddenly opened up and another town appeared.
“Amazing!” Louisa cried.
“When was this built…?” Alexandra asked, surprised.
Those who don’t know the circumstances will only think that it’s just a town in the forest. However, for those who know that this place was just a wild forest until just a few years ago, it’s surprising that a town like this was now standing in its place. Even when they explained it to everyone, they didn’t believe them at first.
“You’re saying… a town like this was built in so few years?” Claudia asked.
“Quite the feat to do so,” Mikoto said. “Just opening a town in that time is a big deal.”
While looking out the window at the settlement they were passing by, each of them has various thoughts.
“Hey, wait a minute! Isn’t this town really big?” Claudia asked.
“And there are so many things I haven’t seen before,” Alexandra said.
Certainly, there are few large buildings in the town. There are not many tall buildings with many stories, and they mostly use wood in their materials. It feels like a rural town compared to the stately streets lined with high-rise brick buildings. However, this town is well maintained and full of facilities that they had never seen before. Also, the town was very lively, and they thought it was livelier than the royal capital.
“Wow… what an amazing town!” Christa cried after they reached the depths of the town and got off.
“Fufu, thank you, Christa. Now then… everyone, let me welcome you to Caanburg,” Flora said as she welcomed them before a giant mansion.
As a side note, since Manor Lingerburg is located in Carruzan, normally Gabriella and Alexandra would normally return to their home. However, even though it was managed by House Carruthers, no one lived there for many years, so Manor Lingerburg is unsuitable for habitation right now. So, until it’s cleaned out, Gabriella and others will live in Manor Caan and Manor Carruthers.
After the incident with House Nassam and Kaspar were settled, Hannah decided to serve House Lingerburg again and served Gabriella at the Carruthers Residence in the royal capital. She came back with them on this trip home, but she wasn’t here with them. Hannah should be on her way to Manor Lingerburg to clean it up.
Of course, if Hanna alone was cleaning the oversized Manor Lingerburg, it would take a long time before anyone could live there. Houses Carruthers and Caan have also been involved, but Hannah is in charge of Manor Lingerburg’s maintenance.
And now that they had arrived at Manor Caan, everyone found a series of surprises waiting for them.
“Wait! What’s going on with this mansion?!” Christa yelled.
To some extent, the Carruthers Residence in the royal capital also has equipment from Flora’s inventions, but as Manor Caan had incorporated all these innovations and systems from the construction stage, everything is of a different quality. They couldn’t even imagine what it meant that the entirety of Caanburg, rather, all of Caan territory had water and sewage infrastructure.
To begin with, people other than those who already live here do not understand the concept of sewage systems. The ubiquitous system is a drainage ditch that runs through the middle of a town’s alleyways before discharging into a river. But the town has no sewage ditch where the sewage flows.
If you go out into the town, you will immediately know that there is a gutter. However, they were told that there is no sewage running through the gutters, and that rainwater only flows through it when it rains. They do not understand what it means. So where does the sewage that should be out here go instead?
Even if it is said that the secret is the sewage being underground, it is not convincing. How much money, labor, and materials would be required to bury a drainage channel underground? Flora even claimed that it is stretched all over the town and brought to a place called a sewage treatment plant. They can’t hide their surprise when they learn this town is so beautiful because of all the time, money, and effort that went into it.
All the waste flows through the sewage system and is carried to the treatment plant, where it is treated to be as harmless as possible before being discharged into the river. Considering the advanced nature and cost of this system, you can’t just call this a small town in the woods.
Attention is paid to small details and invisible systems, and advanced technology is adopted. Everyone was reminded once again that the town of Caanburg is an extraordinary settlement.
“Fufu, thank you, Christa. Now then… everyone, let me welcome you to Caanburg,” I said.
Huh? This doesn’t look like my house.
While welcoming everyone who got off the carriages…, I look at my house while being careful not to lose my smile. This building should certainly be where Manor Caan is. But its appearance is completely different from Manor Caan I know.
It seems that someone arbitrarily expanded and renovated while I was away from my territory to attend school. I didn’t receive any such report, so I was surprised when I saw my own house. I pretended to be calm in front of everyone, but if I was the only one there, I would definitely have screamed.
I entered my office while everyone was being guided through the house by the servants. It should have been only half a year ago, but I feel nostalgic. Anyway, why has Manor Caan changed so much? Let’s find the person who knows it, or rather, the culprit behind all this.
“What has been going on in this house, Sigmund, Ignaz?” I asked.
For the first time in a long time, I interrogated the two people cowering before me. Sigmund was my History and Domestic Affairs tutor, but now he’s been hired as an adviser to House Caan after my tutoring was over. Ignaz is a Guard Captain, so he should know a lot.
By the way, all my other tutors have also been hired to serve me since the tutoring ended and I’ve been having them work for Caan territory. I’ll take a closer look at everyone later if I have the chance, but Sigmund is here and should know what went on.
As a former court official involved in domestic affairs, Sigmund is now an adviser to the Caan Estate. Of course, he should know why Manor Caan is like this.
“Right,” Sigmund said. “The construction of the town has settled down and House Caan’s finances have stabilized, so it was decided that Manor Caan should be renovated and expanded to match.”
So that’s what happened, but it shouldn’t have! Why didn’t they even say a word about this to me…? I’m not saying don’t do extra renovations. Of course, it will be expanded if necessary. Or maybe rebuild it or increase it in another place. The problem is why no one said anything at all.
“Why did you do this without consulting me first?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Sigmund asked. “As your Internal Affairs Administrator, I do believe I was granted the power to build any public buildings necessary?”
There is no doubt about it. After I left here, if everyone had to send me a message at the royal capital asking my permission to build something, nothing would get done. I did stipulate that such things can be freely built if necessary within the budget and authority determined then. However…….
“Yes, I did indeed stipulate that you can build any facility you would need. But this is Manor Caan, is it not…? It’s my house.”
“That it is,” Sigmund replied. “However, this is also the government building that oversees the Caan Knighthood. We needed to expand the government building to accommodate the increase in personnel and operations.”
Ugh……. when he says it like that, I can’t argue. It depends on how much it is my house and how much it is a government building. It might be my fault for keeping the distinction so vague.
But….anyone would be surprised if your house was remodeled without your knowledge… I wanted you to have at least contacted me about it.
""
Besides, I can’t shake the feeling that it was just expanded as a mansion rather than as a government building. The number of government official offices and job vacancies has indeed increased, but I feel that the structure has just been made more luxurious and spacious.
“It is also a job of a Lord to invite guests to his mansion,” Sigmund said. “If they are given a modest reception in a shabby house, their work will be hindered. A powerful person needs to live in an appropriate home, lead an appropriate life, and behave as their role demands and as they are expected to.”
“Uu… I understand that, but…” I mutter.
What Sigmund says is correct. My current position is that such things are required regardless of whether I personally want them or not. You can’t live in a humble stable when even a King would come to visit you.
I understand that, but… I don’t want to understand it… or maybe I don’t understand it…
Well, it’s fine. It is useless to say that now that it’s done. It doesn’t change that the house has already been remodeled. Well then, let’s move on to the next.
“Hah… so, do I have any appointments for the holidays?” I asked.
“Yes,” Sigmund replied, handing me a piece of paper like he had expected that question. “Please see here.”
I glance over it.
“Is this all of it…?” I asked.
This is my schedule. It’s written as a mess. 2 months of vacation, of which there would be 10 days for the return trip, with 3 days in reserve. About 34 days was open time. The schedule is so densely packed in that I wonder if I can really do it all even if I use all of those 34 days just working.
“We expected you to leave for the royal capital again 13 days before just in case,” Sigmund said, “but from your schedule today, we understand now that 10 days is enough. We would like to take advantage of the time we gained from your early arrival and the delay of your departure.”
“Huh… you’re saying there’s more…?” I asked.
Certainly, the travel time was expected to be 10 days. I arrived in 7 days, so there are already 3 days leftover. Besides, if we take 3 days for spare time, if we add 3 extra days to the 10-day trip, it will be 13 days for travel, but if we can move in 7 days, even if we add 3 extra days, just 10 days will be enough. It seems that Sigmund intends to add more appointments for the 6 new unexpected days thanks to my promptness. Sigmund doesn’t seem to want to let me rest.
However, some inspections have been planned for a long time, and there are places and things I want to see myself. I talked with Sigmund so that I could add the inspection I wanted now that my schedule was freer than he’d initially imagined.
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