21st Century Archmage

Chapter 105: Kantahar

“Yaaawn…”

Slowly getting up, the clean white sheets beneath me rustled, as I rubbed my eyes and stretched like the lazy lord I was. I’d slept so long that the winter sunlight was already streaming into the window. With no pressing matters to handle, the territory knights had not woken their lord.

‘This is all one can ask for—as long as your back is warm and your belly is full, that’s enough.’

Fifteen days had already passed since the start of Nerman’s winter.

The Havis Kingdom army and Neran paladins who had invaded the territory were thoroughly brought to their knees in the face of our power. Out of over 250 wyverns, only a few dozen managed to flee with their lives intact. Around 100 wyverns had perished, and we captured several tens of thousands of prisoners—most of the Havis army that fled via land became prisoners. They struggled to flee, but on the plains, the wood fires they were forced to light at night lit them up like beacons. After struggling in vain, they kneeled before our Skyknights and territory cavalry one after another.

Of course, there were some determined bastards who managed to cross the border. But even if they returned to their country, what greeted them was the Havis Royal Army. From what I heard, most of the nobles who had continuously insulted the Royal Family were labeled traitors and either decapitated or turned into slaves. Everyone thought Rosiathe was just a weak woman, but she seized administrative control in an unprecedented fashion. The useless invasion of Nerman had weakened the kingdom’s overall power, but opportunity rose from disaster—the kingdom turned into a proper nation where the king, once again, had power and authority.

“The aftermath was pretty tasty.”

I couldn’t in good conscience swallow all the surviving wyverns. The Havis Kingdom didn’t have many left anyway, so if I did something like that, I would be more of a thief than someone who agreed to help. As such, I would be swallowing my tears and guiding the 100 or so surviving wyverns back to the kingdom, along with their wyvern armor and airplates, of course.

“Huhu… But the wyvern bodies and miscellaneous military goods were all mine to take.”

Naturally, I didn’t do everything for free. Even after death, wyverns fetched quite the price, and the dead wyverns along with their broken armor and airplates became Nerman property. On top of that, we acquired enough war horses and weapons that we would have plenty of military goods for 10 years.

“Haah… But it bothers me that those crazy knights stayed behind.”

It wasn’t all good. The paladins had completely lost their shit after seeing Aramis’ descent of the Great Holy Spirit. I offered to send them off on good terms, but they wept while saying they would stay in Nerman, where the Saintess lived.

That much was fine. It was better to use the paladins to protect Aramis than my knights, who had lots of other things to do. However, the problem was their numbers. Out of the 900 paladins who survived, a whopping 300 of them decided to stay in Nerman. Because of that, the covert was filled to the brim with the paladins and their white cloaks overnight.

I could still endure that much. If need be, they could become a reserve force of the territory, so I could accept them. But the problem lay elsewhere.

“WHY! Why do I have to get restrained by those paladins every single time I meet Aramis?!?!?”

I was the king around these parts, but every time I went into a temple that stood on MY territory, I was always restrained by the fucking paladins, and I couldn’t even speak comfortably with Aramis like the good old days. If I dared to utter a few casual words, they would probably lose it and request a duel with me. They weren’t pies landing in my lap, but pain-in-the-asses. It was nice knowing that Aramis would be extremely safe even when I wasn’t around, but one of the few pleasures in my life had disappeared.

“Hnngg!!”

Stretching wide, I slipped off the bed. Up until yesterday, I had run around like crazy taking care of the aftermath of the war, but from today onwards, there wasn’t much to do. Derval and his administration buddies were picking out low-level civil servants on their own and steadily forming the administrative system, and my knights were sweating with the soldiers in constant training. The territory was rolling along nicely even without me dictating everything. It warmed my heart just thinking about it.

Grumble.

Thanks to sleeping in, I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. As a young man with a hearty appetite, my belly was grumbling.

“Just wait a bit, I’ll fill you right up,” I coaxed, stroking my complaining little stomach. We had harvested a great deal more crops than expected, enabling us to become self-sufficient. Or rather, we weren’t just breaking even—we could certainly even export some crops.

“Clear!”

After tidying my hair a bit with my hands, I cast Clear over my body.

Whoosh.

Clear, one of the 2nd Circle status spells, washed over my body, leaving a refreshing feeling.

Click click.

Then, I put on the airplate that was hung up in the corner of my room. The airplate had a temperature control function that served as a hotpack in the winter and a personal air conditioner in the summer. It had become such an ingrained part of my life that a part of me felt empty without it.

“Let’s start off the day right today as well, shall we?”

After putting on my armor, I moved to the door, planning on visiting the cafeteria to eat a feast prepared just for me before calling Derval and handling some important things. Then, I would get on Bebeto and fly around the territory once until the afternoon arrived. If I had time, I’d visit the beastmen and kindly “bestow” upon them the fists of love under the guise of magic training, after dealing with that, it would be time for dinner. Afterwards, I’ll enjoy some nice snacks with a glass of beer and tussle with the knights for a bit to help with digestion.

Kerchunk.

I opened the door of my bedroom, which was right next to the office.

“Good morning, my lord.”

‘Geh!’

As soon as I went outside to fulfill the plans I made for the day, I was met with Derval’s energetic voice.

“W-What are you doing here? S-So early in the morning?”

“With all due respect, it is almost time for lunch. And there are quite a few things you need to take care of, so I was waiting here.”

“O-Okay…”

Derval was holding a thick sheaf of documents. Seeing as he had waited for me to wake up, I felt apologetic. The loyal Derval had probably pulled all-nighters taking care of the mess after the war, but in contrast, the lord slept in very nicely… I hoped it wouldn’t start a bad rumor.

“Your meal will be brought to the office. Please eat it there.”

‘Damn… Food tastes the best at the dinner table though.’

“Alright… I will. Haha. How important could a single meal be, anyway.”

On my face was an awkward smile that didn’t match my feelings.

Today’s plans were going awry from the very first step. It seemed I would have to tread cautiously today.

* * *

“We have no fuel?”

“Yes. As you know, my lord, the Nerman Plains lack mountains where firewood can be obtained.”

“But how have the people been living all this time then? Isn’t the winter pretty harsh?”

As soon as I stepped into the office, Derval brought up the issue of fuel with a grave expression. To my utter shock, he said that despite the harsh weather, the people of Denfors and Nerman were enduring the cold with their bodies alone.

“From what I have heard, they used dried orc dung. The movements of the orcs were slowed in the winter, and the residents would take that time to collect dried orc poop from the places where the orcs resided. They would then use that dung as provisional fuel. But because all the orcs near the villages were subjugated this year, the people are enduring hardship.”

“Is it so bad they will freeze to death?”

“Thanks to the abundance of orc leathers, they will not die. But they are suffering considerable pain in their daily lives. It’s not just that they cannot make soup and other warm foods, but also that their accommodations are ice-cold.”

I could envision the painful lives of the people just from his words. I didn’t think the problem was so significant since it wasn’t our absolute highest priority, but it did make my heart ache.

‘Did they seriously endure with no fuel since the 10th month then?’

The people on Earth would turn up their boilers as soon as there was a hint of cold, but the people here had to shiver through the frigid winter nights because of a lack of fuel, a plight that stabbed my heart as their lord.

‘Fuel, huh… Fuel…’

Acquiring fuel was easier said than done. Even if there was only a maximum of five people per household, there were 100,000 households at the very least. A massive amount of fuel would be necessary for them to heat their homes during the long winter. It was doubtful whether we could gather all the necessary fuel even if we pushed the soldiers and slaves starting now. Magic was an option to consider, but a low-grade magic crystal would be necessary to create a magic furnace. Not only was the cost nothing to scoff at, but making 100,000 magic furnaces was impossible even with a hundred years.

‘Damn, what a pain.’

I thought about lots of different options, but nothing stood out.

‘If oil would just flow out somewhere, then maybe… Oh, wait a min!’

While I was thinking about oil, I suddenly remembered a certain mineral. In an educational TV program for kids (which went off the air in my elementary school days), I learned about furnaces and the coal that fueled them.

“That’s it!”

“Pardon?” Derval was surprised by my sudden exclamation.

Nerman was surrounded by mountains. And in those mountains, there had to be at least a few with coal. Even South Korea, which lacked natural resources, had quite a lot of coal.

‘If we’re lucky, we might even be able to find good quality open-air coal mine.’

The mountains were a treasure trove of undeveloped resources.

“I will take care of it.”

“As expected of my liege. I believed that everything would be resolved if I informed you!”

“Haha, this is nothing.”

Derval looked at me with radiant admiration, his eyes shining. I always felt this way, but these kinds of moments made me think that it wasn’t so hard to become a good liege.

“Every house has a furnace and a chimney, right?”

“Yes, of course. The sturdy kitchen furnaces are made with dirt and stones.”

‘Come to think of it, we also need to improve the houses.’

I had seen the houses of the people here before. Since the wood was so scarce, the houses made of piled dirt, stones, and topped with straw wouldn’t even be fit for pigs on Earth.

“Are bricks still being produced?”

“We are using slaves to produce them every day. Thanks to the magic drying room, we are making around 1,000 bricks per day.”

“Raise that by ten times.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll make more magic drying rooms, so increase the production quantity by ten.”

“U-Understood.”

When spring came and melted the frozen ground, I would mobilize the elves again to make more roads. Once the roads were complete, we would use those roads to build a fortress, and afterwards, we would focus on building houses for the citizens.

‘There’s so much to do.’

The outline already seemed like a lot, so it was easy to imagine just how much work there would be if you really broke it down into the nitty-gritty details.

“What’s the next order of business?”

“There is no more space in the covert. After building the temporary barracks for the paladins, we have run out of hangars for the wyverns to use. As you know, my liege, the situation is so severe that the wyverns we will be returning to the Havis Kingdom are on the fields outside the castle. This problem needs to be resolved quickly, as well.”

‘Sigh. It’s already completely full?’

When I first arrived at Weyn Covert, it was utterly deserted. In less than one year, this expansive covert had run out of land for new buildings.

“Have you gotten in touch with the Havis Kingdom?”

“We have only received word a few days ago that they would soon send Skyknights to bring back the wyverns. But Skyknights cannot be made in a single morning, so I believe they will require more time.”

Like the proverb “put new wine into new wineskins,” Rosiathe was boldly recreating the kingdom from the bottom up. Most of the Skyknights were nobles, so after they were culled or turned into slaves, they were probably low on talents. That’s why the kingdom couldn’t even think of collecting their wyverns, the most important part of a kingdom’s military.

“Contact them again. Those pigs are just making life hell for our wyverns.”

We healed all the injured wyverns with holy water, and the ones that resisted were re-educated by Bebeto and his lackeys, the Gold Wyverns. But the problem was the sheer quantity of food they consumed. Pigs and cows were still precious in the territory, so the Skyknights were forced to go out day after day to hunt orcs. Besides the southern region, there were still plenty of monsters, so hunting could be done with ease. But even if one wyvern ate just one orc per day, there were a hundred wyverns, so it was a real pain to take care of them.

“I will send a lumikar immediately.”

“Anything else on the agenda?”

“Actually, I think this is the most important item I am reporting today.”

“Hm? What is it?”

Looking at Derval’s severe expression, it seemed to be rather important.

“One of the Temir slaves has something to tell you, my lord.”

“A slave? Me? Why?”

They might be slaves, but we didn’t treat them like animals. We even gave them coats made of orc leather to fight off the cold. They also ate a full three meals, worked a maximum of 10 hours per day, and were given one day per week to rest.

“He said he is the son of some chief among the Temir tribes, and that there is something he must tell you about the Temir wyverns.”

“The wyverns?”

My apathy turned into interest. If we swallowed up all the wyverns we were supposed to return to the Havis Kingdom, no one would be able to look upon our territory in disdain anymore, but that went against my conscience, so we could never do that. However, we absolutely needed to increase our wyvern numbers. The hostile Laviter bastards probably wouldn’t attack us this winter, but when spring arrived, there was no knowing when they would strike. There was no way that prideful nation would stay idle after finding out about the kidnapping of their precious Golds and the state of their prince.

“Will you go meet him? I had him brought here; he is waiting outside.”

“Of course, I will hear what he has to say at once.”

“Understood, my liege.”

I even forgot my hunger. My eagerness to increase our wyvern numbers was so intense that I even entertained the idea of going into Laviter territory and stealing them outright. If I had possessed over 200 wyverns, the Havis Kingdom trash wouldn’t have dared to fearlessly step into Nerman.

‘The Temir wyverns are pretty decent, too.’

The Temir wyverns were domesticated with shamanry rather than holy water. Even now, they were an important part of the Orakk Castle’s forces.

Derval’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“My liege, I have brought him over.”

“Come in.”

The door creaked, and two people walked inside.

‘They don’t look particularly different, so why are they considered a different race?’

As far as differences went, at least in my eyes, the Temir looked like Turkish people while Kallians looked like Europeans, but the people here firmly differentiated themselves. I guessed it was something like how westerners had a hard time differentiating Koreans from other Asians but I could easily tell a Japanese apart from a Korean.

“You are in the presence of the Lord of Great Nerman, Count Kyre de Nerman. Show your respect!”

Derval admonished the young Temir man, who was around 180cm tall and had a prominent nose.

“I humbly greet the Lord.”

‘Hm? He can speak well?’

The young Temir man spoke the Kallian common language with a more skillful pronunciation than I expected. His face was so plump that he wouldn’t look like a slave if not for the roughly made orc coat on his shoulders.

“What is your name?:

“I am Kantahar of the Aishwen Tribe.”

Perhaps because he was the son of a chief, Kantahar looked better groomed than the other Temir people.

“Alright, nice to meet you, Kantahar. You had something to tell me?”

I didn’t want to talk in circles.

“My lord, please help the Temir tribes!”

“….?”

Instead of talking about wyverns, Kantahar abruptly begged me for help.

‘Does my face look that kind? Why the hell is everyone asking me to help them?!’

I didn’t think I lived so generously, but everyone asked me for help as if I was a frickin’ saint.

“Why should I help you? Your people are thieves who robbed the lives and property of my citizens.”

There was no need to look like a pushover.

“I am aware. However, that was merely the only choice we could make to survive. If we could live in abundance, we would have never put our lives on the line to fight the Bajran Empire. But… we are hungry! Hunting is difficult because of the monsters and demon beasts, and even when we try to farm, the yield is low. For that reason, we mined jewels and gold to survive, but not only did the heartless merchants renege on their promises many times, but they tried to rob us with horrible prices. My lord, being a slave in this territory has been the happiest time of my life. Even without risking my life to hunt, all I have to do is sweat a little to get three meals a day, and I can sleep easy at night without worrying about monster attacks. On top of that, the honeyed rest day we are provided every week is the first taste of peace I have ever had in my life.”

‘Damn, I’m speechless.

His freedom was taken away and he was being extorted for labor, but he called slavery the happiest time of his life, leaving me with nothing to say. To be honest, you could say that the Temir slaves were living almost as well as the people of Nerman. I felt a bit of sympathy rising in my heart.

“And what does that have to do with me? The reason you guys are being treated so well is merely because of an issue with my conscience. Moreover, the Temir harmed my poor soldiers and people! No matter how hungry you were, robbing from your neighbor is something no human should do.”

“That is a problem between two nations that have been hostile to each other for thousands of years. As you might know, my lord, at one point, Nerman was the land of our ancestors. Our precious land was robbed by foreigners, and the Temir tribes were forced to hide in the northern  Mother Mountains, a barren place where danger lurks everywhere. That is why I am making this request of you, my lord. We do not want much. If you would just grant us the leftover food you do not need, we will create an alliance with you that will not falter even in death. My lord! Saying that one should never attack one’s neighbor in a situation where one’s children and parents are starving is not an issue of morals, but survival.”

‘I really can’t refute that.’

I wasn’t confident. I wasn’t confident that I wouldn’t do the same if my family was about to starve.

‘But this guy, why is he so good at talking?’

Unlike the other Temir, Kantahar was able to discuss lofty philosophical issues with eloquence. I changed my view of him.

“We cannot give this man a definite answer, my liege. From what I have ascertained, the Temir are made up of over 50 tribes, and the decision-making power has been seized by the largest tribe. I do not believe there is any need to listen to the son of the chief of a small tribe, not the largest tribe.”

Derval, who was listening from the side, gave his rational judgement.

“You are correct. However, you are mistaken on one thing. It is not that we are ruled by the largest tribe, but that we follow the orders of the Great Shaman, Lokorïa-nim.”

“The Great Shaman?”

Not much was known about the society of the Temir. In the Bajran Empire, the nation with the greatest land mass on Kallain, the Temir were considered savages and crazed murderers. Among the continent’s curses, ‘You Temir bastard’ was worse than ‘motherfucker.’ Kantahar was telling us about an unknown Temir hierarchy.

“Even someone from the biggest clan must absolutely submit to the command of the Great Shaman, Lokorïa-nim. Lokorïa-nim is the reincarnation of the Mother of All who founded our race.”

‘Could it be one of those legendary evil witches?’

That was my first thought. I envisioned a shaman who bathed in human blood and held an ancestral rite, doing a strange dance with all kinds of disgusting ornaments around her neck. At Kantahar’s explanation, my understanding of the Temir situation increased by just a little.

‘The less developed a society is, the higher the chance they will worship a shaman, the medium of a god.’

Even now, I could see respect, wariness, and fear in Kantahar’s eyes as he spoke about the Great Shaman.

“Please have a meeting with her. If you earnestly request an alliance, my lord, the people of Nerman will no longer face any pain due to our tribes. My lord!!”

“No! We cannot send you to such a dangerous place, my liege! Please forget this man’s words. He is a treacherous conniver who is trying to persuade you to step into danger. He clearly told me he would tell us a method to get wyverns, but now he is telling you to go into the utterly dangerous den of the Temir, and to meet the Great Shaman, at that. There is no need to consider it!”

Derval viewed my safety as more important than anything else. He jumped to his feet and fixed Kantahar with a death glare.

“That’s why I am asking you to meet the Great Shaman! If the Great Shaman gives permission, you will be able to earn dozens of wyverns in one year from the wild wyvern eggs the tribesmen collect! I guarantee it with my life!”

I couldn’t sense a lie from the painful screaming of Kantahar. However, like Derval said, it was an incredibly dangerous proposal. It would be like going into the jaws of a completely unknown enemy. Anyone else would have sent this guy packing.

But that’s what someone else would have done, not me. I was confident I could survive a dragon’s lair, not just the Temir base. And if it didn’t work out, that was that.

“Alright, I will trust your words.”

“!! M-My liege!”

“Thank you! Thank you! My lord!”

Thud, thud.

Kantahar thanked me while bowing so low his forehead struck the ground.

“I-I will go. My liege! You are the hope and future of Nerman. We cannot send you into such danger!”

Derval once again tried to stop me. I smiled at him.

“Don’t worry. I will cleanly handle this opportunity and return, so just believe in me. Have I ever disappointed you, Sir Derval?”

“My liege…”

Knowing he couldn’t defeat my stubbornness, Derval looked regretfully into my eyes. I gave him a light nod.

“When would I be able to leave?”

“You can go anytime, my lord.”

“Really? Then I’ll be right back.”

“S-So fast…?”

Derval was made speechless by my fiery personality. It seemed he hadn’t quite prepared himself yet.

‘Don’t worry. If I don’t like what they have to say, I’ll set the whole place to flames before coming back.’

It was a place I needed to visit once anyway. Otherwise, I would have to lead the soldiers and subjugate them. It really broke my style to have to live in constant fear of their attacks.

‘Huhu. Just wait, you evil shaman! The Lord of Nerman, Kyre-nim, is coming!!’

The Great Shaman Lokorïa, the ruler of the Temir.

I wasn’t afraid of her, I just hoped she had slept well last night.

Because if things went wrong, then today might become the day of her death.

* * *

“He disappeared?”

“I apologize, Princess. We looked everywhere for his whereabouts, but he hid all his tracks.”

“Haah… What a shame. Everything would have come to a perfect close if we could have caught Hanskane.”

In the Royal Palace of the Havis Kingdom, Princess Rosiathe let out a long sigh after hearing that the traitorous Hanskane had escaped.

Starting from the time the nobles and knights went off to Nerman, Rosiathe had been incredibly busy. She gathered the knights and soldiers of the Royal Guard as well as the soldiers of the few nobles loyal to the king, then started a purge.

If even a few important nobles, including Duke Hanskane, had remained in the kingdom, it would have been difficult for her to succeed. But by the grace of the gods, everything had been taken care of, besides one hiccup, the disappearance of Duke Hanskane.

“It is just a guess, but I believe he defected to the Laviter Empire. He was last seen near the Kovilan Mountains.”

“Our greatest concern has become reality. We absolutely needed to catch Hanskane.”

Rosiathe was unable to shed her regret. However, it was spilled milk. All the wyverns from the nobles fleeing from Nerman were captured alive in Calvaron County. After crossing the border, the Nerman Skyknights stopped chasing them, so the nobles had landed one after another in Calvaron County and were captured by the Royal Knights waiting for them.

But to her regret, they were unable to capture Duke Hanskane. For whatever reason, he was the latest to arrive at the county, and he fled after seeing the nobles getting arrested by the Royal Knights. And after staying a short while in the kingdom and feeling out the situation, he disappeared into the Kovilan Mountains, taking the ten or so Skyknights under his banner.

“I believe you should put your regret behind you now, Your Highness. There are many issues to resolve. Most of the kingdom’s territories have become ownerless. We dispatched administrators as a temporary measure, but they cannot exercise the rights that are only available to lords. We must quickly find qualified people among the talented knights and ruined nobles and send them to the territories,” said Duke Safidian, the old, loyal retainer and Rosiathe’s maternal grandfather. He did not withhold any advice towards his royal granddaughter. “Also, we must prioritize bringing the kingdom wyverns currently in Nerman. There is no knowing if the Lord of Nerman, Kyre, will change his mind.”

“You do not have to worry about the wyverns. Kyre… is the person I respect most after my Father.”

Rosiathe expressed strong faith in Kyre.

“Princess, this elder wishes to remind you that there is no one trustworthy in this world other than yourself. The matters of a nation cannot be settled with emotions. It is the law of the world that an enemy today might become an ally tomorrow, and vice versa. Moreover, Nerman can be called the closest enemy nation on our borders. I am thankful that they helped us, but please do not trust them too much.”

His rheumy eyes sparkling, Duke Safidian, a person well-versed in politics and the reality of the world, continued to give unreserved advice.

“I understand. I will engrave your advice deep in my heart, Grandfather.”

“I am much obliged, Your Royal Highness.”

The King of Havis, Germanian, had become more ill lately, and was nearly completely bedridden. Because of that, the important functions of the kingdom were being settled solely by Rosiathe.

“Please tell me if you know anybody worth promoting to nobility, Grandfather. Also, the kingdom’s important agricultural land, the Hanskane Duchy, and the territories of several high-ranking nobles will be turned into sovereign land. We will become a Royal Family that will never again be shaken around by nobles. I shan’t tolerate anyone who dares to resist me or the Havis Royal Family, as long as I draw breath…”

The Flower of the North who once possessed a feeble heart had turned into a ruler who could make such a steely pledge.

Duke Safidian bowed his head to show his respect. He was also a noble, but he was well aware that a kingdom without a properly operating royal family would walk a short road to ruin.

And the Havis Kingdom needed a powerful ruler, now more than ever.

A road where not just one person thrived, but everyone.

That was the kind of road she would forge.