Dictator From Outer Space

Sagris Silver Mine became the center of attention two months after it reopened.

Not only politically, but also because a large population gathered around it.

There were only about 200 miners, but they demanded so much supplies and food that a village was formed nearby.

It was not only because more silver ore was produced than expected, but also because the treatment of the miners was good.

Usually, mining was a job where countless miners died.

—No deaths in two months? How much money are you spending?

—You should save the money and hire more miners! Baron Vandus doesn’t know how to dig the land.

—You should reduce the rest time and put them to work. I don’t understand why you are so nice to the miners.

The influential people who came to see from the royal road all pointed out that Leobold was running the mine inefficiently.

They saw that there were more corners to squeeze out labor costs, but he was investing more money instead.

However, the administrators were surprised when they saw that the amount of silver produced from the mine was stabilized despite the small number of workers.

“The efficiency of Sagris is three times higher than that of Baron Madred’s silver mine. Of course, there are many factors to consider, such as the depth and content of the ore, but Sagris is still overwhelming.”

“There was a lot of criticism at first for investing a lot of money, but as the mine stabilized, it actually dropped to a normal level. The wages went down because skilled miners were working.”

“Therefore, we can say that preserving skilled workers is much more efficient than employing a large number of unskilled workers.”

The administrators who examined the situation of the mine closely gave this analysis, but that was it.

The nobles who actually ran the mines did not want to change their stance.

It was not a joke to invest the funds needed to change to Sagris style, and if they failed, they would lose a lot.

They did not want to take risks, so there was no change. They were satisfied with the current system of replacing miners.

There were also quite a few nobles who hated investing a lot of money in commoners.

—Why do you have to invest so much in those lowly things? There are plenty of replacements.

—Just feed them enough and let them sleep. Don’t ask for too much.

—Baron Vandus has a bad habit. He says he has to rest one day a week. When does he work?

—He also supplies bread and cheese as much as they want in between meals. Does he want to make pigs out of the miners?

In Astera, there was a strong concept of training one’s body.

It originated from the knights who trained their bodies harshly, but they applied it equally to commoners.

They did not have the concept of calories, so they thought that food should be supplied only enough to not die.

They did not care if the miners exposed to harsh environments became weak or died. 

They just blamed the weakness of commoners.

The nobles did not have to go into the mine, so they could say that.

On the other hand, Sagris Silver Mine guaranteed enough rest and treatment, and supplied materials for them to eat as much as they wanted.

They also invested a lot of money in safety and succeeded in reducing the number of casualties to an extreme.

These efforts were ridiculed by other nobles, but the administrators who checked the actual information on site had strange expressions.

“Securing safety actually increases production.”

“The morale of the miners is also high and there are many advantages.”

“Usually when people go into mines, they try to waste time and avoid work, but here they are eager to work.”

“They get different treatment depending on how much they produce per team. They rank them.”

Baron Vandus created this good environment, but he cracked down on crimes such as theft thoroughly.

There were quite a few petty thieves who tried to pocket some pieces by attaching pockets to their clothes in mines where silver ore was produced.

They were immediately caught and forfeited all their wages and had to leave the site.

And they could never be hired again.

Thanks to this, some miners from the royal road who heard rumors got an unexpected opportunity and found jobs.

They were tempted by the news about Baron Vandus’s territory.

“They serve such good meals every day?”

“There is a drawback that you have to match the time, but anyway there is no one starving in our territory. Even if you lose an arm or a leg, the administrator will give you work and pay you.”

“Do you know what people who made money with herring in winter are doing now? They hired migrants and made boats. They are doing their own business.”

“Savings?”

“You can save about one or two silvers a month if you are decent.”

Savings led to various investments and developments that tempted many technicians who came to work at the mine.

In Bagran, commoners could hardly save money no matter how good their skills were.

The nobles who had all the power used all kinds of taxes and harsh systems to take away even the dust.

They were busy living from day to day, and they could not dream of saving. Most of them could not escape their position for life.

If you were born a farmer, you were a farmer until you died.

But in Baron Vandus’s territory, they had a chance to escape from that fate.

Of course, they could not completely exclude the element of luck and they had to work hard, but at least there was a small way to success.

So the technicians from the royal road who came to work at the mine fell for this temptation.

—Baron Vandus only looks at skills. They say you can earn money according to your ability there.

—There is no work anyway, so why don’t we go? It’s better to go to a quiet territory and earn a little than to be harassed by nobles in the royal road.

—The Vandus barony was not a quiet domain. It was noisy and bustling these days. They were even working on sewer construction using golems.

—They should use Goliath for that. They only have four of them, right? The neighboring lords must be drooling over them.

—Well, they’ll do whatever they want. Anyway, I have to take my family and go to that place where there’s a lot of work.

There was a group of people called freemen in the royal road of Bagran.

They were people who did not belong to any domain, and most of them had their own skills. 

Except for some domains, they had no restrictions on moving their residences.

Their occupations were diverse, ranging from miners, carpenters, fishermen, stone masons, craftsmen, former bureaucrats, and so on. 

They were the people who were essential for the Vandus barony.

They went to a village near the silver mine to check the atmosphere and ended up promising to settle in the domain by accident.

“They’ll give us a subsidy if we settle with our families? We can’t miss this.”

“It wouldn’t be bad to work hard for a few years and return to the royal road.”

That’s where the trap was.

Once they got used to the Vandus barony, they couldn’t help but feel that other domains and even the royal road were outdated.

But the freemen didn’t have enough time to know these things.

After settling in the domain, they experienced various facilities, rational policies, and high wages firsthand. 

It was too late to get out by then.

Thus, the recruitment of talents through the Sagris silver mine began to accelerate.

The Vandus barony, which had only about 500 people at first, soon boasted a population of over 1,000 and had an overflowing budget.

As this happened, the neighboring lords and Count Lantis began to covet it.

—The silver that was abundant in the barony disappeared. He must have a huge amount of silver.

—The only military force of the Vandus barony is four Goliaths and dozens of soldiers. If two domains join forces, they can easily win.

—The problem is the royal guard. According to rumors, he’s going to the royal road with his daughter. That’s our only chance.

However, there was a lot of pressure to attack directly.

It was because both Prince Ruad and the king were paying attention to him.

Having a lot of money alone was not enough reason, and even if they won, there was a high possibility that they would not get approval.

Moreover, Princess Eolin and Count Lantis joined forces and gave courage to the lords.

“It’s not him that His Highness and His Majesty are interested in, but the floating continent and the silver mine.”

“So if we capture him and make him rebel against the royal family, they will be satisfied enough. Don’t worry about the reason. A powerful noble from Zaium will take care of it. You just quietly gather your troops.”

The fiance of Eolin, Duke Prozan, was in a position where even Bagran III could not easily touch him as the ruler of a large domain with a population of over one million.

If he stepped in, things might go easier than expected.

Of course, Duke Prozan was known to be greedy and interested in Bagran’s internal affairs.

He would surely make various demands, but it was enough to tear off some of Vandus barony’s wealth.

Of course, this cute conspiracy was exposed to Arma as soon as it started.

Most of the observation methods were invalidated by magic, but he could clearly see the gravity itself.

Arma was tracking the movements of key figures such as Princess Eolin and Count Lantis and managed to find their secret meetings.

And he succeeded in confirming their plot by analyzing their lip movements and attaching microbots to their carriages.

“Master, Princess Eolin and Count Lantis intend to attack us. It is expected that Duke Prozan of Zaium will support them and three lords under Count Lantis will directly attack us.”

“It seems like they’ve reached their limit of patience.”

He had been trying hard to look appetizing for a while, but it seemed like they finally decided to take action.

The current Vandus barony had too few troops that even Granden and Carson argued that they needed more Goliaths.

But Leobold thought that if he wanted to secure more land in this stagnant situation, he had no choice but to wage war with other domains.

He needed at least some reason, so he created an environment where the other side would declare war on him.

Fortunately, his plan worked out exactly as he wanted and some people became ambitious enough to attack him.

He could ignore the rumors and ask for compensation from Eolin and Lantis instead of blaming them. It would be enough to get one domain from them.

They wouldn’t agree, of course, but in Astera, power was justice.

***

Duke Prozan had to listen to his fiancee’s tantrum for two hours.

Eolin of Bagran was wearing a fancy dress and a sapphire jewelry set that was the latest trend, but to him, she looked like a country bumpkin who clumsily followed Zaium’s social fashion.

Anyway, the important thing was not her, but what she whined about.

“A baron who colludes with shadow elves and controls demons with black magic? Do you think this is the Dragon War era?”

“That’s not important, Your Grace. The important thing is that we can secure a reason. Baron Vandus is the only one who can land on the floating continent. You can’t forget that.”

Duke Prozan stroked his chin with a ‘hmm’ at Emil’s explanation, his chief aide.

He was not interested in the Sagris silver mine, but he was very interested in the floating continent.

It was because he had invested heavily in the expedition sent there.

Zaium’s original plan was to follow the Vandus barony’s expedition and land on the continent, but the plan was ruined by the blue dragon incident and now they were just wandering around.

Wasting a huge amount of operating costs.

“If we can get rid of those bastards and land on the floating continent…”

“That’s why it’s important to secure Baron Vandus. The only thing I’m worried about is that their military force is not satisfactory.”

“Is their military force poor compared to their budget?”

“Yes. They only have four Goliaths. And they’re all Raums.”

“They’re still using that trash?”

The model was easy to maintain and popular among mercenaries, but at this point, it was hard to send it to the front line even in a small-scale local war.

It had a small core and an outdated structure that made it difficult to modify. It was a model that should have been extinct long ago.

Duke Prozhan wondered why the baron had such a thing in his territory. 

He had plenty of money and could afford to buy at least ten decent models. 

Did he have no connections?

“The territory has a knight guard named Granden. He is old, but his skill is not inferior to a high knight. Maybe he trusts him.”

“We’ll move when he leaves the territory… That’s the orthodox way, but it seems suspicious somehow.”

It seemed like Baron Vandus was luring him in.

And the baron’s own power was not to be underestimated.

He was a lowly mercenary, but he subdued three of them at the same time.

It was hard to find out the situation at that time, but he thought it was not a big problem.

‘He’s just a wandering mercenary, he can’t be a proper knight. He must have set a trap.’

In short, Baron Vandus was suspicious, but he was nothing more than a being that would crumble easily if he stepped in.

He had some protection from the Bagran royal family, but it was not a big deal.

“Then let’s wrap it up. You just need to give me a reason to attack the baron, and Count Lantis will take care of it himself, right?”

“He will mobilize his subordinates instead of taking action himself. He also implied that he wanted your support.”

“Is the count so incompetent that he needs my help against four Raums?”

“Not that incompetent, but he is worried about the baron’s skill that sent back the Elvrande’s judge with only four Raums.”

“Well, I can understand that. That elf is as blunt as his skill, and he never shows mercy to anyone.”

He named his airship Altemaran and even offered a prize for it.

He was crazy to meet that elf.

But strangely enough, Tirenzel left Baron Vandus’ territory without much protest.

He had conflicts and even duels with some nobles in Zaium. It was a strange thing.

“What do you think? The elf who knocked down the nobles who claimed Altema as a god left quietly… Isn’t that weird?”

“It’s ridiculous to say that he colluded with the shadow elves and learned black magic to control the demons. And now there’s a rumor that he’s connected with the elf… To be honest, I don’t think it makes sense.”

“And we have to push that rumor, don’t we?”

“It will have an effect soon if we spread it moderately. There is substance to it.”

What Astera needed was power and a decent reason.

That was enough to push them back, as shown by the 200-year history of conflict with Elvrande.

Duke Prozhan finally decided to overthrow Baron Vandus.

“I don’t trust these guys, so you’ll have to step in, Emil.”

“I will follow your order.”

If Emil, the pride of Zaium and a high knight, stepped in, he could easily take over the small territory of the small kingdom.

After that, all that remained was to land on the floating continent and scrape off some gold.

***

The visit of Princess Eolin had an effect, and a strange rumor began to circulate in Zaium’s social circles.

It was that Baron Vandus colluded with the shadow elves.

He also used black magic to control demons.

It was an absurd slander if you thought about it for a moment, but the social circles were always interested in it.

The more stimulating, absurd, and fatal rumors spread faster and became more concrete.

—Baron Vandus went to Pirate Island himself and made a deal. He said he would pay silver as a price. Didn’t he happen to have a silver mine?

—Did he ask for the operation rights of Sagris Silver Mine to give it to the shadow elves?

—It’s suspicious that the appearance of demons stopped abruptly in the silver mine. The baron’s household has nothing to do with black magic, but he should explain himself to clear the suspicion.

It would have been nice if it ended there, but Duke Prozhan, the grand duke of Zaium Empire, directly contacted the Bagran royal family.

—It would be nice if Baron Vandus appeared in person at the palace and explained himself. We will also attend then.

He had to do so because he was going to be Princess Eolin’s husband.

The Bagran royal family could not ignore him and gave him a chance to explain himself. 

The nobles took it well.

Prince Ruad sighed when he realized where the rumor came from.

“You did this, Eolin. You blew the wind.”

Eolin shamelessly decided to go out.

“It’s Baron Vandus’ fault, brother. He doesn’t let go of anything and loses his reputation.”

“We had nothing to do with his success. And you want him to give up something?”

“I didn’t ask him to give up anything. But he could at least show some courtesy. He’s ignoring everyone, the grand duke and the royal family. He doesn’t even visit the palace when he comes to the direct territory. Is meeting those damn bugs more important than the nobles?”

Her perception of the free people, or technicians, who settled in Baron Vandus’ territory was revealed in her words.

She grew up in the palace as a princess who had nothing to do with succession, so she had no realistic sense.

Prince Ruad knew that they were the backbone of the country, but he didn’t say anything.

The important thing now was to calm down this commotion.

“You caused this, so you solve it yourself. Go to Duke Prozhan right now and tell him it was a misunderstanding.”

“Why do I have to do that? If I wait a little longer, Baron Vandus will give up something.”

“You’re frustrating. Do you think Zaium will just sit back and watch if they get involved? They will rush in from all sides and tear it apart. Do you think we have a share in that?”

“…The duke promised me.”

“What’s the point of having Vandus territory? If all you get for paying Zaium a year’s worth of the grand territory’s budget is your luxurious lifestyle, then it’s meaningless.”

Prince Ruad was frustrated and pulled out a document.

“Look. The budget around Sagris Silver Mine is comparable to a year’s budget of a decent territory. It’s nonsense to say that we don’t get any benefit from it.”

But Eolin didn’t back down.

“What does the wages of the commoners matter? What matters is what helps our golden bloodline that protects Bagran.”

Her words revealed the way the nobles of Bagran treated the commoners.

She didn’t know anything about economics, so she didn’t know how important the money that circulated at the bottom was.

On the other hand, Prince Ruad was in charge of the budget office on behalf of the king, so he knew how important it was to circulate money like this.

But Eolin’s counterattack was not easy either.

“What good does it do for us if the commoners make money? They will have other thoughts when they have money and leisure. How can you guarantee that they won’t oppose us?”

It was human nature not to want to share power.

Baron Vandus’ current actions were clearly against that.

Of course, it was forbidden to judge his influence, but the possibility itself could not be denied.

Eolin and the other nobles of Bagran hated the situation itself where Baron Vandus shook the existing order.

Prince Ruad knew that too, so he couldn’t say anything.

He was also a noble with ether instead of blood.

He heard Eolin’s voice as if telling him to give up.

“And it’s too late. Zaium won’t back down now. You just watch how my husband deals with the baron.”

He doubted if it would go as she wished.

Prince Ruad remembered Baron Vandus’ cold eyes.

He didn’t think he would just take a beating like this.

But he had no choice but to face Zaium’s grand noble.

‘We can’t help him either…’

It was hard for the royal family to intervene directly in the relationship between Zaium and Bagran.

Ruad was really curious how he would overcome this crisis.

‘Maybe I should prepare for the worst…’

He turned away from Eolin, who had a confident face, and left the annex.