NOVEL WEB
Chapter 38: Lord Volton
A well-built man in his mid-40’s came in with a knight escort and the house superintendent.
With his hand, he gestured for us, who hurriedly stood up from our seats, to sit down.
「Ease up, I am Godwin, the one who governs Volton. I am pretty much entrusted to be the Margrave. This is the house superintendent, Xervus, and the other one is Dorn who I’ve entrusted the Knight order to.」
「I am Xervus, the superintendent of this household.」
A slender, grey-haired man in his 60’s bowed gracefully.
「My name is Dorn, the leader of the Knight Guard Order[1] of the border territory Volton.」
This person is a well-built man in his 50’s with short light blonde hair, wearing silver knight armor, who gave salutations with an unmoving gaze.
「I am Takumi Iruma.」
「Takumi-sama’s Slave, Sophia Sylphide.」
「Likewise Takumi-sama’s slave, Maria.」
Sitting across the table from us, Lord Volton explained the reason for his invitation.
「Today, I asked Papeck-dono to call you for the well hand pumps, toilets affixed with a purifying magic device, and the magic device for the septic tanks which I am most grateful for. As the one governing this town, I want to thank you for developing these.」
Lord Volton lowered his head to thank me.
Seeing me surprised to see a feudal lord lowering his head, Lord Volton laughed.
「Was seeing a noble lowering his head that surprising? If lowering my head improves my territory then I will lower it as many times as you like.」
Xervus-san, the house superintendent, took over the conversation from here.
「Iruma-dono’s invention, the hand pump, has drastically reduced the heavy labor of the citizens. Furthermore, even without the production being done at Bohd village by the border, it is now beyond recognition.」
「Iruma-dono expanded the defensive walls, and owing to your use of something strong for the poor defensive walls of the village, there has been an increase in immigrants in the village.」
I was a bit happy to hear about Bohd Village from Xervus-san who continued from Lord Volton.
Are Vanga-san and Martha-san are doing well? Is Bobon-san working hard on the making the hand pumps?
As I was remembering my time at Bohd Village, Xervus-san continued the conversation.
「Moreover, Iruma-dono developed the toilet affixed with a magic device. This is a remarkable item that has resolved the long-standing problem of this town.」
Xervus-san says that this town of Volton was built as a town with the plan for it to develop into a city so a sewer system was laid out underneath the town. However, they were still racking their brains for a way to deal with the filth that’s accumulated in the septic tanks of the sewer.
I, too, remember the stench of the excrement at that time when I walked in town for the first time, However, I thought it couldn’t be helped if it was at the level of Europe in the middle ages.
There, although the toilets I made also had an impact, it seems that it was thanks to the the magic device that purified the septic tanks that the air in town became cleaner and the inhabitants of the town were pleased.
「Until now, the residents in the slums were commissioned for the clean up of the sewer system and septic tanks, if the generic toilet with the purifying magic device popularizes, we will be able to mediate other jobs for the residents of the slum.」
Given that the magic devices were installed only on the septic tanks, cleaning the sewer tunnels is currently necessary, but even if that will take some time, the intervals between those cleanups can be lengthened.
「The point is, it is because of Takumi-dono that sanitation of the town has improved, and it also a serves as a countermeasure against epidemic. It means we will not sleep with our feet in the direction of Takumi-dono. 」 [2]
「Not at all, I am getting paid for it.」
「It is only natural that you would be paid for it. Iruma-dono is humble.」
In fact, a significant amount of money from the the proceeds from the magic device part of the generic toilet and the patent fee is scheduled to come from now on, so I couldn’t help but say that.
「The following will be from me.」
Dorn-san said that he has to talk about a report from the Guild Master of the Adventurers Guild.
「I have read a report I received from Barack-san. In a place not even a day’s walk from Volton, there was a mid-sized colony of Goblins that the Knight Order had overlooked, and you had subjugated that colony instead of us.」
If a report came from the Adventurers Guild, then it would be better to not act clueless.
「Yes, the three of us and my familiar subjugated them.」
「I thank you for doing the work that us knights should have been doing.」
Dorn-san said that the Knight Order periodically have a campaign to exterminate monsters on the outskirts of Volton. Naturally, exterminating monsters that could become threats take precedence over one or two monsters such as goblins or orcs left behind, but he apologized for not having noticed the colony this time.
「No, the Goblin subjugation was a job from the Adventurers Guild so I must apologize for taken away the job of the knights.」
「Hahahahaha, Iruma-dono is intriguing. Modesty is unnecessary for us knights. We the knights are here to protect Lord Volton, and the Volton territory. Even we are delighted if a menace is eliminated, we would not criticize or do anything of the sort to Iruma-dono.」
That said, the Knights operate for the sake of their master whatever the circumstance may be.
The town of Volton is called an adventurers’ town, and it has many adventurers. Both knights and adventurers often unite to subjugate thieves and monsters.
Some parts of the work of knights and of adventurers often overlap, but it can be compartmentalized in a such a way that the work of the Knight Order is mainly to protect the town, its populace and the feudal lord, while the work of adventurers is focused on monster subjugation and trading company escorts.
「However, listening to this conversation, if it’s a mid-sized goblin colony then the dominating species……… there would have been a Goblin Knight or a General. For that to be defeated by the alchemist Iruma-dono’s party, it is expectedly unbelievable.」
「Iruma-dono’s party member, Sylphide-dono is a magic swordsman who can manipulate spirit magic, a victim of the Triaria Kingdom’s outbursts 50 years ago, and a powerful knight on the battlefield.」
Xervus-san told of Sophia’s past, but Sophia’s countenance didn’t even budge an inch. It might be memories she does not really want to remember.
「Be that as it may, the fact is that the three have the ability to crush the colony. However, I wish Iruma-dono takes his own body into consideration. My territory is still in need of Iruma-dono’s wisdom, after all.」
「I love creating things as well, so I would not be too rash.」
「I earnestly implore you do, because if something were to happen to Iruma-dono, it would not a loss to just the Volton territory, but to the whole kingdom.」
That is too exaggerated, I have little sense of belonging to this country. I would be fine if it is any country other than Triaria Kingdom or the Divine Empire of Sydnia, I’m also fine if it’s at Lomaria Kingdom which is in between Samandour Kingdom and the Divine Empire of Sydnia at the south of the continent.
「(Norn-sama sent me here so I think that means this country might be the right choice though.)」
After that, I received a reward of 50 gold coins from Margrave Volton for the subjugation of the goblin colony.
***
Footnotes:
The Knight Guard order might be the real name of their knight order, formally said as part of the introduction, but I’m not sure. The raws say 近衛騎士団 for here but they simply use 騎士団 for all other parts of the conversation.From what I understand, 足を向けて寝れ is an expression where they says that they owe an extraordinary debt of gratitude to someone and they would never disrespect him. please correct me if I’m wrong.
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