Chapter 15 – Refugees and Bandits (1)
The refugees living in the slums of the town beneath the lord’s castle.
They had drifted into the Marcel territory from the inland regions of the France Kingdom.
Most of them had simply fled south to escape harsh forced labor, heavy taxes, and enslavement.
None of them had come because they had heard that Marcel was a good place to live.
They had only come with the faint hope that, since there was a port by the sea, they might somehow be able to find work.
But Marcel was a poor territory.
It did not have enough resources to feed all those refugees, and once hunger set in, many of them easily fell for the temptation of bandit groups.
That was the reason Marcel was overflowing with both refugees and bandits.
I left the lord’s castle on horseback with Martin, Knight Commander Axel, and several soldiers.
We headed toward the slums of the town below the castle.
With so many refugees pouring in, the slums had grown enormously.
“Our goal is to settle those refugees in pioneer villages.”
Martin responded.
“But I heard there’s no way to expand the farmland any further. The Great Forest around here belongs to orcs and goblins, so pushing farther in is difficult.”
“Difficult or not, we have to do it.”
I pointed toward a group of small children sitting together.
The children were simply sitting beneath the sunlight with empty expressions.
They were too hungry to even have the strength to run around and play.
Martin, being the upright man that he was, looked at them with a pained expression.
“Hunger creates bandits. Our first objective is to settle the refugees in pioneer villages while eliminating the bandit groups at the same time.”
Martin clenched his fist as if steeling his resolve.
First, we urged our horses toward a pioneer village near the Great Forest to inspect the current situation.
When horses they normally never saw suddenly appeared, the villagers seemed startled.
They rushed out in a crowd carrying weapons.
Apparently, they had mistaken us for bandits.
They remained cautious until they recognized Knight Commander Axel’s face.
“Oh my, Knight Commander! You nearly scared ten years off my life. What brings you all the way out here?”
“Haha! I brought the new lord with me.”
I dismounted and stepped forward.
“I am Eric Marcel. Are you the village chief here?”
“Yes, my lord. I am the chief of this village, Comansville.”
“What does Comansville mean?”
“It means the Village of Beginnings.”
The name reminded me of the tutorial village in an RPG.
“Sounds like the kind of place where horned rabbits and wolves would spawn right outside the village.”
“How did you know?”
Seriously?
“...Just a guess.”
“Not only that, but goblins also appear in the Great Forest. Apparently, a large alliance of goblin tribes lives nearby.”
I wondered how he could possibly know that while sitting here in the village without ever venturing deep into the Great Forest.
Maybe he was using some kind of magic.
“How do you know whether they’re actually an alliance or not?”
“There’s a goblin among them who learned the human language. Sometimes he comes to the logging site, makes a lot of noise, and then leaves. He talks so much that my ears feel like they’re going to bleed.”
Tch.
If it had been magic, I might have found some way to make use of it.
What a disappointment.
“Sounds like an unusual individual with high intelligence.”
“Yes. And he’s so fast that we can’t catch him.”
As I spoke with the village chief, I looked around Comansville.
It was fairly large for a pioneer village.
Most of the adult population worked in farming, making it a typical agricultural village.
The villagers wore bright expressions, and their nutritional condition did not look bad either.
There were especially many children.
They were completely different from the exhausted children in the slums.
They ran around playing with bright smiles, and their cheeks were pleasantly plump.
To me, it looked like a village with hope.
A village with a future.
There were also several clean wells throughout the village, allowing the residents to easily obtain fresh water.
Drainage channels had been installed as well, keeping the backyards of each house neat and clean.
There also seemed to be a proper system for disposing of the village’s waste, which kept the entire area clean.
There was a communal warehouse where farmers could safely store crops and tools, as well as a shared workshop for textiles and crafts.
Everything seemed to function smoothly.
The village chief responsible for maintaining such an orderly village was clearly very capable.
“Are you the one managing the village?”
“I do it together with my sons.”
“Impressive. I’ve never seen a village managed this well.”
The village chief broke into a broad smile, apparently pleased by my praise.
“Thank you, my lord.”
“If there are any supplies you absolutely need, submit a request to the administration. I’ll squeeze the budget dry if necessary and get them for you.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“And prepare yourself. I want to inspect the newly cleared land.”
The village chief hurriedly prepared to leave, then began guiding us.
We crossed several large fields and headed toward the thick forest.
A short while later, we arrived at the land currently being cleared.
Several villagers were chopping trees with axes, while young men carrying wooden spears guarded them nearby.
“This is the area we’re currently clearing. But progress has been slow because goblins occasionally appear. They haven’t actually harmed anyone, but they come over and start shouting from time to time, so the villagers are frightened.”
Fortunately, the orc tribes seemed to be located far from here.
Orcs had cruel dispositions and ate practically anything they could catch.
They even regarded humans as prey.
Compared to them, goblins were far easier to deal with.
“Why are the goblins coming all the way here to threaten you?”
“They seem to believe that humans are interfering with their hunting and gathering.”
“Interfering, huh? Then I suppose we should interfere with them very aggressively.”
I extended my hand toward a massive tree.
“Golem Creation.”
—Krakakakak!
The tree trunk began splitting and breaking apart.
Then, as though the tree had come alive, its branches became arms and its roots became legs.
A massive Wood Golem began taking shape.
What the hell? Why is it so big?
The maximum size of a golem that could normally be created with [Low-Rank Golem Creation] was about 2.5 meters for a Stone Golem and around 5 meters for a Wood Golem.
But the Wood Golem in front of me looked more than ten meters tall.
Was it because the blessing of the God of Abundance had changed the skill into [Useful Low-Rank Golem Creation]?
Of course, it still could not release mana.
When I examined it through my mana sense, its combat strength seemed roughly equivalent to an E-rank Hunter.
By the standards of this world, that would be about the level of a low-tier Sword User.
Meanwhile, the reactions of the people around me were intense.
“A-A monster...”
“Eek! The lord created a monster!”
“Oh, God! Are you here to take my life today?!”
It wasn’t only the villagers making a fuss.
My own group was shocked as well.
Martin had occasionally seen mages back in Westphalen, so he merely stood there with his mouth hanging open.
Knight Commander Axel, on the other hand, reacted much more strongly.
“Impossible! Is this the power the God of Abundance bestowed upon you, my lord? My goodness... If you had just a hundred creatures like this, you could establish your own kingdom!”
I chuckled at his words.
“I can only make two of them. And despite their size, they’re weaker than knights.”
“The number is a little disappointing, but it’s still an incredible ability.”
“It is impressive. Especially because it’s so easy to activate.”
Magic in this world required preparations.
When drawing a magic circle for large-scale magic, mana stone powder or mana stone chalk was needed.
Even when activating the spell itself, materials were required to act as a medium.
Hunter abilities, on the other hand, could simply be activated instantly.
The only thing they required was mana.
That was why I believed the Hunter System would be extremely useful in managing this territory.
Its abilities were simply too convenient.
Anyway, I gave an order to the completed Wood Golem.
“Golem, starting from here, pull out every tree and pile them up in separate areas. If goblins appear, kill them.”
—Kuuuuu.
The Wood Golem grabbed a nearby tree after receiving my order.
It wrapped its arms around the trunk and applied force.
—Creeeeak!
Something inside the tree began cracking.
Then the roots slowly started rising from the ground.
—Snap! Snap!
The sound of smaller roots breaking continued without pause.
Once the tree had been completely uprooted, the golem laid it down off to one side.
“Waaaaah!”
The pioneer villagers, who had been silently watching in fear, suddenly erupted into cheers.
Not only was the logging speed incredible, but the roots were being removed at the same time.
Normally, they could remove roots by covering the cleared area with a large iron pot and burning them, but the soil here contained a lot of moisture, so even that looked difficult.
“Golem Creation.”
I created another Wood Golem and put it to work.
Whenever they encountered an especially massive tree, the two golems worked together to tear it apart.
With two Wood Golems working at once, the speed of logging became absurdly fast.
If I also ordered them to level the cleared ground afterward, it seemed possible to build an entire village in no time.
As expected, nothing beats golems when it comes to manual labor.
I looked proudly at the Wood Golems for a moment before calling the village chief back over and explaining my migration plan.
“We’ll use Comansville as the central base and move refugees here. I want you to start planning new pioneer villages farther inside, spreading outward like a spiderweb.”
“M-Me? You want me to plan it?”
The village chief looked dumbfounded.
Naturally, he would be shocked after suddenly being handed such a massive responsibility.
But I had no intention of making him work without compensation.
“Yes. I’ll personally appoint the chiefs of the new villages, but I’ll choose them from among the people you recommend.”
In other words, I was giving the village chief influence over the new pioneer villages.
And that authority would come directly from the lord.
“It is an honor, my lord.”
“If you succeed in establishing many pioneer villages, I’ll also grant you a family name. So work hard.”
In other words, I would raise him into the lower ranks of nobility.
The village chief’s grin stretched from ear to ear.
I intended to use power and honor as bait to make him speed up the development of the territory.
As for the villagers, they would gain more farmland.
That would be their reward.
“I’ll leave the golems here for the time being and have them continue working.”
After ordering the golems to obey the village chief, I mounted my horse again.
I was busy.
There was still far too much work to do.
At the entrance to the slums beneath the lord’s castle, an administrator posted a notice and shouted loudly.
“We are recruiting families willing to move to the pioneer villages! Anyone interested should read the notice and visit the administration office!”
The administrator hired several public readers—people who read documents aloud for those who were illiterate—then left the slums.
The refugees soon gathered around the notice.
“Excuse me. I can’t read. Could you read it for me?”
The hired readers began reading the notice aloud.
“We are recruiting applicants willing to relocate to newly constructed pioneer villages. The requirements are as follows. First, the applicant must be registered as a resident of the territory... Those who meet the requirements should apply at the administration office.”
The refugees began talking among themselves.
“Sounds like a pretty good opportunity. What do you think?”
“We should finally settle down somewhere. I’m ashamed to keep putting my family through this.”
Most of the refugees wanted to seize the opportunity and finally settle down.
Some of them had wandered for only a few months.
Others had wandered for years.
However, just as the famous saying went—
When five humans gather, at least one of them will always be trash.
There were also refugees who wanted to take advantage of the system without doing any work.
“I’m definitely applying. They said they’ll give us food and farming tools, right? I’ll take everything and sell it.”
“Hey, didn’t you hear? They said they’ll cut your head off if you take the supplies and run.”
“I’ll just escape to a bandit group. I’ll bet all my wealth and one of my wrists that they won’t catch me.”
There were more than just one or two people thinking like that.
Many planned to take whatever they could, run away, and eventually return to the slums.
And among the crowd of refugees, one man quietly slipped away.
A short while later.
Pascal, the chief of civil affairs, entered my office.
“My lord, I’ve returned after checking the refugees’ opinions.”
“Good work. You weren’t too emotionally wounded, were you?”
“I was fine because you warned me in advance, my lord.”
I had warned him beforehand not to be surprised if many refugees planned to take the supplies and run.
Pascal was an intelligent man.
But because he had spent most of his life studying, he did not properly understand how people at the bottom of society lived.
That was why I had sent him there.
I wanted him to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, and experience it himself.
“Remember this well. Poverty turns decent people into bandits. That’s why we have to do our best when governing this territory.”
“Yes, my lord.”
At that moment, Raul, Martin, and Knight Commander Axel, whom I had summoned in advance, entered the room.
“Perfect timing. Let’s figure out how to wipe out the bandit groups together. As long as they remain active, the refugees will continue to be easily tempted.”
We gathered around and put our heads together.
We shared the locations where we believed the bandits were stationed and began discussing how to approach and eliminate them.
Axel first reported what he had learned after interviewing the knights.
“According to the knights, whenever soldiers move in to attack, the bandits scatter in every direction and run away. We need a way to approach them without being noticed.”
“If we approach on horseback, the ground will shake and they’ll notice us immediately. We’ll have to move on foot.”
“They know the terrain around their hideouts very well. Even if a large group moves on foot, they’ll probably notice us quickly.”
While Axel and I were thinking, Martin offered a new suggestion.
“Why don’t we hire a mage?”
