Episode 211
“Your Majesty’s words are correct in principle. However, if you want to show your virtue as a true monarch, I think it would be better to show mercy.”
These are completely unexpected words when thinking about the nature of a swordsman.
Logan’s enraged eyes turned to the swordsman for an instant.
“What does that mean?”
The king’s expression hardened as if he had been betrayed by someone he trusted.
‘Master?’
Logan was equally embarrassed.
However, the swordsman spoke again with a calm expression.
“The suppression of the rebels has just been completed. I am worried that applying harsh laws will lead to further chaos.”
“Punishing rebels causes chaos? That’s ridiculous.”
The swordsman’s face did not waver even as he looked at the king’s calm expression, perhaps due to anger.
“The law is strict, but its value is recognized only when it is applied to the right person. I hope you will show mercy.”
“Hahahaha. Like…”
The king’s expression became complicated as he looked at the swordsman and Logan alternately as if he had a lot to say.
But soon his face changed to expressionless.
“Well, if you say that, what can I do when I am powerless? I have to accept it.”
“Your Majesty, you don’t mean that…”
“You two, please go out. I want to be alone.”
It ended with an unexpected reaction.
And until this brief conversation was over, Logan could not bring himself to open his mouth.
“How did you do that?”
On the way out of the royal palace. The swordsman let out a small sigh at Logan’s first words after silence.
“I just said what needed to be said.”
“You’re not taking my side, are you?”
“…They are the remnants of a war that has already ended. I thought that a punishment that would seem excessive in this situation would not be good for His Majesty.”
“I thought you were doing it to stop me.”
“There is something like that.”
Surprisingly, the teacher nodded obediently.
and.
“I took your side this time, but is there really a need to fight with His Majesty like this? Can’t you just bow down a little and go in?”
“How far should I bend?”
“what?”
“I don’t know how Master feels, but I think I have done the bare minimum as a subject. No, honestly, it is more than that. But what should I do if His Majesty disapproves of me? How far should I bend to accommodate him?”
“…Still, he is the monarch we must serve. He is the king, Logan.”
“If we continue to be swayed by His Majesty’s pressure like this, we will not be able to do what we need to do and the empire will eventually collapse.”
“In the end, it’s that sound again.”
“Because we have to save the country.”
At those words, the swordsman sighed deeply and looked into his disciple’s red eyes.
Eyes with a sharp look that is rarely seen.
A disciple who lives as a hero in difficult times with tremendous talent that is difficult to describe in words.
A disciple who met as a benefactor, became a priest, and together helped overcome the country’s crisis.
The disciple was now gradually expressing opinions that were different from his own.
I was curious about what on earth those red eyes were looking at, but I also had a belief that I had lived my whole life. If you can’t understand your student, you can just do the best you can.
I believe that my mindset is right, so I will end up in the same place again.
“…Regardless of whether war will really break out, it is not the duty of a subject to ignore the monarch in the name of serving the country.”
“As I said, it is the duty of a subject to give advice when a monarch takes the wrong path. This is what my teacher told me a long time ago.”
okay. It did.
That is, if it were a normal military-lord relationship.
But as of now, the monarch was hostile to his disciple, and the powerful disciple had no intention of bowing to the monarch.
‘What should I do with this…. I’ll have to strike a good balance.’
As the swordsmith’s worries deepened, Logan looked at his teacher with slightly sad eyes.
In the past, it was said that the three princes had royal fortunes.
If those who made the evaluation were not all wrong, there would certainly be room for improvement in the relationship.
But now there was really no time to waste.
so.
“Master. As you saw today, Your Majesty has no intention of keeping me in check. Even if we let things go this time, if things like this keep happening, it won’t be good for the country. I came up with my own solution…” “
No, I am Your Majesty. “I will persuade you. Just like today. So let’s just skip this time. If you can’t trust His Majesty Logan, trust me. If His Majesty turns against you for no apparent reason, I will definitely stop him first.”
“Also, like this time, they may try to send Master to another direction and do the work.”
“…I refuse. And I will visit Your Majesty often to persuade you.”
“Master…”
Originally, I was planning to leave some of the MacLane Knights in the palace if possible…
‘I can’t believe that the master would refuse the king’s instructions.’
When those words came out of my teacher’s mouth, I couldn’t be more stubborn.
“I understand. I believe it, Master.”
“…okay.”
Logan bowed his head to his teacher who sighed bitterly and turned back.
Now it was time to return to the territory, no matter what.
* * * The knights and crossbow cavalry that had gathered in the capital divided into towns and tarens and returned.
And Logan joined the army heading to Taren.
A workshop that will be the source of the family’s wealth and produce weapons of the future.
The purpose was to check the progress of the construction of the workshop.
Logan, who arrived with them in what was a ‘wasteland’ near Taren, was lost in the sight of the wide ‘plain’ before his eyes, his mouth wide open.
The coming midsummer. People were seen farming here and there in the endless fields where green shoots were growing.
“This… is already over?”
Henderson, who followed right behind, smiled and responded to Logan’s voice muttering as if he was talking to himself.
“Yes, my lord. Even when I left Taren, we were already preparing for farming.”
“how?”
“yes?”
“I didn’t expect this to be completed within this summer?”
Logan’s surprise was natural.
A land several times larger than the former McLane Wasteland.
Moreover, since the rivers are further away, it is twice as difficult to supply water by digging a canal in the field.
It was Logan who had already heard the report before.
As such, I thought it would be next year at best to start farming…
“With nearly a thousand dwarves gathered, the speed of construction was really noticeable. Just like that one over there.”
As I turned my head to follow Henderson’s gesture, I saw in the distance a horse carrying a dwarf plowing the field, pulling dozens of pieces of equipment similar to hoes attached to it.
“They said it was an alloy, but I didn’t understand. It weighs only 1/10th of steel, but it’s much sharper, so it’s a piece of equipment that sticks into the ground easily. Now that workshops are starting to produce equipment like that, it’s natural that work speeds up. Let’s do it.”
“Ah…! The attack and defense are already working properly?”
“Yes. It is already becoming famous as a city of artisans in the central region. Because the treatment is so good, many human artisans flock here. In addition, Hamar’s name is also becoming famous.”
Seeing Henderson with a proud expression on his face gave Logan a sense of reality.
‘okay. Hamar too… Well, he deserves it.’
Strictly speaking, Hamar was Logan’s slave, but everyone in McLane had been respecting Hamar since before.
It was a due courtesy to the developer of the weapons that brought about McLane’s prosperity.
It is safe to say that it was perhaps a little too late for his fame to spread outside.
“They said that the magic tower’s trainee wizards were also very helpful in clearing farmland.”
“Apprentice wizards? How?”
“I can’t use a golem, but even the simple Dig spell was a great help in construction. Clayton told me to help with construction by training….” ”
Hmm?”
“Construction is training. It was also engraved at the entrance to the newly built magic tower. To be honest, I still don’t know what it means.”
“Ah hahaha…”
Maybe he had ruined not only Clayton’s personality but also the Golem School’s very tenets.
Logan, who had been involuntarily laughing at that thought, soon came to his senses and tried to change the topic.
“Hmm. So it’s good if it’s developed quickly.”
If the Shin McLane Plain, the Bipros Plain, and now this place were to be reborn as plains, the grain production from these three areas alone would be enough to feed half of the kingdom’s citizens.
That means.
“It means there is no need to worry about military supply. No matter how much we mobilize.”
“yes?”
“No, no. Let’s go into the city quickly. If this place is like this…”
“Wouldn’t the mine have been completed?”
The moment those words came out, the speed of the horse carrying Logan became a little faster.
“It is the Archduke!”
“Check your identity! Open the door!”
That’s it.
Even though there was an excessive mobilization of power, Taren’s security posture remained the same.
And the scene seen after that was so different from what Logan saw before heading to the Empire that it could be said to be a world of difference.
“Huh… this is cool.”
Naturally, I couldn’t help but let out an exclamation.
Even though there were stone buildings of at least three stories or more lined up as far as the eye could see, they had uniform standards and light texture and design, giving a very refreshing and clean feeling.
The sight of neat, stone-paved roads with regular intervals between the many buildings, like a chessboard, seemed to double that feeling even more.
On the road, people who appear to be craftsmen or workers are bustling back and forth, carrying or carrying equipment.
At the center of the flow stood a tall building with an especially impressive huge roof that made one wonder how it was built.
“In just 7-8 months…”
A huge building with no traces of the unfinished workshop that Logan saw before leaving.
I could only guess that the newly completed Golem Tower was rising one or two floors higher in the center.
‘Should we move the center of McLane here? Dad, you probably have some regrets about Bipros Castle and Town. ‘I’m sure this place will become more important.’
I had never been inside the fortress city of Taren in my past life, but I had no idea that it would be better than here now.
Moreover, if the newly reclaimed wasteland begins to produce crops in earnest, it can be said that there will be no food problem, which is a common characteristic of mining cities.
‘I think it would definitely be better to build a new town for farmers to live in in the middle of the developed farmland and operate the taren as it is.’
While Logan was looking at the completed city and making plans for the future again, a familiar voice struck his ear.
“Woah! The owner is here!! I tried to meet you before you came in, but I was late. My legs are short. Hahaha.”
A welcome voice.
When he heard the voice of someone he wanted to praise, Logan smiled brightly and turned his head.
“Hippo…le?”
However, seeing Hamar for the first time, he could not help but be dazed.
