About a week has passed since the banquet in the village at the foot of Mount Gorun ended.

　The village we live in, a former abandoned house, is now Liberty Village, with nearly 20 residents.

　Our dwarf father, who is also an expert woodcutter, has directed the work, from felling the trees to building the houses, and has restored everything that we couldn't repair with our own skills to a habitable state.
　The hauling of the wood has been a struggle, mainly by a powerful young buffalo couple, and in addition, Sarah, the salamander, has been a terrific and monstrous help in the work.

　The tree cutting has been done mainly in the direction of the village at the foot of Mt. Gorun, and we are planning to cultivate the area to be used as a field later on.
　We think it's essential for everyone here to have additional fields in order to have a stable life.　
　
　We've also been working on improving the magical plant in the magical world, which failed before, but that hasn't been very successful...
　If this magic is successful, the leaves of the tree will form several independent colonies, and by fusing any part of the plant you wish to grow into the core of the colony, you will be able to grow the same food as the original plant as a substitute for the leaves of the core. If you fuse multiple plants into the core, you can cross breed them together and see the results of the breeding process right away because it takes less time to grow.
　For that reason, I've always wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, but it's difficult to counteract pests because colonies can only be built high up in the trees, and it's also difficult to harvest the crops, so the question is how to improve the situation.


　The reason why a messenger from King's Landing came to Liberty Village was because everyone in the village was busy doing this and that.
　I've heard that they didn't know the location of the village and had been pondering the area many times, but Foldente, who noticed their presence, brought them here.

　It's not a good idea to get a good message from the capital, but the messenger held out a document to me and said

"Lord Gossage Free.
　For your services in the last Salamander affair, I hereby grant you the title of Viscount of the Frontier by the King's Landing and grant you the autonomy of this entire region.

　...Yes, I'm sorry, what did you say?

　Not only me, but also Eldena the elf and Unna the cat person who was with me and Unna the cat person, all made a stunned expression.
　But for some reason, only Foldente was chuckling as usual...

　Incidentally, the titles of the royal capital can be roughly divided into

　Baron - Viscount - Marquis - Duke - Grand Duke

　of the five levels.
　The Greed family I was disowned by is one of the highest "four dukes" among the Grand Dukes, and it is the highest rank among the nobility.
　What I was appointed to is a title on a par with the second from the bottom, the Viscount.
　It is the lowest title bestowed on nobles who are recognized for ruling in the frontier, and they may be promoted based on their achievements.

　When I checked the resignation letter that was handed to me, it clearly stated that the vast area around Mount Gorun would be my ruling area.
　Presumably, it was the area that was governed by the 411 Frontier Garrison.
　Come to think of it, I heard that that garrison had been abolished and all the knights to which it belonged had been deported...
　This included the village at the foot of Mount Gorun, but other than that, there didn't seem to be any other notable settlements.

　By the way, Greenconvombe, the frontier city closest to Liberty Village, is naturally out of my jurisdiction, but the relative of Erdena, who is in charge of it, is a 'baron' in terms of baronial rank, and I'm higher in rank than him.

　The letter of resignation included, as a matter of course, the payment of taxes to the royal capital.
What do you mean you've been paying for a hundred years in advance?
We are not at liberty to discuss the details with you, as the Chief Communications Officer.
　And that was that.
　I don't know how it's going to happen, but at the end of the resignation letter

The guardian of the gates, Mr. Foldente, is hereby established as the guarantor of Mr. Gossage.

　I think I have a pretty good idea who's behind this.
　We'll have to have a good talk about it a bit later.

　To be honest, I couldn't immediately answer whether or not it was a good idea to accept this or not, but the case from the royal capital has already arrived as a matter of decision.
　
　But right now, rather than that, as a young man with absolutely no experience in estate management, would I be able to manage a fiefdom that would enrich and feed all of the people living in this area... To be honest, I wasn't at all confident that I would be able to do so.

　So, while I was troubled in my room, Erdena came in with a knock on my door.

''Well you seem to be quite troubled.......................I thought it was about that.
　Yes, with a chuckle, he hands me a cup of tea.
''........Since it's you, aren't you trying to take on the responsibility of managing the territory all by yourself?''
　He stood beside me and put his hand on my shoulder.
'You need to rely on everyone else more.
　I'm here too.
　There's Unja-san too.
　They're all willing to help you.
Is it intentional that my name isn't in there?
　Foldente appeared at the door before I knew it, giggling as usual.

Well?　I have absolutely no idea what that means.
　Leaving aside for now Foldente, who blurts out in his usual tone, Eldena turns to me again.
''........There is no one who can do it perfectly. Why don't we all just do it together?　If you do your own ideals here, the ideals you kept thrusting upon your father,
　At Erdena's words, Foldente also nodded repeatedly in satisfaction.

　........................My, ideal?

　The next morning.
　I spent the night thinking about it, and somehow decided to move forward with the appointment of the frontier viscount to manage the estate in a positive way.

　All the villagers are gathered in the living room on the first floor of our house for breakfast, and I tell everyone about this event on the spot.
I did not understand the difficulty.
　I don't understand the difficulty, but I swear that we will follow you.
　Everyone else agreed with Father Dwarf's words, so I felt like I had made a step forward.

　At this point, I told everyone about my own basic policy for managing the estate.

Keep taxes as low as possible.
I will set up a public enterprise and use the profits to finance the estate.
Establish a neighborhood watch to guard and defend the territory.　

　When I told them this, they all buzzed in unison.
　Especially when it comes to taxes.
'That's certainly very much appreciated but are you sure it's all right?'
　In response to Father Hawk's words.
'What you say is true.
　This is just an ideal.
　In the worst case scenario, we may have a situation where public businesses don't perform well and taxes will have to be raised... But even if that happens, I will make sure to explain how it happened, and I will keep the tax increase to the minimum necessary.
　For that purpose, everyone, please lend me your support.
　I nodded my head deeply to everyone.
'.........yes, I have a duly noted, my lord.
　Everyone nodded vigorously at my words, as did my hawk father, who nodded broadly and uttered words of approval.

　''However, what do you want me to do with your work that can be made into a public works project first?''
　Unya puts her index finger to her cheek and cocks her head.

　Yeah.........that's exactly the biggest problem.

　Here, the area around Mount Gorn is rich in nature, but it doesn't produce any particularly rare ores, nor does it have any plants that could become specialties.
　For the time being, we have the income from selling the molted scales of Aura and Aela the other day, so it looks like we can get by, but of course there is a limit to that as well....
Hmm?　Will the molted scales turn to gold?
　Sarah, who had heard me talking to myself, gave me a surprised look.
I said, "Then why don't you dig up the site of the cave I used to live in?　It's disintegrating now, but I'm sure there's a fair amount of my molted scales buried deep inside that thing.
You?　How long have I lived there?
　At Foldente's words, Sarah thought about it, hmmm........
'Well I think it's been fifty years...'
You!　You can't wait to say something important like that!
　
　Anyway, first the contemplative body, Foldente, was going to rush to the site to check out the situation, and we were going to get ready before we left.
　
　After all, these were scales that Sarah had molted in her salamander form.
　And it has been deposited for over 50 years.
　The dragon tribe's entire body scales are renewed every few years when it becomes an adult dragon, but when Sarah, who is easily the size of a small mountain, has more than 50 years' worth of scales that shedding...it's hard to imagine how much more than 50 years' worth of scales could be.
　Dragon scales would weather in a few years if exposed to the wind and rain, but I'm told that Sarah's scales are buried deep in the depths of the cave, and in the soil, so maybe this is promising.

　Just before noon, taking advantage of being a contemplative body, Foldente returned, having transitioned and gone to check out the site.
It looks good. There's a tremendous amount of scaly deposits under the ground.
　Everyone cheered at the report.

　However, Sarah was the only one who didn't seem to feel anything and kept twisting her head with a doubtful expression.

　We decided to go to the site after finishing lunch.

　After lunch, we tried to leave right away, but at that moment, a representative of the village, Alea the Ant People, came from the village at the foot of Mount Gorn with a few Ant People and guards, and I ended up being the one who answered the call.

'Congratulations on your appointment as lord,'
　It seems that a transmission officer from the royal capital had also been sent separately to the village at the foot of Mount Gorn, and Alea congratulated me with a big smile on her face.
''I'm confused by the way things have turned out, myself, but... anyway, I'm looking forward to working with you in the future.
　Alea grabbed my proffered right hand with both of hers and ran it up and down repeatedly.

　After exchanging brief greetings with the group from the village at the foot of Mt. Gorun, we decided to send Alea and her group through the living room on the first floor of the house for a brief meeting about the future.
"...yes? Well what did you just say? .....
　When I told them that we were planning to keep the taxes as low as possible, Alea and the rest of the group in the village at the foot of Mount Gorun all opened their mouths and were stunned.
We're trying to keep taxes as low as possible. Instead, we're planning to set up a public works project that will allow us to run the village.
　When we need people to do this project, I would like to ask the people in the village at the foot of Mount Gorun to help us.
　Naturally, we will guarantee a reasonable wage for all those who do so.
　Alea, who had opened her mouth at my words, finally came to her senses after a long time
Well as a representative of the village, that's great, but what will you do if you can't stand up to it?
'At that point, I'm going to have to be honest with everyone about the circumstances of why it happened and ask them to let me raise my taxes. I promise to keep the tax increase to the minimum necessary. For now, that's it for now, okay?
　My words finally seemed to make sense to her, and she slammed her chest and
"All right, I have it!　As a representative of the village at the foot of Mount Gorun, I promise to do my best to support my lord at that time, Aru!
　Naturally, I'll be happy to help with the public works manpower as well!
　I couldn't help but smile at Alea's words.

　I decided to ask Alea and the others, the union of the village at the foot of Mount Gorun, to manage the village at the foot of Mount Gorun as before.
　Originally, this area had no lords.......or rather, the truth of the matter was that because of the frontier, there were no racial lords to be found in this area, but for that reason, the frontier garrison was also managing the area, and Alea from the union was taking over the role of the village's lord.

　We decided to make adjustments in the direction that the village association at the foot of Mount Gorun would be placed under my direct control and become part of the public organization, and we decided to discuss the details later.

　With this, we can now easily discuss the future management of the village, and now we have to head for the cave site.

Hey, buddy. Don't worry, we'll take our time.
　Anya forced me, who had just seen Alea and her group off, to sit down in a chair and offered me a cup of tea on the table.
This village has just begun. If you don't go slow, you'll fall over.
　Then she smiled at me, smiling in front of my face.
　I sat back in my chair and slowly sipped the tea I'd been served.