174 . Inspection   Preface



 Finally, in three days, a delegation will arrive.
 The results of the tour will determine whether Liberty can move from a small frontier city to a frontier city.

 Until two or three decades ago, it wasn't so difficult to make the transition to a frontier city.
 However, as a result of the establishment of frontier cities based on such loose criteria, there are apparently many frontier cities in underpopulated areas far away from the capital that have become desolate and lonely with no lords.

 Many of these outlying cities used to attract people for one reason or another, and were promoted to outlying cities with the momentum they had, but since that reason disappeared, they are said to have been left abandoned as a result.
 There are various reasons for this, such as the discovery of a vein of some kind, but the vein dried up, or a prosperous stopover point on the road rapidly became desolate as a stopover point for the road was built elsewhere, but the common denominator is that the lord threw it out when it became useless, and no one wanted to take over afterwards.
 As a result, many of these frontier cities are managed by the shopping street associations within each city, and in fact, their function as cities has collapsed.

 As a result, the inspection system was launched.
 As a result, the inspection system was launched. The inspection was used to determine whether or not a city could be promoted as a frontier city, based on a comprehensive assessment of the city's future potential, the leadership of the lord, the existence of a sub-landlord in the event that the lord had an emergency, and the functioning of the city hall.

 We've already prepared the required charts of the number of Liberty's residents for the past few months, the financial statements, and the organization chart for the guards, among other things.

 As for the financial documents that are supposed to be reviewed thoroughly, the ants have been mobilized and led by the ants of the finance section's Alea, so I think it should be okay.
 In the past, when this area was a village at the foot of Mount Gorn, Alea was in charge of all operations including the settlement of accounts for the village.
 Whenever I suddenly ask him something, he responds in a very short period of time with an accurate and unmatched answer because his documents and books are always neatly organized.
 When I was being promoted to an outlying small city, I remember the time I was screened in the capital, Alea handled all financial matters perfectly, and the person in charge of the capital was overwhelmed from start to finish.

 Ants work really hard.
 In particular, the ants are particularly good at financial accounting, which involves numbers and money, and they always keep our books, documents, and cash in perfect condition, so I have to admit that this inspection was one of the most reassuring cases for me.

 Incidentally, these ants are always working furiously, and of the current eighteen ants, about thirty percent, or six, are always taking a vacation.
 Alea once told me that this is a habit of the ants, and that they work so hard that they take turns to take a well-deserved rest.
 It's the style of the ants to work in shifts of six people each, taking their leave in shifts, but this was not accepted in the capital.
You have to work your hours exactly.
 I heard that there were some ants who worked at the finance bureau in the capital at one time, but they all left shortly afterwards because of the government's unique system of forcing them to work in the government.
 Well, even for Alea, she worked for nearly two weeks straight for 24 hours a day, and then took a week off from there.......if it was Liberty who understood and allowed it, but it certainly wouldn't be acceptable in the King's Capital, that's why I thought.

 On the contrary to the finance section, I'm a little worried about the Guard Bureau....

 The Guard Bureau is made up of all the former sub-human mercenaries accepted from King's Landing, under Lil Pop, who is the head of the Guard, Gugs, who is his common-law wife and has been appointed Deputy Guard Chief.
No, I'm managing it but, you know, I'm just not very good at the writing business...
 And as I have always said, there are many deficiencies in the paperwork related to the matter.
 We've inspected them three times now, and in all three cases, deficiencies have been found, and currently, Biblina, who has been appointed Deputy Lord, is continuing to instruct and check them with her secretary, Faran, on a constant basis.
 I'm thinking that it would be better to assign one staff member to the Googs' place dedicated to paperwork, and I'm thinking about it.

 As for public works, it's starting to become quite a full line-up, including the mining of dragon scales and its processing and sale of processed goods, the operation of regular magic ships, the operation of underground labyrinths, the operation of hot spring lodges, and the formation and operation of a wholesale market involving the surrounding settlements and cities, all of which are doing well, and, well, they won't be seen as a problem for this either.

 The one thing that has stuck with me a bit is that Liberty, a small frontier city, does not endorse bobblebumism, which is a doctrine of racial supremacy.
 However, Liberty is a city where sub-humans make up more than 70% of the total population, and therefore, if Liberty recommends Bobblebum religion, it may cause a great decrease in the number of urban residents.
 If I explain this to the inspection team, they will understand.


 I was thinking about this and that while checking the materials on the inspection in the lord's room.
 Aura is waiting for me at the side of the room.
 I officially appointed her as my secretary the other day, and she started working there yesterday, but she's wearing the same maid's uniform as Unja, and she keeps glancing at me with a nervous expression on her face, and continues to fidget.
 Probably, she's looking at me while wondering if there's anything I can do to help her, and while I appreciate the sentiment, I'm a little concerned.
 However, if you suddenly pay attention to it, there is a possibility that you might break Aura's motivation to do it....
 I had no choice but to put up with being glanced at like that.

 ........maybe it's just my imagination, I don't feel like the aura is making my cheeks red, but it can't be that she's happy to see my face all the time or something......yeah.


 As I was working on that, Unja came over with a letter.
 The sender is now Riknas.

 It's Rikunas, the one I was with in the frontier city training I received in the royal capital before.
 Now he's back in Urinacombe, and he's supposed to be working with the current lord's father on the reconstruction and maintenance of Urinacombe, where the dark charmers have disappeared, but....

 When I checked the contents of the report, I found out that he had something he wanted to discuss with me regarding the reconstruction and maintenance of the site, and asked if we could meet soon.

 Maybe the reconstruction and maintenance work is not going well.

 I would have answered immediately, but I decided to finish the inspection which was coming up in three days, and after that I would make a letter saying that it would be OK to fly to Urinacombe.

 It looks like we're not the only ones in trouble... With that thought in mind, I resumed checking the stack of documents once again.

 Then, at this moment, Aura came in front of me.
My lord, why don't you take a tea break?
 He told me so.
 I had just taken a break from reading the letter and I was
I'll take care of it.
 As she answered that, she put the document back once it was about to open.

 Then Aura smiled very happily and ran off at a trot towards the hot water room.