I'm sorry you had to come.
　No, no, no, we can't have King Rosyth's feudal lords and ladies come to our aid.

　Mr. Ains smiled smugly.

　I wrote to him and said I'd ask him in a week's time because I had something I wanted to buy in a letter, and he came all the way to my estate.

　'It's late tonight, you'll have to stay the night. I'll treat you as best I can in my country way.
　Then I'll take you up on your offer. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to discuss business.



　Now, about tonight's meal....

　Let's start with the members and their seating order.

　First up is me, then Tetra.
　The third is Ains.

　Normally, the guests are seated at the top of the pile, but
　Well, this is the thing as a lord, in case you were wondering.

　Ron, Rosward, Gram, So Yeon, and Lulu are next in line.
　There's no deep meaning to this order.

　And lastly, Boros I'd like to say that he's currently posted to the border fort.
　Therefore, he will not be present this time.


　Now for the important meal menu.
　First of all, the staple food, white bread.
　It is probably the most delicious bread in the world today.
　Just in case, I prepared salt and honey. Maybe everyone uses honey....

　Next, an appetizer.
　First, a salad.
　Vegetables from the Ass territory, mushrooms and wild vegetables from the mountains, and olives.

　And fish from the river.
　Salted boiled snails. I would never eat them though.

　Then the main course.
　This time I mashed a whole pig.
　It's a pork dish.

　Pork is very common in these parts.
　I heard that the breasts and womb of a virgin sow are delicious.
　I say "delicious" because I didn't find it particularly tasty.

　Well, it is a matter of taste in this area.

　And then there was the dessert.
　Fruit, mainly grapes.
　Unfortunately, we couldn't prepare sugar, so we couldn't make a pudding.
　I thought I'd surprise them, but....

　The last and most important drink.
　Spirits.

　I'm afraid Ains will have to insist on a taste.
　We'll see if it works.



　Geh-ho, geh-ho. Oh, I'm sorry. This drink is very strong. It looks like wine, but...
　It's called a spirit. How do you like it?

　Mr. Ains replies slowly, sipping his drink.

　'If only I knew beforehand how strong it was. This burning sensation in my throat is also going to be a habit. ........Only if I drink too much, I think I'll get drunk right away. I'll refrain from drinking it. By the way, this is........
　I can't get a lot of them, but I could sell some to you. We'll discuss it tomorrow.
　As I said this, Ains bowed his head in apology.


　'By the way, was the Sword of Dragon Damascus useful to you?'
　Yeah, well...

　I don't use it that much, but...
　And his main weapon was a spear. Isn't the only time he used it to cut the Ferrum King's head off?
　It's a flower that goes unsaid.

　By the way, what is the Cilicia Peninsula like?　If you would be so kind as to let me hear it?
　I change the subject a little too forcefully.

　But it's true that I was curious.
　I've been holed up in the woods for years, so I'm pretty familiar with the situation around here.

　''The Cilicia Peninsula? Well the climate is almost the same as the Adelunian Peninsula. There are more than a hundred city-states on the Cilicia Peninsula, which are repeatedly allied with each other in warfare.

　I see, so it's almost the same as the Adelian peninsula.

　“Well, it is. The only difference is that all of the city-states are surrounded by stone walls, and if there's an invasion of foreign enemies, they will make a truce with each other and fight the foreign enemy, right?
　'It's been a hundred years since the northern part of the Adelian peninsula was taken over by the Gauls, and all we southern nations are at war.

　There is a place called Gaul north of the Adelunian peninsula.
　Its Gaulish kingdom, Roselle, has begun an invasion of the Adelunian peninsula.

　They have already taken the northern half of the peninsula and are continuing their southward march.
　And three kingdoms, King Domorgal, Gilbed, and Faldum, have been overwhelmed by Roselle, and to the south, the kingdom of King Rosais-our land-is under threat.

　So it's a ball game.

　If the nations of South Adelunia banded together, it would be enough to drive the kingdom of Roselle back.
　Well, I can't.

　"By the way, where does Lord Almus speak Cilician?
　'It's from Tetra. She's half Cilician.
　It was a blessing before I learned it.

　'Well ... your mother,'
　Tetra nodded at Ains' words.

　'Her name is Helena. She was spotted by my father when he was traveling through this Ath territory.
　Lady Helena....
　Ains-san drinks her drink while muttering Helena, Helena.

　''When you hear of Cilicia, you have an image of an amazing advanced country.......is there such a thing as a foreign enemy?''
　All of the walls of the city are enclosed in stone.
　There are few countries that have been able to achieve this in the Adelian Peninsula.

　With all that technology, is there such a thing as a foreign enemy?

　Of course there are. There are all kinds of people who are after rich Cilicia. Chief among them would be the Persis Empire and Pofenia.
　'The Persis Empire?　Pofenia?

　I've never heard of it.
　I mean, where is it?

　I've never heard of it, I just think it's so far away, even in Cilicia.

　Pofenia is just a stone's throw away from the Adelunian peninsula. Did you know that there is an island called Trisichellia a little south of the Adelunian Peninsula?　A little south of there is Pofenia.
　Mr. Ains takes a drink of spirits.

　'They've been trading by sea in the Sea of Tethys for a long time and they don't like the idea of us Cilicia taking it away from them. They don't like us taking it away from them, so they often start a war. Well, the Tethys Sea is becoming our sea now.

　Mr. Ains keeps talking bad about Pofenia.　
　He seems to be getting drunk.

　'What about the Persis Empire?'
　''The Persis Empire is, you know, the great power in the east of Cilicia. These guys are really greedy people. They've made two expeditions to Cilicia. The first expedition was 200,000 yen, and the second was about 300,000 yen. It's just a number. Both times, we, the Cilician Union, won.

　200,000 and 300,000 ...　
　It's not even close to the size of King Rosais' country.

　Of course it wouldn't be an entire army. And because the country is so large, they're probably sending tens of thousands of troops to other borders as well. I wonder if the total number of troops will be around 400,000?

　King Rosais' country could only mobilize about five thousand even if all the great families became cooperative.
　Even if you stand on your head, you can't win.

　But it seems that the country is farther away than the Cilicia peninsula, so I don't think we'll have any chance to get involved with it in the future.
　Don't worry.

　But it's amazing. How did you manage to defeat an army as large as 300,000?
　Ha, ha, ha. We in Cilicia have a god of war.

　As he says this, Mr. Ains starts talking about the Cilicia-Persis War in good form.
　He is completely drunk.

　The feast continued until Ains-san was sober.




　''Ugh........my head.......''
　Are you okay?　Shall I have them bring you some water?
　Please ... haha, sorry. I had too much to drink...

　Mr. Ains chuckles.

　'So, about the spirits...'
　I can't get a lot of them, but I could sell you a few.

　The first thing we discussed was the price and volume of the spirits trade.
　Now we have one more way to earn foreign currency.

　'So what product do you want?'
　Horses. I'd like to have about 300 horses.
　''Three hundred head........that's......no, it's possible to get them together. It's just.....

　Mr. Ains hesitates a bit before saying.

　''Three hundred head would be around one thousand two hundred gold coins. Can you provide that much money?　And with the cost of maintenance...

　A gold coin is worth about 1 million yen.
　In other words, it's about 1.2 billion yen in the Japanese sense of the word.

　Of course, we can't prepare this much money with the income of the As territory.
　The grass is not a problem though, because I'll plant clover.

　''Mr. Ains. "Mr. Ains, not so long ago, I was the mayor of a really small village. But what about now?
　

　That's right.
　Even though there is no one as successful as me, no one in the world will be as successful as me.

　"We are currently establishing a mass production system for paper in our territory. We'll be ready for mass production soon.　
　What are you trying to say?
　Couldn't you just get a loan instead of a lump sum?

　When I ask him that, Mr. Ains crosses his arms and worries.
　Then he opens his mouth.

　'One hundred and fifty gold coins in one year. If you're willing to pay that for twenty-five years, I'll accept it.
　So that's 2,500 gold coins divided into 2,500 pieces....
　That's twice as much as you owe me.

　This is stupid.

　But we're going to need that horse ASAP.
　So be it.

　"How much money can you spare for maintenance?
　Yes, in its own way.

　It wouldn't be a wheeled farming system without animals in the first place, though.

　'I mean, what would you use them for?'
　Farming, hauling goods, organizing cavalry ... all sorts of things.

　The horses are going to take the form of loans to rural communities.
　Every time they lend them out, they charge a fee for it.

　It is a tax of some kind.

　Normally, the peasants in the vicinity of the palace would take care of the horses.
　They will be given priority for the use of horses.

　And for newly born horses, the first one is returned to the As family, and any horses born after that can be owned by them.
　Any foals the As family gets will be cared for until they grow up to a certain extent, and then they will be left in the care of another village.

　At this rate, little by little, the plan was to spread the horses in the same way as the ring-judging system.
　The number of horses could be increased dozens of times in the blink of an eye.

　Naturally, in case of an emergency, they will be gathered up and used as cavalry and wagons.

　'By the way, do you need caretaker slaves?　I'll give you a discount now, okay?
　No, Leah was there in time.

　Or rather, Leah has already had use for it too.
　It's because Seo-yeon has mastered how to raise a horse.

　As long as we can get her to teach us how to raise horses, we'll be fine.
　So we don't need it.

　By the way, Leah, who is completely out of work and has become a freed slave, is being taken in by Rosward.
　She's at home doing housework, apparently.

　The day of the birth of the child is coming soon.

　'But since I want to form a cavalry I'd like someone who can ride a horse. Mercenaries or combat slaves? About fifty.
　Currently, there are only thirty people who can ride a horse properly.
　And twenty or so, if we can get some prospects and experienced men among the Boros, there will be no problem.

　But if we're going to organize a hundred cavalrymen, we're short fifty more.
　We need to make up for it somehow.

　''Hmm, mercenaries are a tough sell. As a matter of fact, there was a skirmish with the Germanis a month ago, and someone who can ride a horse is up on the market.
　So can I get a combat slave?

　Combat slaves are easy to handle.
　They're reasonably priced, but once you buy them, you don't have to pay them a salary.

　''I understand. If you have fifty combat slaves, that's seventy-five gold coins. Shall we make this a twenty-five year contract as well?
　That was a one-time payment.

　It's not like I'm going to pay the seventy-five cards in installments...

　Then I'll be off.

　Mr. Ains said, bowing his head and leaving the room.

　Then, as he was leaving, he turned around and said

　'If you need a weapon, please speak to me at once.

　He's still very business-minded.