The Abandoned Duchess Seems to Want a Peaceful Life - Chapter 107

Chapter 107: Urban Planning and Sweet Talk

There was a noticeable presence of people outside through the fabric, but it was very quiet inside the tent.

The warmth from the stove made it cozy, and the alcohol had loosened my mood a bit. Thanks to that, I was able to smoothly make my request to Alexis.

“I want to continue developing the Enkar region, but it’s true that there is a lot I don’t know about the northern areas. If I continue managing the territory in its current state, I will eventually face a major failure. Therefore, I would like to ask the Duke for your support as a lord.”

The most necessary things were finding a governor to consult on development plans, a bureaucrat to handle practical tasks, soldiers to maintain security due to the influx of people, and instructors to train them in my territory—essentially, the arrangement of human resources.

“How about exchanging several core technologies and prioritizing trade of Enkar region’s products?”

“I acknowledge that what you create has that much value. However, if you go that far, it would be easy for the Duke’s family to take over the Enkar region.”

“The Duke would not do such a thing. This is not because I blindly trust you. The Duke could easily extract core technologies if he wished.”

Behind Melfina was always Cedric.

He had been present at every site developed this winter.

To be blunt, Alexis is the one paying Cedric’s rewards as a knight. He belongs to the Oldrand Knights Order and is also known to report occasional occurrences in the Enkar region to Alexis.

However, despite several transactions with Alexis, there was no sign that core technologies were flowing to him, and the rewards for the transactions were being properly paid.

Given that the Enkar region is responsible for food production this summer, there was a calculation that they wouldn’t resort to measures that might provoke our displeasure. Surprisingly, there was no movement in the information exchange between Cedric and Alexis that would disadvantage Melfina.

Cedric is a rigid and earnest knight. No matter how close he gets to Melfina, he would not be able to refuse orders to report what he has seen and heard to his sworn lord.

It wasn’t too difficult to infer that Alexis was not giving such orders.

“Rather, why didn’t you have Cedric pass along information? I was prepared to some extent, but—”

“There are appropriate jobs for people. Cedric is an excellent bodyguard knight, but he’s not suited for espionage. If you wanted to extract information from you, I would have had him swapped with August partway through. Moreover—”

He paused for a moment and took small sips from his cup. It seemed he had come to appreciate the pleasure of distilled liquor with just this one cup.

“I thought your intellect and intelligence would be more effectively utilized if you acted according to your own desires. Attempting to seize your achievements or confining you within the Duke’s family to extract knowledge and ideas would probably be a waste.”

“Didn’t you consider trying it?”

Alexis exhaled with a slight laugh, it seemed.

“I was the one who said to do as you wish. Besides, honestly, I don’t fully understand you. At least for me, it would be impossible to grasp what you want to do and utilize your abilities to their fullest.”

Given Alexis’s attitude up to this point, there was no deceit in his words.

That was also why there was little concern about a takeover by the Duke’s family.

“—Ideally, I would have preferred to make this land safe and prosperous without relying on anyone, but I currently lack many things. I’m struggling even with the appearance of small monsters. I cannot put my pride above the safety of my people.”

“Though you’re providing us with food, if the problem is the harm from monsters, another way might be to halt further development. You could sell only the knowledge to Oldrand and become one of the wealthiest individuals in the kingdom just from the proceeds.”

“I’ve considered that a bit, too.”

Even if I don’t aim for the level of comfort of my previous life, maintaining a civilization where my people have no shortage of food, clothing, and shelter in this world naturally leads to seeking significant development.

Despite the Enkar region being close to an isolated island, if rumors spread, the influx of people is likely to increase. If we continue without any plans, there’s a high chance of ending up in a worse situation due to being unable to cope.

Melfina herself is not the type to live comfortably and opulently while her people live no differently from those in other regions.

“Ultimately, this was bound to happen once I became the lord, wasn’t it?”

“You have a self-sacrificing nature.”

“Probably not as much as you, Duke.”

After having Marie prepare another cup of milk mixed with distilled liquor, the conversation shifted to discussing how to urbanize the Enkar region.

“I’m thinking of starting by dispersing the settlements and focusing mainly on creating farmland. Since the Enkar region is on the edge of the country, we can’t disrupt our self-sufficient system. However, the commercial areas will need to be concentrated, so we’ll have to fortify those locations.”

“It might be better to concentrate all production and industry around the lord’s residence and enclose it. It’s not uncommon for a lord’s family and servants to have their own fields within the castle walls, and this would also make it easier to protect core technologies.”

“The Enkar region is blessed with water sources, so we might consider drawing water from the two rivers running through the territory to create moats. We could divide the area into a central section for the lord’s residence and administrative and economic activities, and an outer section for production. It might also be beneficial to consider logistics using the waterways.”

“By the time it reaches that scale, the number of residents will have increased significantly.”

“It’s better to plan ahead than to struggle later.”

“If we separate the commercial and agricultural zones, managing the entry tax to rural areas could become difficult.”

“We can solve this by developing the main roads, setting up checkpoints, issuing passes to merchants, and making it mandatory to carry them while staying in the Enkar region. Merchants would be required to present these passes during transactions. However, to facilitate smooth logistics in the short term, I plan to offer some tax incentives to merchants.”

As I responded to Alexis, I could see the urban planning I had in mind taking shape. The thought of creating a culturally rich, water-abundant new city from scratch was quite enjoyable, even just imagining it.

“With rivers and lakes as water sources, and being an isolated land, it’s a feasible approach for the Enkar region. But turning this into reality would be a major project spanning several years to over a decade.”

“Yes, which is why I’m asking for your support. In return, I’ll first provide you with the method for producing sugar.”

Upon hearing this, Alexis gasped, then slowly exhaled, long and thin.

“I thought you would bring up this liquor in our negotiations.”

“I’m planning to make it a specialty of the Enkar region. Distilled spirits require time to mature, so actual profits will be a long way off. Once it’s complete, I’ll prioritize supplying it to the Duke’s family.”

“…So, you believe this liquor has more value than sugar?”

“No, the unit price of alcohol will be higher, but the effort required is on a different scale. Moreover, sugar has greater versatility, and I can assert that the profit from producing it will be far higher.”

The demand for sugar is immense. In terms of overall profit, alcoholic beverages will probably not come close to matching the earnings from sugar.

“Then why sugar instead of alcohol?”

“Producing sugar requires more land, effort, and manpower. You need to grow, harvest, and process the raw crops. It all requires technology and labor. However, since it doesn’t need a maturation period, it takes less time compared to distilled spirits, and doesn’t require years of experience or intuition. Production can be managed with land and sheer manpower.”

“I see. So, the Enkar region cannot provide the large-scale farmland and managing personnel needed.”

While it might be manageable at first, it’s clear that it will eventually become overwhelming.

Once people taste the sweetness, they will always want more. The ever-increasing demand cannot be supported by the Enkar region alone.

“Additionally, the crops for sugar can be grown in fields that are fallow during the wheat’s off-season. Utilizing already developed farmland will be much less labor-intensive compared to clearing new land.”

Currently, there are likely many fields where turnips are grown during the fallow period. Sugar beets have similar growing conditions to turnips, so transitioning should be smooth.

“If possible, once the sugar industry is up and running, I would be delighted if you could supply me personally with a small percentage.”

If sugar production becomes stable, it will be possible to further develop recipes using it.

The value of core technologies in this world is immeasurable, but creating new value from resources that are supplied steadily has not yet received much attention.

It would be enjoyable to create such role models.

“…Understood. As you said, I will keep this matter confidential until the famine is over and begin preparations for production. If the sugar business succeeds, I will transfer ten percent to you.”

“That’s too much. Even three percent would be more than sufficient.”

“…Are you sure you don’t want to hear my reasons for reducing the amount?”

“I’m willing to bet that once the famine ends and sugar is available, production will quickly fall behind. Not only the nobility but also the Francesca royal family and other monarchs through the royal family will make offers at any price. The North will experience a booming sugar industry, and sugar will be produced in large quantities. Even one-tenth of it will be more than the Enkar region can consume.”

“Is it really that extreme?”

“Probably. For the next twenty years, other industries might even decline due to the focus on sugar production. The Duke’s family will need to lead efforts to protect other industries in this region.”

“…What do you think will happen after those twenty years?”

“Due to the leakage of technology, sugar will eventually be produced in other lands as well. The South might even catch up sooner.”

No matter how well a technology is kept secret, it will inevitably leak out from somewhere.

For example, a nation that invented ironworking and overwhelmed its neighboring countries eventually fell because the technology slowly leaked out.

Relying on a single technology is extremely risky.

“Does the Crawford family have the technology to produce sugar?”

“No, not at all. —The crops that can be harvested in the North to make sugar are vastly inferior in terms of increasing production compared to the crops that can be grown in the South. Additionally, the by-products are more varied. Once the method of sugar refinement is known, production levels will be far surpassed by the South.”

Currently, all the white sugar on the market comes from the Romana Republic, which is located further south from the South.

Whether Romana itself cultivates sugarcane or if there is another country that enables large-scale sugarcane cultivation for them is unknown. However, given the presence of refined white sugar, it is clear that they have a significant level of sugar refining technology.

On the other hand, the reason other regions cannot supply sugar is likely because the method of sugar refinement has not spread.

Once the technology leaks out from the North, it is inevitable that regions suited to sugarcane production will begin to produce sugar more efficiently, following the course of history.

“…Economic management must be handled with care.”

“Yes, the heir’s education will need to be thorough. No matter how sweet a temporary boom might be, relying on a single industry will lead to the decline of the town and nation when that industry falters.”

It’s likely that there are several nobles in the North with Appraisal skills. I should suggest starting on sugar beet breeding improvements sooner rather than later.

Appraisal-based breeding improvements are a noteworthy field for Melfina as well. Currently, only Melfina and the temporary hire, Julius, can fully utilize Appraisal in the Enkar region, so it’s not a priority. However, if the Duke’s family establishes a department for it, I might be able to share the results in exchange for proposals.

“And there’s one more thing I’d like to ask.”

“After discussing all this, I’m not sure there’s much that would surprise me.”

“If, in the future, a divorce should occur, I would like this contract to be maintained and honored in the name of the Oldrand family.”