“So, please give the Imperial Navy the highest priority for artillery. Then I will offer you the sea.”

human ranch

###

half a year.

The time I emptied Olymus.

When I left my parents’ house, the season was summer, but when I returned from my parents’ house, the season had become winter.

It wasn’t just the seasons that changed. Several previously non-existent complexes appeared on the outskirts of the city, and a tall tower stood tall in the city, clearly visible from a distance.

“stop! Take off your hood and reveal your identity—“

As I headed towards the south gate of Olymus with the Imperial Guard, the guards blocked my way.

Due to the cold, they were wearing robes, so the guards could only see unknown cavalrymen approaching.

I took off my hood and made eye contact with the guardsman.

“Lungs, Your Majesty?”

The guard’s eyes widened.

The emperor who left his parents’ house suddenly appeared in front of me.

“You worked hard.”

The guards, who blinked at the thought of someone similar to them, hesitantly retreated when they saw Calliope and Gerhard accompanying me.

“Now, please wait!”

The guards urgently raised their hands and instructed them to strike the drums on the top of the wall. To announce my arrival to the city, I restrained him.

“stop. There is no need to inform.”

I passed the bewildered garrison and entered the city. It was not only him who was bewildered, but all the citizens along the road from the castle gate to the imperial palace.

Everyone looked at me and widened their eyes.

“Sorry.”

Gerhard murmured as he watched the reaction of the citizens.

“I wonder what it would have been like if we had known in advance and held the improvement ceremony…”

“done.”

I shook my head.

As Gerhard said, if I announced in advance that I would return after conquering the capital of the Republic, the path we walked would have been covered with pollen and resounding with hymns.

“A monarch who has successfully completed his own government usually holds a triumphal ceremony. It is because he is doing political propaganda to increase his authority and the stability of his rule.”

But do I need to question the stability of authority and rule?

“Who would dare to question Your Majesty’s authority?”

“okay. no one can doubt If so, isn’t there any reason to hold an improvement ceremony? To me, the improvement ceremony is nothing more than ostentation. It’s not worth paying for anything other than self-satisfaction.”

“That’s right, but…”

I felt regret in Gerhard’s thoughts.

Other than that, I wanted my achievements to be praised.

Even though my family members have different personalities, they always think of me as the center.

“Boasting about my achievements is something only a weak ruler does. You know very well that I don’t like ostentation. Gehard.”

I pointed at the imperial palace at the end of the avenue with my chin.

“mmm…”

Gehard was speechless while looking at the imperial palace.

The imperial palace was the most revealing of my personality.

It was a simple square building with no decorations such as sculptures or pillars on the walls, only windows tightly packed at regular intervals like a honeycomb.

The interior was no different from the exterior. In the hallway leading from the main entrance to the audience room, not a single portrait, mural, or pottery was displayed, and even a hall for banquets was not designed.

While I was designing the imperial palace, the only thing I looked for was efficiency in business. Only one efficiency was considered, such as ensuring that the distance between rooms does not exceed 10 minutes on foot.

“The Minister of Home Affairs said that Griff was too bleak.”

To be precise, everyone in the family who participated in the design of the imperial palace, including Grif, said so. It is the place where the emperor stays, and it would be nice to decorate the exterior to spread the dignity.

“The Imperial Palace is not an art gallery. government office. What is the meaning of beautifying public offices?”

If looking at aesthetics increases the travel time between rooms by even a minute, or if looking at aesthetics requires spending more money on extensions, I’ll make another bread and a gun for that cost.

That was my answer, and the result was that.

“Even so, it is true that it is desolate.”

Skadi, who came to meet me at the main gate of the imperial palace, answered.

“I’m glad you came back safely, Father.”

###

I called a cabinet meeting after I finished my travels at the imperial palace.

The cabinet meeting was held in the Chamber of the Imperial Palace, and all the ministers in Olymus and several officials assisting the minister were in attendance.

Imperial Chancellor Skadi, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce and Industry Pasimea, Minister of Military Affairs Gerhard, Minister of Home Affairs Griff, and in addition Minister of Justice Harbor and Minister of Finance Franz.

The latter two were subordinates who had been appointed during the war with the Republic.

About 1,500 people were created in half a year.

Of these, it was only natural that there were some members of his household who excelled in the judiciary and finance, and since the two had the jobs of a judge and a chief executive, respectively, the respective ministries confirmed their abilities for several months and made them their substitutes.

“How are you coming back after a long time?”

Griff asked with a smile.

From noble mtl dot com

“The city has changed a lot.”

“Because half a year has passed. Olymus is not a finished city, but a city that continues to expand, so every day is a series of changes. We are also surprised sometimes. Buildings that didn’t exist until yesterday may appear this morning.”

Grif looked at the tower visible through the chamber window and continued.

The tallest tower in the city and the one I saw outside the city too.

Grif pointed at the unknown tower.

“That tower, for example. Edar-sama, what does that look like?”

I narrowed my eyes, thought for a moment, then shook my head.

“well.”

At first I thought it was a bell tower, but there was no bell. It was a tower without space to hang a bell at the top. If it wasn’t for the bell tower, it must have had a different purpose, but I couldn’t guess what that purpose was.

“It’s a bullet tower.”

I said “Oh,” and nodded once.

“Was that it?”

bullet tower.

In other words, a bullet tower. It was a simple method of creating bullet shapes by pouring lead while it was installed on the top of the tower, but it was a groundbreaking facility that could make more than 4 tons of bullets per week.

“Did you know?”

“Roughly. I was informed in writing that facilities for bullet production were expanded, but I didn’t know that it meant building a bullet tower. so? What’s wrong with that?”

“If there is a problem, there is a problem.”

“hmm?”

“I built it in a week.”

one week? that top?

I blinked.

To build a tower tens of meters high in a week.

I laughed out loud because it was ridiculous.

“It looks like you’ve managed your family quite a bit.”

“yes. Thanks to that, I couldn’t sleep and was forced to mobilize for days and days. They pecked at us for not having enough bullets. No, isn’t the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce responsible for the production of military supplies? But why go to another department—”

“Does Saddam do that?”

When Pasimea opened her eyes and glared at Griff, Griff cleared his throat and sat back down.

The chamber quieted as the loudest figure shut up. In the meantime, Skadi stood up and started a cabinet meeting in the position of Chancellor of the Empire.

The cabinet meeting was more of a briefing rather than a meeting.

A place to explain in detail the situation that I have not been able to summarize or convey in writing to me, who has been away for half a year.

And it was conducted in a way to discuss the direction of the future.

“The population of Olymus has exceeded 150,000. 30,000 people increased in half a year.”

I tilted my head to the side.

“Isn’t that half the increase compared to last year? Is there a reason?”

“It is because the construction of industrial facilities, which started the year before last, is coming to an end. With the manpower required at the facility nearly full, migration is bound to decrease.”

“Right.”

As has been said before, Olymus’ phenomenal population growth was a feat owed to forced migration.

This is a method of attracting population from other areas to meet the demand for manpower caused by expanding industrial facilities in Olymus.

So, when the expansion of industrial parks stopped, population growth also stopped.

“Is the fertilizer supply going well?”

Skadi sat down and Pasimea stood up.

“so so. You won’t have to worry about a bad harvest next year.”

“Good thing. Will we be able to provide a stable supply of fertilizer in the future?”

“Not quite like that. I won’t worry about it for a few years right now…but the consumption of gunpowder is increasing dramatically. It won’t be long before you can’t keep up with the demand for cornerstone.”

“hmm···.”

Should I prepare a substitute?

In the first place, it was an exaggerated idea to try to cover the entire empire with a single cornerstone producing area, the Antsu region.

The amount of fertilizer that needs to be supplied throughout the empire is enormous, and the consumption of gunpowder is rapidly increasing as gunpowder weapons are supplied.

Even if Pasimea squeezed efficiently, there would be a limit.

“How many places can be used as a production site? Why don’t you rob it?”

need to know

The problem is that it’s not imperial territory.

Because you have to directly confront the different races and take them away.

It’s just that it’s a problem, so I can’t decide easily.

“Can’t we make the raw materials for fertilizer ourselves?”

“If it’s a raw material, you’re talking about nitrogen.”

Pasimea sat down on her chair and rested her chin on her hand.

“It is possible, but it is not possible right now. To extract nitrogen artificially, you need a mechanical device that can withstand at least 200 atm. How would you build such a device? At best, in a town where hammering is done.”

I smiled silently.

Air pressure in a country where even cast iron can’t be made properly?

At least, they had to have technological prowess that exceeded that of the Industrial Revolution.

“Well, if you continue to support me, I will make it quickly. Because you and I have blueprints in our heads. Can’t you skip the process that others would take hundreds of years to make, right?”

Pasimea sighed and sighed.

“But neither you nor I can do everything. We need talent who can understand and operate the facility on our behalf. We created a research department within the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, but even that is not enough.”

“Is that why you came out of technical school?”

I remembered one of the things we exchanged in writing.

It was that Pasimea requested the Minister of Home Affairs, Griff, to build an educational facility, and accordingly, a military school and a technical school were being conceived and built in Griff.

“huh. I know we don’t have time. Still, if you’re not going to end up fighting after a few years of fighting, look a little further and invest.”

The technical school did not specifically set a curriculum, but I was told that it would be a course that combines theory and practice for as short as two years and as long as eight years or more.

The educator was, of course, to be a master craftsman with outstanding abilities among humans and people of technology, with Pasimea at the forefront. The student was going to select non-adult humans from all over the empire.

The long training period was a flaw, but as Pasimea said, it was a necessary process.

“Skadi, is the ministry in charge of establishing the school now the Ministry of Home Affairs?”

“Yes, shall we separate administrative agencies?”

I nodded.

Pasimea was right.

The war between the Empire and the different races will not end within a few years.

Isn’t it too timid to be content with battlefield rifles and cannons? Sooner or later, the different races will also use gunpowder weapons, shouldn’t we be armed with superior technology?

“That would be nice. Create a new Ministry of Education as an administrative agency in charge of education and organize the necessary manpower and budget.”

“Yes, Father.”

The reason why military schools were created along with technical schools was because the size of the Imperial Army was rapidly growing.

There were only tens of thousands of Imperial troops now, and among them, not even a single division had musketeers. However, as the years passed, the Imperial army would steadily increase and maintain hundreds of thousands.

It was impossible or inefficient to fill all the rest of the officers with their own, even if it was said that it was the end if the senior commanders were filled with their own. Inevitably, ordinary humans had to be filled with officers.

The military academy was intended to foster such professional officers.

‘In addition, there is also a purpose to use it as a model for public education.’

There was also a plan to utilize the know-how accumulated by teaching elementary education to blind officers when the national military service was introduced, and furthermore, to reach a system called compulsory education.

“Is this enough? Pasimea.”

Pasimea grinned and nodded once.

“That’s enough. I am also trying out various things besides technical school. Did you know that we are also building a steel mill right now?”

Earlier I had told Admiral Horatio that I had discussed mass production of cast-iron cannons with Pashmea.

She decided to build a new facility to mass-produce cast-iron cannons, and decided to build a steel mill to produce steel in the future if she was going to mass-produce cast iron.

“A horse is a steel mill, right now it is nothing more than a casting workshop for mass production of cast iron. We will start with a small furnace and build up know-how in furnace production, improvement, and operation.”

“It will take quite a while to pull out the steel.”

“huh. it will take a lot After mass-producing cast iron stably, we will try something else. It would be better to see it in the long run and forget about it as much as school.”

Even if he pulled out the steel, there were few ways to use it.

They don’t even have the hardware to use steel.

The factory-based handicraft was not created for nothing.

“Wait a little. There are some hardware that our department is making. It’s a weaving machine or something, and it should be finished sometime next week.”

loom, spinning machine.

I laughed inwardly.

Isn’t it the hardware that called the industrial revolution on Earth?

She was really doing her best to bring the Empire’s technological prowess to the Industrial Revolution.

“Oh, and I have something to show you.”

Pasimea took the towel-covered object from her bosom.

“Pistol?”

“Look at the way it triggers.”

“Ohh.”

There was no fixture to hold the Hwaseung.

Instead, there was a cock, a fixed rod holding a flint.

“It’s a flint lock.”

When the trigger is pulled, the flint lock strikes the front cover hard, sparks fly, and fires a bullet.

The triggering method used by the imperial musketeers in the past was a method called matchlock or matchlock.

However, in this method, the fire monk could easily be turned off, and the fire monk could cause an explosion by touching the gunpowder, so stability and loading speed were poor.

Flint locks were an advanced way to solve this problem, as they used flint instead of matchlocks.

“Didn’t you give up production because there were a lot of defective products?”

I laid back the cock and pulled the trigger. Then, with a tick and a sound, the cock bounced forward and hit the cover hard.

“Skadi said earlier that the expansion of the industrial facilities was over. Jo Byeong-chang is like that too. I can shoot the trigger more evenly than before.”

“How much is the production?”

“I can’t make a few a day yet. We’re slowly moving over to Flint Lock while maintaining matchlock production, so hiring technicians is a little late. But the facilities are in place, so we should be able to catch up to matchlock production before spring arrives.”

Since the daily production of Olymus Arsenal was about 20, it was said that the production of Flintlock Muskets would be that much next year.

“It’s okay.”

“Besides that, there are two more—“

When Pasimea smiled and tried to continue,

“your majesty.”

The Royal Guard entered the chamber at a rapid pace.

“What is going on?”

“People came from the East.”

“Have humans come from the East?”

It’s not a southern small country, it’s not the east, it’s the east?

And the way humans came was also strange.

The guardsman thought for a moment, then spoke again.

“It is said to be a human who escaped from a human ranch in the kingdom of the Lizardmen beyond the Nehrup plains. He has come to see Your Majesty.”

human ranch(2)

“A human who escaped from the Lizardman’s human ranch?”

How could that be?

I narrowed my eyes and thought.

‘Was there a human ranch outside the Southwest Peninsula?’

From my memory, the only human ranch was the Southwest Peninsula.

Since the entire southwestern peninsula was a human ranch led by the representative system, there was no reason to build a human ranch elsewhere. Isn’t that inefficient?

‘The only human ranch I know of is the setting that different races ran individual ranches before humans migrated to the Southwest Peninsula.’

In fact, I have never seen a colony that can be called a ranch in a place other than the southwestern peninsula.

But now, there is a human ranch in the kingdom of lizardmen?

“Is it a lie?”

Imperial Chancellor Skadi read my thoughts and asked.

“You’ll know when you see it yourself.”

Having said that, I was sure.

That it really escaped from a human ranch.

‘This race is a tribe that will remain.’

In particular, the Lizardmen were a tribe that valued offering as a tribute to the gods rather than enslaving humans.

Isn’t it common for people who are indifferent to the food they eat but pay attention when it’s served on the ancestral table.

Likewise, it was not strange to maintain a human ranch with the intention of paying tribute to the livestock raised by oneself. The reason I couldn’t find out is that the ranch was disposed of before the main story.

tumble, tumble…

The sound of weak footsteps echoed through the chamber.

A wounded woman entered, supported by the guards.

She lowered her head and covered her eyes with both hands as if holding her forehead.

【Lv. 46]

A fairly high level for a human.

“Put down your hands and raise your head.”

When she heard me, she trembled like an aspen tree.

Without lowering her hands or raising her head, the guards on both sides of her held her back as she shrank and tried to step backwards.

“done. Don’t force it.”

I bit the lifeguard.

I know why she’s afraid of me.

I feel my soul because my level is high.

“…”

It took a while to calm down.

She shook her breath and raised her head.

The scab on the torn place, deep wrinkles, and hazy eyes revealed the hardships she must have gone through to come here.

“I, I…”

She was about to say something, but she raised her hands again to cover her face and took a deep breath. He lowered his head again and shivered.

that emotions rise.

I got up and walked towards her.

As I approached, she took a step back as if running away.

“Do not be afraid.”

took her hand

Light emanated from her hands and enveloped her body.

The light that enveloped her body healed her wounds and healed her soul, so she stopped trembling and looked at me with wide eyes.

“Are you human…?”

I erased the light and replied with a smile.

“Looks like I’m not human.”

“Ha, but how… how can this—”

“Is it important to ask why? The important thing is that the person you are looking for is me. As the only one who can save you.”

“…”

“Tell me. Where did you come from and what kind of hardships are you facing?”

###

It is said that human history is only a thousand years old, but since history is a record, humans existed even before history. Just as among elves with a history of 10,000 years, there are elves who have lived for more than 10,000 years.

However, there is a reason why humans before history did not leave history.

“Do you know why humans are monkeys? Because until just a thousand years ago, humans were squeaking animals, no different from monkeys who removed or grinded stones. If we hadn’t taught the monkey, it would still be squeaking.”

A word often spoken by elves when they laugh at humans.

In this way, humans who could not start history on their own were fundamentally inferior animals in the eyes of the heterogeneous race, and were disgustingly similar to the heterogeneous race.

“The human species is an animal that is neither one nor the other. Not as beautiful as an Elf, not as dexterous as a Dwarf, and not as strong as an Orc. Aren’t they inferior animals that just imitated other races?”

In an era when human rights were scarce, when prejudice against human beings intertwined, the treatment was harsh.

“Still, it is a useful animal because it is inferior. It is good as a breeding vehicle for Orcs and Goblins, and as a subspecies host for Nagas. It will be a mining slave for the Dwarves, and suitable as a test subject for the Elves.”

Humans at this time were an asset.

Compared to the other races, he was physically weak and mentally insensitive to magic, but at least he understood words unlike dogs and pigs.

The appearance similar to that of the heterogeneous race was also an advantage of being able to entrust simple tasks to the heterogeneous race, so it was treated as a valuable asset that made profits the more it was owned as long as it could cover the cost of salut.

– Lately, every house is buying a human. It is a trend to see humans as objects of speculation, just like the tulip mania that blew before, but humans are a crop that is incomparably harder to grow than tulips.

– Humans have the laziness of having to be protected for a year in their mother’s womb, the maturity of being unable to become an adult for more than 10 years after being born, and the weakness of being debilitating after only a few decades of becoming an adult.

– Is that all? Humans who have not been harshly taught since childhood are far more uncivilized than monkeys. How wild this hairless monkey is, idiots who have only lived in humans who have completed education and development will not know.

As humans became popular as a commodity, books on how to train humans came out, and all the books started with the content that humans are inferior and wild, so it is difficult to raise them.

In fact, humans raised by non-professionals showed behaviors such as resisting, running away from, or taking their own lives.

It was only after four-digit years had passed that there was a consensus among heterogeneous people that they should buy humans raised by professional breeders, and breeders did everything possible to create excellent humans that customers wanted.

“Feed opium. Giving opium can reduce sleep time and increase dependence on the owner, making it docile.”

“What if we mate with humans who have an instinctive affinity for other species? It takes dozens of units to see the effect, but isn’t there enough time?”

Thanks to the efforts of the breeders, humans have become an asset that attracts attention to the different races. However, unlike the attention and steady increase, the supply did not keep up with the demand.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like