Chapter 166: Whose Land Is This?

After the green light flashed, Mosra’s form gradually became clearer.

It ultimately just turned into a slightly larger Tinkerbell.

—Uriyap! How’s this? Pretty cool, right?

The way it buzzed its wings around looked almost no different from before.

But I could clearly feel it.

Its aura has changed. It seems more than twice as strong in just that short time.

Whether it was a living being or some kind of power, growth usually had stages.

However, Mosra completely shattered common sense.

Just one word of encouragement and this happened?

If I gave it even more enthusiastic praise, would it grow three times bigger?

Probably not.

Still, just in case, I gave it a few more flattering compliments.

But as expected, Mosra only puffed up its chest proudly.

No further changes occurred.

“Other than getting bigger, what exactly changed?”

—My vessel has expanded. I can absorb a lot more of the earth’s energy now.

“What about spirit wood?”

—I don’t know? It wasn’t really my concern to begin with.

In truth, spirit wood wasn’t something this guy intentionally produced.

It was simply a byproduct that formed naturally while it absorbed the earth’s energy.

Still, we had to test it.

I grabbed Mosra by the scruff and moved to the second sector.

“All right, give it a try.”

—Try what?

“You know, what you usually do. Absorbing the earth’s energy.”

—Ah, yeah. I actually needed to do that. My body got bigger, so I’m insanely hungry. Wait a moment.

Huh?

The little fairy flopped down flat on the ground, closed its eyes tightly, and stayed still.

I had expected something grand when it mentioned absorbing the earth’s energy, but this was no different from sleeping.

I watched with a dumbfounded look, but Vargas’s reaction was different.

He quickly examined the surrounding trees.

Soon, laughter burst out of him.

“Wahahaha!”

“Why are you laughing?”

“This is huge! Absolutely huge!”

“What’s different? It doesn’t look any different to me.”

“No, it is. The growth speed has more than doubled. If this rate continues, we might even be able to shorten the sector rotation cycle to six months!”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

Just one sentence of encouragement…

No, honestly, it was closer to gaslighting.

I had planted a sense of purpose in Mosra to make mass-producing spirit wood easier.

The impure intention was known only to me, so I’d let that slide.

Either way, it was an incredibly encouraging result.

Spirit wood is an excellent fuel material, but I was worried about the production volume.

It looked like we would be able to comfortably supply the Perias region and the Crawford Duchy.

Assuming the business proceeded smoothly, of course.

But why did I have this feeling?

It feels like some enormous interference is going to show up…

The next day.

Sure enough, the topic of spirit wood came up during the Crawford National Council meeting.

“I heard there are plans to export the goods produced at the back of Berkal Mountain to the empire.”

“In that case, shouldn’t we establish proper procedures in advance? Such as imposing appropriate tariffs.”

Many high-ranking politicians, including the former Senate Chairman, had been removed.

However, the majority of the bureaucrats were still tightly united with malice.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call them a massive noble faction.

Of course, there was one key difference.

In the empire, factions tore at each other, but here they all banded together to strike at the royal family.

So they’re going to oppose for the sake of opposing?

I looked at the clamoring bureaucrats with a cold smile.

What these people wanted wasn’t the benefit of the Crawford Duchy. Their real goal was to keep their power and support base from shaking.

After chattering away, the bureaucrats stared at me intently.

It felt like they were protesting why I wasn’t saying anything.

Logically speaking, their argument wasn’t entirely wrong.

No matter how close the relationship was, it was true that they were clearly different countries.

But they were making a huge mistake.

Do they think I’m the same as them?

Why would the Daepan Group come all the way to this remote backwater and make such massive investments and developments?

It was to protect the royal family of the Crawford Duchy.

This country had far too many problems both inside and out.

In any case, my goal wasn’t to protect power or make a lot of money.

Then what was it?

It was what I had been doing day and night until now.

Positive regional change.

A society where the majority of residents were happy and justice prevailed.

It was a goal that allowed me to carry out the emperor’s orders while also improving my system abilities.

I slowly scanned the bureaucrats.

A few faces stood out immediately.

A pot-bellied man wearing an excessively curled ash-gray wig.

That’s Bajiks Saltree.

The head of the Saltree family was Izka, husband of Duchess Yustia.

But he held almost no real authority.

His uncles tightly controlled the bureaucratic society.

Even Bajiks Saltree himself was one of the core officials of the Crawford Duchy.

So how could Izka possibly spread his wings?

I nodded leisurely and spoke.

“Tariffs? Since it’s an export item, of course we should impose them.”

“How much do you plan to set? In the empire, it’s generally 8%, but since this is a valuable commodity, shouldn’t we charge more?”

It was laughable.

The use of spirit wood still hadn’t been publicly revealed.

Only the fact that it would be processed and sold to the empire had been disclosed.

Yet here they were, calling it a “valuable commodity” and spouting nonsense.

“How do you know whether it’s a valuable commodity or not?”

“If it weren’t, there would be no reason for a massive corporation like the Daepan Group to come all the way here.”

Bajiks Saltree looked smug.

He seemed to be proudly showing off his insight.

The surrounding bureaucrats nodded with satisfied expressions.

“I heard the Daepan Group’s status in the empire is sky-high.”

“If such an organization is investing in development, it must have that much value.”

“Exactly! It is only right to charge more than the basic tariff.”

“How about 20%?”

“Isn’t that a bit low? It should be around 30%.”

It was quite a spectacle watching them jump in one by one at the perfect moment.

But they only knew one side and not the other.

That I could simply move the spirit wood production area if I wanted.

Of course, I had no intention of doing that.

Nor did I plan to accept their ridiculous 30% tariff demand.

“Tariffs should of course be paid. However, 20% or 30% is far too excessive.”

“Isn’t it only natural for a strategic resource?”

“Do you even know what it is?”

“Uh…?”

After I struck once, Bajiks Saltree’s momentum faltered sharply.

I looked around at the bureaucrats with a twisted smile.

“You all seem to be quite mistaken. Let me ask you one thing. Was the area beyond Berkal Mountain the territory of the Crawford Duchy?”

“Of course it was.”

“Really? Did you know that a specter was appearing there until recently?”

“Monsters roaming around can happen.”

“Then what about the Rock Mountain Keeper?”

“Spirits are the same.”

“There isn’t a single person living there, yet you call it Crawford territory?”

The three elements of state formation are territory, population, and sovereignty.

How could they claim land they couldn’t control at all as their own country?

There might be various debates in modern times, but in this world, territorial issues were clear.

Why did local lords occasionally raise armies and tour their territories?

To subjugate monsters and simultaneously imprint that the land belonged to them.

But the Crawford Duchy had simply neglected Berkal Mountain.

In fact, the people of this country probably didn’t even think of it as their own land.

They couldn’t even approach it, so what territory were they claiming?

It wasn’t even a historically significant place.

It was simply abandoned land because it couldn’t be developed.

“Making claims while unable to exert any influence. For high-ranking officials of a nation, those are rather pathetic statements.”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

It must have been quite embarrassing, because coughs erupted from all over.

If I pushed a little harder here, I could probably force them to surrender quickly.

But I didn’t use such aggressive tactics.

There was no need, and I had to give something to the Crawford Duchy as well.

“The tariff will follow the standard practice with the empire—8%. In return, the Daepan Group will provide various support such as developing Berkal Mountain, so there will be no loss.”

“What if people from the empire come to live there and claim the territory?”

“That is a matter for His Imperial Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Duke to resolve. But if the empire is truly determined, can you stop them?”

“Of course……”

The empire and the Crawford Duchy were close, like blood allies.

But it wasn’t simply a blood connection.

Although a small country, Crawford provided its own advantages.

It served as a solid shield so the empire didn’t have to worry about its northwest border.

But if Emperor Karon’s eyes went wild, a small country like this…

In other words.

Don’t get too cocky.

As I smiled faintly, the bureaucrats’ faces turned pale.

They seemed to have realized once again what kind of person I was and the true intention behind my words.

“Let’s end the national council meeting here.”

There was no way they could win, whether by logic or by force.

Ignoring the gloomy atmosphere, I prepared to stand up.

But at that moment—

“There is one more item on the agenda, Your Grace the Regent.”

“Ah, is there? You should have mentioned it earlier.”

“I only just received the report myself.”

Bajiks Saltree, the head of the accounting department, wore a meaningful smile.

It would be better if he just stuck to accounting, but why did he meddle so much?

Well, I suppose he has no choice.

After all, the Crawford Duchy was practically the Saltree family’s world.

Since there was another item, I decided to hear it out.

Bajiks Saltree stood up and shook his head in an elegant motion, making his ash-gray wig sway.

It was extremely awkward watching a pot-bellied middle-aged man do that.

“Earlier this morning, a serious incident occurred at the construction site at the foot of Berkal Mountain.”

“Interesting.”

I hadn’t received any report about it yet, so I wondered how he knew.

The construction at the foot of Berkal Mountain was entirely handled by the Daepan Group.

But the following story was shocking.

“A man named Yanik apparently tried to help a person named Devante and ended up causing his death.”

The situation was quite difficult to judge.

It would be hard to clearly determine the true intention behind trying to help.

It was something that should be decided based on usual reputation and witness statements.

But why were they bringing this to me?

This country had its own magistrates.

When I looked at him with that kind of expression, Bajiks Saltree immediately continued.

“As you just mentioned, it is not clear whether Berkal Mountain is truly the territory of the Crawford Duchy. Moreover, the construction is being overseen by the Daepan Group. Therefore, wouldn’t it be more appropriate for the empire’s highest judge to handle the trial rather than a local magistrate?”

For a moment, I was speechless.

So they had been building up to this from the beginning.

They’re more cunning than I thought.