Dictator From Outer Space

Chapter 205: The Changing Territory

In Astera, mercenaries were indispensable for war along with Goliaths.

Most of the mercenaries needed ether sensitivity to operate Goliaths, so it was easy to mistake them for nobles, but that was not the case.

Of course, there were some who chose a life of adventure for various reasons, but most of them were commoners who happened to have ether sensitivity.

They were commonly called fragrances, and they were differentiated from commoners, but the noble society did not recognize them.

―They have no title or territory. All they have is the ability to handle a little bit of ether.

―They may call themselves fragrances, but who acknowledges them? Who do they pledge loyalty to as they wander the battlefields?

The nobles’ indifference came from the fact that they could handle ether.

They had built a tower of authority with the ability to handle ether and received all kinds of benefits.

Now that there was a slight possibility of that collapsing, they couldn’t help but be anxious.

In fact, there were some fragrances who received titles for their great achievements in war.

The noble society hated those who became nobles, but that did not change the fact that they were essential for war.

The era of war.

War was everywhere and mercenaries intervened in almost every battlefield.

Most of the mercenaries were human, but sometimes other races came out.

The end of most of the mercenaries wandering the battlefield was death by combat.

“Everyone dreams of saving money and retiring to enjoy a comfortable old age, but most of them die on the battlefield. That’s why lately there are many cases where they accept a decent offer and enter a territory.”

They called fragrances who entered a territory or a royal direct command and operated Goliaths semi-knights.

They had the title of knight, but they were different from official knights in many ways.

“But they still get high treatment just because they can operate Goliaths, so these days there are many mercenaries who try to get into the eyes of the nobles.”

“What’s their situation now?”

He was talking about the mercenaries who had formed a small mercenary group under Leobold Vandus before Yujiha took over his body.

“Originally, Leobold lost the battle and was chased away, so the mercenary group itself was dissolved. Most of them were absorbed by other mercenary groups. But they are still holding their positions and waiting for Leobold to come back.”

“They must have been quite close.”

“It seems like they made a promise, but I couldn’t figure that out.”

“What are their names?”

“I couldn’t find out their last names, but the red-haired woman is Katina and the black-haired man with glasses is Elwin.”

“Can they both operate Goliaths?”

“The woman is certain, but the man seems more suited for ether engineering than Goliath operation.”

“Either way, they are valuable talents for us.”

There was no one in Vandus territory who could handle Goliath engineeringly.

Lucia could engrave magic circles and use walkers to repair Goliaths, but it was impossible to improve output and add functions.

In such a situation, an ether engineer would be a great help.

“Katina makes fun of his origin, so he’s likely to be a noble.”

“He must be from a fallen noble family. How is his relationship with me?”

“Elwin seems to treat you as his superior. Katina is a bit less in that regard, but it seems like they had a physical relationship.”

“An unofficial lover then…”

“I don’t think they promised anything for the future based on what they said when they drank. It was just a few times.”

“Then it’s good.”

He had a lot to do in the future, and he couldn’t afford to have a mercenary cling to him.

How about their personalities?

Katina was somewhat rough as a mercenary, but she seemed to have a minimum line.

“Katina is rough like a mercenary, but she seems to have some decency. Elwin’s personality is just like his face.”

He seemed somewhat weak, but he wouldn’t have survived as a mercenary for several years if that was all.

Leobold made up his mind.

“As long as they’re not complete trash, send them a dummy and convey our intentions.”

“They don’t seem to have much work anyway, so they’ll probably jump at it.”

They could operate Goliaths, so they would be excellent forces.

Leobold kept an eye on the two in the video.

They should be incorporated into the territory by the time Altema returns.

***

Katina and Elwin jumped up when they saw the letter delivered by the messenger of Baron Vandus.

“Oh my God! He’s alive! That big guy!”

“Don’t you think it’s inappropriate to call him big guy now that he’s officially a baron?”

“Anyway, he’s settled down! Then we have to quit this crap and go!”

Katina was so excited that she seemed ready to ride a horned beast right away, but Elwin was different.

He had heard various rumors about Baron Vandus as he wandered the battlefields as a mercenary, and they were not very good.

“It’s a bit strange. There are many ominous rumors that the people of the territory are on the verge of starvation. On the other hand, there are testimonies that he made a lot of money with salt and Sardines.”

“That’s how rumors are in this business. Think about it logically, he wouldn’t invite us if he was in that situation, right?”

Elwin looked at Katina’s face anew.

She was talking about logic, this ignorant woman.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…Nothing. Anyway, my information is limited, so we have to go and see for ourselves.”

They were hired by the Bagran royal family and fought on the western front.

But the war seemed to be ending, so they had to find a way to live.

The outcome of the war seemed to depend on Elbrangde, but it was not something that a single mercenary had to worry about.

Anyway, they survived and had to move on to the next battlefield. Leobold, who had shared life and death with them, sent them an invitation, so their way was decided.

They had already returned Goliaths to the royal family, so they just had to leave.

“But a baron? Does that mean he officially inherited the title?”

“I guess you could say that. He’s not just Leobold anymore, he’s Baron.”

“Damn, I should have done it one more time then.”

Elwin looked at her with disbelief as she lamented that she should have conceived his child and received the treatment of a wife.

“Stop dreaming and let’s go.”

They loaded their luggage on the horned beast and left.

The rumors became more concrete as they approached the barony.

The main rumor was that he made a lot of money by distributing Sardines in an innovative way.

However, there was also a secret accusation that he did not collude with the shadow elf pirates because there was no landing attack.

“It’s very strange that they never attacked.”

“What’s so strange about that?”

“Katina might not know, but it becomes clear when you think about the location of the barony. Look, half of the territory is connected to the sea, right?”

“So?”

“The eastern sea of Astera is like a heaven for shadow elves. They have no countermeasures, so everyone moved their villages inland. Even Zaium Empire is in that situation, but it doesn’t make sense that Baron Vandus is fine.”

“It could be a coincidence.”

“The probability is very low, but… well, let’s say so.”

But it seemed that the surrounding lords did not think it was a coincidence and tried to confront the royal family directly.

Even if he was a mere baron, he was still a lord, so they couldn’t touch him easily, but if the pressure became too strong, a territorial war could break out.

But Katina and Elwin didn’t care about that.

They passed through the busy capital and arrived at Baron Vandus’s territory.

As soon as they entered the entrance, they were greeted by a huge Golem.

Katina got off the horned beast and made a fuss.

“Oh my God, Elwin! There’s a Golem!”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen one. These days, the trend is to make Goliaths.”

The size of the Golem was smaller than the Goliath, but it had many common parts, so it was less efficient.

It was more to the taste of the lords to use the abundant manpower rather than using expensive ether stones to operate Golems.

But Baron Vandus was using Golems to carry out large-scale construction.

From the entrance symbol to the road and sewer construction, there was no place without Golems.

They entered the territory with constant admiration.

The scenery in front of them was completely different from what they had heard from the surrounding territories.

“Elwin! Elwin! Look at that! There’s a public restroom!”

“It’s still winter, but water is coming out. The people of the territory seem to use it well too…”

A water supply and a toilet that could be used by anyone were only available in fairly developed capitals.

There, the roads were neatly maintained and water pipes were being built.

More than anything, Elwin noticed that the faces of the people who were mobilized for construction were bright.

“It seems like the labor is not forced, right? They all look fine…”

“Should I go and ask?”

“Huh? Wait a minute!”

Katina ran off with her hips swaying and got an answer from the workers who were working on the construction.

“They pay half a silver a day!”

“Half a silver? I wonder if their finances can handle it.”

The rumor that he made a lot of money with salt and Sardines must have been true.

Most of the people in the territory had an obligation to labor and could be mobilized at the lord’s discretion without any problem.

Of course, if they abused them or interfered with their marriage, they would be criticized.

But even such malicious acts rarely received interference from the center.

The lord was like a king of the territory.

The nobles in the center couldn’t tell the lord what to do either.

That’s why many people in the territory had to suffer from harsh labor for dozens of days a year.

It was surprising enough to pay wages, but it was very rare to give them more than decent free people.

“Does he have too much money to handle? But his mansion is nothing special.”

Katina was surprised by the shabby two-story mansion.

“I thought it was just an inn, but it’s the lord’s residence?”

“It says so on the sign. Anyway, everyone seems busy…”

They would have been interested in strangers wandering around in such a territory, but there were so many constructions and merchants that no one paid attention to them.

As they waited in front of the mansion, a maid came out.

“Are you Elwin and Katina?”

“Uh, yes.”

Not only Katina who was fidgeting her legs, but also Elwin bowed his head.

The blonde woman who was dressed as a maid had such an outstanding appearance that they thought she was a noble.

White skin was a symbol of nobility in Astera.

They didn’t work under the sun, so it was a natural notion.

She ignored their gaze and bowed her head.

“My name is Arma Ashford. I’m in charge of serving Baron exclusively. Please come this way.”

Elwin hurriedly followed her and Katina started to grumble.

“She must serve him at night too, right?”

“Shh. She can hear you, Katina.”

“I want her to hear me.”

Her voice was quite loud, but Arma who was ahead didn’t seem to care much.

Soon, the door of what seemed to be the lord’s office opened with a creak.

“The Baron is waiting for you.”

When they entered, they saw a big man with black hair doing his work.

It was Leobold who had fought with them.

“Leo!”

Katina almost flew over and grabbed his hand.

“It’s been so long!”

“…”

Leobold wondered if he should go along with this for a moment and made a decision.

Since he decided to use this body anyway, he needed to adjust accordingly.

‘He said he had been fighting on the battlefield with me for almost 10 years.’

They were close enough to call each other nicknames, so it would be weird if he put up a wall here.

“I’m glad you’re doing well. I’m glad you made it here without any trouble.”

His expression softened and his voice became gentle, but Katina looked a bit awkward.

He wasn’t such a soft person, was he?

But looking at his face and physique, he was definitely the Leobold she knew.

Elwin came over and greeted him, and Leobold sat them down on chairs.

“Before we share the joy of reunion, I want to thank you for coming like this.”

Now even Elwin felt like something was wrong.

The conversation was progressing too fast, but they came here with that intention anyway.

Elwin pushed up his old glasses.

“The war is over, and we have to find a new job. I’m glad you made this offer.”

“Don’t say that, it makes us look too desperate.”

“What does it matter, it’s true. We have to go around looking for food for the horned beast next week.”

“The horned beast eats anything, right?”

“You know it whines if you feed it any grass…”

Leobold coughed to refocus their attention.

“Let’s get to the point… I want to entrust you with the Goliaths of this territory.”

“Goliaths? There were Goliaths?”

“There weren’t any before, but four of them came up. Some kind people donated them to me.”

Katina didn’t know what that meant, but Elwin knew that two mercenary groups had picked a fight and got robbed.

‘It’s almost impossible to face three of them in a short term…’

Especially with the lowest level Goliaths like Raums.

There seemed to be some story behind it, but he decided to listen more for now.

“All you have to do is ride those Goliaths. Normally, you train with the soldiers and patrol the territory at the same time. In wartime, you follow my orders.”

It was a common job for mercenaries to settle in a territory.

Katina counted to four with her fingers and tilted her head.

“What about the fourth one? Who’s going to ride it?”

“Granden.”

“Granden? Do you mean Granden Olmus, the royal knight of Bagran?”

“That’s right. You’re well-informed.”

“Well-informed or not, you can’t talk about Bagran without mentioning him. How did you manage to bring him here?”

Elwin barely refrained from saying that it was a rural territory.

It was true, but if he said that in front of the person, he wouldn’t get away with just a glare.

“It’s a long story.”

Katina’s eyes sparkled at his words.

“We have plenty of time. Where is he?”

“He should be almost at the floating continent by now.”

“…What?”

“The floating continent, I said…”

They both leaned back their heads with a dizzy feeling.

It seemed like they had to hear a lot of stories from Leobold.

Katina laughed as they reminisced about the old days and whispered to Arma who brought them drinks.

“I’m close with Leo, but you’re not, right? I mean, you haven’t known him for long…”

“I’ve never heard the Baron mention your name, Miss Katina.”

Of course, the contents of Leobold were an earthling named Yujiha.

But from Katina’s perspective, Arma’s provocative remark couldn’t be ignored.

“…”

They stared at each other’s faces with cold eyes and looked away.

It seemed like they would clash a lot while living together.

***

About two weeks had passed since the airship Altema left for the floating continent.

Normally, a small country like Bagran, or even a rural territory, wouldn’t see much change in such a short time.

But Baron Vandus’s territory was swept by a wave of tremendous change.

He sold salt and Sardines in large quantities and made a fortune, and then he started to overhaul the entire territory.

Most of the process was building basic facilities that were lacking in the territory, and some of the people wondered about it.

“Usually when they make a lot of money, they try to secure Zium gold coins, but our Baron is different…”

“It’s not worth investing in us ignorant people.”

In Astera, commoners existed and accounted for the largest proportion, but nobles didn’t pay much attention to them.

They were just numbers because their social position was too low.

The nobility, who had golden ether, took care of everything until the war, so the status of commoners declined even more.

That’s why the culture of Astera was mostly divided into two.

The upper culture centered on the royal family and nobility, and the lower culture of commoners.

The former was dazzlingly developed with artifacts related to ether such as airships and trains, but the latter was almost stagnant for hundreds of years.

If you compare the life of an ordinary commoner 300 years ago and now, there is not much difference.

They got used to this situation so much that it was natural for them to feel curious about Baron Vandus’s actions.

But from Yujiha’s perspective, or rather Leobold’s perspective, caring for the commoners was a natural thing to do.

“I need their help if I want to develop this place to the 20th century level without artificial intelligence. I have to educate them.”

The basic infrastructure he was laying down was also just preparation for educating them.

He had to solve the housing and food problems first in order to make a proper curriculum.

Would anyone care about letters if they and their families were starving?

He sent Altema to the floating continent for that reason too.

There was a limit to how much money he could make by selling salt and Sardines.

He had to make a lot of money from that resource base in order to secure funds for developing his territory.

Of course, Settler and Mining Ship had a huge amount of wealth compared to this era and could also mine more.

But he needed at least some excuse.

He found that excuse when he arrived at the floating continent with Altema and encountered an unexpected existence there.

Granden, the commander, contacted him urgently through the communication device.

“My lord, we have a problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“It’s… It’s a dragon. A dragon has appeared.”

He stuttered as if he was shocked.

That calm Granden did.

“A dragon… Isn’t that a story from 200 years ago?”

“I understand that you don’t believe me. I feel like I’m crazy too. But what we saw was definitely, I’m sure it was a dragon!”

It seemed like it was real.