However, well… that’s quite a bold story.

Thinking of building a town nearby just because expanding the city is difficult—that’s only possible because there’s so much land left over, but it would be pretty hard to do on someone else’s territory.

The only scenery I know is along the highway from Riana to the royal capital, and even though it looks like there’s plenty of land at first glance, the flatlands are mostly used for farms, so there’s hardly any free space.

If a small, compact village is enough, that might be fine, but I doubt there would be many people willing to move to a place with no chance of development.

That’s true even though the area I was traveling through east of the royal capital is still an undeveloped territory.

I wonder if there’s any free land at all west of the royal capital?

Of course, that’s proof that the territory’s development has progressed and it’s flourishing.

The other day, I visited Zelkis’s provincial capital, and to develop the territory’s hard infrastructure, you just have to work on the inside of the town.

And on the soft side, it’s probably about human resource development?

Maybe our territory will get to that point someday, but it’s still a long way off.

For now, we need to focus on breaking open the wilderness on the eastern side of the provincial capital…

“…Ah.”

“What now?”

A question suddenly popped into my head, and I spoke out again.

And once more, Seriana looked at me.

“Yeah. You’re planning to build towns east, south, and north of the provincial capital, right?”

“Yes. Though the south will just be the village Luban currently governs developed as is… Why?”

“Building towns is fine, but who’s going to be the magistrate there? Luban will probably continue in the south, but what about the others? Will you bring in new people?”

The people of Riana are not exactly exclusionary, but even so, if a complete stranger suddenly became magistrate, would they obediently follow?

In Luban’s case, when he set up the southern base, he even brought his patron along, and he himself played a big role in defending that base.

If someone does all that, the locals would probably want to follow him, but Luban had already prepared to become a noble and govern his own land, so finding someone as capable as him isn’t easy.

That said, is there anyone in the territory who can both lead the development of the bases and act as magistrate…?

Is there?

The first people who come to mind are August and Alec, but August is the captain of the knights and also Riesel’s bodyguard in emergencies, so he can’t leave this town.

So he’s out.

Even Alec is captain of the 2nd squad and responsible for the town’s defense.

Also, to keep the adventurers in town in line, he shouldn’t leave either.

Besides, both of them have mansions in this town, and those mansions also function as defense facilities.

Yeah… that’s a no.

So then…

Zighart might be able to do it, but even if the residents would feel reassured having him as magistrate, considering his personality, I don’t think he’d accept.

Rick… even setting aside his role as captain of the 1st squad, might be a bit questionable.

He’s probably capable enough, but what about his popularity among the residents?

Hmm.

Nope.

Next up… no, I can’t think of anyone.

“As you said, the south will just be left to Luban. The interaction with the west will change, and the role of the southern village might shift, but it will still be the gateway for Riana’s waterways, and he’s the only one we can entrust it to. I don’t know if he’s thinking about independence in the future, but he’s the only one to leave it with.”

“Yeah.”

I sat up from the bed and looked at Seriana, who was looking down at me.

She had a fairly serious expression, so maybe this was an important conversation.

Maybe I should listen seriously.

With that in mind, I sat up.

“I’ll leave the eastern base to Alec.”

“…Alec? What about the provincial capital?”

I was a little surprised that Seriana planned to leave it to Alec, since I’d thought he was out of the question.

Isn’t that too big a burden on Alec?

“It shouldn’t be a problem. You’ve been to the eastern base, right? It’s a distance you can travel back and forth by horse in just a few tens of minutes. Of course, he might stay there occasionally, but he’ll finish his work before nightfall and come back to town quickly after. That’s with the current road conditions, but eventually, we’ll expand and improve the highway, so travel time should shorten even more.”

“…I see.”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sera・Blessing・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Water’s Garment】

Blessed Items・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】+1【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】【Red Sword】【Monkey’s Arm】・8 cards

Seriana・【Area Identification】・【】・0 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec・【Power Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards