Mobile Fortress Cozette Chapter 20 (Patreon)

Chapter  20 Managing People

Brother Henning, who took on the Slime garbage disposal project, was quick and precise in his work. With reports and requests coming in every day, it was hard for me to keep track of the current situation.

The first thing he did was to take control of the site.

He gathered the guards guarding the site and explained how to use the Slime system. While explaining the importance of Slime, he showed the half-terrified soldiers how fast it could process garbage by feeding it to them himself, and told them that military spending was one of the ways to use the new budget.

He asked them to understand that he would go around and make their lives better.

Although it was an attempt at experimentation, it rarely failed, and the high expectations of the lord did not fail to moderately aggravate the tension of the person in charge.

I suppose I should say that he is indeed my brother Henning.

As a person in charge, he must already have a good understanding of how to manage people.

I can't do it.

The next step is to check the processing speed of Slime and actually process the garbage.

He is also very good at this.

First of all, the transportation destination is divided into the outskirts of the city and the processing site so as not to take away the work of the people who were engaged in the existing garbage transportation. Since the garbage transportation was originally overloaded, it seems to have been accepted without any confusion.

Once we had a little extra time, we assigned the extra time to Slime's transportation work.

My slimes are increasing every day, so my brother judges the number of slimes in the field while adjusting the number we dispatch and the number that increases in the field.

When the garbage from the city and the processing capacity are in a good balance, the people who were originally engaged in garbage transportation are taken in as workers at the processing plant or as collectors who go around collecting garbage from the city.

There is still some manure that is sent out of the city, so those were assigned to be transported as well.

However, since there is a possibility that they will be able to dispose of it in the future, they have designated an area that is far enough away from the city that they will be able to collect it there.

They could have dug the holes with soil Slime, but they don't plan to let people know that Slime is that useful yet, so they are digging the holes with human hands.

He reported that the safety of the transporters was finally ensured and the overall load on the city was reduced.

That's a good thing.

Since there are a lot of Slimes in operation, we can't carry them all at once, so my Slimes are being shipped back and forth between the compound and the processing plant almost all day long. As a result, no one is out of work.

It's very important to take care of the people who are working in the existing jobs. I understand, but this is the first time I have seen an actual example of how to come to terms with that.

It seems that my brother has also talked to father to make sure that there will be a fine for those who leave garbage in the streets. It will take some time for the fine to spread, but no one wants to be in the middle of a stinky place. It will also spread out to others.

Things seem to be going well.

Speaking of trouble, it seems that some people stole Slime from the processing plant and brought it to the Adventurer's Guild to cash it in.

Well, before it was noticed, our Slime had melted down the thief's bag and equipment and escaped, returning to the processing plant at a leisurely pace.

Interestingly enough, I was able to catch the whole thing at the mansion. The power of the <Tame> seems to be able to command Slimes in the city without any problems.

It's like I can sense where they are and what kind of situation they're in. It's a strange feeling.

If I concentrate my attention, I can see the Slime's surroundings in detail.

Well, I don't have much use for it at the moment.

The Slimes are very smart themselves. They'll tell me if there's anything I need to know. Until then, I basically leave it to them.

That's how the city's garbage disposal project started running smoothly, with very little intervention from me.

◇

「 I'm thinking of using refugees, is that okay? 」

As I was watching in amazement as Slimes lined up and threw knives and clay balls for no reason as usual, my brother came and told me so.

「 Refugees? 」

「 That's, refugees are people who have fled a territory or enemy country 」

「 Oh, no, I know what the word "refugee" means. Are there any refugees, in this city? 」

If brother is going to go out of his way to talk to me, it must be about the processing plant. They were originally just dumped in the mountains at random, and there aren't enough people to work there.

But I was surprised to hear that there were refugees. Our kingdom is not in a state of war at the moment. There is tension with the Empire, though.

I haven't heard of anything happening to any of the towns or villages in our territory. As usual, there is only talk about who killed which demon, or whether the bow or spear is the most efficient way to hunt goblins. It was peaceful.

Peace is the best, isn't it?

「 Oh, I'm sorry. So you know about refugees themselves. I didn't mean to make fun of you. 」

Right now, I'm five years old. My brother is seven years old.

「 Well, yes. There are refugees in this city. Well, not exactly those that you would expect, but the fact is that there are. 」

Is he trying to tell me a riddle, not right?

That is to say.

「 Are you talking about politics? 」

「 Yes, I'm talking about politics. Our least favorite topic 」

My brother distorts his beautiful face just a little. I'm sure I'm also distorting my face to the same degree.

「 What a bother 」

「 As a nobleman, I should scold you for saying such a thing, but I also agree. 」

Yes, you are right.

Relationships in our territory are, in a sense, very simple.

Are they helpful or not?

If it is useful, it is put to good use. If it's not, it's gone before you know it.

It's not like we're going to physically delete them, you know? We don't have time to spend on people who are useless.

We are not wealthy enough to have time for chitchat.

In particular, the higher up in the family hierarchy you are, the stronger this mindset is, and the closer to our family you are, the more likely you are to be quiet and dislike useless talk. I have a tendency to do the same.

It's almost the same for the whole family.

What about my other older brother? I haven't seen him for a while, so my memory is a bit hazy.

I remember him as a very cheerful person. Well, I'm sure I'll see him soon.

I'm sure we'll hear about it from him too.

To summarize, after analysis, interpretation, and judgment, the summary is that he is doing well.

At least they don't hate me.

Well, I mean, as a result, only useful people will be left.

Isn't that nice?

I like this idea very much, because there is no hassle.

Well, that's why I was so disturbed when I was given the job of <Slime User>.

That's another story that has passed, though.

「 The refugees say they came from the neighboring Zeifried territory. 」

「 ……the territory in contact with the Empire, aren't they? 」

The Zeifried territory is a frontier count territory, like our territory. It's a territory whose role is to stare down the empire and act as a shield for the kingdom.

「 That's right. Apparently, at that place, there are frequent collections to maintain the army, and there's no shortage of people fleeing. 」

--「 That's troublesome, isn't? 」

--「 ――troublesome……why? 」

--「 Ah, no. I mean, that's just how it is, probably 」

I was so surprised to hear Chiyo-sama's remark. There are many words that somehow linger in my ears. It sounds dangerous.

「 Well, I'm not going to say anything about the policies of other territories, but if they're actually causing real damage like this... 」

「 Isn't that dangerous? 」

「 Well. I don't really know the details. But it is something to think about. What I do know is that people are coming out of nowhere, and they're not our people. Our stomachs are not big enough to feed them for free. We'll leave everything else to father on how to handle this. 」

My brother gave up and seems to want to pass it to someone else.

Then I will follow suit.

And I'm sure your father will shelve it, too. No, I'm sure he will.

「 But how can there be refugees when there is no starvation, plague, or war? 」

「 Indeed, I can somewhat understand what Cozette is feeling. 」

All I can do is sigh.

The people are, in the extreme, a resource called labor. It takes about 10 years to be of practical use. It is not something that can be reduced idly.

It is our job as nobles to think of it as a number and repeat the calculation.

It is because of our labor force that we are able to produce food, secure troops, and maintain the security of our territory.

In our territory, we are even spending money to dispose of garbage in order to maintain it.

Why did they have to cut down such precious human resources?

……

It's hard to believe.

It's so unthinkable that I can't help but say "seriously".

Or are you saying that in other territories, this is the way of the world?

「 If, it's like this outside of this territory, are they thinking that a man's child will be an adult in a year. 」

That's all I can think of. I'm sure there must be someone out there with a great job or skill.

「 Is that really a human being? If that's true, I'd be too scared to go outside this territory. It must be even more magical than the Demon Forest. 」

My brother says to me with a straight face.

「 ――There's nothing more useless than talking about something that can't be answered. Let's get back to the point. I'm going to use those refugees. At first, I was going to use slaves, but if there are people there who want to work, then we should use them. 」

「That's reasonable. 」

「 These refugees, however, do not exist due to some very troublesome political issues. So, we basically have to ignore them. 」

Well, I guess so. If you protest to your neighbor, they will not admit that there are refugees, and if you accept them, there will be another long exchange.

So, the result is neglect. It's really too much of a hassle.

「 But I want labor, and they want work. It would be difficult to turn them into citizens, but I could use them as freemen or slaves. Over time, I can just make them disappear if necessary. 」

「 I see. Basically, they've lived in villages and towns before, so I guess there won't be any problems. 」

Free people here are adventurers who don't have homes, and slaves are labor slaves who put a value on themselves and work for that value. So you treat them like migrant workers?

My territory is basically based on the supremacy of force. It's also about the people. I'm sure that the security will not be fatally compromised by the entry of refugees.

「 Isn't that all right? 」

「 Hmm. I didn't see any problems either. And since the processing plant has been in operation for a while now, I thought it would be a good opportunity for Cozette to come and see the site. There are some things about using refugees that can't be determined without seeing the site. 」

I see, so that's your main point.

I am aware of the current situation to some extent through Slimes.

But seeing it for myself is a different story.

Besides, I simply want to go outside. Even if the destination is a pile of garbage.

「 So, brother, would you please be my escort. 」

Hmm, I wonder what it will be like. I'm looking forward to it.