Volume 4 Chapter 3.5 (1/2)

Volume 4 Chapter 3.5

Editor: Weasalopes

The king just groaned at the minister’s confident statement. Currently, the only preferential treatment present in Forre was maybe relieving real estate taxes, while Wulls’ treatment of Hiroshi’s group was so favorable because practically everything Azuma Workshop produced was something that either Azuma Workshop had that was exclusive or something that Azuma Workshop was too far ahead in with quality/performance for others to try and attempt the same thing. No one was treating the workshop with preference because of pure favoritism or meritorious service; it was simply that everyone was confident in purchasing goods from them.

The only elements of their treatment that you might consider slightly preferential were the fact they could pretty much get freely in and out of the castle and that their proposals were easier to implement than that of the other shopkeepers. However, the only proposals that dealt with all of Farlane or Wulls were really just the slum soil amelioration project and the experimental farm. In this case as well, had the workshop not acted, all of Wulls could have very well fell into wide chaos, so even if Hiroshi’s group had not proposed the plan, the king would have had them implement it at some point.

The experimental farm had come about when Hiroshi’s group brought the topic up early morning, and without it, the probability of quarantining/disposing/burning down the entire division due to suspicion of an epidemic would have been fairly high. Compared to that bad aftertaste, the country instead had lost nothing, and it wasn’t like Hiroshi’s group was gaining much monetary/societal profit from any of this.

Then again, you might say that their being able to experiment with crop cultivation all they wanted using the country’s money was a tremendous profit for them.

「What if their leader changes after ten years？」

「I can say nothing regarding that, as there is no organization that does not go through change.」

「Hm……」

Although he understood the king’s concerns, the minister could only argue that there was no point trying to be too cautious right now. In ten years from now, even if they were to successfully dismantle Azuma Workshop, there was the possibility of another organization taking over the center.

「There is not much else we can do besides finding an excuse to meet them once and determine their nature.」

「Very true. Besides, even if these guests from the unknown continent were to take over after I die, that would simply mean the king after me is incompetent. The kingdom would doubtless end up destroyed regardless.」

「Right you are.」

「Needless to say, I have no intention of allowing anyone to come to the forefront.」

The vassals around the king looked up at him trustingly. If Farlane or Darl’s core members (who were weakened, in a sense) were to hear this statement, they would have undoubtedly had awkward smiles on their face while nodding absentmindedly.

Also, these concerns of the king of Forre were in fact valid. While they had never ravaged the country or screwed up politics, a hundred years later, Azuma Workshop would be taking over the world due to everyone overdepending on their crafting/distribution as well as the related parties later using their positions at Azuma Workshop to continue to make the things they wanted to make, but that is between us.

「We’re back」

「Welcome back」

When they had finished everything, Haruna’s group returned to the base at Crest Cave and were met by Mio, who seemed to have finished her aqua breath instructing.

「Where is Hiroshi-kun？」

「Sensei just told me he’s going to be a while.」

「I see.」

Apparently he was caught up in something the queen and Magdarena asked him to do in the palace in Darl, and had yet to finish the conference in Igreos Temple.

「It seems like Sensei won’t be able to do anything tomorrow either, and I wanna test out the capabilities of the aqua breath, so is it cool？」

「Test? How so？」

「I’m going to actually go into the dungeon and confirm if we can get through the poison gas area.」

Tatsuya and Makoto just went silent at Mio’s proposal. Haruna had seemingly decided to leave the decision to the elder two, beginning the tea.

「First, could you tell me why we’re included in this too？」