“…what could it be this time?”
Not much time has passed since I was summoned by the king with regards to the delegation from the Gobaldo Republic, but I was being summoned yet again.
I was reluctant but I headed toward the royal palace nonetheless.
“Oh, Luke. Apologies once again. I’ve heard things are going well with Gobaldo, but how are things in your opinion?”
“Yeah, things are going well…they had invited me to their land that one time; I also built railways; and it seems like trade is booming already between merchants.”
Tourists and immigrants had also began to arrive in the village.
“Hmm, so in addition to the desert nations and to the 3 nations to the east, you are now also interacting with Gobaldo…”
Of course, my village wasn’t monopolizing any of these interactions. Each of those countries were interacting with the Celtia Kingdom as a whole too.
…although I admit that the majority of those were with my village.
“Our kingdom has benefited greatly from your efforts. After all, we’ve gone from having stopped almost if not all of our interactions with foreign nations due to our long civil wars, to regaining so much of their trust.”
Doing trade with a nation that was in the midst of a civil war was highly risky to say the least. Not many would do so because even supposing that the civil war would end right away since it wasn’t like the flow of goods and people would return to its normal levels immediately.
Still, I was worried the king would be angry at me for trading with the other nations without his leave—well, I did get his permission, but it was more or less after the fact. Instead though, here he was expressing his gratitude.
“But then again, it is you. I’ve already gotten used to you surpassing my expectations.”
…is it just me or does the king kinda look exasperated?
“Which reminds me, Luke. I’ve been thinking of granting your village autonomy.”
“Huh? Autonomy?”
“Yes. To be frank, your village has been developing at such an unbelievable rate that the kingdom couldn’t keep up anymore. Your village has been conforming to the Celtia Kingdom’s laws, but so many cases have happened already where our laws just can’t be applied. Our minister of justice is quite at a loss.”
It sounded like it ran counter to their efforts to strengthen the royal family’s power over the kingdom though.
“Are you sure about this, Your Majesty? Won’t this set the wrong example with the land-owning nobles?”
“You need not worry about it. Most of the kingdom’s nobles have been to your village, don’t they? If they have any functioning eyes at all, they would understand this decision sooner or later.”
Just as the king said, after the railway system had been established in the entire kingdom, many nobles have come to observe the village.
Moreover, I had been asked many times before on whether to keep calling it a village or perhaps have it be recognized as a domain.
“Henceforth, you are free from having to secure my permission every time. You’ll be able to do what you think is right.”
“Wait, you’re really leaving all the decision-making to us!?”
“By the way, another delegation from another nation has come to see you. Please see to them.”
Huh? Again?
“I am Parma. I hail come from the Ateri Kingdom.”
Parma, the representative of the envoys, was a serious-looking man who seemed to be in the first half of his forties.
“If I recall correctly, the Ateri Kingdom is to the west of the Celtita Kingdom.”
More specifically, it was to the west of the Celtia Kingdom and to the north of the Gobaldo Republic. It was one of the nations that surrounded a mostly inland sea. Compared to Celtia and Gobaldo, it was a rather small nation.
“You knew of us? What a great honor.”
“Ahm, what might I be able to do for you?”
“We would absolutely love it if we could come and observe the city you, Luke-sama, have built.”
“A-alright, I don’t mind, I suppose…”
And so, just like those from Gobaldo, we welcomed the delegates from Ateri.
The problem was, it didn’t end with them. Envoys from other countries soon arrived and asked to observe our wasteland village as well.
Those countries were: the Spel Kingdom, neighbor to the Ateri Kingdom and was another nation surrounding that same mediterranean sea; the Metore Kingdom, neighbor of the Spel Kingdom; and the small Boan Kingdom which was located between the Spel and Metore Kingdoms.
I had received invitations and a whole lot of other things from these nations, and before I knew it, we had began interacting with them in all sorts of ways such as trade, tourism, immigration, plus foreign studies and worker placement programs.
“What a drastic improvement to our international relations…”
“…what could it be this time?”
Not much time has passed since I was summoned by the king with regards to the delegation from the Gobaldo Republic, but I was being summoned yet again.
I was reluctant but I headed toward the royal palace nonetheless.
“Oh, Luke. Apologies once again. I’ve heard things are going well with Gobaldo, but how are things in your opinion?”
“Yeah, things are going well…they had invited me to their land that one time; I also built railways; and it seems like trade is booming already between merchants.”
Tourists and immigrants had also began to arrive in the village.
“Hmm, so in addition to the desert nations and to the 3 nations to the east, you are now also interacting with Gobaldo…”
Of course, my village wasn’t monopolizing any of these interactions. Each of those countries were interacting with the Celtia Kingdom as a whole too.
…although I admit that the majority of those were with my village.
“Our kingdom has benefited greatly from your efforts. After all, we’ve gone from having stopped almost if not all of our interactions with foreign nations due to our long civil wars, to regaining so much of their trust.”
Doing trade with a nation that was in the midst of a civil war was highly risky to say the least. Not many would do so because even supposing that the civil war would end right away since it wasn’t like the flow of goods and people would return to its normal levels immediately.
Still, I was worried the king would be angry at me for trading with the other nations without his leave—well, I did get his permission, but it was more or less after the fact. Instead though, here he was expressing his gratitude.
“But then again, it is you. I’ve already gotten used to you surpassing my expectations.”
…is it just me or does the king kinda look exasperated?
“Which reminds me, Luke. I’ve been thinking of granting your village autonomy.”
“Huh? Autonomy?”
“Yes. To be frank, your village has been developing at such an unbelievable rate that the kingdom couldn’t keep up anymore. Your village has been conforming to the Celtia Kingdom’s laws, but so many cases have happened already where our laws just can’t be applied. Our minister of justice is quite at a loss.”
It sounded like it ran counter to their efforts to strengthen the royal family’s power over the kingdom though.
“Are you sure about this, Your Majesty? Won’t this set the wrong example with the land-owning nobles?”
“You need not worry about it. Most of the kingdom’s nobles have been to your village, don’t they? If they have any functioning eyes at all, they would understand this decision sooner or later.”
Just as the king said, after the railway system had been established in the entire kingdom, many nobles have come to observe the village.
Moreover, I had been asked many times before on whether to keep calling it a village or perhaps have it be recognized as a domain.
“Henceforth, you are free from having to secure my permission every time. You’ll be able to do what you think is right.”
“Wait, you’re really leaving all the decision-making to us!?”
“By the way, another delegation from another nation has come to see you. Please see to them.”
Huh? Again?
“I am Parma. I hail come from the Ateri Kingdom.”
Parma, the representative of the envoys, was a serious-looking man who seemed to be in the first half of his forties.
“If I recall correctly, the Ateri Kingdom is to the west of the Celtita Kingdom.”
More specifically, it was to the west of the Celtia Kingdom and to the north of the Gobaldo Republic. It was one of the nations that surrounded a mostly inland sea. Compared to Celtia and Gobaldo, it was a rather small nation.
“You knew of us? What a great honor.”
“Ahm, what might I be able to do for you?”
“We would absolutely love it if we could come and observe the city you, Luke-sama, have built.”
“A-alright, I don’t mind, I suppose…”
And so, just like those from Gobaldo, we welcomed the delegates from Ateri.
The problem was, it didn’t end with them. Envoys from other countries soon arrived and asked to observe our wasteland village as well.
Those countries were: the Spel Kingdom, neighbor to the Ateri Kingdom and was another nation surrounding that same mediterranean sea; the Metore Kingdom, neighbor of the Spel Kingdom; and the small Boan Kingdom which was located between the Spel and Metore Kingdoms.
I had received invitations and a whole lot of other things from these nations, and before I knew it, we had began interacting with them in all sorts of ways such as trade, tourism, immigration, plus foreign studies and worker placement programs.
“What a drastic improvement to our international relations…”
