"The north?" Rebecca tilted her head, recalling Elizabeth and Sara's village. "Wasn't there only uninhabitable mountains there?"
"... Yes. But across the mountains, there is a sea. If we can get there, we can build a fishing village," Marissa said.
"What's with the sudden interest?" Rebecca tilted her head. "And why us?"
"Hm… I'm not sure either. The kingdom and the ministers suddenly started talking about how we should use Hiro to pave a way through the mountains and build a port city across them," Marissa said.
"That's…" Rebecca twitched.
"Ahem. With the threat of Latvin gone, we can freely expand. Our choices are to conquer the Forest of the Tentacles or the mountains," one minister spoke. "We deemed the mountains were easier path."
"There are monsters." Rebecca frowned. The main problem Litmus had when expanding had always been monsters, not Latvin. Latvin's assault on their soil was recent. Can they defend the soil they had taken? That was always the major setback when reclaiming new land.
"With iron and steel in smooth circulation, our knights and adventurers are fully equipped. Monsters are no longer an issue, especially after we annexed part of Latvin into our territory."
"Well… I guess you're right." Rebecca nodded, although she didn't fully believe the reason.
Hiro was the one frowning this time. He was fully against the project. He didn't want to support these kinds of ministers. Right now, they were expanding into unknown land, but soon, if left unchecked, they might try to expand by invading others.
After the war with Latvin, the other friendly nations were still scrambling to restore the former Latvin territories. Except for Litmus, their newly acquired lands were separated from their main territory. Especially Delana. They had to go from one corner of Litmus, all the way across former Latvin territory, to reach Vertia.
The most important thing was how their symbiote users were scattered. If Hiro were a ruthless invader, this would be the perfect chance to launch an attack. He could potentially conquer Mutual and Delana at this rate.
But Hiro was a pacifist. He didn't like conquering other kingdoms.
"Of course, we are not the only ones doing this. Leafa will be spearheading the effort. Cylia also promised to participate," Marissa said. "We will be working with them."
"Cylia?" Cecile tilted her head.
"Wasn't she the symbiote user who helped us in the Latvin war?" Rebecca tilted her head. "She was the one who killed Delghar, right?"
"Yes." Marissa nodded.
"Hiro? What's wrong?"
"Hm… Hiro doesn't seem enthused about the plan," Marissa said when Hiro shook his tentacle. "Are you with the intensification group, Hiro?"
Hiro nodded his tentacle.
"Hm… We can't do that forever," the minister said. "There are a limited number of jobs left in the country."
That's the problem. Human greed. They were fine before, yet now that they had tasted the fruit of victory, they wanted more. Hiro knew that founding a new village would bring jobs and economic growth, but everything had limits.
And they still had the former Latvin territories to worry about.
"Ahem, Hiro might disagree, but this is the king's decree," the minister said. "The sea is too important to miss. If we don't get to it soon, Delana or Delanim might lay claim to it."
"How can they afford to expand there? Delanim might be able to, but Delana had just lost a symbiote user, right? And they have to guard Vertia now," Rebecca said.
"Ah. I see." Marissa nodded. "Were they thinking they could get to Vertia by sea? In that case, I can see why they wanted to extend themselves there."
"That's probably what they were aiming for, yes," the minister nodded.
"Aren't we going to make enemies if we build a port there?"
"No. Delanim already has its own sea. If we could build a harbor there, it would become a critical checkpoint for them to rest their fleet and resupply. As for Delana, they could use the nearby river to sail to the sea. So, there shouldn't be any trouble," the minister said.
"I see. It's a race for expansion, huh?"
"Yes. As long as someone builds a harbor there, I don't think Delana or Delanim would complain. It's better if we are the ones who build the harbor, right? Then, in the future, if we manage to get rid of the Forest of Tentacles, we might even have a second harbor."
Hiro sighed. The minister was daydreaming. Of course he would. Litmus was a small country not even two years ago. Yet now, after winning the war, its size had almost doubled. The nobles must have been salivating at the prospect of promotion. With how Litmus had expanded, there must have been at least two new duke positions, several count positions, and dozens of baron positions up for grabs. Heck, Hiro remembered Cecile and Rebecca were offered some before they departed for Elizabeth's village.
Hiro deflated, returning to Rebecca's womb. It seemed they had already decided. As long as they didn't cause trouble or invade others, Hiro accepted a little expansion. That's how most empires grew, after all.
"So, when do we depart?" Rebecca asked.
"You will gather near the new mining village in a week. Leafa was supposed to be there already, but Cylia will need some time to arrive."
"Anything we should expect?"
"There shouldn't be anything noteworthy except monsters…." Marissa pondered. She then turned to the minister. This one had been lent to her by the king, so he should know more.
Yes. Several of Marissa's direct subordinates were not from the local area. Some were from the king, some from her father, and several others were from other duchies or territories. They worked for her, but their allegiance was to their home territories.
Marissa viewed them as liaisons rather than direct subordinates. If she wanted goods or services unique to their territories, she called upon them. Though, since most villages in Litmus were self-sufficient, she rarely needed them.
But others were pushing her to accept them because they wanted access to Hiro. Right now, it was almost an open secret among Litmus' nobles that Hiro wasn't a true symbiote. But with how he had essentially monopolized the iron industry, lower nobles rarely cared. As long as he wasn't harmful or threatening to them, they were willing to sacrifice one or two of their daughters for a gold mine that is Hiro.
Hiro refused them, of course. He didn't want his girls to be given away like that. He wanted a harem, but having too many girls was troublesome.
"... We are supposed to be knights protecting this village…"
"Yeah, but Brother Seraphine was already doing that job. People feel more at ease with him at the military outpost, even though there are three of you," Marissa sighed.
"That's not true. Seraphine was ordered to help Sheena manage the Forest of Tentacles every three months. So, he wasn't just sitting on his laurels in the barracks hunting monsters in the forest. That job is now held by a lieutenant commander. He isn't a symbiote user, but with more men, including the guns we plundered from Latvin, we estimate that he can do the job well enough," the minister said.
"Alright. We will prepare for departure," Rebecca said. "If we are going to go through that forest again, wouldn't it be better to bring Elizabeth or a batkin as a guide?"
"..." Marissa turned away, and the minister shook his head.
"It would feel like we are purposely displacing them, wouldn't it?" Marissa said.
"This is just a survey. But we might need to build a road right through their village. So,, it would be preferable if we did it without them. They are busy enough as they are now, right?" the minister said.
"... Alright," Rebecca sighed. That issue was certainly a sensitive topic. Rebecca guessed the kingdom wouldn't want to hear the batkins' and dovekins' names appearing in court for a while.
Even though they did nothing wrong.
"Well. The batkins are busy defending their new village. I suppose we shouldn't inconvenience them any longer," Cecile sighed.
The fact that the kingdom was willing to spare a real symbiote user really told them how important this project was. This project was more important than the mining village, which was overseen by Leafa.
Cecile and Rebecca then took their break in the manor, buying supplies for their next departure to the mining village. That village had little arable land, so they had to bring their own food unless they wanted to pay double the normal price there.
When they arrived at the mining village two days later, a train of caravans lined up before the village.
"That's Leafa's house sigil, right?" Cecile said.
"Yes. I guess Leafa was more prepared than we were." Rebecca nodded.
"So many…"
"I thought this was a survey. Was she expecting us to build the village there right away?" Rebecca turned to the caravan. There were about fifty carriages there.
"Yes," Leafa nodded. "Have you heard the news? The crown wants to build a harbor and possibly a fishing village there, so they tasked us with it and even asked Cylia to accompany us."
"I thought we were supposed to do a survey first. What if there is no arable land there? What if the road is perilous? We might be fine, but ordinary merchants won't," Rebecca said.
"Knights and mercenaries would guard merchants. And if there is no arable land, the villagers would need to rely on a fish and seafood diet," Leafa said.
"Can Litmus even build ships?"
"Litmus might have been landlocked for its entire history, but we still have rivers," Leafa said.
"I see. I assume there are boatbuilders here?"
"Yes, of course. We hired three hundred people, and a thousand more will come later. In this initial group, one hundred are woodworkers and lumberjacks. Forty are farmers, and more than fifty are boatbuilders. The rest are young men and knights eager to learn the crafts and protect the village from monsters." Leafa puffed out her chest, as if proud to have been appointed to this mission. "If we need anything more, we can always ask the crown to provide it later."
"Good. Anything we can help with?" Rebecca asked.
"Of course! You have been here before, right? We have a cartographer in our knight squad. We can begin cartographing right at this moment. Maps are going to be important if we want to build a successful village there."
"Let's begin!" Rebecca raised her staff. Cecile and Nana also cheered.
Hiro facepalmed at how optimistic the duo were. Latvin was also a landlocked country, so they wouldn't know the difference between rivers and seas. But Hiro could only sigh at the problem looming ahead.