Chapter : 34

-Screeeech!

-Thud!

A hard impact sound, unlike that of a living creature, echoed through the church cloister.

The heavy body of the Soul Eater, its head crushed, had fallen to the floor.

“Huu, huu.”

Breathing heavily, I stared at the fallen Soul Eater. I was ready to strike it again if it moved. But the Soul Eater didn't even twitch.

No, rather, it suddenly began to dry up, and in the end, its hard body began to crack.

“Ooh-!”

“His Excellency has executed the monster with the power of faith!!”

“It's a miracle!! A miracle of faith has manifested. Oh, God.”

Seeing this, the people around me burst into emotional praise.

To anyone, it looked like the lord had executed the evil monster with a cross(?). Although that cross was a rather terrifying-looking decorative one.

Thanks to that, the soldiers were cheering my name, praising me in the name of God.

‘Oh my head. What is this now?’

Of course, watching all this, I just rubbed my throbbing forehead.

Things were going well, and now what kind of tangent is this?

The power of faith?

Of course, on the surface, it did look plausible. It was an incredibly savage monster to anyone who saw it, and it was a fact that I had smashed its skull with a cross.

Moreover, the sunlight coming through the steeple hole that the Soul Eater had smashed was divinely enveloping me, making it seem even more so.

‘But a miracle is crossing the line.’

If I carelessly uttered such words, an inquisitor from the Holy See could be dispatched, and I could be burned at the stake.

I clicked my tongue inwardly and gestured to the knights. It was to calm down the excited soldiers.

“Oh, my lord. My ruler. May eternal blessings be with you!”

“Blessings to the noble Excellency-! To see a miracle before my very eyes. I am in awe.”

‘Sigh.’

This one and that one were all the same.

I had forgotten that the knights were just as ignorant as the soldiers.

“Yes, yes. I understand.”

“Ooh-!”

“Stop with the oohs and start searching through that debris. Wasn't Bishop Marco captured!”

“Wouldn't he be… dead?”

“That's right. It would be difficult to survive being crushed under such debris. To be martyred at the site of this holy miracle, I believe this is also a blessing.”

“He must have happily gone to heaven. Oh, God.”

No, they went beyond ignorance and expressed their desires even more blatantly.

A lord who performed a miracle, a martyred bishop, and the knights who followed him.

What an honorable picture it was for others to see. It was an achievement worthy of being proud of for generations.

Of course, as I watched this scene, I was once again struck by the absurdity of medieval people.

“You can't just kill a perfectly fine person! The bishop was not mortally wounded.”

“But still…”

“But still what. Get the bishop out at once. Tsk. No, I'll get him out myself.”

Better to die than to suffer. I clicked my tongue and approached the Soul Eater, which had now completely turned to stone, and searched inside.

I needed one person to calm down this place that had fallen into religious frenzy.

“Meeeh… Eeh~. My looord…”

But Bishop Marco, discovered in the pile of debris, acted very differently from my expectations.

The dust-covered Bishop Marco, as soon as he was rescued, saw me, knelt down, and began to cry.

“Meeeh-! My light… my Holy Spirit! Performer of miracles, my looord! Ooh, you are loved by God, meer!”

-Tiriring!

[Performer of Miracles!]

[You have been recognized by the bishop. This achievement you have performed will become a firm faith and spread far and wide.]

[Prestige increases.]

[Honor increases.]

[Figures of the church will view you more favorably.]

“……”

* * *

Something was strange, but in any case, the situation was well resolved.

The Soul Eater, which had turned into a pile of stone debris, became a decoration in the church cloister as a symbol of the miracle(?), and the injured, including Bishop Marco, were immediately treated by doctors.

In the meantime, the citizen representatives and Bishop Lauren, who had grasped the situation, expressed their admiring gratitude to me, and their praises were so extravagant that my face grew hot.

Still, with both bishops speaking for me, I felt that I wouldn't be judged by the Holy See for blasphemy.

‘Well, it probably won't be bad. Fortunately.’

Thinking so, I entered my office and sat down. The loud commotion was over, but my work was not.

Even now, various inquiries were pouring in from the main castle. If there was someone smart, I would delegate, but so far, I was not satisfied with the pool of talent I had.

Chamberlain Hamil was smart, but he was born a knight, so he wasn't really suited for internal affairs, and the other administrators were also quite passive due to the nature of the medieval class society structure.

Unless I hired a four-star administrator from somewhere, I would have to suffer for the time being.

“Ugh.”

Thanks to that, I sat down at my desk, sighing, and calmly spread out a parchment. And as I wrote the order, I also wrote down detailed instructions.

-Swish.

-Swish, swish, swish.

My hand moved without stopping. It was the task of checking the reports that had come in over the past few days and giving appropriate instructions for each one.

It was tiring, but if I made a mistake, it would be a headache in many ways. Therefore, I couldn't do it sloppily.

“Huh?”

Then, a red envelope suddenly caught my eye. Usually, a red envelope was an urgent document of importance.

“Let's see…”

-Rip.

The letter was from the expedition team I had sent to explore the mines the other day.

They said they tried to go deeper to the point I had indicated, but there were too many monsters, so they had to turn back. It was a shame.

But they said they had found a mineral in a mine they explored on their way back, and there was an unexpected item.

“Oh?”

A dark, hard stone and a lump of stone that crumbled when pressure was applied. It was graphite and coal.

“Look at this?”

A better item than I expected had fallen into my hands.

Coal was a fuel that could make fire without wood, and graphite was the main ingredient of a thing called a pencil.

And now.

‘This is an era where charcoal and quill pens are the only writing tools.’

It was a time when I needed a specialty product for my domain, and a rather appropriate item had come in.

Writing with a quill pen was a kind of privilege. Although the feathers that were the material for quill pens were everywhere.

The one thing essential for writing, ink, was not easily obtainable.

The method of making ink was more complex than one might think, and the price of its ingredients was not cheap.

The people who could write with a quill pen were mostly honorable nobles or the scholars they sponsored.

The rest of the people used charcoal made from burning charcoal or willow.

‘So, a pencil is a very attractive item.’

It was a very good item in the real world, but it was also one of the quite profitable specialty products that sold well in the game [Pangea Universalise].

Indeed, there was the problem that the color faded over time, but that was also the case with ink.

Rather, it didn't smudge easily with water, and there was no need to dip it in ink every time, so its convenience was unmatched.

The development of the pencil had a high probability of becoming a decent trade item for my domain, which had no notable specialty product except for Bollinwood.

Having organized my thoughts, I immediately wrote an order to the expedition team to develop the graphite mine.

And I began to write down the manufacturing method for making pencils using graphite on a parchment.

Then, suddenly.

‘Hmm… No. It would be better if I went and did it myself.’

The thought occurred to me.

There were quite a few parts that were difficult to explain in writing.

And there was also the possibility that the parchment with the manufacturing method could be leaked.

‘It's about time I'm done with my work in this city anyway.’

If I had been gaining the favor of the citizens with my actions so far, the subjugation of the Soul Eater this time was the equivalent of maxing out their favorability.

The fact that there had been a war was long forgotten, and praises for me were spreading throughout the city.

-Tap, tap.

I tapped the desk with my fingers.

Thoughts of which would be better swirled in my head. All that was left was to finish up anyway.

It was at a level where it would be fine to leave it to Chamberlain Hamil to handle.

“Alright. I should return.”

The next day, early in the morning.

I immediately led the soldiers out of the city. The destination was the main castle. I intended to get there as quickly as possible.

* * *

“W-welcome, my lord.”

They had certainly been notified of my arrival, but at my earlier-than-expected return, all the officials were flustered and quickly bowed their heads.

But I barely acknowledged them and headed straight for my office, calling for the dwarf artisans.

“Hmph… We were in the middle of a fun experiment, and you suddenly call us, human lord.”

“Is there something interesting going on?”

The dwarf artisans looked at me with a mix of curiosity and complaint.

Every time I called them, they got to make things they had never seen before, so I was a treasure trove to them.

“I need you to make something for me.”

“Make? What?”

“Ooh. Are you going to make something strange again, human lord?”

“I'm thinking of making a writing tool.”

“A writing tool?”

“Tsk. Isn't that just plucking a feather and cutting the end?”

At my words, the dwarf artisans grumbled as if they were disappointed. At their reaction, I chuckled. To them, the only writing tool was a quill pen, so such a reaction was natural.

“Now, watch carefully.”

I picked up a pre-trimmed piece of graphite. And I scrawled my signature on the parchment.

Then, a clear black line was drawn on it. The eyes of the dwarf artisans who were watching widened.

“What is that?”

“Is it like charcoal? For something like that, it sticks to the parchment very well. It doesn't seem to fall off either.”

“And it doesn't even smudge well. Does this mean it's resistant to water? Unlike ink?”

Then, without even asking me, they snatched the parchment and started whispering among themselves, fiddling with it.

Then, as if realizing their mistake, they cleared their throats and asked.

“Ahem. Ahem. Sorry, human lord. It was such an interesting object.”

“Yes. It's fascinating. What is this made of, human lord?”

“Graphite.”

At that, the dwarf artisans tilted their heads.

“Graphite? You mean that useless thing that crumbles when you apply pressure?”

“Hmm… Come to think of it, it has similar properties, but the graphite I know is not this hard, nor does it not smudge.”

At those words, I grinned.

“There's a way. What do you think? Would you like to try making this? Don't you think it will sell well if you make it?”

“Ha-! It will sell well, and how. Our dwarves will probably love it. The mines are too humid, so ink smudges easily.”

“Ugh, as that guy said, of course it will sell well.

But there's something more important than that. How on earth do you make it, human lord? It's amazing!”

“Why? If I tell you, can you make it right away?”

“Ahem. We are the artisan dwarves! Of course, we can make it right away. Just tell us.”

At that, the dwarf artisan snorted as if his pride was hurt. I appeased them and handed them a parchment from my bosom.

“Here's the recipe. Take a look.”

“Oh?”

“Hmm, it's simpler than I thought. Brilliant. Come to think of it, this way, we can get the hardness right!”

“But if we fail to control the amount, it might not write at all, right? Because it's too hard.”

They catch on quick.

“Why would it be difficult? I gave you the recipe, and I want to receive it quickly.”

“Ahem! Difficult? What do you take us for!”

“Yes. Don't worry, human lord. We can make it in 5 days.”

“5 days?”

I asked, gently prodding their pride once more. And it was very effective.

“No, you fool. What 5 days. 3 days! 3 days is enough!”

“Heh! 3 days. You make it like that. Human lord! I'll bring it to you in 2 days!

We have the recipe, and it's not that difficult, so it will only take a moment!”

“Yes, yes. I'll trust you guys. Then I'll ask for a better one.”

To think the deadline shortened every time I prodded them. As expected, dwarf artisans were an easy race to handle.