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Chapter 282

“Wow… wow! A chick!”

“Mom told me not to touch them because they get hurt easily!”

Of course, chickens and chicks were common livestock even among commoners.

However, unlike adult chickens, chicks were such fragile creatures that they could die just from being handled too often, so most parents didn’t let children touch them easily.

The children of the territory—and Arsha, too—seemed completely enchanted by Sur’s cuteness, but Grivy pouted.

“Hmph.”

It seemed the spirit Grivy was feeling jealous.

Before long, Sur noticed Grivy’s gaze and turned to stare back.

Then the tiny chick let out a snide little “Pik!” as if mocking her.

Grivy narrowed her eyes and began to fume.

While the children were completely captivated by Sur’s confident and brave flapping, Grivy quietly slipped away from Arsha and climbed into Leon’s arms.

“Daddy. I’m the first, right?”

“That’s right. You’re the first, Grivy.”

“Mm. That’s all I needed.”

Grivy smiled as if that alone made her content.

“You dummy, Grivy! The young master isn’t even married yet! He’s not your dad if he’s not even married!”

At that moment, one child shouted at Grivy, and her eyes flared up.

Then, with her tiny adorable feet, she stomped on the ground.

Boom!!

The result was far from cute.

“Did you just call me a dummy?!”

“Uh… um… s-sorry! I was wrong!”

Grivy’s strength made anyone watching fear that she could snap a neck at any moment.

The peaceful and serene appearance of the territory.

Unlike before, there were quite a few outsiders now.

It seemed that nobles from the capital had some business here.

Though it was hard to imagine why anyone would come all the way to Cascadia, Melissa had mentioned meeting with some capital nobles about a business deal.

“Trobell. What’s wrong? You don’t look happy.”

A nobleman gently asked, seemingly pleased with the peaceful surroundings, but the young boy pouted.

“Dunno.”

“Come on, tell me. If it’s something I can help with, I will. Do you want a new toy?”

“No, not that. I just want to go home.”

“Tell me. I wanted to take this chance to enjoy the fresh air and sightsee a bit…”

“Ugh… this place is way too countryside… I hate these run-down rural places!”

At the child’s whining, the nobleman looked troubled.

“You shouldn’t say things like that. This Duchy of Cascadia is the guardian of the kingdom.”

“Hmph. No cool stores, it smells like dirt, no magical attractions… I hate boring places like this!”

Leon froze as he watched the nobleman walk off while soothing his son with a troubled expression.

Luna also fell silent.

The two of them stood there, blankly gazing over the estate.

That evening.

Melissa entered the office with an incredulous look on her face.

“Ugh, that man. He looks gentle, but the moment it comes to his favorites, he completely loses it… What are you two doing?”

Leon was drawing something complex on a large sheet of paper, and Luna was pulling out gems from her subspace in line with the cost estimates Leon was making.

“I asked, what are you two doing?”

At Melissa’s exasperated question, Leon and Luna both turned to her with serious eyes.

“Head of House.”

At Leon’s address, Melissa flinched.

“Don’t call me that unless you’re up to something. Out with it.”

“At the town square today.”

“The square?”

“I overheard a kid from the capital.”

“And?”

“He said our estate is a backward countryside and didn’t want to come. I can’t stand anyone calling Cascadia backward.”

At that, Melissa froze as well.

Then she slowly approached and looked over the plans.

“Here and here. These are the areas with the most foot traffic from visitors. So, what’s the first step?”

“First, start with the roads. Then we’ll divide the territory into zones and redo everything.”

As she suddenly joined in, the steward who had followed Melissa in shook his head.

They bicker, but they really are siblings, he thought.

* * *

Developing a territory requires attention to many factors.

The land itself, the people, the funds, and things like customs and culture. In short, a huge pain in the neck.

In the past, the Countdom of Cascadia focused more on practical matters as a family that oversaw the Demon Realm.

They used only what was necessary, avoided expansion unless it was essential, and minimized waste in manpower and resources.

Both Leon’s father and grandfather were frugal by nature, so it was a given.

Thanks to that, the Cascadia family had managed to monitor the Demon Realm for generations without ever being shaken.

In any case, Cascadia was practical and operated with minimal waste, leading to the way it functioned today.

Was Cascadia really “backward”?

Not at all.

Like other territories, it had beautiful landscaping in its own way.

And thanks to the existence of magic, it was clean and hygienic despite its practicality.

This was possible because of the Association of Mages, who merged magic with daily conveniences for profit, unlike the formal Magic Towers.

* * *

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The first step was assessing the current state of the territory.

Where was what, how were the roads laid out, and how best to design improvements.

This side had its own technological capabilities, after all.

With the Hall of Sages from Labyrinthos—also known as the Heart of the Machine God—and their magitech and alchemy, we could do a lot.

“How long will it take?”

“We’re breaking it into zones, so... actual construction is quick, but accounting for coordination and resolving issues… a few months if short, 1 to 2 years if long?”

The construction itself was fast, but there were many things that needed careful handling.

Even if this all started from a comment that stung my pride, now that we were doing it, we had to do it right.

“You’re telling me you’ll revamp the entire estate in 1–2 years? Can’t you stretch it to like 10 years instead?”

“Are you trying to keep me stuck here just because I keep causing trouble?”

“Yep.”

At her firm response, I flicked a forehead flick like a tactical nuke right into Melissa’s forehead.

“Kyah!! You little punk! You’re laying hands on a lady now?!”

“Sorry, I’m an egalitarian. I don’t make those distinctions.”

Leaving the groaning Melissa behind, I headed toward my destination with Luna and Grivy in tow.

Our destination was an underdeveloped district tucked away on the sunny side of the territory.

It was a virtually abandoned zone with no residents or merchants.

This place used to be managed by my deceased uncle, Tyvel Cascadia.

The area was filled with half-built structures and derelict buildings, so the first step was to tear everything down.

“Let’s start with demolition.”

“I’ll do it.”

Since there was a chance someone might be inside the ruins, I sent out wraiths to check before asking,

“Are you just gonna blow it up? Cleaning up the debris is gonna be a pain.”

In response, Luna pointed her index finger at a dilapidated building.

Then she spoke.

“Angel Death Beam.”

Piiing!!!

With the sound of something tightly drawn being released, a white flash of light shot toward the building.

KUUUUNG!!!!!

What followed was a massive explosion.

Angel Death Beam?

This fallen one is seriously going off the rails now.

What was surprising was what came after the beam hit its target.

The building wasn’t just destroyed—it had completely evaporated without a single piece of rubble left behind.

“How’s that?”

“Not bad. Let’s wipe out all the abandoned structures here.”

Luna, excited, began firing her white flashes all over the place.

Pretty sure she didn’t have powers like that before.

“Did she recover more abilities already?”

“More accurately, the power of the fallen angel has seeped deeper into me.”

Psshhhhh...

Luna joyfully obliterated every last abandoned building in sight.

Clearing out a plot of this scale didn’t even take much time.

After she was done, Luna plopped down beside me, looking satisfied, and began munching on a sandwich.

However, this area had uneven terrain and inconsistent soil conditions, so we needed to level the ground before doing anything else.

“Alright, buildings are done. Grivy.”

“Yes, Father.”

Grivy naturally stepped forward at my call.

“You can level the ground, right?”

At my request, Grivy looked around the bumpy terrain, put her hands on her hips, and puffed out her chest.

“Yup! Grivy loves playing with dirt!”

She then bounced around the area.

As she did, the jagged and chaotic land began to shift and merge into a smooth, even surface.

Once that was done, I started pulling undead from the shadows.

“Let’s get to work.”

With those words, I placed my hands on the stones I had prepared beforehand.

Then I activated the Heart of the Machine God.

As if molding bricks, I reshaped the stones into clean, smooth blocks.

The undead began moving, diligently carrying and laying down the bricks to form roads.

Dozens of Forest Wendigos clustered together, carefully laying the bricks on the ground with one hand while holding a stack with the other.

It was quite the sight.

While the undead paved the ground, I had Grivy finish preparing the site using her powers.

Then I gathered the wood and stone in one spot and once again activated the Heart of the Machine God.

I covered the entire building site within its range, mixing and reshaping the materials as I erected the structures.

Raising large buildings didn’t take much time.

With nearby roads in place and a large structure completed, it only took about three days.

Given that the facility was designed to house a large number of people, there were naturally more considerations to keep in mind.

During construction, we also managed to connect the water pipes and mana lines necessary to operate the mana burners.

Normally, such a system would only be seen in noble estates, but I planned to use this opportunity to implement a large-scale infrastructure across the entire territory.

“Wow... This was built in just three days?”

The building was large enough to easily house hundreds of people.

While it wasn’t artistically designed, the clean and functional layout still looked better than typical residences in the territory.

“Once redevelopment begins, I’ll house the residents of that district here. After construction is complete, they’ll move back in.”

“Well, we saved a ton on labor costs, but this was still a pretty big expense.”

“I’m thinking of making the residents an offer.”

“An offer?”

“Yeah. They can live in the newly constructed homes for a while, and if they like it, they can purchase it later—at a price that won’t burden them.”

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