Chapter 18 ~ Building the Castle with 700 Million Yen

We landed in front of the fortress. During our flight, Ellie kept talking to everyone about the popular local attractions.

Things are not set in stone yet, but I think it is necessary to inform the Earl regarding our decisions in the future.

Worst case scenario, we are going to abandon this opening up new territory idea.

Angela told everyone the importance of the Oracle with a serious face. Tilika and Lily-sama seem to agree with her idea.

I have no choice but to reply “You’re right” with a resigned face.

In this world, God existence is real, and He graces the people with His blessings. For that reason, the God is heavily worshipped. I’m serious. Like, super serious.

I would like to complain, but I remember that I’ve received many sides benefits. Whether he is letting me go easy or he is poking fun at me, I couldn’t know because the difference in job commitment is too much.

I hope he becomes more lenient……

We finished our chit-chat and start walking into the fortress. We make our entrance from the main gate.

I get a feeling that Lily-sama’s face can work as a free pass here as well, but I don’t want to risk it.

Nobody inside the town noticed Lily-sama, an elf’s presence due to her wearing a hood over her face.

Despite that, she is required to reveal her face at the gate entrance. Lily-sama however, after she identified herself, she received an apology from the guard and was allowed in without a fuss.

When I go to the Adventurer Guild reception counter, I was welcomed by a familiar staff member and guided to the room at the back right away.

First, I inform them that my project has received the permission from the Earl. I told them I can officially start from now.

In the meantime, the Adventurer Guild will not play an active role, however once the village is established, the villagers may register as adventurers or the village can make a request.

The guild will not lend their support, but I was promised that a ‘request’ can be made as long as I include a paid reward.

If I need someone to acquire some materials for the village construction, I can make a request to the guild. They can dispatch labour workers on daily basis.

The adventurers are not focused on ‘adventuring’ work alone, sometimes they also deal with physical labour too. This is especially true when that person is a rookie who still don’t have any equipment. They cannot go hunt for monsters because that is too reckless. They will take a harmless part-time job and live frugally while they train in the guild and start choosing their equipment.

For that reason, this kind of work will always receive big applicants when they are offered.

“I think you already heard it from Liliane-sama, since we have received financial assistance from the elf side, your rewards for the emergency request the other day will be fully redeemed.”

Next thing on the list is about our money.

Last time I heard, full amount for the rewards is about 7 million gold. When converted to Japanese Yen, the amount will reach 700 million Yen.

“Based on our calculation from your subjugation records, you will be awarded 7.245052 million gold.”

1 gold is equivalent to 100 Yen, so it is around 724,505,200 Yen? That is like an amount that you can win when you hit a lottery.

When I return to Japan, my basic salary should be around 60 million. Simple calculation tells me that staying here is a far wiser choice. If I have no choice but to return, is it possible to bring back the gold coins and jewels that I earned here?

I will ask in the diary whether or not the money from this world is interchangeable to Japanese currency.

If I stay in Japan, I will never make an annual income this high for my entire life. Well, the amount will get reduced since the overall amount will be divided.

Dividing them equally into six part, each one of us will receive around 120 million. Not that hard to distribute. If I spend them cleverly, this money might last me a lifetime.

Working half day and a spending money of 120 million. Another world rocks!

If I turned the elf’s gifts into money, I will receive another good amount. Including this, the total reward money will be quite something.

“I wonder if I should open an account. There should be no problem, right?”

“I agree. I will give a small recommendation so there shouldn’t be any problem.”

“Account? I still keep mine the normal way.”

The account might be like the service that Sati has used to deposit money in the guild.

“That one is a custody service. If you deposit the money to the guild without an account, you can only withdraw back the money at the same guild branch. The problem is it took time if you try to withdraw them at another branch. If you make an account, you can withdraw your money anywhere you want.”

“We’re also tied to the Commercial Guild. It is useful since we can now withdraw money there too.”

All the guild staff present gives off their explanation.

To open an account, I need to meet certain level of credit and pay them service fee. No interest will be attached.

The advantage is we can withdraw money from any branch of both the Adventurer Guild and the Commercial Guild, that is their guarantee.

For example, if someone deposits their money in this branch without an account, in the unlikely event that this branch is destroyed by the monsters or the record is lost, there is no way to retrieve back the deposit. Such cases are rare, but they prove to be a huge problem.

I can store them in the item box and carry them anywhere with me, but normally a person will open an account and manage them with a bank book or something. Having a balance in the account is credible as an asset, rather than holding them in hand.

From now on, I’m going to run a village. It’s great to know that I have reliable financial status as a lord.

While we’re still discussing about the credits allocation, Martin the Truth Official appeared.

“Are you reviewing the deposit account? Fine, let’s go through this quickly.”

For the time being, I created an account under my name and put all the money inside. Then, Martin’s unforgivable interrogation began on the spot.

What motivates you to create an account?

What are you planning to do with that account?

Will you do it for any wrongdoings?

Have you committed crime in the past?

Do you have connections with any crime organization? Or are you acquainted with people who are likely connected to the crime organization?

Do you have a family member or close friends that are in debt?

Is it absolutely necessary for you to open this account?

Before I could answer the first question, I was bombarded by many more questions.

He is especially emphasizing on whether I have committed crime in the past or not.

Fortunately, I have never committed a crime that will end with me being caught by the police, but what about a misconduct?

Pissing while standing and littering, riding a two seated bicycle. What about traffic violations such as speeding and illegal parking for a moped? Is that counted as a crime?

I’ve picked up money on the street (500 Yen) before, am I screwed?

I’ve put a little thought, but that is enough incentive for Martin to continue pursuing the issue. Everything was exposed in the end. He is terrible.

Fortunately, none of them fall into crime category.

Depending on the location, it seems like most people from the town is okay with pissing while standing and public littering.

They aren’t sure about two seated bicycles.

As for speeding and illegal parking, most people will be angered by such behaviour but that’s it.

It’s your fault if you drop your own money.

Either way, that was a story back when I was still living in the faraway country which is not related or has no any influence over the newly opened account. The hearing is totally a waste.

“I’m sorry for asking you lots of questions. Please understand, if there is any crime committed under the account that I have approved, I will be held responsible. Ah, you passed the examination.”

This guy, wouldn’t this count as harassment……

“N, no, I’m serious, you know? The procedure for any applying adventurer whose background is unknown is this strict, you know. I’m not making things harder just because it was Mr. Masaru or anything like that.”

Martin continue to give out excuses after he noticed my grumpy face.

“That might be true. But you have gone overboard.”

“That depends on the official’s personal judgement, Tilika. No, not only that, I need to register Her Highness as an adventurer as well.”

I understand that this is his job. Yet, I’m sure that he has done clearly too much. I will remember this in the future, alright?

Anyway, today I can only apply for the account. I need to come back to get the bank book at a later date.

The bank book shown as a sample is an ordinary paper book with luxurious binding. If I try, I might be able to forge a duplicate. Withdrawal or anything similar is done by using the guild card, though. The guild card is made of a mysterious technology and cannot be forged. The security is higher compared to Japan since in Japan we can make a withdrawal as long we have the savings book and a seal.

Lily-sama’s adventurer registration was subsequently made, and the reviewing process was very easy.

As expected of Martin, even he knows his bound not to question an elf royalty with nonsensical things.

Lily-sama started from the bottom, which is rank E.

Elf, magician, Liliane.

An adventurer usually registers with their first name. Of course, there is no problem even if they register with their full name, but that doesn’t apply to Lily-sama.

The occupation column in the middle is left empty for personal preference. For example, if I want to be a swordsman instead of a magician, I can choose so.

As for the race, it is impossible to fake that one. Even though an elf adventurer is rare, it is not unusual enough to garner attention each time one appears.

Lily-sama took her adventurer card and left. Next is our rank application.

Both Ellie and I are applying for rank A and it took quite a while. Ann, Sati and Tilika got a promotion to rank B.

Regarding our rank A, they need to contact the guild headquarters at the capital for approval.

Well, it’s not like I’m rushing for something else, so it is fine even if they took their time.

“I’m planning to start hunting in the Demon Realm in the near future. What kind of monsters can we expect there?”

After we are done ranking up, I proceed to ask about the Demon Realm. There is quite good hunting ground here because we are nearby to the Demon Realm.

Many ordinary monsters are available here too, but they are not good enough for us anymore.

“Regarding the Demon Realm, the elf is responsible to manage them, not us. We have neither requests nor rewards from that area. However, since there are many valuable rare materials over there, please bring them back home if you encounter them.”

Fundamentally, the subjugation rewards are given by the ruling lords from the nearby territories as rewards for keeping them secured.

That means, there are no rewards for hunting inside the Demon Realm. Ellie mentions that we are the one of the few who started a pioneering project nearby the Demon Realm. Therefore, we will be requested to for investigation and material collection.

However, since the elves have already done all that, the requests never come over to this side.

“We are saved if you can bring a lot of them back home. What kind of rewards would you like to request from the guild?”

The Demon Realm is maintained by the elves. Then, the occupational army occasionally make an expedition. For the Adventurer Guild who specialized in material trade, this is not a good position to be in.

Even if the adventurers wander to the Demon Realm, the Elf Forest is basically off limits to them. Because of that, they need to go around the mountain range and it is not realistic.

“Let’s not. We still don’t know what will happen.”

If there are some rewards, then it is profitable. However, since we are required to give the prey that we hunted to the guild, I don’t know if it really is a good idea or not.

Depending on the situation, we might better off going to the city, since we don’t have transportation problems or whatnot.

I already finish the errands. Next, I will continue to build my mansion.

The day is already at peak once we reach back home. I went to Elf Country to pick up Titus.

Once I arrived, I saw Titus is waiting at the terrace of the elf castle. Then, she went downstairs.

Afterwards, we left the castle and went to the plaza to where 20 elves are ready with piled up materials.

They are elves who are in charge of construction and carpenter works. They wore an easy to move, rough and modest works cloth. Everyone is slender, so it doesn’t give off robust feeling at all. It is as if we are in a model’s gathering. Only their work clothes look off.

The elves who are responsible for the arrangement looks like a beautiful painter working with an atelier rather than a carpenter.

If they are taken to Japan, they are going to be worshipped as a beautiful carpenter.

The gate can only carry about 10 people at once. If I manipulate the flow of mana, I should be able to transport more people. But I have never gone that far yet.

We store the materials and makes three round trips at the gate. I, together with the craftsmen who are mainly female, were tightly jam packed inside the gate circle. For me who rarely has chance to meet women other than my wives, this is a joyous occurrence.

Even though the elves are masters of magic, they are highly curious of the gate and transition magic. I carefully invoke and explain about the working. I’m surprised to see they are so impressed.

I finish carrying all the elves over here and under Titus and the elf supervisor, they start working at once. I want to pitch in some help, but it seems that I was not needed.

All the elves involved are specialists in civil engineering and architecture. Hence, they are experts in Earth Magic. It is wiser for an amateur like me to keep their hands away.

Sometimes, I wish some of them will make a request for me or something. They make everything look comfy and the interior decoration for the stairs and doors and windows looks much better than what I can make. With an inhumane skill, everything was finished.

I make a request for a white façade on the outside as well. Afterwards, they bring something white like a plaster, and applied it on the wall.

The completed interior looks totally otherworldly. Somehow, it has a castle-like appearance now.

I wish they leave the tatami mats alone. Can you at least put them in between the wooden floor?

By having it in between the wooden floor, the hall will look like a Japanese style kendo hall.

More importantly, we need to finish the roof part.

Rooftop, in other words, a castle tower.

Together with the supervisor, we went to the rooftop. I told them the image that I have in mind. Although it is a foreign design, since there is already a completed sample from the previous tower, they said it can be done without a problem.

Although I was anxious about placing a heavy object on the rooftop, the supervisor said not to worry.

With that said, let’s make a second floor for this castle tower.

We collected appropriate soil from outside the site. This soil will form the second floor for the rooftop.

The castle tower’s second floor is smaller than the house counterpart. It is smaller than the first floor.

The point is to create the roof shape. If we build the roof normally, we can only see it as a tea room like previous one.

I dug up the characteristic of standard castle tower from my memory. The roof is triangular. The first floor and the second floor are decorated accordingly.

The castle tower consists of first floor and second floor. The roof on the third floor is aligned to the mansion roof. There is no particular meaning besides appearance, however it can also act as roof eaves during rain.

Once finished, we loaded black roof tiles made of Earth Magic.

About 5 people came to give us a helping hand. We never instructed them to, shows how dedicated they are to their jobs. By using the tea room next door as reference, they completed the exterior part of the castle tower which is by no means inferior to a real one in about 2 hours. Since I’m helping them making the roof tiles, the time consumed became less.

The interior of the castle tower is filled with wooden floor, just the way I wished it. As I ordered, from balcony, the top floor to the stairs are filled with wooden floor as well.

Together with the elf supervisor, we observe the exterior appearance with Levitation, then we went one round to see if there are any corrections or oversight.

“They are beautiful, but aren’t they strangely shaped?”

“This is how the ruling lord’s house looks like from where I come from.  Well, I simply imitated the appearance, so even I don’t know what it entails.”

We still haven’t started on the interior and by observing the details, it does gives a sense of incongruity, but when looked at from afar, it looks like a castle nonetheless.

Well, only the elf supervisor who find it weird. Perhaps it was due to my insufficient explanation or perhaps it was because I’m trying to recreate something from a vague memory. Each Japanese castle has different shape anyways, so it doesn’t matter much.

Since I’ve made the mansion larger, it gives off a stronghold feeling. The contrast between white on the wall and black on the roof is wonderful.

“The result came out great. Thank you very much.”

“The job is still underway. Please thank us after we complete everything. Therefore, regarding the mansion landscape, including the gate and the passageways, weーー”

As a matter of fact, there is more things to finished then what I expected.

Even if there are 20 professional workers working on it, the project cannot be done in a single day. If I tried to do everything alone, I might need at least a month.

Surely, if I make it a personal project, I’ll likely be bored halfway through. I am satisfied if the place can be inhabited. Simply said, the completed mansion will look shabby and tasteless.

I’m honestly glad to receive this help.