Published: January 17, 2026
Originally, the fortress city murcia already had a water supply system in place, complete with provisions for boiling and disinfecting. Thanks to this, drinking water was not an issue. However, the problem lay in inadequate drainage. Since sewage tended to accumulate, the sewers required frequent cleaning and maintenance to maintain sanitary conditions.
There were defensive facilities and residences for the lord and the knight order, but housing for new inhabitants was still severely lacking. According to Espada’s estimates, the population was expected to continue growing rapidly.
With more residents arriving, the workload in murcia inevitably increased. In Seato village, I issued instructions for creating household registrations, and the same applied to fortress city murcia. It seemed the registrations for the newly arrived immigrants had been completed, but every time new residents came, the overwork would increase. That’s why they probably wanted to hire more civil servants. However, Seato village and the adventurer’s town were in similar situations. Espada, who calmly handled a massive amount of paperwork, was the anomaly. After all, he had processed nearly all the registrations for the first 400 people on his own.
The next major issue was public facilities. In a large city, it was normal to have various government offices, schools, and hospitals to handle applications and procedures. Of course, in some places, schools and hospitals were only accessible to the wealthy or nobility.
By the way, Seato village had an educational facility similar to a temple school, albeit modest. Ideally, they wanted to create educational curriculums based on age and knowledge, but with such diverse backgrounds and ages among the residents, that idea was abandoned.
There were many other public facilities set up in Seato village. Murica lacked enough personnel to establish similar ones. They understood this but seemed to prioritize addressing the most frequent complaints about housing first.
“Well, it can’t be helped, Murulemon,” I muttered jokingly while checking the map of fortress city murcia that Emira had prepared.
“Huh? Lord Van?”
“Did you say something?”
Alte and Kamushin, who were looking at the map alongside me, caught my muttering and tilted their heads in confusion. I laughed it off and took a sip of the tea Til had prepared.
After a brief pause, Emira, who had been explaining the situation in detail, cleared her throat softly and spoke up.
“Um, Lord Van? May I continue?”
“Ah, please!”
I quickly straightened my back and responded. Emira replied respectfully with a “Y-yes,” then pointed at the map.
“As I mentioned earlier, considering the shape of the fortress city, I think it would be best to designate this area as a residential district. Currently, we have opened up several barracks intended for soldiers, but compared to life in Seato village…”
“Well, having a private space is important, right? Yeah, I totally get it. Adolescents might not want to leave a locked room of their own. Uh-huh.”
Speaking from the perspective of the residents, I said this, causing Emira and Til to make strange faces.
“...Lord Van? Isn’t the age for having such feelings a bit later?”
“No, Lady Til. I believe even someone of Lord Van’s age could experience a rebellious phase... although, he doesn’t seem like it.”
“Oh, a rebellious phase… Now that you mention it, I recall him talking back to his father recently…”
“Huh? To the marquis? That might indeed be a proper rebellious phase.”
They whispered about me, making me feel a bit uncomfortable. I looked over at Alte, who blinked and looked at me.
“Lord Van, what is a ‘hankouki’?”
“Huh? I-it’s like when you just get fed up with everything and don’t want to deal with stuff anymore?”
“Oh, I see. Indeed, Lord Van seemed to have said ‘I’m done’ after Lord Panamera made unreasonable demands recently…”
Alte had straightforwardly misunderstood and constructed the notion in her head that Van-kun equaled rebellious phase. No, no, no. Anyone would have a rebellious phase after dealing with Panamera’s unreasonable demands. It would be more like going on strike.