Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 33

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 33
This world overflows with monsters.
Because of that.
If one succeeds in establishing a Pioneer Settlement, numerous rewards follow in its wake.
First.
A noble title is bestowed.
Though it is the lowest rank—Baron—one is recognized as a Hereditary Noble with succession rights.
Second.
The settlement is recognized as a Fiefdom.
As a Hereditary Noble, one gains the authority to pass that settlement and its lands down through generations.
This was a law recognized simultaneously by every kingdom and empire in this world.
And.
This was precisely what Tei had set his sights on.
Establish a Pioneer Settlement and acquire a title and Fiefdom.
Since he was already raking in an enormous fortune, it was well worth attempting.
And that beginning started the moment he visited the Harundel Administrative Office.
* * *
The Harundel Administrative Office.
A workplace where bureaucrats directly under the Marquis worked, handling the city’s various administrative duties.
Taxation, public order, commercial permits, land management, and so forth.
It could be said to be like a cog that kept this enormous city running.
Tei visited that place.
Of course, not alone.
He brought Lant along, arrived in a sedan chair carried by four Skeleton Soldiers, and had two escort mercenaries from the Silver Shield Guild flanking him on either side.
Though Harundel, as befitted a great commercial city, had all manner of people and one could see Undead like Skeleton Soldiers on the streets often enough.
The sight of Skeleton Soldiers carrying a sedan chair was not something one saw every day—it was a remarkable spectacle.
Thus it was natural that everyone stared.
“What is that?”
“They’re carrying a person…….”
“Skeleton Soldiers doing that—looks pretty impressive, doesn’t it?”
“I heard that Black Mage has a bright future…….”
Behind such admiration, envy, and astonishment.
Tei arrived at the Administrative Office.
After receiving a waiting number at the reception desk and waiting, he was able to meet the official in charge.
Roen, the Pioneer Settlement administrator.
A thin, middle-aged man who wore glasses and was buried beneath piles of parchment documents—a bureaucrat of the most typical sort.
“A Pioneer Settlement registration……you’re handling this personally?”
“Yes. I intend to establish a Pioneer Settlement in the Southern Unclaimed Lands of Harundel Marquisdom.”
“The south?”
Roen looked up at Tei over the rim of his glasses.
Some emotion flickered across those eyes.
It was not surprise.
It was something closer to pity.
“There have been settlement attempts in that region recently, but all have failed.”
“I’m aware.”
“You’re aware and still intend to proceed?”
Roen shuffled through his documents.
“In the past five years, there have been seven attempts at settlement in the Southern Unclaimed Lands. Of those, two reached the point of forming a village. Both of those were annihilated within a year by monster attacks.”
Roen recited the figures matter-of-factly.
“Are you aware that near the southern coast there is a rather large mountain? That is why the habitats of orcs and trolls overlap there. On top of that, the frequency of Magical Beast sightings from the sea is three times or more than in other directions. The most recent attempt was last year, when the Gold Badge Mercenary Company took the lead, only to be completely annihilated by a large-scale orc assault within half a year.”
“The Gold Badge Mercenary Company?”
That referred to the mercenary company with Geum Pae as its commander.
“Yes. The Gold Badge Mercenary Company with fifty mercenaries. The point is that even with that level of force, the south could not be held.”
Roen adjusted his glasses as he spoke.
“To be frank with you. It won’t work.”
It was a resolute statement.
It was unusual for an administrator to tell someone who had come to file a settlement report that it wouldn’t work.
In truth, success would be fine, and even failure would bring no disadvantage to Roen.
But there was no malice in Roen’s tone.
It was closer to genuine concern.
This administrator was the one processing the paperwork of those who died in the Southern Unclaimed Lands.
A failed settlement attempt meant people had perished.
And it was Roen who filed the death report each time.
“Still, you ought to be able to file a report, shouldn’t you?”
Tei said with a smile.
“……Well, that’s true, but.”
Roen sighed.
“According to regulations, I have no authority to refuse a report. However, I am obligated to inform you: the mortality rate for settlement attempts in the Southern Unclaimed Lands is extraordinarily high. Still wish to proceed?”
“Yes.”
“……If I may ask, what is the scale of forces you intend to deploy?”
“Two Black Mages. Dozens of Skeleton Soldiers. Six swordsmen. An escort of twenty, including two Silver Shield Guild mercenaries. And I plan to invest at least ten thousand Goldmanta Gold Coins in funding.”
Roen’s pen stopped.
“……Pardon?”
“Is that insufficient?”
“No, that’s not it.”
Roen removed his glasses and wiped them. Then he put them back on.
The expression in his eyes had changed from before.
Not pity, but bewilderment.
Ten thousand coins?
Ten thousand Goldmanta Gold Coins was enough to buy an entire mid-sized merchant house in Harundel and have money left over.
This person intended to pour that fortune into a settlement village?
Those who came to file settlement reports fell into two categories.
First: lower-ranking knights or fallen nobles attempting recklessly for a fiefdom.
Second: mercenary companies seeking a quick fortune.
In either case, most failed due to insufficient funds and forces.
But this Black Mage?
An escort of twenty including two Silver Shield Guild mercenaries, and dozens of Skeleton Soldiers?
And the funding was adequate?
‘What exactly is this person?’
Roen studied Tei for a moment, then finally began moving his pen.
“……I understand. I’ll prepare the report. Intended settlement location: Southern Unclaimed Lands of Harundel Marquisdom. Applicant’s name?”
“Tei.”
“Affiliation?”
“None.”
“Occupation?”
“Black Mage.”
Roen’s pen hesitated once more, but then continued writing.
“Report accepted. Settlement permits will be issued in three days. The filing fee is fifty Goldmanta Gold Coins.”
“Thank you.”
Tei paid the fee and rose from his seat.
Roen watched Tei’s departing figure and murmured.
“The south…… I pray you return alive.”
Tei did not hear those words.
Had he, he would have chuckled.
Tei was confident, after all.
* * *
“Ah…… Refreshing.”
Tei sat atop a palanquin, feeling the sea breeze, and muttered to himself.
Skeleton Soldiers marched in orderly formation around him, and beside him rode Lant in another palanquin.
Lant was absorbed in reading a Black Magic Tome, while Tei simply enjoyed the seascape and let his mood flourish.
To explain the situation:
Only Tei, Lant, and the Skeleton Soldiers were traveling to open the Unclaimed Land.
Why?
Tei’s current base was the stone cottage where he produced Bone Spears.
If this place were attacked, his revenue would plummet, so he had to allocate a substantial garrison force there.
That’s why he hired mercenaries from the Silver Shield Guild.
They would be sufficient for defense.
He’d also left his other slaves—the Black Mages Desh and Daisy—behind at the cottage.
Desh needed to manufacture and sell 1st Class Black Magic Consumable Items while managing production and sales of the Bone Spears.
Daisy and the other three slaves handling domestic duties had to remain to manage the mercenaries and the enslaved individuals who had gone mad from using Madness Battery Packs.
In truth, the paperwork for the Pioneer Settlement listed mercenaries from the Silver Shield Guild.
But those who actually marched out were Tei and Lant.
Along with the Imps As and Dialogue that trailed behind them.
And Skeleton Soldiers. Nothing else.
Why?
Because there were so many Skeleton Soldiers.
After coating them with absurdly expensive items.
Tei could now control no fewer than seventy-eight elite Skeleton Soldiers by himself, and Lant could likewise command twenty-seven elite Skeleton Soldiers.
Why, you ask?
Because Lant too had armed himself with items worth three thousand Gold Coins.
Though it fell short of Tei’s ten thousand Gold Coins’ worth.
Still, with such a substantial sum adorning his person, he had no choice but to be formidable.
And so one hundred and five Skeleton Soldiers advanced.
At this point, it was truly a force capable of sweeping away even a modest manor or fiefdom in a single stroke.
The ultimate display of money’s power!
And at this strength, Tei believed they could more than sufficiently subdue the Unclaimed Lands.
“Ah. That must be it over there?”
Something came into view ahead of Tei.
A river running down to the sea.
Following its course upstream, a dense forest appeared, and beyond it rose a fairly substantial mountain.
And.
Slightly upstream from where the river met the sea.
A few stone buildings stood, alongside the charred remains of wooden structures half-collapsed by fire.
A small village.
Or rather, the ruins of what had been one.
“Lant.”
“Yes. I see it as well.”
Lant lifted his gaze from the Black Magic Tome.
Tei surveyed the ruins.
The stone buildings stood at the village’s center.
Exactly three of them.
They must have been the most important structures — likely the village headman’s residence, a storehouse, or a defensive post.
There were about five or six wooden buildings, all consumed by fire, leaving only pillars and debris.
The wooden palisade that had once encircled the village lay mostly toppled, with char marks darkening the ground at intervals.
‘Traces of an Orc raid. They set fires.’
Orcs wielded fire well — a monster race that used tools, after all.
Tei looked around with admiration.
“This is perfect.”
The river ensured fresh water and irrigation.
The nearby sea allowed fishing and maritime trade.
Mountains and forests provided timber and stone.
And several stone buildings had already survived.
There was no need to lay foundations from scratch.
Of course, such information had all been researched and known before departure.
He hadn’t chosen this place to settle on a whim.
“This must be where someone attempted a settlement last year and failed. It must be the village that the Gold Badge Mercenary Company — the one Roen mentioned — had built.”
Tei hadn’t known about the Gold Badge Mercenary Company’s involvement, but that posed no problem.
He had a trump card, after all.
“The location is excellent. It’s a shame it failed.”
Lant offered a calm assessment.
“Good. Let’s use those stone buildings as our base. As and Dialogue, don’t participate in combat this time if any monsters appear. I want to assess how well the Skeleton Soldiers fight. Skeleton Soldiers. Advance.”
The village reclamation operation.
Commencing.
The Black Mage Blacksmith Was Too Easy
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Automaton G
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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