Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 42

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 42
“So how much tax revenue are we talking about?”
“Altogether, it comes to roughly 15,000 Goldmanta Gold Coins.”
“That’s all the average brings in?”
Tay recoiled in shock.
Wait—wasn’t that less than what he made in two months?
“Yes. If I may explain in detail……”
Taking the average.
Each peasant household pays an annual tax of grain or local goods worth roughly 10 Goldmanta Gold Coins.
For a thousand households, that comes to 10,000 coins.
But then there are taxes collected under various other pretexts……adding another 5,000 coins or so.
Even that isn’t pure profit.
For a typical Baron of average means.
It’s customary to maintain two knights and roughly a hundred common soldiers.
A knight’s yearly wage comes to at least 2,000 Goldmanta Gold Coins.
For soldiers, each man costs about 20 Goldmanta Gold Coins per year.
Two knights and a hundred soldiers.
That totals roughly 6,000 Goldmanta Gold Coins in expenses.
Then there are miscellaneous costs on top of that.
Soldiers must buy their own equipment, but the lord still has to feed them.
The food costs for that. A standing force of a hundred men requires lodging and heating.
With various other expenses for running the domain……ordinarily a Baron spends about 10,000 Goldmanta Gold Coins per year.
That leaves roughly 5,000 coins.
Rant explained that with those funds, they indulge in luxuries, support their house, and manage other necessities.
He added that this was an average with considerable margin for error, noting that circumstances varied by house, so Tay should treat it merely as a reference point.
“So I’m wealthier than most Barons……”
Tay had always vaguely assumed that becoming a noble and growing rich were simply things one did.
He’d known nothing of how noble houses actually earned their wealth or lived.
But hearing this now……
Tay himself, with his Madness Engineer Ability, had already reached the upper tier among Baron-class houses.
In fact, he realized he’d attained a level that placed him among the highest even among Count-class houses.
“Which is precisely why, Master, you must expand your forces further. For now, no one knows the extent of your income……”
“But if they find out, they might target my wealth—is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. I suppose I should hire mercenaries on a larger scale……or perhaps buy a large number of slaves to build up numbers quickly. What’s your thought?”
“By conventional wisdom, maintaining a large standing force of mercenaries would be preferable. At minimum, three hundred—if you keep that many hired at all times or establish a standing army, no one would dare provoke you lightly.”
Three hundred mercenaries.
Maintaining such a force was extraordinarily difficult.
For Tay, it was feasible.
But for other nobles, it wasn’t—which meant that two or three hundred soldiers would serve as a powerful deterrent.
Besides, Tay already had a hundred skeletal warriors under his command, and that alone acted as a formidable deterrent……realistically, two hundred hired mercenaries would suffice.
“I have 48,000 Goldmanta Gold Coins currently. I could use this to hire mercenaries long-term and build power, or……”
Tay mulled it over.
He’d earned the money, but now he realized he needed greater forces to protect what he’d earned.
Having earned this much was actually proving quite troublesome.
This was the whole reason he’d wanted to become a Pioneer Settlement lord in the first place.
But according to Rant, even this wasn’t enough?
“Three hundred……if I staff them all with Bronze Badge Mercenaries……”
Tay made a quick calculation.
Bronze Badge Mercenaries were the lowest tier, but they were still professional soldiers.
Not for maintaining order.
If hired for actual warfare, their rates went up.
All told.
To hire a single Bronze Badge Mercenary on a yearly contract, you’d need to pay at least 50 Goldmanta Gold Coins per person.
That was roughly two and a half times what a common soldier cost.
So three hundred men.
That meant spending 15,000 Goldmanta Gold Coins annually.
‘That’s doable, though……hmm.’
Should I just hire them?
If he included the skeletal warriors to make up the three hundred, then the actual mercenaries he’d need to hire would be two hundred, which would cost 10,000 Goldmanta Gold Coins.
But these mercenaries are just for inflating the numbers anyway, so why not just hire them for 15,000 gold coins?
Including the skeletal warriors, that comes to four hundred in total.
That’s substantial.
It’s the military strength Rant said you’d need from combining four average baronies.
In terms of peasant households, you’d need about 3,200 to field that kind of force.
‘Wait. This doesn’t mean I’m losing money, does it?’
Hiring three hundred mercenaries costs 15,000 gold coins a year, true.
But they had to stay in Tay’s territory anyway.
That meant everything they spent on food, lodging, and supplies cycled straight back into Tay’s coffers!
‘Of course there’s overhead, so I won’t recover it all — but I can definitely recoup at least half.’
Out of 15,000 gold coins, 7,500 could be recovered.
‘And if I just fill out the rest of the population with slaves? The money keeps coming in anyway — I’d spend every gold coin I earn in a year on purchasing slaves, convert them all to serfs, and… I could secure two thousand people at once like that. This needs to be done immediately.’
Tay reached his decision.
* * *
Morning.
Roen took a sip of coffee.
The same coffee he always drank, brewed from rare beans imported from the East.
The bitter taste wrapped around his tongue, and a clarity spread through his mind.
“Ahh….”
He set down the cup and studied the papers before him.
It was a report on pioneer settlements — this time, not bad news.
No.
Good news, perhaps. Or perhaps astonishing news.
[Pioneer Settlement Establishment Report]
Reporter: Tay
Location: Southern Wilderness, Harundel Marquessate
Status: Pioneer settlement construction completed. Palisades and moats in place. Stone buildings restored. Numerous wooden structures newly constructed.
Population: Approximately 300
Military Strength: Approximately 300
Remarks: Approximately nine months have passed since initial settlement report. Multiple monster attacks have occurred but were repelled entirely. Casualties minimal. Settlement functions normally.
Roen set the papers down.
“Huh….”
A sigh escaped him.
He truly hadn’t expected it to succeed.
To be honest, he’d thought the whole thing would collapse in spectacular failure.
Of course, the interim reports had indicated progress.
But to actually survive this long? He’d never imagined it.
Last summer.
He remembered the young dark mage who’d arrived at the administrative office riding in that peculiar sedan borne by skeletal warriors.
When she’d declared her intention to establish a pioneer settlement in the Southern Wilderness, Roen had genuinely tried to dissuade her.
Seven attempts over five years had all failed there.
The Gold Badge Mercenary Company had been annihilated there.
And she wanted to build a settlement in that place?
Of course he’d told her it was impossible and urged her to give up.
Yet somehow she’d succeeded.
Moreover, she’d recruited three hundred people and maintained a military force of three hundred?
The population was impressive enough, but the military strength was even more astonishing.
Was she perhaps an illegitimate child of some high nobility or royal family?
If not, how on earth was this possible?
A settlement of three hundred people with a military force of three hundred now stood in the Southern Wilderness.
All accomplished in merely nine months!
‘How in the world did she manage it….’
Roen had sat in this post for decades, reading countless pioneer settlement reports.
While there weren’t zero success stories, they were all from the North or East — relatively safe regions.
The South had never had one.
But now a success story had emerged from the South.
What made it all the more astounding was that three hundred people already exceeded the threshold of a pioneer settlement and approached the status of a small-scale fief.
‘This needs to be reported.’
Roen pushed the coffee cup aside and pulled out fresh parchment.
He dipped his pen in ink and began writing the opening lines.
[Harundel Marquessate — Confidential]
[Special Talent Report]
There was a standing directive from the Marquess’s household.
Report any exceptional talent, should one appear.
Military, economic, or magical.
Any notable figure who emerged in the Marquessate was to be reported without fail.
A Dark Mage who, in nine months in the Southern Wilderness, had built a village of three hundred people.
If this wasn’t exceptional talent, then what in the world was?
Roen moved his pen across the page, composing the report.
The reporter’s name. Occupation. Settlement progress. Current population. Military strength.
And at the end, he added one final line.
‘Upon successful completion of the settlement, I deem this individual a candidate for elevation to the rank of Baron. With approximately three months remaining until the one-year deadline, continued observation is warranted; however, given the current circumstances, the likelihood of success appears quite high.’
Roen set down his pen and read the report once more.
Nothing was missing.
He slipped it into an envelope and sealed it with the Marquess’s seal.
“Courier.”
He called to the courier standing outside the door.
“Take this to the Marquess’s house. It’s a special talent report.”
“Understood.”
The courier accepted the envelope and left.
Roen picked up his coffee cup again.
The coffee had gone cold long ago.
He took a sip and gazed out the window.
Spring wind was blowing.
‘Tay… quite the remarkable person.’
For fifteen years, Roen had processed paperwork documenting the deaths of countless settlers.
And yet.
This report was the first in a long time that left him feeling genuinely pleased.
* * *
In this world, money solved nearly everything.
Three hundred mercenaries?
The moment he contacted the Silver Shield Guild, chaos erupted.
Their total roster would barely reach a thousand, they said.
So the Silver Shield Guild had pulled in allied mercenary groups to supply the troops.
One Gold Badge Mercenary as commander.
And two Silver Badge Mercenaries.
The rest were all Bronze Badge Mercenaries.
The “commander” was supposedly a semi-retired Gold Badge Mercenary.
Active Gold Badge Mercenaries wouldn’t take assignments like this anyway — they’d be on the battlefield or raiding dungeons.
After that, he purchased a large number of slaves.
Twelve hundred men and eight hundred women.
Including the three hundred slaves originally purchased, that made fifteen hundred men and eight hundred women.
Nearly a two-to-one ratio.
This was deliberate.
It was part of Tay’s policy of granting slaves private property rights.
In other words, permitting free love and marriage.
It was an order to marry.
However.
With fewer women than men, marriage would require considerable effort.
And that effort would translate into more labor, earning higher wages.
In essence, it was structured to provide both carrot and stick.
Work yourself to the bone if you want to marry!
The Dark Mage Makes Blacksmithing Look Easy
Author |
Automaton G
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Inc.
Editor in Chief |
Editorial Department
Published by |
(주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books
Address |
7th Floor, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260511100
Blog |
blog.naver.com/dreambookss
Twitter (X) |
@dreambookss
Submissions |
[email protected]
No part of this book may be used in any form or by any means without written permission from (주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————