The duke's office was currently busier than usual. This was because a meeting was held with many of the city's officials.
This meeting was immediately conducted after Sebastian told Lucius about the news of the war.
"My lord, could you explain why we should stay quiet and not help Duke Videl?"
"My lord, what do you think we should do in this situation?"
"My lord, we must join the rebellion!!"
"My lord, we cannot let the Empire into our lands!! We must defend it at all costs."
No matter how loud they were speaking, Lucius just ignored them. Although he let them into the meeting, he didn't plan to follow any of their plans.
Lucius was about to speak when Sebastian suddenly spoke up about his plans.
"My lord, may I speak about my plans? I have two of them."
"Go ahead."
Although Sebastian was currently the head butler of the duke's castle, he was formerly a general famous for his intellect.
"The first plan is to join the rebellion. However, we should not let Duke Videl be the leader. My lord should assume that position. If my lord does not, then it would lead to my lord's father-in-law becoming a king in name only."
"That plan only works if we actually succeed."
"Indeed. This is why the second plan is much easier to execute."
"Explain."
"The second plan is to completely block the only path leading to our territory. We must fortify the Storm Fortress which guards the only land path leading into our territory. The cement that my lord has invented should do the trick quite easily. With how fast our workers could construct things and the existence of our newly built concrete road connected to the Storm Fortress, we should be able to make the fortress impregnable in just 2 years. While the rebellion clashes with the Zurg Empire, we should have a leeway period of 4 to 5 years before the Empire's forces reach us."
The Heimer territory was surrounded by impregnable and treacherous mountains. However, there was a tight area in which the mountains do not meet, thus creating a bottleneck. This bottleneck is where the Storm fortress is situated.
The current Storm Fortress could hardly be called a proper fortress, as its walls were made out of wood due to the lack of danger in the past.
With the advent of cement and muskets, the Heimer territory's Storm Fortress could be fortified into the strongest fortress in the entire continent.
"I don't like that second plan. Let's go with the third plan."
"My lord, there is no third plan."
"Yes, and that's why I'm making one. It'll be the combination of both the first and second plan, but I'll add more spice to it."
Lucius was currently making a devilish smirk, and it was scaring the officials.
Sebastian was used to it, as he had seen that expression several times.
"Let's do it like this. First, let Duke Videl know that we are joining the rebellion, and send them the army that was previously under General Dragul's command. But don't send all of them, send half of them. Our excuse should be that the other half is guarding the Storm Fortress. We are a remote territory, and practically no one outside of our territory knows our full situation aside from there being a new Duke who seized the title with force."
"What we do next is fortifying the fortress wall until it reaches 20 stories tall. We should use the concrete and steel beams used for our skyscrapers for this. Our northern mines should be capable of supplying us with enough steel. For the defenses, the muskets that I have made should do the trick. Order the remaining half soldiers that will stay to train with those muskets, and ask our police force to help with their training. We should contact Baron Steiner about this. As he's the one in charge of the Storm Fortress and the only other noble in our land, he should be capable of managing the training."
"Next, we should close the current trade route into our territory to prevent information leaks. Our territory is a self-sustaining one. We have all the natural resources here to last us for decades without trade. However, this wouldn't be healthy for the economy, so we should open up a new source of income. If I remember correctly, beyond the mountains in the north, there should be an elven empire where my mother-in-law hails from. However, there is no road to that place from our territory. I will design a plan to carve a tunnel through the mountains. It shouldn't be impossible with our current manpower and technique, but it would take at least 3 years."
"We are essentially making a new country out of our territory. Also, if refugees from the war show up, thoroughly examine them before letting them into our territory. We must prevent spies from leaking our information. We must also prevent the refugees from leaving the territory. Now, do any of you have questions?"
One by one, the officials started asking him their questions.
After answering the officials' questions, they began leaving one by one. Having their hands full of such novel tasks was quite a burden.
Most of them used to be just regular citizens. It was only after Lucius appeared that they were vehemently taught so much knowledge about administration.
Thankfully, they were all literate, so the lessons were easier to digest.
"My lord, are you sure they will be capable of completing such tasks?"
"Don't worry Sebastian, I plan on assigning their seniors to help them. Moreover, you should be the one watching over them. I plan on focusing on making and implementing newer technology. You should've heard by now from Elizabeth, right?"
"Of course, my lord, to think that you really came from another world."
****
Now then, shall we start improving our arsenal? Since the meeting ended just a few minutes ago, I need to start thinking about our weaponry.
The muskets that I have developed as of yet, are the 16th-century muzzle-loaded kind. This means that the user would have to reload the gun by manually refilling the muzzle with propellant before putting in the projectile.
The reload of this musket takes a really long time. Around 30 seconds if you're not used to it, and around 10-12 seconds if you're used to it.
It's a given that this world's armies don't have guns in their arsenal, but that could change. So why not get even more ahead by developing more modern firearms?
First, I'll be contacting the dwarves again. They were the ones who helped me make my designs come to life.
They're also the reason why the construction work was so fast. But because a ton of migrants came afterwards, the dwarves were practically left in the dust because of their few numbers.
After that, I should make my first factory, specifically a gun one. The muskets weren't mass-produced, they were crafted one by one by the blacksmiths and dwarves, so their build quality varies and there are only a few of them.
I'll employ the dwarves and blacksmiths for the gun factory. Moreover, the alchemists were the ones who supplied the black powder. So I'll get them to work at the gun factory as well.
Hehehe, let's give the alchemists the recipe for gunpowder. But let's not instantly give it to them, I'm sick of them calling themselves alchemists. I should teach them actual chemistry first.
Right now, I should develop two types of guns. The first one should be for middle-range and long-range combat. And the second one should be for short-range combat.
First, let's make a rifle. Should I just skip the bolt-action type and go straight to an autoloading one? Fuck it, let's go with an M1 Garand since they're very reliable. Next, let's make a revolver pistol. I should go with a 357 Magnum since it's one of my favorites.
Let's not skip the steps anymore. Even if the dwarves are highly skilled in craftmanship, the technology they use is still too primitive to make guns more advanced than these two.
But where should I construct the factory? The pollution that the factory will produce would suffocate the entire city if built too close. Not to mention, a huge amount of water is needed for metallurgy.
I should place the factory far away from the city and in a place where water is abundant. The location of the northwestern mines is perfect for this. They have a separate river that doesn't connect to the Feld river, the one that goes through Oppen. If I remember correctly, that river's name is the Nork river.
I feel like I'm forgetting something.
Oh yeah, an academy.
This city is lacking education in pretty much every field. The only academy that exists in this kingdom is in the capital. But even that one requires you to pay a lot of money, so the ones who attend it are children of the rich. Moreover, that academy doesn't teach modern knowledge.
I'm going to make an academy, and it's for everyone in this territory.
The subjects taught should be ones related to STEM, with the addition of English. And then, I'll divide the academy into 12 grades just like how mandatory school systems do it on Earth.
But since it'll be very hard for them to learn English as it is completely foreign to the citizens, I'll need to translate all the study materials into the common tongue first.
The words that don't have a translation would have to stay in English, so that's why I'll implement English education separately.
Thus, the academy's curriculum would be divided into two. One for the common tongue, and the other for English. Of course, the common tongue curriculum would still include English as a learning subject.
I am also going to implement higher education into the academy, meaning, a university.
However, this one's going to be fully taught in English. So the people who managed to graduate from the academy with the common tongue curriculum would need to complete an exam to prove that they have sufficient English skills.
It's going to be very complicated to execute, but I'd rather do it now.
****
A week after the meeting, late at night, a womanly figure was seen in the castle's hallways.
With reddened and puffy eyes, Elizabeth stomped her way through the hallways.
She was heading towards Lucius's room late at night, as they both slept in different rooms.
'That man is heartless. My father is dying and he doesn't even care.'
'I wish I had never fallen for him. He thinks that it was Father's idea to make me marry him, but it was me who begged Father to allow it.'
'I thought that he was just a cold man who would eventually open his heart after spending some intimate time with me. But who would've thought that he would just toss me and Father aside?!'
'I even told Sebastian to notify him about Father's deteriorating health!'
*BANG*
Lucius, who was fast asleep, suddenly woke up to someone breaking open his bedroom door.
"Huh? Elizabeth? Why did you wake me up?"
"YOU HEARTLESS MONSTER!!!"
*SLAP*