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A few days later. Ector summoned Frank so he took me along and headed to the lord’s mansion. Apparently, an envoy had come to report the result of the discussion and he wanted me to attend too.

“Hey, it’s been a while, you two.”

The envoy in question turned out to be the prime minister. He’s always away from the castle, is he an idiot or something? With no guards too. He can get himself killed for all I care, but I wish he considers who the responsibility would fall on.

The prime minister laughed at my scornful gaze.

“Don’t look at me like that, Illya. I’ve properly considered things before I came here, okay?”

It’s all the more difficult to deal with you because you’ve considered everything. This was probably about raising his successor anyway, but his policy to give up on one and raise another if it didn’t work out was quite questionable at best.

But I held back since there was no point in saying that to someone who was over a hundred now. Holding Haku, I went behind the sofa where Frank sat and stood by.

“Well then, let’s not waste any time. Let me announce the decision of the conference.”
““Alright.””

Seeing the branch master and the lord nod, the prime minister spread the paper he took out from a tube and read it out.

“Luneville has been permitted to build the arena in it.”

It was too long so we’ll abbreviate it to that.

To summarize the kingdom’s decision—the kingdom was fine with building the arena and entrusting its management to us too, though with conditions.

First, make sure to separate the residential area from the arena. You can widen the rampart to move it away. Also, make progress with the joint establishment of the church that has been at standstill. We won’t raise taxes, but in exchange, the Guild should do its best alone.

That was it.

Honestly, it was so overly partial it felt unpleasant.

Though this kingdom had friendly relations with the surrounding ones, it still needed money for all kinds of things such as reinforcing and repairing the degrading public equipment, diplomacy costs, maintenance of the chivalric order, and so on. Despite that, the kingdom was intending to let this opportunity to make a profit go, so it only felt more and more suspicious.

The prime minister smiled wryly at Ector and Frank’s puzzled faces.

“The Guild is completely reliant on this place. Please think of it as a shallow plan to have you owe us one.”

He worded it like there were ulterior motives behind it to make us read into it too much, but I think it was exactly as he said.

Inn towns were normally built near tourist attractions, and we made it clear with the snow festival that having an attraction could serve to attract customers. This proposal was probably like a windfall for the kingdom since they could obtain a sightseeing facility without lifting a finger themselves.

Knowingly or unknowingly of that, Ector continued the discussion.

The first topic was as expected the maintenance of safety.

When it came to an arena, it would definitely turn into a den of ruffians. If some people ended up losing everything in bets, they would be likely to resort to theft and robbery.

“What do you think about forming a vigilance committee… or rather, a patrol squad?”

Frank proposed that.

A patrol squad… Ector and the prime ministers seemed surprised at the idea of police. What corresponded to that in the current Luneville were the guards stationed at the castle gate or the lord’s mansion, but those were Ector’s private guards.

Giving this new unit the same authority and having them protect the city was a good idea, but the question was under what jurisdiction it should be.

There were many guild members who would feel antipathy if they were introduced simply as “kingdom officials” so it would be bad for the guild to put them under the kingdom’s jurisdiction like the private army and the chivalric order.

If we put them under the guild’s jurisdiction, that would result in the guild having an army of its own so it could worsen the relations with the kingdom.

In either case, there was a fear of bribes and abuse of authority.

It seemed like they reached a deadlock so I gave a little nudge.

“Why not make it up using the combination of both the kingdom and the guild?”

Everyone gazed at me and waited for me to continue so I gave a simple explanation.

“I see. Keeping each other in check might be the most efficient approach. What do you think?”

The prime minister approved it.

He began working where he did not out of loyalty to the kingdom, but to enhance the quality of life in his community. As such, the process was of little importance to him as long as the outcome was favorable.

The other two, on the other hand, were having trouble responding.

“That would be difficult. My soldiers have a good relationship with the guild members, but if you asked whether I have talents who could stand up to the guild head-on… I wouldn’t be able to confidently say yes.”
“It would be difficult for the guild as well. For example, ≪Azure Sword’s≫ representative has no issues when it comes to ability, but he prefers being free. He most likely wouldn’t want to be bound into an official post.”

Their discussion detached a deadlock once again… or so it looked but they were forgetting something important.

“If it’s about representatives, why not the two of you? The lord and the branch master. Both of you have the highest positions in this town and your abilities are guaranteed.”

They were bewildered by my words. But I don’t think I said something that outrageous.

Good citizens would have no complaints under their supervision, and it was hard to imagine that they would fall into corruption. As for the troops, we just needed to not hire anyone dishonest.

“…The problem is the official business. It would be meaningless if we aren’t here to handle things due to being away for some other matter.”

Frank gave a hesitant nod in response to Ector’s opinion.

Subsequently, Ector and the Prime Minister, who had connections with the captain of the chivalric order, teamed up with Frank, who was acquainted with the guild master, to further examine the patrol squad’s chain of command and duty system. I thought I could share my previous life memories, but true to the saying ‘when in Rome do as the Romans do’, I ended up just listening to them.

In the end, they decided to have Ector be the chief of the general staff while Frank would be the chief of the units.

The units would be made up of a mixture of the guild and kingdom members. This was to avoid confrontation per unit and to eliminate discord during training.

The rest was to decide on the internal regulations of the units. That seemed like it would take time, so they decided to shelve it off.