The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations – 223



Alfoy asked Vanessa before meeting the dwarves, “Since we’ve significantly increased the success rate, do we really need a large incubator? If we just provide the farmers with small incubators and tell them how to adjust the environment, wouldn’t that be enough?”

Even that would greatly boost the meat production. It wasn’t a difficult task; they just needed to instruct the farmers on how to maintain the right conditions.

“I’m not saying it’s because it’s troublesome or hard. I just think it would be more efficient” Alfoy insisted sounding annoyed.

Vanessa shook her head firmly. “Of course we’ll use that method too. The farmers’ wealth will increase as well. But operating on a large scale in the territory will secure a far greater production capacity than leaving it to individual farmers. That’s what the Lord wants.”

If individual farmers’ meat production increases by several times and the Lord also churns out meat? The price of meat would drop significantly making it easily accessible to everyone.

Imagining that ripple effect the mages swallowed their dry saliva. Upon reflection this was truly a colossal business opportunity.

And if Vanessa decided to proceed the mages had no right to refuse.

She forcibly led the mages into a meeting with the dwarves.

Galbarik who was already grappling with developing new materials said with a hint of annoyance “A scale? A sluice? You want to make those for the incubator?”

“Yes yes we need highly precise mechanisms” Vanessa replied with excitement as she explained her concepts and devices to the dwarves.

What she proposed was a device to measure the weight of water using a scale. “It measures the weight of the water that evaporates and when it drops below a certain threshold it opens the sluice to refill the water.”

“Measuring weight? So you’re saying you’ll just place scales everywhere?”

“No it’s crucial to maintain a consistent temperature and humidity throughout the incubator. We’ll evenly drill holes around the area where the eggs are placed and set up a water tank underground. Please enable it to measure that weight.”

“Oh so we just need to make the floor of the water tank like a scale. And if it goes below a certain level we’ll open the sluice to refill it.”

“Exactly. We’ll manage the humidity by evaporating the water. We’ll adjust to the temperature the hen uses to brood. This way we can minimize the use of runestones.”

Vanessa showcased the design she had in mind. The idea was to create a floor reminiscent of a scale one level below the egg-laying area placing several water tanks on top of that.

Though it was a conceptual design lacking engineering knowledge the dwarves comprehended it well enough.

With shining eyes Vanessa continued “It’ll be tough to succeed in one go. We’ll need to double-check how much water is needed to maintain humidity since the size of the incubator has increased. But we can definitely make it work.”

Every word she spoke radiated a firm will. Her passion was infectious to everyone around.

She was fired up. Her passion spread to everyone around.

Moreover developing new techniques was more enjoyable for the dwarves than anything else.

Eventually the dwarves also became interested in the device proposed by Vanessa and began to discuss it fervently.

“We need to create a separate space to continuously fill the water by checking the amount from the outside.”

“We should also make holes for air to escape so it doesn’t get too humid.”

“How much will we engrave the temperature control magic circle?”

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While Vanessa set the baseline numbers and concepts the detailed implementation was up to the dwarves.

After days of brainstorming and meetings with the mages they produced blueprints for an incubator that was much larger and more intricate than what they had previously used.

“Alright it’s not a technology that can’t be implemented. We’ve done this a couple of times already.”

Galbarik said confidently as if it was no big deal.

The dwarves had plenty of experience working with weighted mechanisms. Of course this time they needed to measure weight much more precisely so it wouldn’t be easy.

But it couldn’t really be considered difficult. That’s because… it was a matter of dwarven pride.

There were too many ‘self-proclaimed’ geniuses with strong pride in this territory.

“Let’s get started right away. This way we can minimize the number of management personnel.”

Having just one or two caretakers to fill the water and check the status would be enough.

The incubator was large enough to hatch tens of thousands of eggs at once. If they succeeded they could produce an enormous amount of meat.

Given the complexity of the device the initial production would require a significant budget.

They immediately went to Claude shouting for him to hand over the money.

Seeing the unexpectedly large budget Claude arrogantly crossed his legs and said “How can you just ask for money like that? How much is this even? Rune stones laborers materials… Does it really cost that much to make one? Aren’t you at a loss instead?”

As Claude began to act all high and mighty Vanessa presented various indicators and research data.

When the dwarves started explaining the complex mechanisms he could no longer hold out.

‘…What the heck is all this?’

The materials were crafted over several days by the mages and dwarves together. No matter how smart Claude was it was unreasonable for him to understand everything at once.

However he did grasp the concept.

‘Something… it seems plausible?’

Ultimately defeated Claude reluctantly approved with a sour expression saying “If this fails it’ll be a big deal! The costs incurred each time will be enormous!”

“Don’t worry! We will definitely succeed!” Vanessa exclaimed confidently and immediately got to work with the dwarves.

With its increased size adjusting the proper temperature and humidity was no easy task.

No matter how intricately it was made the space inside the incubator was too vast so achieving uniform conditions was a challenge.

The hatching rate was only about half and even that was at different timings.

After several failures Alfoy said with a glum expression “Can’t we just leave it at this level? Half is still something right?”

“No way. Then there’s no point in making such a large incubator” Vanessa insisted.

“Right this is a matter of our pride!” Galbarik added.

Vanessa desperately wanted to succeed in this venture for the territory. Galbarik couldn’t give up due to his pride.

With the two stubbornly holding their ground the others couldn’t speak out against them.

Except for one person.

“What the hell! How much is all this costing huh! Is this really going to succeed?”

Every day Claude came around nagging and pressuring them. After they had modified it multiple times and burned through rune stones Claude had every right to be frantic.

No matter how much money they earned it was a territory that spent even more. With money being poured out crazily Vanessa could only feel disheartened.

‘Oh what am I supposed to do… I’m causing a huge loss to the territory. I shouldn’t have shown off like this…’

Vanessa’s timid nature bubbled up once again.

Her characteristic timid personality resurfaced.

She absolutely despises causing harm to the territory. After the big accident last time her tendency has worsened.

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With her personality it was torturous to lose a fortune daily on tasks she never imagined doing.

‘I should stop for now… I can increase the farmers’ production so it might be better to invest elsewhere…’

While she was contemplating whether to give up here Ghislaine showed up.

Ghislaine had heard that things weren’t going as smoothly as expected and came to check in.

“Lord!”

“Y-You Vanessa. You’re having a tough time huh?”

“I’m s-sorry. I keep failing… I’ve spent too much money….”

As Vanessa lowered her head unsure of what to do Ghislaine nonchalantly replied.

“We have plenty of money right? Don’t worry just keep pushing forward.”

“B-But… The Chief Officer said it’s too much money going out and it’s hard right now…”

“He’s always worrying. He’s a safety fanatic. If we need money I’ll figure it out. Just go all out. Again if those northern barbarians cast a curse…”

“We’re definitely dead right?”

As Vanessa replied with a laugh Ghislaine cleared her throat and continued.

“Right so make sure to keep going until it works. You succeeded with the small incubator right? Just a little more and you’ll succeed. If you can do the small one you can do the big one too.”

“Y-Yeah… I did succeed with the small ones… Ah!”

Suddenly as if struck by a flash of insight Vanessa’s eyes widened and she fell into thought.

Not realizing that Ghislaine had quietly slipped away she continued to repeat the same words to herself.

“The small ones succeeded…? Then I can just make them even smaller!”

In trying to hatch too many at once she had been overly ambitious.

“I just need to reduce the space!”

She thought she could find the maximum size that would allow the optimal temperature and humidity and if she made several of those it would work.

After all wasn’t the goal just to hatch a large quantity at once? The problem was her fixation on making it big.

Reducing the size would make it much easier to maintain the right conditions. Even if it’s small it would still be larger than the small incubators used by farmers.

“This time I can definitely succeed!”

Filled with new motivation Vanessa drafted a new blueprint.

Claude went into a frenzy upon hearing that she was scrapping everything and starting over but Vanessa ignored it and pushed on.

“I’m sorry Chief Officer… Ugh… I’ll risk my life to make sure it works this time.”

Though she didn’t show it outwardly inside she was already in a decayed state of stress.

“The data I’ve gathered from the small successes is abundant. As long as I don’t make the space too large I can utilize that information.”

Ultimately Vanessa invested massive resources again creating a large incubator shaped like several combined rooms.

Of course she had to adjust the temperature and humidity for each room so it required even more resources and labor than before.

She even gathered all the eggs from the territory—amounting to a whopping 3000. If she failed again the damage would be substantial.

The mages and dwarves with red eyes from lack of sleep merely monitored the incubator’s condition.

And when the scheduled day arrived…

…Splat!

Splat splat!

The chicks eagerly hatched breaking out of their eggs. It was just like when they experimented with the farmers’ small incubators.

“Woooooah!”

The mages and dwarves raised their hands high shouting with excitement. Excluding the eggs that had problems from the start the hatching rate was nearly 100%.

There was a slight delay but still thousands of chicks were born from a single attempt.

“We did it! We succeeded! Hahahaha!”

As the news of success spread mayhem erupted throughout the territory.

There had never been a case in the kingdom of hatching so many eggs at once with such a high success rate.

“Hey there’s never been a case of hatching like this with such high odds in the entire kingdom!”

Even nearby stewards and farmers rushed over to witness this incredible sight and cheered.

“It’s really happening! How many chicks are there?!”

“We need to quickly move them to a warm place and raise them well!”

“I can’t believe this actually succeeded! This is unbelievable!”

Seeing all this Ghislaine smiled proudly and said to Claude

“See? It works! Everything works if you keep at it.”

“……”

Claude had no words. Now that it had come to this he felt a little guilty for bullying Vanessa all this time.

He too felt happiness over the success just like everyone else.

Too much meat? This could be a powerful weapon for the territory on its own.

Filled with joy and some guilt towards Vanessa Claude quickly shifted his stance.

“Hooray! Vanessa did it! You’re amazing! I always believed in you! Vanessa is the best!”

Wendy shot him a look of disgust but Claude pretended not to notice.

Anyway with Claude leading the mood everyone started chanting her name.

“Vanessa! Vanessa!”

“The Mage of Meat!”

“A true miracle worker!”

She felt so flattered she didn’t know what to do with herself.

Even though the dwarves helped in the development without her determination this success wouldn’t have happened.

Galbarik and the other dwarves acknowledged this and applauded Vanessa.

Alfoy however wasn’t just going to stand by and watch.

“I was the biggest help!”

With the mindset of a genius mage needing admiration from the crowd Alfoy worked hard to showcase his contributions.

People applauded and praised the mage and dwarves as well recognizing everyone’s hard work.

Feeling a bit smug Alfoy bragged in front of Ghislaine.

“See? Everything succeeds because I got involved. I led this effort you know…!”

Ghislaine nodded absentmindedly and then asked

“Alright good job. But what’s in your arms?”

“This is… ‘Ggokko’… my pet chicken.”

Alfoy replied slightly embarrassed.

In his arms there was a well-fed rooster—a memorial for successfully hatching his first chick.

So he got attached and even named it taking it everywhere he went.

“…Okay take good care of it.”

With a chuckle Ghislaine looked around at the gathered people and shouted

“Now it’s a joyous day so everyone who participated eat and drink to your heart’s content! I’ll also provide a generous bonus for your success!”

Ghislaine was sure to reward for success. With that everyone who participated cheered.

“Wooow! Awesome! It’s a feast!”

With wheat in abundance there were plenty of cheap grains. Plus there were many chicks that had hatched and grown during the experiments.

This was more than enough for everyone who participated to eat and enjoy for the day.

“Sounds good! You’ve all worked hard so I’ll take care of that.”

Belinda personally directed the servants to prepare drinks and meat for the hard workers.

Of course since it wasn’t a formal feast it wasn’t held in the castle.

Instead the laborers feeling more comfortable outside gathered in small groups around the hatching area catching chickens and drinking enjoying a long-awaited celebration.

Everyone was getting settled eating drinking and having fun but the somewhat OCD Alfoy couldn’t quite do the same. Cleaning off all the dirt that had accumulated was his priority.

“Ah it feels great to wash after such a long time. Now I can go have some drinks. Ggokko you join me too… Huh? Ggokko? Where did Ggokko go?”

After getting clean Alfoy checked the hatching area and was shocked as he looked around.

He couldn’t see Ggokko who had been put in the hatching pen.