Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thors Stone

Captain, lets get on with reading those books.

(Alright, I know.)

It looks like Iris was really raring to obtain information from those books huh. I had Selena and Sharon come inside my room and began reading the books I brought with me together with them.

Well, we werent actually really reading them. We were just quickly scanning through their contents while Iris records the info through our eyes. All we had to do was flip through the pages one by one.

We were able to completely scan all of the books in about two hours. Iris appeared as soon as our work was finished.

Well, did you manage to obtain some great results from that?

The book is one of the most wonderful inventions of humankind. I indeed managed to learn a lot.

Thats great. It was worth buying a lot of them then. Is there anything important we need to know?

This is the urgent info I managed to obtain from them.

The wall got turned into a screen, and something that looked like a metal box was projected. According to the scale data displayed on the side of the screen, it was a metal box measuring about 1 meter in length and 50 centimeters high. It had some things that resembled switches installed on it.

What is this thing?

Its an Artifact called Guinea Alchemint. Its a machine that manufactures Guinea coins. If you put metal alloy that would serve as the base material inside this part and select the type of coin youd like produced, it would automatically process and mold the alloy to manufacture said coins. Its quite fascinating.

So this is an Artifact huh. Lieutenant, does the metal alloy need to be unique or have some sort of special properties for it to be used for manufacturing?

No, apparently not. They just mix some silver or copper to increase the hardness of the coins.

The Guinea coins did seem far too elaborate to be normally manufactured using the technology level of this planet. Ive felt something off about it for a while. So this was the reason for that huh.

So they use this to manufacture Guineas huh. I see. So thats why they only use one type of currency in the entire continent. If there was something this convenient, Im sure any country wouldnt hesitate to make use of one for themselves.

No, this seems to be a very valuable item, Captain. Its not something normally available to just anyone. Its regarded as a National Treasure-rank item.

That valuable huh. Can Guineas be produced even without the use of this Artifact?

Of course, it is possible. But it would take an estimated 300 days to produce an acceptable amount with the level of this planets craftsmen and standard technology.

Thats quite a long time. Id like to procure an Artifact like this for ourselves if possible, but Do they own one in this country as well?

I was not able to find information pertaining to that. Neither the castle nor the facilities Im currently investigating have one available.

This is a pretty developed country though, so its possible they at least have one at their disposal.

Certainly.

Lets ask around then. Cleria was part of a royal family, so she might actually know a thing or two regarding this.

Cleria and the others should be in the middle of a meeting in the dining hall about the recruitment and treatment of civilians. We went down to the dining hall at once.

Cleria has been in a very good mood lately. Its probably because things seem to be going very well. Even now, she looks like shes having a fun time while discussing things with everyone.

I suppose I should have attended such meetings as well given my position as their leader, but whenever we held any discussions, everyone including Cleria would give way to me. Its as if my opinion was the final word on any matter. This wasnt a very healthy attitude to have, so I decided to have them talk about some matters among themselves and remained strictly hands-off.

Ria, are you familiar with an item called the Guinea Alchemint?

In contrast to Cleria who looked pretty surprised, everyone else had a vacant expression on their face.

Alan, just how did you find out about the Guinea Alchemint?

Oh, it was described in one of the books we brought in earlier.

But thats The Guinea Alchemint is something only the crown prince and above would be privy to even in the Starvine Kingdom. I cant believe information about it could be found in a book.

I brought out the A Summary of Artifacts book and opened it to the corresponding page about the Guinea Alchemint.

This is!? This is a Guinea Alchemint?

Is this the first time youve seen one?

Ive told you earlier, didnt I? Information about the Guinea Alchemint can only be disclosed to the crown prince. Ive heard of its existence, but I didnt know anything further about it.

I didnt think this thing would be that valued. Man, it looks like I managed to get my hands on a pretty rare book by coincidence.

Do they have one in this country as well?

But of course. It is said that any country would be in possession of at least one Guinea Alchemint. I am not so sure about smaller countries and vassal states, but I was told it can be said that possession of an Alchemint is one of the major requirements for founding a nation.

That might really be the case. If money cannot be produced in ones own state, the monetary system and economy would inevitably depend on other countries. Thus, having the Alchemint as a prime requirement for founding a nation was only natural, I suppose.

I see. I suppose you dont know where they are storing such an item in this kingdom huh.

Yes. Its treated as a secret only known to a countrys royal family, so it wont be easy to find out such information.

Mm. We could have attempted to swipe it right under their noses if we knew the location though. It cant be helped. I suppose we have no choice but to produce Guineas ourselves.

Alan-sama! Are you saying you can actually produce Guineas!?

The one who raised his voice in surprise was Katolle. In a sense, wed be producing counterfeit currency after all. I suppose a merchant like him would be concerned.

Well, itll take some time, but it should be possible.

However, is something like that really okay? It is said that the Commerce Guild uses magic tools to check gold and silver coins to prevent counterfeiting

Hee, so there are also magic tools like that huh. Do they analyze the composition of coins or something?

(Are the gold coins we previously manufactured using the ships production line okay, Iris?)

The coins I made are absolutely perfect. There are no differences from the coins currently in circulation in terms of molding and materials used.

Iris tone sounded a bit miffed. My question seems to have damaged Iris pride huh.

Well, we entrusted the coins to Roberto but he hadnt gotten himself arrested for using counterfeit coins, so there shouldnt be any problems.

Its fine. We can produce practically identical coins with no problems.

Amazing! So if we bought large amounts of gold ingots and used them to produce Guineas, we can make a ton of profit!

Hou. So you mean theres a difference in value between gold ingots and gold coins of the same weight?

Yes. Im not sure about the exact details, but Ive heard that gold coins are about 20 to 30% more expensive.

I get that coins are more valuable since they are properly processed, but to think their value would rise at least 20% even with lower purity due to mixing other metals to toughen them up. It looks like coin production really will net us quite a bit of profit.

Alright then. Once we can reliably produce Guineas, lets buy plenty of gold and silver ingots.

Katolle, who absolutely adored anything profitable, nodded with a big grin on his face after hearing my words.

Alan-sama, Sir Bahr has come to pay you a visit.

Hes right on time. I invited Sir Hermann Bahr, the corps commander of the Royal Capital Defense Force, to disclose to him the information we managed to obtain yesterday.

Hermann and his two subordinates were brought to the dining hall and guided to our table. It was perfect timing since the main party members were also gathered together already.

Im sorry for having you come all the way here, Hermann.

There is no need for any apologies, Lord Protector. I will rush to your side any time if you summon for me.

It looks like Hermann was in a pretty good mood today. Thanks to our series of large-scale crackdowns, the reputation of the royal capital guards seems to have risen by quite a bit. I suppose its due to that.

Also, surprisingly, there were many who were raising their voices in praise of the young king who ordered us to perform such crackdowns.