The Lord Just Wants to Have Fun

“Oh, so the idea is to develop shipbuilding technology and train experienced sailors ahead of time?”

In Carpenter’s mind, he could already envision Philip’s fleet of ships, amassing great wealth through trade.

For international commerce, ships and sailors were absolute necessities.

These could not be obtained overnight—a fact that even the Duchy of Bardia, located south of the Arteria Kingdom, proved.

The Duchy of Bardia was a maritime nation with its capital on Bard Island and additional territories along the southern coast of Laterran.

Having mastered shipbuilding and navigation over centuries, they accumulated immense wealth through trade.

At one point, they even engaged in a prolonged war with Arteria over control of southern Laterran’s maritime dominance.

To Carpenter, it seemed obvious—his lord’s true ambition was to defeat Bardia and seize a treasure-producing port city for himself.

“I now fully understand your grand vision, my lord. I will serve you with all my heart.”

“Good. Keep up the good work.”

After saluting with a look of admiration, Carpenter left the office.

The moment he was gone, Mau appeared before Philip.

“What do you mean, deceive? I told the truth. I didn’t lie at all.”

Philip really didn’t want to escalate the conflict.

He really did want to build ships.

Carpenter had simply exaggerated his words in his own imagination.

Philip had noticed it but saw no need to correct him.

“That’s why I said ‘maybe’. You should listen carefully—you can’t just pick out the words you like.”

“Come on, weren’t you the one egging me on about conquest before? Anyway, I’m not planning to invade another country—I just want a lot of money for my hobbies.”

Lake Valhas had an alternative use that no one in this world had realized yet.

It could be used to produce soda ash—by burning the seaweed harvested from its saltwater.

Philip’s grin widened.

“There are two main uses. First, soap.”

If you mix oil with soda ash, you could create soap.

Soap was invaluable for cleaning clothes and maintaining hygiene.

In other words, it would help improve public health.

“That too. But I also plan to make perfumed soaps and sell them to nobles at high prices.”

“It’s a win-win situation.”

But soap wasn’t the only thing that could be made with soda ash.

“There’s also glass.”

“Yes. You just mix soda ash, sand, and lime and heat it. Right now, glass is so expensive that people carve quartz instead.”

Currently, only noble households could afford glass windows or glassware.

Moreover, glass wasn’t even produced on the Laterran continent—it had to be imported from the southern lands.

If he could produce glass locally at a lower cost, people would flock to buy it.

To be honest, Philip did want to enjoy himself a little.

Lake Valhas had wide sandy shores and beautiful scenery.

“I should build a villa there and use it as an excuse for official inspections!”

It would be perfect for summer retreats.

As Philip grinned, imagining a luxurious vacation, Mau looked at him disapprovingly.

“But is it really true that the lake was formed from a bet between the goddesses?”

Philip asked, and Mau sighed before nodding.

“So that’s why the lake became salty?”

“Ah! So that’s why they catch salmon in the rivers that flow from Lake Valhas!”

Salmon normally grow in the ocean and return to their birthplace to spawn and die.

Philip had always found it strange that salmon were caught in the freshwater rivers around the lake.

He had even wondered if the salmon in this world were just lazy and didn’t migrate far.

“But that means… if we can navigate those underwater caves, we can go straight to the ocean, right?”

“…That’s an interesting idea, but yeah… A submarine is probably impossible.”

Even the most creative YouTubers had never built a working submarine.

Some people had bought personal submarines, but those were ridiculously expensive.

“It would be easier to make a hot air balloon or a paraglider instead.”

Philip let go of his submarine fantasy—just as a thunderclap rumbled outside.

A moment later, the sound of pouring rain filled the air.

Ssssssshhhhhh—!

“Oh, no way…”

Philip threw open the window, and before his eyes, a heavy downpour drenched the land.

“Rain! It’s finally raining!”

“Ohhh! Thank the gods!”

People across the domain—men, women, and children—ran outside, celebrating under the rain, soaking themselves in the long-awaited blessing.

Watching them, Philip couldn’t help but smile.

“Finally, we can breathe a little. The farmers were on the verge of despair.”

As the goddess of the earth and agriculture, Gaia couldn’t ignore the suffering of farmers.

That’s why she had volunteered to take over the duties of the absent goddess of water, Arkina.

“But wasn’t the transition of authority taking way too long? Even in the heavens, do gods and angels get lazy with bureaucracy?”

As the Goddess of the Sea, Iora believed that since she controlled the most water, she should also have authority over rivers and rain.

She also didn’t want to lose to Gaia—who had taken part of her territory in the past.

“Tsk, gods really aren’t that different from humans…”

Philip clicked his tongue, then remembered something.

“What about Arkina? Wasn’t she supposed to be punished?”

“A temporary revocation… So she wasn’t completely exiled from the divine realm?”

For humans, that sounded like a lifetime.

But for a god, decades were just a blink of an eye.

“Well, I hope she learns her lesson. Great power comes with great responsibility, after all. She should see firsthand how much her negligence hurt people.”

“Hey, I’m doing my best, alright?”

As the two bickered, the rain continued to pour, soaking the once-dry land.

The earth, cracked from drought, was finally drinking in its long-awaited salvation.

*****

The County of Este, a port city, was known for its trade routes to the southern continent.

However, Delpharos was not here for business.

The Callisto Trading Company’s most valuable client, the Este County family, had sent urgent news.

“Wait… The count’s daughter’s ship sank?”

“Yes. They barely recovered her body.”

At first glance, it seemed like a simple accident—but rumors were swirling.

“I heard the ship that sank was less than a year old.”

“They say the stepmother arranged for it to happen…”

Count Este had no sons.

He had three daughters—the one who had died was the eldest, born to his late first wife over a decade ago.

His two younger daughters were from his second wife, the current countess.

Since there were no suitable male relatives to adopt as an heir, it was widely assumed that the next ruler of the county would be one of the daughters—or a son-in-law through marriage.

“From the stepmother’s perspective, she’d obviously want her own daughters to inherit the title.”

“But there’s no proof that she was behind it.”

“I heard she was quite cruel. The eldest daughter left home and stayed at an academy in the Empire for years because of her…”

Delpharos shot a sharp glare at his attendants, who had been whispering among themselves.

They would be arriving at the mourning house soon, and it would do no good to upset the bereaved family with idle gossip.

Realizing their mistake, the attendants quickly fell silent.

Turning away, Delpharos sighed inwardly.

“If the Count falls into despair over this, it’ll be bad for us…”

If the Countess managed to seize power from the grieving Count, things could become troublesome.

Unlike the Count, she had never liked the Callisto Trading Company.

She believed that they did not show her ‘proper sincerity.’

“Hmph. If she weren’t so greedy, maybe she’d see more ‘sincerity’ from us.”

Frowning, Delpharos spotted the Este County manor in the distance.

But something was off.

A house in mourning should have been filled with grief—yet there was an unusual commotion.

Had something happened?

“What’s going on?”

Delpharos turned to one of the company employees he had sent ahead.

The man looked bewildered as he responded with an unbelievable report.

“That’s… Lady Liberta has come back to life.”

“What?”

A dead person… revived?

It wasn’t unheard of—but those who achieved such miracles were saints or even demigods.

“Is she… undead?”

“No, sir. She’s fully conscious, and when the priests came to conduct the funeral rites, she showed no reaction to their holy power.”

Unbelievable.

Without wasting another moment, Delpharos made his way to see Liberta for himself.

Liberta was 15 years old, a young noblewoman with a graceful appearance.

Yet she was far from ordinary.

There was not even a trace of the dark, corrupt aura that typically surrounded undead beings.

On the contrary—she radiated the kind of sacred energy one would only expect to feel in a grand temple.

“This is truly a miracle from the gods! I will make grand offerings to every temple in my lands in gratitude!”

Tears of joy welled up in Count Este’s eyes.

He was so overcome with emotion that he couldn’t stop talking.

The guests who had come to mourn were now celebrating as the funeral turned into a resurrection feast.

They laughed, drank, and cheered, clinking their wine glasses together.

Delpharos also offered his congratulations to the Count and played along with the celebratory mood.

“Well, this is interesting.”

Matters of life and death were the domain of the gods.

Though Delpharos didn’t understand their whims, he was relieved—this turn of events meant that the Callisto Trading Company’s business interests were now safe.

That was something to be happy about.

But there was one thing that didn’t make sense.

“It’s understandable that the Countess looks displeased. But why does Liberta look just as uneasy? Shouldn’t she be grateful to be alive?”

Just as Delpharos furrowed his brow in thought, something shocking happened.

The young noblewoman, who had been wearing a troubled expression all evening, suddenly walked toward the terrace—

—and jumped.