The Crown Name Decided!
This is the second of two posts for today. Please be mindful of skipping ahead.
“…Over a thousand?!” Kousuke, who was visiting the village on the Fifth Floor, was a little stunned by the information from Gazeran.
Gazeran offered a bitter smile in response. “If you include those waiting for registration, there are probably double that amount.”
The number he was referring to was the number of adventurers registered with the Crown. The reason for the backlog of registrations was that the production of Crown Cards couldn’t keep up with the number of registrants. Those who had registered were being handled with temporary cards.
Recently, Kousuke hadn’t been frequenting the Fifth Floor much. In his absence, the number of registered adventurers had exceeded expectations.
“Schmidt, is the funding situation alright?” The first thing Kousuke worried about upon hearing about the increased number of adventurers was the funding problem. With more people, the amount of money in circulation would naturally increase exponentially.
“Yes. Fortunately, due to the issue with card issuance volume, the numbers aren’t increasing all at once, so we can manage.”
“I see. That’s good.”
“Yes. There should be no problems going forward. The incoming funds are even greater than the expenses.” In essence, the business was doing quite well. In fact, the number of merchants affiliated with the Crown was now among the top-tier.
“The Crafting Division is also going smoothly… though, to be frank, we’re short on manpower.” The current village on the Fifth Floor, in terms of active personnel, had grown beyond the scale of a village and could be considered a town. However, the number of buildings simply couldn’t keep up.
“We’re trying to compensate by increasing the number of apprentices, but it will likely take a while longer to catch up with demand.” Despite new members joining the Crown from existing crafting guilds, construction still lagged behind. Adventurers left without housing were living in tents. By the way, priority is given to those who wish to settle in the town (purchase a house). They offer both rental and for-sale properties. For houses sold, the sale price and land rent contribute to the Crown’s income.
“I see… So? what is the biggest problem now?” In response to Kousuke’s question, the three of them exchanged glances and spoke up first:
“Please decide on a name for the Crown soon!”
It was pointed out that with such a scale, it was problematic to be without a name. Apparently, some were even mistaking it for a guild called “Crown,” potentially too late to correct. Kousuke sighed at their plea, which was as good as begging. He had been postponing the decision because he couldn’t think of a good name, but he realized he really had to decide soon.
“How about… ‘Liralamamiya’?”
“Liralamamiya? …What does that mean?” Schmidt tilted his head, unfamiliar with the word. The other two wore similar expressions. They knew Amamiya was the name of a tower, but not its meaning.
“Yes. Well, it’s a coined word. ‘Lira’ means to relax or be at ease, and ‘Amamiya’ means something like a castle in the sky, perhaps?” In other words, he intended it to signify a place where Crown members could feel safe and secure. Hearing his explanation, the three of them murmured and pondered for a moment.
“Yeah. I guess it’s fine?”
“I agree.”
“I am of the same opinion.” And so, the name ‘Liralamamiya’ was decided for the Crown on the spot.
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“Speaking of which, do we have enough construction materials?” A construction rush was good, but it wouldn’t work if materials were insufficient. By the way, the main building material for structures being built in the town is wood.
“For now, we have forests nearby, so the supply from there is sufficient.”
“For now…”
“Yes, for now. If the current pace continues, the forests on this floor will surely be depleted.”
“Are you considering reforestation while you’re logging?”
“Of course. However, trees naturally take a long time to grow,” Schmidt added.
“Fortunately, we can obtain lumber from Nansen at a low cost, so for the time being, there should be no problem.” Nansen, being a town at the foot of a mountain, could procure ample lumber. Originally, Nansen had an oversupply of lumber, but they were reportedly pleased that the surplus stock was cleared through procurement from Liralamamiya. Additional orders have been placed, and the sluggish lumber industry has reportedly become invigorated.
“Eventually, we expect an increase in imports from Nansen, so I don’t think the forests on this floor will be depleted.”
“Is that alright for Nansen?”
“They have so much wood in their surrounding areas that they sometimes have forest fires. So, even knowing they would have a surplus, they had to log.”
“And then that surplus was cleared by orders from here.”
“Not only that, they’re probably happy to be able to moderately log the forests around their town too,” Schmidt agreed with Dales.
“I see. Then there’s no problem.”
“If there is a problem, it would be with Nansen’s Commercial Guild, but that should be alright.”
“Huh!? Is that really alright?”
“In any world, new organizations that appear out of nowhere are eyed with suspicion.”
“Ah, I see.” It was probably a case of the nail that sticks out gets hammered. Kousuke didn’t see it as a particular problem, as he understood it was impossible to operate without drawing attention from someone.
“Well, there will likely be plenty of people who begrudgingly try to push their way in,” Schmidt replied with a bitter smile. Without a doubt, Liralamamiya was currently the most dynamic organization on the Central Continent. It was only natural that organizations would emerge, either to curry favor with them or to try and acquire them.
“I think *that* is a problem, though?”
“There’s nothing we can do about that. We just have to become an organization that can’t be complained about by anyone.” After all, in business, unless you have a monopoly, it’s natural to have rival organizations.
“Furthermore, Liralamamiya not only has a Commercial Division but also an Adventurer Division. There won’t be any fools threatening us with force,” Schmidt stated. While other continents might have them, nation-states as we know them do not exist on the Central Continent. If anything, they are city-states. From a military perspective, they only have town guard units maintained by nobles. Town defense primarily involves defending against monsters, so invading other cities is not something they even consider from the outset. It is the adventurers, not the guard units, who stand on the front lines of defense against these monsters.
“Once an organization reaches this size, there will be those who consider using them, but no idiots will try to threaten them,” Gazeran said with a laugh. On this continent, no one could afford to ignore an organization that commands a thousand adventurers. Especially since the number is sure to increase further, Gazeran’s words were certainly true. This clearly shows how impactful the Crown Card was for adventurers. By this point, Liralamamiya had grown to a scale where no organization on the Central Continent could afford to ignore them. Furthermore, with a proper name like Liralamamiya decided, that name would spread throughout the continent.
Lira comes from ‘relax.’ Amamiya is, as is, ‘heavenly palace.’ …I apologize for the rather uninspired naming as always.
2014/5/11 Typo corrections
2014/6/14 Typo corrections
