Exiled Young Girl’s Territory Development Record: The Result of the Villainous Young Lady Who Was Exiled Before the Scenario Began and Did Whatever She Wanted for the People.

Despite our ongoing investigation, we didn’t find any evidence that Bolta had done anything wrong.

There were no eyewitness reports, and the only person who had talked about the watermill was the missing man, James.

Bolta must have heard about it from James, but Bolta adamantly denied knowing anything, and no testimony emerged to refute that.

Eventually, the day came when Bolta and his team were scheduled to leave. Bolta came to my office, looking apologetic, and made his farewell.

“Lady, the day has come for us to return to Clarinton. It pains us deeply that the investigation has not made progress and that James’ whereabouts are still unknown, but we have another business meeting to attend. Please, allow us to leave Scarletford.”

“…”

To be honest, I considered Bolta and his team as the prime suspects. They had the motive to burn down the watermill.

However, there was no concrete evidence.

“I understand your feelings. I will make arrangements to have a new watermill installed by next autumn. Given the circumstances, I will personally negotiate with the headquarters in Southbury to get a better price, and I will arrange for one of the finest craftsmen within the Southbury Marquisate. So please!”

“…I’ll think about it.”

“Very well. Please take care.”

With that, Bolta and his team left Scarletford in high spirits.

What? Don’t let them go?

Of course, I didn’t want to let them go either, but with no evidence at all, it was impossible to keep them detained. Doing so would only damage Scarletford’s reputation and could result in no trading companies wanting to come to Scarletford in the future.

If that happened, it wouldn’t just be an issue with the watermill. We’d lose access to various supplies that the village can’t produce itself, which would severely impact the villagers’ lives.

“Haa. What a predicament…”

The watermill was completely destroyed, so something needed to be done…

Although I didn’t know exactly how to fix it, I decided to go see the remains of the watermill.

“Ah! Harold!”

“My Lady, what’s the matter?”

At the site of the burned watermill, Harold and his team were examining something.

“Well, it’s nothing in particular. I just felt like coming by.”

“I see…”

“So, how does it look? Can it be repaired?”

“No. The structure for transmitting power inside is roughly measured, so it might be possible to manage that, but the crucial part, the wheel, looks difficult. It was already damaged by the goblins.”

“I see…”

“I’m truly sorry.”

Harold looked genuinely apologetic, so I hurried to reassure him.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. By the way, what are you and your team doing here?”

“Well, we were planning to remove the parts that survived.”

“Parts that survived?”

“Yes. Fortunately, the millstone is slightly scorched but has survived. We were thinking of moving it to storage for safekeeping.”

“I see. Thank you… Hmm? What’s that?”

“What’s wrong?”

“That millstone is used to grind grains into flour, right? Like this…”

I made a rotating gesture with my hands.

“Ah, yes. That’s correct. Although it’s much larger than what you might be imagining… Would you like to see it?”

“Yes.”

Harold led me into the remains of the watermill. Inside, about four members of the militia were trying to move out the large, soot-covered millstone.

“Oh? Ladyship?”

“Hello. I just came to take a look. May I see it?”

“Yes, of course. What’s the matter?”

“Well, I was just wondering. Harold…”

“Yes? What is it?”

“How did the millstone get its power when the waterwheel was turning?”

“Ah, well, the top millstone had gears attached…”

“Oh, sorry. I meant, how was the power from the waterwheel transferred to the millstone?”

“Oh, I see. The gears are now removed, but originally, there were gears attached to the top millstone. These meshed with gears on the waterwheel’s axle to transmit power.”

“I understand now. So…”

Harold and the others looked at me with curiosity.

“Wouldn’t it be okay to turn the millstone using human power instead of the waterwheel?”

“Well, yes, that’s possible…”

“Then let’s have the skeletons do it. Especially the Wild Boar Skeletons, they’re strong, right?”

“Ah!”

“That’s a great idea!”

“Just like the Young Lady to come up with such a clever solution!”

“Hehe, isn’t it a good idea?”

“Yes!”

“Alright then, Harold. Can you prepare the parts?”

“Of course!”

The next day, Harold attached a long stick to the millstone. I immediately instructed the Wild Boar Skeleton I had brought along.

“B-1, grab that stick with your mouth and slowly walk around the millstone.”

By the way, B-1 is the name of this skeleton. B stands for Boar, since Goblins are G, I thought it would fit.

Setting aside the name’s simplicity, B-1 followed my command and began to walk slowly.

Gogogogogogo.

With a heavy sound, the millstone started to rotate, and gradually, flour began to emerge from between the upper and lower millstones.

“B-1, stop.”

The Wild Boar halted its movements.

“Alright. It seems to be working fine.”

“My Lady!”

“Thank you very much!”

Thus, the seemingly hopeless problem of grinding flour was unexpectedly resolved.