To Solve The Problem! (2)

Standing in front of the teleportation magic circle, I looked at Demina and Hare, who would be going with me, and spoke.

“Since the place we have to go now is the Imperial Palace, you must not cause any trouble when we get there. Got it?”

At my words, the two women nodded, but the looks they gave each other were anything but ordinary. This whole situation had started on the way back after I entrusted a request to Rita.

Today, Demina had been too busy to spare any time because of something called the Sain Tribe’s clan meeting, so she could not follow me, and in the end the problem began when I wandered around the domain alone.

“Why is the Lord walking around by yourself?”

Hare had spotted me and come over to say hello.

“It just turned out that way. More importantly, what are you doing out here?”

“…Where is Demina?”

“She said she had a Sain Tribe clan meeting or something. I’m not really sure what it is.”

“…So her own tribe’s meeting is more important than her lord’s safety, is that it…?”

Hare looked somehow angry, so I hurriedly spoke to her.

“If you’re upset because I came out alone, I actually have my reasons…”

The truth was, on the way to see the Hameureun siblings off, I had simply slipped out of the lord’s manor. Two Sain Tribe women had been assigned separately as my escorts, but I had come out on my own without telling them. Even when I tried to explain that, Hare shut her ears and refused to listen.

All I got from her were the two big, puffed-up tails swishing sharply, clearly telling me she was feeling a very unpleasant emotion.

So, deciding I should calm Hare down first, I took her hand and spoke.

“Why don’t we sit down and have a calm talk?”

“Are you trying to defend Demina?”

“…Mm, to be honest, that’s half right and half wrong.”

“And I’m supposed to listen to the half that’s wrong, is that what you’re saying?”

“Hahaha… Correct, but why do you look so angry?”

“…I’m not. Please, go on.”

“The truth is, while I was seeing the Hameureun siblings off, I shook off the two Sain Tribe escorts and acted on my own. So this one’s my fault…”

“No, isn’t the real problem that the escorts who were supposed to be near you while you were seeing them off didn’t stick close to Lord-nim?”

So the conversation ended up flowing like this after all.

Thinking that, I watched as Hare began nitpicking both me and the Sain Tribe escorts. Honestly, it was my fault, but in reality there was no one in this domain who could possibly threaten me.

Still, saying something like that would just be asking for trouble, so I kept quiet, and right around the time her nagging ended, Demina had rushed out of her meeting and come looking for me. When I saw the sparks practically flying between the two of them, I had quickly bolted back to the lord’s manor.

And yet, somehow things had led to this, and I was now sweating coldly.

“Only careless Sain Tribe people make mistakes like that.”

“Your words are excessive. Are you a Ho-in tribeswoman feeling smug just because you’re born naturally strong?”

We were about to teleport soon, and I was already worried they were like this.

“If you keep growling at each other, I’ll leave both of you behind. Honestly, I could probably go alone and be fine.”

The two women glared at me with axe-like eyes at my words, but I refused to back down and continued.

“I’ve been holding my tongue out of consideration for you two, but I think you’re forgetting something. I’m the lord of this place, and I’m not so generous that I’ll just laugh it off and go ‘ha ha, ho ho’ after being treated like this by you. I’m keeping quiet because this isn’t a situation that calls for me to be angry, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t stir things up just to make me lose my temper.”

In the end, I dragged the harsh words out of my mouth, and at that, the two women, who had looked a little surprised, finally apologized.

However, Hare and Demina still did not withdraw the gazes that looked like they were desperate to tear each other apart.

Well, it had all happened because they were worried about me, but if the cart and the horse were reversed, that would be a problem. After that, we stepped up onto the teleportation magic circle, and I looked at Vincent.

He held a mana stone in his hand and asked me with a truly worried expression.

“Even if it is only for a few days, do you really have to go yourself, my lord? It is something we could go and do in your stead…”

“If I’m choosing my people, then it’s only right that I see them with my own eyes. And there are things I need to procure as well, so I thought I’d go and come back. Please take care of the domain while I’m gone. Three… no, just four days.”

“A–All of a sudden it became one more day, my lord…”

“Ahem, and where do you think you’re getting away with talking back to your lord?”

“…Y–You’re only like this at times like these… it’s too much.”

I looked at Vincent, who stared at me with a defeated expression, and spoke.

“I’ll give you a vacation later, so when that time comes, bring your whole family and stay here together. I’ll even build you a nice house, so let’s call it even with that, shall we?”

“…Truly… you are impossible to argue with, my lord. Then, may you have a peaceful journey…”

Soon, the teleportation activated, and as I watched the surroundings whirl as if the world itself were being sucked away, I started to feel dizzy. I had given Demina and Hare medicine beforehand, telling them not to mess up, but at this rate it felt like they would empty their stomachs first and then take the medicine afterward.

Sure enough, once the surroundings returned to normal, Demina and Hare rushed off to either side and grabbed hold of their buckets.

My own situation was no different, but having anticipated this, I had been holding my bucket in my hand as I teleported.

All that was left was to fill the bucket in my hand with the stuff that burst out along with the fanfare.

We had intended to leave the palace immediately, but because of a request from the Empress, we had to meet with her first.

“I never thought there would be a time when you voluntarily left your domain.”

“There were things I needed, so I had no choice.”

“I hear you’re doing business with the southern regions, are you not?”

When had she picked that up?

I thought again that her information network really was impressive, and the Empress spoke to me.

“They are a very rough people. Back when the Terakan Empire ruled the continent with an iron voice, it took us quite a long time to subjugate them. Even after annexation, it took an endlessly long time before they became one with the Empire. And yet, how is it that you managed to become so close so quickly with such an unusual people?”

Was Idlen really from such a “special” people?

Thinking that, I spoke.

“Would it not simply be an association born of mutual necessity?”

“Heh, so you intend to keep your secrets hidden?”

“It is no secret, Your Majesty. It is exactly as I say. Our interests just happened to align, nothing more than that. Besides, it is no longer the past, is it not?”

What I meant was that we should just let it go at that, but the Empress was persistent.

“What would you have me offer for you to confess your secret?”

“I believe you must first have a secret to confess in order for there to be a confession.”

“Amusing. In that case, let me ask you this: why did you cut off trade with Balsen?”

“Do you mean Duke Balsen?”

“Indeed. The other day he came to me and submitted a letter of protest. Because the trade had fallen through, he demanded I severely punish the cause.”

I was speechless. It was business. You bought and sold goods; there was no rule that you had to keep buying his products every single time.

When I said as much, the Empress nodded. But a moment later, the words that came from her lips had a slightly deeper meaning.

“Balsen is a high-ranking noble who leads the liquor market and manipulates power on the foundation of his enormous capital. The funds flowing out from him are what keep the group called the ‘noble faction’ barely breathing. Furthermore, quite a large portion of that money seeps in from the southern regions. But this time, you are the one who cut off that flow.”

“…May I know the contents of the protest?”

“He claimed that, because he could not exhaust the stock that was scheduled for that trade, there are signs that his finest wines will miss their proper timing and plummet to dirt-cheap prices, causing him massive losses. Therefore, he demanded that the Ingrad Domain be made to compensate him for the damages.”

“May I speak bluntly?”

The Empress gave a faint chuckle at my words, but instead of granting permission, she replied with something else.

“It was such an absurd demand that I did not accept it. However, Duke Balsen is a tenacious man who holds grudges, so you must be careful. Moreover, the liquor that southern merchants have been releasing little by little as they travel has become quite the talk of the town.”

“They already put that out there?”

“They must know that prices rise once the rumors spread. If rumors reach the central regions, then the going price of the liquor produced in your domain will be established at a very high level. Then, using that information, they will return to the South and wring even more profit out of the nobles there. Their intent is plain to see.”

Well, that was all something for the people who bought the goods to worry about.

As long as I could profit from it, that was all that mattered to me. However, the Empress spoke to me with a note of concern.

“I would prefer to avoid a situation where the price is set excessively high. Many of the things you have created are of great benefit to humanity. I would like them to be things that not only the privileged classes, but as many people as possible, can enjoy. Are you not already amassing more than enough wealth?”

She was right. I really was making money hand over fist.

Just the promissory notes that Princess Riana sent me once every half-month amounted to ten notes worth ten thousand gold each. And once the bridge was connected, the sums I earned just from merchants filing various requests at the lord’s manor already exceeded half of what Princess Riana sent.

In other words, I was making at least the equivalent of one hundred and fifty thousand high-denomination gold notes. And that was solely from selling consumable goods.

If I took into account special items like Physical Ability Enhancement Potions, or the trade in monster hides and by-products, the amount I earned would climb even more steeply, but the visible portion was about that much.

“I will take Your Majesty’s wish into consideration.”

“See that you do. I cannot interfere in the individual prosperity of each lord, so all I can do is earnestly ask. So then, what brings you to the capital?”

I thought she certainly got around to asking quickly. So I explained in broad strokes the reasons I had come to the capital, and the Empress nodded as she spoke.

“If that is the case, I could send you some outstanding talent, you know.”

“That will not be necessary. I intend to meet people myself and hire them with my own eyes. I am merely grateful for Your Majesty’s consideration.”

That was a refusal. It was obvious at a glance that any such person would be a watchdog. I was certain that even the slightest bit of tax evasion would be immediately reported to the central government.

Keeping an enemy close to your heart could be called an act of stupidity, and even after my refusal, the Empress continued to make several offers, trying to provide this or that kind of support.

I had to break out in a cold sweat turning down all of them, but in the end I managed to escape the Empress’s grasp.

On the way out of the imperial palace, I felt so drained that I was almost dizzy.

“Ahh. Talking with the highest authority really sucks the energy out of you… I’m exhausted…”

It probably wasn’t the sort of thing I should say at the palace gate, but I hadn’t actually been bad-mouthing her, so I said it openly. Hearing this, Hare asked.

“There are all kinds of rumors that Her Majesty the Empress is an extremely cautious and frightening person. What is she really like?”

“In reality, you mean? Hmm…”

I thought back on a few things about the Empress and answered in a small voice.

“She’s smart. No, I don’t even know whether I should call it ‘smart’… or just plain ‘scary’.”

She was probably looking far ahead, to a place I could not even imagine, and adjusting the situation from there. On top of that, the Empress possessed an almost inexplicable degree of information power.

I could not help thinking she must have spies planted everywhere. There was no way the mind of the person running such a massive organization could be simple, and I had little desire to get deeply entangled with someone like that.

“It’s probably easiest if you just think of her as someone you must never get involved with in anything.”

After that, with Hare guiding me, I walked around various parts of the capital and was able to inspect several academies. Among them, I sought out the academy that showed the most distinction in the field of economics and managed to secure a meeting with its headmaster.

If I recalled correctly, it was said that this academy had produced a chancellor.

I wondered if that meant that chancellor, but conversation came first.

“I’d like to hire people in the field of economics.”

“You must be the lord of that rumored Viscounty of Ingrad…?”

When I nodded at the headmaster’s words, he glanced at the two women standing behind me and asked with a serious expression.

“Is it true that you survived the Month of the Demon God?”

“As you can see. But rather than such personal questions, could you introduce me to some capable people?”

“Hmm… This is the time when most graduates who haven’t found employment yet are packing up and returning to their hometowns. Those who remain in the capital are either stubbornly clinging on, or have some other reason in mind. Would even such people be acceptable to you?”

“Was I a little late in coming, then?”

“That is not the issue. It is just that, thanks to the imperial directly-run apothecaries, many of the top talents were hired out very quickly.”

In other words, Princess Riana had gotten a firm grip on my ankle.