Book 6: Chapter 24


    Your Highness! Your Highness! Look, look! Theyve bloomed! Theyve bloomed!! Lucia ran up to me, cheerfully and brightly, holding a flower pot.


    I looked up from the documents and saw small white petals on the nt in the pot.


    I smiled and said, Not bad, Lucia. You took good care of it, huh?


    Of course, you gave them to me, after all! Lucia puffed her chest out proudly.


    She then looked at Nier, who wasnt too happy, and mocked her, But it looks like a particrly dense person cant take care of flowers so that they can bloom. She mightve even split the seed.


    If you only know how to swing a sword, just stick to being a bodyguard. What are you doing being a wife? If you cant even nurture a flower, how are you going to raise a child?


    Nier folded her arms angrily and then indifferently fired back, Someone is still sticking around, shamelessly refusing to leave, after losing a duel. Its clearly only because His Majesty is generous and tolerant that she was able to stay. And yet, shes acting like its justified in front of us. I really wonder if it wasnt your elven shamelessness that caused my seed, which was nted next to it, to die.


    Okay, enough,dies. Freya stepped out and ended their bickering. She then looked at Nier and said, Miss Nier, your flower did not bloom, correct?


    Nier looked at me somewhat scared and then panicked, No its just just I think maybe its not time for it to bloom yet


    Maybe it isnt. I looked at Nier, stood up and said, Its not your problem, Nier. It also isnt because Lucia used magic or something simr. It is a problem with the soil. Your soil came from the same ce. However, Lucias seed came from the elven side, while the seed I gave you, Nier, was from humanitys side. Put another way; only elven crops can grow on this piece ofnd and not humanitys crops.


    That must be why thend is poor, I guess. No, allow me to correct myself. Its poor for humans.


    Freya nodded as though she had thought of something, and said, Is it because of the elven border? If that is the case, I think it will be very difficult to resolve. Since I do not know the exact reason.


    I think it should be because of mana. I looked at Lucias flower, touched a white petal and borated, The elvennds are filled mana, so the elven crops could naturally adapt to the mana in the soil. However, humanitys crops couldnt adapt to the soil, leading to humanitys crops not growing when nted here.


    No, I shouldnt say that. Not all of them couldnt since some managed to weather it. However, the ones that did manage to grow did poorly and resulted in a very minimal harvest. This means that thend needs to be dealt with.


    Freya let out a hopeless sigh. She then looked at me with a bitter smile and said, Your Majesty, this is not my field of expertise. Though I can help you with many things, I have no idea how to remove mana from thend. I think that we, perhaps, require Her Highness help.


    No, no, no.


    I was initially going to do that, but then I felt it wasnt going to work, after some deliberation. The people here suffered for decades because of thend. If I now go and tell them that it was because of elven mana, theyll surely hate the elves to death. Though its not the fault of the elves, this was indeed a problem caused by their mana.


    What do we do then, Onii-sama? If this continues, there will still be nothing that grows there. Freya looked at me and continued, Or are you thinking that the amount of mana will reduce over time if you block that river? I am not certain, but if that river is cut off, then our factory will not be able to operate as well. Also, how will we handle our irrigation issue?


    Ah of course I wont block off the river Although the mana should being through the river from the elves, I need to think about how to solve this problem. I felt a little torn.


    It looks like the elven river can bring mana here. Normally speaking, the elven river is filled with mana. Im actually quite scared of that river. I must drink water from a well when Im here. If I drink the water from the river, all of my organs will feel like theyre burning painfully.


    I cant be without the river.


    Although the river doesnt just provide flowing water for the block ofnd but also my agony, I require the river. Its most important function to me isnt the irrigation function but the power it provides. Without steam engines, this is what I need most.


    <em>How can I satisfy everyone and yet not damage the river? I think this problem could easily be solved if Mommy Vyvyan could lend a hand. But the problem is she cant.</em>


    <em>This should be a city where humans and elves can get along harmoniously. If I tell the humans that they had to starve because of the elves, theyll definitely hate the elves. Humans are simple creatures. If they have to worry about food as well, theyll definitely hate.</em>


    <em>If we cant grow crops</em>


    I pondered the problem for a moment and then asked Freya, Can we not nt crops?


    Freya paused for a moment and then replied, Onii-sama, it does not matter if we do not nt crops. Worst case scenario, we do not produce food. We can purchase food or get someone to smuggle food in.


    If we do that, the cost of food would increase. If we did not implement a way to increase the peoples ie, we would have to feed the people out of our own pockets all the time, which is not possible.


    <em>Im aware of that. A kings job isnt to share his money, but to allow the people to earn enough.</em>


    <em>Ennd follows a simr method. As an ind, Ennd relies on business for ie. Hond is another ssic example. Since we require food to be imported, we need to sell other goods with higher value at higher prices. That way, we can prevent a trade deficit.</em>


    <em>Food isnt actually a valuable good. Its a basic need. The south is a ce where food is produced as well. Even if they do have to transport the food a long way to get here, it wont cost that much more.</em>


    <em>What do I need to do then? Animal husbandry? That wont work. Livestock wont earn much money, and their flesh cant be preserved for long. Making salt-cure meat out of it wont earn us more, and wed even have to use more salt. That would cause the people to weather high salt prices.</em>


    <em>Salt isnt cheap. Its a good that can buy out the entirety of bronze coins, as we know from myst fight with the church. How could my people bear that?</em>


    <em>Okay, so what then? Industrial products? My factory is just a military factory. We absolutely wont be selling the weapons produced. Do I need to make another factory just for the people? Ill be short-handed here then. The amount of area next to the river is fairly small, too. In fact, theres no suitable ce to set up another factory.</em>


    <em>What else is there? Mining? The mine here isnt worth money. Tourism Okay, the only tourists in this era are rich people with money to waste. People wouldnt spend over ten days toe here to view a little run-of-the-mill town either.</em>


    <em>What do I do then?</em>


    Freya and I looked at each other. This was the simplest problem wed faced since teaming up, yet we were both speechless for the first time.


    While holding her flower, Lucia looked at us with puzzlement. Without thinking, she asked, Your Highness, if we cant nt humanitys stuff, cant we just nt the elves stuff, then?