Breaking the Cycle (2)
The reason the North couldn't break the cycle of poverty, despite hoarding the most luxurious furs and leathers every winter, was simple.
'They didn't have a single safety net.'
If only someone had taken pity on the Northern people and provided enough food and firewood to survive the two months of the spring famine.
No, even if someone had just lent them a little money at a low interest rate.
'Things would have been different.'
Instead of engaging in near-desperate bargaining with merchants while listening to their young children wailing from hunger, they would have had the luxury of waiting for a merchant offering better terms, even if it meant waiting a few more days.
With just a little bit of breathing room,
'Instead of the whole family desperately digging into the frozen ground to plant seeds, at least one grown son would have gone out hunting again, looking for another opportunity.'
That’s what it means not to go hungry right away.
It means having the luxury to dream of a future.
It’s common knowledge that farming in the North yields significantly less than in the fertile South. But one thing is certain: if you farm, even if the harvest is smaller than others, your food supply won't be 'zero.'
But what about hunting?
No matter how naturally gifted the Northern people are as hunters, they can't always succeed. Sometimes, they have no choice but to spend days chasing prey with no guarantee of success.
Since hunting can result in a value of 'zero' even after spending all that time,
'That’s why everyone focuses on hunting only when winter comes.'
As soon as he heard that the chef had caught two bears before winter arrived, Aiden found a way to break through this situation.
The spring famine.
He would take responsibility for those two months of poverty.
Aiden couldn't understand why the previous administrative officers hadn't found such a simple solution until now.
'Or maybe not. Maybe they didn't fail to find it—maybe they never had any intention of looking for it in the first place?'
Well, that’s what you’d expect from bastards who don't have a shred of ownership in their souls.
"A-Administrative Officer!"
However, the person most surprised by Aiden’s declaration wasn't the merchants, but his adjutant, Jamie.
With his eyes looking like they were about to pop out, he was practically screaming, 'I am flustered!' with his entire body.
A poker face is supposed to be the basic requirement for any negotiation, but it seems the adjutant never learned that.
Then again, I should have known from the moment he had to work overtime every day because he couldn't finish the simple tasks I gave him.
How much did I even ask him to do?
Tsk, tsk.
'Still, he was working hard.'
If he hadn't even shown the effort, I would have fired him and found someone else long ago. Even if it is hard to find talent in the North, I’d rather do it all myself than waste the already scarce tax money on someone who’s worse than having no one at all.
- Sorry I didn't tell you in advance. Well, it wasn't a big deal, so it just slipped my mind.
Aiden sent a mental message, but it was doubtful whether that bear-like adjutant understood it.
"...Is it not a big deal?"
It seems the telepathic reception was faulty.
Kalisa, with her cold gaze, asks back with her lips curled into an arc.
Regardless, the merchants' attention shifted back to Aiden, not Jamie.
"It is a trivial solution."
"You must also consider your authority as the Lord's deputy and Administrative Officer."
Her eyes drifted toward the monster taxidermy decoration hanging on the cafeteria wall.
That gaze seemed to be saying:
- If you don't even have things like this, who would treat you with respect?
However, Aiden just shrugged his shoulders with a light laugh, and then, even more lightly than the laugh, he let out a single remark.
"Oh, my. If a public servant eating the nation's rice hopes for authority, they're in for a world of trouble, aren't they?"
A former 9th-grade civil servant doesn't hope for authority, prestige, or any of that nonsense in the first place.
“Merchants are coming in one after another with their completed paperwork, Administrative Officer!”
I was forced to hold a sandwich in my left hand and review documents with my right because there was so much work, when Jamie burst into the office with a flushed face.
“I never thought the merchants would follow your orders so obediently! Really, this kind of thing is... I mean...!”
For some reason, he seemed a bit choked up.
But Aiden just gave a small nod.
“Leave them there, and give priority to the merchant guilds that made the decision first. The government can at least do that much.”
He didn't even bother to check the names of the guilds; he was completely indifferent.
“Um, Administrative Officer.”
“Why do you keep calling me? Are you even doing the work I gave you? Planning to work overtime again today?”
“That’s not it...”
“What is it, then?”
“Did you know it would turn out like this?”
Despite Aiden’s nagging, Jamie didn't back down and asked his question.
It had already been a month since he started working with his new superior.
He had realized by now that the prickliness of this peculiar boss wasn't because he disliked him.
“I never expected the merchants to listen so obediently, personally.”
Jamie felt a little embarrassed.
No, was it complicated?
'To achieve such results only a month after taking office. What on earth have I been doing for the last five years?'
He was born and raised in the North. Even he hadn't been able to grasp how to break this vicious cycle, yet this person...
Click.
Hearing Jamie trail off, Aiden put down his pen and stared straight at him.
“Where in the world is there a hundred percent certainty?”
“Pardon?”
“If it seems okay, you just try it. We don't have anything to lose anyway. It’s not like we’re risking anything by taking a shot.”
“If we failed, we would have really ended up selling the items from the Lord’s castle!”
“If we sell them, we sell them.”
“······!”
Aiden shrugged his shoulders as if to say, 'What’s the big deal?'
Jamie was on the verge of going crazy. No, what kind of Lord’s deputy sells off the items of the Lord’s castle so easily?
Those were all the property (not really), status (not really), and honor (definitely not) of the Administrative Officer who acts as the Lord's deputy.
'It’s not like I’m selling the Lord’s castle building; what’s the problem with selling a few statues that are just being neglected?'
Of course, to a 21st-century civil servant who had never once thought of the art pieces scattered around the city hall courtyard or hallways as 'his own,' it was a matter of course.
If they’re just sitting there without any real value, you sell them off to solve a long-standing project for the residents—ah, that’s what public welfare stability is. What else could it be?
The generation gap—no, the worldview gap—is truly terrifying.
“Still, I didn't expect you to come up with a solution as soon as you discovered the problem.”
Anyway, Jamie was moved. That was enough.
“Ah, among the merchants who submitted documents, there’s a person named Kalisa. Is she here?”
“Of course. She was the first to submit her paperwork.”
“Bring her in.”
“Kalisa?”
“Yeah. I have something to ask her.”
I need to verify a few things, you see.
“You called for me.”
“First of all, thank you for your cooperation.”
“When you hold the leash and shake it, what can a powerless merchant do?”
“A powerless merchant, huh.”
She was quite cooperative in her actions, but her words were unnecessarily cold. Then again, it would be difficult for a woman navigating the rough trade routes to manage a merchant guild without having a few knives hidden in her tongue.
“But why did you call me like this? I thought you weren't the type to have private meetings.”
“You were the first to follow the Lord’s castle’s intentions. It’s only polite to offer my gratitude.”
At Aiden’s sly response, Kalisa’s expression turned strange. It was completely different from the morning, when he had been bullying her, saying he wouldn't permit any trade if she didn't follow his will.
'I thought he was a stubborn man; did I misjudge him?'
Kalisa picked up the teacup in front of her to collect her thoughts.
Sip.
The aroma and the taste were, as expected, poor. The scent of poverty often pops up suddenly in trivial daily routines like this.
“More importantly, I have a question.”
She hadn't even put the teacup down yet, but the question flew at her from Aiden.
“Please, speak.”
Administrative officers from the capital who come down to the North are all half-crazy about etiquette and formality. Perhaps he was just putting on airs to avoid being found out as someone who had lost his connection to power. It’s the same principle as a timid beast having a loud voice.
But the new Administrative Officer seemed to care even less about upper-class etiquette than she, a commoner, did. It was a bit bewildering for Kalisa.
“To be precise, it’s not a question, ah, what should I call this?”
Aiden chose his words.
“Hmm, blackmail?”
His voice was unnecessarily bright.
“...What did you just say?”
Regardless of how bright the other person is, it’s a word that is extremely uncomfortable for the listener. Kalisa’s eyes turned fierce in an instant.
“You’ll have to hand over what you have.”
Whether she liked it or not, Aiden just kept saying what he wanted to say.
“In the end, if the North prospers, won't you, who trades with the North, also become very wealthy? You can't just play the role of a peddler forever, can you?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Ah, I guess my words were a bit difficult.”
Aiden smiled brightly and then,
“You have a map, don't you?”
The bomb dropped.
Clatter—!
The teacup fell from Kalisa’s hand. The only fortunate thing was that the tea had already gone cold.
“Oh my, that’s one of the few remaining ceramic bowls our chef treasures so much.”
“······.”
In front of the sly Aiden, Kalisa quickly clenched her fist. It was to hide the trembling of her fingers.
“Let’s not say you don't have one. I haven't been in the North for long, but I have an eye for documents.”
Aiden tossed a thick stack of documents onto the table.
“This is the census. I went out and did the legwork myself.”
“······.”
“Three thousand two hundred.”
Aiden, who had downed the cold tea in one gulp, tossed out a number.
“That’s the population of the North.”
“I-is that so.”
“But it’s strange, isn't it?”
He chuckled and placed another file on the table. On top of it was the stack of documents Kalisa herself had written. These were the documents submitted by the merchant guilds seeking trade permits.
“In the North, where there are only three thousand two hundred people, there are four merchant guilds seeking trade permits.”
Tsk, tsk, Aiden even started clicking his tongue now.
“If you add the expelled Jenkins and the merchant guild that is still debating whether or not to submit their documents, there are a whopping nine merchant guilds that have visited the North for trade this spring.”
Jamie, who had been burying his head in his desk pretending to work in the corner of the office while keeping his ears wide open, seemed to realize something; he lifted his head and widened his eyes.
“No matter how profitable fur and leather are as goods, nine merchant guilds for a North with three thousand two hundred people.”
He paused for a moment,
“If this is to make sense, there’s only one answer, right?”
Aiden already knew the answer.
“That there are an enormous number of Northern people that even the Lord’s castle hasn't been able to account for. And that you merchants know the villages of those Northern people.”
That wasn't a question; it was a conviction.
“You didn't report the wanderers, and you even traded with them? This is treason if you’re not careful. Didn't you know?”
Kalisa’s head dropped to the floor in an instant.