The Nightmare Has Come
The greed of humans knows no bounds, and they repeat the same mistakes over and over.
While the Eastern Region was being torn apart by the tulip speculation frenzy, what exactly was I doing after handing over the flower fields to Count Furkus? At that time, I… was peacefully tending to the farm.
The wheat and corn fields, now ripe for harvest, shimmered with an appetizing golden hue. An endless sea of gold stretching all the way to the horizon. It was truly a magnificent sight.
“Wow… It’s different from the flower fields, but this has its own charm, doesn’t it, Elina?”
“… Yes, it is truly beautiful, young master.”
I once read a passage like this in a novel. They say that when ripe grain sways in the wind, it looks like ‘wolves are running.’ I didn’t understand what that meant back then, but now I think I get it.
Every time the wind blew across the vast golden wheat field before me, countless wolves seemed to burst forth, racing through the stalks. And the wolves weren’t the only things in the wheat field.
The farmers had already gone in to begin the harvest. They worked in formation, cutting the wheat and corn while singing in unison.
“Eheya— Oh great earth of the East, embrace the crimson sun♩”
“Eogiya diya— Let’s cultivate the golden wheat fields—!♪”
In time with their song, the farmers swung their massive scythes to reap the wheat. The wolves seemed to flee from those enormous blades, running and running without end.
The scene wasn’t as dazzling or fragrant as the flower fields, but it overflowed with vibrant life.
“Alright! Everyone, take a break and have a snack!”
“Sounds good! Let’s eat first!!”
“Aww! I thought I was gonna die of hunger!”
While the farmers were sweating through the grueling harvest, the women in charge of meals arrived carrying snacks. In an instant, the area was filled with bread, chicken dishes, and all sorts of food. Just watching them made even my stomach growl.
“Well then… shall we go have lunch ourselves?”
“Yes, young master. I will have a meal prepared at the mansion.”
I nodded and stood up. I had checked everything that needed checking on the farm. My biggest worry had been that the count might plow over the wheat and corn fields. Fortunately, he hadn’t touched them.
From what I’d heard, he had cleared out the crops on his other farms. It seemed he believed that if the wheat and corn were left growing, I wouldn’t be able to easily turn them back into flower fields. What a foolish thought.
Why on earth would I plow over this precious wheat and corn that fills our bellies? At this very moment when everyone was obsessed with flowers, these crops would become my new tulips.
Satisfied with the enormous quantities of wheat and corn being harvested from the golden fields, I headed back toward the mansion. And the moment I arrived, the news was waiting for me.
Chloe, the chief secretary of the Lorend Guild’s Eastern Branch, came running toward me, her glasses and generous chest bouncing with every step.
“Y-Young master! It’s terrible!”
“Terrible? What happened…”
Chloe, who had sprinted all the way to me, was gasping for breath. If she was making this much of a fuss, it couldn’t be anything ordinary. What could the news be?
Finally catching her breath, Chloe spoke.
“Haa… haa… The price of tulips… has fallen to 600 zenons.”
“The tulip price!?”
The last time I sold, tulips had been worth 7,000 zenons. And now they had dropped all the way to 600 zenons… This was exactly the event I had seen in the original story.
Nightmare Wednesday—the catastrophe that had plunged the Eastern economy into hell—had finally erupted.
Whoa… I knew it would come eventually, but it was this Wednesday? If I had been even a little late in liquidating, it would have been a disaster.
“What about our guild’s losses? We disposed of all the tulips, right?”
“Yes. Following your orders, young master, the Lorend Guild disposed of all horticulture-related goods a month ago, so our losses are zero. However…”
“… However?”
“Well… some of the guild members continued to purchase tulip products even after that…”
“Sigh… Even after I told them so clearly.”
After exchanging the flower fields for farmland with the count, I had spent an entire month liquidating every last tulip-related asset. Since tulip prices were still skyrocketing at the time, I had sold at the absolute peak. The guild members who followed my lead and sold their tulips must have made quite a profit.
But there’s that saying, isn’t there? Human greed knows no bounds, and they repeat the same mistakes.
Those who thought, ‘Hmm… I feel like I could squeeze out a little more,’ and delayed selling—or worse, bought even more—were probably watching their worlds burn right about now.
Come to think of it, I noticed a few people around the mansion whose expressions looked particularly grim. Tsk tsk tsk… They got burned, huh?
And where had I invested all that liquidated wealth? I had poured it into grain—wheat, barley, corn, and the like—across the entire Eastern Region.
At a time when grain prices had plummeted to rock bottom because everyone was obsessed with tulips and flowers, I bought them up cheaply through futures contracts. Thanks to that, the warehouses of the Lorend Guild’s Eastern Branch were now bursting at the seams with the grain harvested from the count’s former farms plus everything I had additionally purchased.
Anyone who saw it might think we were preparing for war. Hmm… In a way, I suppose we were. A war of food supply, that is.
“Y-Young master! It’s terrible!”
“What? Now what?”
As I was organizing my thoughts, Jiren burst out of the room in a panic. Whatever telegram he had received, his face had gone deathly pale. What else could have happened now?
“F-From the capital… Her Highness the Imperial Princess is heading to the East leading the Judges!”
“What!? The Judges are coming!?”
The imperial family’s direct extrajudicial audit and inspection agency, the Spear of Judgment. Commonly called the Judges, they were the most terrifying beings a merchant could ever encounter. To put it simply, it was like the National Tax Service showing up in real life.
In both this world and reality, when state power decided to move in earnest, wiping out a single guild or noble house was child’s play. And now an organization with the authority of the Emperor himself was coming? Naturally, every face in the guild turned ashen.
Whispers spread through the room.
“W-What do we do?”
“If the Judges are here, aren’t we all dead?”
To be honest, I thought our preparations were perfect… but even I felt a little nervous. Damn… Was it the tension? I suddenly needed to pee.
But I kept my expression perfectly composed. If the leader of an organization shows anxiety, that anxiety spreads and doubles, even triples. So a leader must always manage their face.
Clap—!
“Everyone, attention!”
All eyes turned to me at the sound of my clap. I calmly swept my gaze over them and spoke.
“There’s no need to panic. We haven’t done anything wrong, so the Judges won’t have anything to say to us.”
I could see the tension easing from everyone’s faces.
“So everyone, stay calm and act as usual. Understood?”
“Yes, young master!”
With those words, the mansion returned to its usual state of light, busy activity. Everyone began moving briskly to attend to their own tasks. And I moved as well.
Alright… Time to prepare to meet Her Highness the Imperial Princess.
* * *
Upon arriving in the East with the Spear of Judgment, Imperial Princess Shuren immediately led the Judges straight to the governor’s office. Having grasped the situation on the way here, she found nothing to smile about.
This was a critical incident that could lead to tens of thousands—no, hundreds of thousands—of people starving to death across the empire.
Bang—!
“What is the meaning of this?”
“……… What is this?”
The sight that greeted the furious princess as she stormed into the governor’s office was tulips. Tulips of every color filled the entire room, and right in the middle, Prince Lucas was carefully trimming them.
“What is it, Shuren?”
“Brother… what exactly are you doing right now?”
“Can’t you tell by looking? I was trimming flowers. They’re a gift for Mariel.”
At Prince Lucas’s utterly nonchalant attitude, Shuren felt like she was losing her mind. She strode over to him and hurled the flowerpot he was working on to the floor.
Crash—!
“… What the hell are you doing?”
“What the hell are you doing, brother!? Do you even realize what you’ve done!?”
In response to Shuren’s outburst, the prince simply began trimming another flower as if nothing had happened. With a perfectly calm expression, he said,
“Shuren… I haven’t done anything. I simply stayed here as the Eastern Governor, just as Father ordered.”
He had done nothing, exactly as the Emperor had commanded him not to cause trouble. Hearing such childish nonsense from Lucas only made Shuren more dumbfounded.
“Brother… have you really gone insane? Do you have any idea what’s happening in the East right now?”
“Ask Emilia about that. I’m busy with other matters.”
“Brother!!!!”
The Eastern Governor was one of the key figures who should have been controlling the East. When Shuren had heard that her brother had taken the position, she had held onto a small sliver of hope. A tiny wish that her brother might have returned to his former self.
Instead, what greeted her was the sight of the prince meticulously arranging flowers to give to a woman. Shuren felt as if her heart was crumbling.
“If you’re done with your business, leave, Shuren.”
“…………”
Faced with her brother’s complete lack of remorse or reaction, Shuren gave up on every last bit of hope she had held. As the Emperor’s representative, she spoke.
“Judges of the Spear of Judgment, hear me.”
“Yes, Your Highness the Princess.”
“Immediately arrest the criminal Lucas before my eyes and transport him to the capital!”
“Yes!!”
At Shuren’s command, the Judges in their black uniforms moved as one. The prince’s guards jumped in shock and stood against them, while Lucas’s face twisted in fury.
“Have you lost your mind? You dare try to arrest me? Me, a prince of the empire!?”
“Do not speak the name of the imperial family, criminal Lucas!”
But Shuren’s face was just as distorted. With blazing eyes, she glared at Lucas and declared,
“You are the main culprit who defied His Majesty the Emperor’s orders and caused chaos in the East. Guards of Lucas, hear this as well. If you fight for him, you too will be charged with high treason and transported to the capital.”
The princess’s eyes were dead serious. At this rate, the guards would have to fight the Judges. Fear began to spread through their eyes, and one by one they lowered their swords.
Among them, only one person did not tremble—Emilia Ragnis, the green-haired female knight and Lucas’s closest aide.
“Lower your sword, Emilia.”
“I am sorry, Your Highness the Princess. But I am Prince Lucas’s sword.”
Faced with Emilia’s firm resolve, Shuren had no choice but to close her eyes.
“… Subdue them.”
“Yes!!”
At the princess’s order, the Judges charged at Lucas and Emilia. That day, the prince was subdued by the Judges in the East and transported to the capital as a criminal. And starting the very next day, the princess began her full-scale surgical reform of the Eastern Region.