With a Confirmed Coin Right Before My Eyes, I Have to Get On Board
With a confirmed coin right before my eyes, I had to climb aboard. The Alpeit Empire permitted a degree of capitalism, but at its core it remained a centralized state with feudal structures. This was especially true in the Eastern Region, the empire’s breadbasket.
To prevent food shortages like the current crisis, there existed a law allowing the state to forcibly dictate crop production on farmland. That authority was precisely the Agricultural Administration Control Right.
In simple terms, it granted the power to decide exactly what crops must be grown on specific farms and fields within a region. Someone might ask what possible profit there could be in such a right. But think about it.
While not quite at tulip levels, not every crop holds the same value. Merely assigning low-value crops to an enemy’s fields while reserving high-value ones for my own land or my allies’ created enormous gains.
On top of that, the authority itself generated money through information alone. By studying the central government’s crop quotas and predicting which produce would fall short, one could reap massive profits simply by cultivating the right things.
So why had this food crisis occurred despite possessing such tremendous power? The answer lay in the current holder of the Agricultural Administration Control Right: Albert di Brabant, the Frontier Duke of the East. He was fundamentally a warrior with little interest in matters outside his expertise.
As a result, he had never wielded the authority tightly and had instead loosened its restrictions considerably. Thanks to that, the capitalist market in the eastern empire had flourished, but central oversight had grown lax, allowing the current tulip speculation disaster to erupt.
When I requested the Frontier Duke’s extraordinary authority, Princess Shuren stared at me with open disbelief.
“You… do you even understand what kind of power you’re asking for?”
“Yes, I understand perfectly.”
“That authority exists on an entirely different level from tax collection rights. It is not something that can be handed to a merchant guild.”
The right to collect taxes in the empire’s name was already being exercised in remote regions beyond the imperial family’s easy reach. This power, however, operated on another plane entirely. Still, everything in this world changes according to circumstance.
“Allow me to speak briefly from the perspective of the Imperial Administration.”
“…Go on.”
“The recent tulip crisis in the east has destroyed the central administration’s trust in Frontier Duke Albert di Brabant. Yet holding him fully accountable would be difficult. After all, the duke is genuinely competent in his domain.”
“…………”
As a warrior and military commander, Albert was more than capable. The situation was serious, but replacing him would carry heavy repercussions.
“After careful consideration, the Imperial Administration reached a simple conclusion: the problem stemmed from granting the Agricultural Administration Control Right to a single individual. Therefore, they would increase the number of holders, just as they had done with tax collection rights.”
Shuren’s expression froze solid. She looked at me as though I had uncovered something I should never have known, her eyes sharp as cold blades. Whoa. If there had been fruit nearby, it would have been sliced clean through.
“You… where did you learn that?”
“I didn’t learn it. I predicted it.”
Of course, the possession cheat had helped. But even without it, the outcome was predictable enough. Cross-referencing the capital’s gossip network of milk-selling aunties with the future forecasts of the guild’s genius analysts made the result obvious.
“Asking for every piece of the Agricultural Administration Control Right held by Frontier Duke Albert would indeed be insane. However… requesting one seat among the two or three positions created by splitting that authority sounds like a perfectly reasonable proposal.”
If the authority were distributed, it would actually benefit me. A monopoly granted absolute power, but it also meant bearing full responsibility if anything went wrong. Splitting it among two or three people diluted my liability. I could harvest moderate profits and slip away if danger appeared.
“I see… that proposal is understandable. But if that’s the direction, wouldn’t it be far more advantageous for me to auction off the Agricultural Administration Control Right and let the nobles fight over it?”
“Would it? In the end, it would become poison.”
“Why?”
“Because the empire’s citizens would ultimately bear the entire burden.”
Shuren questioned me like a teacher testing a student. I delivered the answer I had prepared.
“Our Lorend Guild currently controls forty percent of the grain in the east. If other guilds or nobles want crops, they will have no choice but to come to us. Whether in money or land, we will demand an extremely high price that we find acceptable.”
“…”
“They would accept such costs for one reason only: because possessing the Agricultural Administration Control Right would allow them to earn far more.”
“……”
In the real world, countless nobles had spent fortunes for rights like mineral monopolies precisely because those privileges were worth even more. If central supervision weakened, they would begin exploiting the authority to recover their losses.
“At first they would plant highly profitable medicinal herbs and magical plants on their own estates while shifting food production to other farms. But over time their behavior would grow more extreme.
They would assign unsustainable crops to commoners’ fields, drive them into bankruptcy, seize the land at bargain prices, and reduce the peasants to debt slaves or bandits.”
“Yes… that does seem likely.”
The princess nodded, acknowledging that my reasoning was correct.
Of course, there was one method she hadn’t mentioned: simply seizing food by force without discussion. But that was the worst possible choice.
Once the government began destroying the capitalist market with military power, the nation would lose all credibility, currency would become worthless, and daily life would collapse.
Since that outcome was already unacceptable, Shuren had chosen the path of negotiation, and I had responded accordingly.
And my answer was not yet finished.
“But we are different. We have already profited greatly in the east. Moreover, as outsiders not affiliated with eastern nobility, we cannot afford to create unnecessary enemies there. We would naturally fall under the watchful eyes of both the Imperial Administration and the eastern powers, and therefore we would use the authority in the most rational manner possible.”
“Hmm…………”
Worry clouded Shuren’s face. Eighty percent convinced, yet still needing that final push. If this were a fighting game, we had entered rage mode.
I carefully began the finishing move.
“If you’re still hesitant, consider it this way.”
“How?”
“Grant us the Agricultural Administration Control Right not for the empire, but for yourself, Princess Shuren.”
“What?!”
No matter the era, a person’s arm bends inward. In a feudal age filled with imperial blood and nobility, personal connections carried even greater weight than in modern times.
“We have already received a great gift from you. Should we receive a second one, the eyes around us would shift like this.”
Shuren began watching me with keen interest, like an adorable theatergoer who had just discovered an entertaining play. For her sake, I launched into my clown performance.
“‘Ah, so that guild stands behind Her Highness the Princess.’”
“…………”
“Once we receive such attention, survival will force us to work for you. We will be on the same boat.”
Consider the authority not as mere reward, but as a gift that creates an ally.
The princess who understood my meaning burst into laughter moments later.
“Ha… Hahahahahahahaha!!!!”
She laughed as though she had witnessed the funniest thing in the world, laughing and laughing again. She seemed so genuinely delighted that I almost wanted to laugh along with her, even though I knew I shouldn’t.
“How amusing. So those words you said back then were sincere?”
On the day we spoke of Bluestone, I had told her: ‘I will help you reach that position.’ She had apparently taken it half as joke and half as truth. But I had meant every word. With a confirmed emperor coin right in front of me, of course I had to climb aboard! Let’s go!!! Heave-ho! Heave-ho!
“Of course. I enjoy jokes, but I absolutely hate lies.”
The princess no longer glared at me. Instead she gazed with warm, gentle eyes. This was probably the real Shuren—the expression she showed only to those on her side. It was so warm I felt that if you placed a fertilized egg in her gaze, a chick might actually hatch.
“Very well. I shall grant you one share of the Agricultural Administration Control Right.”
“Thank you!”
“But steel yourself. Standing behind me means boarding a carriage with no way to get off.”
“I understand completely.”
Shuren rose from her seat and extended her hand. I stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and kissed the back of it. The fragrant scent of orange—perfectly suited to her—wafted strongly from her skin.
That day, I swore loyalty to the princess, and she accepted it. A solid bond had now formed between us.