A Princess's Anxiety
It had only been a few days since I started entertaining Amelia Bachnia, the second princess of the Bachn Kingdom, as an official guest. In that short time, I had been ridiculously busy. It wasn’t anything glamorous. As the acting head of the family, I had fallen into a brutal routine where I worked without rest from the moment I opened my eyes until I collapsed into sleep again.
“……The birds in that sky sure are beautiful. One day, I’ll be able to fly freely like them. Birds, oh birds. Lovely blue birds.”
“You can indulge in those weird sentiments when you actually have time. Here are the additional documents.”
“Don’t you think this is a bit much? I’m the acting head of the family. The acting head. Want me to discipline you?”
“So?”
Chloe’s icy glare made me slam my face down onto the desk.
As my personal knight and closest aide, Chloe’s workload had grown just as much as mine. Her authority still technically fell under assisting me, but the explosion in my own duties had naturally dragged her along with it. More work for me meant more work for her.
“This is strange, isn’t it? I distinctly remember spending some very happy nights, yet ever since the next day it’s been overtime, overtime, overtime, and more overtime… Am I at least getting paid for this?”
“Ahem. Cough.”
“Where did that daily life of making me happy go, and why has this life of being crushed by work taken its place?”
“It’s not like I expected things to turn out this way either……”
……
The sharp look Chloe gave me after spinning around at the speed of sound made me quickly avert my gaze. I really did feel sorry for her. The only person I could trust to help me right now was Chloe… Of course there were many vassals and subordinates helping with the work, but the truth was I didn’t have enough people I could keep close and fully trust.
Maybe I really did need to scout more people? Ugh, no thanks. Taking responsibility for people means having to work that much harder. Zeke had already left the castle to eradicate the Red Blood. By now he was probably meeting with Isabel and Beatrice to begin cooperation. With the leaders of the adventurers and the back-alley organizations helping, it should be manageable, right? Still, hunting down hidden rats was never going to be easy.
Anyway, that wasn’t the immediate problem. The Red Blood issue wasn’t something that would end in a short period to begin with. My role was to lay the foundation. The real work would begin once my father and older brother returned. The reason I had been working so fiercely until now was because of one important matter. And that was…….
-Knock knock!
……
My eyes briefly met Chloe’s. When I nodded, she headed for the door. The familiar presence and magic power belonged to Lena.
“What is it?”
“Her Highness the Princess of Bachnia has requested an audience with the Acting Head of Franz.”
“Again?”
Chloe’s eyebrows twitched at Lena’s words. Chloe had only seen Amelia Bachnia a few times and held no particular feelings toward her, but it seemed the repeated visits were finally starting to irritate her. The emotions she had been hiding so well were beginning to surface. I couldn’t exactly blame her. Just as Chloe said, the princess had come calling multiple times already.
“This is already the how-many-th time? Does she even realize how busy we are because of—”
“Chloe. That’s enough.”
“……My apologies.”
At my intervention, Chloe bowed her head. It wasn’t as if the princess was calling for me nonstop, but it seemed she needed to see my face at least once a day to calm down. She kept arranging meetings. Still, these encounters weren’t completely useless. Exchanging idle chatter while gathering or sharing information wasn’t a bad method. The only problem was that my workload made it difficult to spare the time.
“Have you finished the additional tasks?”
“Yes. The important ones are done for now. However, as you know……”
“That’s enough.”
I cut Chloe off and looked at Lena.
“Prepare the room. What about the tea?”
“I will have it ready.”
“Ah, right. And……”
I gestured for Chloe to leave. This was a somewhat sensitive topic. After she bowed and withdrew, I blocked the surroundings with my magic power before turning to Lena.
“How has it been lately?”
“Well……”
It was certainly rude for someone in Lena’s position to interfere in relations between nobles. That was probably why she hesitated. But the pause lasted only a moment. Deciding the information needed to be conveyed, she whispered directly into my ear.
“It seems Her Highness the Princess……”
The special products from the Great Mountain Range varied wildly depending on the area, since the range itself was enormous. Naturally, each region had its own unique specialties, but acquiring them was far from easy. There were many reasons, but even if a lord’s domain included part of the Great Mountain Range, no one built villages or cities near it. The monsters of the range quickly noticed the presence of humans nearby.
As a result, even nobles struggled to deal with the monsters that descended to attack so frequently. The damage wasn’t something that happened once or twice. When weighing the profits, most simply abandoned the land. Excluding fire-field farmers, fugitives, and exiles, the only ones who built and managed cities near the range were the Franz family.
That was why, regardless of difficulty, most people seeking special products from the Great Mountain Range came to Franz. In other words, showing a guest the specialties from the range was one of the finest ways to entertain them.
“This is ginseng that grows commonly in the Great Mountain Range.”
“Magnificent. Mountain ginseng from the Great Mountain Range… I have never seen any this large before.”
It looked similar to the wild ginseng I remembered from Earth… It really was wild ginseng. Honestly, I wasn’t at an age where I paid attention to such things, but if something shaped vaguely like a person—similar to bellflower root—was called mountain ginseng or just ginseng, then yes. In this world, it actually existed, and its effects were good enough that even I, whose only experience with it was the samgyetang from Earth, had to acknowledge its quality.
“Clean magic power. Pure.”
“Well, preserving it is quite troublesome.”
The ginseng was stored inside transparent containers made by processing magic stones to prevent contamination from surrounding magic power. Yes. Those glass liquor bottles we all know. Exactly that. So it was the same in every world.
Princess Amelia’s eyes sparkled as she gazed at the container holding the carefully preserved ginseng. For her to show interest in such a precious item despite her young age made its prestige clear. From its size to its quality, this was something truly fit to be offered to royalty. Even my father would hesitate to drink a cup unless it was a special occasion when my mother visited.
“B-but.”
“Hm?”
Princess Amelia hesitated, glancing at me.
“Is it truly acceptable to receive something this precious…?”
It was a high-grade item that could aid in diplomacy. This wasn’t a matter of money or demand; supply was so limited it was nearly impossible to obtain. Giving it as a gift meant creating a debt or obligation of equal value. Simply accepting it wasn’t the end of the matter.
“It’s fine. While it is valuable, it’s not impossible to obtain given the characteristics of our land… This particular one was given to me for my birthday, so it is entirely mine. I can decide how to use it as I wish.”
“Mmm……”
She looked burdened, yet clearly didn’t want to give it up. In her current situation of having been kidnapped, receiving even this might reduce the criticism she would face later. I didn’t know exactly what her political situation in Bachn was like. I knew the basics, and since they were a neighboring country I wasn’t completely ignorant, but my father would know the details. For now, I was gathering what information I could through subordinates who now followed my orders…
“If it helps Your Highness, then this item has more than paid for itself.”
“……I will not forget this kindness, Leoric Franz.”
Having apparently decided to accept it, she closed her eyes tightly and took the container of ginseng. It was good for me to build connections abroad, and she gained a tool to help recover from her situation. A win-win. Honestly, it didn’t taste very good, so it wasn’t to my preference anyway.
“The land of Franz is truly abundant.”
“Strictly speaking, other lands have similar potential.”
As I had said, anyone could obtain products from the Great Mountain Range if they tried. The reason they didn’t was—
“Is it that severe? The area below the Great Mountain Range……”
“Ah, did you not know?”
The Bachn Kingdom in the western region should also possess part of the Great Mountain Range.
“It is abandoned land. Most people living below the Great Mountain Range are fire-field farmers or exiles.”
“Well, that makes sense.”
There was only one reason they didn’t develop it. The losses outweighed the gains. The closer you got, the more you had to maintain cities against monsters that attacked daily, and you needed to keep public order good enough for merchants and travelers to visit. That was easier said than done.
“The theater I saw last time was also impressive. That… Hollywood, was it?”
“Ahem. You mean that. We call it Baliwood.”
One of my modern knowledge cheats… though honestly, I only had to give vague instructions and my subordinates handled the rest brilliantly. Literature existed in this world, and plays weren’t unknown. They had simply been difficult for commoners to access, and distribution to other lands was hard, so proper consumption never took root. To make literary genres and entertainment more accessible to commoners, I had introduced a style from a certain country on Earth. Complicated stories or tragedies might suit nobles, but if commoners found them difficult to approach, then dance was the answer. That was Baliwood!
“To be so well-versed in the arts as well… How impressive……”
I gave a wry smile at Princess Amelia’s admiring gaze. Every time I used my modern knowledge cheat, I felt the same thing. The fact that I could only present it as my own idea made the surrounding people’s admiration slightly embarrassing. My face wasn’t thick enough to brush it off easily. Still, it would be stupid not to use what I knew, so I used it.
I matched Princess Amelia’s slightly excited tone—though it was hard to tell with her expressionless face—with appropriate responses. Then I remembered what Lena had whispered to me earlier. She was a girl whose emotions rarely showed on her stoic face. She possessed considerable power as royalty, but in both this world and modern times, she was still a girl who had not reached adulthood. For such a girl to suddenly awaken in a foreign land, brought here unconscious by unknown people, must have been terrifying.
-It seems Her Highness feels anxious when Lord Leoric is not by her side.
Tsk. She was a child with a promising future, so I would look after her.