The Approaching Limit

Suddenly, it felt urgent. Right? The limit hadn't arrived yet. This problem wouldn't appear out of nowhere. But it would keep gnawing away at the North bit by bit. The nomads no longer even dreamed of warring with us. Most of them just wanted to live off our support. Still, if the internal cycle was nearing its breaking point, the choice was obvious.

"We have several options, but let's start with the one we can burn through the fastest."

"Which one, Your Grace?"

"How much can we expand the Northern army right now?"

"We're currently maintaining only the forward units to deal with the nomads."

"Then how much could we increase it from here? With elite troops, I mean."

The first area to expand was the military. The Northern army pledged sole loyalty to the Grand Duke, but after the Wintergard rebellion, we'd kept it under strict control. A bit of power dilution, you could say. But after nearly twenty years, I figured that wasn't an issue anymore.

"It won't take much time."

"Northerners can put out ten times the effort of Southerners,"

"...Pardon?"

It was a statement premising that the North might one day invade the South. Not something we'd choose lightly, but I wanted to keep it as an option. For internal unity measures, too.

"Not that. I just want to keep a few options open."

"We'll prepare accordingly."

"Three times the current size. That should be plenty feasible, no?"

"We have to consider maintenance of various facilities and other matters, Your Grace. We'll investigate and report back."

Diversification. I'd failed at it. Who knew the money we'd been spending would come back to bite us like this, even at a loss.

"Jamuchin."

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Is there really no way through the South? What if we offer them loans? Or something else?"

We needed to tap into markets. Sure, it was greedy, but I had no defense there. With the clear limits of running everything on our internal cycle, we had to create multiple paths. If we could resolve this with some budget expenditure on army and population, next we'd extract wealth from the private sector.

"We proposed deals to some nobles, but the response wasn't great."

"Then allow private merchants to trade freely."

"Pardon?"

The North lacked a lot of things. No merchant guilds, just Grand Duke-led ventures or structures that couldn't spend money properly. In this situation, we needed to create outlets for money to flow out.

"Tell the outside merchants, too. Free trade in the North."

"There will be downsides to that, Your Grace. And it strays too far from our current structure."

"Then check it out and analyze the pros and cons for a report."

The meeting was chaotic but nearing its end. The tension drained from me. A mistake. A massive one.

"I judge we haven't reached a critical point yet. But my gut says it's not a great situation. I thought I could control everything, but apparently not."

"No, Your Grace. Without you, we wouldn't have come this far."

"We've done our part. Now let's hand it over to the Northern people."

I stood from my seat. The signal that the meeting was over. Sudden announcements followed, and people scrambled into action. It wasn't that dire a crisis, but my words probably rattled the nobles and ministers anyway. Given the North's excessive loyalty trait, they might think the master's mistake stemmed from their own insufficient devotion.

After the meeting, I wrote letters in my office. To nearly every noble and minister. Roughly like that.

This should prove their loyalty without them doing anything foolish.

"Y-Your Grace?"

My handwriting was growing sloppy. I set the pen down. Ink stained my hand. I exhaled slowly. It wasn't panic. Not anger or fear. Something like... irritation, maybe. Yeah, that was it. Irritation.

"Daniela."

I'd just called her name, but she flinched as if startled. Her eyes dimmed with defeat. Had my tone been too cold? I rose from the office chair. Come to think of it, Daniela had come from the South.

"What was the South like, from what you saw, Daniela?"

"The South..."

Daniela furrowed her brow. I wanted her honest take. I sat on the bed's edge, ready to listen. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠She kept a bit of distance, pondering deeply.

"Did it shine?"

"No."

"Was it glamorous?"

"...To some extent?"

Even if she quizzed me back, I wouldn't know. Night had deepened. I'd thought the meeting ended quickly, but the window outside was quite dark. Maybe because I'd spent time on the letters after. Daniela probably saw me as a madman by now.

"I want to go see it sometime."

Daniela glanced at me suddenly. Outside Winter Castle, people must be coming and going. Or those with unfinished work wrapping up. Maybe I could step out of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠North for once.

"Has Your Grace never been outside?"

"We went out together."

"No, I mean... have you seen other places? Beyond the North."

Other places besides the North. Never once. I'd realized this was some novel world shortly before becoming the Northern Grand Duke. And war was brutal—I'd spent most of it fleeing, accomplishing nothing. Was that why?

"I've fled around during evacuations,"

"Not that, Your Grace. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Like travel."

"Never."

I crossed my legs, resting my chin on my hand. I gazed steadily at Daniela. She was too far. I beckoned lightly—her face wasn't clear enough. At my gesture, she stepped one pace closer.

"And you?"

"Pardon?"

"Were you free in this world, Daniela?"

I worried it might sound stiff, but she hemmed and hawed before speaking her mind. Lately, I'd noticed she had a personality that said even what she shouldn't. Like,

"Not really. I had things I wanted to protect."

"Then weren't you like me? Not knowing what freedom even is."

Maybe this was the exact distance between us. I sat on the bed; she stood at least three paces away. She standing, me sitting. Another wall, perhaps.

"What did you want to protect so badly?"

Daniela pondered again. I'd recently learned her habit: when deep in thought, her lips pouted out. Then, when finished, they'd tuck back in.

"Looking back now, it doesn't seem that important."

"Not important?"

"Things like honor."

Daniela took one step closer. Honor, yeah—for a noble lady, it was akin to the Northern Grand Duke's authority. But her expression held none of that. No, there were no empty spaces. Different from before. If I'd only thought it inwardly, it might've been fine. But staring at her like this was new.

"Feels okay now, doesn't it."

"Yeah."

Not the answer I'd expected. Not the shivering defeated heroine from her arrival. Now she seemed like a proper noble lady.

"Thank you, Your Grace."

Daniela gave a light curtsy, hands clasped in greeting. I just smiled faintly. Yeah, better alive and full than dying empty.

"Why thank me? You overcame it yourself, Daniela."

"Well, yeah. I've always had a strong heart?"

"How long have you been in the North, and you're already sounding like one of us?"

She giggled brightly. I stood too. I called Alfredo to send out all the letters. In that brief silence as he entered,

I glanced at Daniela.

"Still intimidated by Alfredo?"

"A little."

"No one's softer-hearted than him. Did you two fight or something?"

"Honestly..."

Daniela whispered quietly. I leaned in close, and she murmured in my ear.

"He looks scary."

Hahaha! He did look scary. Northern faces were what they were. To Southern eyes, even Alfredo in his suit looked intimidating. Not exactly gentlemanly, huh?

"True, true. He does have that scary look."

Tears welled from laughter. A fun joke after so long.

"Then what about me?"

"You, Your Grace?"

"Yeah, me. I heard Northerners thought I looked pretty soft-faced back then. What do you think?"

Daniela stared at me. For a Northerner, compared to the men I'd seen,

"You look soft. Warm."

A fine compliment.