Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Chapter 19: Robbing the Vault
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Kyle, seated in the reception room, sighed as he skimmed through the stack of documents.
"For a knight like me to only be useful to you in this way... it's regrettable."
"Have some confidence. You're the only one I can entrust this to and consult with right now."
"Most of these documents are about revitalizing the Verit territory. Wouldn't it be better to discuss them with the administrators there?"
"I need to draw the big picture first. They just have to follow my instructions precisely."
"But this is too grand, even for a big picture..."
Kyle puffed out his cheeks and let out a long sigh as he looked over the documents.
"It's like the paper's going to tear. An eight-year plan for Verit revitalization? And why eight years of all things? Wouldn't it be better to make it a neat ten?"
"That won't do."
Because the otherworld army will invade before then, and I need results from the territory I've revitalized.
"Territory revitalization is a race against time. Keep reading, and the methods come later... Right, speaking of which, has the Gusph Merchant Company resumed overseas trade?"
"If you're referring to trade with the Eastern Continent—that is, the Lagran Continent—negotiations have just begun."
"Negotiations?"
"We haven't had proper trade for years. We need to adjust to the changed exchange rates and settle the market prices for each other's goods. Of course, I'm not handling it—Father and the company staff are working hard on it."
"I'll leave the complicated stuff to them. More importantly, I'd like to import barley and honey from the Eastern Continent."
"Barley is always in short supply due to the climate. Understood. But why honey? If you want it, we can buy as much as you need from the markets right away."
"I need a lot."
"How much exactly?"
"Enough to fill this mansion."
He spread his arms wide in response. Kyle blinked for a moment before asking again.
"Not just one room here, but the entire mansion?"
"Yeah. Enough to fill the whole Lunenbreath Mansion."
"Sweeping up that much honey from the markets at once... The empire's honey prices would skyrocket."
"The issue isn't the price—does that much even exist?"
"We could gather it if we tried. But..."
Kyle nodded slowly and continued.
"Importing would be far easier. Understood. A trade ship leaves in ten days—I'll send word ahead to load up on honey."
"Good. Tell them to bring as much as possible."
"We'll have to fill an entire trade ship with honey. But what do you plan to do with that much?"
"Give it to the bear."
"Pardon?"
"Load it up with honey to win over the Ancient Bear. That's my condition for getting its core."
"I've heard of Ancient Wolves, but Ancient Bear is new to me. Hm... Anyway, understood."
Kyle jotted a note on the paper next to the documents: 'Bulk honey purchase. Something bears like?'
"The details can wait. Moving on then—mind telling me why we're importing barley too?"
"Barley’s for the dwarves. They're crazy about the liquor made from it."
"...Pardon?"
Kyle gave him a baffled look as he repeated the question.
This is part of the tech tree to acquire the new spirit magic 'Dryad.'
But explaining in detail might raise even bigger questions, so better skip it for now.
"I'll explain later. Anyway, request a huge amount of barley too. I'll buy it all."
"Understood. I'll instruct another trade ship to load up on barley."
"Good. The more, the better."
"But there's a problem we need to solve first."
Kyle cleared his throat and tapped the table with his finger.
"The Gusph Merchant Company doesn't have the funds to fill all those trade ships. Money's the issue in the end."
"How many ships total?"
"Three large merchant ships and six medium ones. Oh, and the imperial government officially sent promissory notes worth 20,000 gold coins this time. If we invest all of that..."
Kyle picked up the document with a gold seal at the edge of the table. I immediately shook my head in rebuttal.
"That's for Verit reconstruction. We can't pour territory revitalization funds into trade."
"Of course, but..."
Kyle rested his chin on his hand, pondering for a moment.
"In any case, proper farming in the Verit region is impossible right now. The farmland is so devastated, and agricultural water—not to mention drinking water—is critically short."
"That's why we're using that money for reconstruction, right?"
"It's not something we can fix by digging a few wells. Verit has no proper rivers. We need to connect irrigation canals from other regions, and that alone will take a long time. Plus, we'll need massive amounts of fertilizer for the fields. It'll take years."
"That's why I'm saying—some of that barley will be planted in Verit's fields too."
"No..."
Kyle blinked in bewilderment.
"What I mean is... Barley is a finicky crop to grow in imperial territory. That's why we've always imported the shortfall from abroad, and why Your Highness wants to import it for liquor, isn't it?"
"Yeah. So for Verit's fields, I'm not just using fertilizer—I'm using Growth Elixir."
"Growth Elixir..."
Kyle squeezed his eyes shut, hesitating for a long while before continuing.
"You're talking about that elixir rich nobles use for their gardens? The one that grows any plant regardless of climate or conditions?"
"Yeah. And during its effect, you don't even need to water much."
"I've heard of it, but... You're saying you'll use it on all of Verit's farmland?"
"Of course, spraying pure elixir would be too much. I've consulted with the head maid before—if we're using it on fields, diluting it 200 times should be fine."
This is the core of the Verit revitalization route I got as a territory. Kyle's overwhelmed by the scale and speechless.
"Ah... Even so, all of Verit's farmland..."
"Not just farmland—wild mountains too. Verit's mountains are barren."
Due to years of poor harvests, the Verit locals have stripped and eaten everything edible, even tree bark.
Most wild mountains have turned bald. Kyle shook his head in disbelief.
"Verit is larger than Emperoroad here. Even diluted 200 times, it seems impossible."
"It's marked in red on the last document. Roughly how much it’ll cost."
"Right... Ah, here it is."
Kyle pulled out the document in question and read it.
"Short-term Verit revitalization plan via Growth Elixir... The elixir's effects last less than a year, but it dramatically improves the psychological despair of the utterly broken populace... Wait, did Your Highness write this yourself?"
"Yeah. With the head maid."
"I see. But the costs estimated here... 80,000 gold coins? And that's excluding the wild mountains and low-priority fields in the second phase?"
"Short on funds, huh?"
"Even using all the reconstruction money, we're still 60,000 short!"
Kyle snatched the Lunenbreath family's financial ledger from the right side of the table and shook it.
"Even throwing in all the family's spare funds won't cut it! Even converting every silver ingot Mar Ogre sent into cash, it's nowhere near enough!"
"They sent some gold bars too, right?"
"Those amount to maybe 500 gold coins at best. Does Your Highness know how much support you send personally to Elstone Count each month?"
"How much was it again?"
"50 gold coins. That's 600 gold coins vanishing yearly just on that—how do you plan to cover the missing 60,000? And what about paying for the barley and honey from Lagran Continent?"
Look at those veins bulging on his forehead. Getting fired up now that it's money, his expertise.
"I'll handle the money. You contact the Gusph Merchant Company ahead and secure the materials secretly."
"Materials—you mean ingredients for the Growth Elixir?"
"Everything needed is listed there. The head maid said some can be substituted, so gather the cheapest possible."
"You're saying we can substitute Growth Elixir ingredients? How?"
"No idea. The head maid's an elixir master; she'll handle it."
"The head maid... Understood. But what about facilities and manpower?"
"Facilities and manpower?"
"We'll need warehouses for 80,000 gold coins' worth of materials, plus new facilities to mass-produce the elixir, right?"
"Oh, that..."
"And what about alchemists? Even if the head maid's a master, she can't make that much alone."
"You haven't been to the mansion basement yet, have you?"
"Of course not. Why would I go to the mansion basement?"
"The Lunenbreaths have made elixirs for generations. There's a massive elixir production facility and warehouses underground."
"Oh, really?"
"And all the maids can produce elixirs."
"All of them? Even Miss Meredes?"
"Meredes is second only to the head maid in elixir mastery. No worries about facilities or manpower. We'll also post recruitment notices for Lunenbreath maids in Verit."
"Why maids...? No, since all Lunenbreath maids are alchemists, you're recruiting aspiring alchemists again."
"The head maid said they secretly brought girls escaping Verit before. Now it's my territory, so we can recruit openly."
With no farming or jobs, Verit folk depend on rations—no better job opportunity.
Kyle got it immediately, clenching his fist and nodding.
"Indeed... Then it wouldn't hurt to recruit workers or sailors for our company from Verit too."
"That'd be great. They'll work diligently to send money home."
Many mansion maids already secretly send most of their pay to Verit. Kyle's eyes rolled up as a new business plan hit him, and he muttered to himself.
"Verit's folk couldn't leave their territory before... But now the situation's changed, so securing cheap labor... No, not exploiting too much—just a fair compromise..."
"What're you doing? Think of something fun?"
"Yes—no, nothing."
Kyle startled and shook his head.
"It's not important right now. But the crucial money issue—how will you handle it? Requesting funds from Crown Prince Highness?"
"From brother? No, not that."
Sure, he inherited most of the late First Empress's fortune, so he's filthy rich.
And since I saved his life, he'd give me his liver and gall if I asked.
But the funds I need this time, I'll 'seize' from elsewhere. With a wicked smile, I explained the new funding plan step by step to the baffled Kyle.