The treatment of the rebellion took two weeks.

　First, as promised, the trial was redone.

　According to the customary law of King Rosais' country, the rape of a virgin is the amputation of her dominant hand.
　Since the dominant hand of the son of the great man's son was his left arm, he sentenced him to the amputation of his left arm.

　He also sentenced the Australians who appealed to the court to forfeit their lands.

　The charges were threefold.

　First, he had caused unnecessary confusion.　
　Two, he failed to deliver on his promise to lower taxes.
　Three, using private armies to assault innocent people.

　For these reasons, I sentenced them to be returned as unfit to govern the territory.

　I spent a lot of time and didn't leave the territory for a while, so I surrounded the mansion with my army and threatened him.
　Then he obeyed easily.

　But if they didn't, the whole great family would be lost in the outcrop.
　I felt sorry for them, so I didn't take their property from them.

　So their private property and slaves are still intact.
　Well, they'll be able to live a reasonably well-off life.

　Also, of course we did what we could to the rebels.

　The commoners who took part in the rebellion were fined and suspended from military service for life.

　The fines were not large.
　It was only one less dish for a year.

　It seems that the suspension of military service was the most difficult for the commoners to endure.
　Because in Adelunia it is an honor to go to war and serve.

　Of course, no one likes to be confined to the battlefield for a month. They can't farm the land.
　But the country of the Adelunian peninsula is small.
　That's why you can usually come home in a week or so.

　There aren't many deaths, unless they are defeated, so people don't have much of a fear or dislike of war.
　In some cases, you can rather make money from looting and sharing the spoils of war.


　Well, when I say indefinite suspension, I don't mean forever.
　It just means that there is no set time limit.

　So it can be reinstated at any time upon reflection.
　I'm going to keep it suspended for two years.


　And the ringleader....

　Your Majesty. I have finished questioning the ringleader.
　Lulu. How's it going?

　Lulu gives a small bow.

　'The man is forty-two years old. He is Adelnian of Cilician descent. He does not appear to have a wife and children. He is said to be an intermediary between Adelnian and Cilician merchants for a living. This rebellion seems to have been his idea. He seems to have been an admirer of democracy to begin with.

　.........　
　So you're saying he was just an idiot?

　But Lulu said, "It's just..." and then added, "It's just...

　''It seems they were encouraged by the Cilician merchants. At that time, some of the merchants gave him a flexible supply of weapons. It seems that the plan was to inflame the class consciousness of the commoners in the operation and make them fight with His Majesty for a long time. And when the time was right, he planned to have Rezad intercede with him.

　You mean Rezad was behind it.

　'Did you get the name of any other city-states besides Rezad?　What about Gehenna and Nemeth?
　'No, that name has not been given. It's too early to determine, but it's probably Rezad acting alone.

　Rezad....
　Well, there is no true friendship between countries.

　To begin with, that country is a nation of merchants, and if it's in their interest to do so, they will reach out to any country, and in some cases, they will return the favor.
　I've never trusted them to begin with, but........

　'By the way you don't think the ringleader was trying to fight me properly all by himself, do you?　There must be more of him. Let him talk.
　He's very reluctant to talk about it, when it comes to that sort of thing.

　Hmmm....　
　What do you want to do, torture him?

　But torture is a questionable source of information, isn't it?

　Call Julia.





　What? Alms. It sounds like you called me in for a job this time?
　I need you to make a truth serum. Didn't the Kingdom of Roselle have a working truth serum?　You heard about the spellcasting techniques of the Roselle Kingdom from that Gallic sorcerer (Lydia), didn't you?
　'Yeah well, I've certainly heard that but...'

　Julia looked troubled for some reason.

　''What's wrong?''
　"Since then, she called me 'big sister'. That's why she hugged me. I felt like my chastity was at stake, or...

　Apparently, my torture has caused considerable psychological damage to Lydia.

　'Then why don't you do it with Tetra?　If the need arises, you'll have Tetra to protect you.

　Tetra is strong like that.
　After all, he's got an iron blade in his staff.

　If you hit them with a cane like that blunt instrument, most people would be knocked out.
　Or rather, depending on where you hit them, they will die.

　''Well yeah.
　'By the way, what's the spellcasting technology like in the Kingdom of Roselle?　Is it still progressing?

　Julia shook her head repeatedly in a wide, vertical motion.

　'Yeah. It's great. It's like thirty years more advanced over there. Maybe fifty years, depending on the division.　But the herbs were better than my content!

　Julia shows off her large breasts.
　Surely Yulia's breasts are bigger than Merlin's.

　It doesn't matter.

　'How long do you think you'll be able to catch up?'　
　'Hmmm ... maybe it'll take a decade to fully catch up?'

　Ten years.
　Well, if thirty years shrinks to ten years, that's enough.

　So, as for the truth serum, how long will it take?
　'The technology needed for the truth serum is herbal and mental interference, but as far as herbs go, the technology is sufficient. I guess the problem is mental interference?　But I can do it right now if I'm direct and gory.

　Is this a strategy to force them to use their idiotic spell power, which Julia's idiotic power cannot match?
　Well, the sooner the better.

　I'm not going to be able to get away with it.
　All right. Don't be an idiot.





　As expected, I'd say Julia....
　I got more than ten names out of him in one day.

　I immediately sent out a fast horse and contacted the customs office.
　I ordered the person named to be detained.

　I also asked the local merchants if they knew anyone who might be involved and located them.
　He had Ron take him into custody.

　He then called Ains and questioned him.

　'They testified that they had received assistance from Rezad.

　At my question, Ains turns blue and shakes her head.

　''No this is new to me as well. At least it wasn't done on the basis of a congressional decision.''
　'Let's have you talk about the situation in Rezad, in a nutshell. For the sake of our future friendship.

　Ains looked hesitant for a moment, but....
　He quickly gave up and began to speak.


　'There are two factions in Rezad, the pro-Rosais faction and the anti-Rosais faction. The pro-Rosais faction is the faction that wants to build friendly relations with King Rosais' country, make profits and establish a military alliance for stability. The anti-Losais faction is the same with the friendship and military alliance, but before that, they want to get rid of King Almus and turn him into a puppet state for Rezad, and originally the ratio was 50/50. Partly due to the influence of the conquest of the home country by Persis, the pro-Lossies faction became predominant. The influence of this may have caused the anti-Lossians, who had become a minority faction, to run amok.

　So it's just a senatorial decision.
　Or as we like to say, it's a conspiracy of the powerful to conspire against the rest of the world.

　I would like to ask you to ensure that this does not happen again.
　Yeah, we'll do our best.

　It's not right to blame Ains for the other factions' radical behavior.
　Let's just protest for now for now.

　And.....

　'We're actually going to get a big tree. We could export them in a month at the latest.
　Is that true?

　Ains leaned forward.
　Already the forest clearing, which Gram was in charge of, was in motion.

　'I've just built three villages,' he said.

　'For my part, I was hoping to sell them preferentially to Rezad, with whom I have a long history of friendship, but to give special treatment to a country that has a certain number of people who hate our country?

　Haha ... as you say.

　Thank you for that. I'd like to continue to live in harmony with your country.

　As long as it yields a profit, you know.

　And one more thing.
　What is it?

　Ains showed his alarm.
　He must have thought that he would be able to make something difficult to do again.

　Unfortunately, I don't have anything to make difficult, so it's just a business meeting.

　'Could you sell me a large ship?
　"...King Rosyth's country is landlocked, isn't it?　You have purchased a riverboat before....

　Ains gave a puzzled look.　
　The small ship we bought from Rezad before has served us well there, and we've been able to build one in our country.

　What we want this time is an even bigger ship.

　'The bigger one will be easier to carry the big trees in, right?　Plus, I have a personal interest in it.

　Maybe the bottom of the boat is too deep for the big boat of Lesado to move in the river.
　But then we can modify the boat and make the bottom shallow.

　Even our craftsmen can do that.

　'Well, if you mean water transport. That's fine. How many ships do you need?
　Five ships should be enough.

　The rest can be researched and produced at home.
　I've got a lot of wood to rot.


　That's all for now. You'll have to stay here for now. I'm sure we can get something decent, albeit a little rustic.

　'Thank you. 'The wine in King Rosyth's country is delicious. I'm looking forward to it.





　About a week later.
　A payment of silver from the Kingdom of Roselle was made.

　The exchange of one thousand tarrant for a prisoner of war.
　And payment of three hundred tarangs in compensation.

　So he had managed to get 1,300 tarangs.

　For the time being, three hundred tarangs will be offered to the great families in recompense, and one hundred and thirty to every soldier who has fought in the war, and seventy tarangs to every man who has been killed or wounded that will never heal.

　Here's how much this is going to cost per person....

　The cost of living for a typical self-farming family of nine people (two grandparents, two parents, three children, and two slaves) is about five months.
　In the Japanese sense of the word, it would be around one million yen.

　The compensation for the war dead was about ten times that amount, amounting to about 10 million yen.

　In this world, that would be a pretty hefty sum.

　'Do you give out silver to the commoners as well?　And why is that?

　I answer Raimondo's question, holding up one finger at a time.

　'One, to raise the morale of the commoners for the war. Two, to lower the commoners' grievances.

　The king has a monopoly on the spoils of war!
　is a common stump of rebellion.

　'What do you really mean by that?'
　"Popularity grabbers.

　Distributing is not an action to be praised as a sovereign.
　This is because if you continue to disperse it, it will become a matter of course, and as soon as you stop distributing it, the frustration of the common people will turn to the monarch.

　But.....
　This is not just a scattering.

　This is a distribution of the spoils of war.

　I think it's good to give some of the money away to every soldier who fights in the war.
　It prevents looting and boosts morale.
　And they won't have to worry about lost income.

　Every time something goes wrong, if you throw money around, you'll be less grateful for it.
　It's best to give away large sums of money when you have a good reason to do so.


　'What about the rest of the eight hundred?'
　'Well two hundred shall be allocated to the expansion of the army. Two hundred will be used to build the city, fifty will be used to build infrastructure and temples around the country, one hundred will be used to clear forests, and one hundred will be used to expand farmland, flood control and irrigation in the country.

　The remaining one hundred and fifty will be stored in the treasury.
　Just in case.

　If this much silver were to flow into the country all at once our country's sales tax would jump.
　If it works. I hope the Cilician doesn't suck it up.

　Well, commoners have a limited amount of money to spend.
　Buy good food, new armor, weapons, and farming tools, rebuild your house, buy beautiful clothes, give accessories to your lover....

　At best, around here.
　All can be bought from merchants in the country.
　No way, no peasant would want to buy Cilician goldsmiths or Persis glasswork.

　'In case you want to give them out, I'll tell them to use them for slaves, farm horses, farm tools, and new weapons and armor.

　Whatever you spend it on, the economy will turn around, but I'd like to see you buy something useful if you can.