Luxury is the enemy.

　You may be wondering what's wrong with you when you suddenly start talking like it's a war time.
　There is no war.

　The Pofenia War was assembled a year ago.
　It did, but....


　Oh, no, there's no money for that, either.
　"The king's wife working on the inside is unheard of.
　I'm at a loss for words, sir.

　There was very little money at my disposal in this financially troubled country.
　Anyway, I have to spend the money on reconstruction.

　That's why....
　I've cut the royal budget to the bare minimum.

　But good for you. My perfume-making and oil production is coming along nicely.
　It's true, Lady Julia.

　I hugged Yulia.
　Julia smiled happily.

　Using the vast land of the royal family to grow flowers....
　The business of processing them into perfumes and fragrant oils and selling them finally began to take off.

　The perfumes and fragrant oils that Julia made smelled very good, and the fragrant oils were well known among the wealthy for their beauty benefits.
　In case you're wondering, it was only Julia who developed them, not her who made them.

　Many are apprentice spellcasters.
　Apprentice spellcasters can earn a small fortune and we can hire them for lower wages.
　It's a win-win situation.

　Apprentice spellcasters who are not on their own from their masters have little or no means of earning money and are struggling to make ends meet.

　Fortunately, perfumes and perfumed oils can be made by an apprentice as well, as they only have to follow the procedures they are told to follow.

　'But hey, isn't that kind of crazy?　The Cilician merchants are better off now than we are, aren't they?
　Haha I'm sorry for not being worthy.
　Well, well the country as a whole is very rich. You know what they say about the father of the nation?　If you think of the whole country as a family, I think it's an awesome worthy cause, yes.

　Yulia smiles bitterly.
　All of the clothes that Julia wears like that were made of flax and wool.
　All of the clothes she has now are made of flax and wool.

　The clothes that Tetra is wearing are likewise only flax and wool.

　All the clothes of silk and Alanya Seda (spider silk) have been sold off.
　It was some money for the war effort.

　By the way, don't we have to advertise Alanya Seda (spider silk)?
　You might think, but there's no need to advertise it, as many wealthy Cilician people are already buying it.

　'Speaking of which ... Bartolo's wife was dressed in silk.
　What?　I can't allow that. I'll give Bartolo a hard time about it.

　No silk.
　Every time you buy that stuff, it drains gold and silver from our country.

　I don't say hemp, so wear flax or wool.

　But there are people who wear it.........

　Hey, hey, what about me?
　It's helping me make a lot of money with Tetra. Thank you!

　I give Tetra a hug as well.
　She's been looking at me enviously for a while now.
　This is the same as it always has been.

　Yeah, she's really cute.

　''Well, Yulia's sales are higher now, but she'll soon overtake me.
　Why not try it if you can?
　"Don't be afraid to provoke me...

　I admonish them.
　Tetra's newly developed product is a household lighting magic tool.

　To explain it simply, when a magic stone is embedded, it activates magic and illuminates the area.
　Well, there was originally a spell to light up the place, but this time we've made it easy to do it at home as well.

　By the way, ten gold coins per piece.
　That's a lot of money.....

　However, I guess there are still people everywhere who like to buy.
　This is selling pretty well there.

　I'm thinking of offering it to Emperor Xerxes next time.
　There are a lot of rich people in the East, and we might sell a lot of them.

　Since magic is currently a unique technology in our country, we can sell it exclusively.
　It might be copied in a decade or so, though.
　But technology is always destined to be copied.

　In short, we just need to be in the lead by that time.
　If it's worth the money, I'm going to allocate as much of the research budget as I can.

　''Your Majesty, Your Majesty!　How about me!
　'Oh, Alice. Your yarn's helping me, too!

　Alice comes down from the ceiling.
　I give Alice a hug as well. I stroke her head as well.

　Her beautiful blonde hair is silky and comfortable.

　Alice can produce thread from her mouth.
　Alice's yarn is of much higher quality than ordinary spider silk so it sells for a lot more money.

　In addition, Alice knits her own, so she doesn't have to pay for labor.

　But what I'm concerned about is whether it's safe to produce that much yarn?
　This is the question.

　It seems that the cranes of the crane's gratitude were getting thinner and thinner every day...
　Alice shows no signs of losing weight.

　Well, she's not a child, so she should be able to judge her own physical condition by herself.

　But.........
　I don't think the people wearing it would ever think it was made out of yarn that came out of the mouth of a blonde beauty...

　What would happen if we made this public?
　The value could be lowered by the fact that the saliva makes me feel sick... or maybe it could be the opposite, that it's a thread from the mouth of a beautiful blonde woman.

　Well, it's better not to do anything badly.


　''By the way, Almus. How's the civil war in the Roselle Kingdom going?
　It's almost like General Clue has won.

　General Clieu has already besieged the capital.
　Against 50,000 men led by General Liu, there are 5,000 soldiers defending the capital.

　Unless something serious happens, General Clieu will win.

　''General Balthazar has asked me for asylum.
　How can you communicate with the capital under siege?
　'It looks like there's a loophole. That's good, maybe we should make one too.

　I don't like to think about it too much, but it might happen in our country as well.　
　Now, the problem at hand is whether to welcome General Balthazar and the prince of the Roselle Kingdom or not.

　If we welcome them, we will be completely hostile to the Roselle Kingdom....
　We're going to have to fight.

　Not long ago I was like, "Let's do it," but I still feel like I want to focus on domestic politics now.
　........But there's also a way to direct domestic discontent outward through war.

　It's not a move I'd like to make very often.
　Frankly, if we get Northern Adelnia, most of the current problems will be solved.

　Because if we give the land to the disgruntled commoners now, their discontent will go away.
　Plus, the war will give us slaves...
　Sometimes the value of slaves is skyrocketing due to the development of Trisichellia and Sardia islands.

　If we were going to do this, even if we don't need General Balthazar, we still want a prince in the Roselle Kingdom.
　General Kryu hasn't completely wiped out General Balthazar's faction either, but there are many of them left in the region.
　If we can get their help, the war will go our way.

　It's a rather troubling situation.

　We'll discuss it with Ial and the others and come to a decision within three days.

　Well, the unification of the Adelian peninsula is the longest wish of the Adelian people.
　'Oh let's save the Adelnians, who are still ruled and treated like slaves!　And the voices are loud both domestically and within the Commonwealth. To be honest, we can't ignore that voice.

　It's directly related to my popularity.
　The popularity of the people is quite important.

　Since our country's citizens are our soldiers, the support of the people is more essential than in ordinary countries.

　What about the Cilician people?　You don't like war, do you?

　Tetra asks.
　I think for a moment and then I answer.

　"Depends on the person, I guess. There are many merchants who do not like the turmoil caused by war. But there are also a lot of merchants who are happy to see their trade expand through unification. If the Northern Adelunian Peninsula is acquired, the Northern Adelunian Peninsula will, of course, become a trading area for the southern part of Gaul.

　Gaul is a rich land...
　Not exactly, but there's a good amount of agriculture there, as well as furs and other trade goods.

　And there's very little information about the center or the north the frontier, in other words.
　There are many merchants who want to do business in a land that is not yet anybody's territory and make it big.

　Well, basically, the big merchants don't like war and the small and medium merchants welcome it.
　The big merchants don't have to dare to take risks.

　''Hmm ... there are many opinions, even among the same Cilician people. Well, Adelnians are scattered too, so it's no surprise. When I say scattered, I mean Pofenia....
　Isn't that an awful perception at any price?
　It's true. What's going on now?

　Tetra's question....
　I replied, remembering the report that had recently gone up.

　''Ignore Pofenia already, it's no longer a problem. That country doesn't have the ambition or strength to target our territory. Right now, Pofenia is led by Belshazzar Barca, who put down the mercenary rebellion, but that guy is also currently working on expanding his territory in Hexpania.

　Leave it there from the start.
　I say.

　If they had done so, we wouldn't have had such a great war.
　It's bad enough that they show their greed, such as the complete occupation of Trisichelia.

　Well, even if it's not a problem now, it could turn on us in the future.

　And so.....
　We have a friendship, if not an alliance, with the Cilician cities in northeastern Hexpania.

　Always Belshazzar's movements are coming in through that city, and worst of all, they plan to hold off territorial expansion in that city.

　........We have to avoid just the two fronts of the Roselle Kingdom and Pofenia.
　If we want to attack the Kingdom of Rozelle, it's now or never.

　Well.....