A Treacherous Courtier Manages the Empire Well

32 – The Rice of Industry

“Failure, you say?”

“Yes.”

The emperor laughed upon hearing the words of his trusted spy, a sorcerer from the Shadow Squad.

“That’s how it should be. My brother Rendor is quite capable. He won’t easily give up. I understand. You may leave.”

After the sorcerer bowed his head and left the room, the emperor’s eldest son spoke up.

“What do you plan to do now, Your Majesty?”

“What can I do? I do nothing. I will continue like this.”

The impatient second son interjected.

“Just continue like this? Your Majesty, it is foolish to remain as is when we don’t know when our enemies will seize our city with the wyverns. We should secretly send assassins and sorcerers to disrupt the trade routes and assassinate their riders.”

The emperor looked at his second son with an irritated expression.

“We only have a hundred wyverns guarding the trade routes. There are still two hundred in the capital. Even if our enemies send assassins or sorcerers, they might not be able to assassinate them all. And even if they succeed, what do you propose we do with the remaining two hundred? Tell me.”

“Well…”

As the second son hesitated, the emperor waved his hand, as if to say he didn’t want to hear any more.

“We still need the enemies’ grain for now. There’s no need to rush into war. Do you understand?”

“……Yes.”

When the second son fell silent with depression, the Sultan looked at him with concerned eyes, believing that this impulsive fellow would eventually cause trouble, and then turned his gaze to the eldest son.

“Is the project progressing?”

“We have started analyzing the composition of the fertilizer, using sorcerers and scholars. We thought it was magically made, but it turns out it’s not. We are conducting chemical analysis and trying to derive the production method.”

“Good. You are doing well. If we have the fertilizer, we can immediately occupy the golden plains and achieve self-sufficiency in food production. If that happens, we can solve the chronic problem of food scarcity. We must obtain it.”

“Of course, Sultan.”

“What about the research on the teleportation technique to cross the Raco Mountains?”

“We are conducting magical research, but… it seems that it is difficult to cross the mountains with teleportation techniques that only increase the speed of movement.”

“Try sending spies to approach the magic tower. Their teleportation technology seems to be very useful for crossing the Raco Mountains. Try to gather as much information as possible, and if it still seems too difficult to make it ours, send students to receive education.”

“Understood.”

“While their magic may fall behind sorcery in terms of creating an omnipotent being, their application of magic engineering technology is intriguing. We must find a way to absorb it. Also, research the technologies related to crossing the Raco Mountains by flying.”

“Of course, Sultan.”

The second son looked at his father, silently resenting the fact that he only conversed with the eldest son, but he did not show it. He just lowered his head to hide his jealous gaze.

The Sultan and the eldest son continued to have various conversations.

“Our economic situation is much better now. We earn a significant amount of coins through trade. Our enemies have no goods that we can consume other than grains. If we continue like this, the people of Ailam will depend on us.”

“Excellent. I heard that people from that area are drinking our tea a lot these days, in addition to spices and textiles.”

“Yes.”

“Engage in more active trading. You are doing well. We need to make them unable to live without our products and shake their economy with their money and influence.”

“Yes, Sultan.”

After the conversation with the eldest son ended, the Sultan finally looked at the second son.

“Is the development of a weapon to fight dragons progressing?”

“That… it’s difficult to find a material that can pierce scales tougher than steel… but we are diligently investigating with several sorcerers and scholars.”

“…..Hurry up.”

“Yes.”

That’s how the conversation ended. After the conversation ended, the eldest son quickly headed somewhere, and the second son just stared at his back with a disgruntled face.

The magic tower was currently in chaos.

All the researchers, wizards, scientists, and alchemists who had been wearing neat lab coats were now throwing them aside, drinking alcohol, singing, and cheering.

But for now, it was a good moment.

“Thank you, Lord Landor!! Long live Lord Landor!!”

“Uwahahahaha!! Hooray!”

The mausoleum I just built.

The enormous research funding, close to 10 million gold, that I provided.

As a result, the mausoleum made a significant breakthrough in the long-standing research on magic stones and successfully developed a new magic stone processing technology.

Just now, all the members who were talking went beyond the cheering sorcerers and went up to the mausoleum rooftop, where we could receive a more detailed explanation.

“In short, it is a technology that increases the purity of artificial magic stones. And it can also be mass-produced, as we just confirmed.”

“What specific effects does this technology have?”

“Since the purity of the magic stones used as power sources is higher, the efficiency and power of magic circles are greatly improved, and large amounts of energy can also be stored. It also enables the production and operation of large-scale machinery that was previously impossible. And not only that. Teleport spells can now be used over much longer distances.”

After that, we discussed the effects that the newly produced high-purity magic stones would bring. It was said that the efficiency of alchemy would greatly increase, and scientific technologies that require high energy would develop and be discovered.

“Thank you, Lord Mausoleum. This is a very remarkable technological advancement. We look forward to more outstanding technological advancements from the mausoleum in the future.”

“hahahaha! Of course!”

After the conversation, we immediately returned to our rooms. The atmosphere was completely different from before. And the most actively engaged in expressing opinions among us was Selenae.

“If this technology is developed, we can bring all the inventions and blueprints of previous generations stored in the mausoleum’s warehouse to life. There were many unique and outstanding inventions and papers, but there were many that were frustrated due to the inefficient power source. But now, it’s not impossible to make all these inventions a reality!!”

“Impressive! What kind of inventions are there?”

“There are many. Like the machine that automatically weaves cloth. A large-scale transportation vehicle with multiple cargo compartments. A flying machine. A horseless carriage that moves silently, and so on. But to make all of them, there is one prerequisite.”

I roughly guessed what it was.

“A large steel mill?”

“Correct. Most of the iron currently produced in our empire is imported from the dwarves in the Limnakal Plains. They are experts in iron and have a remarkable production capacity, but to commercialize the things we will invent in the future, we will need a much larger quantity of high-quality iron.”

The conversation flowed smoothly with those words.

“Leave the construction of the steel mill to me. Construction has been on the rise recently, so we are already hiring skilled construction workers from trading routes.”

“Leave the necessary legislation and administrative measures for the steel mill to me. I can handle them.”

Selenae clapped her hands happily in response to Adran and Karl Hanson’s words.

“Excellent! Now we need the assistance of the dwarves in the north. We need to convince them to work at the steel mill. We need their various patents and steel production technologies to establish the steel mill.”

After saying that, Princess Selenae sighed in frustration.

“But the dwarves are people filled with pride and stubbornness due to their craftsmen’s spirit. It’s uncertain if they will abandon their homeland and come over willingly to work at the steel mill. I don’t know if there’s anyone who can persuade them.”

A presence unexpectedly raised their hand in response to those words. It was Kalia.

“That’s not a problem, sis. If it’s the dwarves of the Limnakal Plains, I know them very well. They’ll listen to me. They’ll do as I say.”

After hearing Kalia’s words, everyone looked at her and could immediately understand and agree.

The Northern Expedition in the Limnakal Plains.

It was Kalia who wiped out the overflowing monsters there.

We decided to divide our tasks.

Kal Hanson and Adran decided to leave to find a suitable site for the steel mill, and Selene, Karia, and I decided to go to the northern plains of Rimnakal to persuade the dwarves.

Until we set off on our journey under the escort of the Iron Blood Legion, we were excitedly discussing the high purity magic stones and how we would change the empire in the future. But it didn’t take long before we were trapped in an awkward silence.

Riding together in a cramped carriage were Princess Selene, Karia, and I, and I realized that this combination was very awkward.

“Karia, how do you know the dwarves?”

When Selene asked the question to break the awkwardness, Karia grasped my arm tightly and answered cautiously.

“They were the ones responsible for supplying weapons to the Iron Blood Legion during the Northern Expedition. We received a lot of help in exchange for eliminating monsters.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Yeah.”

Awkward silence again.

Karia was holding my arm warily, Selene was uncomfortably looking at Karia and me, and I couldn’t do anything stuck between them.

Eventually, Selene couldn’t bear it any longer and spoke up.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?”

Selene, full of grace.

She got along well with everyone.

In the original novel, if Karia kept her heart open not only to Lando but also to Selene, it went without saying. So, Selene couldn’t help but get angry when she had a clearly guarding expression towards her.

“Oh, it’s nothing…”

Karia flinched at those words and slightly relaxed her expression. However, as the queen of social circles and quick-witted as she was, she couldn’t avoid Selene’s piercing gaze.

“Are you jealous right now?”

“No.”

“You’re hugging Lando tightly and looking at him with affectionate eyes… It looks like jealousy. You have to deceive someone if you want to be deceived.”

“That’s not it.”

Selene heaved a deep sigh at the sight of Karia clinging on to my arm possessively.

“Karia, you need to develop some independence and social skills. I understand that your childhood wasn’t great, but being overly dependent on Lando and having such an attitude is not good. Lando probably doesn’t appreciate that either.”

Karia either became emotional or raised her voice a little at those words.

“Lando will still like me even if I’m like this.”

“Being too dependent on others can quickly wear people out. Your obsessive attitude will eventually lead to unfavorable outcomes.”

Karia either became emotional or grasped my arm even tighter.

“I don’t like it when you’re by Lando’s side!”

“Look! You’re still behaving in a way that lowers your sociability because of your obsession! If you continue to act like this in the future, Landoor will come to dislike you! You need to change!”

“No!! We even shared a bed together, so how could you dislike me!…”

The conversation came to a halt.

Celene looked astonished, while Caria looked defeated.

And me?

“…I’m sorry.”

Those were the only words I could say.