章 49: Chapter 48: Seeing the Future
In the morning, at the garden of the mansion.
I lifted a huge rock that was part of the landscape.
The rock was twice the size of a person in both length and width, and I lifted it lightly and shook it up and down as if I were doing a strength training exercise.
――――――――――――
Name: Lucas Ararat
Title: Prime Minister
Gender: Male
Level: 10 / ∞
HP: SSS
MP: SSS
Strength: SSS
Stamina: SSS
Intelligence: SSS
Spirit: SSS
Speed: SSS
Dexterity: SSS
Luck: SSS
Fire: SSS
Water: SSS
Wind: SSS
Earth: SSS
Light: SSS
Darkness: SSS
―――――――――――
I glanced at my status on the surface, which was generated by magic, and put the rock in its original place, pulled out my longsword, which I had also prepared, and threw it slightly upwards.
The longsword swooped up in the air and fell, tip down.
The tip of the longsword did not pierce the top of my head, but instead flicked like rubber and rolled to the ground.
My abilities were outstanding.
I think I'm the strongest person in the world right now, to put it mildly.
"Wow ..., you're getting stronger again, Lucas-sama."
"Hmm?"
I turned my head and saw a familiar face exclaiming at the sight.
Cindy Allan.
She was a ten-year-old girl when I met her, and now she is twenty years old and completely beautiful.
"You came, huh."
"Yes. I received a letter from Ada-sama personally, and I wanted Lucas-sama to see it and ask about the details of the future."
"A letter? What kind of letter?"
"This one."
Cindy took out the letter and held it out to me.
Ada is the consort, whom I recommended and who has since joined the palace.
She has yet to bear a child, but His Majesty has taken a liking to her and she is now the most favored of all the consorts, and that is no exaggeration.
I opened Ada's letter and read through it.
There wasn't much in it.
The only thing it said was that His Majesty was leaving the palace for a summer resort, and all the consorts would accompany him.
That's all it said.
"So that's it."
"I don't know how His Majesty's condition is in real. I will ask Ada-sama for more details, but I needed to consult with Lucas-sama about this matter.
"No, it's not necessary."
"Eh?"
"This letter already told me everything I need to know.
I chuckled.
"What do you mean?"
"His Majesty's doing it strong."
The thing is.
I tried to sound sarcastic.
"Trip, Trip?"
"The proof is that he took all the consorts. And what is a consort for? For His Majesty's pleasure, they are to be embraced."
"Ah ..."
"If he's really ill and needs to rest, there's no need to take all the consorts with him. I'm sure he's in rather good health."
"I see."
"On the other hand, it would have been a disaster if he were to take the Empress with him."
"Why is that?"
"If his illness is serious and his successor is to be ... chosen, the Empress, who is the master of the inner palace, cannot be ignored at all. Whichever way you look at it."
"I see,..., that's an amazing point of view. All the consorts ... I had no idea at all."
Cindy gave me a look of respect.
She's showing a lot more emotions than she did when we first met.
Well, anyhow.
I know that His Majesty is relatively safe.
If that's the case, there's only one thing I can do, no matter what his true intentions are.
All I have to do is put the people first.
As the Prime Minister, I had a large study hastily built in the garden because the original study in the mansion was not enough to handle the enormous amount of administrative work.
In it, I had Olivia Coyle, dressed as a maid, attend to my affairs.
"This next one is the impeachment of Ames, the Governor of Coronsia."
"What was the deed?"
"He's accused of misappropriating this year's taxes, which were once collected and in transit to the capital."
"Fumu. ... Fumu?"
"Is there something wrong?"
Olivia tilted her head.
"Let me take a closer look at that."
I held out my hand and took the document from Olivia's hand.
Opening it, I looked inside.
In addition to the body of the document, there is an outline.
The empire is large, a little too large for the emperor to rule over it.
For this reason, even matters that require the emperor's approval are usually written in outline form on top of the actual document.
This is done by the first four Viziers.
The advantage of doing this is that the Viziers can look over the document first and consult with the Emperor if he is in doubt.
The one that was forwarded from the capital had already been written out in outline by the Viziers.
So Olivia read the outline, and I opened it and stared at the text, which stuck with me.
"So that's it."
"What do you mean?"
"It was strange from the start. The outline is written as if it were corruption, but the fact that they used it when it was in transit is odd."
"... That's right! If you're going to line your own pockets, you should do it in advance."
"Correct. Taxes in transit are after the tally, and it's money that's already out there. No one would be stupid enough to mess with it. So I looked at the details."
"What did it say?"
"There was a big fire just before Coronsia. The air was dry, the wind was strong, and the fire was so big that it destroyed the 8th of the city."
"–!"
Olivia gulped.
A fire so large that it burned through 80% of a city, was a major disaster.
"So naturally, everything burned. So Ames took all the tax transports he sent out and used their contents to buy food from nearby cities and distribute it to the people affected."
"That's a ... difficult one."
I glanced at Olivia.
It's not hard to see why, as she was born into a noble family, albeit a servant of Gilbert.
The fact that the transport has begun means that it is the treasury – or rather the Emperor's money.
It would be a crime of disrespect to use the emperor's money without permission.
However, since the purpose of the money was disaster relief, it could not be helped.
If you were a commoner, you would 100% applaud Ames for a job well done, but Olivia, who is a commoner but being born inside the royal family, said it was difficult to know which way to go.
" A request for the death penalty, that's ridiculous."
"But…"
"I said it was ridiculous. People are treasures, and citizens are the greatest treasure."
"Uhh."
"This impeachment document reveals a personal grudge. It was probably written by someone who has a history of disagreement with Ames."
I took a pen and paper and wrote down the process.
"Ames is innocent, in fact, he will get a year's pay increase for his disaster relief efforts."
"Yes."
"The Impeachment is 'Rebuked'."
The Emperor's "Rebuke" is more than just a scolding.
It's a proper punishment, the equivalent of a pay cut.
"As expected, Lucas-sama. But is that all right?"
"What?"
"If this kind of judgment is handed down, it will become a precedent, and when a major disaster occurs, there will be a decrease in deliveries to the national treasury, which will be passed on to the ... Royal Family."
Olivia swallowed the two words, "His Majesty."
I think she was hesitant to say it.
I pretended not to notice if she had swallowed it.
"Just be patient. It's a privilege of the Nobility to be patient with the weak."
"... is amazing. I've never seen a Noble who can go that far. ..."
She says this because she was a member of Gilbert's household.
After that, food aid from Hojoy in the granary, "accommodations" for imperial-approved slave traders, and priority for building materials and people to rebuild ....
Throughout the series of orders, Olivia kept giving me a look of respect.
At night, in the outer garden of the mansion.
I called my maid, Zoe, into my study.
"There's a place I want you to go, Coronsia."
"Coronsia is that ...?"
"Yes. That's the area where the big fire happened."
I told Zoey all about what had happened in Coronsia.
Zoe's face was becoming quite serious.
"So, you're going to be the inspector general. It's a full authority appointment. I want you to go and watch for anyone who ignores my orders."
" Understood! I'll do my best!"
Zoe was extremely enthusiastic.
Once, Zoe's hometown of Dosso had been flooded.
She asked for help with that and I responded in the past.
As someone who actually knew about the flooding, she should not be able to overlook the injustice in the rebuilding that followed.
"Take care of it."
"Please leave it to me!"
Zoe walked away from the study with enthusiasm.
A few moments later, with a knock, two men entered the room.
They were Foster and Howard.
They were both Albert's men, but after losing their master in the incident, I took them in as my own.
"You wanted to see us, Your Highness?"
"Yes, I have a task for you."
I told them that I was sending Zoe to be the inspector.
"Sorry about this, but you'll have to dress as soldiers and follow Zoe."
"Are we supposed to be guarding Zoe?"
"No, just make sure she's safe, and most importantly, keep an eye on things around Zoe."
""...?""
Foster and Howard stared at each other.
They were making faces like they didn't understand the meaning of the order.
"I sent Zoe, but she is a maid in my house, unlike Evelyn. I'm sure there will be people who will try to cheat, or even deceive her, into believing that she is an amateur maid."
Howard flinched.
" You understood, huh. Yeah, that's why I will have you disguised."
"I see, we were once under the Crown Prince, and as soldiers, we can catch them off guard."
"And we'll be able to see through their tricks."
"That's it."
"As expected, Your Highness."
"Yeah, it's amazing how well you can anticipate failure."
"Good luck, you two."
"Leave it to me."
"I'm finally going to repay you for the life you've given me."
The two of them complied by kneeling down and bowing their heads, looking no less enthusiastic than Zoe.
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