Chapter 199 – The 30th – Hedone
“Mmmm
Pressing her own temple with one hand, her princess let out her deep moan. Did you finally open her heart her and give her a morning fella?
Of course not. After taking a clean bath, Hedone and the princess wore their pajamas and slept without doing anything. The next day, after taking a shower and having breakfast, I was sitting in her chair as usual, grunting through the books I had found.
‘It’s a big deal, it’s a really big deal… I’ve looked at this guy’s ledger, but I don’t know what the problem is!’
The princess was genuinely perplexed. She thought that as much as Hedone said she had a problem with a cursory glance, she thought she could tell by a glance. But there was nothing she could tell from skimming through the meticulously written ledger week by week and month by month.
Even Hedone was watching her princess while she was wearing a black dress and gently waving her fan of her.
‘I have to show off my cool side…’
Normally, when something bothering or embarrassing like this happened, she could ask Ceres for help. When I asked her to sort out information or do some math for her, she gave it a go. Of course, she knew that the princess could do that too. It’s been a long time since she’s been using her hair on her, and she’s not stiff, but she could do it if she wanted to…
“…”
It didn’t go well when she tried to do it in front of Hedone, who was blatantly staring at her princess her. There, the princess kept her mouth shut and she wasn’t the type to do something.
“Hmm… I took a quick look and saw that the taxes coming in have decreased considerably compared to last year. The harvested crops are originally jagged…”
“You checked quickly. The poor princess.”
“Chi, is it true that I said it as a compliment…”
Feeling a little sarcastic, the princess pouted her lips. She moved her hand her a few more times to check her two-year ledger her. The princess closed her book once. She still had a lot of things in her head, but she had vaguely figured out something, and it seemed that talking to Hedone would clear her head of her.
“First of all… The Duchy of Keyarga is also a reason that Abama bestowed on me. He collects more taxes than other dukedoms.”
“That’s right. It can be said that it’s a pretty wealthy dukedom if it’s Karga. There’s little farmland available, but we’re cultivating the fields as efficiently as possible, so we don’t have to worry about making a living. Did you check properly? Princess Gaeheojeop.”
Haha! Do you think I wouldn’t know that too? If the territories of this land were starving because they couldn’t farm properly in the first place, wouldn’t Ceres have told me? I heard that they are cultivating terraced fields along the mountain range. Raise some livestock on the flatland side.”
At the words of the princess, Hedone smiled in satisfaction and nodded her head.
“But… As you said, it seems that there is a problem with this territory. Ceres is doing his best to manage it, but there must be a limit to the use of an agent…”
The princess muttered and checked her ledger a few times, and shrugged her shoulders.
“Like all the territories along the Hollympus Mountains, Kealgar has a huge mine. Hmm, I don’t know the details of this side, but if there’s a problem, I think it’s this side.”
“For what reason?”
“That’s right, isn’t it? The failure to pay taxes due to farming collapse is only possible if there is a famine or if insects like locusts eat away at the crops. If such a thing happens, why not write it down in the ledger?”
Hedone nodded her head with a little satisfaction, no, quite a smile this time. In a situation where all she had to do was take one more step, the princess let out a sound of her breathing her and flicked her fingers.
“Hmm… There is no record of such ‘unavoidable events’ anywhere in the ledger. If so, it is difficult to write down in the ledger, but there are things that the taxpayers have to hide… It looks like something happened in the mine.”
“Do you have any evidence?”
“Evidence?”
The princess blinked her eyes as she hadn’t thought of that at all. But the princess calmly began to check her ledger again, turning her eyes to expenses rather than income.
“Oh, I see now. Something really happened in the mine. The money being paid to the miners couldn’t be clearly reduced… So this month it’s gone to zero.”
“That’s right, Princess Heojeop. The territory along the Hollympus Mountains is essential to maintaining the territory by mining magic stones, buying and selling them, or paying the tax itself.”
“…Wait, then from the beginning! Wouldn’t it be nice if you showed me the ledger that manages the mana stones!”
When the princess shouted lightly, Hedone smiled at her coquettishly, put her hand on her desk, took out a small notebook from her, and threw it away. As expected by Hedone and the princess, the number of magic stones in this territory has decreased catastrophically since last year, and it was written plainly that they have not been able to mine them at all recently.
“Hmm… There’s no way Ceres didn’t know about this.”
“You may not have known. It is possible that the miners suddenly quit their jobs because they did not want to work. There is a possibility that they did not talk to the count or the viscounts.
“Ghmm… I didn’t imagine that part.”
Seeing the princess speaking unexpectedly frankly, Hedone blinked at her. I knew~~! I knew you would insist, so she opened her eyes like that for a while and then changed her expression again.
“Then, Princess. Today…”
“I’m going to go out like this and meet the miners.”
“Yes? Wouldn’t it be quicker to wait for the count who manages the mine?”
“I can’t be quick. Counts are going to try to please me somehow… If it’s not the countess, they’ll bring the lady and introduce me, wasting time! Then they greeted me in a fancy dress. And have tea time…”
Hate. No, the princess waved her hand and headed toward her door, wearing the platinum-colored one-piece dress that Hedone was wearing, rather than the one she had been wearing when riding the Alicorn.
“If you’re a miner, you’re probably living in a village, and you can tell just by looking at your appearance. Hedone, would you like to go with me?”
“I…”
Hedone looked away for a moment. It was pretty good for her to go to the mine with the princess and take care of the work. She also had a desire to go to the village to play. But once she shook her head quietly.
“If I go outside like this with Princess Heoheop, I think I’ll have my first experience outside. You’re wearing very simple clothes.
“Huh, you’re talking nonsense again! I couldn’t have done that!”
“Let’s find the miners and join them when they head to the mine. There are times when Princess Heojeop can’t find the miners.”
“Chit! I’ll find you so fast that I don’t even have time to go to the bathroom!”
The princess opened the door and left, and her attendants could be seen following her. Hedone glanced at the door a few times before she shut it. After hearing a squeal, she quietly walked to the window.
Outside her window, unlike her sprinting out her, she saw the princess walking calmly to the village with the help of attendants, and she saw terraced farmland along the stem of a mountain range. The farmland near the princess’s castle and the county’s farmland far away were of different colors, but Hedone didn’t care much.
A gentle breeze blew, but the gigantic windmills were not moving. Hedone put them all in his eyes and turned his body to the desk.
“…Princess, you’re smarter than I thought.”
Hedone thought that he would not be able to solve the magic stone problem.
He didn’t even show all the ledgers, and Hedone even ripped apart a small book, which could be called an answer sheet, that was attached to the back of the ledger. He didn’t hide it to discredit the princess, but he couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of pride at the fact that he got it right.
‘Also I…. I wasn’t born wrong.’
With a small relief, Hedone tidied up her hair a little and touched the crystal ball lying on the desk with both hands. A soft light began to emerge, and Ceres was there.
“Princess… Oh, you’re Hedone. What’s the matter?”
“I’ve contacted you about a problem with Kealga Duchy. Ceres.”
At Hedone’s words her, Ceres briefly rolled her eyes left and right.
“Has the princess made a mistake?”
“No. The princess is planning to meet the miners living in her village her and solve the problem. I think that method is clunky, but …”
“As those who made their living by mining magic stones gave up, you must want to hear their voices. Truly, it is a princess-like judgment.”
At Ceres’ words her, Hedone smiled slightly and nodded his head. He wasn’t close with Ceres yet, but at least he seemed to have similar thoughts about the princess, so Hedone liked it.
“Actually, there are many other problems with this estate besides that.”
“…Problem…You mean?”
There was the slightest question in Ceres’ voice of hers. Ceres never neglected the management of the territory. As for other tasks, she is the princess’s direct maid, and with the power that comes from the fact that she has the highest rank among the maids… Although she has been entrusted with some odd jobs, managing the estate is the princess’s pride and face, so her body is at stake. I never took a break even when I was sick.
But do you have a problem? A normal person could be a little angry, but there was no criticism, criticism, or sarcasm in Hedone’s voice her, so Ceres quietly waited for his words her.
“There seems to be a problem with the taxes the counts pay.”
“…Oh my goodness.”
This was an unexpected word. Since Ceres was an assistant to the princess, he could not go directly to the Keal family duchy. So everything was done on paper. Although I was listening to local stories through ‘Letter’ and ‘Crystal Ball’ through an absent agent, it was true that the sense of realism was lacking.
To say the agent was not a nobleman like the Viscount. The attendants who worked hard for the princess today and yesterday, the women of that level, were just doing the same thing Ceres told them to do.
He didn’t even visit the estate and check it himself, so Ceres had no way to know if the counts were determined to manipulate the books and forge documents.
“How did you know? I’ve been checking it several times.”
“The Countess’s farmers are not raising crops that can be eaten, but crops with very high commercial value.”
“Oh my gosh…”
Sharaksharak, I heard the sound of Ceres turning the book hastily. There was no such story anywhere in Ceres’ book or in the documents reported to him. In all the counties in the Kealgar Duchy, it was only coming out that farmers grew enough crops to eat in ordinary farmland and consumed most of them.
“But… Hedone-nim. If you manage the farmland like that, there will always be people who starve.”
“If you sell expensive crops to cities ruled by new nobles like Colonia and buy agricultural products at a cheap price, it’s quite possible. ..”
Hedone deliberately spilled his words and covered his face with a fan. Ceres had nothing to think about. He must have bought the cheapest, least tasty crops in bulk and gave them to the peasants in order to somehow make a lot of money.
“The mills that use windmills, and the mills along the river are all not working.”
“… Hedone-sama, thank you.”
Ceres bowed his head sincerely. He couldn’t know what kind of crops he was growing unless he checked with his own two eyes. Because Hedone was knowledgeable, he could only see the counts’ fields in the distance and see that the crops were different.
“This much is a matter of course for the princess… To me, who will become the future hostess of the imperial family. Even in a duchy like this, there are scum that deceive the princess, but how many in the empire. ..”
Hedone sighed heartily, and Ceres, who seemed a little moved by her appearance her, gave a small smile. Recognizing that smile belatedly, Hedone coughed loudly and fanned her face her.
“Besides that… Agriculture here is quite backward. These days, thanks to the various items made in the Mage Tower, it is said that there is a way to harvest wheat every year without fallowing or planting beans.”
“You know that too.”
“Let’s just say that. It would be nice to make the roads a little bigger so that the wagons can pass through them. They say that in Colonia, there are wagons that use mana stones to move on their own even without horses. It would be a big help if the roads were widened enough for them to move around. And again…”
Hedone constantly gave advice that could be used immediately if he had money and time. The stories she tells about her are surprisingly devoid of floating stories.
If it was the story of the road, instead of turning a blind eye to what the counts had done, they could have had the construction work done, and even if the counts continued to deceive the princess, if the wagons powered by magic stones roamed around, there was at least a chance that the quality of the agricultural products that the farmers could eat would improve. There was
The talk about fallow was also quite realistic. It goes without saying how much better life would be for the peasants living in the village if they could harvest wheat every year.
Ceres, who had heard a rather long story, bowed her head in greeting, and Hedone slowly rose from her seat with a slightly proud expression on her face. Because I could see an attendant running into the castle, panting, from outside the window.
“Ceres, this is enough for the princess’s estate, I think there will be no problems for the next few years.”
“Shouldn’t we just assume that the princess and Hedone will solve some problems today?”
“Of course. I’ll definitely take care of it with the poor princess. Then Ceres, please do your best.”
Hedone finished her words, and Ceres bowed his head, singing in his heart that he could finally be relieved of his daunting task her.
“Heh, Lord Hedone! To the princess… Eh.”
“Did you say you found the miners? Let’s go straight to the mine.”
When Hedone, who moved one step faster, came out of the door, the servant was surprised, but immediately moved to guide Hedone.
