Prince Peilly III of Crawford let out a hearty laugh.
“Hahaha! The imperial family of the Empire really gets along well. It would be wonderful if the royal family of our principality were like this too.”
He was smiling contentedly at first, but his expression quickly turned gloomy.
It was clear that there was some internal problem.
I noticed it, but I didn’t show any reaction.
He would tell me everything soon anyway, so there was no need for me to pry.
I’d only end up getting unwanted attention.
“It’s not that difficult a task. You’ve done something similar before.”
At the Emperor’s words, my head instinctively tilted.
He makes me do so many things.
Just how many tasks had I been given so far?
There probably wasn’t a second person who had contributed this much to the Empire.
If I had to pick the one thing I hated the most…
As expected, the time when I was Governor-General of Delriat was the hardest.
It had been like trying to build a house on bare ground.
I had basically rebuilt an utterly ruined country from the foundation up.
I never wanted to take the position of governor in that beggar nation again.
But why did the Emperor and Prince Peilly III keep making such subtle expressions?
“Eh? No way? Ah, please tell me it’s not that?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I sincerely hope you are not ordering me to go to the Crawford Principality and work there.”
“Hehehe!”
Instead of answering, the Emperor simply gave a meaningful smile.
I had never seen him smile quite like that before, which only made my anxiety shoot up.
“You catch on quickly.”
“Come on, you’re joking, right? With a smart heir and son-in-law, what problem could there possibly be? Besides, His Highness the Prince is still so energetic.”
Suddenly, Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief came to mind.
The psychological changes of someone facing death perfectly matched my current situation.
The first stage was denial.
Just like what I was doing right now.
When the Emperor shook his head, anger quickly surged.
How long has it been since I came back from the southern seas, and he’s already giving me more work?
I had moved on to the second stage: anger.
But I clearly realized something.
I was fully capable of controlling this level of anger myself.
“I’m not joking.”
“Then how about I just give some advice? Having a perfectly fine ruler and then imposing a governor-general system seems a bit strange, doesn’t it?”
At the Emperor’s single sentence, I immediately moved to the third stage: bargaining.
However, my words had no effect.
“His Highness the Prince desires complete control. At least until the country is normalized.”
I sent him a strong look that asked why on earth?
No, what kind of monarch in the world would hand over their entire country?
Just look at the Yates Marquisate. You could see clearly what happened after that territory was absorbed by the Empire.
But Prince Peilly III’s expression didn’t change.
“The Crawford Principality has become stagnant water that has rotted to the point of turning into a monster. We need a complete overhaul of the system. Just like how Your Grace revived Delriat!”
Ah, my past mistakes had finally come back to haunt me.
The saying that men about to enlist hear at least once suddenly came to mind.
Don’t do too well or too poorly—just do average.
Why did such a rumor exist?
Because if you did too poorly, you’d get nagged, but if you did too well, you’d get saddled with all kinds of work.
My current situation was exactly the latter case.
Because I had created a successful model called Delriat, people like Peilly III had appeared.
They thought their country could become the same.
“Are you willing to take the risk of having your entire nation taken away?”
I spoke with a slightly threatening tone.
I was asking if he was okay with being driven out of the ruler’s seat.
At this, he should get scared and withdraw his request for a governor…
“Does Your Grace have any intention of doing that?”
“Excuse me?”
“You wouldn’t, right? Surely you don’t wish to build power that surpasses His Majesty the Emperor?”
“Eh?”
What the hell was he suddenly talking about?
There was no way I had such thoughts.
If I got involved in treason, I’d be heading straight to the guillotine.
Ah?
Now that I thought about it, I understood why he made this proposal.
And why the Emperor had accepted it.
It’s killing two birds with one stone.
Peilly III’s benefit was to straighten out the declining Crawford Principality.
The Emperor could test my intentions as a potential rival for the throne.
Since their interests aligned, this absurd result had come about.
After passing the bargaining stage, an overwhelming sense of depression hit me.
But at the same time, another thought occurred to me.
Wait a minute. Then I won’t have to worry about Perias like during my vacation?
The Dapan Group had always run well on its own.
There were occasional incidents that exploited system loopholes, but they were very rare.
Troublesome trials hadn’t been that frequent lately either.
The most difficult one was still the mayoral work.
There were so many areas that needed fixing that I hadn’t even started properly.
When have I ever lived without working? I can just think of it like when I went to the southern seas for “vacation.”
Come to think of it, I had already reached the final stage: acceptance.
I had unknowingly come to accept reality.
“Understood. Then will I be appointed as the Governor-General of Crawford?”
“We can’t establish a governor-general’s office in a perfectly independent country. How about a position similar to temporary chancellor…?”
The Emperor trailed off and glanced at Peilly III.
An almost immediate answer came back.
“Ordinary chancellor authority won’t be nearly enough. I will grant you almost full power. You will effectively become the governor-general.”
I nodded with a short sigh.
The Crawford Principality wasn’t a completely ruined country like Delriat had been, right?
Since there was already some foundation, I could take it a bit easier.
“I will accept the order, Your Majesty.”
After paying my respects and trying to withdraw, the Emperor suddenly gestured for me to wait.
After a moment, he held out a bundle of papers.
“Count Schultz said he received too much help and didn’t know how to repay you.”
“Ah, yes.”
“So he sent this. I don’t need it, so you take it.”
He could have just said it was a return gift, but why was he grumbling like that?
What a massive tsundere. Anyway, what is this?
I looked at the first page with a puzzled expression.
The heading at the very top read:
“Transfer Contract?”
“It’s a villa located in the Crawford Principality. Since you’re going there anyway, it works out well. You can use that place.”
“
I blinked with a slightly awkward expression.
Isn’t this too convenient?
I had a feeling I knew what was going on.
The Emperor must have pressured Count Schultz into providing a suitable villa while neatly designing everything up to this point.
He probably told him to hand over a decent villa, or buy one if he didn’t have it.
Realizing the inside story, a chuckle almost escaped me.
Geez, brother. You’re worrying too much.
I was about to bow politely with a gentle smile when the Emperor waved his hand dismissively.
“Do you understand everything?”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
“Then get out.”
I take back what I said about him being a tsundere.
He’s just plain eccentric!
Although my trip to Crawford had been decided, I didn’t leave immediately.
I had too many positions and a mountain of unfinished work to handle.
I needed to organize things to some extent so that nothing would collapse when I returned.
In that sense, I was currently focusing on mayoral duties.
“Mayor, here are the matters that need to be handled this time.”
“Leave them there.”
“Yes. Is there anything else I can help with?”
“Then could you sort these? In order of priority, please.”
“Yes! Leave it to me.”
The secretary who brought the documents settled on the sofa.
She quickly pulled out a few pages and brought them to my desk.
“This is the most urgent matter.”
“Thank you.”
It was a complaint about how difficult it was to go gather wood.
It was a natural result that the forests near the city had almost disappeared and fires had become more frequent.
This was an issue that couldn’t be solved until a new fuel source was found.
We’ll just have to plant a lot more trees.
It would be enough to issue an order to build a lumberyard in a suitable location for now.
I did tell Vargas to research new fuel, but it’s still too early to expect results.
Since I was going on a long trip anyway, it might be good to check what other regions were using for fuel.
You never know.
If I found an oil field somewhere, I might be able to switch fuel sources.
I’d have to accept the environmental pollution, though.
If there’s an oil field in another country, I could spread democracy like America did… Oh, this place is still feudal.
I smirked and moved on to the next item.
But there were words I didn’t usually encounter lined up.
“Marriage promotion?”
This wasn’t Korea where the birth rate had plummeted into the abyss, so why was something like this suddenly popping up?
The average marriage age in the Enpher Empire was around 18.
If someone remained unmarried past 20, people would start looking at them strangely.
If they were still single past 30?
Then the state would step in.
It’s almost like the Joseon Dynasty.
Marriage rates were even reflected in local officials’ performance evaluations.
When I thought about it, it made sense.
One of the three elements of a nation was its people.
A country needed people to maintain itself.
A marriage promotion policy was only natural.
“Now that I think about it, I don’t think we’ve met before.”
In truth, I barely used the city hall officials.
The Dapan Group employees worked much better and had almost no corruption issues.
As a result, I had reached the point where I didn’t even know who the secretary was.
When I casually asked, a polite reply came.
“I am Aman Balisieta, Mayor.”
“Balisieta…”
It sounded familiar. It was the surname of the northern margrave family.
It was a powerful house in the provinces. What was someone from that family doing here?
It wasn’t a big secret, so the reason came out quickly.
“I am the fourth child.”
“Ah, I see.”
Since primogeniture was the principle, being the fourth child made sense.
If he got on his eldest brother’s nerves, he could be driven out of the territory or even have his head cut off.
He had most likely come to Perias to seek personal success.
“What do you think about this?”
I showed Aman the marriage promotion policy.
It was a document that only stated it needed to be implemented, with no actual substance.
I had to come up with everything from start to finish.
I roughly understood why something like this had come down.
The higher-ups had probably just sent down an order, and the bureaucrats had organized it to look presentable.
After organizing his thoughts, Aman spoke.
“As you know, Your Honor, the north is a barren and somewhat barbaric place.”
“Hmm. The memories are coming back vividly. And?”
“Even now, there is a shortage of men in the north. Due to war, cold weather, and various other reasons.”
“You’re not suggesting polygamy, are you? That would face tremendous resistance.”
“Yes. I simply wish to connect them.”
“Connect what with what?”
“From what I understand, there are more men than women in the capital region.”
The water supply system that started from Lake Einpol supplied water to nearby areas as well.
As a result, the area around Perias was called the capital region.
The city was naturally expanding.
In any case, Aman Balisieta’s opinion was quite tempting.
As I listened, an idea suddenly came to me.
We could just establish a marriage information company.
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