Chapter 76 - Chapter 76: Victory Ceremony of the Kingdom of Merda
At the third victory ceremony, the protagonist Margrave Remington was greeting with a smile. Steve and Aurora were watching that smile from afar. Christina had gone to her father Marquess Mackintosh, so only Steve and Aurora were here.
Nancy and Bella were not nobles, so they were staying behind.
Aurora cast a look of pity at Steve.
"You gained nothing, did you?"
"I was just going to deliver glass in the first place."
"What does it mean that our territory expands every time we deliver clothespins or glass?"
"That's not my fault. It's the other party's fault for attacking."
Hearing Steve's reply, Aurora chuckled.
"It was a stroke of luck that we also profited thanks to such an ill-timed opponent."
"I'm glad we didn't cause trouble for Lord Sowell."
The profit Aurora spoke of referred to the bank branches opened in the Kingdom of Merda.
As expected, the Archibalt family ended up covering part of the reparations, and when they tried to withdraw the deposits held at the bank, the bank would go bankrupt if they did.
Instead of withdrawing deposits in installments, they got permission from King Abel to open branches in the Kingdom of Merda.
For King Abel as well, not being able to get the Archibalt family assets he was counting on for reparations was troubling, so he compromised with Aurora.
The installment payments of the reparations were approved by King William.
And since large-scale investment projects involved banks, the branches were expected to generate significant profits. Of course, that capital was also the Archibalt family's assets.
Both Steve and Brian were relieved to have options other than withdrawing the deposits all at once.
Behind this, there was the fact that King William did not want to force things too much and spoil Steve's mood, but neither Steve nor Brian noticed that, and they were thanking the king.
Watching Steve like that, Aurora thought, "He's too soft." However, thanks to that softness, she avoided major losses herself and instead gained profits.
"The Kingdom of Merda's queen will have a hard time from now on. The wedding was flashy, but marriage peaks there."
"Don't tell me, I'm getting married soon. I'll be disappointed."
Prior to the victory ceremony, Abel's coronation and wedding were held under William's sponsorship. This was to inform both inside and outside that the Kingdom of Merda had become a vassal state of the Kingdom of Cascade, but Abel also took substance over name.
By becoming a vassal state, there was no need to deploy troops to defend against the Kingdom of Cascade, allowing them to significantly reduce the military budget.
"Even so, with the territory expanding in the south following the west and north, Margrave Cleiman in the east must not be at ease internally, right?"
Aurora said that, and shifted her gaze toward Margrave Cleiman. All the nobles gathered around him and his Eastern faction were making grim faces. Seeing nobles from other regions grow bigger was the third time. Until last time, they complained with southern nobles, but finally, it became just the Eastern faction complaining among themselves.
Margrave Cleiman, to resolve the faction's dissatisfaction, appealed for the necessity of external expeditions, but the king prioritized allocating national resources to prepare for the Empire and did not permit eastern external expeditions.
Moreover, there was a shortage of personnel for the rapidly expanding territory, and if the east also expanded its territory here, he disliked the possibility of gaps in its governance.
"Will he become more hated?"
"It's pure spite. We didn't make war to belittle the east, after all."
"Yes. And this time it's completely out of pocket. Now there's no margin left for managing the fief again."
"There are glass and stainless steel statues, right?"
"If we make too many, the value drops, so we can't produce many."
High-Class Glass and stainless steel statues were still valuable income sources holding back orders, but to maintain value, the number released to the market could not be increased.
Also, as a wedding commemoration, High-Class Glass was given to Sherry and King Abel, but Sherry had listed it at an auction to solve financial difficulties. Steve laughed saying it was much more useful than drinking something, but Brian and Abigail were wide-eyed at their daughter's change.
"The nobles of this country also don't know your struggles like that, thinking only that it's envious that the Archibalt family's daughter married a foreign king and became queen."
"Such talk comes to my father too. He will be the grandfather of the future king, so it's possible to control national politics. So it's better to curry favor now."
"If Lord Archibalt has that intention, that's fine, but he probably doesn't have such ambition."
"I'm glad you understand well."
Brian would become the grandfather of the Kingdom of Merda's king in the future, but he himself had no ambition at all and was satisfied with his current status as a baron. Moreover, since there was no margin left for managing the fief, he had no margin to look at such future matters and was busy with what was before his eyes.
However, besides southern nobles, many nobles who hoped they could do something because Aurora had intruded into the privileges came to Brian. Such nobles approached Brian.
And there was one more person who approached. Sherry's older sister, Freya.
She was chasing repayment of debt incurred through Baronet Parker's price, aiming for a one-shot reversal with her sister's marriage, but knowing the internal situation of the Kingdom of Merda was in flames, she hung her head. Abigail was at a loss at the daughter who approached with money matters before congratulating her sister, but that sister Sherry also showed a posture of sucking off her parents' house, and she was at a loss at that too.
Sherry said she wanted to take personnel of the fief's executive class like Nick and George to the Kingdom of Merda. Naturally, Brian did not permit that.
As a result, Sherry would establish and command an educational institution herself. She reproduced teaching materials that Steve and George thought of where one could study happily, and embarked on cultivating personnel who could read, write, and calculate widely. Not that the novice monk reads the sutras at the gate, but Sherry, who watched Steve's activities closely, had those teaching materials in her head so she could reproduce them.
Originally her head was good, but due to her lazy personality, it just hadn't been conveyed to everyone, but for the sake of her beloved husband, she could display that ability without reservation.
Referencing educational toys brought from her parents' home, production had started in the Kingdom of Merda's workshop, and wealthy families were purchasing them. One might call it the merit of defeat, but the noble's power was swept away, and with vested rights gone, it became easier to create a centralized state. There were also those hired by ability, and former nobles and wealthy merchants and farmers were putting effort into children's education.
This idea of a centralized state was taught by Steve, and he told Sherry that if one aims for a modern nation, one should do so.
Also, due to personnel shortage, some former nobles were entrusted with governance other than military power as governors, but if corruption was found, the death penalty awaited, so they were conducting politics very seriously. By hinting that the queen's real brother might join the audit, everyone had memories of defeat and was nervous.
Thus, although it was carried on Steve's back, the reconstruction of the Kingdom of Merda was progressing.
"Even so, Your Majesty played well. The reward for you was only sparing King Abel. Anyway, you couldn't oppose it, but you made it look like you sold a favor."
"As for us, if we gain too much power and get glared at by His Majesty, this level is just right. If it's now, I think Margrave Remington who holds overseas territories is more dangerous than us. Although the royal family also holds land ceded from the Kingdom of Merda for monitoring purposes. It's much more of a threat than the Kingdom of Merda with reduced military power."
"Originally, you wouldn't have wanted to grant the port, but if you did, other nobles would also feel distrust towards the royal family. Since I didn't want that, the largest port the Kingdom of Merda held as a merit became Margrave Remington's. The profit obtained from this port strengthens Margrave Remington's power. Already, the power of western and northern nobles approaches the royal family, and if the southern margrave's power also becomes large, he won't be at ease internally, right?"
"Although it's called a victory ceremony, it means we can't rejoice freely, right?"
"Well, isn't it a result just that the Archibalt family's power was reduced? You two, parent and child, wouldn't rebel without calculation, right?"
"Well, since it seemed like it would happen this time and was avoided, let's just say that."
Steve intended to escape Sherry and Abel if the order for King Abel's execution had been issued. If he couldn't deceive everyone at the execution ground with Illusion Magic, who knows what would have happened.
Aurora heard Steve's opinion and pretended to be troubled exaggeratedly.
"I wish you wouldn't make me worry about which side to take."
"As for me, I forgive that situation."
When Steve shrugged, he felt multiple gazes. The nobles of the Eastern faction were looking at Steve and Aurora. That too with resentment.
"Oh my, oh my, it seems you're quite hated."
"It's pure spite. But it's not just me, Lord Sowell also gained privileges this time, so I think they think I'm equally guilty."
"I wonder. But if I were in His Majesty's position, I would use their resentment to check them. Pulling each other's legs even in the same country. Nobles are really tiring."
"It's not an expression that looks tired."
Seeing Aurora say happily, Steve advised.
"Oh my, rude."
Aurora laughed Ohoho without any reflection.
There, Brian with a tired face came with Abigail.
"Really, even if they curry favor with us, there's nothing good, yet there are many people with such thoughts."
"From the outside, you are the queen's father, after all."
Steve smiles bitterly.
Brian and Abigail were receiving greetings from nobles trying to somehow get a taste of the Kingdom of Merda's privileges today. They finished those greetings and came to take refuge.
"However, even the older sister who I thought couldn't marry was decided easily."
"That's right. I thought she would stay at home forever. And that she would be more surprising than you."
Steve had left results that were out of common sense so far, but compared to Sherry becoming queen, he was cute.
For Brian and Abigail, being surprised by Sherry this much was an unexpected situation.
"Now you understand that I haven't caused trouble to my parents, right?"
"Compared to Freya, both of you are too harsh. I didn't think parents' struggles would go this far."
Brian said that, and Aurora laughed.
"Being a parent is tough. No matter how long, children are children. Parents' struggles never end until death. Most of all, Lord Dragon Head is really a child."
"Eh, eh, I am a child. I've caused plenty of trouble to my parents too."
Where Steve was sulking, Christina returned.
"What are you sulking about, Steve-sama?"
Just hearing the conversation from where Steve was sulking, she didn't know the circumstances.
"I was told that being a parent is troublesome with children, but I don't know where I caused trouble to my parents."
"Oh my, you were sulking over such a thing?"
"It's not like that."
Steve showed a pouty attitude towards Christina too.
However, while taking such an attitude, he remembered that in his previous life, even after becoming a social person, whenever he failed, his parents wiped his butt.
When processing failed, he was asked to remake it, and after delivering defective products, he was asked to handle the response, and he hadn't overcome everything by himself, and parents were always taking care of him. Because it was a town factory run by family, but thinking of parents' feelings, Steve, even as an adult, was probably seen with the eyes of a child.
Thinking that, he felt very ashamed of himself who was sulking, and yet he couldn't apologize to his parents, so Steve said sorry to Christina and apologized.
Thank you for the typo report.