episode_0035

-Tap…tap…

The sound of leather shoes echoes through the corridor.

A beautiful woman follows right next to me.

“You… why didn’t you talk about tax law?”

I put my index finger to my lips and said to Theodora, who was asking about something that happened during the cabinet meeting a little while ago.

“Shh. Go to my office and talk.”

She frowns, her face full of dissatisfaction.

The guards salute me and soon open the door.

-Quick!

Let me and Theodora go in…

-thud!

I hear the door close and roughly loosen the tie that’s tight around my neck.

“You… why didn’t you tell me anything about tax law?”

I lie down on the sofa, close my eyes, and speak with one ear as she asks me questions as if I’m curious.

“You might refuse, so I don’t want to be bothered.”

Theodora hates me. There’s nothing good about knowing what I’m doing.

“There’s no way I could interfere with something for the people of the empire, right?”

I slowly open my eyes to hear a voice that sounds a little more kind than usual and unexpected words.

Instead of always looking at me with irritated eyes… what should I say? The look in her eyes feels unfamiliar when I see her for the first time.

“You hate me, right?”

“No matter how much I hate you, I helped because it was for the people of the empire! I have no intention of disturbing you.”

I smile softly at those words.

“Really? Then, I’m glad. But have you thought about what I asked you last time?”

Theodora gently nods her head at my words.

“I thought about a few things. You can’t laugh when you hear it.”

At those words, I straighten my posture and speak.

“Tell me I won’t laugh at you.”

Theodora sighs slightly at my words.

“Ha… If you’re asking about ways to make money without raising taxes if it’s something that can help the empire’s finances, right?”

I nod my head at those words.

“Right? Because raising taxes to raise finances is not what I want.”

I think there will be a lot of backlash because raising taxes is not simply raising taxes on the territories ruled by the emperor, but also on taxes collected from all cities and lords.

If the emperor’s prestige falls as it does now, a civil war may break out.

No… I’m not even sure it will pass the Imperial Council.

“Then how about reducing the amount of gold or silver used in currency?”

I stand up and say that.

“Dismissed. That’s illegal. Moreover, if false rumors spread, the side effects will be serious.”

It’s not like I haven’t thought about that too.

When making currency here, gold or silver is melted and put into coins according to the weight determined by law.

Sometimes, strange emperors issued coins with intentionally reduced amounts of gold or silver, but eventually, high-purity gold or silver coins disappeared from the market.

In other words, it is said that rumor-mongering merchants melted down high-purity gold and silver coins and sold them.

I’m just glad it’s over with this.

Next, as prices rise and markets begin to become distorted, I think it will have a negative impact on the empire’s economy.

No, I might not be able to do it, but I don’t want to take any chances.

“But, no one knows, right? If we want to know that we have reduced the proportion of gold or silver, we have no choice but to melt it, but melting it is… illegal, right?”

That is correct.

There are probably only a few citizens of the empire who are capable of melting down the currency issued by the empire.

but.

If you give an order to the treasury to lower the proportion of precious metals used in currency, the order will flow to the nobles and free cities.

There must be more than one person from a noble family or from the Free Cities who has joined the Treasury.

Surely this information will flow somewhere.

And they will try to take advantage of this situation.

For example, currently, the weight of gold in 1 gold is about 3.7g.

If you lower this to 3g.

“I would go to a bank or a store to exchange the newly issued money for old notes, melt them down, extract gold, and sell them.”

If you melt it and sell it, you get as much as 0.7g of gold.

“Keu… Should we go that far?”

Theodora frowns and asks again.

“Yes, I think nobles, clergy, and merchants all do it?”

In the end, only the number of gold coins in circulation decreases.

Theodora nods at my words and heads to the pile of papers I usually read.

“Then how about this?”

I bring a few papers from a place full of papers.

“This is…?”

A treatise on paper money.

This is the paper I saw last time.

“How about lowering the purity of silver coins so that they can be traded in small units and issuing paper currency instead of current gold coins?”

At those words, I rub my chin and get lost in thought.

What should I do… That’s an idea I had prepared in advance.

“If you’ve seen this for a long time, don’t you think there’s a lot of potential?”

It’s not that I, living on modern Earth, didn’t think about paper money.

In fact, they are thinking of publishing it in the Grand Duchy rather than the Empire.

But I don’t know how Theodora found the paper I had saved.

I bring out the method I am planning.

“If you make gold coins and lose them someday, you have to make gold coins again, but if you make them out of paper and bring the paper to the treasury and they exchange it for gold, there is definitely no need for gold to be wasted unnecessarily, right?”

Even though it is a gold coin, it does not mean that it cannot be lost.

In fact, it is distributed to other countries, ships engaged in maritime trade sink, and robbed by thieves during trade with Babylon.

“That too is dismissed.”

Theodora speaks with a puzzled expression upon my words.

“Why… why?”

“I already thought of that. And I think I thought to myself when I saw the paper over there, because I’ve read everything there. There is no point in looking for what I have seen.”

Although Theodora looks a little sulky at my words.

I think he realized what I wanted to say.

“What I need is a brilliant idea that I never thought of and that is hard to find.”

“Huyu… Okay.”

I feel a little sorry for Theodora, who looks listless.

I think I tried my best…

With that in mind, I decided to give him a little praise.

“Still, I did well at the Cabinet meeting.”

This is sincere.

I memorized and understood quite a lot of the material, and did it without fear and with the dignity of an emperor.

Probably because they are members of the royal family, dignity naturally comes out in their body language.

Let me praise her for properly understanding the issues and handling them well as chairperson.

“Hmph. This much is natural. How hard did I try? You really don’t know.”

I smile as I look at Theodora with her mouth sticking out.

“That’s right. As chairman, he is also good at mediation. I saw it again.”

“Do you think I’m a fool? It’s strange that you don’t know what you’re asking and harassing me like that. Rather, it is unfair.”

I asked her, puzzled by her words that it was unfair.

“Huh? What is unfair?”

“I memorized a lot and thought about whether someone might ask me what I meant. No one asked.”

I chuckle at those words.

“That’s right, I hold the real power, right? And I saw earlier that the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were praising you?”

She blushes slightly at my words and asks in a hushed voice.

“Really…?”

“Yes, my insight is wider than I thought.”

If you can do this without proper training, I think you did well today.

Theodora opens her mouth so softly that it seems almost inaudible.

“Thank you.”

“Huh?”

Did you say thank you?

“I… have an appointment with Joy, so I’ll just go.”

While saying that, I stare blankly at the back of Theodora, who hastily stands up from her seat.

Thank you? Did she just thank me?

Before I can even ask her anything, I smile as I see her leaving the room.

“Thank you…, I’m glad it didn’t end up in the worst relationship.”

Thinking like that, I lie down on the sofa.

“I’m a little… sleepy.”

I was tired yesterday and today. Should I sleep for a bit?

Think about that for a moment. Close your eyes just for a moment.

***

Late at night.

-Good~

“His Royal Highness, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”

I smile at Agrippa, whom I haven’t seen in a while.

“Welcome Agrippa, did you rest well?”

A handsome man who smiles brightly at my words.

“I feel like I slept well thanks to you… but I feel like I’m in hell again.”

Hell…

“Well, it’s hell, of course.”

Saying that, he takes out a large map and a small piece of wood with military symbols engraved on it from a drawer.

“Well… I’ve had a good rest now. Should we make a war plan with the anti-emperor faction that has slowly turned around?”

Agrippa, who sits across from me with his face scrunched up at my words, sighs deeply.

“Whoa…, good.”

Then place a piece with a military symbol engraved on the map.

“Grand Duke, but there’s a symbol you’ve never seen before?”

I say that with a chuckle.

“This?”

I say this to Agrippa, who is puzzled as he looks at the eagle-shaped symbol.

“This is the emperor’s standing army.”

Agrippa says with an embarrassed expression on my face.

“No matter how much the Grand Duke is the head of the empire and the person with real power, wouldn’t there be a huge backlash if he arbitrarily uses the imperial army?”

“No, it’s okay. Anyway, the imperial faction can’t move now.”

Ioanes had not yet taken control of Epirus and Ezip.

So, if you commit hostile acts against me right now, both of you will be annihilated.

No, Ioanes will die first, right?

Because I was trying to eat something delicious by myself.

Agrippa speaks as if he has realized something from my words.

“Of course, I know the situation, but there is nothing good about provoking Ioanes too much.”

I nod my head at those words.

“I know what you’re worried about, but… Now is not the time to call hot or cold water.”

One o’clock early. All anti-imperial factions must be united before Ioannes absorbs all of the imperial faction.

“First of all, I understand. If the Imperial Army moves, we will have to finish it as quickly as possible.”

I nod my head and say that.

“Correct answer.”

“Then let’s do it like this.”

So he stays up all night discussing the war with Agrippa.