Ch.164Outside. Lottery of Happiness (3)

The Grand Duke’s Palace within the Imperial Palace grounds.

This was where the Empire was currently governed.

From the outside, there was nothing special about it. All that had changed was the name of the Court Administration, which had assisted the Emperor’s rule, to the Grand Duke’s Palace, placing it under the Grand Duke’s command.

The only difference from the past was that it now exercised control over the entire Empire. This was made possible thanks to the Hero who flew around on a wyvern.

There was one man who had toddled his way into the core of this power.

Short stature, with limbs that were unusually short even for his height. His hair was abundant, but it was clearly a wig.

Even his clothes were shabby, yet officials treated him with great respect.

This was because this short man was ‘Bingo,’ a friend and close aide of Erick Wellesley.

“Lord Baron. His Excellency the Grand Duke will arrive shortly. Please wait in his office.”

“Where is His Excellency the Grand Duke now?”

“He is receiving reports on the progress of specialized schools that will replace the Academy. He will be here soon, so please wait a moment.”

“Very well.”

He’s busy as expected.

When it came to being busy, Bingo was no slouch either. He was essentially governing the area known as Wellesley Duchy’s Second Territory (formerly Count Neize’s domain). On top of that, he was also managing the settlement of thousands of refugees.

But no matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t claim to be busier than Erick.

Today he had come just to see his face… but he felt guilty about coming for such a trivial reason. Still, since he was here, he would meet him before leaving.

‘I wonder if he’s enjoying his honeymoon. By the way, I should definitely call him “Your Excellency” now…?’

As Bingo was awkwardly smiling and looking around the Grand Duke’s office, the room’s owner, Erick, appeared, looking not at all haggard.

Bingo unconsciously hesitated, while Erick just nodded indifferently before taking his seat.

“You should still show some respect…”

“When it’s just the two of us, just do as you’ve always done. There are only three people who speak to me informally, including you. No, maybe four. And you’re the only one under 50.”

“If that’s what you want.”

“Since you’re here, take a look at this.”

Bingo was about to protest, “I didn’t come here to talk about work,” but he just agreed. He then glanced over the documents Erick handed him.

They were documents related to the Empire’s lottery.

The content wasn’t particularly difficult or complicated. He just didn’t understand why Erick would want to do this.

“You’re creating a second prize tier?”

“We’ll give a fixed prize of ten million Lyra to anyone who matches three numbers. The amount for those who match all four numbers will be slightly reduced.”

“…If you do that, there could be nearly a hundred second-prize winners each round. It wouldn’t be difficult, but why do this?”

“Why, you ask?”

Erick looked at Bingo as if genuinely surprised.

His face seemed to say, “What am I going to do if you don’t understand?”

Bingo felt a momentary surge of irritation. After putting him in charge of governing a region with tens of thousands of people, Erick expected him to understand the lottery system too?

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Bingo to grasp Erick’s intention.

“Ah, I see. Lottery sales have plateaued?”

“Yeah. They’ve declined slightly for the last two rounds. People are probably feeling the low probability of winning. Also, since winner protection is so thorough these days, it’s hard to realize that winners are consistently appearing.”

“So you want to maintain sales with the second-prize system. Ten million isn’t enough to completely change someone’s life, but it’s still a significant amount that will motivate people. …But Erick?”

“Speak, Bingo.”

“Did you think of this from the beginning when you first created the lottery system?”

“Of course I had it in mind. If people don’t find the lottery entertaining, they’ll turn to other mischief.”

“……”

Bingo was about to ask, “Have you thought about gambling options besides the lottery?” but decided against it.

He suspected the answer would be affirmative. If Erick’s plan succeeded, the number of people who could afford to gamble would naturally increase.

‘I wonder what bizarre scheme he’ll come up with next.’

Even Bingo didn’t know the details yet.

He only knew that Erick wanted to satisfy people’s gambling urges and use the money from their pockets to build the country.

However, he was curious about how far ahead Erick was looking and how he could do such things.

While he shouldn’t test his friend, it seemed worth checking. Without any evidence, he felt that Erick had become even more unhinged than before.

***

Yes. Let me ask.

After watching for Erick’s reaction for a while, Bingo spoke.

“Um, Erick. You told me to focus only on sugar beets when you put me in charge of the Second Territory, right?”

“I told you to secure enough equipment for sugar processing too. Is it going well?”

“Of course. But I’m a bit puzzled. You ultimately want to turn that area into a sugar factory, which means we have to abandon all other farming except sugar beets. You know that, right?”

“To produce sugar economically, we need to focus solely on that.”

“True, until now we couldn’t even use all the harvested sugar beets and just ate them as side dishes. But because of this, our territory’s residents are anxious.”

“They would be anxious. But don’t worry about them starving, just do as instructed. It will naturally be resolved when we increase yields from other regions.”

“Actually, I’m anxious too.”

“Don’t worry. Soon we’ll enter an era without fallow fields. During winter wheat planting, I only had time to use the new farming method in my main territory, and even then in a limited way, but from spring it will be introduced to the direct territories too. Preparations are already underway.”

Bingo, thinking he might soon get the answer he wanted, encouraged him.

“Ah, phosphate rock, green manure, and such. …But how can bird droppings be so useful? Does that make sense?”

“It is a bit strange. But Bingo, I’ve heard that there were even wars fought over it. I have other fertilizers in mind, but they would take too long to develop, so I’m using what resources we can secure for now.”

“Wars? Was this in the Saintess’s world?”

“Yes. Hannah told me about it.”

“Looking at things like that, I guess that world isn’t completely hellish. The productivity is on a different level.”

“That place is already beyond worrying about basic survival. Whether it’s hell or not, I don’t know, but certainly the level of development…”

Erick trailed off, as if sensing something odd, and glossed over the rest.

Silence fell across the spacious office for a while.

Bingo instinctively watched for Erick’s reaction, but he didn’t seem particularly displeased. After some time passed, Erick even gave a bitter smile.

However, seeing that smile made Bingo feel even more dejected.

‘So it was true. It wasn’t hell. Just a highly advanced world.’

Bingo had suspected for some time that the worlds of Gwon Heejin and Hannah Wellesley weren’t as terrible as people claimed.

Of course, when he first heard the theory about 20,000 coins, Bingo himself was shocked… but even then, he honestly felt something was off. He wondered if the very fact that 20,000 coins could exist meant something.

This was the moment his suspicion was confirmed.

Erick had probably known for a long time.

He hadn’t hidden it because he wanted to monopolize interesting information, but probably because he thought there was no point in talking about it.

“You must have felt awful all this time.”

“Yes. Of course.”

To be honest, Bingo also felt an unpleasant sensation that was difficult to explain clearly.

It was because he freshly realized how toxic Gwon Heejin’s actions were.

Erick had once said it was “like teaching alcohol and tobacco to a baby,” but now that he thought about it, it was even worse than that.

Of course, Bingo would never have to shoulder as much responsibility as Erick. Bingo was only responsible for the tens of thousands of residents in the Second Territory. Residents who were now diligently farming sugar beets. Honestly, that alone was overwhelming enough…

“I understand, Erick. If there’s anything I can do, just tell me.”

Still, it was right to help as much as possible, even if it meant squeezing his time.

‘I have no choice.’

This wasn’t why he had come.

But he had no choice. At present, there were very few people who could help Erick or understand him.

…

Two hours later, Bingo left the Grand Duke’s Palace with a hollow smile.

Bingo’s weathered face was slightly flushed. It was because he had drunk some alcohol as his conversation with Erick had extended.

One had to wonder how many people could drink alcohol in the Grand Duke’s office—it was an extraordinary privilege.

Of course, he didn’t just drink; he was also assigned an extremely troublesome role.

– Many are so focused on competing for loyalty that they fail to properly follow my instructions. Contact them and soothe them appropriately. Advise them on how to win my favor. …I’ll give you detailed guidelines as needed.

The meaning was to train the overly rigid noble houses that had become stiff due to the politics of fear.

It was a role well-suited for Bingo, who was an officially recognized confidant of Erick—the object of fear—while maintaining a non-threatening image.

It meant having meals with tense nobles, drinking with them, and chatting for hours in front of communication crystals.

‘I can do it, but it will make life more exhausting.’

However, as Erick always did, he offered compensation along with the work.

He announced that he would personally attend Bingo’s upcoming wedding to the large woman ‘Mini’ to congratulate him, and even promised to become the godparent of their yet-to-be-conceived child.

This held enormous significance in the current Empire.

It meant that Bingo’s second generation, whether son or daughter, would be able to live with noble status from birth.

At the very least, they wouldn’t have to live as desperately as Bingo himself had. Thinking about it that way was somewhat comforting.

Yes. For the children.

“Time to go back.”

Soon after, Bingo boarded a carriage pulled by two fine horses.

On his way out of the imperial capital, he deliberately passed by a lottery ticket booth.

Perhaps due to the alcohol, or because the memory of frantically rushing to the exchange for his “escape” suddenly came to mind. While there wasn’t any particular emotion, he couldn’t take his eyes off the people standing in long lines to buy lottery tickets.

How did it come to this? It was somewhat bizarre, but if this was what it took to run the country, there was no avoiding it.