Ch.915Make It Happen, Even if It Seems Impossible.

The next morning.

“Haaaam…”

Around the time when maids preparing breakfast began busily moving through the corridors, I woke up and let out a long yawn.

My entire body felt incredibly light.

Was it thanks to the warm bath, the meat-filled meal, and sufficient sleep? It was the most refreshing awakening I’d had in a long time.

Indeed, people need to bathe well, eat well, and sleep well.

Even with a body that rarely tired, the only way to recover from mental fatigue was through pleasant and comfortable rest.

“Phew…”

I exhaled lightly and raised my body from where I was lying.

Very carefully. So as not to wake Lena, who was sleeping with her head buried in my chest instead of a pillow, and Imara, who was shyly holding my left hand as she slept.

“Uuuu…sissterrr…”

“Mmm…”

Lena and Imara tossed and turned in my bed, muttering quiet sleep talk.

Just like during bath time, this was the result of them competitively begging to sleep with me.

These two… there’s no need to wake them up.

Let them sleep more.

I tucked a pillow under Lena’s head, covered them well with the blanket, then took out casual clothes from the wardrobe, changed from my pajamas, and went outside.

—-

“You look remarkably at peace, Your Majesty.”

Eleonora, whom I met again, looked even more haggard than before. So much so that I wondered if she had been cursed to have her vitality drained.

“You look very tired. It reminds me of Emperor Leopold.”

Like true siblings, Eleonora, exhausted from overwork, looked remarkably similar to Leopold’s recent appearance.

Except for the hair volume.

“…Is that so? It seems my brother has many hardships as well.”

Eleonora sighed deeply as she spoke, perhaps worried about Leopold’s health.

“As is proper for a monarch of a nation.”

…Is she taking a jab at me?

“Well… the work of an emperor or a regent is equally headache-inducing.”

I shrugged lightly and took out a Mana Herb to chew on.

Perhaps finding my nonchalant response too casual, Eleonora slightly furrowed her brow behind her veil and clicked her tongue.

“…Tsk.”

Her seemingly emotionless eyes barely concealed resentment and irritation. Not that it was my concern.

If she wants to resent someone, she should resent Leopold.

I only acted as Leopold wanted. He was the one who assigned his sister to me in the first place. For the right person in the right place.

In other words, ‘Leopold sold you out!’

It’s unfortunate, but what can I do? She should just accept it as fate. It’s not like there are other options.

Besides, just looking at her remaining hair roots, her situation wasn’t as difficult as Leopold’s.

If she were truly working hard enough to die from overwork, she would have followed in the footsteps of the Radiant Emperor to become the Radiant Regent.

She still had strength left. Her abundantly golden hair was proof of that.

Therefore…

“Anyway, I have some work for you to do.”

I could assign her additional tasks without any guilt.

“Work…? Yes, work you say…?”

Eleonora asked with a trembling voice. The resentment in her eyes as she looked at me seemed to have already intensified. And I hadn’t even gotten to the main point yet.

“Yes. Yesterday, I noticed that the residents’ evacuation drills were very well organized… I’d like to expand that nationwide.”

I grinned and exhaled smoke.

“What I’m saying is that we need to build underground shelters in every city in Hestella, and train people in advance so they can evacuate as quickly as possible when enemies appear.”

“In every city…? Where would we get the budget for that?”

“That’s for you to work hard and secure. If it’s too much for you alone, discuss it with Chancellor Siegel. Why do you think I gave the chancellor position to a runaway human? To make good use of him at times like this.”

Eleonora looked at me with a stunned face and then let out a deep sigh. She looked like a married woman being forced into an affair after having her weakness discovered.

“Even if I put our heads together with that person, I don’t think we could come up with a way to cover such enormous costs.”

Eleonora shook her head and lamented that there was no solution. Her face looked not just bleak but desperate.

“Is there really no way?”

“Well, unless we drastically increase taxes and collect nine-tenths of income…”

“Nine-tenths?”

I couldn’t help but stick out my tongue at the idea she came up with. Nine-tenths? That was an idea only a demon in human disguise would think of.

“Wow… that’s a bit…”

If they heard a proposal to take 90% of income as tax, even Meiharin or Isabella would turn pale with shock and denounce the proposer as a heartless demon.

Most likely, the moment this was implemented, all citizens of Hestella would either rise in rebellion with bamboo spears or flee to other countries without looking back.

“Aren’t you being too cruel…?”

“Your Majesty is the one making me into a cruel person.”

Eleonora now openly clicked her tongue and tsk-tsked.

…Didn’t she used to be somewhat wary of me? She was definitely a bit afraid too.

But now she’s just…

“If you tell me to secure money when there’s no source, what other method is there besides squeezing the subjects? The people would be so pleased, wouldn’t they? Taking nine-tenths of their income in exchange for providing shelters for them.”

Eleonora was spitting out words without filtering, like a chihuahua with rabies.

They say when irritation reaches its limit, people lose sight of what they should and shouldn’t say. She was exactly like that now.

[That’s right! Well done, keep snapping at him!]

What are you saying, you two-legged human-faced dog?

Ignoring the cheers of the bestiality result echoing in my head, I lightly grabbed Eleonora’s shoulders, pressed them down firmly, and stared into her eyes through the veil.

“Let’s calm down, shall we? You may have been a princess and queen before, but now you’re my subject. Shouldn’t you behave accordingly? For the sake of maintaining a harmonious relationship between us, let’s refrain from crossing the line.”

While giving her the advice to think carefully about who she was venting her frustration at with a cooled head.

“You understand what I mean, right?”

“…Hiccup.”

When I brought my face close enough that our noses almost touched and smiled meaningfully to indicate that she should understand, Eleonora turned pale and started hiccupping.

With tears even slightly welling up at the corners of her eyes, her expression made even me feel somewhat sorry.

…Was I too harsh?

“Well… I understand what you’re trying to say. There really is no source of money?”

I cleared my throat and lightly patted her shoulders to comfort her.

“Then…”

Retracing my memories and experiences, I pondered what methods could be used in this situation.

Since my past experiences were mostly just slogging away as a soldier, they wouldn’t be particularly helpful for budget issues, but…

…Ah, would that work?

“Hey, Eleonora. You know the budget the Empire provided for the wall restoration?”

The wall restoration budget.

Ludwig thought he would have to restore it with his own money, but after his death, the Empire—Leopold—had been providing Hestella with substantial support funds for wall restoration.

Separate from the alliance support funds that could be used freely, there were massive materials and money that could only be used for restoring the wall.

The reason being that if enemies from the east crossed the wall and advanced, not only Hestella but also the Empire would inevitably suffer from war.

“…Yes? Hiccup, we do have that… but why… Hiccup.”

“Let’s divert… I mean, redirect that to build shelters. It doesn’t matter if we postpone the wall restoration.”

I was thinking of diverting that money and materials to build shelters.

If money or supplies are lacking, you take from other units to fill the gap. Isn’t that the soldier’s spirit?

It was the truth of truths that all soldiers, from common soldiers to high-ranking officers, would sympathize with and agree to.

“…What?”

Not being from a military background, Eleonora wouldn’t know this truth, so she stared at me with a dumbfounded face and her mouth wide open.

A face that seemed to say, “Are you seriously saying that?” She was so dumbfounded that even her hiccups seemed to have stopped.

“No, listen. To be honest, that wall—we’re only restoring it because the Empire asked us to, but it’s not really necessary anymore.”

In my judgment, there was no reason to be wary of the east for at least the next few years.

Hadn’t the Ka’har’s main forces been shattered once during Orhan’s time, and then again during Meiharin’s?

Targiyan was still around, but with his abilities, it would be difficult to restore even half of their former glory.

To unite the Ka’har, one needed either overwhelming strength or political skills capable of subjugating even barbarians, and Targiyan had neither.

That person might be ten times more competent than Amin… but that’s just 10 Amins.

Frankly speaking, if not for his background as Orhan’s son, he would be at about the same level as Jahan.

For such a person to integrate the fragmented tribes, even with the most generous estimate, it would take at least 5 years.

In fact, the possibility of him being killed without achieving unification was much higher.

Either being killed by competitors vying for the Kagan position, or the entire tribe being annihilated by natural disasters like dragons or monsters.

So, there was no need to worry about the eastern side for the time being.

Moreover…

“The Empire won’t even notice, right? They’re too busy dealing with the dragon problem to have the leisure to come check on the wall’s restoration progress.”

“But still…”

“If you’re really concerned, let’s just make the exterior look decent. You can’t tell if a hollow rice cake is empty until you tap it, right?”

Even if the Empire were to send someone to check the condition of the wall, there was no need to worry.

We could just make the exterior look decent with shoddy construction.

The wall had little utility now anyway, so who cared about its internal structure?

In this era where people and monsters alike had started flying around, massive walls were already anachronistic decorations.

Not to mention against dragons.

“…Yes. I’ll handle it that way. If Your Majesty will take responsibility for this.”

After a brief persuasion, Eleonora finally accepted my proposal with a disgruntled face.

Probably because she couldn’t think of a better alternative either.