episode_0047

“This has happened, what should I do?”

In response to Leona’s question, Franz Mayer looked quite puzzled and thought about it for a while. And when the worries are over.

“Master, would you like to hear a political perspective? Or would you like to hear a strategic perspective?”

“Both!”

“Yes. If so, let me start from a political perspective.”

Franz took a breath and said.

“Kill them all.”

Leona was taken aback by this extreme statement. Kill them all? He also thought that way, but if it were the usual Franz, he would have stopped it, saying what a tyrant would do?

“Why did you think that?”

“They are quite capable people. It’s powerful enough to hit the master with one blow. If these people are left alone, rebellions will continue to occur, and since they are capable, their attempts at rebellion will be difficult to suppress. So, it would be better to kill them all and eliminate the aftereffects like in Torgenberg.”

“… ”

That was correct. Franz Mayer eliminated all indigenous forces in the dungeons of Torgenberg. Thanks to this, there was not even a single rebellion in Torgenberg. Franz Mayer was speaking. Make the same choice as then.

‘It is clean. but… ‘

Something is at stake. Would it really be the right answer to kill them all? For some reason, I felt uncomfortable. That’s why Leona asked.

“Then what if you look at it from a strategic perspective rather than a political one?”

“Save everything.”

huh? This time, the opposite opinion emerged.

“Split Letlis into south and north and appoint Walther as lord of the south. And make him your vassal. If you do that, Walther will take care of blocking external enemies from the east.”

“In the north?”

“All we have to do is deploy someone from our side to keep Letlis in check.”

“Ho… ”

It makes sense. More than anything, it was attractive.

“Which would you choose between a political perspective and a strategic perspective?”

“If it were me, I would kill them all. Because I don’t want another faction to form within the faction.”

“What do you think I would do?”

Franz Mayer sighed.

“Your Majesty will save everyone.”

“Why?”

“Your Highness hates losing talented people the most.”

Leona suffered from a man-made disease. That’s why I will never kill them. More than anything, I saw their solidarity with my own eyes.

“… ”

Leona was deeply troubled. Leona, who had been thinking for more than 10 minutes, finally spoke.

“That is correct. I will save everything.”

The Letless family has a new opportunity.

—–

“You guys said it before. We are all together when we live, and we are together when we die.”

“That’s right, this guy! No matter how much you try to divide us, our Lettlis vassals will never break!”

“Then let’s all live together.”

A question mark appeared above Victor’s head.

“I will save everyone. 1 person on the left, 19 people on the right. Everyone.”

“Is it okay to kill one person?”

Bernardis said.

“I will leave it up to you to decide whether that person lives or dies. I will not kill anyone.”

“… Thank you, but what are your intentions?”

“Instead, you become my vassals. Of course, the territory will be halved, property will be confiscated, and autonomy will not be maintained. It’s quite pathetic compared to the conditions you asked for. But you will survive. Every single person.”

“… ”

“Do you hate going under the enemy? Is hell better?”

The Letless vassals looked at each other’s faces. They seemed to be looking at each other. Meanwhile, Walter woke up.

“From now on, I will treat you as my lord.”

Walter got down on one knee towards Leona. It was a quick decision.

When Walter got down on one knee, the other retainers also got down on one knee.

That’s how Leona came to have excellent subordinates.

—–

Now there really is no money to go to war.

Of course, if you are in debt, you can start a war, but there is no merit in starting a war like that.

Accordingly, Leona decided to reorganize her internal affairs.

I thought about Leona’s abilities.

—–

Leona von Krusenstein

Leadership: 94

Force: 81

Intelligence: 96

Politics: 98

——

Leona von Krusenstein has the highest total ability scores in the entire world. And Leona’s highest ability is politics. That’s because Leona boasts the world’s strongest ability when it comes to internal affairs.

However, when it comes to internal affairs, the worldview is the strongest, so why is politics 98 instead of 100? There was some debate among users about that point, but my opinion was firm.

[Politics refers to internal affairs, diplomacy, and management skills. Leona has 100 points in internal affairs, but has low politics due to a deduction in diplomacy and management skills.]

That’s the conclusion I came to. Of course, this is just my opinion, so there is no guarantee that it is correct.

Leona always asked my opinion on internal affairs.

But I only had one thing to say to Leona.

[Your Highness, when it comes to internal affairs, if you do as you think, everything will work out well.]

It wasn’t flattery. If you separate out internal affairs and diplomacy among the politics stats, Leona’s internal affairs ability would be 100.

Of course, it would be possible to repeat the same actions that Leona did in the original story, but since the situation is different from the original story, leaving Leona to devise new policies was more likely to produce a better result.

And, in March 555. At this time, Leona was demonstrating her internal affairs skills without fail.

First of all, merchant taxes.

During this time, merchants were being double and triple taxed.

The first is a tax that goes to the lord.

Regardless of the era, in order to do business, you have to pay taxes to the local ruler.

Therefore, merchants also paid taxes to local lords, and very few people refused to pay these taxes.

The problem starts here.

The church also collected taxes from merchants.

Fifty years ago, before the difficult times began, the power of the church was not strong. However, as the turbulent times began, the military power of the lords was scattered, while the church united and expanded its interests through the weapon of faith.

The church, which had steadily grown in strength over the past 50 years, now had a power that surpassed even most feudal lords. In the process, the church levied a tax on those who did business in their territory, and if they did not pay the tax, they sent knights belonging to the church to commit extreme violence.

The problem is that there is not one such church.

There are various factions within the church, and there are cases where more than one church claims an interest in one area, so if you are unlucky, a merchant may have his place rent ripped off by two or three churches.

Leona wiped out all these priests.

They occupied the church, disbanded the rogue priests and paladins, and expelled them from the territory.

It didn’t end there. During this period, the royal family would personally set up something similar to a toll gate called a [Gateway] to collect tolls, but Leona even abolished all of these.

Anyone could have done it up to this point.

The great thing about Leona started now. After driving out all the royal family members and priests who were imposing heavy taxes on merchants, rumors spread that it was easy to do business in Leona’s territory.

Leona, who attracted such an overwhelming number of merchants, imposed lower taxes on those merchants than before and abolished many existing policies that hindered merchants, while also implementing policies to provide convenience.

It was easy to say, but this was something that not everyone could do. This is because it was impossible for anyone to accurately judge what policies were intrusive and how to change them to benefit.

There are policies that are appropriate for the situation and the times, and it requires considerable insight to understand what policies are needed.

In the end, famous merchants around the world began to set up shop in Kruzenstein’s territory, which allowed them to keep other countries in check while raising enormous amounts of taxes.

Of course, Leona’s policy was a terrible prescription.

The clergy and the royal family were people that had to be thrown out at some point, but throwing them out in such an extreme way was not a good thing.

But what is certain is that Leona followed up neatly and benefited enormously from it.

With this, the three powers became enemies.

one. An expelled priest.

two. The royal family was kicked out.

three. Surrounding lords who lost their merchants.

But Leona didn’t care. Someday, I plan to take control of the world. For that to happen, it is inevitable that enemies will arise. It was a good thing that we had created enemies in the future.

In an instant, money began to accumulate in the allies’ treasury, and the allies became stronger.

Now all that remains is the expedition to the central region.

By enthroning the emperor, the world of Krusenstein is created.

Plus my personal ambitions.

With Leona at the forefront, world unification is achieved. And then go back home.

These two were the only things left.