CH 328

“No! Flora can’n go!” Eleonore cried as she clings to my skirt and keeps me from leaving.

“Princess Eleonore…” I said.

We are now heading to the Caan Knights Nation. I came because Wilhelm also summoned me to the royal castle before I left… but it seems that I was set up.

Perhaps Eleonore started to get upset when she heard that I was leaving the royal capital for the time being. Including my wives here, we often played together… I guess this happened because they told her that if she went to visit the Carruthers Residence, we wouldn’t be there.

And Wilhelm gave up on comforting Eleonore… and he summoned me to toss the whole problem in my hands.

“Princess Eleonore…” I said.

“No!” Eleonore cried again, clinging on with more force to resist being pried off.

It’s easy to just yank her off, but there’s no way I can do that. Of course, I’m not even thinking of doing it.

“If you’re a good girl, Princess Eleonore, I’ll be right back,” I said.

“Uuu!” Eleonore whined.

I squatted down while being careful not to flip my skirt up, I got Eleonore to let go enough so we could see eye to eye. She’s still grabbing my dress! But, not completely clinging to the skirt.

“Actually, I brought a gift for you, Princess Eleonore.”

""

“Don’n need it!” Eleonore cried. “I want to be with Flora!”

I was summoned to the royal castle today, so I brought something to give to Eleonore. I don’t mean to make her feel better, but I was just trying to give it to her before I left, but it might have seemed like I was trying to lure Eleonore away with something.

“If you be proper about this, Princess Eleonore, I’ll come back when it’s over,” I said, threatening her a bit. “But if you don’t act properly about this, I may not come back, alright?”

“Huh?! No! Can’t! Do it! I’ll do it, so! Flora, come back!” Eleonore shouted as she clung to me again, crying now.

I didn’t mean to make her cry, but I didn’t expect her to react this much. Well, I wonder if it’s okay because it’s how much she thinks of me.

“Here, Princess Eleonore, please use this,” I said, handing over some books.

“What are these?” Eleonore said, taking it with a blank expression.

“These are picture books. And this you can use as a picture diary,” I said.

“A picture dia-what?” Eleonore said, tilting her head slightly.

Each part of her is so adorable. For some reason, I’m starting to feel sad about leaving Eleonore. However, I can’t bring the princess to the Caan Knights Nation, which is almost a foreign country relative to here.

“Princess Eleonore, please read these picture books, and then write in this picture book what you did every day, what you felt, what happened that day, whatever you like. When this picture diary is full, I will be back,” I said.

Apparently, Eleonore doesn’t like studying. That’s why the people around her seem to be having trouble. So I prepared picture books for Eleonore to help her study and give them as a present. I also wondered if I could make a paper book because I imported paper from the Yamato Empire.

A single sheet is thin, so as a result of stacking several sheets together to make a durable page, it ended up being a fairly expensive book…

Well, money isn’t the problem. The picture book tells the story that I thought of. Simple words and letters are used so that you can learn the language, and another book has content for learning a little arithmetic. In modern terms, it’s like the (CENSORED) series that you can learn from manga, isn’t it? In the first place, picture books are for children to study.

And a book with nothing written on it, or rather a notebook in my sensibilities, is for Eleonore’s picture diary. The first page also includes instructions on how to write a picture diary. A picture diary also has to be drawn. If you write a picture diary by yourself, you will naturally remember the letters. And also the ability to construct and think in sentences.

By the way, the picture diary notebook has 65 pages. Even if you go to the Caan Knights Nation for 2 months, she won’t run out of pages. And if she writes one page a day, I’ll be back by the time we’re done. That it has a slightly larger number of pages is insurance. Eleonore would get angry if I didn’t return after finishing it up.

“Absolutely?” Eleonore said.

“Yes,” I said.

“Absolutely, positively?”

“Absolutely, positively.”

“… Okay. Promise!”

“Yes, I promise.”

I make the pinky promise with Eleanore as she repeatedly asked me. Of course, in this world, there is no such thing as the “cut my pinkie” chant as you’d find in Japan. The language has also changed slightly. I taught Eleonore after she started playing with me and the wives. So the royal court was watching with great interest. Because no one else would know about it.

“I didn’t expect you to calm Eleonore after she was so upset…” Wilhelm said.

Your Majesty… you’re saying that you’re impressed, but you called me with the intention of making me do your job, right? What were you going to do if I couldn’t soothe Eleonore with this…?

“Flora……”

“Your Highness, Ludwig,” I said.

And now Ludwig came out with a strange expression on his face, and Margarete with him as well. Until a little while ago, he was silent because of Eleonore’s commotion, but now Eleonore is looking at the picture books in a good mood, so she’s quiet. She probably can’t read perfectly, but they’ve got some pretty pictures. I didn’t draw the pictures, but…

“Your Highness, Crown Prince Ludwig, I will not forgive you if you make Margarete unhappy,” I said.

“–! … I know that,” Ludwig said, looking down slightly.

Hmmm… Ludwig… really… did you like me that much? I don’t know how it feels. Didn’t you just think that it was just a political marriage and that I was a candidate for marriage? It’s not like we had a very deep connection, and I don’t even know what part of me he liked so much.

There was a lot going on with the wives. I also know that we have deepened our bond with each other. Rather, it is a level where it is better to give up if there is no progress. But what happened between me and Ludwig? All I remember is that when I came home, I gave him a blunt blow to his ego, and when I fought a mad horned bear, I met him face-to-face, right?

Or is that what it was? Did he misunderstand the suspension bridge effect when he had a terrifying experience together when I fought off the mad horned bear? I don’t understand…….

“Margarete, be happy with Prince Ludwig,” I said, smiling.

“Flora……” Margarete said, lowering her eyebrows for some reason.

Why is it so…….? Does she think I gave up the place to Margarete with a painful decision? I’m rather happy with this result. The number of wives has increased unexpectedly, but Eleonore is still very cute, and if you look at the First Queen, she will be beautiful in the future.

“Then, Your Majesty Wilhelm, I will unite the Caan Knights Nation,” I said.

“Umu!” Wilhelm went.

And with the niceties done, I leave the royal castle. When I left, I thought that Eleonore would make a fuss again, but she put up with it. No matter what you say, she’s a smart kid who’s been properly educated. She doesn’t cry or yell, she just believes in my promise and waits. In that case, I have to return properly without breaking my promise.

This time we will go down by boat on the Odel River east of Berne, to travel to Steltin. There’s no particular reason. However, since it’s all downhill, the boat is more reliable than uphill. Sometimes the boat slows down for some unexpected reason. The descent is more likely to be faster, but it’s unlikely to be slower than the minimum.

A horse-drawn carriage would have been fine, as usual, but it just happened that our boat was coming up the Odel River. Take a boat down to Steltin, spend the night in Steltin, and then head to Koenigsvelg and the Caan Knights Nation.

I told the wives that they could stay in the royal capital because there was school, but there was no way that there would be any wives who would stay as I asked… I hope their school grades don’t drop…

“Master Floto, where are we going?” Kanbee asked.

“I suppose this is the first time for you and the others, isn’t it?” I said. “As I explained, in addition to my territory, the Caan Knighthood, there is the Caan Barony, and then the Caan Knights Nation…”

Of course, I’ve also talked to Kanbee and the others about our future plans, and some of the jobs that come in are from the Caan Knights Nation. That’s why they should be aware of its existence, but because of this country’s system, citizens from the Yamato Empire probably don’t quite understand it. I’ll briefly explain it to Kanbee and Musashi.

“I know it’s a territory in a remote area, but… isn’t it too big?” Kanbee asked.

“I agree…” I said.

What Kanbee saw directly were the knighthood and barony. In particular, the barony is still under construction and there are no real residents. If you’re planning to become a citizen, then yes, but… the Knighthood also has a fairly large land area, but the population is small and underdeveloped, or rather, it’s a newly-made town.

If you look at the content of the work coming up from the Knighthood in comparison to them, you will soon notice that the scale is different from the other two. Tax revenues have already risen, and budgets and workloads are on an order of magnitude different from others. Even within the Kingdom of Ploiss, it must be a fairly large dukedom or principality.

Although it is still small in terms of territory area, the coastal area is quite developed as an important base for Hulk Sea Trade. It also has a large population. Tax revenue is also high for that amount, and unlike other regions, we have already obtained a completed territory, so tax revenue is coming soon. Managing this is extremely difficult.

“However, it has only been a short time since the Caan Knights Nation was established,” I said. “We must now build its ruling system, administration, and military structure…”

“I don’t think that’s an amount of work that can be done in 2 months, but…” Kanbee said.

I know what Kanbee wants to say. Even I don’t think I can do it perfectly in 2 months. However, I can only stay for 2 months. There is no choice but to do as much as possible during that time and leave the rest to me.

“I don’t have enough hands… I wish there were more talented people…” I said.

“…”

Kanbee closed his mouth and was silent. I’m not saying that Kanbee isn’t great. Kanbee is doing a great job. However, considering the scale of my management, I don’t think it’s going to settle down unless there are dozens of people as talented as Kanbee.

It’s not that we’re in trouble because Kanbee is incompetent or less skilled, but that we simply don’t have enough manpower. If possible, it would be impossible without at least a few more people as good as Kanbee.

“Of course, you are excellent and I rely on you, Kanbee,” I said. “But if I praise you too much, you might have your ego inflated again.”

“Wha?! Such a thing is…” Kanbee started.

But, he can’t tell me it’s not true, can he? I guess he’s aware that he has a habit of getting a little carried away.

“First of all, we need to establish a governance system and recruit excellent people,” I said.

“Yes,” Kanbee said.

There may have been some who were excellent among the ruling class of the Kingdom of Polsky. I don’t want to use the old ruling class so much, but if they’re excellent, I’m short-staffed if I don’t pick them up. I have no intention of acknowledging the privileges they had before, but if they’re going to work seriously, I’ll have to at least let them serve as officers…

“What are you doing talking about this? Take it easy on the ship,” Mikoto said.

“Kusu, thank you very much,” I said.

It seems she cares about my health. It’s a little mean to say it, but knowing Mikoto’s personality, I don’t get angry.

“Ah! Floto! I can see it now!” Louisa said, grabbing my arm and taking me to a place with a good view.

The town of Koenigsvelg began to appear in front of us.

“It’s more lively than the last time we came,” Louisa said.

“I agree,” I said.

A considerable number of ships pass around Koenigsvelg. A lot of ships are moored in the port. Come to think of it, the Polsky Navy ship that was moored offshore has disappeared. I wonder if the treaty was formally concluded and the treatment of the POWs was decided, so they removed them?

Huh? Come to think of it, I don’t remember deciding what to do with the ship… I don’t think it’s possible for someone to arbitrarily divert it…

“The harbor is noisy, isn’t it?” Mikoto asked.

“That it is~,” Louisa said.

Hmm…? No, it’s noisy, but that’s because it’s a welcome party. For a moment, I thought that something was wrong, but it seems that they were waiting to meet our ship. I told them that we were coming today, so they probably came to pick me up. I should have told them that I didn’t need that, but…

“It looks like they’ve come to meet us,” Kanbee said.

“Oh, it seems so,” I said.

The party seems welcoming… but I wonder what they really think of us here in Koenigsvelg? That will change our future plans of action, but I wonder…