381 Episode Five: The Empress's Production 1 - Meer's One Arm, Moving Out On Its Own Again

The day after his meeting with Meer, Ludwig was visiting an old house built in the corner of the Empire.

There......, a certain secret meeting was taking place.

The lights of the flames swinging loosely, illuminated there, were the figures of eight men and women. Those who surround the table and bicker in thoughtful places.

Some of them appeared to be Ludwig's collaborators, Balthazar and Jilbert.

Yes... all those gathered there, the same gate of Ludwig. disciples of Garve the Wise.

Some are involved in diplomacy in Green Moon Province, while others are responsible for the administration of Empire City in Blue Moon Province. Some worked in the same golden moon province as Ludwig.

If it's a mutation, some people are intrigued and bring themselves into the ministerial corps of the central nobility.

They are all those who hold positions in their own hands and wave their arms.

"But you're surprised... I didn't know all those nobles had fallen overseas...... Because they were brilliant, they thought they were blind, so they erased them."

It was the work of the Duke of Yellowmoon earlier that was told as if it were a public tale.

Another young man who heard it shrugged his shoulder and shook his head.

"Hey, I didn't think you'd call me back. I knew it, I thought the empire would lean first... Too bad I thought I could count on you as a handler then."

With an ironic grin, he apparently knew how to work the Duke of Yellowmoon. I knew... I didn't tell anyone and secretly put it in my chest to see if I could use it for something someday.

Excellent people with high abilities and working wisdom. But the deed, without being tied to anyone, was little more than freedom.

They will never be tied to an empire. Excellent, but therefore, there is a place to be active in any country.

Therefore, if this country were to be rotten, they would easily abandon it. Because it is the teacher's teaching that there is no need to martyr the foolish aristocrats.

- But in order to make Master Meer an empress, we need the help of the civilians now more than ever. The cooperation of the nobles is, of course... the cooperation of officials is essential in order to move the country.

The situation in which Meer was putting together the sons of the four Grand Dukes, steadily increasing the allies of the nobility, and the cooperation of his own peers, was what Ludwig's had to do whether or not.

"Guys, I'm sorry you got together..."

Ludwig's words gather everyone's gaze on the spot.

"Hey, Senior Ludwig. Isn't it impossible to ignore a senior's call at this time of year?

On behalf of Jill Bale opened his mouth. With a pranky grin, he goes on.

"You just made a glorious statement to succeed the Emperor, didn't you? Your Highness, the senior princess. Well, they're all coming, there's no way they're not interested."

"Right...... That's convenient."

Ludwig looked around at everyone's face on the spot before gently pushing up his glasses.

"Let's get straight to it. I want you all to cooperate with Her Royal Highness Princess Meer."

"Well, cooperate... But is that all it's worth? To His Royal Highness the Princess...... I thought all the nobles and imperials in this country were incompetent... Her Royal Highness Princess Meer is the exception?

A man in front of me, turning a provocative gaze.

"That's what I think... I'd love for everyone to make their own decisions."

That said, what Ludwig took out...... it was a bunch of parchment paper with fine numbers on it.

"Is that...?

"I need you to see something."

Ludwig, take a breath and see the faces of everyone. Then, he opened his mouth to the contrary.

"Starting this year, there will be a massive famine"

Before coming here, Ludwig had decided. to use the imminent crisis in order to attach cooperation;

There are two aims. When it comes to hunger, it's about getting their help, and dragging them to their peers by showing them the attitude Meer has taken to the crisis.

In addition, if you say so, it also means keeping them connected so that the empire is not easily escaped, just because it is in danger.

They are free-handed, but they were only taught by Galve, and the strength of their curiosity is one thing.

If they had been presented with information on famine in advance like that..., if they had been prophesied that the famine would last for three years...?

There's no way they're not interested. You should want to see the upside of things......

It is Ludwig's measure, familiar with the nature of the disciples of the wise man Garv.

"Hunger... Sure, there are signs of that. I hear that last year's wheat harvest declined, and the crops in the spring end are out of stock..."

Balthazar snaps at someone's twinkle.

"I suppose it can be said that the official view of the Red Moon Province is…, but the harvest on imperial soil is expected to decrease this year. Overall low temperatures seem to be relevant since last summer"

His remarks were then opened by another human being.

"Views as Green Moon Province, but there is a relatively high likelihood that famine will occur. Inaction is not exclusively in the Empire, and imports from neighbouring countries are soaring. I still think it's acceptable..."

The negative chain of higher food prices making the poor hungry, starving to death, fewer people able to work, and even fewer harvests the following year.

The signs are already beginning to appear.

"So what's wrong with that? Not a single one of you who is here is unaware of the possibility?

"Oh, right. But Mia had been expecting this for two years. And I've been preparing for it."

"Since two years ago? No way......"

The man who hears it turns a bunch of parchment in a hurry.

"In accordance with Master Meer, for the past two years we have been striving to improve our finances and at the same time to stockpile food. In addition, Mia has a route for transporting wheat from remote locations, considering that crop failure extends not only to the Empire but also to the surrounding countries."

"Wheat imports from afar, using the Fork Road Chamber of Commerce...... Besides, fix the price..."

"I see, by paying a high amount of money from normal times, when things are in crisis, do you want help the other way around... Not a bad idea...... Isn't this a system that can also be used in commercial unions and so on?

From those gathered, praise is spoken up.

"But is it possible to foresee this and so on? No way, you think His Highness the Princess is a prophet? You think you can predict what's going to happen to the future?

Once, while fixing the position of the glasses, Ludwig thinks.

Sure, Meer seems to have foreseen the future so much that it is not an exaggeration when it comes to prediction…, but he didn't think it was based on supernatural power.

"I don't know everything you think Meer... but my prediction is that it was only brainwork that allowed Meer to act this time"

"Brain labor…, by observation and prediction, to foresee precisely the future? I see, there are cycles in famine, too, if you think about it. If you learn history, when is it possible to expect famine to occur?"

"That's not all. Perhaps we know exactly what's going on in the empire. So, what do you mean, starve, restrict foreign imports, make war, when there was a dramatic change of circumstances, you were sensing the crisis the Empire was going to fall into?

They nodded at each other and turned to Ludwig.

"I see. So, you're going to take advantage of this famine to make popular support a cornerstone at once. Do you want to go out and distribute food where hunger is spreading? If the lord of the land had ketched the food, he could easily attach the popular support with it as the bad guy...... It's the right thing to do as a monarch."

When he heard it, Ludwig shook his head small, though.

"No, I'm not. Meer, what you're trying to do is bigger."

Thus, the man known as Meer's one arm laughed confidently.