The capital of the Eastern Lemurian Empire—Nova Lemuria—was famously known as "the city where two third of the world's wealth is located." The city possessed a great natural harbor and sat on trade routes going all four directions.
The Empire amassed great wealth from the passage of goods. But this transit trade had two glaring flaws.
Firstly, it was greatly influenced by the political climate and economic conditions of the import and export destinations. Secondly, because of this transit trade, wealth would inevitably flow through the neighboring country… that is, the Empire's greatest nemesis—the Kingdom of Fars. Hence, it was vital for the Empire to search for another source of income, separate from the transit trade.
The foremost thing that needed to be promoted was agriculture.
Aside from wheat which was the Empire's staple food, grapes and olives were also cultivated. These grapes and olives were processed into the Empire's main exports which were wine and olive oil. However, the Empire could only acquire a small amount of foreign currencies from these exports.
As for the handicraft industry, the Empire produced glassware and high-quality pottery. They were also goods for export. However, both were also produced by the Kingdom of Fars.
The Kingdom of Fars' handicraft industry was no less developed than that of the Lemurian Empire. Competition with them would not return a significant profit.
More importantly…
Even if these goods were to sell, there's no meaning to it if the profit earned did not flow into the imperial treasury as tax. Therefore, it was pointless to encourage the production of wine, olive oil, glass, and pottery. The Empire needed to have a monopoly on a new product…
"That's why I'd like you guys to take a look at this. What do you think?"
"It's so… white."
Carolina rounded her eyes in puzzlement. Christos, Garphis, and Lucanos also stared at Hercule's hands with wide open eyes.
Hercule was holding a pure white pottery with both hands.
Yes, a pure white pottery.
"This is a pottery produced by our empire."
"…Seriously?"
Christos gulped.
Most pottery produced by the Empire and the Kingdom of Fars were black in color. Neither country possessed the technology to produce white ceramic. Not just Fars, but even the Silk Country of the Orient could not make white pottery. It certainly could be sold at a very high price.
Pure white was considered a sacred color in the Messianic faith.
"This is called bone porcelain. The white color comes from animal bones."
It was the so-called bone china.
As for why Hercule knew of the production method of bone porcelain… Well, Hercule actually wasn't the one who made it.
It goes without saying.
No matter how much of a study freak Hercule was, he would never be able to make bone porcelain just from the knowledge gained from reading books.
The artisans of the Lemurian Empire pretty much invented it from scratch.
About four years ago, the eight-year-old Hercule had secretly requested Lemurian artisans to create this porcelain. Hercule had originally intended to run away from home when he became an adult, but he was not so ungrateful that he would leave without repaying the favor of being taken care of.
I made this bone porcelain, so forgive me for running away from home!
That was his plan.
What Hercule did was giving the artisans some pointers on the materials and the production method, after that he simply gave them funds and received periodic progress reports. From Hercule's point of view, he just lazed around and listened to reports and voila, it's done! But for the artisans, it must have been one hell of a headache.
The Lemurian Emperor holds absolute power in the Empire. If his son requests something from you and you dare to refuse, then you'd better prepare to bite the dust. Of course, failure also means death.
Because Hercule knew of the existence of bone porcelain, he never doubted that it would be a success. But for the artisans who had to obey the directions of an amateur brat who didn't even know the word "pottery", it was natural for them to think that failure was certain.
This bone porcelain was the crystallization of the hardships endured by the artisans, who were resolved to die and shed tears while adjusting the flame upon seeing the product's completion.
Well, Hercule did reward the artisans with enough money to fool around for a lifetime, and they would continue to make bone porcelain for the rest of their life so they should have no concerns about their future. That was the fruit of their efforts.
"This is actually still in the research stage. The white color is really pretty, right?"
"It's amazing enough already!!!"
Christos stood up in excitement. Lucanos still kept a poker face, but his eyes were fixed on the bone porcelain. Garphis gave a wry smile and said.
"I didn't expect Your Majesty to show us something so incredible out of the blue."
"Uh-huh."
Hercule affirmed lightly. He was fully aware that he was stealing other people's ideas, so he only puffed his chest up a little bit.
They do say that ignorance is a sin. This was still something Hercule achieved through his wisdom.
"Only a few artisans can make this thing, but they do exist. Round up more artisans and we can start mass production. Sales shall be taxed at 40%. I'm the one who invented it, so they should have no complaint."
The artisans should still earn a big profit even if Hercule charged 40% of the sales as tax. There would be a very high demand for white pottery.
"There's this as well."
Hercule snapped his fingers with a smug expression. A maid came out holding a tray, placed on which were five cups. She set the cups down on the desk, then bowed and left in silence.
The cups placed down by the maid were made of pure white porcelain. Hercule brought one of them to his mouth.
"Yeah, it's bitter alright."
"…What is that supposed to be?"
Carolina frowned while peering at the liquid inside the cups.
A mysterious, pitch-black liquid.
"It's called coffee."
"Cof—fee?"
A question mark appeared on top of Carolina's head.
Hercule was silently drinking the coffee, prompting the other four to drink. Christos, Garphis, Lucanos, and Carolina gingerly brought the cups to their mouth. Their reactions are as follows:
"So tasty!" exclaimed Carolina.
"Eww…" Garphis moaned.
"This is… really bitter." Christos frowned.
"I feel so awakened. I think I like this," said Lucanos.
Looking at these four, Hercule nodded in satisfaction.
"I created this new drink to substitute for wine and beer."
Most of the water in the Empire, as well as in its surrounding countries was hard water. It wasn't like Japan where water sources were abundant. Therefore most water was not very tasty, and it was difficult to get hold of fresh water.
Alcoholic beverages basically never go bad so they can be stored for a long time. When you dilute water with alcohol, the water gets sterilized, at the same time that makes it taste a bit better.
But there's a big problem with it.
You get drunk when you drink alcohol.
That was why tea was a popular drink among noblemen, clergymen and merchants. Not barley tea of course, but tea made from bona fide tea leaves. This tea was imported from the Orient, naturally at a steep price.
That's where coffee comes in!
This was Hercule's plan.
"This drink is very effective for keeping oneself awake. It's consumed by a certain church, I received it from them."
Hercule got his hands on coffee by sheer coincidence.
Many years before, when Hercule accompanied Hadrianus to the southern region of the Empire, he saw coffee being drunk at the church where they stayed at. They grew the coffee plant at a corner of the church and drunk coffee to fight off drowsiness.
Hercule had dispatched a messenger to acquire it from them.
However…
Hercule was a bit uncertain.
Can coffee beans really be growth here?
There was only that simple question. Hercule was not very informed about the ideal conditions to grow coffee beans.
But the rainfall and the climate of the church's garden where he found coffee… Aren't they a little off from the conditions suitable for growing coffee beans? Hercule thought.
Nevertheless, this was not Earth.
It's unthinkable that Earth's coffee plant and the coffee plant of this world would be the exact same plant. In the first place, there was no concrete proof that those peas were actually coffee beans. There was no way to examine the DNA to say for sure. It's extremely similar to coffee, but there was a high possibility that it was actually a different plant.
The word for "coffee" on Earth and the word used at the church where this world's "coffee" was cultivated actually sounded completely different, they weren't even in the same language.
The geography and vegetation of this world highly resembled those of Earth. But there was a major difference.
Of course, that would be the fact that there were elves and werebeasts around.
"People from that church know how to cultivate this plant. Let's grow it in the imperial demesne for sale. We'll make a killing for sure."
For the time being, Hercule intended to spread coffee among nobles, clergymen and wealthy merchants by selling the new drink to them at a high price. After coffee had gained a certain degree of popularity and the common people had expressed interest in the drink, he would slowly teach farmers the cultivation method to increase the production output.
He would have the monopoly in the beginning. After that, he would gain more even profit from sales tax.
"We will focus on these two products for the time being. I'm sure that gold will flow into the imperial coffers sooner or later."
Trying to sell too many products at once would go nowhere, Hercule thought.
He actually had plans for beekeeping, obtaining sugar maple if he could somehow find it, smuggling out sugar, cotton seeds, and silkworm eggs, but it was impossible to do so many things at once. He should concentrate fully on goods that could be produced quickly and reliably for now.
The black coffee and the luxurious white porcelain were not a bad combination. They would definitely turn a nice profit when sold as a set.
(Bone porcelain and coffee won't be enough to improve the financial situation, though)
Watching the four excited people, Hercule thought in his heart. The Empire's finances were not so small that they could be propped up by only bone porcelain and coffee. Of course, it would be a different story once they had developed into huge industries.
He had only just got started. It would take at least five years for these industries to have an impact on the imperial treasury.
Then he wouldn't make the promised three-year time limit.
He wouldn't be able to make Carolina do "anything".
"Next we need to take a look at the administrative documents."
The Empire's fiscal affairs weren't so precarious in the beginning. They used to be quite well off in the old days. The finances only started to decline a short while after Hercule's father, Hadrianus III took the throne. They temporarily recovered thanks to Hadrianus' effort but deteriorated again in the final years of his rule.
That was all the information Hercule had.
For the Empire's financial situation to deteriorate in such a short period of time, Hercule could think of three reasons.
Firstly, the population decline and devastation of farmlands had caused the national income to fall. But Hercule thought that they shouldn't have that big of an effect. If agricultural infrastructure had been so devastated that it caused the national finances to dwindle, the Empire would have been in ruins by now.
That left the other two reasons he thought of.
Because the taxation efficiency had decayed, the Empire could not collect the full tax value.
Or a portion of tax money had vanished because of waste and embezzlement.
So, which is it?
Wait, this is…
"Looks like I've got no choice but to go over every administrative document."
Hercule shrugged his shoulders.
Everything was for the sake of that "anything".