After spending another day, I was finally able to secure a certain amount of funds.
While I wasn't exactly flush with cash, I would have the money I needed for my
reforms for the time being. I managed to extract all of this money from just my direct
holdings, without having to touch the Three Dukedoms, so I'd have liked some
praise for that, at least.
Looking around the room... It was a disaster. Bureaucrats were passed out on
their desks, others were leaning back asleep in their chairs, their faces looking
skywards. On the sofa, Liscia had lain down and was snoring softly.
I moved over to her quietly, sat on the sofa's armrest, and watched Liscia sleep.
In the end, this girl had stayed up until close to dawn helping me with my work.
Even though she must have wanted to say a thing or two to say about being forced
into an engagement with me...
I patted her sleeping head. Her silky hair slid smoothly between my fingers. The
excitement from being set free after such a long job must have been affecting me.
Normally, I'd have been too embarrassed to do this sober, but just sitting here like
this made me happy.
"Mrm..."
Liscia groaned, so I pulled my hand out of her hair. The next moment, Liscia
opened her eyes and sprung up. Maybe she was still a little groggy, since she was
looking around all over.
With a wry grin, I bid her good morning. "Good morning, Liscia."
"M-Morning... Huh? Did I fall asleep...?"
"We've hit a good stopping point now. Do you want to go back to sleep?"
"Oh, no. I'm fine. What about you, Souma? You haven't slept, have you?"
It looked like she was fully awake. I was happy to see her showing concern for
me, too.
Lifting myself from the armrest, I stretched my arms wide.
"I plan to have a good long rest after this, but... could you come with me for a bit
first?"
"Hm? Where to?"
"For a before-bed walk," I said.
It the light of near-dawn, Liscia and I bounced along on horseback.
While breathing in the morning mist, Liscia's horse sped along with a clip-clop,
clip-clop, not bothered in the least by the weight of two people. Liscia sat in the front
holding the reins, while I was behind her with my arms around her slim waist,
holding on for dear life.
"Hey, don't squeeze my belly so hard," she objected.
"No way. This is pretty scary."
"Pitiful. Normally shouldn't you, as the man, be the one holding the reins?"
"Well, it's not like I had a choice. Since I've never ridden on a horse before."
In modern Japan, there was rarely any chance to ride horses.
At best, I'd ridden on a pony at the petting zoo as a child while someone else led
it on a leash.
"In this country, pretty much everyone from peasant farmers to the nobility can
ride, you know?" she told me.
"In my world, there were many more convenient vehicles."
"Your world... Tell me about it, Souma."
"Hm?"
"Did you... leave behind any family, a lover maybe, in the other world?" Liscia
asked me hesitantly. Was she trying to be considerate of my feelings?
"No, nobody. My last relative, my grandpa, just passed away the other day...
yeah."
"...I'm sorry."
"It's nothing to apologize about. Grandpa had had a full life. That's why, well...
Nobody's waiting for my return, so I guess I don't feel the need to go back in any
hurry."
"Oh... You don't." Liscia seemed somewhat relieved.
As we talked, the horse kept clip-clopping along. It was around six in the
morning, maybe. The time when people finally start to stir. As we passed through
the shopping street, no shops were open yet and there was almost no one out.
Passing through the castle town, we reached the wall that went around the capital.
We came up to a massive gate, the likes of which I had only seen in foreign fantasy
films, and after speaking to the guards there, we went outside through a small door
beside it.
Liscia did all the talking here. If the newly-ascended king had told them he
wanted to go outside the city without any bodyguards, I doubt they'd have allowed
it. So, Liscia, who held an officer's rank, told them, "I have been dispatched outside
by order of the king," and played it off as part of her duties.
Once we safely passed through the gate, Liscia added, "Since I said it was a royal
order, there's going to be a record of it. Who knows what Marx is going to say to us
later..."
I ignored her complaints.
After a short trip through the city streets, we finally reached our destination.
"...Stop here," I said.
As she stopped the horse, Liscia looked at me questioningly. "This is where you
wanted to come? All I see are farmers' fields."
Indeed, there was nothing but verdant fields of green leaves here. Green fields,
wet with the morning dew, as far as the eye could see. This was the place... No doubt
about that.
"This is the place I wanted to show you, Liscia."
"These fields? I suppose they're pretty when they're wet with the morning dew
like this..."
"Pretty... huh. Even though it's because of this that people are starving to death."
"Wha?" Liscia's eyes widened in surprise.
I sighed. "Take a close look. These 'inedible fields' are the root of this country's
food crisis."
◇ ◇ ◇
Inedible fields... That was what Souma had called the fields spread out before me,
looking at them bitterly. Souma had said he'd wanted to show me these fields, but I
still didn't understand why.
"...What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. All of the fields you see here are cotton fields."
"Cotton fields... Ah! That's what you meant by inedible!"
Cotton flowers were grown to produce cotton thread. Sure enough, these fields
didn't grow anything you could eat.
Souma sat down there, resting his elbows on his thighs. "Jumping straight to my
conclusion, it's the excessive increase in the number of these cotton fields that has
caused this country's food shortages."
"...Come again?"
Did he just sort of off-handedly say something incredible now? The cause of our
food shortages?
"While I was sorting through the paperwork, I noticed it. With the expansion of
the Demon Lord's Domain, the demand for clothing and other daily necessities has
skyrocketed. Of course, the demand for the raw materials has shot up, too. With the
selling price of cotton flowers rising, and being able to sell as much as you can
produce, the farmers have entirely stopped growing the food crops they had
produced up until that point. Crops grown to sell to others instead of to eat are
called cash crops. Which is to say: our farmers have turned to growing only cash
crops, which has led to a lowering of this country's food self-sufficiency rate."
I was speechless. The cause of this country's food shortages...
I had always just assumed it was bad weather, or that our country had just had
poor soil to begin with. Here was a concrete reason, and yet I, who had lived in this
country for more than ten years, hadn't seen it. Meanwhile Souma, who had been
summoned here only a few days prior, had managed to.
"If I were to go a bit further, I could say it's the cause of this country's poor
economy, as well. When the food self-sufficiency rate drops, you have to import from
other countries to avoid starving. However, imported food involves transportation
costs as well, so the price of food rises. That puts pressure on household budgets,
but you can only cut food costs so far. If you don't eat, you'll starve, after all. Of
course, if you're going to trim the fat somewhere, it's going to be in nonessential and
luxury goods. This change in spending practices is causing a downward spiral in the
economy."
What had I been looking at? Had I just been a private citizen, it would have been
fine to just laugh scornfully at my lack of insight. However, I was a princess.
The ignorance of those at the top kills those at the bottom.
"I'm... a failure as a royal." I lost all strength, falling to my knees there. In all my
life, I had never so keenly felt a sense of powerlessness as I did now.
Seeing me like that, Souma let out an "Uh," and an "Um," scratching his head,
before resting his hand on my head.
"Don't let it get you so down. We've secured the funding we'll need. It's not too
late for agricultural reforms."
"...What are you planning to do?"
"Place limits on the growth of cash crops, bring back the growing of food crops,
and improve our self-sufficiency rate. The country will pay subsidies to help support
that transition. First we'll replant the fields with beans, which have a wide range of
uses, and potatoes, which are resistant against famine, and over time I'd like to
increase the number of paddy fields. After that..."
Souma spoke eloquently of his plans for agricultural reform. He used a lot of
words like "paddy fields" that were unfamiliar to me, but as I looked at his face in
profile, he seemed so radiant.
I felt I could understand why my father had abdicated the throne to him. He was
what this country needed most right now. We had to do whatever it took to keep
him tied down here. Our betrothal had probably been meant as another chain with
which to bind him.
I guess I can't afford to be upset about the engagement being decided without my
input.
Souma had said that once he got the country on track, he would return the
throne, but we couldn't let him do that. It would be a loss to the country to have a
man of such rare talent leave. It needed to be prevented at all costs.
He says he has no family in his old world. If I were to become his family here, could I
keep him in this country? I wondered. As his fiancée, if I can just make the marriage a
fait accompli... Wait, the best way to make it a fait accompli... would basically be...
doing that with him...
The thoughts that came to my mind left my face flushed red.
"So, in the mountains we'll... Hey, Liscia, you listening?"
"Eek! Wh-Why, yes, I'm listening."
"Hm? Your face is all red, you know."
"It's just the sunrise! Think nothing of it!"
My cheeks were on fire. I was ready to just die of embarrassment.
From there on, I don't think I heard a single word of Souma's explanations.