Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 84

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 84
‘So he really is the male protagonist’s chief advisor.’
Everything Erichi had outlined was straight out of modern corporate production methodology.
In this world, all work was still handicraft; they had division of labor, certainly, but completely partitioning the entire process into separate stages of production was nothing short of revolutionary.
“Erichi.”
I waved the stamped document he’d signed. “I’ll give you the ratio and materials. All of this is my noble, magnificent, and sublime sacrifice to save the Grand Duke’s House from bankruptcy…….”

“I believe you.”
……
The fact that Erichi was listening to my nonsense with complete sincerity made me feel oddly guilty.
I cleared my throat and changed the subject.
“What I made—I’ll call it briquettes. It needs coal dust, clay, and water. The ratio is… eighty, fifteen, and five respectively.”
Erichi nodded slightly.
“But that’s not all. You need limestone and seaweed ash.”
“Seaweed ash? You mean seaweed harvested from the sea?”
“Yes.”
Erichi’s eyes lit up as if he’d discovered a new world.
“Seaweed is nothing but ocean weeds. Are you saying such a cheap material is one of the components for fuel that sells at such an exorbitant price?”
“Exactly. The problem is, I don’t know the precise ratio of limestone to seaweed ash either. We’ll have to keep experimenting until we find the golden ratio—something that burns as long as possible.”
Erichi’s expression grew resolute.
“I’ll find it, staking my life on it.”
“Good attitude.”
He truly was one of the rare few who had stayed by Sherkan’s side even after the Grand Duke’s House fell to ruin.
“The coal is mined from the quarry, then there’s a place to grind it into powder, a place to mix just clay with water, a place to burn seaweed and produce ash—”
‘Does this man have perfect recall or something?’
Without even taking notes, Erichi merely furrowed his brow as he continued.
“Limestone can be sourced externally or produced internally—either way works. But I think it would be better to separate the place where seaweed is burned into ash from the place where that ash is mixed with water.”
“Exactly. I don’t know what color the burned seaweed powder will be, but in any case, since it’s powder, it’ll be extremely difficult for a spy to figure out.”
“What is a spy?”
“An agent? It means the same thing.”
Erichi’s head snapped up sharply.
“Grand Duchess.”
“Hmm?”
“In the Northern Kingdom, do they teach the princesses separately about such enterprises and techniques?”
“Why the sudden question?”
“You seem unusually skilled at this.”
I cleared my throat.
How could I possibly explain that all this knowledge came from lying on a hospital bed in another world?
“I don’t care to discuss my time as a princess. But I was almost never invited to royal functions—the only place I could go was the Royal Library.”
……
Erichi seemed momentarily at a loss for words.
It wasn’t a secret that I’d been a princess relegated to the back quarters, nor that Ayu, the daughter of the Holy Maiden, had monopolized the royal affection.
“Anyway, enough of that. Let’s finish organizing the rest.”
“Of course.”
Perhaps sensing the conversation had taken an awkward turn, Erichi quickly continued.
“Separating the work stations exactly as you described is an excellent idea. Whether the powder is black or white, since it’s just powder everywhere, it will be extraordinarily difficult to identify.”
“Even if someone ate it, they probably wouldn’t know it was seaweed ash.”
Of course, no matter how much effort we poured into preventing the technique from being stolen, once knowledge entered the world, its secrets would inevitably be revealed someday.
I didn’t harbor illusions of maintaining a monopoly on coal utilization forever.
I simply wanted to extend the period of secrecy as long as possible.
‘Our House really is desperately poor.’
I had to squeeze every possible advantage.
After a full day of discussion with Erichi, we arrived at the following plan.
First, create a separate place to mix coal dust and clay.
Second, put a Gonet knight in charge of the final stage where the two batches are combined.
Third, throw in a fake production process to confuse the spies.
‘Try stealing that, why don’t you.’
If these briquettes turned profitable, the Council of Elders would surely plant agents to spy on us.
Since the previous Grand Duke had sold away virtually every right, it would be child’s play for them to station people in my territory.
‘Later I’ll make advanced briquettes too, but for now I just need to produce and sell the basic briquettes.’
“A place where sand is roasted at high temperature, a place where lye is made. Let’s add two more fake production methods like these… No, fake processes. Of course, this sand and lye won’t actually go into making briquettes.”
Thank you for your trouble.
It’s wasted effort.
“Understood, Grand Duchess.”
Throughout it all, Erichi wrote nothing down. He merely nodded his head a few times.
“Coal, mud, lime, seaweed ash, water. A place where sand is roasted, a place where lye is made. If we include molding and drying on top of that….”
Erichi’s eyes gleamed as he spoke.
“We’ll need at least ten separate locations, Grand Duchess.”
My eyes sparked as well.
“But we’re paupers. How are we supposed to find ten places?”
……
* * *
Not far from the Abandoned Mine stood an old Commercial Street.
In the days when the mine was thriving, shops lined the street to prey on the miners’ purses.
Restaurants, taverns, tool shops, general stores, and more.
But when the mine died, the street died with it.
Now wooden boards were nailed across every storefront, and the signs were so faded you couldn’t tell what any of them had been.
Dry leaves tumbled across the desolate street where no soul walked. The air hung thick with cold desolation.
All that remained were owners desperate to sell their worthless buildings for whatever pittance they could get and flee.
Plenty of sellers, not a single buyer—a dead town in every sense.
“Erichi.”
“Yes!”
“We need to buy all the buildings here, don’t we?”
“Yes.”
“All right….”
My hands trembled.
When would I ever be wealthy enough to arrogantly declare I’d buy buildings like these in one sweep?
And then Erichi said something even worse that made my composure shatter.
“Grand Duchess? You’re only buying the buildings on this side of the street? I would naturally have purchased the entire opposite side as well.”
……
“Grand Duchess? If the technology leaks out, that would be a problem, wouldn’t it? For security, shouldn’t you spare that much?”
“…Are you really lecturing me about spending when it’s not even your money?”
“It’s all for the greater good.”
……
I finally swallowed my tears and spoke.
“Calculate it….”
Erichi flicked the abacus. The beads clicked faster and faster, then abruptly stopped.
“Both sides of the street together would be 2,000 Ribe.”
“…2,000 Ribe.”
I closed my eyes for a moment.
That’s about two billion….
2,000 Ribe.
Every coin that Sherkan had sent me, every Ribe I’d saved from selling eggs—all of it would pour directly into this.
Thankfully, I’d stockpiled enough food for the winter, and I’d be selling eggs from the breeding stock and aged cheese later, so I wouldn’t starve.
Just barely—I wouldn’t starve.
But I couldn’t live like this forever, scraping by.
‘Oh! My heart! It hurts!’
No matter how many times I told myself it was initial investment capital, I couldn’t get used to seeing my lifeblood drain away in such chunks.
‘But I have to do it.’
The empty street was cheapest now. Once the briquettes start selling, this street will rise in value too. By then, I’d have to pay ten times as much.
I bit my lips tight and spoke through tears.
“Close the contracts today. All of them.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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