The World Mistakes Me for Terminally Ill - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The World Thinks I’m Terminally Ill Episode 016

5. If money can’t solve it, then there’s not enough money

Several days had passed since the Elbanon affair ended.

During that time, the wheat contract with the Albioh Trading Guild was successfully concluded, and Elbanon was thoroughly ruined.

The fact that they had been selling Hekail wheat disguised as Hessen wheat was exposed, completely destroying the trading guild’s credibility, and they became targets of the Finance Bureau’s investigation due to their hidden assets and tax evasion charges.

According to what I learned through my informants, it seemed the guild leader was caught trying to flee in the night with the remaining assets.

‘Greedy until the very end.’

If he had left his assets behind and fled, he might have at least made it to the eastern port.

Of course, Hailey Michelle, that finance manager, is called the ‘mad dog of the Finance Bureau,’ so he would have been caught eventually anyway.

I was satisfied with the results of deliberately calling him all the way to the Northern Region.

Though it seems his resignation is now out of the question since he ended up getting promoted from this incident.

‘What a shame. I was thinking of scouting him as the Duchy’s finance minister if he quit.’

Well, if there’s fate involved, we’ll meet again.

Anyway, what was truly important wasn’t something trivial like the already-finished Elbanon.

Following Seton, now Albioh too. With large trading guilds visiting the Northern Region consecutively, I received reports that trade among smaller guilds became more active and the market gained more vitality.

Of course, it was difficult to say this applied to the entire Northern Region – it was mostly just the Ducal Capital.

Still, this wasn’t bad for a first month’s results.

Now I could release appropriate amounts into the market while monitoring the situation, so the food problem could be considered roughly resolved.

“Then, the next step is…”

[Hmnya hmnya.]

“Security, as expected.”

[Hmnyanya.]

“No matter how much jobs increase and the market becomes active, a society with poor security will collapse quickly.”

[Hmnya.]

“…”

I let out a sigh.

“This pig dragon. Won’t you get lost?”

I picked up Kaiseus, who was lying sprawled after gulping down today’s special treat of an apple, and threw him onto the sofa.

Kaiseus, with his belly bulging out, rolled around on the sofa.

[Ububu! What are you doing to this body!]

Kaiseus, who had been having a sweet and happy dream where the whole world was filled with apples, protested.

I snorted.

“Oh my, seems like you don’t want to eat more apples? It’s already hard to cultivate fruit trees in the Northern Region, so we have to import everything. Should I cut off your special treats?”

[…Hehe. Human, what were you doing? Shall this body help you?]

Kaiseus quickly changed his attitude.

It was quite an amusing situation, but since his contributions to previous work like duplicating ledgers were significant, I decided to forgive him generously.

“I was thinking about security. If it were something that could be solved with money, it would be easy, but this goes slightly beyond that scope.”

[Why?]

“Most were drafted to the border fortress, so there are too few trained soldiers in the estate. Knight-level forces are almost at total annihilation levels.”

[Can’t you hire mercenaries or something? During the Thousand-Year War, there were tons of mercenaries in the Northern Region.]

“Well, that was wartime, so of course.”

I propped my chin and fluttered the documents I was looking at.

Kaiseus crawled over and plopped down next to me.

“Not all mercenaries are like this, but mercenaries are generally individualistic. Because they have little sense of community, they’re difficult to use for anything other than wars or one-time missions.”

Especially for things like maintaining security where they’d constantly clash with the estate’s people, they’re the worst.

So the conclusion was one thing.

“We need to increase the number of knights.”

This was the severity I’d felt since first coming to the Grand Duke’s Castle. Right now, Lunein was severely lacking in knights.

Officially, only the 1st Knight Order remained, and even they were scattered all over to maintain security throughout the Northern Region.

‘This won’t do.’

Security aside, thinking about the villains from the original story, there was a need to quickly increase the number of knights to protect the Northern Region.

Peace comes from military strength, after all.

Since we don’t know when or how they might extend their schemes, we must prepare in advance.

‘According to the materials I received by asking Shubel, during the Thousand-Year War period, Lunein had 12 knight orders alone. Of course, there’s no need to go that far now, but…’

We needed to form at least up to the 3rd Knight Order. Only then would we have minimum conflict deterrence.

[So what are you planning to do?]

“First.”

I looked down at the documents.

[Gray Wolf Knights List

Captain: Luke Elliot

Second son of Count Elliot Family. Values rules and has an indifferent personality.

※Note. Relationship with family is not harmonious.]

It was a paper with information about the Gray Wolf Knights, the 1st Knight Order.

“I should do what can be done with money.”

Creating a new knight order? Important.

But what’s more important is treating those who are already here well first.

These are the loyal swords who went through Lunein’s most difficult times together.

Swords will rust if you don’t sharpen their blades, so they needed to be well cared for.

‘They say people’s hearts can’t be bought with money, but…’

I smiled with gleaming eyes.

‘That’s nonsense.’

In my opinion, that happens because the display of respect and sincerity was measured lower than the other person’s worth.

Let’s say there’s someone who thinks of themselves as worth 1 gold.

What would happen if you gave that person 100 gold? What about 1,000 gold, or 10,000 gold?

“If money can’t solve something, then there’s not enough money, right?”

And the method is also very important.

Glittering gold can make even temple priests happy, but the effect doesn’t last long. That’s because it gives the other party ‘autonomy.’

As I said before, the initiative must always be in my hands.

“For example, like this. Rather than giving a large sum to someone with a sick family member, you send medicine or a doctor that person originally would have had difficulty obtaining. Wouldn’t that create greater emotion with less cost?”

[Heh, that sounds plausible.]

“It’s not plausible – this is the way of the world, little one.”

[Ugh, I’m not little!]

“The more little someone is, the more they deny being little.”

[Grr…!]

Kaiseus stamped his feet in frustration.

After teasing the baby dragon a bit, I added:

“This is the highest courtesy I can give them.”

Because all I have is gold.

But sometimes in this world, there truly exist things that cannot be bought with money alone.

Things like love, conviction, pride.

The Gray Wolf Knights were all skilled enough to become knights of the Duchy House.

These were people who could live comfortably on their own, even if not to the extent of what I could give them, yet the reason they’ve endured in a declining family until now.

[Knight 4 is from an old vassal family of the Duchy House.]

[Knight 12’s entire family was rescued by the Lunein Grand Duke in childhood.]

Loyalty.

These people had such shining qualities.

And those who shine deserve to be treated accordingly.

Treatment in the name of honor, which I cannot give.

“Only Lunein can give that.”

I muttered quietly. At the same time, I heard a knock.

Knock knock.

“My lady, I heard you called for me.”

Shubel, whom I had summoned because I had something to discuss, arrived just in time.

As soon as his voice was heard, Kaiseus startled with a flutter! and hurriedly rolled forward, transforming into a ring.

‘I’ve thought this before, but he seems to be afraid of Shubel, doesn’t he?’

I wasn’t sure if it was exactly fear or discomfort, but whenever Shubel appeared, he would slink away like a mouse before a snake.

‘I should ask about it later.’

Thinking that, I answered.

“Come in.”

Click, the door opened and Shubel entered.

I was wearing a light white shirt again today, and I evaluated him with a hmm.

I have no intention of commenting on others’ tastes, but still, it’s such a waste.

‘Since he has such a relaxed atmosphere, just adding some accessories as accents would…’

Ah, a well-fitted vest for the upper body is also essential. Preferably in a line that emphasizes the waist.

When I saw him wearing just a loose robe last time, I thought that would suit him well…

‘…What am I thinking.’

I hurriedly erased the image from my mind.

It’s just image training. Training.

It would be different if he had nothing to do with me. Since he’s someone who needs to escort me at official events, I’m just thinking ahead.

Really.

“What are you thinking about, my lady?”

Somehow I felt like I was making excuses to myself and was feeling defeated when I heard a low voice.

“If you stare at me like that…”

Along with a voice tinged with laughter, elegant fingers wound around the ends of my hair.

“It makes me nervous.”

I snapped back to my senses.

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