Partly to warm up the cooled air of the drawing room, I served Freyja a second cup of tea.
The moment I set the teacup on the table.
Freyja snatched it up like an arrow.
It seemed to have thoroughly hit the spot for her.
"There's something I want to confirm first."
"How we are trading monster carcasses, correct?"
Freyja was quick on the uptake.
I nodded.
"As far as I know, there aren't any trading companies in the North."
"Yes, that is correct. Usually, trading companies based in the capital used to send people periodically."
"......Why the past tense?"
"Because now they have stopped coming altogether."
Merchants, by nature, were people who thoroughly calculated gains and losses.
It would be no exaggeration to say they walked around with scales in their heads instead of brains.
And people like that had given up on monster carcasses, their golden egg.
"They figured that visiting the North to trade was the bigger loss, then."
But it was strange.
A trading company big enough to strike up trade with the North would have considerable financial power.
Eliminating the factors that got in the way of their trade runs wouldn't have been all that difficult.
"Because of the monsters? But there are plenty of skilled mercenaries who could easily take down even ferocious monsters."
"Because you have only seen goblin and orc hordes so far, my lord husband."
Freyja, who had seen right through my thoughts, parted her lips.
"After the blue moon rose, a storm of blood swept through the North for half a year. Because of the monsters. But unlike now, there were many powerful specimens back then. Trolls, manticores, basilisks, death knights, gargoyles....... Even listing the kinds one by one is a struggle."
Quite the grand lineup.
Weren't those monsters that could easily wipe an entire city off the map with just one of them?
If things like that had been rampaging while ferocious.......
'No wonder they gave up on trading.'
At the same time, I was flabbergasted.
After all, it meant that some of the trading companies in the capital knew about the North's situation.
And yet not a single one of them had so much as opened their mouths.
'If they had leaked even a little information, Cassandra's sanctions would have landed on their company right away...... so I get it, though.'
Still, that was a bit much.
Those peddlers couldn't possibly not know that if the North fell, the capital would be next up to bat.
Of course, they must have prepared their own countermeasures.
It was probably some petty plan along the lines of grabbing their fortunes and defecting to the Holy Kingdom, though.
"In the middle of that horrific war situation continuing without pause, even the Black Tiger Wall collapsed."
"......That would be enough to bring it down."
"Hm."
Freyja trailed off.
Judging by her subtle reaction, the decisive cause of the Black Tiger Wall's collapse seemed to be something else.
But I couldn't pry into it.
"At that time, the previous Grand Duke....... My father made up his mind."
How could I open my mouth here?
I focused on listening as closely as I could.
"Even if we endured with great difficulty like this, our fate was to wither away and be trampled someday. In that case, he would rather mobilize all our forces and subjugate the Demon Realm directly. With those words, he set out on the expedition. But......."
"He must have failed."
Freyja nodded heavily.
"It was a natural result. After all, it was an expedition that failed even when, long ago, every race on the continent formed an allied army. It was absurd to attempt with the North's forces alone."
A hint of resentment seeped into Freyja's voice.
"But it was the right thing to do. For after my father led the elite knight order out on the expedition, the raids by the demons and monsters stopped. A brief peace arrived."
"As for what became of the previous Grand Duke......."
"We dispatched an investigation team, but we learned nothing. Only...... that he had succeeded in advancing quite deep into the Demon Realm."
That probably meant they hadn't even found his body.
The funeral for the expedition force, which must have been held only halfway, flitted through my mind for a moment.
"But I could not just stand still. I hastily inherited the position of Grand Duke, but I tried to do what I could. However...... not long after, an upheaval occurred."
I had a hunch.
"The blizzard?"
Freyja drank her tea.
It was a sign of affirmation.
"As you have also noticed, my lord husband, the blizzard currently covering the entire North is mixed with an alien energy that blocks aura and mana."
"Hm? I didn't know that."
"......Pardon? You, who are so skilled in magic?"
"It hasn't even been a week since I learned magic."
"......???"
Freyja kept blinking her eyes.
"......Is that a joke? You guessed right away that the upheaval I mentioned was the blizzard, did you not?"
"I just made a guess. After all, I'd heard the North was a cold place to begin with, but I'd never heard that a blizzard rages every time the sun sets."
"Then how could you use magic of that level......? Hmm."
I understood Freyja's reaction.
Honestly, even I still couldn't quite believe it.
That the flames I conjured were my own innate aptitude.
'Wait....... Now that I think of it.'
A memory suddenly came to mind just then.
When I had finished off the tree-bark soup and was trying to dig information about the North out of Graive.
-Ngh....... H-How did I not notice them until they had pushed right up to our noses?!
Was this what he meant by not noticing?
'Then again, even if Graive has been weakened to the point where he can't use aura, he should still have the instincts of a former knight commander.'
Failing to sense the presence of mere goblins was definitely strange.
Now things were finally clicking into place.
"When the monsters' rampage stopped, a few trading companies tried to trade with the North again. But after investigating the alien blizzard, they gave up."
Freyja quickly regained her composure and continued.
"They would."
The capital and the North were far apart.
The time and money spent traveling that distance were by no means trivial.
Even so, the trading companies had attempted trade because monster carcasses were worth more than that cost.
But a variable had been added.
A blizzard of unknown origin.
Not content with obstructing trade runs, it also had the property of blocking aura and mana.
The merchants must have clicked away at their abacuses.
The danger of the road to the North had risen.
It wasn't that powerful monsters were blocking it, but that inexplicable nature itself was obstructing the road.
To prepare for that danger, they would have to spend more than before.
Was there any need to trade with the North even at that cost?
'There probably wasn't.'
They wouldn't have wanted to put in the effort to analyze an unknown factor.
On top of that, the fact that the monsters' rampage had stopped must have played a part, too.
After all, monsters were a threat, but at the same time, they were also expensive goods.
It was practically as if the most important specialty had disappeared.
The calculation showed the losses outweighed the gains.
So they had stopped trading.
'......I feel some déjà vu.'
Bad news breaks for a country or a company.
Institutions and foreigners pull their capital out.
The stock price nosedives.
If you swapped the country for the North, the powers for the trading companies, and the stock price for the North's situation, it fit perfectly.
Damn it all, my insides as a former retail-investor ant began to ache.
"......So? In the end, doesn't that mean no trading company is currently trading with the North?"
Erasing the blue bearish candles in my memory, I opened my mouth with effort.
"Yes, there are no trading companies."
"No trading companies, huh. Then...... that means there is a merchant."
"Only one, though."
I grew curious.
Who on earth was the merchant who had plunged into the red ocean that was the North all by themselves?
What was certain was that they probably weren't in their right mind.
Someone harboring a huge ambition, or a ruthless, crazed fanatic.
Or probably both.
"Justitia Violet."
At last, the name came out.
It was a familiar name.
"By any chance...... Justitia of the Violet Trading Company?"
"Yes."
"The eldest daughter of that Violet Trading Company, said to hold 40 percent of the Empire's economy in its grip, Justitia?"
"Yes."
"......Why would that woman do that?"
I didn't understand.
It would be one thing if she were at least operating under the Violet Trading Company's name.
"Is she planning to expand the Violet Trading Company's influence?"
"No, she was not. Lady Justitia proposed that she wished to trade with the North strictly as an individual."
"Hmm......."
Merchants don't take adventures.
After all, an adventure was an act of accepting losses.
It was a word that didn't suit merchants, who loathed losses.
Yet Justitia Violet's move was clearly an adventure.
'Going it alone without borrowing the trading company's name.......'
It meant there was a huge gain in the North worth taking the risk for.
And it meant she had some kind of indicator, however small, that made her confident of that gain.
"Freyja."
"Please, go ahead."
"Could I make use of your intelligence network?"
The Grand Ducal House's secret intelligence network, which had even grasped the top secret of the Emperor's absence.
Asking to borrow it was a rude act.
Though Freyja had hinted at it, that intelligence network was practically the North's hidden blade.
And here a member of the Imperial Household was saying he would use that blade.
I'd have had no grounds to object even if Freyja showed resentment, though.
"As much as you like."
Permission came down so easily it was almost anticlimactic.
Slurp.
Before I knew it, even her second teacup was showing its bottom.
"......It's a bit awkward to say this myself, but don't you trust me too much?"
"You shared your weapon with me, my lord husband. It would be absurd for me not to share mine."
Hm, an upright person, as expected.
In other words, a person who didn't know the ways of the world.
So...... in the name of decency, she must have been played for a total sucker by merchants.
'......Huh, wait a minute.'
When I summed up the conversation so far, I reached a curious conclusion.
Freyja had poured money without holding back into relief for the territory residents.
But it hadn't gone well. She seemed to have been played for a sucker by merchants in the process.
But since Freyja became Grand Duke, only one merchant had traded with the North.
'Justitia Violet....... Well, would you look at this?'
I'd even felt a little grateful, deep down, since she was supposedly the only merchant trading with the North.
So I had worried that digging into Justitia's background might be a bit of a scumbag move.
But the other party had pulled a scumbag move first.
Thanks to that, my guilty conscience melted away like snow.
It felt like I wouldn't be satisfied until I'd shaken her down so thoroughly that not even a single gold coin was left.
***
"I will send the head of the Frost Mist to you shortly."
The Frost Mist was the name of the Berg Grand Ducal House's intelligence organization.
Freyja was about to leave right away.
"Ah, right. What should I do with the remaining 500G?"
Thanks to the 50% discount, my balance hadn't been emptied out.
But this money was, strictly speaking, House Berg's private wealth.
So if she wanted it, I intended to give it right back.
I had also confirmed that I could withdraw it from my balance as gold coins.
"Please put it to good use, my lord husband."
But Freyja didn't take it.
"Even if I hold on to the money, it is obvious I will just blow it pointlessly."
I couldn't bring myself to deny it.
That stings the heart.
"But I think you will be different, my lord husband."
"It's not like I have a particularly good eye either."
"Then you will have to cultivate one."
"Hm?"
"After all, from now on, whenever the North earns gold, it will be with you, my lord husband. So it would be better in many ways to start by using a small amount in advance and getting used to it."
Freyja's ability to manage the territory was, to be honest, a godawful mess.
But she seemed skilled in the art of judging people's character and putting them in the right place.
She was definitely more the general type than the leader type.
"And—"
Freyja spoke with her back turned.
"—I believe you have a good eye, my lord husband."
Freyja left the manor.
The place she had left.
Two teacups, still warm, sat there.
"After she said all that, I can't let her down."
I brought up the [Shop].
Then a newly added tab beside it caught my eye like an appendix. It was labeled [Map].
"Ah, right. I got something like this too."
I tapped [Map].
A view of the North, precisely depicted in pixel art, spread out before me.
"Feels like I'm playing a tycoon game or something."
The memory of staying up all night running an amusement park in my previous life came back to me.
I looked over the map lightly.
"Hm, it's a godawful mess!"
Even though it was cute little pixel art, the North's wretchedness came across exactly as it was.
My resolve to stabilize the North grew even stronger.
"But what's this?"
Close to the outside of the [Frontline Wall (E)].
There was a place hidden behind a question mark symbol.
When I tapped it, a message popped up.
[Tip: Expand the unexplored areas of the 'Map' through exploration!]
"Aha....... Do I have to go there myself? Or would just sending a scouting party do?"
Either way, it wasn't something to try right now.
We had to rebuild the North and fend off monster raids, too.
There was no way I'd have time to worry about unexplored land outside the wall.
I went back to the [Shop].
"For now...... investing in the territory is probably the right call."
The North's enemies right now weren't just the monsters.
Cold, hunger, and so on.
Suffering that ate away at people was slowly tightening its encirclement even at this very moment.
'Honestly, it's not like I don't have any greed to spend the 500G on my own growth.'
But if someone asked whether that petty selfishness weighed more than people's lives, my answer was 'No.'
That value alone would never change, now or later.
Propping my chin on my hand, I scrolled down through the categories.
"If I set priorities, is it clothing, food, and shelter after all?"
They weren't called the three essential elements of human life for nothing.
But satisfying all of clothing, food, and shelter with 500G was impossible.
No, I couldn't even fully buy one of them.
Taking that into account.
===[Basic Residential District (E)]===
- Constructs a basic residential district to protect territory residents from the bitter cold. Upon purchase, housing- and district-related items are added to the category.
- [300G]
======
===[Knight Order Frontline Barracks (E)]===
- Constructs simple barracks for knights, linked to the [Frontline Wall].
- [200G]
======
Improving the living environment first was surely the right call.
'Their clothes may be worn, but most people are wearing at least the bare minimum, and as for food, they can hold out by stripping bark off trees to eat if they have to.'
That meant that, poor as it was, those could be met somehow.
But housing was different.
"At this rate, everyone's going to freeze to death."
In truth, the North's climate didn't deal much damage to Northerners.
After all, they had inherited the blood of the Barbarians, who had ruled the bitter cold wearing nothing but a single hide.
The problem was the blizzard brought on by the blue moon.
Even setting aside the alien energy mixed into it, the blizzard's cold penetrated even the Northerners' skin and marrow.
So they needed a space that could block out that cold.
Of course, this alone couldn't house all the Northerners.
Until I earned gold, they would have to split people up and run some kind of rotation.
But wasn't that something?
'Just giving them time to thaw out, even for a little while, is enough.'
That alone could buy the Northerners time.
And while that time was bought, I'd seal the deal with Justitia flawlessly.
Having laid out that plan, I pressed [Purchase].
[Please designate the installation site.]
The [Map] appeared.
I designated a location with my finger.
"Somewhere a reasonable distance from the front......."
Clang-bang, clang-bang!?
Soon came the roar.
Through the window, I could see a wooden building being knocked together piece by piece in no time.
At the same time, I could also hear people shrieking in horror at the golden tools flying through the air.
Well, it wasn't a sight you got used to after seeing it once.
"I should see it with my own eyes first, right?"
After all, depending on the quality of the building, I'd be able to firm up my pay-to-win plans going forward.
By the way, how should we handle the rotation once the building was finished?
Ah, that'll do it.
"I'll leave it to Graive."
Hm, even I thought it was the perfect role for him.
If it was Graive, who was respected in the North, people would listen to him.
And he'd led a knight order once, so he'd keep good control, too.
"And I should also think about getting Freyja's permission to open up the manor."
I'd become someone who didn't mind sleeping on a snowfield anyway.
It would be wiser to let the Northerners sleep indoors instead.
I kept racking my brain as I walked.
Soon my thoughts had moved on from the North to myself.
===[Sorcerer A.I]===
- An auxiliary function for those born with an innate talent for handling 'magic.' Supports assistance and learning across all elements related to magic.
======
Before I knew it, I had pulled out the reward I'd been saving.
To be honest, I'd been itching to try it out even before talking with Freyja.
But I was patient.
Patient enough to save the strawberry for last when eating strawberry cake.
[Activate Sorcerer A.I?]
But now I was nearing my limit.
Fortunately, I wasn't walking very fast.
The spare time on the way to the residential district.
That was more than enough time to get a taste of the new function.
'Just a little bit.'
All I needed was a rough feel for how it would help my magic.
I'd enjoy the main course after I came back from the residential district.
"Activate."
I murmured.
In that instant, a blank golden interface appeared.
Shiiing—!
Soon, a bright red magic circle began to take shape at its center.
"Hm? A magic circle?"
A.I....... Wasn't it supposed to be artificial intelligence?