CH 422

Could You Please Place Your Trust In Me?

Ludwig knew that the king’s quiet protest was the feeling left over from a terrifying scream that came from deep inside the king’s heart. He could feel the pain and anger in Yuhal’s words because he knew there was a treaty between the empire and the Perujin that was unfair to the Perujin. He knew there was something wrong. He saw how unfair it was. Still, he chose to close his eyes because he didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t figure out how to fix it.

That was, by definition, a Tearmoon point of view. The way Peruvians felt about the problem was very different.

“Because of our pact with Tearmoon, we’ve had to sell you our wheat for too little money for a long time. As long as your kingdom stands, people will laugh at us and call us serfs. You can say whatever you want, but no amount of high-sounding words will change this fact.”

It was indeed a fact that could not be changed. It was impossible to change Perujin’s mind about the problem. Getting their trust, even more so. There was nothing that could be done… except to sigh and turn away.

Unless you’re Mia, it seems.

“I see… There’s a treaty just like that…” Mia didn’t think for more than a single breath. “Then this treaty should be thrown out.”

She said it like it was the most normal thing ever. As if it wasn’t so complicated and involved so many important national issues that only a clueless fool would suggest it so quickly. Or maybe…as if it was so obvious that it was the right thing to do that any other response was impossible.

Mia said that the contract should be thrown out. Half of the room froze when she spoke. Yuhal, Shalloak, and even Ludwig were among those who turned to stone. Ludwig was the first to get back to normal.

“Your Majesty, you must understand…”

Mia looked at him and gave him a nod.

“Of course, yes. I know that I don’t have the power to decide about something like this. “The most I can do is push for it to be abolished at home.”

Then she turned back to him and asked, “Can it be done, Ludwig?”

—

You’re asking me?!

How did this suddenly become his job? Half of his brain wanted to scream and flip a table. To keep some sense of calm, the other half beat it until it gave up. After fighting the sudden urge to throw things around, he forced himself to think to figure out what Mia meant by what she said. The job they talked about was not something he could do at all, but she still told him it. It had to make sense.

First, he thought about what was right and wrong. In this way, what she said was without a doubt right. There was a contract between Tearmoon and Perujin that was definitely unfair and turned the people of Perujin into serfs. Even though this is a bit of an oversimplification, you could say that the main reason for the pact was to make sure that the empire could always buy wheat from Perujin at a good price. Every year, the empire and Perujin would go through the motions of discussing prices, but because their armies were so different, the empire really set the prices and Perujin had no choice but to go along with them.

Shalloak had been looking for just this kind of situation. His plan was to slowly raise prices over time, but each rise would be small enough not to cause Tearmoon to send in the army. Then, when Tearmoon started to run out of food, Perujin could start to get them to give in.

Overall, the Perujin thought that a lot of their land was being used by the Tearmoon to grow wheat for them, which the Perujin then bought for very little money. After selling the wheat for a small profit, they had to deal with the empire making fun of the results of all their hard work. In this way, letting this situation go on without changing it was clearly wrong.

Mia’s goal was to build trust between herself and Perujin. In this way, the pact was also a clear roadblock. In that way, getting rid of it was the easiest and most reasonable thing to do.

The trouble is that it’s not possible…

Mia had already said that she didn’t have the power to break treaties; that was the job of the top offices of both sides. The emperor’s intense zeal was a strong card, but it did not go beyond what she could do as a princess. No matter how spoiled they were, princesses did not decide what happened in the world.

But Mia wasn’t just another princess. Her power was almost unmatched, not just in the kingdom but on the whole continent. Prince Sion of Sunkland, Prince Abel of Remno, Saint Rafina of Belluga… As long as Mia tried to do what was right, they would all back her up no matter what. If they were asked, the young members of the Four Houses would probably also back her. Also, Mia was very popular with the people at the moment.

If she tried to get something done, it wouldn’t just be because she was the princess of Tearmoon. Behind her, all of her friends stood tall and powerful. It wouldn’t matter if she had the technical power to make a policy or not. She had more influential power than the moon ministers, the chancellor, and in some cases, even the emperor himself.

There was no doubt that it was possible.

The most important thing is that the empire needs to be reformed…

As he went through his arguments, Ludwig had to admit that he was starting to make sense to himself. If they wanted to change things for the better in the kingdom, they had to do what Mia suggested. The reason was easy to understand: as long as the treaty with Perujin was in place, Tearmoon lords wouldn’t bother farming more of their land. Why would they do that if they could get cheap wheat from Perujin? If this idea couldn’t be put to rest for good, it would be impossible to make the country more self-sufficient in food. Getting less dependent on Perujin was, therefore, the quickest way to change the empire’s farming habits.

It seems to make so much sense. The kind that makes them happy…

He thought about the other people in his group, the ones he had just gathered to ask for help. If he could help the students of Wiseman Galv understand what Mia was thinking and persuade them that it was important, they would definitely put all of their administrative power behind the effort. It would be a perfect match. These were people who couldn’t wait to use their skills. He would only have to worry about making sure they ate and slept while they were busy.

There was a good chance that sooner or later, the momentum they built up would get to the people who could make and break treaties.

So, if she wants to know if it can be done or not, the answer is yes, it can.

There was both a moral and a practical reason to do it. They even have the power to do it too.

This is why… This is why she brought it up now of all times.

Ludwig knew that large-scale changes were always met with strong opposition. Peace in normal life was good, but a state of peace that lasted was also a stoppage. The same kind of days and years just kept happening over and over again in a loop of inert monotony. People found peace and relief in the idea that things didn’t change and that the world stayed the same.

Shaking things up, or putting motion into a system that is still, would always be met with resistance. A life that didn’t change was comfortable and gave people peace of mind. Change was a step into the unknown, and there was never a promise that what was at the end was better. Even if it was better, fairer, and completely right, there would still be a big, very loud group of people who disagreed with it. People were generally very rigid and afraid of change.

So, he didn’t want to do it. Just a few minutes ago, he had many reasons to disagree with this idea. It was easy to see that what Mia was trying to do would make both elites and commoners angry. But…and this was a big but…

Right now… Exactly right now, at this very moment, the reasons I had for not liking the idea don’t matter.

It was hard to force change into the calm rhythm of normal life. Change also happened on its own. In fact, it was happening without Mia’s help right at that moment. Time itself was changing, and hunger was the cause. Soon, every country on the continent would be forced to change. Change would have to happen anyway, so Mia’s idea would…

She is going with the flow. We’re about to go through a time of chaos when lots of things will change, and she wants to use this time to fix the whole kingdom at once.

She wasn’t going to take a broken country that was suffering from famine and bring it back to its former greatness. She wanted to make something new out of it. They wouldn’t get anywhere with half-hearted efforts; they’d just get stuck. He could now see that this was true. No, it had always been there, but it was just dim enough in the back of his mind for him to pretend it wasn’t there. Then Mia poked a hole in the roof, letting the light of truth shine into every corner. There was no place left for him to hide his stupidity.

Everyone, from elites to commoners, will have to think about how to get food on their own because of the famine. It will make you feel like you need to act now. She has no doubt that she wants to get everything done at once while the issue is still at the top of people’s minds.

As Mia’s big picture came into his mind, he couldn’t help but feel dizzy as he thought about how big it was. Nothing was too big for her to think about, not the world, not the times, not even the flow of events.

Trust other people. Use the skills of other people. I now understand why she told me to do that. A plan of this size and scope is not something I could do on my own.

As soon as he got his thoughts in order, he spoke.

“Well, I’m pushing for more land to be turned into farms in the empire right now. If the empire has more farmland, it will have less need to purchase wheat. It will take time, but it should be possible to change the contents of the treaty with Perujin. Slowly, we can cut back on how much wheat we demand…”

Ludwig then went on to explain his thoughts and ideas, being very careful with his words. He thought that the kind of change he wanted to see would take years. But over time, Perujin’s exports to the empire would go down, which would let them sell more wheat to other countries at market price. Perujin would make more money, and things between the two countries should calm down. Since they didn’t need as much land to grow wheat for the empire, they could also use it for something else.

What to do with their land would be up to the Perujin people.

Discover the complete story on pawread dot com.

He had no idea how things would end up when this long process of change was over. Since Perujin doesn’t have a strong army, they might continue to be at a disadvantage in talks because they need Tearmoon to protect them. So, changing a country should always be done in small steps. It was unrealistic to think that every wrong would be made right right away. Still, things would get better, and that gave people hope. As long as things got better year after year, even if it was just a little bit, it would give Perujin’s farmers a lot of hope. They would finally get out of the long rut they had been in. They would start to move forward as their hope grew. Even though they moved slowly, each step they took was important to the march of progress.

In the end, both Perujin Agricultural Country and the Tearmoon Empire would benefit from working together. Mia’s big plan for the two countries was for them to work together in a way that was beneficial for both of them.

After Ludwig was done explaining, Yuhal’s jaw hung open. He stayed that way until Mia’s calm voice woke him up from his stunned silence.

“But… none of this is going to happen soon. As I said before, there will be a hunger, and it will last for years. Even if we added more farmland to the kingdom, I don’t think we’d have enough time to get to the right scale…”

She looked Yuhal in the eyes for a moment.

“Because of this, all I can do right now is make a promise. So, I’d like to ask you for a big favor. Your Majesty, could you please put your trust in me?”

She wanted to know if he would take her at her word and, eventually, if he was willing to start over and build a new trusting relationship with the empire.