How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1

This girl who looked good in these braid-style twintails was the first princess of this country, Roroa Amidonia. However, contrary to appearances, her inner voice was sharp tongued (and spoke in mercantile dialect).

This country ain’t long for this world as is. Are these idiots tryin’ to shorten what little time it has left? she thought.

Amidonia was a mountainous country. It had plentiful metal resources, but on the other hand, it had little arable land, so it was always faced with food shortages. The food crisis in neighboring Elfrieden was bad, but nothing compared to what this country faced. Even a slightly poor harvest would mean people starved to death.

I do understand why the old man’s tryin’ to get even a little more fertile land for us, I do, but the old man’s pourin’ every last cent that I worked so hard to scrimp and save for him into military fundin’. Roroa ground her back teeth together in frustration.

While Roroa was a princess, she also had uncanny financial sense, and she supported this country’s financial policies from the shadows. After getting the economy moving through foreign trade, she limited exports of resources and encouraged the export of finished products to protect and develop their industries. The reason this country on the brink hadn’t seen its economy collapse was in large part thanks to Roroa’s monetary sense.

However, Gaius had been unable to fully make use of Roroa’s money-raising ability.

If they’d been usin’ the funds I’d earned to develop industry, they mighta been able to bring in even more funds, but these war mongerin’ economic nitwits go and spend it all on the military. What makes it even worse is that they sincerely believe “If we strengthen the military, we can steal whatever we need.” Are they morons? You spend money to make money, it’s that cycle that’s important. If you’re just dumpin’ money into somethin’, that’s called wasteful spendin’!…But even if I were to scream that at them, they probably wouldn’t listen to me…

“You agree, too, right, Roroa?” her brother said.

“Yes, Brother.” When the conversation suddenly turned to her, Roroa replied with a big fake smile. Though, in truth, she hadn’t been listening to a word they said…

…The end may finally be here for this country. Oh, how I envy the Elfrieden Kingdom. With their large population, they must have a lot of tax revenue they can move around, and best of all, their king’s the sort who’d be able to understand what I’m talkin’ about. Honestly, I’m so jealous of our neighbor’s wallet… Their wallet?

At that moment, Roroa came to a realization.

If I’m jealous of my neighbor’s wallet… Why don’t I just combine it with my own? As legally as possible… Maybe I can do that?…Yeah, maybe I can. In that case, I can contact the old man in charge of guarding Nelva…

Roroa began formulating a plan of her own. High risk, high return.

They say that as Roroa embarked on the greatest intrigue of her life, her smile resembled her father’s and brother’s just a little.

◇　◇　◇

At the capital of the Elfrieden Kingdom, Parnam…

I was in the governmental affairs office in Parnam Castle, listening to the final report on the food crisis.

“As you see in the materials provided, we can expect good results from the fall harvest. Furthermore, the transportation network you laid out has accelerated the movement of people, and now goods have spread across the land without overabundance or shortages anywhere. Of course, this applies to foodstuffs, as well. From these facts, I believe we can treat the food crisis as, by and large, solved for now.”