Oh no! After I Reincarnated, My Moms Became Son-cons! - Volume 6 - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“Your Highness! Your Highness! Look, look! They’ve bloomed! They’ve bloomed!!” Lucia ran up to me, cheerfully and brightly, holding a flower pot .

I looked up from the documents and saw small white petals on the plant in the pot .

I smiled and said, “Not bad, Lucia . You took good care of it, huh?”

“Of course, you gave them to me, after all!” Lucia puffed her chest out proudly .

She then looked at Nier, who wasn’t too happy, and mocked her, “But it looks like a particularly dense person can’t take care of flowers so that they can bloom . She might’ve even split the seed . ”

“If you only know how to swing a sword, just stick to being a bodyguard . What are you doing being a wife? If you can’t even nurture a flower, how are you going to raise a child?”

Nier folded her arms angrily and then indifferently fired back, “Someone is still sticking around, shamelessly refusing to leave, after losing a duel . It’s clearly only because His Majesty is generous and tolerant that she was able to stay . And yet, she’s acting like it’s justified in front of us . I really wonder if it wasn’t your elven shamelessness that caused my seed, which was planted next to it, to die . ”

“Okay, enough, ladies . ” Freya stepped out and ended their bickering . She then looked at Nier and said, “Miss Nier, your flower did not bloom, correct?”

Nier looked at me somewhat scared and then panicked, “No… it’s just… just… I think… maybe it’s not time for it to bloom yet…”

“Maybe it isn’t . ” I looked at Nier, stood up and said, “It’s not your problem, Nier . It also isn’t because Lucia used magic or something similar . It is a problem with the soil . Your soil came from the same place . However, Lucia’s seed came from the elven side, while the seed I gave you, Nier, was from humanity’s side . Put another way; only elven crops can grow on this piece of land and not humanity’s crops . ”

“That must be why the land is poor, I guess . No, allow me to correct myself . It’s poor for humans . ”

Freya nodded as though she had thought of something, and said, “Is it because of the elven border? If that is the case, I think it will be very difficult to resolve . Since I do not know the exact reason . ”

“I think it should be because of mana . ” I looked at Lucia’s flower, touched a white petal and elaborated, “The elven lands are filled mana, so the elven crops could naturally adapt to the mana in the soil . However, humanity’s crops couldn’t adapt to the soil, leading to humanity’s crops not growing when planted here . ”

“No, I shouldn’t say that . Not all of them couldn’t since some managed to weather it . However, the ones that did manage to grow did poorly and resulted in a very minimal harvest . This means that the land needs to be dealt with . ”

Freya let out a hopeless sigh . She then looked at me with a bitter smile and said, “Your Majesty, this is not my field of expertise . Though I can help you with many things, I have no idea how to remove mana from the land . I think that we, perhaps, require Her Highness’ help . ”

“No, no, no . ”

I was initially going to do that, but then I felt it wasn’t going to work, after some deliberation . The people here suffered for decades because of the land . If I now go and tell them that it was because of elven mana, they’ll surely hate the elves to death . Though it’s not the fault of the elves, this was indeed a problem caused by their mana .

“What do we do then, Onii-sama? If this continues, there will still be nothing that grows there . ” Freya looked at me and continued, “Or are you thinking that the amount of mana will reduce over time if you block that river? I am not certain, but if that river is cut off, then our factory will not be able to operate as well . Also, how will we handle our irrigation issue?”

“Ah… of course I won’t block off the river… Although the mana should be coming through the river from the elves, I need to think about how to solve this problem . ” I felt a little torn .

It looks like the elven river can bring mana here . Normally speaking, the elven river is filled with mana . I’m actually quite scared of that river . I must drink water from a well when I’m here . If I drink the water from the river, all of my organs will feel like they’re burning painfully .

I can’t be without the river .

Although the river doesn’t just provide flowing water for the block of land but also my agony, I require the river . It’s most important function to me isn’t the irrigation function but the power it provides . Without steam engines, this is what I need most .

‘How can I satisfy everyone and yet not damage the river? I think this problem could easily be solved if Mommy Vyvyan could lend a hand . But the problem is she can’t . ’

‘This should be a city where humans and elves can get along harmoniously . If I tell the humans that they had to starve because of the elves, they’ll definitely hate the elves . Humans are simple creatures . If they have to worry about food as well, they’ll definitely hate . ’

‘If we can’t grow crops…’

I pondered the problem for a moment and then asked Freya, “Can we not plant crops?”

Freya paused for a moment and then replied, “Onii-sama, it does not matter if we do not plant crops . Worst case scenario, we do not produce food . We can purchase food or get someone to smuggle food in . ”

“If we do that, the cost of food would increase . If we did not implement a way to increase the people’s income, we would have to feed the people out of our own pockets all the time, which is not possible . ”

‘I’m aware of that . A king’s job isn’t to share his money, but to allow the people to earn enough . ’

‘England follows a similar method . As an island, England relies on business for income . Holland is another classic example . Since we require food to be imported, we need to sell other goods with higher value at higher prices . That way, we can prevent a trade deficit . ’

‘Food isn’t actually a valuable good . It’s a basic need . The south is a place where food is produced as well . Even if they do have to transport the food a long way to get here, it won’t cost that much more . ’

‘What do I need to do then? Animal husbandry? That won’t work . Livestock won’t earn much money, and their flesh can’t be preserved for long . Making salt-cure meat out of it won’t earn us more, and we’d even have to use more salt . That would cause the people to weather high salt prices . ’

‘Salt isn’t cheap . It’s a good that can buy out the entirety of bronze coins, as we know from my last fight with the church . How could my people bear that?’

‘Okay, so what then? Industrial products? My factory is just a military factory . We absolutely won’t be selling the weapons produced . Do I need to make another factory just for the people? I’ll be short-handed here then . The amount of area next to the river is fairly small, too . In fact, there’s no suitable place to set up another factory . ’

‘What else is there? Mining? The mine here isn’t worth money . Tourism… Okay, the only tourists in this era are rich people with money to waste . People wouldn’t spend over ten days to come here to view a little run-of-the-mill town either . ’

‘What do I do then?’

Freya and I looked at each other . This was the simplest problem we’d faced since teaming up, yet we were both speechless for the first time .

While holding her flower, Lucia looked at us with puzzlement . Without thinking, she asked, “Your Highness, if we can’t plant humanity’s stuff, can’t we just plant the elves’ stuff, then?”