Luo Li looked down at the bag of grain and reached in to grab a handful.
In this world, wheat was the people's staple food.
It was grown in almost all northern regions.
In the marshy areas of the south, rice was cultivated instead.
The Kingdom of the Moon followed this pattern.
The rice in the bag wasn't the clean, golden yellow color she expected.
Instead, it was covered in dust, and some of it even looked moldy.
Taking a handful, she could feel the fine sand sliding against her palm.
Sift
She tossed the rice back into the bag, leaving her palm coated in dust.
"Your Highness!"
Nara frowned as she watched her mistress's actions.
She pulled a leather pouch from her bosom and took out a damp towel.
It was unclear if the pouch was treated with a magic array or if the towel was special.
Despite the towel being wet, the pouch showed no signs of leaking.
While Nara knew her mistress had her reasons, as her personal nun, one of her primary duties was to maintain the Saintess's elegance.
No matter the time or place, her mistress had to remain holy and pure.
Now that the Saintess's palm was stained with sand and dirt, Nara felt it was her own responsibility.
Luo Li watched Nara take her wrist and meticulously wipe her hand with the towel, deciding not to say anything.
Instead, she turned to the man standing before her.
"What is your name?"
"Replying to Your Highness, my name is Mike."
Luo Li smiled and asked kindly, "Mike, how much did you pay for this bag of rice?"
"Uh, Your Highness... this bag of rice cost me two silver coins."
One silver coin was equal to one hundred large copper coins, which roughly matched the purchasing power of one hundred yuan.
In other words, this bag of barely ten pounds, which was mixed with a pound of sand and old rice, had been sold for two hundred copper coins.
"I see. I understand."
Luo Li turned back to Nara, who was still using the towel to clean the dust from the crevices of her fingernails.
"Nara, write a slip for Mike to collect ten pounds of the same rice from our vault, and give him two silver coins as well."
The girl turned back and asked with a smile, "I will give you ten pounds of high-quality wheat and two silver coins in exchange for this bag of rice. How does that sound?"
She clearly left no room for refusal.
She hadn't even consulted Mike when she ordered Nara to write the slip.
However, Mike had no intention of refusing.
No matter what the Saintess wanted, a commoner like Mike had no power to resist.
Besides, with such generous terms, what reason was there to say no?
"I... I accept. But Your Highness, the terms you're offering are too good. I..."
Mike was just an ordinary man among the millions in Brilliant City.
He had no intention of taking advantage of her.
Trading a few pounds of inferior rice for the Saintess's high-quality grain felt like he was cheating her.
"There's no need for anything else. Just accept it. This bag of rice belongs to me now."
The girl continued to speak kindly, and Mike saw he had no chance to decline.
He nodded obediently.
Beside them, Nara had already finished writing the slip and handed over two silver coins.
"Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you so much!"
Mike took the coins and the slip, bowing repeatedly in gratitude.
With this money, he might have a comfortable winter without having to borrow money everywhere to survive.
"Don't thank me yet. I have something else to ask you."
"Please, ask anything, Your Highness."
Having received the money and the slip, Mike felt much more confident. His voice was stronger when he spoke.
"Mike, you came to buy rice because you heard some news, didn't you?"
Just as she spoke, a carriage sped toward them from a distance.
As soon as it stopped, a young girl leaped down.
The striking greatsword was still strapped to her back.
Following her out of the carriage was Lola, dressed in her red robes.
Next to descend was Momoka, wearing her red and white shrine maiden outfit.
Luo Li was somewhat surprised to see the knight accompanying them.
It was Kevin Cromwell.
In addition to these four, over two hundred knights escorted the carriage.
Luo Li only gave them a brief glance before turning her smiling gaze back to Mike.
"Mr. Mike, the matters over there aren't important. Can you answer the question I just asked?"
"Ah? Oh, right. Your Highness asked what news I heard?"
Mike thought for a moment before answering.
"I didn't hear much, only that my neighbors said grain production in the northeast and Seaview City dropped significantly this year, and that Your Highness..."
"And what about me?"
Mike swallowed hard, appearing to think of something terrifying. After a moment's hesitation, he steeled himself and continued.
"People are saying that in order to maintain the stability of the New City, Your Highness has..."
Mike seemed unable to go on.
However, Luo Li had already guessed the answer.
"They're saying that to maintain the stability of the New City, I've diverted all of Brilliant City's grain to the New City to feed the refugees, right?"
Mike froze and looked up at the girl in shock.
Realizing his rudeness, he immediately lowered his head and nodded like a chicken pecking at grain.
"Yes... yes. They all say Your Highness moved the limited food supply to the New City."
"And? You came to rush for rice, so I doubt that was the only news you heard."
Luo Li continued to ask patiently. Lola, Momoka, and Lina approached to listen.
None of them interrupted her questioning.
"I also heard people say..."
Mike paused.
"That Brilliant City's granaries are actually empty. Combined with the earthquake this morning, many of the warehouses in the south collapsed, and a lot of grain fell into the underground waterways. So..."
Luo Li frowned and turned to Lola.
Lola explained calmly, "The primary food sources for Brilliant City are wheat from the northeast and rice from the south. To facilitate storage and transport, there are large warehouses at both the northern and southern ends of the city."
"The South Warehouse mainly stores rice brought from the south, while the North Warehouse holds local wheat and wheat harvested from the northeast."
At this point, Lola frowned slightly and pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses.
"I received word of a warehouse collapse this morning, but the report wasn't this severe. They only said one warehouse had collapsed, and there was no other news."
"The South Warehouse consists of about fifty smaller warehouses. I didn't think one collapse was an urgent matter, but I didn't expect it to cause such a problem."
"I planned to investigate this afternoon, but I didn't expect Your Highness to discover it first."
"This was my negligence. Please punish me, Your Highness."
Luo Li waved her hand. It was inevitable that such things would be overlooked for a moment.
Lola carried the weight of most of the Kingdom of the Moon on her shoulders.
Luo Li acted as a beacon; she could make strategic plans for major affairs.
However, Lola was responsible for the details.
It was normal to occasionally miss one thing while focusing on another.
"It's not your fault. It's just that the divisions aren't specific enough. Augus."
"I am here, Your Highness."
Augus had caught up at some point, that familiar smile on his face.
"Go and discuss this with Audis later. Establish a Grain Bureau under the Ministry of Revenue. Let Audis recruit the staff himself. Doesn't his family have plenty of young people? Find a few to keep an eye on things for now."
Many details of the Ministry of Land and the Ministry of Finance were interconnected.
However, the main reason for keeping them separate was that the Ministry of Land would have too much territory to manage in the future.
Furthermore, many matters were tied to her new reform policies.
The most important point was the nationalization of land.
The reason she didn't want Audis to handle that part was that Audis himself was a noble.
One day, the Ministry of Land would reach for the Von family as well.
It wasn't ideal to have a noble in charge of that.
"I understand, Your Highness."
Augus nodded.
"Good. In the future, try to subdivide different issues as much as possible."
Luo Li looked back at Lola and Augus.
"What I want is to be able to trace every incident back to a specific person in charge. I don't want to have to handle every single matter personally. Do you understand?"
Assigning clear responsibility was the real issue.
Everything else was just minor detail.
Just like today's situation.
Normally, she shouldn't have had to intervene at all.
Merchants primarily dealt with the Ministry of Finance, which fell under Audis's jurisdiction.
However, given that the positions had just been announced today, she wouldn't dwell on it.
"Lola, notify Audis of this later. Tell him I don't want to see something like this happen again."
Since he had joined her and wanted to enjoy the benefits of the New Kingdom of the Moon, he had to pay a sufficient price.
Working for her was only natural, otherwise... the Von family would also be included in the purge.
After this, she would also need to study the issue of taxation.
Although the Kingdom of the Moon could still rely on her selling right now, they couldn't rely on it forever.
Er... no, let me rephrase that.
She couldn't just sell every day, could she?
That didn't sound right either.
Luo Li blinked, sensing that something was wrong.
She was missing the words 'document tablet'.
Without those four words, the meaning seemed to change entirely.
Relying on selling the document tablets every day to survive wasn't a long-term solution.
Taxation and other matters had to be properly organized, though that was a conversation for later.
The urgent task now was to solve the problem at hand.
She looked up at the street. Grain Street was now mostly cleared.
Although it was still a bit crowded, at least there was no risk of a stampede.
"Alright, since everyone who needs to be here has arrived, let's go inside and take a look."
Luo Li stood up and brushed a few snowflakes from her cloak.
She stepped toward the East Market.
Behind her, Lina and Momoka followed, followed by Lola, Augus, and Kevin.
The knights followed them into the East Market.
Even now, many people were still carrying bags of rice out.
Some carried more, some less.
The most was thirty to fifty pounds, while the least was seven or eight.
When these people saw the group led by Luo Li, they were all stunned.
Those who were quick to react immediately knelt on the ground.
The slower ones followed suit when they saw others kneeling.
In the blink of an eye, the East Market was cleared.
The streets were lined with people kneeling on the ground.
Their faces were filled with a mix of fear and confusion as they stole glances at the young girl leading the group.
Silver hair and crimson eyes.
Such distinctive features would immediately make any citizen of Brilliant City think of the Saintess.
With the knights following behind her, no one doubted her identity.
Even without anyone shouting, the crowd instinctively parted to make way.
However, as they moved further in, the crowd became denser, and their reactions were noticeably slower.
These people were still pushing their way inside, and most hadn't noticed the large group behind them.
Luo Li frowned at the sight.
"Hilda, make them move."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The valiant girl stepped forward from the back, took a deep breath, and shouted.
"The Saintess is here! Everyone, kneel!"
Hearing her, the knights in the back followed suit and shouted.
"The Saintess is here! Everyone, kneel!"
The moment the voices rang out, the crowd that had been pushing inside fell silent.
Countless people instinctively looked back.
When they saw the girl standing at the front of the silver-armored knights, many gasped and immediately knelt where they stood.
Those further back couldn't see clearly, but seeing the people in front kneel without hesitation, they quickly followed.
In an instant, the previously crowded and noisy street became open and quiet.
Luo Li didn't look at the people kneeling on the ground. Instead, she looked toward the grain shops.
As she had heard, only two grain shops on the entire street were open.
And these two shops were right next to each other.
"Who is in charge of these shops? Step forward!"
Hilda's voice echoed through the street, but no one spoke.
In that moment, the grain shops seemed to have become ownerless.
However, a second later, someone in the crowd suddenly spoke up.
"Your Highness, he... he's the owner."
Everyone's eyes immediately focused in the direction the person was pointing.
It was a scrawny, middle-aged man who was dripping with sweat and looking terrified.
He was trying to back away through the kneeling crowd.
"And him! He's the owner of that shop!"
The first person's actions seemed to set an example, and another person pointed someone out.
Then came the shop assistants.
The knights wasted no time.
They charged forward in groups, seized the men, and forced them to the ground at Luo Li's feet.
Two of them were the owners, while the rest were shop assistants.
However, these weren't the real big fish, just a small appetizer.
As for the people behind them...
Luo Li looked up at the second floor of the grain shop.
"Hilda, please invite the people upstairs to come down."
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