Dilemma

"Reporting to Your Highness, I am no noble. However, I am the president of the Mage Guild of Brilliant City. You may call me Victor."

'He is not a noble, but the president of the Mage Guild... Is he showing off his strength to me?'

'Does he mean that with the entire Mage Guild behind him, he does not fear my threats?'

"It seems neither of you agree. In that case..."

I paused for a moment, looking at the slightly nervous expressions on their faces, and smiled.

Perhaps because the smile was so sudden, both Victor and Anton looked at me with surprise.

"In that case, let us act as if I never mentioned it."

Anton, the dwarf, looked at me in astonishment.

"Your Highness... Are you not going to blame us?"

"Blame you? What is there to blame?"

I watched Anton. His face showed a mix of confusion and surprise.

"What you are doing is considering things from your own perspective. That is only human nature. Why would I blame you for that? I will not interfere with these private commissions. However, you must refuse regular production. Everything will be controlled by the officials."

Victor and Anton glanced at each other, their expressions visibly relaxing.

"If it is only that, then I can promise Your Highness that from this day forward, all slave collars will be produced in the quantities assigned by the officials. Please rest assured, Your Highness. We dwarves always remain steadfast in our promises!"

Anton spoke loudly. His voice was somewhat hoarse and muffled, but his tone was quite spirited.

Victor, the president of the Mage Guild of Brilliant City, also had a smile on his face.

"Very well. Please rest assured, Your Highness. I will restrain all members of the guild."

"Excellent. However, gentlemen, I have one more requirement."

Luo Li looked at Victor and Anton with a smile.

"Please speak, Your Highness."

"I am all ears."

"No slave collar with a custom price lower than fifty silver coins is allowed to be manufactured. I do not need to teach you what excuses to use to refuse them, do I?"

The smile remained on Luo Li's face, but her eyes had grown sharp.

Seeing this, Anton and Victor both realized one thing simultaneously.

If they did not agree to this condition, things would likely become difficult today.

"No problem."

"I can do that."

Both of them agreed.

"Very well. Lola."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"From today on, you will be responsible for liaising with Mr. Victor and Mr. Anton. You will discuss all matters and negotiate the specific distribution of orders. I will not interfere further."

This was a test to see what level Lola's abilities could reach.

Even if she messed up, it would be fine. The current Kingdom of the Moon was rotten to the core, and this mess could not be cleaned up overnight.

If even the demon army could reach their hands into the Temple, how much better could the Kingdom of the Moon be?

It was only because Brilliant City was the capital that things were somewhat stable under the very eyes of the sovereign.

Even so, most of the citizens here were gaunt and sickly. Their lives were clearly not prosperous.

Luo Li did not even dare to think about what the situation outside Brilliant City might be like.

Right now, she lacked everything.

Manpower, resources, and finances.

She was short on every single one!

In terms of manpower, excluding the four Guardian Knights and the Heavenly Punishment Knight who were away, she currently had fewer than four thousand in the heavy cavalry regiment and twenty thousand guards.

Resources?

From Lola's notebook, she could see that the grain reserves for the entire Brilliant City would only last until next year's spring planting.

Including this year's autumn harvest, the grain was only enough for two years. And that was under peaceful conditions.

Once a state of war began, the rate at which grain disappeared would be terrifying!

Supplies must precede the soldiers. Without any resources on hand, they could not support a single war.

This time they had won through opportunism and a stroke of luck.

But if the demon army pressed in with their full force, it would be a different story.

Finances... although the Temple's wealth was quite substantial—after all, it was a foundation built over centuries, and squandering it would take time.

Even if the previous Saintess had achieved nothing, the Temple's finances were still sufficient, even far exceeding those of an average noble.

However, most of that consisted of fixed assets. The amount that could actually be utilized was only three hundred thousand gold coins.

The purchasing power of a copper coin in this world was equivalent to one dollar, while a small copper coin was like ten cents.

The exchange rate for currency was generally stable: one gold coin = one hundred silver coins = ten thousand copper coins = one hundred thousand small copper coins.

In other words, for the entire Brilliant City—a metropolis with a population of over a million—the funds available for the entire administration were a mere three billion copper coins!

It was barely enough for anything.

And this was the capital?

As Luo Li watched Lola, Victor, and Anton head into a small side room to discuss matters, the other dwarves and mages turned and left.

Luo Li sat quietly on the bed, contemplating the situation she was about to face.

In the Holy City of the Holy Kingdom, the Pope would certainly not let her off easily. Martha had originally been a personal nun with the purpose of monitoring her.

Now that Martha was gone, the Pope would surely send someone else.

How to deal with it was a problem.

Manpower. In an agrarian society, the foundation of everything was people!

Even in a technological society, without people, everything loses its meaning.

So... among manpower, resources, and finances, the first thing she needed to obtain was people!

Talent. She had to have talent!

Only with talent could she gradually resolve the current predicament.

Resources and finances—these two were equivalent yet different, but both were indispensable.

Grain had to be obtained, but there was not enough money to buy it.

"Nara."

"Yes, Your Highness."

She turned to look at Nara beside her. Nara's face was full of confusion, as was Hilda's, who was standing below.

"What is the current commercial tax rate?"

"This... I, I do not know..."

A look of bewilderment appeared on Nara's face. From the look of her, she had probably never even thought about such things.

It seemed Nara was indeed not suited to be her right hand, though she was good for amusing herself with during the day.

Luo Li glanced at her ample chest and licked her lips.

She suddenly felt like having some milk.

Ahem...

Shaking that strange thought from her mind, the young girl looked down at Hilda.

As a noble, she should know something.

"Reporting to Your Highness, the commercial tax is one part in thirty. My family has its own business, primarily in mining, so I generally know a bit about it."

This tax rate was too low.

But she could not carry out drastic reforms right now. She had to endure for now and see where she could start.

After thinking for a moment, she decided to see if there were any usable talents first.

Although all power had previously been in Martha's hands, Martha could not have overseen every single detail.

"Hilda, what do you know about the government officials?"