"Onii-sama, we currently have a few plans for your coronation. Please choose one."
I smiled then accepted the pile of doc.u.ments Freya handed me: "It"s only been two to three days and you"ve already found so many? I actually don"t think there"s a need to make it so grandiose. The finance issues in the North haven"t been completely resolved. We have to use the money we loaned at the moment. If our expenditure is too high, even I would feel my heart ache."
Freya pinched her chin. Somewhat worried, she said, "To be honest, there is nothing that can be exported from the North at the moment. The craft work standard in the North is awful. Though the structures built by the anthropoids are acceptable, their handicraft is actually poor. Humanity has adequate production abilities, and they can even export goods here to us. The elves can satisfy their requirements by trading with the humans. I think that the only people we can export our goods to are humans. But what would we sell to them?"
I looked at her and answered in a serious tone: "Firearms. Mommy Elizabeth may have never mentioned it to me before, but she"s very interested in our repeated firing guns, so we can export them to her. As we are the only one to possess them, we can decide on the price."
Freya thought about what I said for a moment before smiling helplessly: "Onii-sama, have you forgotten something? I remember explicitly telling you we can export firearms to the elves, Karana and Nara… under the condition that the two of them have the courage to purchase firearms right in front of Empress Elizabeth… However, we cannot sell firearms to Empress Elizabeth. Onii-sama, you trust Empress Elizabeth, right? In spite of that, your Luna still ended up dying. No, I am not blaming Empress Elizabeth, for it was not her fault. But, Onii-sama, you must understand that humans are not as pure as elves. Humanity does not have absolute respect for you, and they are not friendly with the North. From their perspective, the North belonged to them, while we are here controlling it. There is no doubt that they are hostile towards us. If we sell firearms to them, how are we going to win once war breaks out? What will we use to win?"
"That… It"s not that bad, is it…?"
"Did you forget Luna?"
I had no counter for Freya"s question. That was also true in the past. Mommy Elizabeth was the ruler, but those who served her weren"t as obedient as the elves. Humans have their own designs. The subordinates always tampered with things. Sometimes, it was too late by the time Mommy Elizabeth found out. Luna"s misfortune was a prime example. Who would"ve predicted Alice would go after one of my people? She was Mommy Elizabeth"s bodyguard.
"You"re right… But, what else can we export, then?"
"It is actually fine to export firearms. It is just that we will need to export defects or ones we are getting rid of. If Big Sis has firearms that could fire faster, farther and more accurately, then it would be fine for us to export our current firearms, but has she come up with anything of that calibre recently?"
"No. She"s been researching manpowered machines recently, not firearms."
"In that case, we cannot export firearms. We could sell them to the Valkyries, but we would not be able to earn from that, because there are too few Valkyries. If we sold them to an army, would we have what it takes to defeat them should they challenge us? Onii-sama, do not forget that, at present, we do not have an army."
Freya was absolutely right. We didn"t have our own military; we just finished gathering information from our census. I never thought the population in the North was even smaller than the elven population. I couldn"t form an army with those numbers. I didn"t intend to use militia. The North was different to Troy City. Militia could keep provide some degree of protection for Troy City, but not the North. Once I ascended the throne, the North would be a nation. We couldn"t rely on a militia to protect the nation. We needed a legitimate military.
We still relied on humanity"s military to keep the North safe at the moment. In other words, Mommy Elizabeth maintained peace and security in the North for me… I couldn"t leave things as stood, but I needed to increase the population in the North.
After deliberating it for a long time, I said, "I think we can still sell the current repeated firing guns to mom. Frankly, I"m reluctant to have our factory continue producing them. Now that I"m in the North, I want better weapons and a better military setup. I believe Big Sis will be able create better weapons very soon. Let"s sell a small batch to start. We"ll use the money from that for my coronation ceremony."
Freya sighed" "I have informed you of the possible risk involved, Your Majesty; but since you still want to go ahead with it, let us proceed with that, then. You should discuss the details of the deal with Empress Elizabeth, because she will definitely be able to offer you a favourable offer in business."
I nodded: "We don"t necessarily have to sell them the same rifles we use. We"ll shorten the barrels and since we are selling them the ammunition, we should be safe, right?"
Freya shook her head: "I will leave that to you to decide. I am not informed when it comes to weapons, Onii-sama. If you think that there is no problem with it, then do so. If you are very rea.s.sured and certain that humanity cannot make imitations once they get their hands on them, then it is fine to sell them to humanity."
"All right, I will go and speak to Mommy Elizabeth about this now, then."
"Now?!" exclaimed Freya, surprised. She looked at me with an itch to say something; nonetheless, she then realised what I was trying to do, so she smiled: "You want to take this opportunity to go and see Daisy, right…? Okay, okay. It will soon be dinner time anyway. I cannot consider you lazy if you can seal the deal on it, either. Go and see Empress Elizabeth, then. She should agree it to it without taking too long. But do we need to mention it to Big Sis?"
"Mm, I need to go and see her. We"ll create a new line of our rifles for trading. I"ll discuss how to downgrade them with her. Additionally, I also need to tell her about the factory operations."
I stood up and put together the doc.u.ments Freya handed me. With a smile, I said, "I"ll have a look at these tomorrow, Freya. It"s all right. We still don"t have money, so it"s pointless even If I can confirm it now. I"ll go see Mommy Elizabeth now, then. You can go play or whatever now, Freya. Remember to come over for dinner!"
Freya felt hopeless; she smiled: "I knew that you would come every day, but you would not necessarily work earnestly every day. Forget it. Forget it. Onii-sama, remember to send my greetings to Daisy."
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