Chapter 92: Hello, Development (1)

Thats true.

The only reason Princess Leila was hesitating to ascend the throne was because of King August. When the Republicans had invaded, King August had taken his royal possession and fled abroad. But after that, there hadnt been any news about him; he had disappeared without a trace. He hadnt been captured by Siegfried nor had any other country said that King August sought asylum from them. Even now when the war was over, King August still hadnt shown up. In other words, it wasnt determined whether he was alive or dead. This was really bothersome for Princess Leila.

If I was to ascend the throne when were still uncertain whether hes alive or not, knowing my father, hell appear the moment I sit on the throne and claim that I was trying to usurp the throne.

Even if he did appear, I dont think hell be a stumbling block for you.

Not only did she have the publics support, but she also had the support of the nobles and the military. There was no way King August could compete against her in any aspect. But

He still has the legitimacy as the current king. With my fathers personality, he may even use the worst possible method available to him.

Worst possible method, Your Highness?

Whining about it from another country. That terrible daughter of mine lacks filial piety and drove me out of my kingdom and became the monarch. So as friends, please help me. I will take back the throne and give you my kingdom in return.

Princess Leila shrugged.

Itll be difficult if my father does this.

Would he really do that, Your Highness?

Yes, hes capable of doing that and more.

Milton couldnt disagree with her. If it happened as Princess Leila said, then it really would be terrible. They were just in the process of rebuilding their country after suffering a great deal of damages from the war, but if another war broke out again? At this point, if that really happened, then regardless of the outcome, their country would be toast.

Ill keep an eye on the situation for at least a year. And itll be better to slowly ascend the throne as I am recognized by the neighboring countries.

Alright, I understand. Then I wont mention it again, Your Highness.

Thank you. To be honest, I think a wedding should take precedence over a coronation. Then, all the proposal letters thats been swamping me would be gone.

Milton sipped his tea while pretending not to understand as he thought to himself.

Dont be caught. Dont be fooled. Dont be tricked by her.

Princess Leila had been subtly shoving the marriage card in front of Miltons face for a while now. And it hadnt even been a proper proposal, rather, more of a foregone conclusion: Were getting married, when should we do it?

To be honest, for Milton, Princess Leila was a bit too much to marry. Like she had said, it would be difficult for him to find and marry a woman as beautiful as she was anywhere else in the world. But, was it possible to decide on a marriage partner just by appearance alone?

No, rather than that, how could he become the Queens husband? That would be a tiresome life. Even though the peaceful and luxurious silver spoon life that he had wanted at first was gone, Milton still thought life as Princess Leilas husband would make his life even more difficult than it was now. And there was also another reason he was hesitating to marry her.

My Lord, are you here?

In the space where it had been just the two of them, Sophia Philinover with her red hair and bright smile suddenly appeared. Sophia politely greeted Princess Leila as soon as she saw her.

Greeting to Her Highness, the Princess.

Mm, its nice to see you, Lady Philinover.

As soon as she had greeted the Princess, Sophia immediately turned to Milton and stated her business.

I created a plan that would create jobs so that the immigrants could work on expanding the district. Would you read and sign it off?

Milton read her report while praising it.

Not bad. Providing jobs would reduce their dependence on rations. Is this what you thought, Sophia?

Yes, thats right, My Lord.

Its a good idea, proceed with it.

Milton signed the report and returned it to her. Happy that her plan had been accepted, Sophia smiled at Milton.

Thank you, My Lord.

Seeing her smile so brightly without a hint of self-interest, inadvertently, a thought crossed Miltons mind.

Shes cute.

Milton unwittingly reached out and stroked Sophias head.

Um

For a moment, Sophia was embarrassed, but she continued to stay still as Milton quietly stroked her hair. It seemed like she found it pleasant. Milton thought her red hair was very soft and pretty as he let them fall between his fingers. Just as he was stroking her hair in a daze

Cough

Marquis Forrest.

He had forgotten that Princess Leila was next to him.

Ah

Milton quickly took back his hand but Princess Leila gave him a harsh look.

Even if you have a lord and vassal relationship, that doesnt give you the right to stroke the hair of a grown woman.

Yes, youre right. Im sorry.

Rather than me, I think you should be apologizing to Lady Sophia?

Im sorry

Im alright, My Lord.

Sophia cut him off. Then, she looked towards Princess Leila with a smile.

It may look somewhat unconventional from an outsiders perspective, but its fine since it was between me and My Lord this was fine.

Youre fine with it?

Yes, Your Highness. I was rather happy. It feels like I have an older brother

Seeing Sophia speak with a shy smile, Milton responded to her.

Im glad that you think so.

Thank you, My Lord. Then, Ill come back again next time.

After Sophia had left, Princess Leila turned to look at Milton with an unhappy look on her face.

Have you ever had skinship or other physical affection like this before with Lady Philinover?

Isnt it too much to describe that as physical affection?

Hm is that?

I just wanted to praise her and my hand naturally went to her head.

But he didnt tell her that he kept stroking Sophias head because it felt soft and pleasant to touch.

Fine. If its just praising

Saying that, Princess Leila suddenly changed topics.

Now that I think about it, wouldnt you be able to create more jobs by vitalizing the port?

Youre talking about the port, Your Highness?

Yes. Since you built a port, you should open a route yourself rather than waiting for it to become active. Once theres a route, merchants will flock to you and jobs will naturally increase.

Thats a good idea, Your Highness.

He hadnt thought about it, but if he opened a sea route, then he could accelerate the territorys development and create a large number of jobs for the refugees. But most importantly, creating a sea route meant that there was a line of funds.

How is it? Would it be helpful?

Princess Leila asked him coyly.

Of course, its very helpful. I have to talk with my retainers immediately.

Seeing Milton trying to leave, Princess Leila grabbed his sleeve.

whats wrong, Your Highness?

Um I was helpful, right?

Yes, you were, Your Highness.

Since I was helpful dont I get anything?

Princess Leila subtly tilted her head towards Milton.

No way? does she really?

But Princess Leila continued to tilt her head towards him.

You said it was helpful

Ah, yes. Thats um

You did so easily to someone else

That all depends on who it is

Milton started making excuses, then just stopped and sighed.

This vixen Fine. Im caught. Im caught, okay.

Just this once, Milton decided to be caught by her and gently stretched out his hand and stroked her hair.

In a way, stroking the hair of a countrys princess was a rare and valuable experience.

But more importantly, he wasnt stroking the hair of any princess not that he had seen any other princess before but he was stroking the hair of Princess Leila. It tickled a corner of his heart that a provocative and exhausting woman like her was being coquettish in front of him.

Although it occurred to him that this was another trap by the vixen to get him to marry her

Her hair is so soft and it smells good.

Princess Leilas golden blond hair flowing down between his fingers was very soft.

***

Sea route development. This wasnt as easy as it sounded.

In this world, when you talked about sailing, you were basically talking about coastal sailing. It was a type of voyage where the ships didnt sail far from the land and made multiple stops in the middle to resupply before arriving at the final destination.

Milton had originally planned for his port to be one of those intermediary stops for the ships, but now that he was trying to make his own sea route, he got a bit greedy. Milton knew exactly what the most important thing was in developing routes like this. It was a monopoly.

He didnt particularly want to discover a new continent or anything like that. But he did want to preemptively acquire and monopolize a route that other people hadnt developed so far. So what Milton was aiming for was

I want to create a direct route to Waterport Kingdom.

Waterport Kingdom was an island country that was off the southern coast of the Central continent. Although the country itself wasnt big, because it was an island country with fertile soil, it had a strong navy and was famous for producing excellent wine.

It was also ideally located between the Central and Southern continent. Waterport Kingdom benefited tremendously since it was able to trade between both continents. If Strabus Kingdom was the strongest military power after Andrews Empire, then Waterport Kingdom was the second richest country after Andrews Empire.

However, because the Waterport Kingdom was quite far from the Lester Kingdom, there was no direct trading between the two countries. That was why Milton believed that there would be a considerable amount of benefit if he was able to make a direct sea route between the two countries. But this wasnt an easy task.

As soon as Milton finished talking, Max was the first one to oppose his plan.

Thats difficult, My Lord. Our territory, no our country doesnt have the necessary advanced navigational skill that would be needed.

If its someone to navigate, then can't we just find a competent sailor?

My Lord, its not that simple. Even if we made an announcement, we dont know how many people would even gather and theres no way of finding out whether they really are competent.

Logically, Max made sense, but

Tsk, I can judge whether a person is competent or incompetent.

Because Milton had a talent that was otherworldly, he wasnt able to agree with Max on that aspect.

And thats not the only problem. Even if we were able to gather qualified crew members and open up a route, theres another reason why its difficult to directly trade with Waterport, My Lord.

Whats the reason?

Max sighed.

Because of pirates, My Lord.

Pirates

This was a serious problem for Milton as well.

Geographically, Lester Kingdom was located in the middle of the continent,no slightlyabove the center. When compared to the human body, its located above the waist, around the chest?

In comparison, the target destination, the Waterport Kingdom, was an island country far beyond the southernmost tip of the continent.

It was natural that pirates roamed the sea when it was so far away. Just as long-distance trades had great benefits when it succeeded, it also has a proportional amount of damages if pirates were to target their ship and steal from it.

Please think it over, My Lord. Waterport Kingdom is too far away and dangerous. I think Florence Principality or Gloucester Kingdom would be better.

At Maxs earnest counsel, Milton closed his eyes to think.

Hes not wrong.

Florence Principality was a nation that shared the southern border of the Lester Kingdom and located beyond Florence Principality was Gloucester Kingdom. If you traveled by land, you would have to cross borders twice and the journey would be rough and dangerous, but if you traveled by sea, the distance would be quickly shortened.

Doing that might be enough for financial gain.

After thinking it through, Milton realized that Max was right. But even if he knew that it was the logical thing to do, he still felt a tiny bit of regret in his heart. He couldnt let go of that regret when he knew that if he could just develop an exclusive trade route to Waterport Kingdom, then the profits would be outrageous.

Suddenly, Milton remembered his former bosses from his previous life.

Thats right, he used to accept ridiculously difficult assignments and nagged at his underlings. And when the deadline would pass, he would blame us.

Milton remembered how he went drinking with his colleagues and talked shit about those old bastards.

Tsk, I cant fall to the same level as those bastards.

Max wasnt an incompetent person, nor was did have a low Loyalty stat towards Milton. For him to so desperately oppose Miltons idea, that meant he was absolutely certain Miltons plan was bad.

Max, youre right. I was too greedy.

In the end, Milton gave up his regrets.

Seeing Milton frankly admit that he was wrong, Maxs tragic expression disappeared and astonishment took its place.

My My Lord.

Max never thought the words, I was wrong would ever come out of Miltons mouth.

In this world, the authority held by Lords, especially high-ranking nobles, was different from the authority held by bosses in the 21st century. If they, the Lords, were wrong, they might indirectly correct their commands, but they would never frankly admit that they were wrong.

So in that sense, what Milton had just done was very unconventional. He could be seen as someone who was kind and thoughtful, but he could also seem like someone who was weak and a pushover. But

Thank thank you, My Lord.

Max was touched by his words. Although he was a commoner by birth, Max was a person who had high self-esteem because was highly talented. He was deeply moved that someone as great as Marquis Milton Forrest had acknowledged him.

Of course, one of Miltons special traits, Monarchs Dignity, had also played a part.

His Loyalty increased again.

Once the Loyalty stat rose above 90, he was basically Miltons, but when Maxs Loyalty rose, Milton decided that this was the perfect time.

Max, I give you full authority to deal with commerce and the development of a trade route with Gloucester Kingdom.

Ill do my best, My Lord.

Full of motivation, Max energetically responded to Milton before quickly leaving to start working.

Seeing him like that, Milton smiled happily.

With that much motivation, of course youll do well.