The revision of our grand plan done with, we moved on to the reports of our various ongoing endeavours. This company is among the wealthiest in the east of the continent, but wealth was never the end goal, instead what we desire is power and influence along with an outlet for our various projects.

The spice trade is one such project, this industry has long been dominated by the Principality and the kingdom of Realise but with the creation of a new seller for said consumable item we gained the ability to weaken both countries and enrich ourselves without long term effects on the market. Unlike gold, spices can only be used once thus the long-term impact of me creating it can be remedied at any time.

Gems on the other hand have a more permanent impact but in truth their serve to balance the economy. This is the result of me creating vast amounts of wealth in the form of gold, platinum, and silver. The effect I sough after was the ability to recover that money I injected into the market and thus keeping the level of inflation to a minimum. In the modern world this is done through the manipulation of the interest rates but as I wish to preserve the gold-based system and prevent the rise of Fiat Currency I have no choice but to operate in this way. At the very least I have stopped creating currency, I should accustom myself with the economy of this world. I have even taken loans from entities resembling banks so that this company does not appear too suspicious.

Other products native to the duchy are also bought and sold similarly to other normal companies but we instituted a method of privatizing foreign to this land. In exchange for forgiving or aiding nobles who are indebted we request part of their territory. This is neither legal or illegal as it has yet to be done in this world. In medieval times, lords who accrued large debts, mostly due to Crusades, made deals with the peasants and merchants living in their territory to grant them the freedom to rule themselves in exchange for money. This is a major cause to why nobility was abolished but I intend to make use of it and then ban it completely once I take power.

You might be wandering as to what we used that land for, the answer is farming, as to what we are farming well that’s complicated. I intend to conquer the east of the continent within a few decades but to do so without me taking part in every battle would be all but impossible. That is why I used about 20% of the land we have to grow Drugs. Those who know about the two Opium wars between the British and the Chinese might have guessed what I have been planning but for those who are still in the dark allow me to enlighten you.

During the height of the British Empire China was suffering a massive decline due to the imported drugs from Britain, Opium was a scourge that swept through China and made the country impotent. People destroyed their bodies by injecting negative substances into themselves, this led to the bureaucracy falling, production dropping and worst of all military discipline and national power plummeting. I intend to do the same by illegally exporting drugs into every neighbouring domain and even far away countries like Halmham. This strategy will of course require some clean up, but I intend to take care of it by gradually reducing the product from the market and establishing avenues where afflicted individual can be treated. Alchemist like myself can create remedies that can almost completely remove the negative effects of drugs, by starting a cure campaign after conquering those territories I will be praised as a savior and instill in the people the idea that life under my rule is more beneficial to them then continues servitude to their former masters. I hope that as few people will dies from this but at the very least, I know that I will be able help them.

Now that the plan has changed, I could also incorporate those lands into my future territory and thus increase my power even more. In truth I do not intend to start taking care of the people until they truly become my people. I do not wish to aide my father and thus drive their loyalty towards him and the other nobles, that is why I have yet to introduce ideas that will help the citizenry. Crop rotation, the creation of stone paved roads, building public facilities ranging from town halls to baths and the like, improving necessary infrastructure such as water delivery by building aqueducts, and so much more. I truly do intend to better their lives within the limits I will impose but until the time comes, they will have to continue living in barely acceptable conditions.

You might think that if I used these future projects to improve my standing amongst the vassals and my father, they would recognize me and my efforts and reward me appropriately, but that is nothing more than a delusion. Whatever I may accomplish they will portray as their own accomplishments, as for my just dues they will state that as a woman it is only rational that I work towards the betterment of my family or some crap like that to try and placate me. If you want something, do it yourself, never rely on others and never trust your fellow man unless you were to be the unconditional superior and the greatest beneficiary.

When it comes to education I am honestly torn, with knowledge comes new inventions and the possible progress of the world, something I wish to avoid at all costs. At the same time without educations there isn’t much I can expect from the lower class. People like Jean do not grow on trees, she is an exception amongst exceptions, learning to read and write without proper schooling can only be done by a genius. I might institute a sort of mandatory schooling and limit it to the study of reading and writing along with basic mathematic, but this is far into the future as we do not even have enough educated workers, let alone some we might be able to spare to teach others. The one area I do intend to allow people to study in depth is medicine, I hope that the erroneous methods used in this world can be rectified and that people will strive to invent functional medical arts. Relying solely on Alchemists and prayers is no way to save people’s lives, instead I want them to rediscover the modern arts of my old world. I will of course give them as mush information as I have but as I never studied medicine, I cannot offer them much.

I started to wander off until Paul brought my attention to a possible source for educated workers.

“My lady we could use lesser nobles to fill the workforce needed to govern the new territories in an appointment-based system. I know that you have yet to be named a lord, but we must start the recruitment early if this idea is to take shape.”

“Amazing, go for it. Lesser nobles, fallen nobility, and the spare sons and daughters of even the high nobility would fight for this exact type of opportunity. Their loyalties will always be in question but as long as they are used for surface bureaucratic duties in areas of reduced importance that would matter very little. Your idea could solve all our problems, you should start by employing them in one of our side businesses and then you could make your selection.”

“Elly, how about you ask your family for help, I don’t mean the duke but your maternal family. I believe that your grandfather on your mother’s side is a Count with a territory close to the duchy. Getting him on your side would help with many of our shortcomings, not only that, he could possibly prove helpful during your military campaigns.”

“Jean is right, you could find a possible ally in him. Then again would he even consider it without us revealing much of our plan?”

“It could work. What if I use him as a gateway for negotiation with the currently independent nobles?”

“That’s also a possible course of action. The duke is completely unreliable and from what you’ve told us, you are likely to make him a temporary enemy. Your grandfather could serve to counterbalance him, after all he too would prefer it if one with his blood were to be named duchess rather than the son of some freed slaved.”

Not appreciating how he talked about Ariel I glared at David to the point he started to tremble. I know he means well but my actions should be enough for him to understand that I care about her.

“Paul, get in touch with my grandfather, probe him and see if he is willing to support me. David, take care not to get caught with the special goods we are exporting and try to increase the amount if possible. Jean, you said that you have assembled the group I asked for, tell them to start working on a plan with the specifications I gave you. Damian, get those men ready, I want to move out in two days. Finally Aldry, you should have traveled through parts of the eastern territory to get to Aren, tell me as much as you can about the domains you visited on your way.”

The meeting lasted for more than two hours, and all involved began to lose focus as such I decided to end it and resume long distance communication during my upcoming expedition but before I could leave, I was stopped by David.

“Lady Elizabeth, would you mind refilling the basement storage with spices, though the price has started to drop it remains one of our major expo…”

Dong, Dong, Dong…

“The bells?”

“We are under attack?!”

This can only mean one of two things, first that some sort of natural disaster is taking place, this can be an earthquake, a tsunami, a rockslide, or anything of the sort. The second possibility and the one most likely taking place currently is that the town is under attack from some outside force. As it is impossible for our adversaries to have received news of my actions and be done with mustering their forces, this can only mean one thing, a monster.

Monsters are creatures born of magic with little to no awareness, all they wish for is to accumulate more magic within them and as such they chase after people or objects that hold said magical power. In this case the monster is likely here because of Iris and I, there might also be some mages who know nothing of their powers or some travelers with magical artifacts that contributed to the creature deciding to attack this city. This isn’t the first time this has happened, when teacher Adam was still teaching me, magic monsters appeared more and more often and by that I mean that they appeared once every two to three years. I did help lord Adam defeat some of them, but this will be the first time that I would fight one without his help.

From what teacher Adam taught me monsters can be born in a few ways, the first is through the flawed intake of magic into a living being. This can be an insect, animal or even a plant that knowingly or unknowingly absorbs magic without it being able to control it, thus resulting in mutations and the loss of awareness. Magic, even that which is present inside mages, is connected and by instinct it desires to join back together and create a perfect magical entity, those are known as divine beasts. Collecting magic does not guarantee the birth of a divine beast but simply increases the likelihood of its birth, that is why monsters are more often than not simple plagues upon the lands they are born in.  

“I will be on my way.” The rest of the group looked at me with anxious eyes. No matter how many times one fights and defeats a monster they are never assured victory, most monsters have different abilities and thus require the ones fighting it to continuously adapts to it.

“Now now, don’t look at me that way, no matter how powerful that thing is it still wouldn’t be any match for me.” I smiled and exited the room, doing my best to ignore David’s whisperings “Pease be safe oh my infinitely big sac of gold.”

I made my way to the inside of the castle where I meet up with Sir Mayron and Tristian. The captain was organizing the knights whilst looking for me.

“Captain, do you know what type of monster it is?”

“The lookouts reported that it is one never seen before. Get yourself ready to head to the wall and support us from there, we will engage it in combat.” No, I can’t let you do that, losing a single knight might put the Duchy at even more risk after what I have done.

“No need, I want three knights, preferably those who are fast and best at defending themselves.”

“You want to defeat an unknown monster with three knights and a mage, don’t be ridiculous, if you get hurt or worst die than the city will be turned to ruble. Think about other for once, you are strong but don’t let that cloud your judgement.”

“Not to worry, I don’t plan on dying anytime soon and if I was truly arrogant then I would have said that I would take care of it on my own.”

The captain glared at me before turning his head and calling three knights over.

There is no reason to sacrifice dozens of solders when I am more capable than the army.

“I might not be a knight but don’t think you can fight that thing without me.”

“Ah Tristan, I would never dream of it. You and I will be the ones going in the offence whilst the other three will continue to distract it.”

“Got it boss.”

Thankfully the monster was spotted miles away from the city, thanks to that we had enough time to get ready and establish a defence but that won’t be necessary. I intend to leave the city and fight it in the outside fields that way I will have enough space for the grand magic spells I intend to use.

Tristian and the three knights beside me I marched out of the city to confront this beast of calamity.