The Bewilderment of the Sacrificial Second Princess

Chapter 58: Precious stones

In order to purchase a great art piece from Seanapse, I am to compile the documents to the mining kingdom of Dragnate, seeking precious stones of equal rarity as the previous transactions.

I visited the bureaucracy’s workplace again and, after consulting with the personnel involved in the trade, I made a budget for purchasing enough rare stones suitable for the art pieces to be sent to two countries within the next three months’ budget. In the meantime, the trade will only be conducted between merchants, and the trade between countries will be stopped for three months, as agreed in the contract.

The trade between merchants has a higher tariff than between countries, which means that better goods will be passed on to merchants. I also got an understanding from the Chamber of Commerce. Looking ahead, it should not be a bad trade.

The merchants are now thriving. This is because the country has purchased food that they have been stocking up on.

Although the tariffs will be high for a while, more direct transactions will increase and good precious stones may be widely sold in the country, where the artistic level has also risen. There are also some people who want to work as jewelry designers independently, after quitting the papermaking workshop.

Therefore, young people who want to work at papermaking workshops are emerging from various places, and the flow of people has become much more fluid.

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Now is a good opportunity to teach literacy and numeracy as it is following the trend, but it is impossible to travel to other countries under the guise of a honeymoon immediately after getting married. If you think about it as a once-in-a-lifetime chance, you might have to entrust it to Lord Balk to some extent.

“I’m sorry I threw literacy and numeracy into the mix.”

“Throwing? We have received plenty of ideas. First, the country should build facilities to guarantee the livelihood of those who have become unable to work due to injury or old age, teach them letters and numbers, and then spread it to children… considering that much, there is nothing like throwing into the mix.  All we have to do is move a little money and people.”

However, it is not that simple, as I understand.

I know that there are factions among the nobles who are dissatisfied with spreading knowledge to the common people. I can feel that they do not think well of me either.

I wonder if I can call them conservatives.

Women doing such things…, I think they are thought of as such. Apparently, it is said that I am mixed in with men, what am I doing. To put it more frankly, they say I am impudent.

In the Faithnum Empire, such gazes were familiar, so I didn’t care because I only read books and materials without speaking out, but now I am working to gradually change the country’s operation and reform and to reconcile with the budget as my job.

Even so, it seems to still feel like a sudden change. It can’t be helped, but I hope that the Sekisei-shaku will penetrate (spread) quickly.

First, I sent one copy of the Sekisei Sakui Sho to each government office so that the officials from each place can take the test one by one.

It seems there are some people who are reading it with interest.

It’s good to change little by little. First from those who can, and then as more people come, we will create a place to take official tests and study… Thinking about it that way, it may be a good thing that I go on this trip.

“Claire-sama? So when will you go to the Dragnate Kingdom to purchase?”

“Oh, yes. I’ll go tomorrow. His Highness Aglia said there’s a lot to take care of before the trip, so I will go with Melissa and Gwenna.”

“Hmm…”

My words made Lord Balk think for a moment and then he said he wanted to delay my departure by two days.

“I don’t mind, but… why? We’re on friendly terms, aren’t we?

“That may be true, but it is not proper for Her Highness the Crown Princess to be guarded by only two women. The Dragnate Kingdom is a mining country. The roughness of the sea men and their temperament has not changed, and the merchants there are even more cunning than our own merchants. The goods they handle are also very valuable.”

“That is…”

Lord Balk laughed awkwardly and tilted his head lightly.

“It’s not that Claire-sama doesn’t have the ability. When the other side is bluffing, something must be in place to match it. And then…”

As Lord Balk cut his words meaningfully, even I listened with a serious face to his next words.

“If it was found out that I let her go on a shopping trip without even one of the male guards, I would be severely scolded by Prince Auglia.”

Although he always had a smiling face, His Highness Auglia surprisingly had a strong will and was emotional.

With a serious face, I nodded firmly.

“Lord Balk still has a lot of work to do here. Please bring a tough and rough looking guard.”

“Understood.”