Chapter 2: Princess Mia... Reaches Peak Mental Performance

Five days had passed since Mia's return to the empire.

"...I'm exhausted."

From the endless rounds of greetings she had to exchange with her father and his higher-ranking nobles to the commemorative party she'd had to attend upon her return, she'd been swamped since arriving back in Tearmoon. Princesses of mighty empires did not, in fact, spend their days idle. They were busy people.

"I already miss school. It was so relaxing there."

She'd barely been here a week, and already she wanted to go back. Just as she was fondly recalling her carefree days in Saint-Noel, her loyal subject Ludwig appeared before her.

"It brings me great pleasure to welcome you back, Your Highness, and I am overjoyed to see that you have returned safely," he said, his face expressing none of the emotions he referred to. The hint of a scowl he wore was a familiar sight — so much so that it almost felt nostalgic.

"I, too, am glad to see you well, Ludwig."

After a quick exchange of greetings, Ludwig began to brief Mia on the developments that had occurred in the empire during her absence.

"It's still not enough..." she said with a sigh after he finished his report.

"I agree that the food reserves are less than ideal, but, Your Highness, I must stress that further stockpiling of grains poses a significant risk of wastage."

Mia's concern over the empire's provisions was one thing that Ludwig simply couldn't comprehend. The quantity she'd instructed him to stockpile was so great that it would only make sense if they were preparing for a famine the scale and severity of which the empire had never seen before. There would be enough food to keep Tearmoon fed even if harvests were completely decimated for years. No matter how he thought about it, this seemed excessive. If anything, financial collapse seemed like a far more realistic and pressing concern. After all, maintaining provisions was the process of keeping crops in storage, where they'd remain unused. If nothing happened, then the money spent on their production would have gone to waste. Furthermore, upkeep wasn't free; it cost money to keep food stored.

These were issues that Mia couldn't be unaware of, and yet, she still maintained her stance.

"Your Highness, let me first say that I trust you and I have faith in your judgment. Therefore, while I cannot profess support for your position, should you wish for increased provisions, then I shall see to it that they are increased. However, we will still need a way to explain this decision to the nobles."

"What do you mean?"

"I have already given official notice that all Tearmoon nobles are to curb spending and reduce waste. To then declare that we are increasing stored provisions may very well invite criticism that you yourself are causing waste."

"You raise a good point. They certainly are experts at finding fault in others."

From Mia's viewpoint, increasing provisions was obviously the right thing to do. After all, she knew for certain that a widespread famine was going to happen in a few years. The frustrating part was that despite knowing they didn't have enough food stocked up, she had no way of explaining why they needed more. She sighed.

"It seems like we need to change our angle of approach," she said, quickly shaking her head as though she were clearing her thoughts. "Ludwig, you said that you trust me, right? If so, then please proceed under the assumption that there will be a serious famine in a few years time."

His eyes narrowed at her statement.

"Do you mean to say that I am to prepare not for a possible famine, but an inevitable one?"

"Correct. And assuming there will be a famine, I have another question for you. If we can't save up enough food by the time it strikes, then what should we do?"

"Well, normally, we'd have no choice but to use merchants to bring food in from afar."

Even Mia knew that much, but...

"That won't do. Using merchants to that extent would ruin our finances. Nothing is as expensive as food during a famine, correct?"

"There's little we can do about that. Price increases when demand outstrips supply. It's natural for something to cost more when more people want it."

"We have to limit that, though..."

Or they'd reach a point where a bag of wheat could purchase an entire castle. She knew this was possible; she'd lived it. And it had been hell.

The only way to avoid getting taken advantage of by merchants is to stockpile more food, but...

That wasn't an option. At the same time, the chances of increasing supply was similarly slim. Almost all the crops here were going to be wiped out completely. They could increase the amount of farmland in Tearmoon by ten, and it still wouldn't be enough. It would also be extremely inefficient.

Hmph! This is all so terribly unfair! It's not like all the food in the whole world is gone!

Now, to what might be the surprise of some, Mia did not, in fact, spend all her days at school lazing around. Sure, friends and romance had occupied a good deal of her time, but she did actually get some learning done as well. One day, when she was doing some research on famines, she realized that she'd misunderstood how it all worked.

Famines were not caused by a deficiency in the absolute quantity of food available. They occurred due to impediments in the transport of food. It wasn't a supply problem; it was a distribution problem. People went hungry not because the food was gone, but because the food couldn't get to them. That was why the business model of bringing food into areas of famine and selling it at a high price could exist in the first place...

"Ah! I've got it!" she said, leaping to her feet.

The sudden motion made Ludwig flinch, but she paid him no mind, for in a flash of inspiration she had just come up with a very good idea. If they could somehow purchase food from merchants at a low price during the famine, then all their problems would be solved. How could they do this, you ask? Why...

Mate's rates! It's all about mate's rates!

Mia's very good idea was basically just being a sleazy friend and asking for discounts — hardly something that required a muse of fire to think up.

"Mate's rates, you say... I see..."

For some reason, though, Ludwig fell silent as he contemplated her words. After a while, he looked up and in a voice filled with admiration said, "That's... a brilliant idea."