The Southern Merchants Association was trying to send wheat to the capital by ship, but the wheat was not coming up in time because of the pirates. The plan to take away Southern Merchants’ land by preventing them from selling wheat was going very well. However, it was not expected that this would lead to such a famine in the capital. Wheat was always stored in warehouses in the capital city, so Sienna thought that even if the price of wheat would rise, there would be no increase in the number of people starving to death.
But the war with Castro was an unexpected variable. Knowing that it would be a year of a good harvest, Sienna tried to block the market and drag time to form a reasonable price, but as the war with Castro intensified, wheat in the capital was taken out as military supply, which caused the repercussions to be bigger than she thought.
“Hain, would you please tell Greenie Baron’s wife that I would like to see her?”
Sienna felt like it would be best to see Kelly and come up with a solution.
*
In response to Sienna’s request, Jane came to meet Sienna instead of Kelly. She was naturally blessed with a beautiful appearance, but she seemed to shine more after entering the Greenie family as their foster daughter. She entered Siena’s room with a more graceful gait than those who were born nobles.
“Miss Jane, it’s been a long time. Sit here first.”
“Your Majesty the Crown Princess. I’m here because Kelly went to the north.”
“North? You mean Aunt Kelly is going to take part in traveling herself?”
“She used to enjoy going from place to place. She has been often following the travels after she regained her health. I believe now she is visiting the Heidel area, so I think she is going to see the Duke of Waters.”
“Is that so?”
“She took a lot of wheat with her, so you don’t have to worry about the Heidel area.”
“Ah!”
Sienna did not even think about the northern area. Heidel was an area much worse off than the capital. It must have been affected by the surge in wheat prices, as the remaining amount was sent only after wheat was sent from the south to the capital.
Sienna didn’t even think about it even though it was her own family’s business. Because she was overtaken at the thought of cutting Arya’s financial stream, Sienna did not take care of her other priorities.
“I didn’t even think about Heidel’s problem. I am very grateful of course. Also thank you, Miss Jane.”
“Don’t mention it. These are nothing compared to what you have done.”
“What did I do? It was all thanks to the Priest Roy.”
Jane grinned at Sienna’s words.
“How’s the operation of the temple’s orphanage going?” Sienna asked.
“There are already five new children who came in because several of the older ones became self-reliant and are looking for jobs. I’m looking for an empty building to expand the dormitory, and it’s going to take a while because it is so hard to find land in the capital.”
“Is that so? That’s good. I haven’t seen Priest Roy in a long time.”
“Priest Roy would like to see you too, but I think if you are coming to the palace in person it would be a little overwhelming to him. Some people might be dissatisfied with the fact that your Highness worships an Earth Goddess, so he doesn’t want to put you in an awkward position by frequent visits.”
“What is there to be awkward about? Please give him my word that he can visit me anytime.”
“Yes, I will definitely send the message.”
“How’s the deal with the South going?”
“Getting a penalty for breach of contract is going smoothly. Thanks to that, we now have a lot of land in the South.”
“Is there any pressure or anything on the Merchants Association?”
“Fortunately, there are many aristocrats who support our Association. The Empress is from the Panacio family, but not all of the Southern Confederacy support the Panacio family. Also, the Duke has been accused of siphoning off money for restoring the road linking the South and the capital, so they have been unable to pressure our side. Rather, we are putting pressure on the Panacio family through the nobles. Sooner or later, a political meeting will bring up the issue of corruption related to the project.”
“Good thing. This will deal a heavy blow to the Southern Chamber of Commerce. It has been a huge annoyance to see them abuse their exclusive right to wheat, so that’s great.”
“Already, the informational aristocrats are getting their hand out even if that means that they have to give up their stakes in the Southern Merchants. Otherwise, they might have to pay the debts.”
“I see, but the price of wheat going to the capital seems to have gone up too fast.”
“Yes, it was something that we didn’t expect either. It is true that criticism of the empress, including the Southern Chamber of Commerce, has increased, but innocent people in the capital are suffering. There are already quite a few closed shops on the capital’s streets. Most restaurants are closed, and I’ve heard that other stores are seeing a huge drop in sales.”
“The wheat supply issue proceeded faster than we thought, and the damage is too much right now. Is it true that some people have already starved to death?”
“I cannot prove it exactly, but it’s true that rumors like that are going around. Still, I heard that none of the children on the street died of starvation because they were handing out bread to hungry children in the temple. But the big problem is that even children with parents, not orphans, are coming to the temple because they have nothing to eat.”
“It’s a big deal, so…”
Sienna hesitated to open her mouth. She wanted to help those who were suffering because she was responsible for this, but she had nothing to offer.
“Don’t hold anything back. Your Grace is a benefactor to our Green Merchants. We’ll do whatever we can if you ask.”
Sienna hesitated even at Jane’s assurance. What Sienna wanted to ask would cause one-sided losses to the Green Merchants.
“It’s just… …I want to help those who are hungry in the capital. This all happened because of me.”
“I understand what you mean. We will proceed to do that.”
Sienna was dumbfounded by such a welcome answer.
“I will make sure to pay for the costs that go in. It’s a lot of money, so it’s hard to pay it back at once, but somehow…”
“No, we are not a profit-seeking association that damages others. Kelly was also worried. We’ve got wheat in our warehouse, and we’ve been calculating the timing because we need to lower prices before wheat rises in the south, so that the losses for the Southern Merchants can be great and our Merchants can benefit. We’ll let the wheat go before it gets any worse.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
“No, we’ve already made a big profit thanks to you. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”
“I’m relieved because of you Miss Jane. Oh, have you heard anything about the war fronts?”
“Is it because of the First Prince’s charge? No special news has been reported so far. I’m going to put a messenger into the merchants who participated in the war.”
Jane stood up from her seat, saying she would let people know the news. Sienna saw her off with a light heart.