Dominic was startled by the sound of the door slamming open.
Crown Prince Claudius stormed into the room, then stopped when he realized that Dominic and Alexis were in separate rooms as she finished getting ready.
"Crown Prince. Good morning. There is coffee if you would like?" Dominic greeted him with a genuine smile.
So, Claudius really had meant the ’keep your hands off my sister’ part of the message.
Alexis stuck her head around the corner and gave her brother an annoyed look, which he returned with a straightening of his back, emphasizing that he was the one being proper.
When Dominic was just her advisor, good behaviour was a simple matter of professional expectations. But now that he was also a suitor, there were other considerations and reputations to maintain.
"First Brother, we are ready to head for the meeting." Alexis announced, while Claudius stood in uncomfortable silence at the door between the two rooms.
Alexis moved to have Dominic escort her out of the room, but Claudius moved between them. She smirked up at him, then took his arm and stepped out of the room.
"Off we go. A chaperoned trip to the Strategy Room." She joked.
Claudius sighed. "Can you not be serious, sister? I swear, you’re determined to give me grey hairs before my children even reach the Academy."
"Surely not. Though, with your pale blonde, perhaps you already do, and it’s just hidden from sight."
The Crown Prince gave her an unimpressed look as they entered the Strategy Room, then stepped behind the desk to stand next to the King, while Dominic moved to the wall behind Princess Alexis.
The meeting started out as expected, with the King and the Crown Prince going over the combat information from the war, but after half an hour, it started to take a turn that was not in the notes.
"The political situation in Dagos appears to be worse than we had expected. Multiple years of crop failures have required them to borrow from the national treasury, and now from the moneylenders as well.
We had intended to ask for territory as the majority of our compensation, but it appears we might not be able to recover any of the other losses.
They simply don’t have anything left to give.
Cygnia took heavy damage from their stunt with the monsters, and many of our cities and towns suffered either bombing raids or paratrooper invasions. While we didn’t borrow money from outside sources, that has left our finances severely strained.
And the rebuilding hasn’t even started yet.
As such, we are going to be considering new initiatives not only to raise revenue, but to improve the state of the cities that were heavily damaged.
It will be hard on all of the Nobles of Cygnia, but I believe that we can do this without conscription." The King announced.
Princess Alexis stepped back to get advice, and Dominic whispered in her ear.
"If they commission large amounts of Magitech to be exported to a trusted ally, and either put a tariff on foreign buyers, or have it made for the Crown and then resold at a markup, they could raise revenue fast.
Cygnia is ahead of everyone else on that front." He whispered.
"That they aren’t good allies, and that techno magic comes back in the hands of a foreign army." Dominic elaborated.
Princess Alexis nodded, and Dominic carefully listened to see if he could hear what the other advisors were suggesting, and what the other Royals had in mind.
Most of the ideas were the decentralized sort. Demand taxes from the Nobles for the rebuilding, let them find a way to raise them. Unlike many Kingdoms, that was Cygnia’s preferred method, instead of taxing every resident individually.
"Are there any alternative ideas?" The King asked, looking around at his children.
Princess Alexis cleared her throat. "I would like to suggest that the Crown purchase a large amount of magitech to distribute at a markup to foreign markets. Even if we send ships to Mer and Draxning, it should be safe enough that we can make the sale without the items presenting an imminent threat of being used against us.
Allowing foreign markets to pay for our formerly exclusive magitech at a significant markup over wholesale pricing would allow us to do much of the rebuilding without burdening any of our citizens but the craftsmen, and they would be paid for their contribution."
The King drummed his fingers on the table, considering the proposal. That was a good thing, Dominic knew. It meant that he hadn’t already done the cost to benefit analysis on the proposal, but he was seriously considering it.
For the Princess, that was a major victory.
"Alright. That sounds like a viable plan. I will talk to the council and the masters to see what is going to be possible within the constraints of safety.
The first priority will be goods for our own cities and armies, but after that, an increase in international trade will help bolster the economy both in the sort and the long term.
Are there any other ideas?" He asked.
One after another, the Royals shook their heads. There weren’t a lot of options that would actually help them recover more quickly from the war at this point.
Plus, with the potential acquisition of even more land, they were going to have to reassign more of the Nobles and Royals to keep the territory stable. Part of that would fall to Princess Alexis and her choice, at least on a figurehead level.
"There will be awards granted tomorrow at noon in the Throne Room. Standard arrival times apply. You’ve all got duties to attend, so we will start with the senior Nobles and work downward." The King declared.
The Royals dispersed, other than the Council members, and Dominic noticed that the Crown Prince and his advisor, an aging Techno Wizard, followed him and Princess Alexis out of the meeting.
Dominic stepped forward, so he was directly beside the Princess, and gave her a wink when Prince Claudius cleared his throat.
He took ’protective of his sister’ to a whole new level.