Chapter 48: The Empress Within the Walls, Dialogue with Isugard, and the Diocese’s New Industry (part 1)

On the same day, within the borders of the Roman Empire, the Empress’ voice emanated from behind the curtain. Her clear, cold commands, and the emphasis on the empire in those commands, didn’t seem like something a little girl could articulate.

In her orders, the Empress demanded the nobles from the eastern and western regions to pay taxes, providing more funds to the treasury to supply food for the refugees, which was also a form of suppression.

After all, all nobles associated with the Roman Empire were not considered good. Every noble had more or less blemishes, and the Empress specifically mentioned the nobles of the eastern and western regions, in a way, also indicated her support for the nobles from the northern, central, and southern regions.

This made the representatives of the nobles from these three areas breathe a sigh of relief, while those from the eastern and western regions, despite their displeased faces, could not make a scene within the palace.

They could only silently accept the little Empress’ command, while the peasants crowded in the square outside, listening to the Empress’ orders, cheered in a noise that couldn’t possibly reach inside the palace.

“It’s great! The Empress still loves us!”

“We are saved!”

Amidst the noisy cheers, some insightful individuals wore troubled expressions, realizing that the little Empress’ commands would only further divide the Roman Empire.

The eastern nobles controlled eighty percent of the empire’s silver mines, while the western nobles, though not as wealthy, owned vast pastures that provided the Roman Empire with a large number of warhorses and livestock.

The nobles from both regions were renowned for their military achievements in previous wars. They possessed not only power but also widespread fame. Most importantly, they had already exerted much effort during this drought.

The western region had provided many pigs and a small amount of food as soon as the drought occurred, while the eastern region had done its utmost to mine and use silver to enrich the treasury

As a result, the two most effortful noble groups were suppressed today. Any rational person would harbor resentment due to this.

This country might be doomed. Those with insight shook their heads amidst the cheering crowds. Not only doomed, but it might also fracture into a more divided situation than the tribal era before.

“It would have been better to let the Regent become the Emperor.”

Quiet complaints disappeared in the noisy cheers.

And this cheer was not what the young Empress wanted, but what Prince Garson desired.

“Your Highness, as per your orders, I’ve had her issue the command.” 

His chief maid rushed back to Garson’s side immediately after the court session ended.

“The eastern and western nobles, not belonging to our interest group, must pay the price. This was your directive.”

“Correct. After all, the treasury is short of money to purchase food, and the taxes paid by the eastern and western nobles this year have not even reached one-tenth. Hmph, despite their claims of loving this country, they haven’t paid enough money,” Garson said, sipping on fine wine, he began to ponder over the various events during the most difficult period of the Roman Empire.

Undoubtedly, the arrival of the Isugarde trade caravan was a boost for the Roman Empire. 

The Dreke Port had already ordered a large quantity of food from Isugarde. On their next visit, they would bring the high-quality grains for brewing needed by the Roman Empire, helping the empire to survive this difficult drought.

However, high-quality grains naturally wouldn’t be directly distributed to the refugees. Garson planned to mix in sawdust, some expired food ground into powder, and some soil. 

By doing so, a portion of high-quality grain could satisfy the hunger of a dozen people. More importantly, only by doing this could the nobles and officials responsible for distributing the food restrain their greed for the relief grains.

Because birds of a feather flock together, Garson knew the nature of the nobles well. These nobles had plenty of food reserves at home and didn’t care for rotting grains, but those refugees would shove the spoiled food directly into their mouths. So, to prevent embezzlement of the food, deliberately making it rotten was necessary.

Garson felt a surge of wisdom in his mind. He considered himself much smarter than his brother, who only knew how to fight and play politics. Feeling greatly pleased, he drank a few more glasses of wine.

Then, he remembered something.

“How is my niece doing now?”

“She’s as quiet as before. The former court judge is also very quiet.”

To get a better price, it was necessary to invite people from other countries to come over after the drought in the Roman Empire ended. The cost of magic potions must also be calculated accurately. Among other things, Prince Garson was thoughtfully planning something.

On the other side, inside the palace, in the private chamber where the little Empress and the former court judge could move freely after the court session ended.

The former court judge, while carefully wiping the sweat beads off the little Empress’s face with a cool towel, sighed. 

“Ah! Another tough day. A bunch of fools can’t see that all of this is Garson’s doing behind the scenes, and you’ve become the target of public criticism again.”

The little Empress made no particular response, just shook her head.

“It’s okay to not care about it anymore, our survival in the palace is getting harder. Garson just needs you to sit in this position. I understand now why the Emperor was so antagonized when sitting in this position. Sigh.”

After wiping the sweat from the little Empress’s face, the former court judge helped her out of her heavy official attire and into something more comfortable.

Although they could hardly contact others in the palace and their freedom of movement was very limited, at least while Garson still needed the little Empress, their lives were not too pressured.

When there were no duties, they could walk a bit in the courtyard. And while moving in the courtyard, Natalie could take the opportunity to serve the little Empress and secretly contact outsiders.

She actually didn’t trust outsiders.

But those were long-eared elves.

Although unclear how the elves managed to infiltrate the palace, Natalie still hoped the elves could bring them some hope.

Thinking this, she raised her head to glance at the clock on the wall. It was exactly 3 PM. The elven spy would wait for them in the courtyard for an hour. they could take their time to go there. 

“Your Majesty? Let’s go. Let’s take a walk outside, breathe some fresh air, and just go through the motions.”

The little Empress nodded, and with Natalie’s support, the frail-bodied girl slowly made her way to the courtyard.

She looked at the palace where she lived, her eyes devoid of any fondness or love, filled only with hatred. Hatred for the palace, hatred for the throne and hatred for this country.

It was when they reached the sightseeing corridor that the little Empress stopped, looking towards the top of the mage tower behind the palace, and tugged at the former court judge’s skirt.

Following her gaze to the opened window of the tower room,Natalie sneered. 

“It seems the Night Witch is entertaining guests. That bat who revels in darkness would never open her window during the day. Hmph, pay her no mind. Our Emperor has long abandoned that witch. It was never the Roman Empire that exiled him, he completely gave up on this country out of disappointment. But he won’t give up on you, so please be assured, okay? He will save you, I promise.”

Natalie tenderly knelt before the little Empress, gently caressing her cheek, making the little Empress feel as if she saw her own birth mother, her own mother, stirring up warmth and hope in her heart.

***

Inside the mage tower, the Night Witch, Priscilla, had just finished quelling a riot and had barely drunk two sips of water before she had to welcome guests in her mage tower.

She didn’t pay attention to the court’s politics, but she knew those who came to seek her were apparently the major nobles from the eastern silver mines and the western large ranches.

Both were earls, coming to her to discuss a matter.

“Please close the window and cast a spell to ensure that what happens here remains unknown to others,” the Earl of the Silver Mines said in a low voice. “It was after a very difficult internal struggle that we decided to come to you, after all, we had thought that the Roman Empire still had a chance.”

“What are you talking about?”

Priscilla blinked, then waved her hand to close the distant window, casting a spell to create a shielded space in the tower’s great hall.

No words spoken within the shielded space could escape it. This was a magic commonly used by magicians for confidential communications, widely used from the highest courts to the lowest brothels, but never before in a mage tower.

After all, a mage tower was a fortress, home, and laboratory that magicians yearned for.

It was strange to need to ensure secrecy in speech in a place that was supposed to be absolutely safe for a magician.

But out of respect for the Earls’ feelings, she still held back.

And it was after Priscilla had cast the spell, that the Earl of the Western Great Ranch took a deep breath and said solemnly, “We have had enough! Under the guidance of the current Empress, the Roman Empire will sink deeper and deeper until it is completely destroyed. What we need is not the Roman royal family, nor the Archbishop of the Church. We want to welcome back the true ruler of the Roman Empire. Lady Witch… we know you had contact with the Regent, but it ended in failure because an agreement could not be reached. This time, we hope you can stand with us. We are willing to let the Regent rule this empire forever, we hope he can come back.”

Priscilla blankly watched the lips of the two Earls moving up and down.

Did they really understand what they were saying?

***

On the other hand, outside the Roman Empire’s border, along the coast. The black dragon Nia of Isugard was undergoing treatment with the help of elf mages.

Black dragons, as a rare species naturally resistant to magic and divine power, were hardly affected by any magic.

A lethal fireball cast by a mage could at most singe the eyebrows of a black dragon, while it could blast a well-equipped knight to pieces if cast on humans.

Similarly, healing magic cast by ordinary human mages could instantly heal wounds on humans, but on a black dragon, it could only make the dragon’s clipped nails grow back.

Black dragons were such a species. They were not threatened by magic, nor could they easily benefit from its boon.

But in the case of severe injuries, with weapons still embedded in her body and unable to heal the wounds physically, the black dragon could only hope for a sufficiently powerful caster to come and cast the best healing magic on her multiple times to prolong her life.

After all, even if it could only regenerate nails, when the number of times accumulates to a certain level, it could naturally repair ordinary injuries.

And the elven mages were the best casters in this world. At least when it came to healing magic, this was indeed the case.

Dozens of spells were cast, almost depleting all the magic in the entire area.

The elven archmage, panting, looked at the black dragon who barely stopped bleeding after pulling out the javelin.

Under extreme fatigue, even the oldest elves could not maintain their elegance and could only let out a hoarse lament like a client betrayed by a friend in a brothel. 

“All these spells, cast on humans, I’m confident I could have returned four thousand people to their healthiest state, even if they all had their hands and legs cut off, I could have made them grow back. Yet casting them on you, I can barely stop the bleeding.”

“Thank you for your help, after all, I am a black dragon, our kind is naturally like this.”

“So you dragons are very troublesome. Hiss… then I’ll leave now, from now on you’ll have to rely on yourself to recuperate, and maintain enough nutrition, and then your body should heal in no more than ten days. Please prepare the agreed materials now, we need to take them back immediately.”

The elven archmage, who was over a thousand years old yet still looked as handsome as a mature man, left.

Nia looked down at the wound on her belly that had not fully healed, then lamented to her subordinates around her. 

“It really lives up to the magical richness of the continent of Elusia. If these elven mages were allowed to cast healing magic at will in our territory, not to mention dozens of times, just the first few times could deplete the magic of an entire region. This place is simply a paradise for mages. But then again, although I feel that under such abundant magic conditions, I could unleash stronger dragon breath, but the magical elements here seem to be a bit different from ours?”

“Rather than these scientific matters, Lady Nia, please rest well,” the aide-de-camp said with a wry smile, “Even as a black dragon, it will take more than a dozen days of rest to heal from such injuries. And we also need to ensure your nutrition, but…”

He paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully, then gave an objective assessment. 

“As a dragon, especially the physically strongest black dragon, you… eat quite a bit.”

Black dragons were among the most physically robust in dragonkind.

As the price of being the most robust, they ate quite a bit.

This made Nia very embarrassed, given that the three merchant ships they brought were almost entirely filled with materials for constructing the port…

Although under normal circumstances, she could solve her own food problem if she could fly. But if she must rest, the soldiers would not be able to ensure enough food for this period.

‘We’ll have to trade with the elves after all.’