Chapter 70

"Hmm... This is worse than expected."

In the palace's office, Aula, seated in her accustomed wicker chair, lowered her eyes to the dragon-skin paper in her hand and let out a gloomy sigh.

In response to her sigh, the slender secretary standing diagonally behind her spoke up.

"Yes. The special pay for soldiers and the cargo dragon carts are one thing, but the feed for the dull dragons and running dragons, as well as the consumables like weapons and armor, have risen in price more than expected. We can't help but say that our estimates were a bit too optimistic."

"Hmm..."

At the secretary's words, Queen Aula groaned as if she had bitten into a bitter pill.

During the late stages of the Great War, military supplies had been scarce and prices had soared, but immediately after the war, the demand had plummeted, causing prices to drop rapidly. Then, as time passed and supply was restricted, prices began to rise again.

Aula and her team had slightly misjudged this very normal fluctuation in prices.

They had estimated the costs based on the post-war price drop, but when they actually checked the market, they found that supply was already being restricted, and prices were inevitably starting to rise.

Of course, they weren't going to take the makeshift approach of buying supplies from the market and distributing them to the soldiers. Instead, they would release the supplies stored in the palace's warehouse and then replenish the warehouse with new supplies, so it wasn't an immediate crisis.

However, as this incident proved, military actions are often sudden. It wouldn't be wise to make a relaxed judgment like, "The prices of military supplies are high now, so let's wait and see."

"I almost want to pay them with 'wartime silver coins.'"

"If you do that now, the palace's economic credibility will plummet."

"I know, I was just saying."

The secretary, who always spoke in a flat tone, mercilessly pointed out the harsh reality, and the queen sighed again.

'Wartime silver coins' are, as the name suggests, silver coins minted in large quantities during wartime. In reality, they are dark, almost black coins with a silver content of less than 10%, making one hesitant to even call them silver coins.

Fortunately, in the Kingdom of Carp, salt is a state monopoly, and it can only be bought with domestic silver coins (and any domestic silver coin, regardless of when it was minted, is treated as equivalent). This prevents absurd inflation, but it is an unwritten rule to recover as many wartime silver coins as possible as soon as the economy stabilizes after the war.

"If the finances are tight, we can cut back. We've overestimated the number of cargo dragon carts, so if we reduce that, we can cut the feed for the dull dragons and reduce the number of valuable engineers. When we send out engineers, the special allowances add up."

"Hmm..."

Aula pondered silently at the secretary's suggestion.

The reason Aula had prepared an excessive number of cargo dragon carts for this reinforcement was that many of the reinforcements were new recruits.

New recruits, who are both physically and mentally immature, tire easily, and tired soldiers are more likely to die.

To prevent this, soldiers could be periodically loaded onto cargo dragon carts during the march, reducing the accumulation of fatigue and visibly lowering the death rate. Additionally, by sending more engineers to improve the camping environment, the burden of a long march could be significantly reduced.

Therefore, cutting costs here would be equivalent to undervaluing the lives of the soldiers.

Understanding this, Aula had to make a difficult decision.

From the perspective of a queen, there are times when one must choose to minimize damage to the treasury over the lives of the people.

However, in this case, Aula did not have to make such a harsh decision.

"No, that won't do. The safety of the soldiers is non-negotiable. Losing young men carelessly would be too damaging."

In the current Kingdom of Carp, a healthy young man is a valuable resource in itself.

A little financial burden wouldn't tip the scales.

However, even with that conclusion, the weight of the fact that the financial burden was greater than expected did not change.

The middle-aged secretary, placing his hand on his thin chin, suggested:

"Then, what about the budget? By the way, I heard that thanks to Zenjiro's efforts, the budget for the 'royal water mills' has been significantly reduced."

However, Aula rejected the suggestion without a moment's thought.

"That won't do. If we move the budget beyond its allocated frame, it will be extremely difficult to return it to its original frame."

"Indeed, that is true."

The secretary acknowledged the queen's answer.

This is a problem of the immature financial system of the kingdom. There is no clear distinction between the 'royal budget,' which is the private funds of Aula and Zenjiro, and the 'kingdom budget,' which is spent on the military and the development of the royal domain.

The distinction is basically made by following precedent. Therefore, if the 'initial budget' created by improving the 'water mill system and its maintenance' is used for the royal army, it is likely to be included in the royal army's budget in the following years, following the precedent.

At the very least, General Pujol Gijen would certainly argue that it should be so.

This would be undesirable for the royal family, as even a small amount of the royal family's private funds flowing into the royal army would mean a reduction in the royal family's power.

Aula found this to be a very undesirable outcome.

Shaking her head as if to shake off the unpleasant thought, Aula sighed and replied:

"In the worst case, we'll use the 'special budget.'"

"That is likely to complicate future negotiations, isn't it?"

The secretary, expressing his concern for the future in a very restrained manner, made Aula shrug her shoulders slightly.

"There's no other way. After all, that's what the 'special budget' is for."

"On the surface, that's how it is."

The secretary, in a tone that was as ambiguous as possible, shrugged his shoulders like Aula.

The 'special budget' is, in a sense, a contingency budget for emergencies. It is a budget that is kept flexible for emergencies by not specifying its use. However, as is often the case with such things, after decades of this state, the use of the 'special budget' has become fixed by precedent.

If the shortfall in this military budget is covered from the special budget, some department will suffer. If that happens, it is almost certain that the people involved in the affected department will react negatively.

Resolving these conflicts is the responsibility of the queen, Aula, who made the decision. She understands this, but she also understands the difficulty of it, and the thought of it makes her head hurt.

"If only the dragon hunt could be resolved quickly, all problems would be solved."

Aula inadvertently let out such a hopeful remark. Needless to say, the necessary expenses for a military operation increase in proportion to the number of days. In other words, the sooner the problem is resolved, the less budget will be required.

"Indeed, it would be more appreciated from a budgetary perspective. However, in that case, the achievements of the responsible person, General Pujol, would shine even more, wouldn't they?"

"Hmm..."

At the secretary's calm words, Aula, confronted with an inconvenient reality, frowned and thought deeply again.

---

"Indeed, budget problems follow you everywhere."

That night.

As usual, Zenjiro spent the evening with his beloved wife in the living room after dinner. After hearing the day's events, he let out a simple comment.

Now that the severe heat had passed, the temperature dropped enough after sunset that they didn't need to retreat to the air-conditioned bedroom.

If the temperature wasn't a concern, the living room, equipped with a sofa, TV, and computer, was more comfortable than the bedroom, which only had a bed, a minimum of chairs, and a table.

In casual room attire, Zenjiro, sitting comfortably on a black leather sofa, turned his gaze to his wife sitting next to him.

"But, which is the problem? Early resolution and giving General Pujol credit, or a prolonged conflict and financial burden?"

At Zenjiro's words, the queen answered immediately, looking displeased.

"Of course, a prolonged conflict and financial burden is a much bigger problem. Besides, even if Pujol Gijen is my political rival, it would be unbecoming of a queen to hope for his difficulties or failures in solving a national crisis."

Adding that reality doesn't always align with ideals, Aula smiled wryly.

"Hmm, so if it can be resolved early, that would be best?"

"Personally, and for us 'royals,' it would be a bit tricky, but for the 'kingdom,' that would be the best."

The interests of the king, the royal family, and the kingdom largely overlap, but they are not entirely aligned.

What benefits the kingdom as a whole may be detrimental to the royal family if it enhances the reputation of a particular powerful noble.

"Early resolution... hmm."

"Aula?"

Sitting on the sofa, Zenjiro, with his arms crossed, looked deep in thought. Aula, noticing his unusual contemplation, called out to him suspiciously.

"What's wrong? Is something bothering you?"

To Aula, this was just an exchange of complaints. At least, she didn't think it would make Zenjiro so thoughtful, but he was clearly groaning next to her.

Responding to his wife's question, Zenjiro stopped groaning and answered honestly.

"Oh, yeah. Can I confirm something?

I remember, the cause of the 'Salt Road' being blocked is the work of a large group of dragons led by a giant dragon, right? And the reason for the reinforcement request this time is not so much a lack of fighting power, but a lack of manpower for a large-scale mountain hunt. Is that correct?"

"Yes, that's correct. To add, the original task of dragon hunting was assigned to Xavier Gazier, the third son of the Gazier Margrave. However, he judged that he and the Margrave's army were insufficient in strength and requested reinforcements from the capital. This was the first reinforcement request.

As a result, the reinforcements sent were the Dragon Bow Cavalry led by General Pujol. Even then, the manpower was insufficient, leading to the second reinforcement request, which is this time."

"Xavier Gazier. What's he doing now?"

"Xavier is still with the Margrave's army, which has joined General Pujol. The overall command is, of course, with General Pujol, but the Margrave's army is still led by Xavier."

From his actions, Aula sensed the young Xavier's straightforward ambition and healthy sense of responsibility, and a smile crept onto her lips.

On the other hand, Zenjiro, upon hearing this, seemed puzzled.

"Hmm? Xavier is with them? Huh?"

He seemed to have a nagging doubt, but it wasn't relevant to the current conversation, so he set it aside and continued.

"Well, never mind. I think the biggest problem in this situation is that the target dragon group is hiding deep in the forest.

In terms of pure fighting power, it's not impossible to defeat them, right?"

At Zenjiro's words, Aula nodded slightly in agreement.

"Yes, dragons are not that terrifying in themselves. If there are over five hundred, as General Pujol estimates, it would be difficult to eliminate them without casualties, but simply winning the battle is not impossible with the 'Dragon Bow Cavalry' alone."

This assessment is based on the elite 'Dragon Bow Cavalry.' For a typical local lord's army, a group of dragons would be a formidable enemy. They would not want to face them in equal numbers.

Zenjiro, pleased with the queen's response, clapped his hands together and said:

"Ah, I thought so. If that's the case, if we can somehow lure the dragons to a battlefield of our choosing, we can eliminate them without much trouble, right?"

"Probably, yes. I don't know how strong the giant dragon is, but it's just a dragon. It's unlikely to be too much for fully armed cavalry. According to General Pujol's report, they have engaged with groups of about fifty dragons twice, and there were no casualties either time."

Incidentally, when Xavier's Gazier Margrave's army attempted to hunt the dragons alone, they had multiple injured and one fatality. Given this fact, Xavier's decision to immediately judge that it was beyond his capabilities was not wrong.

Zenjiro, leaning back on the sofa, placed his hand on his chin and spoke thoughtfully.

"If that's the case, wouldn't it be much simpler if we could lure the dragons to where we are set up? At the very least, it would take less time and put less strain on the soldiers compared to a large-scale mountain hunt."

At Zenjiro's seemingly obvious statement, Aula was momentarily taken aback but quickly reconsidered.

This son-in-law is not the type to offer an opinion without a plan. If he says this, there's a good chance he has something in mind.

"How would you lure them?"

Aula turned her body on the sofa to face her husband and leaned forward.

Pressed by her wife's momentum, Zenjiro, slightly taken aback, replied:

"Yeah. I remember, that large group of dragons follows the orders of the giant dragon, right? And it gives orders by roaring.

If that's the case, I thought we could record the roar with my 'digital camera' and play it back to guide their actions to some extent."

"Ah, I see."

Now it was Aula's turn to think.

She knew about the digital camera because she had seen Zenjiro use it for etiquette training and spell practice.

Indeed, the sound reproduced by that device was so similar to the original that it was almost indistinguishable. The reproduced sound does not contain magic, so 'word spirits' do not work, but that shouldn't be a problem in this case.

Originally, the roars of dragons do not contain magic (if they did, 'word spirits' would work, and dragons and humans could communicate).

However, that doesn't mean the dragons will be fooled by the recorded sound from the digital camera.

Using examples from Earth, some animals are fooled by mechanically reproduced 'mating songs,' while others can distinguish them sharply. Some animals also release pheromones when they vocalize, making it impossible to fool them with sound alone.

Given the current lack of knowledge about dragon ecology, Zenjiro's proposal is close to a gamble.

After some thought, Aula slowly spoke.

"It's not impossible. If it works, it could lead to an early resolution. But, it's a proposal with many problems even at first glance."

It was a harsh evaluation, but Zenjiro, aware of this, nodded without surprise.

"Yeah, I think there are a lot of problems. For one, it's completely unclear whether the dragons will be lured by the sound reproduced by the digital camera."

"No, that's not the main issue. The real problem is how to get the 'attack' and 'retreat' roars of the giant dragon into the digital camera."

"Huh?"

At Aula's point, Zenjiro let out a surprised exclamation.

"Oh, right. I see. I didn't think about that. I'm an idiot~"

Realizing the shallowness of his thinking, Zenjiro blushed to his ears and looked up at the high ceiling of the living room.

With his gaze fixed on the ceiling, illuminated in a mottled pattern by several LED floor lamps, Zenjiro spoke.

"Wow, I'm reminded of the fable of the rat who proudly suggested putting a bell on the cat's neck, just like me right now."

To record the roar that commands the 'attack' from the giant dragon, one would need to get close enough to record it before the giant dragon orders its subordinates to attack.

If one could sneak that close, it would be easier to just defeat the giant dragon directly.

But, to comfort her husband, who was feeling down about his shallowness, Aula spoke with a wry smile.

"Hey, it's not as bad as you think. No matter what, if it's not done well, there will be repeated skirmishes.

If we can repel the dragons in the first skirmish, we might be able to record the 'retreat' roar. If that happens, we can confuse the dragons with a fake 'retreat' order in emergencies. If it goes well, the panicked giant dragon might issue an 'attack' order again on the spot.

If that happens, we can control the dragons' attacks and retreats. I think it would be quite useful."

"Thanks."

Aula was talking about the best-case scenario, and Zenjiro understood that. But, he appreciated her effort to comfort him with a short word of thanks.

"Indeed. Your proposal to use the 'digital camera' to interfere with the dragons' actions is not entirely absurd, and the potential benefits are significant if it works. At the very least, it's worth considering. Of course, the final decision will be made