Translator: Tsukii

Editor: PalenMisha

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 18 – Buying Kingship with Money desuwa

When I heard the respective impressions of the orphanage from Makia and Makina, Makia had the ordinary thought process of an aristocrat about how the orphanage was big and some children there were working, while Makina reported every circumstance behind the scenes that she found out.

Most aristocratic families had no idea that the prices of vegetables that had been eaten by insects or had distorted shapes were normally reduced by more than half of the price of pristine vegetables. Wyvern’s eggs weren’t that expensive and if they bet their life to pick one directly from the nest, it would cost nothing.　

Makia understood how mediocre her thought process was, and she also understood that I sought such mediocre opinions, so Makia did her job in her own way. Basically, for people who weren’t too smart, Maria’s orphanage was just a big orphanage that happened to have some suspicious points that could be overlooked.

Most who inspected the orphanage were aristocrats anyway, and they would give prior notice before visits so the orphanage side could prepare to some extent before it happened. At worst, the inspector could just be bribed so they would pretend to find nothing suspicious. Their preparations were half-assed this time, so the suspicious points stood out, but perhaps Maria intended to show them off to begin with, so she could be considered amazing in her own way.　

Most likely, she thought of me as a like-minded comrade. I could only see that orphanage as a mercenary training institution, and according to what Makina asked Maria, such red flags were apparent. Some of the children not only didn’t refer to Maria as “Maria-sama,” but instead called her “Saint-sama,” so Maria seemed to have brainwashed the children properly. What a wonderful person, of course I would support her with all my heart.　

I would appear to be a philanthropist who donated to an orphanage, but in reality, I was funding communists who were preparing for a revolution… what a wonderful mastermind-like movement desuwa. There was no doubt a miserable end awaited me by the end of it. I couldn’t help but smile.　

My academic life was going well. As I kept being sarcastic toward Abraham, things were getting better as other groups began to bully him too. Things might escalate to having his stuff hidden or trash being dumped on him by the next week. Well, considering he lacked mana to be used in practical magic casting, it couldn’t be helped.　

Also, regarding academic life, since I was already in the imperial capital, I kept giving money to the imperial family and having them acknowledge me as a king. It was totally a case of buying titles with money. This empire consisted of several kingdoms, but if we compared it to the modern world, it would be on a wide scale of the EU in Europe, so having a few nations within another wasn’t that weird.　

The Narorosa duchy that I reigned over wasn’t included in any part of the nearby kingdoms, so the emperor declared, “The territory around Narorosa Duchy are collectively included as the new XX Kingdom, with its rule entrusted to Lydia,” and with that, a new kingdom was born and I got promoted from a duke into a king.　

This action didn’t seem to give any merit to the emperor himself, but there were hundreds of duke families within the empire, so he would have an easier time managing if some were to become independent desuwa. And even without a donation, a capable person would be acknowledged by the emperor to rule as a new king of a territory, with the surrounding vassal counties being handed over to the new kingdom.　

“And so, the territory of the Narorosa duchy and the surrounding counties became part of the new kingdom. It is now the Narorosa Kingdom.”　

“…Congratulations, Lydia ojou-sama!”

While Makia and Makina did their reconnaissance at the orphanage, I returned to the territory and reported to Crecia that I had become a king, and his astonished expression was really funny. At the same time, Crecia seemed to realize he would have to do the kingdom’s duty in my stead, so he really was a wise person.　

The vassals of the emperor suddenly became my vassals, so obviously, some lords didn’t like it. Suppressing those lords became part of Crecia’s job. Since I could declare taxes within the kingdom and improve the law, I would make sure to become a tyrant. It would be best if things ended with me falling to the rebel army and being executed desuwa.　

I immediately ordered Crecia to raise the taxes and collect excess grain and wheat from people. Even if those crops were sold, it would only turn into a paltry amount of money, so all those harvested crops were to be buried in the underground warehouse. Hooray for dead stock.

I also told the newly converted vassals to raise the amount of taxes to be paid, so I was looking forward to the upcoming rebellion. I think only a few lords could form an army immediately, but they would eventually form their own factions and strike. And once that happened, I would be executed. …fuh.¹　

I could have the Narorosa family crushed there, or if it wasn’t, I could be the worst tyrant of all time and carve my name into history. The existence of tyrants was commonly known to have a miserable end the more tyrannical they were. So my goal for the time being was to become the worst tyrant of all time.　

Tsukii’s Note:

Let’s see how others see what Lydia did:

Ordering raise of tax and collect the excess to be stored underground -> since she said it is only sold for a paltry amount, it meant they are having a bountiful harvest. 

Ordering the vassals to also raise their tax-> since they experienced bountiful harvest, it meant the raise is reasonable, and if the king who took tax became stronger, it would serve as deterrence of possible invasion… not to mention how Lydia usually splurge her money under clause of “wasteful spending” that effectively move the duchy economy, her sudden act of raising tax and storing food could only be seen that she seem to foresee some sort of disaster, like famine and war, in near future, thus it would only emphasis how wise she is in people’s eyes.

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