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一The world might fall into turmoil just to smoke out the rat.

King Collard and Revan shuddered in front of that fact. Actually, it was Hiyuki herself who was more scared than anyone else but as she had gone through these feelings many times, her fear meter had already collapsed. Now, they can only see her smiling calmly on the surface.

And looking at her smiling, the members of the round table and great powers were substantially impressed by her on the basis, “As expected of the Princess, matters of such significance are just laughing matter to her,” further deepening their misunderstanding.

“Well, that’s how it is, so if you have any opinions, I’m all ears.”

She had already given up. Whether it’s world domination or any other outrageous scheme, she doesn’t care about anything anymore. With such a sloven attitude, Hiyuki doused the water on the expectation of two.

“Umm, can’t we do it through another peaceful method that doesn’t involve straight-up violence or anything similar?”

In contrast to King Collard who held out his opinion timidly,

“The world ruled by Princess in itself is the perpetually peaceful method. You dimwit.”
“Peace is nothing but a preparatory phase from one war to another.”

Tengai and Mikoto answered one after another as if they were looking at a fool.

As for the rest of the members, their response could generally be concluded as “What is peace? Is it delicious?”

Revan, in contrast to King Collard who perceived his powerlessness in this matter and opted that silence is golden, raised his hand.

“Umm, the question in the first place is, how did that lead to setting up the council?”

Hiyuki blinked in confusion when he asked, and began to ponder on it with a thought, ‘Indeed, why?’

Then, as if she had recalled the reason, she clapped her hands.

“一I remembered. I suddenly found myself with a lot of free time, so when I asked around isn’t there something to do for passing time, it suddenly became such a big matter like setting up the Imperial Council in the blink of an eye.”

So, you’re the main culprit of all this insanity!?
Please don’t cast the world into a fiery pit just to kill your boredom.

King Collard and Revan stiffened up, with their expression screaming.

“一But I think there are many more things to do in your spare time.”

Revan appealed, swallowing down his original opinion.

“…… Like?”

Being asked, Revan began to ponder. To put it bluntly, a country’s leadership is full of problems, just that alone needs a lot of attention but there’s no meaning in talking about it in consultation for an individual matter. Generally, judgment for these parts should have been left to Cres for handling.

If there’s something you want to bring up to the sovereign of suzerainty, the problem should be something more basic.

In short, something like一

“Our nation is poor, isn’t there something we can do to elevate the situation?”

At Revan’s earnest plea that confided his true feelings, even Hiyuki, who had been taking the matter of world domination half-heartedly, as if it was someone else’s matter, straightened her posture, her face looking sobered.

“Oh, yeah. That’s right, poverty isn’t something likable.”

Don’t worry, I feel you…… Being told so seriously, Revan cocked his head inward at the unexpected finding of a like-minded feeling.

“Hmm, how about we immediately raise your nation’s budget for the upcoming century?”

Sure enough, King Collard sitting next to Revan couldn’t keep his calm and had to speak out at Hiyuki’s words which sounded as normal as if she was handing candy to a kid.

“No, No, No!”
“Please don’t do this. The economy would be in shambles otherwise.”
“I-Instead, I would like to request your support in forming a national policy where we, Beast tribe and demi-humans tribe, can stand on our own.”

Hiyuki cocked her head as Revan pleaded, who had broken out in a cold sweat.

“Stand on your own, huh? 一Is it difficult in your current situation?”

“To be honest, our hands were full just trying to secure our meals. But even that’s becoming impossible now that the Cent’luna region, which used to be the breadbasket region for us, was taken over by the Empire.”

Hmm, indeed it’s hard for agriculture or industry to thrive in that wasteland, but an idea suddenly came to Hiyuki who was contemplating this.

“Don’t Cres have anything as their specialty? Something like mineral resources, et cetera?”
“I don’t think there’s any to speak of. There are mines but as they are mostly in mountains like some sacred places, we can’t dig there.”
“Well, if I have to point out your forte, I’d say the Beast tribe itself is a resource. If you want the means for foreign currency, the only way would be to earn by working as a mercenary or adventurer in another country.”

King Collard added without a moment’s delay.

“I see. So basically both our foreign demand and domestic demand are on their last legs otherwise. Say, King Collard, what would you have done if you were king of our country?”

King Collard, who managed to pull the interest of the other party, replied smoothly as if he had come prepared beforehand.

“Of course, I would start by developing agricultural infrastructure. It’s not like there’s no water source at all, so it would have to begin with drawing the water through canals and gradually increasing the farming regions. The other thing would have to be nurturing talented personnel. If nurturing them is impossible in one’s country, then I will send the government-sponsored students to other countries to nurture them who will become the cornerstone of the nation in the future.”

“U~m~~, this of course is best from a long-term perspective, but isn’t there something that could be of immediate help?”

“…It’s difficult. There isn’t any industry or a special something that could become the touring spot, and geographically, it cannot even become the middleman for trade, let alone the core.”

Revan was visibly depressed as he heard the blunt words of King Collard.

The vision in Hiyuki’s mind was depicting a country developed in the middle of a desert, like the Dubai of earth. Albeit, that was mainly developed as a transit point for trade and not for tourism. So simply creating artificial tourism (like the casino or the den of a certain rat) will wear off in due time.

“If only we could do free trade with the Empire, there could have been the possibility of creating new trade routes.”
“Empire…… ”

Anyway, it’s useless wishing for something you don’t have.

“I guess we should focus on the expansion of agriculture and nurturing talented individuals.”

In this way, the imperial council that day ended on such a hazy note with the topic of world domination ultimately shelved, and it wasn’t until King Collard and Revan had left that Hiyuki realized this.