In most of the countries on the Central Continent, including the kingdom and the empire, it fell upon each lord to maintain the roads within their own territories, but not all noble houses were wealthy. If the government ordered them to maintain the highway up to a certain standard, many would risk bankruptcy.
Friede nodded. “That is why I speak of a national highway.” He paused for a moment as he picked up one of the documents. “As I’ve explained here, the burden to maintain and protect the roads that will be part of the national highway will fall entirely upon the kingdom itself.”
Adel frowned. “You’d essentially be stripping the nobles of their authority over their territory. I doubt many would approve.”
“Sister, can’t you listen until the end before you speak?” Friede said. He proudly pointed at the document. “The kingdom will bear the costs of the highway, but the roads themselves will remain the property of each lord. We will pay the lords to rent them.”
“The burden on the nation’s finances would be far too heavy considering the current state of our treasury. Surely you must be aware of our recent tremendous expense, brother,” Adel said, her stare boring into Friede.
The prince smirked, looking down on her with contempt. “Adel, the royal family can’t be so shortsighted. This is an investment—an investment in the future of our kingdom. If the distribution of goods improves, noble families all around the country will prosper. This will lead to an increase in tax yields and enrich Haldoria as a whole. Can’t you understand something so simple?”
Adel bit her lower lip in frustration. It was a sound argument. Friede grew giddy as he watched her.
“Your Highness, what are your plans for developing the areas bordering the highway? What of the tolls?” asked one of the other attendees.
“Each lord will develop his land as he sees fit. As for the tolls, they will remain at each lord’s discretion, but unlike with other roads, we will set an upper limit.”
Adel scanned the document. According to it, the tolls would be set fairly low.
“That way, merchants and adventurers will travel more, leading to the development of many areas,” Friede continued.
“How will you secure the necessary funds and manpower, Your Highness?” a minister asked. He seemed genuinely interested in Friede’s plans.
Friede flipped through the pages of the proposal. “We’ll hire some experienced artisans to lead the work and have the new recruits of the army do some of the labor. I believe this is also the perfect opportunity to hire people from the slums in order to drive up the employment rate in the kingdom. As for the budget, I propose using part of our emergency fund and cutting back on military expenses. I’ll provide whatever additional capital is needed from my private funds.”
“Please wait, Your Highness!” exclaimed the minister of war. “I won’t object about the emergency fund, but reducing the budget of the military is—”
“I’m only talking about a fraction of it. Besides, the war with the empire is long over, and the recent tensions with our vassal nations have mostly subsided. There is no need for the military budget to remain so inflated.”
This time, Bulat spoke up. “Friede, your proposal might indeed benefit our nation, but I cannot approve of weakening our military. Haldoria has expanded its borders time and time again because of our military might. We must not appear weak.”
Unlike the empire, which had grown through military conquest alongside economic and diplomatic incentives, Haldoria had simply trampled over each of its current vassals with sheer strength. Bulat was not one to underestimate the forces of his vassal states. He knew that uprisings could spark the moment he showed weakness.
“Father— No, Your Majesty, times have changed. When you were young, plenty of powers fought to assert their influence, but things are different now. The Central Continent is split between our sphere of influence and the empire’s, and we are at peace with one another. The threat of war no longer looms over our heads as it once did. Besides, my suggested cuts to the military budget will only be temporary.”
“If I may, brother, you offered to fund this project personally. However, I believe your budget has long since been fully spent.”
“What you speak of is the budget allocated to me by the state, Adel. This time, I will be using my personal funds.”
While Friede had caused a series of problems over the years, he’d recently been staying out of trouble. He was Bulat’s direct male heir and had inherited his thunder magic, which was enough to earn him the support of several conservative nobles. Adel suspected that these nobles were funding his highway project in secret.
After a few other questions, the assembly passed Friede’s proposal.
After the assembly meeting, Adel returned to her office alongside Roselia.
“What do you think about all this?” Adel asked.
“I don’t believe this was his idea,” Roselia replied as she accepted a cup of tea from Maoran. “Do you think that one of the nobles who joined his side came up with it?”
“No, that’s not it.” Adel sounded certain of herself. This wasn’t the tone she used for conjecture.
“Do you know something about this, Your Highness?” Roselia asked.
“A long time ago, before I ever left for the Reki Empire, Elizabeth told me of a similar plan. At the time, we were still at war with the empire, so she knew it couldn’t be implemented. I think my brother found her old proposal somehow.”
“I see... So this was Elizabeth’s idea...”
“Roselia, where is Eiwass at the moment?”
“He went to meet with the empire’s ambassador to discuss the terror attack.”
Eiwass had nothing to do with the attack on the imperial capital. However, the empire’s representative couldn’t just take his word for it and leave. To save face, they at least had to spend some time interrogating him.
“I see. Tell him to report to me as soon as he’s done.”
“Are you planning something?”
“Indeed, I am. It’s time for me to make a move.”
◇◆☆◆◇
The First National Highway
The highway that stretches from the port city of the Dukedom of Haldoria to the capital is said to be the only positive contribution made by the Foolish Prince who brought about the collapse of the former kingdom. This national project, which he proposed and supervised himself, revolutionized the distribution of goods within the Kingdom of Haldoria, which was standing on the brink of chaos at the time. The highway helped mend the wealth disparities between the poor regions and the rich capital, and it resolved a number of social issues. According to many historians who study this period, the construction of this highway likely delayed the fall of the kingdom by a decade. However, the recent discovery of new documents has cast doubt upon the origin of the idea. There might be cause to believe that the Foolish Prince stole someone else’s proposal.
In one of the offices of the National Adel Institute, a professor was reading an essay one of his students had submitted.
“Choosing to focus on the first highway as a means to delve into this time period... That’s an interesting idea,” the professor mumbled to himself, as he often did while organizing his thoughts. “Bringing up recent research to question an accepted fact was a good choice, but he should have gone over that new theory in greater depth. Otherwise, there’s no point. Hmm... All right, he gets a score of sixty percent.”
The professor wrote some concise comments detailing the issues with the essay next to the grade before reaching for the next paper in the pile.