Inedible fields... That was what Souma had called the fields spread out before me, looking at them bitterly. Souma had said he’d wanted to show me these fields, but I still didn’t understand why.
“...What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. All of the fields you see here are cotton fields.”
“Cotton fields... Ah! That’s what you meant by inedible!”
Cotton flowers were grown to produce cotton thread. Sure enough, these fields didn’t grow anything you could eat.
Souma sat down there, resting his elbows on his thighs. “Jumping straight to my conclusion, it’s the excessive increase in the number of these cotton fields that has caused this country’s food shortages.”
“...Come again?”
Did he just sort of off-handedly say something incredible now? The cause of our food shortages?
“While I was sorting through the paperwork, I noticed it. With the expansion of the Demon Lord’s Domain, the demand for clothing and other daily necessities has skyrocketed. Of course, the demand for the raw materials has shot up, too. With the selling price of cotton flowers rising, and being able to sell as much as you can produce, the farmers have entirely stopped growing the food crops they had produced up until that point. Crops grown to sell to others instead of to eat are called cash crops. Which is to say: our farmers have turned to growing only cash crops, which has led to a lowering of this country’s food self-sufficiency rate.”
I was speechless. The cause of this country’s food shortages...
I had always just assumed it was bad weather, or that our country had just had poor soil to begin with. Here was a concrete reason, and yet I, who had lived in this country for more than ten years, hadn’t seen it. Meanwhile Souma, who had been summoned here only a few days prior, had managed to.
“If I were to go a bit further, I could say it’s the cause of this country’s poor economy, as well. When the food self-sufficiency rate drops, you have to import from other countries to avoid starving. However, imported food involves transportation costs as well, so the price of food rises. That puts pressure on household budgets, but you can only cut food costs so far. If you don’t eat, you’ll starve, after all. Of course, if you’re going to trim the fat somewhere, it’s going to be in nonessential and luxury goods. This change in spending practices is causing a downward spiral in the economy.”
What had I been looking at? Had I just been a private citizen, it would have been fine to just laugh scornfully at my lack of insight. However, I was a princess.
The ignorance of those at the top kills those at the bottom.
“I’m... a failure as a royal.” I lost all strength, falling to my knees there. In all my life, I had never so keenly felt a sense of powerlessness as I did now.
Seeing me like that, Souma let out an “Uh,” and an “Um,” scratching his head, before resting his hand on my head.
“Don’t let it get you so down. We’ve secured the funding we’ll need. It’s not too late for agricultural reforms.”
“...What are you planning to do?”
“Place limits on the growth of cash crops, bring back the growing of food crops, and improve our self-sufficiency rate. The country will pay subsidies to help support that transition. First we’ll replant the fields with beans, which have a wide range of uses, and potatoes, which are resistant against famine, and over time I’d like to increase the number of paddy fields. After that...”
Souma spoke eloquently of his plans for agricultural reform. He used a lot of words like “paddy fields” that were unfamiliar to me, but as I looked at his face in profile, he seemed so radiant.
I felt I could understand why my father had abdicated the throne to him. He was what this country needed most right now. We had to do whatever it took to keep him tied down here. Our betrothal had probably been meant as another chain with which to bind him.
I guess I can’t afford to be upset about the engagement being decided without my input.
Souma had said that once he got the country on track, he would return the throne, but we couldn’t let him do that. It would be a loss to the country to have a man of such rare talent leave. It needed to be prevented at all costs.
He says he has no family in his old world. If I were to become his family here, could I keep him in this country? I wondered. As his fiancée, if I can just make the marriage a fait accompli... Wait, the best way to make it a fait accompli... would basically be... doing that with him...
The thoughts that came to my mind left my face flushed red.
“So, in the mountains we’ll... Hey, Liscia, you listening?”
“Eek! Wh-Why, yes, I’m listening.”
“Hm? Your face is all red, you know.”
“It’s just the sunrise! Think nothing of it!”
My cheeks were on fire. I was ready to just die of embarrassment.
From there on, I don’t think I heard a single word of Souma’s explanations.