Alice said it was amazing, but the amazing thing wasn't me.
It was history.
When it came to the matter of Dosso, I had only managed to handle it because of my past life's experience before reincarnating as Noah.
And that was the limit of what I could do on my own.
Past experience told me that merchants would swarm the area, so I was able to preserve the land.
Beyond that, however, I had been at a loss.
Recently, while looking through historical records, I discovered that famed magistrates of the past didn't stop at providing food, clothing, and shelter after a disaster—they also supported people's livelihoods until their lives got back on track.
Furthermore, whenever they did that, the subsequent crime rate was noticeably lower than when they didn't.
Well, of course, I thought.
For most people, if they can make an honest living, doing honest work is the easiest path.
Barring a tiny fraction of humanity, anyone would think, Who would stray from the right path by choice?
Learning this made me realize all the more that I shouldn't rely solely on past experience; I needed to learn from history.
That said, my own experience wasn't entirely useless, either.
It was precisely because of that experience that I could pinpoint where the problems lay.
By measuring my own experience against history, I could absorb what was missing and update my mindset and methods.
Take concepts aligned with my own ideas, and incorporate them to compensate for my shortcomings.
That was my concrete method of "learning from history."
"Strike while the iron is hot. Alice, fetch me pen and paper."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Alice replied briskly, hopped up, and darted to the corner of the tent, returning with the stationery set provided there.
Meanwhile, I cleared away the drinks and snacks on the table to make space for writing.
Using the stationery Alice brought, I began drafting the documents I had formulated in my mind.
In no time at all, I finished writing two letters.
Pulling the Emperor's seal from my breast pocket, I stamped one and simply signed the other.
Then, I folded both, slipped them into envelopes, and sealed them with wax using a nearby candlestick.
Throughout the entire process, Alice watched in silence.
"Curious?"
"Huh? N-No. Not at all."
"Haha, your eyes were brimming with curiosity."
"What?! N-No way..."
Alice frantically patted her face with both hands.
I had mentioned her eyes, but facial expressions were a package deal; she began kneading her cheeks as if trying to massage the look away.
It only made me fonder of her.
Curiosity was a wonderful trait.
And knowing not to blurt that curiosity out at the wrong moment was just as wonderful.
"What caught your interest? Go on, you can ask."
"Um... I was just wondering why one has a seal stamped on it, but the other only has a signature..."
"The one with the seal is an official document—from me as the Emperor. It's an order to the Imperial Prince Minister of Internal Affairs to arrange seed grain, farming tools, and the like for Ducel based on the population register."
"Then... is this other one not official?"
"Right. This one goes to the former Thirteenth Imperial Prince Mansion."
"Your Majesty's former private residence...?"
"Indeed."
I gave a slight nod.
"If I recall... people call that area Ark Town now, don't they?"
"What's that? Never heard of it."
Blinking blankly at the unfamiliar term, I tilted my head and looked at Alice.
"Ark Town... That's the first I've heard the name."
"Um... they say it's because an entire district is inhabited solely by people from Your Majesty's Thirteenth Imperial Prince Mansion..."
"Ah... I see. So that's how it turned out."
A chuckle escaped my lips.
"It's true I bought up all the land around the Thirteenth Imperial Prince Mansion and had my servants and retainers live there. So that's what they're calling it now."
Understanding the story made it all the more amusing, and I chuckled again.
"Yes."
"That brings back memories. If I recall, that eunuch and maid even adopted a child back then. I heard he was eager to become a knight, but I wonder how he's doing now."
"A eunuch and a maid...?"
Alice blinked in confusion.
Her expression made it clear she couldn't make heads or tails of what I meant.
With a soft laugh, I explained it to her.
"It happened back when I was still the Thirteenth Imperial Prince. One day, I came home to find Audrey—the current Empress—punishing two servants, a man and a woman. One was a eunuch, and the other was a maid. The reason was that the two of them were engaged in something akin to intimacy in a room."
"Huh?! But a eunuch is..."
"Right. A eunuch is a castrated man. In other words, he no longer possesses male genitalia."
"Yes..."
Alice gave a look that said, As I thought.
"However, losing that doesn't mean the capacity to love someone disappears. Even without manhood, there are those who simply wish to hold one another and feel the other's warmth."
"—! Yes, I completely understand!"
After a moment of surprise, Alice began nodding her head with enough force to snap her neck.
Seeing her sympathize so intensely made me slightly curious about her own thoughts.
Curiosity aside, I continued the story.
"If you know anything about eunuchs, you'll know that engaging in sexual conduct within the estate is considered a crime in itself."
"Yes... That's true."
"However, that eunuch had been fully castrated, so whatever they did amounted to mere make-believe. Therefore, even as a crime, it would only warrant a light flogging. The real problem came after."
"After...?"
"The eunuch and the maid tried to shield each other. Each insisted they were the one who initiated it, claiming the other wasn't at fault."
"...Yes."
"Thinking it cruel to tear apart two people who loved each other that dearly, I bought up the surrounding houses and ordered them to live there as husband and wife. Under the law, it is only a crime when such acts occur within the imperial palace or an imperial prince's residence. If they did it outside, in their own home, there was no issue. In truth, I merely took advantage of a small loophole in the law."
"So that was the origin of Ark Town."
"Indeed. By the way, what exactly do the people say about it?"
"Um, they say that so many people adored Your Majesty—the Thirteenth Prince—that a single mansion couldn't possibly hold them all, so it overflowed and naturally grew into a whole town."
"Is that how the tale spread?"
Amused, I laughed aloud.
It was quite delightful to hear the aftermath of something I had done in the past.
Even better, it had evolved in a direction I hadn't anticipated in the slightest.
"That's wonderful, Your Majesty. Granting their wishes in such a way."
"There was simply room for interpretation in the law."
After saying that and having a good laugh, I picked up the glass on the table that I had pushed aside earlier.
I checked the bottom.
Confirming it was coated in gold lacquer, I slammed it onto the ground.
"Your Majesty?!"
To Alice, it must have looked as though I had suddenly lost my mind.
Her eyes widened, staring at me in shock.
"Someone!"
I called out.
The tent's entrance opened, and a eunuch stepped inside.
It was the young eunuch Luke, a boy whose face I knew well.
"D-Did you call for me, Your Majesty?"
"Clean this up."
"Yes—ah."
Seeing the shattered glass on the floor, Luke was startled for a split second.
Looking slightly nervous, Luke gathered the shards, pulling up the hem of his robe to form a pouch and sweeping the fragments inside.
Onto that pile of glass, I dropped the two envelopes.
Alice looked shocked.
Luke didn't bat an eye.
He simply drew the cloth tight like a drawstring pouch and carried the shards out of the tent as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
Once Luke was gone, Alice asked tentatively:
"Your Majesty... What was that just now?"
"I gave that eunuch detailed instructions beforehand. His actions are predetermined based on the signal."
"I see... But couldn't you have simply ordered him normally?"
"Ahaha, did you forget, Alice?"
"Huh?"
"I am currently indulging in debauchery. I cannot be seen openly conducting state affairs."
"Ah..."
Hearing my words, Alice gasped in realization.
"To think you planned that far ahead... Amazing..."
She gazed up at me, her eyes brimming with even deeper admiration.