Cles and Rion.
It had been several decades since they first entered my service. Initially, I had assigned them to the military, but after I ascended the throne as Emperor, I appointed each of them to manage ranches instead, detaching them from the army.
Both of them possessed genuine military genius.
Even among the students at Walter Miller's private academy, these two in particular had displayed an overflowing, brilliant talent that outshone everyone around them.
Right after entering my service, they racked up achievement after achievement on the battlefield, steadily climbing the ranks.
The speed of their rise and the magnitude of their military exploits were so great that they even surpassed Rice Cake—Henry's retainer and right-hand man, who currently commanded the Western Front Army as the General Who Pacifies the West.
Back when I was an imperial prince, that wouldn't have posed an issue. The problem was that I took the throne when Father abdicated in my favor.
Father was still alive, quietly retaining his latent influence.
Perhaps there had been no need to worry that much, but out of a sort of deference, I pulled Cles and Rion from the military.
Instead of the army, I appointed them to ranches, which was suitable work for martial men.
There, too, the two demonstrated their sharp abilities and managed the ranches flawlessly.
After Father passed away, I could have returned them to the military, but the two had displayed far too much capability and presence in their posts, making it difficult to pull them away easily. That was how things had remained to this day.
"As you know, Enlil Province was struck by a once-in-a-century earthquake, leaving most of the ranches collapsed or severely damaged."
"Yes."
"Which means the monsters broke loose, correct?"
"Right. And troublesome as it is, the escaped monsters have grown far more formidable than when they were under control. Based on my own clash with them, you should consider them thirty to fifty percent stronger."
"Well, at the end of the day, those things are beasts. Set 'em loose in the wild, and of course they'll end up like that," Rion said with a shrug.
His words carried the unmistakable weight of someone who had faced monsters for years on end.
"The trouble is that the troops stationed in Larak can't handle it on their own. I've proposed a guild system to the private sector, but there's no telling when that will actually get off the ground."
"Which is where we come in, eh?"
"Yeah. Dealing with the immediate threat, training new recruits, reorganizing the units... There's a mountain of work to do, and I figured you two are the only ones who could handle it all at once."
"Leave it to us, Your Excellency."
Cles stood up once again.
He straightened his back as rigid as a rod, locking his gaze straight onto me with piercing intensity.
"Leave it to this Cles Drake. I will see to it that the gutter is thoroughly cleaned out for you."
"Good."
"Still, that's amazin'. A private guild, was it? How'd you ever think up something like that?"
Unlike the overly earnest Cles, Rion remained seated, keeping his usual lighthearted demeanor.
"Because of the earthquake."
"Because of the earthquake?"
Rion tilted his head in utter bewilderment.
Even Cles, though still standing, wore an expression that silently asked what I could possibly mean.
"As you know, the Empire is a nation of warriors. All across the land, people train day and night aiming for the Knight Selection, which serves as the gateway to success."
"True enough."
"What of them, Sire?"
"The Knight Selection is a narrow gate. In some cases, a person must stake their entire life on martial prowess. You two should know this well: the common practice is for an entire household to back their talented member, betting everything on that individual's rise in the world."
"Ah, yeah, that's how it goes."
Rion scratched his cheek and gave a wry smile.
"In ordinary times, that's fine. However, there are people who possess nothing but martial might—to put it to the extreme, people who have raw physical strength but are hopeless at simple manual labor. Leaning too heavily into martial pursuits tends to make people that way."
"Ah... I'm startin' to catch on. Yeah, yeah, folks like that are a real nuisance at a time like this."
Rion crossed his arms and nodded repeatedly in understanding.
"I wouldn't go so far as to call them a nuisance."
I let out a wry chuckle.
Rion's phrasing was so blunt that I couldn't help but smile.
"Nah, but couldn't we just leave 'em be? Everyone's havin' a rough time right now. A simple 'we ain't got time to babysit you lot' should settle it."
"The problem is precisely that they possess strength."
"What do you mean by that, Your Excellency?"
"Through training, they have gained power. And because they aspire to become knights, quite a few of them already carry a sense of privilege and a fair bit of pride."
"..."
"Martial might and authority."
I paused for a moment, then continued.
"Depending on the circumstances, they might be treated as nuisances for a while. People might talk behind their backs, calling them useless freeloaders despite their strength. In times like these, quite a few people harbor pent-up frustration."
"Ah... that'd be bad, yeah. If folks that proud get told they're good for nothin'."
Rion wore a face of complete comprehension, while Cles's expression hardened.
I nodded and went on.
"Precisely. If you leave them alone, they'll become the sparks that ignite civil unrest. And because they have strength, it's far more troublesome once that fire catches. That's why I thought I'd create a place where they can be of some use. A way to let off steam, you could say."
"Ooh, I get it now."
"Magnificent, Your Excellency! To think you had planned that far ahead!"
Having listened to the end, both looked at me with gazes full of admiration, and Cles praised me aloud.
"That's what the private guild is for, and that's precisely why I summoned you two."
"The two of us?"
"Was our official duty not to maintain the ranches and foster the next generation?"
Cles and Rion looked puzzled at the same time.
They understood the part about the ranches, but their faces showed they didn't quite grasp how the private guild tied into it.
"With you two, we can create a narrative."
I gave a faint smile.
"Though not knights, you caught the eye of the current Emperor through monster subjugation and rose in the world."
"Eh? But we didn't start out from monster subjugation—"
"His Excellency said we can create it."
Cles cut Rion off with such sharp force that the word "snapped" described it perfectly.
"Ah... Right, so we're just makin' it out to be that way."
Rebuked by Cles, Rion understood in a flash and nodded with a look of realization.
"Exactly. If you two show your prowess here, people will start viewing the private monster guild as a gateway to success. After all, I am personally present in these lands right now."
"That's amazin'. You called us all the way out here thinkin' that far ahead?"
"Understood. In that case, we shall alter our recollections slightly when recounting our past."
Cles was rigid, but not inflexible.
He readily adjusted what he needed to do in accordance with my intentions.
"And besides, once the private guild gets off the ground, we'll probably run into them out in the field, so we can just drop subtle hints."
"Depending on their performance, promoting someone directly on the spot might also prove effective. What are your thoughts, Your Excellency?"
"I leave it to you. That falls under your domain."
I told them with a smile that I entrusted the matter entirely to them.
Now that the direction was clear, Cles and Rion began tossing out ideas in rapid succession.
As expected of former students of Walter Miller's private academy, their minds worked swiftly.
Needless to say for Cles, who was serious by nature, even Rion, despite his laid-back demeanor, showed off his sharp intellect to the fullest.
Once they had gone through a round of ideas, I inserted one instruction.
"However, if you do promote anyone, offer them about one and a half times the standard stipend."
Having said that, I explained the matter of stipends and the crime of embezzlement, just as I had told Zoe.
"We will pay those in public office more than ever before. But if anyone still resorts to embezzlement or bribes after receiving that, they will be severely punished. That is how we will handle things from now on."
"That sounds fine and all, but..."
"Hm? Is something bothering you, Rion?"
"Well, not botherin' me exactly, but won't that put a strain on the national treasury?"
"In the short term, yes."
"Then—in the short term?"
Rion started to say more, but caught the nuance in my words.
"Paying one and a half times the previous stipend will indeed increase the burden on the national treasury by that much. However, even if they're paid one and a half times, while it makes them comfortable, it isn't enough to hoard wealth."
"Well, I s'pose that's true."
Rion wore a look that asked, So what?
"The stipends paid to those people won't simply vanish into thin air. Even public officials eat grain and wear clothes. If it's not enough to hoard, the stipends paid to them will ultimately flow into the market."
"Huh..."
Rion still looked like he didn't quite grasp it.
Just as I was wondering how best to explain it—
"His Excellency is saying that it will enrich those who conduct commerce."
"Ooh..."
Cles explained, and Rion let out a sound of realization.
"Ah, I get it. It's like how if money goes to the brothels, the taverns make a profit off it too, right?"
"The logic is the same."
I smiled faintly.
"If you pour money into the starting point of the flow—though in truth, there's no real starting point—and ensure it gets spent, the entire downstream will prosper."
"I see."
"Having money to spend, and being inclined to spend it. A ruler only needs to manage those two things."
"Whoa, that's incred'ble."
"As expected of Your Excellency."
At my final summary, both Cles and Rion gazed at me with eyes full of admiration.