“Professor Zaichen’s Grand Rounds are commencing!”
I refused to accept any heckling.
Professor Zaichen’s Legion marched into the Mike & Hammer headquarters.
Let’s talk about Lepsitol’s customs and immigration. To be perfectly blunt, it was a joke. With the market already flooded with black-market weapons, a registration system was nonexistent. Basically, as long as you paid the immigration officers a bribe disguised as a “handling fee,” you had total freedom of movement.
You could bring in drugs and weapons without limit. And by “without limit,” I mean you could carry your own personal stash of guns and pills. For everything else, you just brought it in openly via cargo ship. No matter how you looked at it, the situation was more malicious than anything the Pirate Guild ever did.
Naturally, one might wonder why the Pirate Guild hadn't expanded into Lepsitol. The answer was simple. Opening a sushi bar or an adult entertainment shop was fine. However, the moment you opened multiple locations and began to compete with a Lepsitol-owned chain, the assassins would come calling.
In other words, you were free to enter the market, but the profit ceiling was kept abysmally low. If that was the case, it was more profitable to smuggle goods into Chronos or help oneself to cargo as a pirate. For a country that supposedly allowed corporations to do whatever they wanted, they were incredibly short-sighted. They refused to ever take a loss.
In the end, politics was always better left to actual politicians.
Professor Zaichen’s group scoured the archives. As they worked, the physical documents were converted into data for Fairy. The analysis of those materials eventually produced a single verdict.
“It is a sovereign default.”
“Figures.”
In the first place, both the police and the National Army had effectively ceased to function. Only the private militaries owned by the corporations remained. Public order was at its absolute worst; they couldn't even manage a proper night watch.
“The old Four Great Conglomerates were already bankrupt. To avoid a technical default, they simply used violence to suppress their creditors.”
The situation defied logic. Basically, despite being a nation of merchants, the country was broke. This was the inevitable result of everyone prioritizing their own immediate profits above all else.
We held a conference at Mike & Hammer. Present were Karen-san, the Zaichen Legion—who were more terrifying than any army—and via remote link, the Governor of the Latarnia Bank and the King of Latarnia. Shiyun and her older brother were there too, along with Wifey, who acted as the moderator since she was the only one without a direct stake in the outcome.
I also dragged Saria into the call, figuring he was far enough away to avoid the fallout. It felt far too unfair for me to be the only person affected by this mess.
“Lord Groom, explain yourself,” Wifey commanded.
“Even if I explain it, they were basically just testing the limits of credit creation. The Four Great Conglomerates were printing money like there was no tomorrow. Once the truth of that gets out, the country will just collapse under the weight of hyperinflation.”
The Galactic Empire also issued digitized currency, but Fairy and her sub-systems managed and adjusted it appropriately. Lepsitol had no Fairy and no mechanism to regulate the money supply. This lawless society, which had merely been maintaining a thin veneer of stability, had actually collapsed long ago.
The meeting proceeded with the somber atmosphere of a funeral. The only ones coming out unscathed were the people at the Latarnia Bank, who had already been preparing to withdraw. The Latarnians were essentially guaranteed to become economic slaves—well, perhaps not quite that far, but they were looking at a lifetime of debt repayment.
As for Chronos, it was predicted that the majority of companies we did business with would go bankrupt. We could have injected public funds, but I figured it would be easier in the long run to just let them fail. Most of them didn't possess any valuable patents or proprietary technology anyway. We would probably reorganize the actual tech companies using a mix of public funds and investment capital.
The Taikyoku Nation also expected a significant number of its companies to face a crisis of survival. Fortunately, both countries had avoided the food-related disasters thanks to the earlier contamination issues.
Shiyun wore a sour expression. All that successful reconstruction work was now at risk.
The fact that Lepsitol was an economic superpower had been the root of the problem. You could pollute as much as you wanted, labor laws were nonexistent, wages were dirt cheap, and the concept of safety standards was alien. The country’s biggest draw was its economically convenient lack of oversight. Of course people took advantage of it. It was cheap. Expecting patriotism from merchants was a fool’s errand.
And so, a new trial descended upon the Taikyoku Nation and Chronos, as well as the territories of Magellan and Ozen. Even the Ogre God Nation was expected to take a major hit; it was no laughing matter. Wifey was likely the only one who could remain a detached observer.
“Lord Groom... perhaps you could have shown a bit more restraint?”
“No, this wasn't my doing! These problems were hidden for years; they just happened to come to light now!”
“And who was it that dug them up, Lord Groom?!”
She had me there.
Actually, if I hadn't accidentally lined up with the ninjas in the first place... wait, the real cause of all this was Isono, wasn't it?
“I think this is all Isono’s fault.”
“He’s starting to shift the blame!” Karen-san cried. Then she began to mutter to herself, her spirit broken. “Maybe we should just let Chronos annex us...”
I definitely didn't want that.
“Karen-san, listen to me. Nothing good comes from owning too much territory.” I gave her a bright smile. History taught that it only led to fragmentation, civil war, and eventually a bloody era of warring states after independence.
The King of Latarnia stared at me. “Lord Archduke of Chronos... what do you believe is the most vital component of a nation?”
Economy? Military? Diplomacy? No, none of those felt right.
“Order, I suppose.”
Ultimately, you have to build a box with a functioning system and keep it running smoothly through constant maintenance. You establish laws, maintain a night watch, and treat the citizens as equals under the law. That was the ideal. That was order.
Upon hearing my answer, the gathered monarchs—Saria and Wifey included—all let out synchronized, heavy sighs. Professor Zaichen and his colleagues, however, broke into wide grins. Shiyun’s older brother just gave a "good grief" look. Only Shiyun and I were left blinking in confusion.
“Wait, what? What happened?”
“Full marks, His Majesty Leo,” Professor Zaichen said, looking utterly delighted.
“To think an entity born of chaos would crave order. Well, so be it,” Wifey said. “Lord Groom, from this day forward, you shall style yourself as the King of Chronos.”
“Wait, what? I don’t want a divorce!”
“What are you talking about?! This means that politically, you are now my equal. Chronos is no longer a protectorate of the Galactic Empire.”
“We of Latarnia shall also recognize His Majesty Leo’s elevation,” the King of Latarnia added. “Furthermore, the Chronos Royal Family shall be treated as kin to the Latarnia Royal Family.”
“T-The Taikyoku Nation will also treat the Chronos Royal Family as kin,” Shiyun added in a small voice. “I mean, we’ll be actual family before too long anyway...”
I felt like I heard something very ominous at the end there.
“Uh... what exactly does all this mean?”
“Lord Groom,” Wifey said firmly. “Swallow Lepsitol whole.”
I was supposed to be a stray crayfish that had just wandered off to breed in the wild... and yet, somehow, I had finally, truly become a King.
Professor Zaichen was still beaming. “By the way, I would like to audit the Chronos accounts as well.”
“Be my guest. They’re already under the Mother AI’s supervision. If you have questions about the ballooning military budget, please take them up with the Zen God Race.”
The professor gave the records a cursory glance and frowned. “Isn't the royal budget far too small? Particularly His Majesty Leo’s personal living expenses...”
“The Lord Groom has never cared for luxury,” Wifey noted.
The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly. I realized it was about to become a lecture on my lack of spending. I forced a smile and tried to make a break for it, but I was intercepted.
“But... I can live perfectly fine on just my military salary!”
“Lord Groom,” Wifey said, her voice dropping an octave. “We need to have a serious talk about the proper conduct of a King.”
“Noooooooo!”
Even after becoming a King, my life was still like this.