Enlightened Empire

Chapter 290

After Sumaci and Corco had enjoyed their alone time for a while, their fun was interrupted when Fadelio returned from his duties. For the moment, Corco decided to keep Fadelio in the dark on Tama and Atau's affairs. After all, the attendant was always stoic and calm, but turned savage when anyone troubled his family. If he knew that Atau had slept with his sister, there may well be blood in the castle tonight.

Thus, he simply mentioned that Atau had agreed to lead the government apprentice tests in return for help with his woman troubles. While this wouldn't be enough to keep a lid on the affair forever, at least it would buy them enough time. He was also sure that Atau wouldn't brag about this bedroom story like he usually did, and neither would Tama.

With these issues resolved, or at least temporarily suppressed, Corco moved on to other, more pleasant problems.

“So now, we have an initial strategy against Puscanacra in place. We'll shift our trade focus to other estates in the next couple months, and Atau's more obvious position in the government should let Guanca form somewhat of a counterweight to Mayu. With the apprentice tests, we've even planned for the loss of our Arcavian mercenaries and workers in a couple months already. So that just leaves us with the mass of privatization that's coming our way another year later, huh?”

“As far as the Saniya craftsmen under our employment are concerned, we could always just extend their contracts,” Fadelio suggested.“The manufactories are extremely lucrative.”

“You know that's not an option,” Corco replied. “We've talked about this.”

“Why not?” Sumaci asked, not familiar with Corco and Fadelio's previous arguments. “The kingdom's manufactories have been doing very well, haven't they? And you've made a lot of money from them, right? And a lot of those traders hold important trade secrets. If they are no longer under contract, they can just travel wherever they want. At that point, estates from all over Medala will spend absurd sums to hire them and steal your secret methods. Wouldn't it just be easier to keep them on the books?”

Since there was a new audience present, Corco was happy to explain some of his plans again.

“While that's not entirely untrue, there's limits to how fast we can grow by ourselves. As our economy gets bigger, it becomes unwieldy. As it stands, we already don't have enough bureaucrats to keep an eye on every single government project. And even if we did, it would be pointlessly expensive. At that size, you need bureaucrats to oversee the bureaucrats to make sure everyone's doing their jobs right and there's no bribery... it's just not an efficient way of doing things. That's why we'll eventually privatize anything that doesn't provide a public good or doesn't have any essential value to the country's security. Once the industry is privatized, we get to save on money and manpower for the operation. Plus the industry will grow a lot faster, since people will have more incentive to be ambitious and show initiative. And once they've made it big, we can tax the shit out of them. This way, everyone wins, but I win the most. Just how I like it.”

“And what about the threat of stolen technology?” Sumaci asked again.

“If there's one thing I'm least worried about, it's getting behind on technology. Rather, it's probably a good thing we also help some of the estates around us develop. If we grow by ourselves, soon enough there's gonna be no one left we can work with, and then our development grinds to a halt as well. Also, this way we grow the strength of the craftsmen class in Medala, which is a good thing for us, for various reasons.”

“While the plans are commendable, we still need an entire new set of legislations for this,” Fadelio added, and his voice sounded like he was dreading the extra working hours. However, Corco wouldn't leave his friend hanging this time.

“Already done.” Corco retrieved a stack of stapled documents from the shelf behind him and slammed them on his desk. “What do you think I do all day?”

While his two audience members were still stunned, Corco barreled ahead with his ideas.

“Okay, first item on the list,” he said and slammed his palm onto the first page. “We need to guarantee constant innovation, since that's gonna drive our industry in the future. The bigger innovations will come from government research projects and such, but that's for later. For now, we need to set the private industry on the right path, before it becomes too big to handle. To do so, we'll guarantee benefits for good inventions. If small people have to be afraid that their ideas get stolen by the rich and powerful, they'll keep them to themselves. Turns out, that's not what we want. That's why, first and foremost, we'll need a patent office.”

“A what?” Sumaci asked. In response, Corco's grin widened.

“I'm glad you asked. It's an office that exclusively handles the registration and attribution of new inventions. When we establish the office, we're also introducing a new law that any new invention will be exclusively owned by its inventor for a couple years after its registration at the office. In that time, the inventor can use his exclusive rights to make some money with it, before we force some competition onto him to make sure things don't go stale. The office decides if an invention is and relevant enough to be registered. It also has an archiving function, to put all the technology of the kingdom in one place.”

“So we need more officials,” Fadelio concluded. Despite Corco's enthusiastic description, the attendant could only see the negatives.

“Well, we'll privatize the businesses anyways, which will free up a lot of our bureaucrats. And we need to give our people new jobs somewhere, right?”

“A fair point.” Again, Fadelio wrote down some notes.

“Okay, number two,” Corco continued. “Now that they have their inventions and ideas secured by law, how do we get the people to start their own businesses? The big question here is: Where will they get the money to build up their own manufactory? Because the smaller shops of the old craftsman system will have a hard time competing with the new forms of mass-production for anything that's not high-end luxury items.”

“So, what's the answer to your question?” Sumaci asked. “I'm sure you have one.”

“Ahaha, you know me too well. All we need to do is give preferential loans to business starters.”

“More expenditures,” Fadelio moaned. However, Corco wouldn't have his enthusiasm stifled by his grumpy assistant.

“Not really though. For one, the private banks will take over a lot of the burden for us. That's what Brym's been working so hard on, after all. Also, it's not like we'll be missing the money for long. The new business owners need to buy land for their own operations, right? Where are they gonna buy the land from? Well, we're the only landowners in Saniya, so they can only buy from us. In most cases, they also need proper, modern tools if they want to build up a production line. Where are they gonna get the tools from? Well, from our tool producing manufactories of course. Add to that licensing fees for using government owned patents, plus various fees for registering their business and such, and we'll make back most of the money we loan out within a month. Since we're the only place they can really spend their money, we'll even get a good chunk of the money they loan from the private banks, plus the eventual repayments of their loans. In the end, there's almost no initial cost to us and all we'll do is speed up money circulation. Sounds like a good deal, right?”

While Corco was talking, an official entered the room without a word and left a piece of paper on Fadelio's desk. By the time the king was done with his speech, the worker had already left and Fadelio had read the message, which had transformed his expression into a frown.

“King Corco,” Fadelio began, but Corco just chose to ignore him. Whatever issue his official had just carried into the room, the king wouldn't acknowledge it until he was done with his favorite part.

“Well then, in terms of business structure, I also have a couple ideas we need to discuss now.”

Again, the king dropped another stack of documents in front of him. However, Fadelio was annoyingly insistent today.

“King Corco, this is important,” he said in a louder tone.

At last, a sigh drained all enthusiasm out of Corco. For a few seconds, he stared at the documents that contained all his fancy plans with longing, before he turned to his attendant again.

“So what is it that's more important than the future of the country?” he asked in a dry voice.

“A guest who has missed the banquet has arrived to send his regards. Lord Llasto of Rufalasta has finally reached the city and wishes to speak with his king.”

“Can't he wait? At least until I've told you about worker co-ops?” an indignant Corco asked.

“We can't let a lord wait, even less if he comes with presents, right?” Fadelio replied. “Also, he has arrived in advance, before most of his entourage. It seems like he brought important news.”

“Then just bring him in.” Corco sighed again. “Let's get this over with so we can finally get back to the fun stuff.”

Not long after, a grumpy king and a somewhat disconcerted looking lord were standing opposite each other.

“Lord Llasto,” Corco tried to force himself to sound happy, “How good that you still managed to come. I'm very sorry that the invitation was sent on such short notice, but you should know that the marriage happened very abruptly. I'm glad you still came, despite my rudeness.”

“No, not to worry, King Corcopaca. I was not troubled by the late invitation at all. Rather, I would like to extend my well-wishes to both you and Queen Sumaci.” As he mentioned her name, Lord Llasto turned towards Sumaci and bowed his head, but the lord's lax expression showed that he didn't have his heart in it. Still, polite as ever, Sumaci stood up and bowed back,

“Please sit,” Corco said and pointed towards the chair in the center of the room. However, he would be disappointed this time, like so many times before.

“No, please allow me to continue standing,” the lord rejected Corco's 'goodwill'. “I will not be taking up much of your time, but there is something important I need to confess, which is why I rushed to Saniya early.”

“Then out with it,” Corco said. “No need to be shy, I tend to not bite.”

“In that case, please let me apologize for not bringing a gift with me right away. Our House of Llasto will be sending our presents a few days later, together with my entourage. However, considering the urgency of the situation, I thought it would be prudent to travel ahead and inform King Corcopaca straight away.”

“What's so important?” Corco looked thoughtful for a bit, before his body tensed. “Did the Arcavians in Port Ulta march south towards your estate? Are they gearing up for an attack?”

“Not yet, thank the heavens. Though I do not know if the news I bring should be considered better or worse than a direct attack.” The old man sighed. His clothes were dusty, and his long hair was somewhat unkempt. From his disheveled appearance, it was clear that he had been in a hurry to come here, and that the information weighed heavily on his mind.

“A few days ago I traveled south into the Eternal Ice,” Llasto explained. “Though it appears that it can no longer be considered eternal, since the ice has begun to melt. There is a long strip of sea where the ice used to be, presumably connecting to Sachay's southern coast. When I was there, I also saw several Arcavian ships traveling along the newly created route around Medala, possibly all the way into the Verduic Sea. Their ships have been moving south along the eastern coast for a while now. We thought they were trying to intimidate us, or that they were possibly scouting our position to plan an attack on Rufalasta, but now we know where they really went. I fear that they may use their new presence in the west to raid our coasts, interrupt our trade or support the northerners further.”

Although the lord presented them with dire news, Corco's face didn't change one bit.

“Thank you for your fast actions, Lord Llasto,” he said instead, with a calm smile on his face. “Saniya is already aware of the enemy ships in the Verduic Sea, but now we know where they came from and will be able to handle the issue with more confidence. This information will prove invaluable, and all southern estates are in your debt for it. However, there is no reason to be worried. Everything is under control. For now, you look like you've had a hard journey, so please let my servants assign you a good room in the castle and have a rest until the rest of your entourage arrives. We can talk about the details then.”

Calmed down, the exhausted lord finally left the room. As soon as the door had closed, Corco plopped back into his chair, all his confidence and calm gone. With a bitter look, he stared at his fancy plans for the future he had strewn across his desk, before he sunk further into his chair and stared at the ceiling.

“Well, fuck.”