Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Hayley contacted to say she had sent supplies not only to the east but also to the north, and in the process, the food gathered in Waynes was put to good use.

While there was still no word from the east, nobles from the north were sending letters of gratitude one after another.

Hayley conveyed this fact and added one word of caution.

[I heard that Jennifer from the Waynes branch sent a letter earlier. Please don’t forget to check it. -H]

“What did Branch Manager Jennifer send?”

Betty, who was reading the letter together, tilted her head.

I recalled the letter from Jennifer that had been hidden under the paper, prompted by Hayley’s message.

Didn’t she say Lloyd had stopped by the Balua Duchy and Felice County on his way back from Waynes?

Nodding as I remembered the burned letter, I spoke.

“She said Lloyd stopped by the Balua Duchy and Felice County.”

“…On his way back from Waynes?”

“Yes. I can roughly guess why, but I think we should check on that side as well.”

Betty nodded in understanding at my words.

Then, after thinking for a moment, she opened her mouth.

She seemed to have had thoughts similar to what I had expected.

“Hmm, he’s making things difficult.”

“I think the same.”

I nodded at Betty’s words and read Hayley’s letter again.

There was nothing else besides the recent news from the north, the lack of contact from the east, and her promise to procure and send more supplies.

“Oh, by the way, what happened with the request to find a craftsman?”

“I’ve already found a craftsman. Since it didn’t seem like you would place a separate order, I took the liberty of commissioning a few light pieces of jewelry.”

“Well done.”

The craftsman is merely a cover.

At this upcoming birthday celebration, the Empress will be forced by the noble faction to reveal the Tears of Isolde.

While the nobles of the aristocratic faction, led by Duke Balua, are eagerly trying to undermine the Emperor somehow, making the Empress uncomfortable.

So, before that, I will bring the Tears of Isolde to the Empress.

Saying that I’ve retrieved what I had entrusted to the craftsman.

In the previous life, Lloyd had deceived the Empress, claiming he had found it with great difficulty, putting on a pitiful face.

He could have just been honest, but he boasted as if he had found it himself, asking how much she must have worried.

This time, I will correct that deception of the Empress.

As if the Empress had never forgotten that jewel for even a moment.

For some reason, Leoprick seems to want me not to be involved at all, but…

That’s impossible.

I intended to reveal the Tears of Isolde at this birthday celebration for the Empress.

I smiled faintly, thinking of the Tears of Isolde hidden in a space within the dressing room that only Betty and I knew about.

“There must be no mistakes. Understood?”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

Betty smiled confidently at my words.

Clenching her fist to emphasize that there was absolutely no chance of a mistake, Betty then tilted her head.

“But Your Highness, if you were going to return it anyway, was there really a need to secretly bring it from Waynes?”

Betty asked with a voice full of doubt.

Well, I had considered doing just that, but…

I shrugged and opened my mouth.

Maybe now I would, but back then, I hadn’t even considered the possibility that Leoprick might have regressed.

So I didn’t think he would know the appropriate time as well as I did.

“There’s an appropriate time for everything, Betty. I’m just aiming for the most dramatic moment.”

And only by doing so will they know that I am fully on the side of the imperial family.

I brightened my eyes as I recalled the greedy faces of Balua and Lloyd.

This is just the beginning, anyway.

Soon enough, they’ll realize what they’ve missed.

After telling Betty once more that there must be no mistakes, I stood up from my seat.

Now it’s time to go and do the next task.

[This is the timeline separator]

“As you can see, we are self-sufficient in everything.”

Although the area wasn’t large, the sight of dense green crops everywhere was always amazing.

And even more so that it was being done not by people who had made farming their profession, but by mere monks.

Looking at Abbot Berun, who was introducing his results with a rather proud face, I asked.

“How long did it take to become this self-sufficient?”

“It didn’t take long. The imperial land is generally fertile, and the monasteries in each region know the land improvement methods suitable for their area.”

“I see.”

“Thanks to this, although we have fewer believers now, we have no trouble making a living.”

Berun smiled kindly, slightly bowing and straightening his back with his hands clasped.

Knowing the land improvement methods suitable for each region, huh.

I slowly nodded at Berun’s explanation.

The food shortage in the north was due to the sudden cold wave and the rapidly decreasing number of farmers in recent times.

As the weather got colder and farmers could no longer cultivate the land, they started hunting more and more, leading to a decrease in grain.

On top of that, the sudden intense cold brought about an unexpected food shortage.

It wasn’t that there was no solution.

There were slightly less cold regions even in the north, and there were crops that could grow in that hard, frozen land.

But the problem was that they didn’t know this right now.

Even I only found out about this method a few years after the northern disaster in my previous life.

More precisely, I learned it while looking at the method Leoprick had discovered.

“Then, can the monasteries in the north also be self-sufficient?”

“Of course. The northern land is more difficult to cultivate than other regions, but it’s not impossible.”

I nodded at his words.

It wouldn’t be impossible.

I know it’s actually possible because I’ve seen it.

“The fact that the monks in the northern monasteries have been doing well so far is proof of that. The north is also a place where the number of supporting monks has been increasing over the past few years.”

A strange pride was evident on Berun’s face as he calmly answered.

If there was such a great method, they should have brought it out earlier.

I clicked my tongue inwardly and nodded.

“So crops can grow well in the north too?”

“Each region has its own crops that grow well, suitable for that region.”

“But shouldn’t the staple foods grow well everywhere?”

“In the case of wheat, which is the staple food of the imperial people, it grows well anywhere with a little improvement. The key is in what ratio to mix the seeds and how to apply fertilizer.”

Feeling that my response was agreeing, Berun rattled off even more information than I had asked for.

About how changing just the method of applying fertilizer can allow farming suitable for the climate, how to grow crops to better penetrate the cultivated soil, and so on.

I smiled bitterly inside as I listened to this person who I couldn’t tell was a monk or a farmer.

It was only a few years after the northern disaster that it was revealed that the land reclamation method developed by the monastery worked not only in the north but in all barren lands.

It was a method that Leoprick, who had a chance to visit a northern monastery by chance, learned by asking the monks.

From then on, monks were dispatched en masse to the north to reclaim the northern land.

However, the soil quality of where the monastery was and the innermost land of the north was too different.

Even the weather was different, so it took a few more years before the north could be completely reclaimed.

And in the meantime, many people died.

But this time will be different.

Because I know about that great disaster, and moreover, I have the method to solve that disaster right here.

I looked at Berun and opened my mouth.

“Then, can you reclaim all the land in the north?”

“All the land in the north…,”

Hesitation appeared on Berun’s face at my words.

“Do you mean including the land of extreme cold?”

“Yes. If possible, all the land where people live.”

The innermost land of extreme cold in the north.

Although it’s known that hardly anyone lives there due to the tremendous cold, it’s also an area where many animals and rare creatures live because of that.

Occasionally there were people who set out to settle there, but it wasn’t a common case.

A land of the unknown where only a very small number of people are said to live.

Berun mumbled, unable to answer readily.

“If the Monastery Union helps with this task, I’m willing to provide unlimited support for it.”

“…Is that Your Highness’s wish, or His Majesty’s?”

“My wish is the Crown Prince’s wish.”

I answered without hesitation to the question asked with hesitation.

Leoprick won’t object.

After all, he said to do what I want to do.

So he won’t stop me from providing necessary support from the guild either.

I looked at Berun with a slight smile.

“If you need anything, you can request it from the Jenit Guild, and the compensation for that will be more than satisfactory.”

The north reclamation project needed to start as soon as possible.

Only then could they save themselves from the disasters that would come in a few years, and a few years after that.

If we do that, Leoprick won’t have to worry about how to solve the food problem in the north every year.

And there won’t be other nobles trying to do something with the north using their excessive wealth.

I inwardly sighed, recalling the chaos that had filled the void left by the disappearance of the leader in my previous life.

Before things turn out that way again, we must do everything we can.

I quietly added more words as I watched the wavering Berun.

“Is that all? If people know that this was supported by the Monastery Union, their view of the monasteries will change. Hasn’t it been difficult all this time?”

It was due to the corruption of the monasteries that those who believed in God turned their backs.

As a result, the monasteries became rapidly impoverished.

As a result, it seems that having to be self-sufficient by cultivating vegetable gardens inside the monastery has turned out to be a good thing now.

I drove another wedge into the wavering Berun.

“People tend to value the help right in front of them more. Don’t you have any desire to regain your former glory?”

At my words, Berun turned his head to look at me.

When I saw the flickering flame in his eyes as they met mine, I smiled slightly.