TIDP 15

During the month Darius had come down to the southern region for marriage negotiations, all administrative work of the Grand Duchy had come to a complete halt.

Perhaps because of that, when I arrived at the audience hall where petitions from the territory were received, I saw a mountain of documents piled up beside a huge chair.

Wow, look at that stack of petitions. Well, not like I’ll be the one dealing with them anyway.

“Igret seems like a good person. Things like attending to me could be left to the maids.”

“Lady Igret is a distant relative from my mother’s side. She married into our family, but her husband passed away early, leaving her alone.”

“I see.”

Darius was already reviewing the first petition of the day—a request from the blacksmith guild for expansion approval.

“Even if our territory is poor, surely we can afford to build a blacksmith workshop, right?”

“We have enough funds to get through this winter.”

Yeah… no, male lead. That money’s already gone because Lady Igret took it.

Along with the food and cotton I brought as part of my dowry, she took all the cash.

That was exactly why I was wary of Lady Igret. When Darius had just become the Grand Duke and knew nothing, she had taken control of the ducal finances and disappeared with them.

Because of that, Darius had no funds left and even had to personally lead the knights into foreign territorial wars just to earn money as a duke. He was basically a mercenary at that point.

“If you hadn’t been born as a Grand Duke, have you ever thought you might have lived freely as a wandering mercenary?”

“Why mercenary, of all professions? Knight, merchant, scholar—there are many options.”

“Hmm, just came to mind.”

Because in the original story, you were absurdly good at it. Every time Darius entered a war, it was basically an automatic victory.

“North-born mercenaries are indeed famous. However, I have no intention of profiting off the lives of my territory’s people. Nor are we so short on funds that we need to resort to that.”

Darius cut it off firmly, misunderstanding my intent as a suggestion to develop the territory through mercenary work.

“That’s true.”

Even though the situation wasn’t desperate enough to exploit citizens’ lives for profit…

In the original novel “The Abandoned Saintess Goes to the Northern Grand Duke,” the male lead suffered endlessly.

Whenever things stabilized even slightly, famine, epidemics, or monster invasions struck the North. Other regions ignored the North completely.

It was surprising he didn’t just rebel.

But Darius kept protecting his people through sheer will.

Eventually, when the saintess heroine appeared, the North began to develop, and together they defeated the Demon King.

The story was told from the heroine’s perspective, so thankfully we didn’t see how miserable Darius’s life actually was.

He was betrayed even by relatives he trusted… which made his personality even darker.

That’s why when he first met the heroine, who had been expelled from the temple, he didn’t trust her at all.

The name “Lady Igret” never appeared in the original story, so I hadn’t noticed her at first either.

While the previous duke was dead and Darius had just taken over, it must have been easy to siphon off funds.

But Darius wouldn’t trust her forever. So she probably decided to leave with what she had while she still could.

I remembered her smiling softly while subtly trying to keep control away from me.

If things had gone as originally written, Anette wouldn’t have come to the main estate yet, and Igret could have kept going for longer.

But I showed up. The real lady of the house who can audit the books.

I sat calmly in the large duchess chair, deep in thought. It was the massive golden throne you often see in games or films.

Maybe because it’s too big, Darius keeps losing his posture.

“Your Grace, your armrest is here.”

Smiling, I gently corrected his posture. He had unconsciously reached toward me.

Our fingers brushed.

“Anette, your armrest is here.”

We were in no position to tease each other. Our hands kept bumping into each other because the armrests were too close together.

With a huff, I gave up on the armrest and folded my hands neatly. Fine, take it all.

* * *

Gilbert the dwarf was a blacksmith who had worked in the largest forge in the North for over fifteen years. He was also part of the Northern Blacksmith Guild’s executive staff.

“…So, we’re requesting permission from the lord for a full-scale expansion.”

Normally confident when bargaining in the marketplace, Gilbert’s tongue twisted in front of the great lord of the land.

A noble. The ruler of the North.

Why am I even here doing this? This isn’t my job.

He mentally cursed the guild leader who had dumped this meeting on him.

He explained iron production and consumption in the North as best he could, but didn’t notice that the expressions of the duke and duchess were growing more serious as the discussion became increasingly technical.

“Wait. Let’s say building a forge is level 10. What level would you say our current forge is?”

“Huh?”

Even the presence of the pitch-black duke alone made him nervous, and now the young lady beside him was asking him questions.

Wasn’t she supposed to be the new duchess?

“If we define a level 10 forge as the ideal—one capable of working legendary ores like orichalcum—what level is our current forge?”

“In that case… I’d say around level 3, maybe 4 at best. With this expansion, we could reach level 4.”

“What? Only that low?”

Her frown made Gilbert’s heart drop. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but it still felt like he had.

“How much would the expansion cost?”

“About twenty carts of materials, ten carts of iron, and roughly 1,000 gold.”

That was already a minimized estimate. Even the guild would contribute, but large-scale funding from the ducal family was essential.

“If we expand, we’ll be able to hire more workers and increase iron production. It will benefit the North.”

Gilbert nervously tried to justify it as economic development.

“I see,” Darius nodded, seeming to agree.

“Then I approve the expansion—and propose an additional expansion on top of it.”

“An additional expansion?”

Gilbert’s eyes widened.

I thought just getting approval was lucky enough!

A larger project? Was this real?

As expected, Darius immediately objected.

“I agree this expansion is necessary. But proposing additional work that wasn’t requested—what are you saying, Anette?”

“No. At this rate, we’re too late.”

She turned back to Gilbert.

“If the Northern forge is level 3, what about other cities?”

“In the capital or major cities, it would be around level 5 or 6.”

“And on average?”

“Around level 4.”

“So even our average is below others. We’re falling behind.”

Anette sighed.

If the best forge in the kingdom was level 6, then the North’s average was barely half that.

Even Darius now began to feel that something was seriously wrong.

“The North is known for its military strength and logistics. If we become dependent on importing weapons, wouldn’t that be a disgrace?”

Gilbert nodded without realizing it.

“That’s right! If you approve the expansion, I’ll deliver results!”

Thus, the forge expansion was approved on a much larger scale than expected—thanks to Anette.

* * *

Strange. This level definitely doesn’t make sense.

In the original story, the North was supposed to be a land of hidden treasures beneath frozen soil. Strong soldiers, rich iron deposits, famous northern-made weapons.

But it’s worse than even the capital’s forge?

I had asked about orichalcum because it was the material of the hero’s final sword in the original story.

Before the final battle, the hero’s party would visit the Northern forge—called the “Forge at the End of the World”—to prepare their weapons before facing the Demon King.

But right now? Orichalcum? They’re struggling just to increase iron production.

At this rate, how were they planning to supply the final war against the Demon King’s monsters?

That’s why I pushed strongly for expansion.

What if there’s another problem I don’t know about?

If so, I needed to find out.