Enlightened Empire

Although ice cream was very important to Corco on a personal level, for now, there were other, more serious issues to tackle. For example, his early implementation of bureaucracy was beginning to show its first troubling symptoms.

"King Corco, we cannot keep spending like this!"

Over the past few days, Corco had been on the run. Although he had cut his meeting about the new city layout short and escaped to Chukru, the second flank island of Rapra Castle, the accountants from the financial bureau had expected his move and passed him off as soon as he had left his study. Now he had to deal with their representative, again.

"Why not?" the king asked. "The economy needs to be stimulated and our public works projects are doing wonders for money circulation."

Without turning back to look at the annoying fly, Corco rushed past the new buildings made from wood and concrete. He really liked the new constructions, even though the black smoke in the distant sky stained the serene image. Still, the new foundry experiments were a core of Corco’s modernization efforts, so there really was no way around the pollution.

"...King Corco, no matter how good your intentions, we are wasting far too much gold on these projects. The new roads might be nice to look at, but they are extremely wasteful. Our officials only need to visit these villages once a year to collect taxes, they do not require outstanding roads to take complete control of... the countryside."

Throughout his speech, the clerk’s voice had retained its self-righteous tone. However, towards the end he had begun to falter, in response to the king’s actions. Rather than continue on towards the plume of smog in the distance, Corco had stopped dead in his tracks, annoyed by the constant bickering. This whole time he had tried to brush off the loudmouths of the financial bureau. Not only did he in fact want for his subjects to disagree with him, to offer their own ideas for the benefit of the country, he had also tried to create a harmonious atmosphere within his bureaucracy and done his best to avoid regal overtones.

Clearly, his attempts had failed, and now there were insubordinations he had to rectify before it was too late. His mind made up, Corco turned on his heels and stared at the silenced clerk, long enough for the man to squirm around and avert his eyes. Only then did Corco continue with a grim mien.

"So, from a financial perspective, you believe that the roads, the semaphore towers and the water wheels along the big rivers are a waste? They’re the start of our industrial revolution, so how can they be useless? You work in the same building as the urban planning bureau. How have you not heard any of our plans for the territory? And if you have heard them, you can’t seriously believe that we’re just wasting money here, that these plans are unrealistic. In agriculture alone, we’ll get an eighty percent increase in cultivated farmland over the next five years, and that’s a conservative estimate. We’ll triple the productive output per worker, be they farmer or craftsman. How will we achieve any of this if we don’t invest early!? You want us to be stuck in this fucking swamp forever!? This is crazy!"

Animated by Corco’s hands, the words of insult fired towards the stunned clerk, without remorse.

"King Corco... I never intended to be rude and the financial bureau is well aware of all the plans being worked on within the territory. However... there is simply not enough money. At this rate, we will run out of gold within months, maybe even weeks if our spending increases further... there needs to be more consideration for this issue. We are spending far too much on far too many separate ideas. While all of them might have been useful by themselves, none of them will be of any value with an empty treasury."

"So what are we supposed to get rid of then?" Corco asked, another intense stare attacking the hapless servant. "You want me to cut the new military?"

"Of course not, but their remuneration is far too generous. No army in Arcavia-"

"We’re not in Arcavia anymore!" Frustration broke its dam as Corco began to rub his face and stare out into the new town around them. "Fuck me, this is annoying. Look, here in Medala, things are different. Here, we don’t have soldiers, or mercenaries, or levies. We only have warriors. Warriors are revered as the ruling class. You can’t pay them like a levied Arcavian peasant. If you try, no one will fight for us and no one will respect us. In the first place, a standing army might be expensive, but it’s necessary to facilitate central rule. Like, I mean, it’s literally the one common good any country needs to provide at the bare minimum. There is literally no way around this."

For some reason, the accountant stared right at Corco once more. Somehow, the warrior servant seemed to have found his spine, as he righted his posture and got louder himself, in defiance of the king.

"Then what about the payment to the prisoners? Their rations are excessive as is, both in quality and quantity. We ran out of food a good while ago. Only due to the good graces of Puscanacra’s governor could we even buy enough grain and meat to sustain our work force until now. However, even these ludicrous rations are not the full extent of their payment. No, on top of all the food, these prisoners, these traitors, also receive a regular wage every ten days, to do with as they see fit. Why would we waste our money on slaves?"

Under a shattering sound, Corco kicked straight through a window frame which had leaned against the unfinished house besides them. His anger fully ignited by his clerk’s poor choice of words, no considerations would hold him back anymore.

"Who’s a fucking slave! There are no slaves here, there never will be and never have been!Not so long as I’m alive, you hear that!? That’s why we pay them so much, because they are not fucking slaves, get that into your thick skull you dumb fuck! You know that those people have families too? How will they support themselves if they make no fucking money for five years? You know that we have four thousand prisoners at the moment? And that those guys used to live in Saniya? That’s a third of Saniya’s citizens right there! You expect me to just take away their rights and fucking enslave them?

"What will their families think, and their friends, and acquaintances!? Which, considering those four thousand also make up 5% of Chawir’s entire population, is just about everyone! How would we ever rule in peace if everyone’s cousin and uncle is our fucking slave!? How about maybe, just for one second, you stop thinking about the money in your hand and think about the fucking people instead. How about, for once, you don’t consider your own job the center of the universe! Because while your job might not be, at least in this place, mine is."

As Corco’s rant blew away his usual restraint, all nicety and calm left the king with it, his choleric demeanor returned once more. Even though the clerk couldn’t possibly know whether or not Corco’s outburst was real or a calculated move to gain back respect back from the arrogant financial bureau, neither option was desirable to him. Step by step the middle-aged clerk backed up, until his back hit the waist-high wall of the unfinished house behind him. The terrified man leaned backwards, his back arching over the concrete wall, under the curious stares of workers in the distance. Once more, the accountant’s eyes turned to the side, away from the king’s vicious stare.

Without warning, as if pulled back by a spring, Corco sprang back up again, away from his victim. Together with his unexpected movement, all anger disappeared from his face, as if it had never existed. To replace his ire, the king sported a refreshed smile instead.

"You understand me, friend?"

A short glimpse back up to Corco was followed by a series of nods from the clerk. It seemed as if he had overdone his lesson a bit. From the accountant’s shell-shocked look, he wouldn’t dare be part of the conversation again, not any time soon. Even so, Corco grabbed the servant’s arm and helped him back onto his feet, before the man’s stiff, powerless body would slide down the wall by itself.

"Good. Look, I understand the bureau’s concerns. I also know what you’re trying to do here. You make outrageous demands, like ’don’t pay the prisoners’ and then you drive it back a bit, and we end up with something like ’okay, you can pay the prisoners, but only pay prisoners if they do meaningful work’."

With big eyes, the clerked looked at Corco, who had perfectly guessed his bureau’s tactics. Even so, he tried to deny the plans.

"King Corco, we would never-"

"Stop," the king interrupted his servant with a raised hand. Even though he didn’t raise his voice in the slightest, the clerk still obeyed without question. "I don’t care about excuses. I know all about the little plan your department has been hatching. Just come with me, I’ll have to show you something."

Of course Corco wouldn’t mention that rather than him being prescient, he had simply received information on the financial bureau’s ploy from one of Tama’s ghost warriors. Even so, his words still had the desired effect on the clerk. Without any resistance, the man’s body followed along with his king in stiff, mechanical movements, half a step behind and with noticeably more distance than before. Although he had planned a trip to the foundry, for now Corco would have to change his course to convince the clerk and the bureau behind him. After all, he really didn’t want to create any bad blood between him and his own financial staff, no matter how much he felt in the right.

"Since at the moment, all the prisoners are hard at work, you believe that there are many jobs I only let them do because they are available, not because they are essential. Your bureau wants me to cut all the nonessential work, like the soil and rock quarrying operations we have started all around Saniya. A good bit of our laborers are bound inside those new quarries, which means lots of ’wasted’ money we could use elsewhere. Right so far?"

With a look back, Corco caught the clerk’s slow nod and watery eyes.

"Okay, so here’s how I can change your mind on this... besides force, apparently: You’ll need to be convinced that the work in those new quarries isn’t pointless, and we need to find a way to make some quick money, before we run out of gold to fund all of our projects."

Throughout his speech, Corco had remained calm, open and to the point, in spite of his previous actions. In response, the clerk’s eyes had stopped to swim and his breath had steadied, at least that was how he looked when Corco turned around again.

*Gotta make sure not to overdo the pressure with civilians in the future,* Corco thought.

"Yes, King Corco. That would be sufficient."

"Then next time, just tell me your worries, and how to rectify them," the king concluded in a stern voice. A bit too early, Corco had reached the goal of his journey. So he stopped in from of the large, windowless warehouse, his hand on the door until he was ready for the great reveal. "I don’t need these idiotic political games, not here. This isn’t Arguna, so don’t play with me. I’m available pretty much all day, so if you have concerns, tell me and we can work it out. I’m serious, there won’t be another warning. Try to play games again and you’ll be out of the department and out of Saniya. I’ll consider your contract terminated then. Good luck getting home by yourself."

"...I understand, King Corco."

"Good," the king concluded, his sunny smile once more returned. "In that case, let me show you the single, perfect solution to both of your bureau’s problems."

At last, Corco slid open the door he had held on to all this time. What was revealed before the two was a blinding sight from within the darkness. Through the opened door, the sunlight entered the spotless room and fell onto the rows upon rows of shelves. Atop them, the beams of sun broke into shimmers and mirages, as they broke on the white, glossy surface of the translucent objects lined up in neat formation. Over and over, the shelves were laden with delicate porcelain pottery.

Without any attempt to hide the proud look on his face, the king turned and spread his arms, to show off the first fruits of his, and everyone’s, labor.

"Here it is, the result of our ’wasteful’ mining operation. What do you think we’ve been quarrying, and why do you think Saniya was this valuable as a territory to me? Porcelain is nothing but kaolinin, plus feldspar, plus x, I guess. And it’s the solution to our money troubles too. Welcome, to Saniya’s first great core industry."

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