How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1

As we talked, the horse kept clip-clopping along. It was around six in the morning, maybe. The time when people finally start to stir. As we passed through the shopping street, no shops were open yet and there was almost no one out. Passing through the castle town, we reached the wall that went around the capital. We came up to a massive gate, the likes of which I had only seen in foreign fantasy films, and after speaking to the guards there, we went outside through a small door beside it.

Liscia did all the talking here. If the newly-ascended king had told them he wanted to go outside the city without any bodyguards, I doubt they’d have allowed it. So, Liscia, who held an officer’s rank, told them, “I have been dispatched outside by order of the king,” and played it off as part of her duties.

Once we safely passed through the gate, Liscia added, “Since I said it was a royal order, there’s going to be a record of it. Who knows what Marx is going to say to us later…”

I ignored her complaints.

After a short trip through the city streets, we finally reached our destination. “…Stop here,” I said.

As she stopped the horse, Liscia looked at me questioningly. “This is where you wanted to come? All I see are farmers’ fields.”

Indeed, there was nothing but verdant fields of green leaves here. Green fields, wet with the morning dew, as far as the eye could see. This was the place… No doubt about that.

“This is the place I wanted to show you, Liscia.”

“These fields? I suppose they’re pretty when they’re wet with the morning dew like this…”

“Pretty… huh. Even though it’s because of this that people are starving to death.”

“Wha?” Liscia’s eyes widened in surprise.

I sighed. “Take a close look. These ‘inedible fields’ are the root of this country’s food crisis.”

◇　◇　◇

Inedible fields… That was what Souma had called the fields spread out before me, looking at them bitterly. Souma had said he’d wanted to show me these fields, but I still didn’t understand why.

“…What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. All of the fields you see here are cotton fields.”

“Cotton fields… Ah! That’s what you meant by inedible!”

Cotton flowers were grown to produce cotton thread. Sure enough, these fields didn’t grow anything you could eat.

Souma sat down there, resting his elbows on his thighs. “Jumping straight to my conclusion, it’s the excessive increase in the number of these cotton fields that has caused this country’s food shortages.”

“…Come again?”

Did he just sort of off-handedly say something incredible now? The cause of our food shortages?

“While I was sorting through the paperwork, I noticed it. With the expansion of the Demon Lord’s Domain, the demand for clothing and other daily necessities has skyrocketed. Of course, the demand for the raw materials has shot up, too. With the selling price of cotton flowers rising, and being able to sell as much as you can produce, the farmers have entirely stopped growing the food crops they had produced up until that point. Crops grown to sell to others instead of to eat are called cash crops. Which is to say: our farmers have turned to growing only cash crops, which has led to a lowering of this country’s food self-sufficiency rate.”

I was speechless. The cause of this country’s food shortages…

I had always just assumed it was bad weather, or that our country had just had poor soil to begin with. Here was a concrete reason, and yet I, who had lived in this country for more than ten years, hadn’t seen it. Meanwhile Souma, who had been summoned here only a few days prior, had managed to.

“If I were to go a bit further, I could say it’s the cause of this country’s poor economy, as well. When the food self-sufficiency rate drops, you have to import from other countries to avoid starving. However, imported food involves transportation costs as well, so the price of food rises. That puts pressure on household budgets, but you can only cut food costs so far. If you don’t eat, you’ll starve, after all. Of course, if you’re going to trim the fat somewhere, it’s going to be in nonessential and luxury goods. This change in spending practices is causing a downward spiral in the economy.”

What had I been looking at? Had I just been a private citizen, it would have been fine to just laugh scornfully at my lack of insight. However, I was a princess.

The ignorance of those at the top kills those at the bottom.

“I’m… a failure as a royal.” I lost all strength, falling to my knees there. In all my life, I had never so keenly felt a sense of powerlessness as I did now.

Seeing me like that, Souma let out an “Uh,” and an “Um,” scratching his head, before resting his hand on my head.

“Don’t let it get you so down. We’ve secured the funding we’ll need. It’s not too late for agricultural reforms.”

“…What are you planning to do?”