Unwavering 12 (Overlord, Zanac!SI)

Renner was... a rather unpredictable element. As much as I want to say that this situation could be solved with a tough talk and a promise from her to not 'escalate this any further', I knew that my beloved little sister had grown into a proper adult - which meant that any chance of radically improving out of that messy behavior was not within reach.

I thought the girl would have kept by a 'yandere but lovely' mindset, but I had underestimated the thirst this girl actually had. Removing her usual cruelty may have also pushed her more into the 'love' aspect of her peculiar personality.

Despite that tense conversation being quite awkward for me as I had to define some limits to not cross, I could tell that giving some concessions to my sister over a clandestine incestuous relationship was akin to play Russian Roulette with five bullets in the chamber.

Beyond that, I was glad that the servants were all believing that my sister had come to visit my chambers at night to cuddle up with me. No one suspected that a greater depravity had unfolded, but I also moved to make sure no proof of that debauchery persisted after that day. Precaution was needed, and my sister was too much of a powerful element within the royal court for me to just sideline and keep away from the public eye.

The 'Golden Princess' was not someone the people would love to see put on the background and removed from being too much of a player in politics - not when a renewed urge for reforms was manifesting both in the lower and the upper classes.

The Kingdom had gone stagnant in many outlets for a long time now, and my efforts had gained attention. When the announcement behind my appointment was given, I could tell that this opened up several cracks that I had to either fix or let break some more depending on the ramifications.

Barbro was spotted visiting a bar the night of the announcement, but it was a briefer visit than usual as the king mentioned he had put a limit on my brother's piggy-bank. While that was indeed sad, it was sadder that his many efforts to find privacy were not as successful as he thought those to be. While I was indeed going to focus primarily on the first tough month of my premiership, I had top agents of RENDA keep track of him and his cronies.

He may have lost a lot of momentum, but those that had already invested in him were not just going to give up on him yet. It was a matter of pride and economic gambling- the game wasn't over yet and pulling out so suddenly would only make their influence known to others.

The game of shadows over the heirship to the kingdom was dangerous, but I planned to repay those waging this war against me with twice the economic exploitation once I was with the crown. And that was still a long path considering the fat towers of papers I had to check and sign.

The primary issue was a matter of 'efficiency' truth be told. The bureaucracy was bloated despite corruption having been kept to a minimum, and the way the paperwork was handled was far less than sufficient than how a working country should have.

Usually that could be ignored since the surplus was so high that it didn't matter how the income was declared by the lords. But since we were risking to default, it was best to see this addressed somehow. I completely refused to enforce 'proper taxation' as that would be seen in a negative way by all nobles, regardless of the honesty behind the move. Likewise, the peasants would be influenced into thinking I was getting greedier and demanding more money from them since the lords would be forced to 'claim their right quotas' from them.

That being said, the demand had to be done, just not as simple as just that: it had to be delivered with a hint of sugar within the reform. In that case, I had to look through all known taxes, put most of those in the trash and simplify everything in more compact taxes.

I decided against going for a full-blown income-based tax due to how complex the system currently was. Too radical of a reform would just give more headaches than get the coins we needed to fill up the coffers. At the same time, I wasn't planning to stick with Mercantilism: I needed to get the money rolling in good programs that could kickstart the economy into a sudden growth.

Looking back at potential examples of work-relieving projects, the idea that came in mind was the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps. The idea of employing unmarried and unemployed men aged 18 to 25 of peasant descent to work in this 'royal program' was something it mimicked from the CCC, but since the preservation of parks was not a need at the moment, the project would focus on the expansion of public works and improvements for the existing infrastructure.

The name of the program was 'Every Man a Worker' or EMW and it was spearheaded by the former leadership in charge of PWE in E-Rantel. Within a week after the announcement, a solid 15% of what was to be planned was already being done.

EMW proved to be popular just as expected, but there was an immediate issue in filling up the administrative section of the program and forced a week-long delay to see the large battalion of builders being put to work into projects of renovation within the capital and the crownlands.

The nobles that were watching these steps would take note and perhaps get caught by the offer of this program giving them mostly free labor to take care of any town or city in need of being 'patched up'. I expected this to take a while but... at least I could start working on dikes to try and increase the presence of workable fields.

If we were able to wield more peasants and produce more grain and fruits, then we would have the means to trade more with those countries that may be in need of those products. Opening the trade world would also made us less dependent on our neighbors. The Empire, albeit at peace with us for a while, was going to be a threat if it was to submit to Nazarick, and the Slane Theocracy was a powderkeg waiting to go boom.

Our 'northern' buddies may be our potential ally in the long run, but I didn't expect anything to come out of a first probing effort done with an expedition of good will to the Argland Council State. Despite Re-Estize having recently adopted a more open society policy with species, I doubted the Dragon Lords were just going to ignore the fact that slavery in the kingdom had been stopped 'quite recently'.

The Roble Holy Kingdom was in a similar spot to the Slane Theocracy and I could even call them 'Slane Lite' due to their less zealous approach to religion. They still held lots of prejudice for Demi-Humans and despised the undeads so...

The Dwarf Kingdom was our best option in that regard. Despite its prominent position in the mountainous position their country existed, the dwarves were confined in the area and relied heavily on trading for food. So, I was planning to do something to further ingratiate them to us and make them more dependent to our export rather than the one from the Empire.

First through the lowering of the price behind the already existing deal and then with the promise of training some of their warriors in joint training sessions. This last bit was actually important as it would open up diplomacy in regard of a joint operation to reclaim some of the underground cities the dwarves had lost. And with that, the expansion of their mining business.

The gems they could produce then would be sold to us at a more affordable price, making this investment worthwhile. And that's ignoring the runic development through the knowledge of old. Ah yes, things were popping off just nicely in this first week and...

I had yet to go through more than 60% of what I had to deal with.

I had expanded my assistants' corp but... fuck, was this monumental effort far bigger than I had anticipated. And while that was a big issue itself, I was caught a bit off-guard by what Nazarick's next move on Re-Estize was.

Without having to face some morons of the criminal kind prodding their capacity, diplomacy was the most obvious option but where I had expected for Momonga to send away Albedo in that diplomatic mission, I was a bit surprised when the entourage that we received was for a 'lenghtier diplomatic mission' and involved a Lady Carlamine.

The King was most intrigued by such a fine looking all-white-wearing noble from this Grand Tomb, but I was busy facepalming really hard as I had only not-so nice things to say to one Peroroncino for sending out his NPC after me!

The worst part is that I could tell she was stalking me because she was fucking stalking me! Whenever I was taking a break from work, I would stumble on the Lady as she was exploring the castle. I don't need to be a genius to know that this was a certain vampire's way of keeping track of someone important.

Minus the lusting after me which was good since it avoided some really dangerous situations involving my sister.

Still, even as I had to juggle several plates at once to preserve my reputation, keep the kingdom afloat and also avoid getting in a bad spot with a certain lamprey-tier stalker, I would say that things were about to get better.

I just didn't know who was going to enjoy the benefits the most...

AN

Next time... 'Lady Carlamine' POV!