Road to the Crown

15th November 1574

"Do we really need to?"

Elia's pleas all fell on the deaf eyes, as while we were cuddling, we were doing so in the private wagon that I ordered for my own travels. With every second, the steam engines installed at the front of our train were bringing us closer and closer to the capital, for the hopefully ultimate solving of the entire royal election matter. 

"The sooner we are done with it, the quicker we will be free to return to our lives."

The last two weeks that I spent in Elia's company allowed me to see the world through a slightly different perspective. All the rush that I felt so far in terms of both defeating my opponents and even more so when it came to developing my lands, was gone. I really had to let this girl show me how everything looked from the perspective of a normal person.

The changes that happened to all my lands, eastern colonies including, was insane. One could say that while my holdings advanced two ages, the rest of the country was still lagging behind, unable to grasp the concepts necessary to move on. From how nearly half of New Tarnow reached the point of operating again within just the week that the two of us spent there, through how the spoils we got from conquering Ostros quickly caught up to the former output of New Tarnow and were now well on the way to double it… Even the growth that happened to Tarnow itself was worthy life-long praise.

In any normal situation, growing one's lands required not only a lot of concessions in terms of taxation and policies beneficial for the lord's coffers so that he could lure the new settlers in. Yet my case proved that one could ride on the rapid growth caused by a completely different approach to the economy, striking it rich even despite keeping the subject financial obligations low!

Right now, if not for the profits from the export of my products, I would tread on the line dangerously close to complete bankruptcy and collapse of my projects. Given how I was the only guarantee for people to receive their wages and maintain the rapid growth of the market, once my treasure would dry out, there would be no coin to move the things around!

Yet, even in that case, I insisted on keeping the taxes abysmally small, to the point of periodically abolishing them for those who could contribute a lot to my lands. Additionally, I didn't really bother with implementing any form of policies or schemes that could bring me some of my gold back!

But even despite how financially strained everyone could consider me to be, especially with all the ongoing costs of development… Or so one could think about my situation if he failed to notice one of the most important aspects of my lands.

"If we want to keep our momentum, we need to deal with this matter as soon as possible. The sooner the tensions caused by the lack of head for the crown will die off, the quicker we will be able to pick up the pace in terms of recruitment."

Right now, when someone was settling down in my lands, he or she would have a relatively simple choice. The basic and simple one involved employing oneself in the general workforce, agreeing to be relocated whenever there was a lack of hands for work. With this approach, one could afford to get a cheap house in the areas that would otherwise be as costly as the middle of the capital due to their financial potential, while maintaining a productive and beneficial job.

Yet, as needed as this part of the recruitment process was to maintain the stable pace of growth, it was actually the other option that was the main source of my current rise.

The other option involved taking the advantage of the insanely generous taxation policy to join the insane drive and open up one's own business. Obviously, one had to buy the land for the manufactory or a shop, organise the worker himself while offering even better wages than my officers, place orders for the steam machines to keep his workplace profitable against one's rivals…

All of those actions resulted in a stable influx of red goldens to my coffers, with my administrative workers instantly injecting it back into my the development of my own!

Thanks to this policy, while my colonies took the brunt of providing any amounts of any industrial material, my furnaces turned it from a worthless ore into valuable ingots, and then either a private business would buy it off the market for their own purpose, or the new factories in New Tarnow would turn it into few products that I managed to gain a nearly complete monopoly over!

Just like the wood factory allowed me to take all the European furniture markets by the storm, I could already see in my reports how some of the weapon factories and automated carriage factories requested more and more expansion due to being unable to keep up with the orders! 

With the high-end manufacturing developing into those two branches, the growth of the countryside could also be observed. As the population of the cities and settlements continued to sky-rocket, the demand for food also increased. Thanks to that, the process of resettling the formerly Ostros land that I gave up my rights for was a lot quicker, only resulting in another boost to the orders of the steam machines, sponsored by the Cheerio family!

Our initial idea to establish a trading outpost with the cossacks and gain financial leverage over them failed on the dry land, with how everyone rushed towards the colonisation projects. While it was only a hearsay, the terms that Cheerio family offered for the outcasts and other inhabitants of the wild borderlands were soo insanely good that only a few, hard criminals bothered to remain in the underdeveloped lands!

"Are you sure you can achieve what you want, though?"

After a long moment of not saying anything, Elia seemed to be awoken by the lights of Krakow that announced our arrival to the city. Even though the influence of my ideas was pretty limited in this capital city of Commonwealth, I could already see how it continued to grow, although at a much smaller scale.

"It's not a question whether I can. This is something that I have to do."

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but feel annoyed and sobered up by reality. Given how I most likely wouldn't have any problems with reaching for the crown, it sounded extremely stupid to just give it up. Even as a grey eminence behind the court and the politics of the king, I couldn't expect for my legacy to last long. After all, a King was the only figure in the entire politic scene that could curb my growth at this point!contemporary romance

But ultimately, it would be just too wasteful to put my efforts anywhere else. Given how busy managing my own lands was making me, if I were to split my attention to something as grand and important as managing the entire country, then even if I could push my weight far further than I could currently, the real range of my moves would be grossly limited!

"Then, don't try to figure out how to do it."

Closing in on me, Elie grabbed my face between her hands before placing a gentle kiss on top of my mouth and pushing herself into my embrace right after.

"Don't let your dream be just a dream. Do it. Some people wake up every day, thinking about achieving something, while you worked hard for everything that you have here. I saw your rise with my own eyes. Even though I experienced your actions first-hand and from the best possible point of view, I still can't believe or fathom how much did you change this world already."

Rubbing her cheek against my chest, Elia continued to push one word after another from her mouth, smashing down the walls of my anxiety one by one.

"That's why I can tell or ask you only one thing now."

Suddenly pushing her body away with her hands, Elia looked me in the eyes before bringing a lovely smile on her face and gracing me with another moment of her insane beauty.

"Just do it!"

done.co