I will be crowned king

"This is a letter sent directly from the Beluga Port Council to the Ostaglia Palace. Because it was sent at the same time as the last letter, it arrived a few days late and was accidentally delivered to Franz's residence."

Looking at Miss Sophia who was so excited that she couldn't stand it for even a minute, the little maid holding the letter in her hand could only explain: "Angelica is waiting for the royal messenger to come - according to regulations, only high-level letters can be sent to the palace. Only members of the royal family and the Privy Council are qualified..."

"But this is a letter from Beluga Port, right?" Sophia raised her hand to interrupt before the little maid could finish.

Feeling her burning gaze, Angelica swallowed her throat and began to dodge her eyes: "Well...it is indeed...like this..."

"Ah, then there is no problem." Sophia smiled brightly:

"Of course letters sent to the palace must be opened and read by His Majesty himself, but as His Majesty's ministers, I have the responsibility to share the concerns of our King on colonial issues. Of course, I am qualified to read the letter submitted from Beluga Port in advance - there is no way, who What if I am the colonial governor appointed by His Majesty himself?"

"Honorary Governor..." Angelica muttered with her head lowered.

"What?"

Sophia raised her eyebrows, but her smile remained unchanged.

"Nothing!" the little maid replied quickly, taking a half step back like a scared squirrel, holding the letter in her arms, her eyes swaying rapidly from side to side:

"I mean... why can't you wait until Mr. Luther comes back to see you, or go into the palace with the royal messenger? His Majesty will definitely not refuse you!"

"Father also has to go to church to deal with the matters piled up during the New Year holiday, so he won't be coming tonight."

Sophia spoke slowly, her expression becoming colder: "As for Your Majesty... Yes, Carlos will definitely not reject me, but I hate hearing the voice of that melancholic mother's boy. He is more suitable to be a king in a private club than to be a king. A masseur who helps elderly people solve their insomnia problems."

"Huh?!" The little maid's smile froze: "Miss Sophia, would it be a bit too..."

"Give me the letter."

Sophia, with a cold face, stretched out her hand.

Angelica didn't hesitate and handed the letter into her hand obediently.

The girl's expression finally softened slightly, she gently patted the little maid on the shoulder, and walked towards the gate of the mansion in a crowd.

"Miss Sophia, I still don't understand."

Back in the living room, the little maid couldn't help but said while making coffee: "I mean... I know that the Storm Division is an important investment for you, but even when you were in Hantu, you never interfered with Colonel Anson Bach. How to command an army—well, except for the time at the Royal Court of Yser."

"Simply because things are different."

Leaning lazily on the soft sofa, Sophia, with a hint of weariness in her eyes, played with a sterling silver letter opener. The mirror-like blade reflected the faint smile on her lips:

“I once thought that my father’s exile of Ansen Bach and my stormtroopers to the colonies was a punishment for my behavior in the past period of time – of course it was the case – but the important thing is that I found that this could be the key to my comeback. !”

"Did you know that a quarter of the steel and coal in all Clovis's factories were imported directly or indirectly through Beluga Port? Through the supply of cheap raw materials from the colonies, Clovis maintained its last military power against the empire. With such advantages, we can even have the spare capacity to continue building railways and export arms to neighboring countries.”

“So whether it is investment immigration, opening a factory in Beluga Port or expanding raw material production, it is a very profitable project, and each one has a foreseeable high return.”

"Of course that bastard could see such an obvious thing, so he started planning early and successfully attracted investment." After the topic changed, Sophia's expression suddenly became complicated, and the right hand holding the knife began to exert slight force:

"But he was able to win over the Rune and Cecil families at the same time, which I never expected; that bastard has always been excellent at deceiving others' feelings and pretending to be loyal - of course his loyalty to me is absolutely sincere Yes, absolutely!”

Angelica, who pursed her lips tightly, brought the coffee to Sophia, carefully avoiding her sight, and at the same time, she buried all the complaints she wanted to say in her heart.

"With the financial support of the Luen and Cecil families, it has indeed become more difficult for me to tighten the reins on this guy." Sophia frowned slightly, her fair face a little ferocious:

"But it doesn't matter, because I like challenges - rather, it is because of the comparison that the bastard can understand who he should really be loyal to."

"The most important thing is that it won't be long before the development of the colony will encounter a bottleneck, because it lacks one of the most important things." Sophia raised the corner of her mouth and looked at the little maid who was trying her best to reduce her presence:

"Do you know what that is?"

"What?" Angelica, who was caught, held up the hem of her skirt and turned around gracefully, with a curious smile on her stiff face.

"That's investment." Sophia smiled meaningfully:

“More accurately, it provides risk guarantees for those investments and the ability to actually realize them.”

That's right, this is the only thing that Anson Bach, a small army officer, can't get no matter what.

He can win over wealthy investors like Luen or Cecil, he can mobilize the army to help him complete internal affairs construction that would otherwise require extremely high costs, and he can use coercion and inducement to keep Beluga Port in his hands... But he cannot attract More investors are voluntarily and proactively investing money in ports at the edge of the world.

Even if Anson Bach uses a series of means to increase the production of raw materials, the total market demand within a certain period of time will remain unchanged, and the currency will not immediately increase due to the increase in commodities.

The consequences of rashly increasing production will be accumulation of goods and substantial depreciation. Not only can we not become rich by increasing production, but the more ore dug out, the poorer Beluga Port will become!

To solve this problem, Anson, who was "fighting alone", had to invest his own money to buy all the increased production ore to stabilize the price. He expected the market to expand in the coming year and then made a big bet.

But this approach is actually a poison to quench thirst, because the result of underpricing is to give false confidence to the market, making mine owners mistakenly believe that they can guarantee a minimum amount of production; the correct choice is to take the opportunity to heat up the entire raw material market and attract more businessmen. Invest and participate in the entire trade, and buy the iron ore and coal that are continuously produced.

And this requires a force to come forward to provide these businessmen with market confidence and absolute risk protection, so that funds can be more smoothly connected between the old and new continents, and use a steady stream of old world commodities and funds to hedge against the increased production of raw materials in the new world. , Stabilize market prices.

"In other words, Beluga Port needs a bank, a bank that can provide sufficient credibility, be good at stimulating investment and stimulating trade, and make trade in the old and new worlds more convenient." Sophia pretended to be nonchalant:

"Through this investiture banquet, I have talked with several senior deacons of the Royal Bank. They also believe that with the development of the colony, opening a bank in a trade center like Beluga Port will help boost the kingdom's economy and local people. Development is a very beneficial thing.”

"But in an industry like banking, if you can't make a splash at the beginning, it's easy to give others the illusion of being 'unprofessional' or 'not confident enough,' so it's best to tie it to some big event - such as The opening of new shipping routes, the issuance of new currencies, new industrial policies..."

"...Last but not least, an important person with a certain weight must be the ribbon-cutting guest."

The corners of Sophia's mouth turned up, and she gently cut open the edge of the envelope with a knife: "So if I really can't find the opportunity, I plan to put the official opening time on my first tour of the colony as governor."

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!!!”

The overly frightened little maid screamed and stared at the smug girl with her big round eyes: "Miss Sophia, you...you, you, you...you are planning to go to the colony?!"

"Of course I have this plan - I am the colonial governor and I am patrolling the territory I am responsible for. Is there anything worth making a fuss about?"

Sophia put down the letter opener, smiled and said nonchalantly: "Don't worry, this is a last resort method. I don't want some bastard to mistakenly think how much I care about him."

"Even if I have to do this, I will find other excuses and reasons, such as accompanying the royal family members on a cruise; there will be fleets and royal guards to escort me, so there is no need to worry about safety issues."

That's right, this is Miss Sophia's style... Angelica pressed her bouncing chest and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Before this, of course we need to conduct a careful investigation to determine what kind of investment can best stimulate the economy of Beluga Port, or in other words, attract the attention of those investors in Clovis City."

With her tassel slightly raised, Sophia began to read the letter sent by the Beluga Harbor Council in a reserved manner: "I have sent an excellent clerk to Beluga Harbor to record the actual local situation in detail - after mastering these I won’t take action easily before receiving the information.”

Seeing the girl showing a familiar expression that she only showed when she was carefully calculating something, Angelica suddenly became curious about which lucky gentleman was so unlucky to be assigned this job by Miss Sophia. It's full of unfortunate jobs.

……………………

Inner city, Wangdu Central West Station.

Following the crowds of people, Draco Vertes walked towards the station with two suitcases in his hands. His muddy trouser legs and dusty coat made him look like a loach in a fish pond. , leaving countless "traces" while moving left and right among the crowd.

Thirty minutes later, the third-rate novelist who finally squeezed into the platform stopped, threw his suitcase on the ground with a bang, and took off his hat while panting, revealing a head of messy red hair that was extremely conspicuous in the crowd. :

"Well, can we just send it here?"

Out of breath, Draco turned his head and said to his companion behind him.

"I originally wanted to say that at least I should be put in the car, but..." Karin Jacques glanced at the suitcase on the ground distressedly, and curled his lips slightly helplessly:

"Looks like that's your limit...okay."

Draco finally took a breath and took out the cigarette case and matches from his coat pocket with trembling hands. Just as he was about to take one out and hold it in his mouth, he stopped in the face of the "suggestive" gaze from the other side.

"...These are hand-rolled cigarettes from Friedrichstrasse. They are very expensive."

"So what, I'm going to the frozen colony soon. Who knows what kind of tobacco is sold in the tavern there." Karin Jacques rolled his eyes:

“As a close friend—a close friend who rents a friend’s house without paying for it—shouldn’t you say goodbye before you say goodbye?”

"I remember I was there, and I helped you carry your luggage along the way. I even paid for the taxi to the station." Draco looked innocent:

"And I remember someone said he could rent the house to me without paying any rent, right?!"

"What you said is absolutely correct, but I regret it now." Karin Jacques stared directly at the obviously expensive cigarette box in his hand:

"Pass a hand-rolled cigarette from Friedrichstrasse and light it up - thank me, you can't find such a cheap rent even in the outer city!"

"Thank you so much..."

Draco had no choice but to light one with his own hands and stuff it into his mouth. Watching the other person puffing away the smoke and enjoying it very much, he put the cigarette case back into his pocket with bleeding heart.

"So how long does it take to get to Beluga Harbor this time?"

"I don't know, and to be honest, I don't want to know." Karin Jacques, who was biting a cigarette, looked depressed:

"When I think about meeting Anson Bach again, I have the urge to die at sea - even if I am captured by pirates and used as a hostage, it is ten thousand times better than this."

"At least you still have money to take." Draco comforted casually, and then noticed that the two of them had been standing on the platform for a long time:

"By the way, why are you still getting on the bus? Aren't you afraid of missing the stop?"

"No, we actually came half an hour early, and I was still waiting for someone."

"who?"

"My brother David is the illustrator who has become famous recently. He...ah, he's here!"

Before he finished speaking, Karin Jacques's eyes suddenly lit up and he quickly waved to the novelist's back.

Draco turned his head and looked around, and soon found a figure who was also raising his right hand and waving desperately, squeezing his way through the crowd.

He wears a black peaked cap, a neat and well-fitting jacket and shirt, which are completely unlike the styles that a civilian painter of this age can afford. From his body to his appearance, he is very similar to his "best friend" behind him, but he looks more Sunshine is also more immature.

Draco was about to get out of the way, but unexpectedly the other party walked towards him and stretched out his right hand before he could speak: "You are the famous detective novelist, Mr. Draco Wilters, right?"

"Uh... yes." Looking at the other party's burning eyes and the equally confused expression behind him, Draco could only force a smile:

"you know me?"

"I don't know him at all - I've never even heard of it!" David Jacques, with a sunny face, said with a straightforward smile:

"But I saw you and my brother chatting happily, so I can roughly guess."

Feeling the gaze behind him turning from confusion to ridicule, Draco, who had long been used to it, just chuckled:

"Excuse me, what can I do for you?"

"It's nothing, just someone entrusted me to give you a letter and a ticket - the owner of the letter is the Luen family, inviting you to go to Beluga Port to serve as the editor-in-chief of a new newspaper."

David Jacques said as he handed the letter in his arms to the novelist who was gradually losing his smile: "Oh, we are actually still in the same compartment of the same car!"

"……What?"