Althea massaged her forehead as she looked at the papers.

"Are you sure about this, your grace?" Jassinda asked.

"No." Althea replied. "But this is the best of our options. The only option really."

"Perhaps we should give it for free." Jassinda suggested. "The noble houses are unlikely to refuse it."

"And then what?" Althea asked. "The bastards will do this again next year, and the year after that. The county can handle a year of losses, but we can't make losses every year Jasinda. Not with our biggest source of income."

Jassinda sighed. "This will make us enemies, Countess. A lot of them. The nobles will blame us when things go wrong, and their subjects will believe them."

"I have a plan for that." Althea said. "Increase the amount of shops in the markets bordering the lands that are refusing food. And when disaster strikes, spread the news that we are selling food across the border. The nobles will be the one losing support then. If the entitled bastards want to play, we can play with them."

"What if there aren't any bordering lands?" Jassinda asked. "The entire Zerolian duchy, and the lands surrounding it have refused, Countess. What will we do?"

"Spread the news. Tell them that food and employment are available in Diery county. And that we are still willing to sell the food. There will be enough leftover for that anyway." Althea said. There was plenty of land for more farmers. And she was sure there was a need for other professions too.

"I am still not sure that will work as well as you think, Countess. The Zun Empire lies between us and the Enara Empire, they might try something. The pirate problem gets worse as nations across the continent fall. There are many ways that this expedition could fail." Jassinda said.

"And what would you have me do?" Althea asked. "I will ask the Garron family for increased protection. Send only military ships. Even asks the Enara Empire for escorts. But we have to buy the food. The county's economy depends on my family buying farmer's crops. Not selling them means that they will rot, and that would be bad. For both the Empire and the continent at large."

"Will the Enara Empire even take them? This would increase the trade by five times." Jassinda asked.

"I shall have to ask." she said, nodding to the Steward. The Steward sent a little mana into the orb, making the image flocker. A written hologram, like a text message, had been sent to the Enara Empire.

This only worked if there was someone ready on the other end to receive it, but Empress Enara happened to prefer such messages. A servant would collect and note down the message, and the Empress would see it in time.

Jassinda opened her mouth to talk, but then the orb flickered again, this time revealing a message.

The Enara Empire will take however much you can give. The waters are clear for now, the pirates have left for the west, as the fall of the Senset Kingdom has led to a significant amount of escaping nobles.

— Empress Enara

Escaping nobles meant ships that were filled with riches. A fatal attraction to pirates. Perhaps luck was on their side.

"The Empress just replied, they will take it." Althea smiled. "And the pirates have left to feast on the remnants of the Senset Kingdom."

Jassinda was quiet. "The Senset kingdom fell?" The lady’s voice had a sad, worrying tone to it that Althea did not like.

Althea nodded in answer, thinking about what information she had. An older kingdom that had survived the burning, it was one of the more powerful kingdoms on the continent. There were supposedly seventeen Adept stage mages in the kingdom in total. Twice as strong as the county.

"That is…unexpected." Jassinda continued, the worry in her voice increasing.

"Is something the matter, Lady Jassinda?" Althea asked.

"That is the fifth kingdom to fall since the war started, Countess. And one that was expected to get through this war unscathed. If this war grows any larger, then the Solerian Empire may be pulled into it. And that would be a mess indeed." Jassinda replied.

A war. The book did mention the war happening, but it had remained in the background till nearly the end of the book. The Empire's location and robust naval power made it a hard opponent in any war that wasn't against the Zun Empire. Even the Zun Empire only had one pass that connected the two Empires. Not a lot of space to stage an invasion from.

But the Empire was also a prime attraction now. In a war that started because of food, the Diery county was sure to come under attack eventually. The only thing she could wish for was that she would have enough time to build up the county's power.

That further cemented her decision to let Emilia in, the female lead would probably be a powerful ally to have. And if she was anything like the usual female leads, she would bring others in too.

"Please keep me in the loop about these things as you learn of them. I will attempt to gather knowledge too. Perhaps it would be prudent to be more careful with how we conduct our sale of food. The war must not come to us." she answered, signalling the Steward to cut off the orb.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

At this stage she could technically start the orb, but it would take too much of her mana to power it even for a few minutes.

"Ms. Harkins is waiting outside, Countess." the Steward said.

Althea nodded, calling on the wind to open the door.

"Please, come in."

A petite brunette dressed in rags startled as she looked into the office. Althea's mana activated, her [Acceptor] skill activating as it told her that the person in front of her was talented. Mana swirled around the girl, gentle and caressing, almost like it thought the girl was a treasure.

Emilia got up in a hurry, bowing as she greeted. "I greet her ladyship, the Countess Guarding Diery."

An incorrect greeting. Althea hadn't heard one of those in a while. The girl's dress swished as she walked towards the office, her coarse makeshift cloths looking out of place in the opulent waiting room. The dress wasn't torn, but its material was visibly coarse, and looked like a blanket had been sewed into a dress. Perhaps that was exactly what had happened. The tactic was common enough among the common people.

"Please sit, this is not a formal court. There is no need to observe so many formalities." Althea ordered.

Emilia gingerly sat herself down, silent as she looked at Althea with fear and confusion.

"I am told that your mother has requested citizenship for you, and that you be allowed to join the college." Althea began.

"Yes…your ladyship." Emilia said hesitantly.

"The correct form of address would be your grace. Even if the Countess were of lower rank, as a prospective citizen of the county, you would refer to her grace as 'my lady'." the Steward interrupted.

Emilia startled in fear as Althea maintained a slight smile on her face.

"There is no need to be afraid, Emilia." Althea turned the Steward. "Ms Harkins is a commoner and has limited understanding of noble society and customs. I am sure she meant no insult."

The Steward just stayed silent.

"Of course not, your grace." Emilia replied, looking sincere. Perhaps she wasn't a schemer. That was a common enough theme with female leads, innocent girls that broke schemes with the power of truth.

The Emilia described in the book was intelligent, but not much of a schemer. That was supposedly what attracted Nate to her. Perhaps if he had looked more carefully, he would have noticed another unschemming person. The original Althea.

"Now, I cannot allow you to join the college at this moment. The college is only for adults. A minor cannot break through to Apprentice or participate in most of the college activities." Althea said.

"Oh…" Emilia said, looking visibly disappointed. "Is the college…dangerous?"

"Not particularly, but there is a certain level of danger involved with pursuing cultivation. That only gets worse the higher you go." Althea answered nonchalantly.

"The Countess faced a Journeyman stage Beast illusion that had a grudge against her family for centuries." the Steward interrupted. "And she was just in the sixth stage of Apprentice then. If safety is what you want, then the path of cultivation may not be for you."

"The world is dangerous." Althea agreed. "There are many things out there that will kill you. As a mage, it is your responsibility to fight against them and protect commoners from such attacks."

"I see." Emilia answered, shifting uncomfortably.

"Do you think you can do that?" Althea asked.

"I-um, yes." Emilia hesitated. "I can do that. There are still two years, right?"

"Yes, there are." Althea said, looking at the person in front of her carefully. "But if you do want to join the college, I would suggest preparing. There are a number of places where you can learn swordsmanship and get physical and magical training to prepare you for your future. I can sponsor you for quite a few."

Althea took a piece of paper out of a large stack beside her. "This is a certificate of confirmation. I can confirm that you are qualified to attend the college once you are of age. The certificate will also serve as proof of citizenship until the official process is completed."

Mana swirled around the Diery seal as she stamped onto the paper. The Countess' personal seal had a special magic that other ones didn't. So she was the only one that could issue these certificates, making them a very valuable commodity that could guarantee that at least some of the county's talented children stayed here.

The county still lacked opportunities, and the college was hardly worth mentioning in front of the other academies in the Empire. That had to change, but well.she was kind of busy. And running a college was a full time job.

Perhaps she should hire someone.

"Oh, thank you, your grace." Emilia stood up, bowing and then walking away. Althea acted like she wasn't paying her any more attention, focusing instead on the huge pile of work that she still had to do. There was a huge amount of petitions, ideas from various branches and citizens, things that someone somewhere thought deserved the Countess' attention.

Oh no, she needed a staff, didn't she? And a Dean for the college. And teachers. And stuff for them to do. Where would she get those? Althea turned to the one person that had any chance of knowing what to do.

"Steward Ven, do you know any way to recruit teachers for the college? And a staff to handle." Althea gestured at the stack. "This."

The Steward looked at the stack. "The Emperor has an entire department to deal with that, Countess. There can be quite a few good ideas from it."

"But most are impractical or have already been considered." Althea finished. "I know. Do you think I should start a department of my own? Hire people to screen what reaches my desk?"

"Perhaps just one would do, Countess. I seem to recall that your maid is quite capable." the Steward said. "And extraordinarily loyal."

Mira? That could work. Mira already knew what was going around the county, and could be trusted with confidential information about their plans. That would be necessary if she were to judge the ideas.

"What about the teachers?" Althea asked.

The Steward looked thoughtful. "I will reach out to a few of my old contacts. Perhaps some of them will be willing to take up positions here. There are also teachers losing their positions in the continent due to the war. I am sure a few of them ended up in the Empire. I shall see if I can recruit them."

Althea smiled. "Thank you, Steward Ven. That is a great relief."

The Steward was much better suited for this than her. The only thing she could think of was putting up adverts or asking the Empress. But the Steward had contacts. And the teachers that became unemployed due to the war. That was genius. Now they just needed a Dean.

Wait. A Dean. Hmm, weren't most Deans not-very-secretly powerful people in books like this? And not a few of them were the nation's protectors and advisors to the ruler? Just strict enough to run the academy, but empathetic enough that they would care for the students and their welfare. Didn't the Steward meet the criteria?

Well, she didn't know if he was interested, but that could be fixed with a question. Yes, that was an excellent idea.

"Steward Ven," Althea began. "Would you be willing to be the Dean of the college?