"Come in," she sighed and put away the papers; she had to find some way to make money or cut expenses. Borrowing money was out of the question, as Lyria had prohibited it to preserve fiscal space for wars; after all, if they borrowed money in times of peace, they wouldn't be able to borrow as much money in times of war.
The Windwalker family used the coin minted by the Bloodstone Kingdom, so they couldn't just print their way out of a fiscal crisis; there have been many cases in the past where a noble family went bankrupt and was forced to sell off its castles to service its debts.
Even though nobles were extremely privileged, they were still under the rule of Bloodstone country; the laws regarding debt and bankruptcy were set nationally, and individual noble families didn't have the authority to pass laws immunizing themselves from having to repay their debts.
The Bloodstone country was unequal in many ways; however, when it came to debt, everyone was equal; even nobles would have to pay their debts to commoners; if they tried to bully their way out of their debts, the lenders could sue them in the Bloodstone courts; once they obtain a Bloodstone court order, all nobles would be obligated to comply; an order from a Bloodstone court is the same as an order from the king, not complying is the same as treason.
In the end, power is everything. The king is a legendary warrior, the only one in the entire country. In addition, the Bloodstone family has the biggest army, the highest population, and the strongest financial power. Other nobles certainly have power, but none of them dare provoke the Bloodstone family.
...
The door opened, and a person with fiery red hair, pale skin, vivid green eyes, and a clear, delicate face entered; it was Edric.
Seeing Edric, Aelria smiled; her relationship with her little brother was excellent, which surprised many people. After all, her brother turned out talented, which Aelria was not, so people expected her to be envious, but she wasn't; she loved Edric from the beginning because she sympathized with him. Both had the same terrible mother who beat her children; in fact, because Edric was talented, Lyria put so much pressure on him and beat him so many times that Aelria gradually became quite glad she didn't have knight talent.
"Sis, is the secret library's key with you?" Edric asked.
Even though Aelria was called a 'treasurer', her responsibilities were far broader. She could be said to be a kind of prime minister, basically acting as the overall civilian leader of the entire territory. She decided the budget and appointed the directors of civilian departments, local courts, inspectors, etc. Her responsibilities weren't this broad from the start; gradually, as Lyria saw her competence, she delegated more and more power until Aelria became the de facto prime minister.
It can be said that besides the military, she had power over every other aspect of the territory.
"Secret Library? Yeah, but why?" Aelria was confused; the 'secret library' only had a few ancient books about knight and mage training, most of which Edric had already read.
"I just want to take another look," Edric said.
"Okay, here, take it," Aelria said, taking the key out from the drawer and giving it to Edric; after all, Edric was the heir of the territory, so he was authorized to access the secret library.
"Thanks!" Edric smiled. Seeing his sister's depressed face, he asked, "Budget issue again?" He was familiar with her and knew that when she was upset, it would most likely be a budgetary issue.
Aelria sighed and said, "I think I have to cut the healthcare budget, but I can't bring myself to do it; people will suffer! Hey, Edric, can you donate a few thousand silver? It would all go toward healthcare spending, alleviating the suffering of many people!"
Even though Aelria cannot borrow money, she can ask for donations.
Edric frowned. He was indeed wealthy, as Lyria gave him tens of thousands of silver annually, but he needed his money for his own expenses. Now, with so many children and mistresses, his costs would surely go up.
He thought, "Now that I think about it, money is not really important to me! I would soon become a Legendary Knight and earn as much money as I want; still, why should I pay for the healthcare?"
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Edric shook his head and said, "Sorry, sis, but I don't think spending my money on government expenses is appropriate."
Aelria was disappointed. Even though she knew Edric was not a generous philanthropist, she still expected him to help out a bit.
Seeing Aelria's disappointed expression, Edric said, "But I may be able to help out in another way; I can't tell you the details for now. Wait a few days, and let me share my idea with Mom." He planned to ask his mother's opinion on whether it was safe for him to use the Heal spell on the people; his primary reason was not to do a good deed but to train his spellcasting ability.
Lyria knows the kingdom's situation much better; if she thinks it's safe, that means it's safe.
Hearing this, Aelria nodded; she didn't know what Edric was thinking about, but anything helpful was welcome.
...
Edric opened the secret library and stepped in, familiar with the place.
He lit a single candle. The library remained dark, but he could see everything; one candle provided enough light for him to read the books without any issue.
"Let's start from here," Edric picked one book, opened it, and started reading; it was titled "Elements: Basics." The book was related to magic, but only loosely, as knights also study and use elements.
Edric had long read these books; there was nothing new; but now, with his mental capacity much enhanced, he might have new insights after rereading them.
"What one understands from reading a deep and complicated book depends on one's capacity," he thought.
"There are five main elements: Heat, Liquid, Gas, Solid, and Light; there are also many secondary elements, such as Lava, Stone, Metal, etc.," Edric recalled; he already knew these.
"There are no independent elements such as cold and dark; rather, cold and dark appear naturally in the absence of Heat and Light; it can be said that Cold and Heat, and Dark and Light are different sides of the same coin."
"Secondary elements are reliant on primary elements; for example, the Stone element appears in environments with the right combination of Solid and Heat, Metal elements are also a combination of Solid and Heat, while Lava is a combination of Solid, Heat, and Light," Edric thought.
"The difficulty of the topic of element study is exactly this: the combinations of primary elements that form secondary elements are exact; only veteran mages can skillfully combine the right amounts of primary elements to form secondary elements," Edric closed the book; it was not a thick book and didn't have much in it; it was very basic and surface knowledge of elements.
"My memory is amazing! I can remember the formulas of the Stone, Lava, and other secondary elements after seeing them once," Edric said. He was satisfied, but he planned on testing them later. Knowing the formula doesn't mean one could make them; it takes a lot of training and talent, which Edric doesn't have much of.
Elements are not necessary for casting spells; one can cast spells of any element with simple mana. However, elements can be used to enhance the power of spells and reduce the mana expenditure of spells, which is why they are popular among mages. For mages, anything that can reduce mana cost is worth a lot.
Elements can be stored in elemental crystals and effectively and quickly used in battles when casting spells. Edric's talent was Average, and his expenditure for every spell was huge; elements were useful for reducing his mana usage.
"Element crystals are very expensive; I hope Mom can help me at least buy a few!" Edric hoped. He knew best how rich his mom was. She had tens of millions of silver in a secret treasury. He also had a few hundred thousand silver coins but preferred not to use them.
"Elements are useful for mages, but also for knights; after breaking through to the Silver Knight level, one can use elements to enhance one's attack strength; element crystals are rare but definitely available for purchase; Mom should have a few for her use," Edric thought; mage equipment can be very rare and hard to find, but fortunately, element crystals are expensive, but they can be found because knights also use them.
Edric moved on to the next book; with his extraordinary mental powers, he planned on rereading every single book.
The book was titled "Application of Element Crystals"; it was an old book with a silver cover; it was useless for knights below Silver Rank, so Edric browsed through it before; after all, the original Edric's mental capacity was not much above normal, and with his lazy personality, reading a boring book that couldn't even help him was torture; no matter how much his mom beat him, he simply refused to read these books more than browsing through them; but now, with his mental powers, and the understanding he would soon become a Silver Knight, he decided to read it.
...
Edric read it for half an hour and committed it to his memory. It was interesting, but the information inside only applied to Silver Knights. Very little was written about the details of the elements because the book's author assumed the reader would purchase the ready-made crystals. Edric was still satisfied, as he would soon become a Silver Knight.
Moving on, Edric opened the next book, "Swords: How to Detect Good from Bad." It was basically a book about the grades of swords and how to distinguish them.
Weapons have nine ranks: Average, Silver, Golden, and Legendary. The book didn't have information on realms above Legendary; in fact, its data regarding Legendary items was only conjecture and guesswork, let alone higher-level weapons.
Legendary items are impossible to purchase; they are only possessed by the Bloodstone family and the king himself.
Edric continued reading books for another few hours, then left, intending to return tomorrow.