“Why have you come here anyway? Are you looking to finish what you started finally?” Bernice demanded.

I cleared my throat awkwardly. “The reason I am here is that we’re under attack from Dioshin.”

“We?”

“Um… me… Chalm… King Roth has taken an interest in invading me for various reasons. I’ve come here to strong-arm whoever is on the throne to see if I could raise some soldiers.”

I decided to keep my reasoning vague. I didn’t remember if Bernice knew about the spring, but since she was no longer my slave, I didn’t want to bring up such private things.

“Strong-arm?” She frowned.

“I’m an Earl now, and even Count Reign would have to bow to me, let alone a Viscount.” I declared. “I’m not asking. Alerith will become part of my territory, and the lord in charge of it will be under my banner.”

“You’re still going to bully me?”

“Prince Edward calls it politics,” I responded, making a face. “If it makes you feel better, we can call this an alliance. I’m happy leaving you in charge of Alerith. However, we’ll bring down the travel restrictions, and you’ll be officially appointed as the lord of Alerith under me. After that, you’ll function as one of my territories, paying taxes to Chalm and more pertinent to the moment, help me recruit soldiers to defend the west.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Yeah… about that tax part…” Bernice looked away.

“What is it?”

“We’re broke.”

“What?”

“I-it’s not my fault! You were the one who took out the new dungeon that was helping finance this city. Then, the Demon Lord Aberis was busy collecting financing his army that got wiped out. The people were being taxed into starvation, so I refunded the taxes across the board! However, I left the travel restrictions in place… so we still don’t have any food and all trade has stopped…” Bernice was pushing her fingers together. “In short… the treasure room is empty!”

I wanted to groan. It was expensive building a civilization. Even Chalm still hadn’t reached a point where it was producing profits. Chalm had been a constant money-suck since I had founded the place. The only reason it was still standing was that I happened to have made money faster than I lost it. Plus, when I was gone for a while, the dungeon sort of took over and reduced costs temporarily to zero. Once it had started up again, so was the need for money. A palace didn’t just build itself, after all. Still, having to support both Chalm and Alerith financially was even going to drag on my income potential. The only city that was self-sufficient was Deeksville!

“Alysia… you’re a princess… how do you afford such things?”

“Huh? Me? I may be a princess, but I never ran anything. I spend my time exploring and fighting in dungeons!” She responded defensively. “If you want someone who knows how to manage money, you should speak to Eliana.”

I sighed, deciding to put this issue behind me for the moment. It’d have to wait until after Dioshin. Wasn’t a good way to raise money through war? Once the blacksmiths were set up, we should be able to start selling weapons and armor and making a lot of money. At least, that’s what I thought.

“Alright, let’s do this!”

Bernice blinked. “Do what?”

“Make a budget!”