Mordek looked at the documents that were laid on the table with a worried gaze.
Even the military-obsessed Mordek who is unfamiliar with government affairs understands this country's situation.
It was on the brink of destruction. Nevan was running low on food sufficiency, there was a recession in income.
If these problems are not enough there is an influx of refugees from the other kingdoms, and then there is pressure from the Kinley for the annual money.
These all were causes for concern that Alex had to deal with new. In all likelihood, even if the previous King's reign continued it'll only last several more years. As might be expected from a person who is quite good at management and learnt various things from the modern world, he could see it.
"So, we have the due tax that we have to give to Kinley."
"Can I ask why the hell have you not given them tax? Do you think of them as pushovers?" Alex spoke with an angry voice.
All the documents were kept in the Dorda vault. If Alex knew about it before, he would have skinned those noble.
Bassie saw Alex's anger and said"They thought that since you are the youngest Prince of Kinley, they assumed that we don't have to pay the tax and can keep the money with us."
"Who the hell was that bastard?" Alex grunted in anger.
"Dorda!" Bassie replied in a monotonous tone.
Alex rubbed his forehead."Not only do we have to raise funds for reform. Now, we have to even pay the tax."
"Two years of tax is quite vexing for our current condition."
"Wait, isn't Wright also considered a part of Nevan. So do we have to give their tax also?" Alex asked.
"No, they have already paid their tax," Bassie spoke.
Alex sighed as he looked at the amount.
"Though we can pay the tax with the money we got from looting...I mean the money that the noble offered out of their kindness. We would go back to the pathetic state again." Alex spoke.
As he spoke, suddenly an idea struck his mind: "Why don't we get a loan from a wealthy merchant."
"I mean, I remembered my wife is the daughter of the wealthiest merchant," Alex said.
"I don't think it is a good idea." Both Mordek and Bassie spoke at the same time.
"Your Highness, you know better than us how your relationship with your wife is? Moreover, Lockharts are proud individuals. I am sure they hold a grudge against you and may try to act against you. Though they will not cross the line." Bassie advised.
"Since, it came to this. I think we have to delay the matter." Alex spoke.
"Bassie, I wanted to write a letter to Kinley, to delay the paying of tax by six months. At a minimum, ask them for two months."
"In the meanwhile, we have to raise our funds along with the economy," Alex spoke.
"By the way, tell me what we have in Nevan, mainly something that others don't have."
"Wait! I wanted to talk about it. Do we have a mana crystal mine or gold mine or any other?" Alex asked.
Bassie shook his head and said"We don't have a crystal mine or gold mine. Though we have three mines of iron ore."
Alex, who listened carefully, was startled and asked"What the hell! We have an iron mine so why don't we have good weapons and material."
Mordek and Bassie looked at each other.
"Your Highness. There is a problem with the iron ore. We can hardly mine enough material from it." Bassie spoke.
"You mean to say our product is too less," Alex spoke and laid back on the chair.
The world Alex is living in isn't a modern world where everything is mechanised. So, people have to depend on manual labour to achieve the task.
Alex was sure that if he sent many squire rank warriors to mine, that would alleviate the production by many margins.
But sending soldiers to mining is not optimal.
Moreover, they already had fewer soldiers, to begin with.
"Moreover most of the iron is kept by the noble houses whose territory had the mines and we have received a report that there is a problem with the third mine," Bassie spoke.
Alex nodded and decided to see what was the problem later.
"Don't we have a mage," Alex asked only to get a big no.
"You are talking about mages. We don't even have proper archers or good commanders who can lead a battlefront. Our army is full of fiddleheads who only know to do what they are ordered.''Mordek spoke with a sarcastic tone carrying a hint of sadness.
" So, you are saying, we have to restructure our whole armies, "Alex spoke.
"Uncle Mordek.I am wondering about something. As far as we remember, we have only two Master rank warriors. One is you and another is the Count Hamilton Steelfield from the Steelfield household who is charged with Western Pass."Alex asked.
" So, knowing the situation, It shouldn't be possible for Nevan to produce a Master rank. So how did you both make it this far?"
Although Master rank isn't worth mentioning in Alex's eyes. In a small kingdom like Nevan which was on the verge of destruction producing a master, rank is unbelievable.
Taking a look, Riya is in the Epic rank only one realm above Mordek.
She is hailed as a genius because she had just reached 19 and Alex was sure that within a year or two she would reach Transcendent rank.
Christina reached Transcendent rank at the age of 22 and Riya would reach even quicker than her.
Mordek sighed at Alex's question and said"That's because I and Steelfield showed a lot of prospects to the younger generation and your adoptive parents saw potential in us and put all their resources on both of us and even sent Kinley to become a knight but we failed."
Alex could hear a hint of sadness in Mordek's words. Alex knew Mordek may look fine but this might become a deep regret of his and might have become a knot in his heart that needs to be untied.
When an individual achieved Epic rank under the age of 25, they can be called Knights which was a title of elite soldiers.
"Uncle Mordek, you don't have to regret it."
"You can still become a Knight."
"Of our Nevan and trained future knight."
"How is the training going on with those children we had picked," Alex asked.
"They are improving rapidly and within a year or two, they are soon going to be a force to reckon with."
