Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 66: Tribute

Chapter 66: Tribute

To Arabella, it simply didn’t feel right for all the children to be working. They should be able to enjoy their childhood. They should still be playing and learning as much as they could.

Working should have been for the adults.

As the Empress of Valeria, what could she do for these children? She wanted to help them somehow.

Would Gulliver getting arrested solve this?

The problem with slavery perhaps. But not the problem of food supply.

’Was there no nearby territory with excess produce that Prudencia could import from?’

If Prudencia had problems with food shortage, couldn’t it have been solved by importing food?

Or was the financial problem so bad they could not even afford to import?

Arabella looked around the market.

Her head instantly ached as thoughts from so many people flooded her. It was hard to focus as so many random thoughts filled her mind. It made her truly dizzy and nauseous but she did her best to pretend to be fine.

It was too heavy to process the thoughts of all the people there so she focused on the thoughts of Raymond, Alwin, and Rendell. They were much more observant than she ever was anyway. They knew the right people to listen to.

The three listened in on the people’s conversations and she focused on the people whom they learned something useful from. This way, she was still able to gather information despite the mess and loud noise in her head and the dizziness it brought.

They walked along the market pretending to look for something to buy. And they heard the people lamenting the harvest was not good this year and the previous year so the prices of agricultural produce were so high.

The people also whispered in hushed tones that the taxes were too high, especially for those who had wider agricultural lands.

Due to the hefty taxes, in the end, some lords cannot afford it and gave up on having their arable lands farmed. Thus, considerably lessening the produce. This triggered a shortage of supply and caused the prices to increase.

This was the exact opposite in Lobelius. The tax for arable land was low in Lobelius so the fertile lands of their kingdom were maximized and the cost of agricultural produce was not too high locally.

Instead, they earn a lot from exporting their produce to other kingdoms.

Grains, nuts, and root crops; and tea flowers, leaves, or bark which had longer shelf life were among the most profitable agricultural produce for Lobelius. They exported it to Lahar, Hazania, Medeus, and other nearby territories.

Meanwhile, flowers, fruits, and vegetables were usually traded by their territories sharing borders with other kingdoms due to the shorter shelf life.

Looking at the Prudencia capital from the mountain earlier, she could tell it also had a lot of arable lands.

However, there were wide portions of arable land which could have been used for planting but were clearly left unattended instead. It became grasslands.

She surmised these were probably what the people mentioned as the lands which the nobles abandoned due to the hefty taxes.

Odette was having problems with financial matters, but if those unattended lands were cultivated and managed well, they wouldn’t have problems with money. The problem with the price of food would be greatly lessened as well. Odette and her siblings wouldn’t have to earn money just to help their people either.

But even if the taxes were high and the harvest wasn’t good the previous year, why would Odette be so desperate to earn money instead of helping with the work in Prudencia Palace?

The palace looked like they were doing fine. Or was it just a façade?

Was Prudencia’s treasury already depleted?

Arabella gazed at the people’s faces and they didn’t look happy. They were clearly pressured to work. And their thoughts were filled with having to pay taxes and tribute to avoid any problems.

Wait.

’Tribute?’

She knew that every conquered territory in Valeria had to pay tributes. But from what she knew, the tribute was a percentage of the overall tax paid by the people.

It was not something for the normal people to worry about but the rulers.

The people should just pay their taxes properly, but they shouldn’t worry about the tribute.

Because the tribute would be deducted from the gathered taxes. It wouldn’t be an amount Prudencia cannot afford because it was a percentage.

If the taxes collected were lower, the tribute to be given to the Empire would also be lower as well.

But there was no set amount for the tribute so the people didn’t have to worry about paying a certain amount for it.

And yet, the thought of the people in the plaza was filled with paying for the tribute.

She tried listening in more but her head ached too much due to the number of people.

She tripped on her clothes and almost fell but Raymond and Alwin both steadied her.

[Her Majesty is pale. She must still be feeling bad from earlier.]

[Is she not used to crowds? She seemed fine when we were in less crowded places.]

The two led her to an alley with no people and Alwin teleported them back to the mountain.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" Raymond guided her to sit on a chair Alwin once again made.

"There were just too many people. I’ll be fine in a bit."

Alwin examined her and gave her some water.

"Shall we go back to the palace?" he inquired and Arabella instantly sat up straight.

"No! We have to visit other parts of Prudencia as well."

[She must be worried because of the situation here.]

"We can do so tomorrow, Your Majesty. Please don’t force yourself," Raymond tried to dissuade her but she didn’t budge.

She has to learn more about the tribute the people were thinking about. She also had to see what other parts of Prudencia were like.

"We will go to another territory tomorrow. I would start working soon so I want to be done with my visits before that," she emphasized. She also used this reason to Ferdinand so it should be fine.