Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 81: Utility

Chapter 81: Utility

"Most of Marquess Gulliver’s knights were stationed in Prudencia Palace, at the borders, or in his fief and didn’t know what was happening throughout Prudencia. They may have had suspicions about it but they were not part of it. He had controlled the information they could get so his knights would remain loyal to him. The knights who were involved would, of course, be punished according to the laws of the Empire," Ferdinand explained and Arabella nodded.

It was a relief that most of the knights were not part of it. Only a select few who were closest to Gulliver.

’Still, there are too many mercenaries. He must have hired them to do all the dirty work for him so he could just shirk the blame and come clean in case they get caught.’

Executing all those people would indeed be too much even for Ferdinand. He already had a reputation as a violent person and executing that many people would make it worse.

Knowing that those mercenaries were beating up common people, with her way of thinking from her past self as a villainous Empress, Arabella couldn’t avoid thinking she wanted them killed.

But that wasn’t what they need. The anger of the people in Prudencia might be temporarily doused but they would continue to suffer the after-effects of what Gulliver had done.

They still had to get out of the financial crisis and food shortage they were suffering from.

She recalled the mercenaries who went as collectors in Rowell County. They had buff and sturdy bodies. What if they made use of the strength of those people in something useful instead?

She could recall that in other kingdoms, they allowed prisoners to do service to lessen the year of their time in jail.

She knew from her past life that mercenaries differ so much from knights.

Mercenaries usually do not have a sense of loyalty to their master or rather client, but to the rewards they could reap from him.

If they have a sense of loyalty, it would be to whichever organization they belonged to if they had one. They were only with Gulliver for money. They would be more loyal to the leaders in their own group.

If the mercenaries were loyal to Gulliver, it meant he was the one who gathered and trained them himself or he gave them quite the promise.

Dimo had explained these to her in the past as he oriented her on which people to hire.

She looked up into Ferdinand’s eyes. She wanted to suggest something, but should she? She hasn’t even officially begun doing her work as Empress.

Would she be too meddlesome if she also suggested something about the punishment of the mercenaries?

"What is it?"

She flinched when Ferdinand caught her gaze.

[She clearly wants to say something. Why is she holding back? She’s still that scared of me even after everything I said earlier?]

"Speak freely. I want to hear your thoughts."

"Uhm, I just recalled that in other kingdoms, they have prisoners to provide manpower for them. Instead of executing the mercenaries, maybe they can be used as manpower instead. One of the areas in Prudencia, the County of Rowell needs to have a new irrigation system installed to prevent consecutive flooding every time heavy rains fall continuously. Maybe the mercenaries can be diverted as workers there since they have strong bodies."

She lost confidence toward the end but Ferdinand listened to her attentively.

"I see. That’s a good suggestion," Ferdinand said and patted her head.

". . ." Arabella blushed. She didn’t know how to respond. This was the first time he ever first praised her after she suggested something.

He actually listened to her so attentively and even thought it was a good idea.

"They can provide services instead of just consuming resources in prison or getting executed. Raymond did say the County of Rowell and other parts of Prudencia needed a lot of attention. Irrigation systems, repairs, new roads and pavements, new bridges, and maintenance of the existing ones. The mercenaries could be distributed accordingly."

[Right. How could I forget? I think they also do this in Estrella. Those who commit crimes and the like were made to do missions until they can be free.]

"Yes. Prudencia seems to be quite in a slump. There were few knights left in the countryside too. Oh, and if the mercenaries try to harm the people, it was then that maybe, they can be executed."

"Hm, the lack of knights would be a problem. I’ll have to send some of my knights to Prudencia."

"Would that be alright?"

She knew Ferdinand had a lot of knights but the Empire also had a lot of uses for them. And would they be fine with getting stationed in Prudencia?

"Yes, a lot of the knights are needing some excursion. The mercenaries may indeed pose a threat to the people but I could just send some of my knights to watch over them. There are a lot of knights getting bored with the comfort here in Riva, after all."

’Right. One of the reasons the knights love Ferdinand was the thrill of battle. There were even rumors that the knights compete heavily to climb the ranks just to be able to watch Ferdinand in battle or witness how he fights.’

[And I can have one elf sent per location to ensure no one tries to escape or harm the civilians.]

’He has a lot of elves under him?!’

Arabella was thrilled at the thought. She wanted to meet them in person someday.

[Having some of our knights deployed in Prudencia would also make it easier to gather them in case things get heated with Crux. Ah, I can also deploy a lot of knights at the borders with Crux to reinforce Prudencia knights.]

That’s right. Guarding the prisoners could also be used as a guise to deploy a lot of knights in Prudencia. The nobles might be alerted but guarding the mercenaries was a valid reason.

The presence of a lot of Valeria’s knights in Riva would also show Crux how serious Ferdinand was with his threat of war if they do not return the people they bought as slaves.

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