The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

I sat under the oak tree, lost in thoughts about the future. Loose pages and copies of various reports were scattered around me as I busied myself with being depressed. This time, though, the reason wasn’t the Ruinous Powers or their Hero, but something far more mundane. Arcadia was an enormous country with a laughably small population. There was barely enough manpower to produce sufficient food and consumer goods, let alone power to maintain the war effort. Pushing any further would risk the economy collapsing.

The people weren’t used to the relentless pace of my modern-world expectations. They had no machines or production lines to streamline construction or computers to speed up development and project planning. Over time, they were going to burn out, and no amount of magic could prevent that crisis. I needed to lessen the burden I’d placed on them before they reached their breaking point. The only logical step was to pause some of the large-scale projects.

Realistically, I could reduce the number of warships being built. Right now, thousands of people are working on ships for the Royal Navy just to have them, and soon, I’d have more ships than crews to operate them. I could also free up the workforce, which was producing vast quantities of military supplies. Switching the economy from wartime production to something more sustainable crossed my mind, but beyond that, there wasn’t much I could change. The railroad network was essential and needed to be completed as soon as possible, so I couldn’t divert resources from that project. Yet, the wartime efforts and production weren’t my most pressing problems.

The last census was as devastating as it was depressing. Aderon was a harsh place to live. The wilderness, ruled by monsters, was no place to raise children. The cities, overcrowded and often lacking basic hygiene, were dens for deadly diseases. Prolonged dry spells had led to droughts, which had caused widespread famine, not just in the lands that once belonged to Cridia but in every neighbouring country. To make matters worse, harsh winters cut off both small and large settlements, leading to an alarmingly high mortality rate. When the snow finally thawed, the water wasn’t enough to properly irrigate the land, leading to uncontrolled deluges, which then resulted in uncontrolled flooding and even more devastating droughts. And that’s not even considering the constant wars and rampant slavery.

It was so bad that the people who ended up in Arcadia saw themselves as lucky survivors. In truth, it was an apt description. Fewer than ten million people lived in a country spanning nearly twenty million square kilometers. It was like sprinkling the population of London or Paris across an area the size of Canada and the United States combined.

I stared helplessly at the unforgiving statistics and let out a heavy sigh. The demographic analysis of Arcadia left no illusion of the difficulties we would face, not just in the future but here and now. The legacy of destruction had left me with a society where nearly seventy percent of the population was female. Of the remaining thirty percent male, only ten percent were between the ages of fifteen and fifty. Even worse, children made up just six percent of the male population.

Looking at the hard numbers before me, I no longer felt awkward about polygamy. In fact, it was probably the only reason people had managed to survive in Aderon at all. I could only imagine what was happening on other continents, but that wasn’t my immediate concern. The Ruinous Powers couldn’t enter this world as long as the Leylines were working, so fortifying Arcadia would be key to protecting the world, at least in the foreseeable future.

"Hestia?" I asked, my voice uncertain as I held up the report on newborn children. "Are these statistics accurate?"

"As much as possible..." She shrugged, taking a moment to glance at the papers in my hand.

"The birthrate is alarmingly low..." I muttered, dropping the report with a heavy sigh.

"Well... that might eventually resolve itself," she replied, her tone shifting slightly.

I rubbed my eyelids, sensing bad news on the horizon. "Why do I not like the way you ended that sentence?" I groaned and, after a brief moment, decided to rub my entire face, bracing for whatever was coming.

"Among the prayers I hear from the people, there’s one thing that comes up quite often. They're overworked..."

"You have no idea how awkward it is to hear that part about the prayers..." I sighed.

"And what about the overworked part?" She smiled, clearly amused.

"I give up!" I threw my arms in the air in frustration. "Fine, I'll order a reduction in warship production and scale back wartime supply efforts, but besides that, what else can I do?"

"Hmmm... Wait?" she suggested, almost playfully.

"Maybe a few moments before that?"

"I'm trying to be serious..." I groaned.

"Maybe you don't have to reinvent the wheel? I'm sure that your previous world had some ready solutions to encourage people to have more children." She laughed, clearly enjoying herself at my expense.

"How would that... Wait." I raised my finger and quickly dived into the pile of reports, flipping through the pages until I confirmed some things. "Son of a..."

"Huh?" She tilted her head curiously. "Anything interesting?"

"In fact, yes." I ruffled the hair on the back of my head. "We will extend state-provided child care for the youngest children. I think I have some materials in the library..."

She was slightly taken aback by my idea. "Excuse me, what?"

"Look, having children is a wonderful experience that is extremely exhausting. So, somewhere in there..." I made a wide gesture towards the space. "People came up with the idea of nurseries and kindergartens. The concept is simple: you leave your child with, hopefully, competent caretakers, which gives you time for other things—work, house chores, or even just a moment to rest. Meanwhile, your child gets to play in a safe environment and starts preparing for school."

"If you say so..." She nodded with a smile.

"We just have to try it. According to this..." I waved the sheet of paper that had seen better days. "It should work."

"Where are you going to find the caretakers?" she hummed with a certain degree of reservations.

"We will train them, and I can always create a dedicated class. I believe that we will find plenty of people who would like to apply for such a job. Of course, we will interrogate the candidates, but that's just a simple precaution."

"And how you are going to pay them?"

"From the taxes, of course." I shrugged.

"Wait... I thought that the tax money was directly transformed into mana!"

"What? No!" I exclaimed, surprised. "I can transform it into mana, but I mostly pile it up to pay for things. The fact that I'm the King doesn't allow me to rob the people of their hard work."

"I thought you were simply summoning the gold from your nodes..." Hestia admitted.

"We don't really need the problems with inflation on top of everything."

"Inflation?" she said uncertainly, slowly resting her forehead in her palms.

"Inflation is a general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy. When the overall price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services, reducing the purchasing power of money," Freya's cheerful voice chimed in. "Hello, Theon, Hestia. I didn’t realize you had an interest in economics, Hestia."

"Economics?" Hestia buried her face in her hands and sighed weakly. "Why is the world of Mortals so complicated?!"

"Yeah..." Freya glanced at Hestia’s despair, then slowly shook her head in disbelief before turning to me. "Anyway! Balin informed me that the Dwarves need some help with building the new city. Soooo... can I go now?"

"Well, yes..." I nodded with a soft smile. "Just be careful out there and remember to take the Praetorians with you."

"I'm pretty sure I can copy them..." she muttered, tapping the tip of her chin with a sly smile. "But make them more Dwarven..."

"You can try," I shrugged, smiling as Freya hugged me. But then, I noticed her cheeks slowly turning pink.

"I’ll be back soon," she said after a moment, her blush lingering. "As much as I’d love to spend more time with them, I still have much to learn here. See you soon!"

Before we could say anything, Freya was already gone. I let out a slow sigh. She still acted a bit embarrassed, but she was steadily opening up to me, much like how I’d been after unexpectedly marrying Amber. I was glad for it, though, because it reminded me of the culture we both came from. That small distraction was enough to make me smile, appreciating the world around me. The late summer sun shone brightly through the leaves of the oak tree we sat beneath, and the cheerful chirping of playful birds filled the air. The breeze was pleasant and refreshing.

I glanced over at Hestia, still looking upset. But when she noticed my smile, she smiled back. She stood up, fixing her long auburn hair, which had been ruffled by an unexpected gust of wind, and let her dark blue dress swirl around her legs.

"You don't have to fix everything on your own, Theon," she said softly as she leaned towards me and grabbed my hands with a peal of cheerful laughter.

"I don't..." I agreed briefly as I closed her waist in my embrace. "But those people believed in my promises, no matter how scarce they were, and it is my duty to fulfil them."

"They all trust you and admire you, my Love," she whispered and kissed me, standing up slightly on the tips of her toes.

I smiled after she stopped her kiss. "It is a debt I must constantly pay..."

She leaned her head on my chest, and I could only see her smile. She hugged me tighter, and we stood like that in silence for a little while before she moved us to the top of one of the towers of the Middle Castle Wall.

"I want to be a better Queen..." Hestia said softly, though her voice carried a quiet confidence. She tilted her head to the side, gesturing over the rooftops of the city below us. "For them. For you... I don’t want to always rely on Irene and her advice. I must learn more…"

"And I must be the best King I can be..." I kissed the top of her head. "We all have unexpected homework to do."

We stood there for a long moment, gazing at the bustling city below and listening to the muffled sounds of daily life around us. The hearty laughter of children rose above the usual city noise as they ran out of a nearby school. In defiance of the grim statistics I had studied earlier, the children swarmed the playground, lost in their games, forgetting the world and its problems.

"Duty calls..." she sighed sadly and let go of me.

"Life is never fair..." I agreed as we teleported back to my office in Triskelion.

Eva was sitting behind her desk, looking through some documents as usual. However, in front of her desk was standing a middle-aged Half-Elf in an officer uniform.

"Miss Eva, I’m sure the King needs to know about this!" he said in a fairly desperate tone.

"I have read your report, and while I don't believe it's that important, I’ve already informed the King, Captain Gil'teelar," she replied in an unimpressed tone, nodding toward me with a tired smile. Eva lifted a few pages, and I scooped them from her hand as I passed by.

"Your Highness!" The captain stood at attention, saluting with a look of shock.

I left him hanging in that pose as I carefully read the report. Only when I finished did I return his salute.

"At ease, Captain." I raised the papers, handwritten in a shaky hand and dotted with ink stains. "This is a very serious issue. How sure are you of this?"

"I'm certain, my Lord! I’ve cross-checked the sources several times and consulted with a few intelligence officers."

"While this isn't a direct threat to Arcadia, the situation is different for Hilgvar..." I muttered, handing the report to Hestia. She sharply inhaled as she stumbled upon the same information that had given me pause. "Vetulia and Estaria are uniting in response to the unification of Breonia and Aswal..."

"In that case, we should expect the full unification of, well, the Union within the next generation," Hestia said, moving toward the map on the wall to check something.

"They’ve refused to engage with our diplomatic efforts as long as we continue supporting Hilgvar, my Lord," Eva added. "However, they also don't seem interested in starting a war with Arcadia. Based on all the evidence we've gathered so far, I don’t believe this report was truly worth your time, my Lord."

"Not exactly, Eva..." I pulled out a brightly colored pencil from my desk and marked a few key paragraphs in the report. Handing it back to her, she reread it, this time with a more concerned expression than just moments before. "They’ve started working on airships and artillery. They also tried to purchase similar magitech from us, but after we refused, they essentially cut off all trade agreements."

"They're preparing for war? Against Arcadia?" Eva's eyes widened.

"We can't rule that out. After all, the Sixth Legion is actively supporting Hilgvar’s war effort against them," I said with a sigh. "War is always a possibility... Captain Gil'teelar, I hereby appoint you as the head of the team investigating the threat posed by the Southern Union. I'm sure Luna will find your report very interesting. Dismissed!"

"Thank you, my Lord!" The captain’s smile broadened as he turned and headed out.

"Do you really believe another war is approaching?" Hestia asked quietly.

"Sooner or later," I shrugged. "But it certainly won't hurt to keep a close eye on our potential enemies."