On the same day that Toneo and his arrival, in Stauffenburg, the royal palace of the Hohen Kingdom, the twelve-year-old Prince Conradin was in his office to handle the affairs of the state.

The king, who had been an old man, was now less energetic, so he left some of the affairs to his only son, who was only responsible for the final checks.

Fortunately, Conradin has done well, and the country's income has been rising steadily in the past two years.

Conradin sat behind his desk, on which were the statistics of the number of caravans that had recently come and gone, and the number of merchants who had recently stayed in the city.

At this moment, there was a knock on the office door, and Manfred, Conradin's teacher and assistant, walked in.

The kings of Hohen seem to have a tradition of having children in old age, and the middle-aged Manfred was the illegitimate son of Conradin's grandfather in his old age. Although Manfred had no right to inherit, he was sent to his nephew's side to teach Conradin because of his knowledge.

Manfred reported to Conradin: "Your Highness the Prince, our purchase of the 'Earl of Maccaden's Grain Coupons' to the north of the Great River has begun, and the nobles of the north are willing to sell us their coupons at the current price, and their demand is to pay for the grain in one hand and the coupons in the other. ”

Without thinking about it, Conradin asked, "Have you determined that the elves are running tight on food because of the destruction of the grain warehouse?"

"Yes. Manfred replied, "Our men have confirmed with Queen Victoria that the Elven Court will not export half a grain of grain until the next autumn harvest, and that the Earl of McCaden's sale of grain pick-up vouchers is his private act, and the Elven Court will not provide him with any help." ”

Conradin thought for a moment, then said, "So, from now until February, when the pick-up voucher starts to be cashed out, the Maccaden family will not receive half a grain from the Elven Court?"

"Yes. "That's why the nobles of the north agreed to exchange the vouchers for grain in advance." ”

"They think it's better to get the food now, rather than having to fight with the McCaden family who can't get their food in February, which makes a little less money but also reduces the risk. ”

So Conradin ordered: "Then bring all the grain we have stored, and be sure to buy as many food pick-up stamps as possible from the McCaden family by the end of January." ”

At the beginning, all the countries of the Northlands, from kings to minor nobles, were willing to participate in the grain speculation business of the Maccaden family, and they took a fancy to Charles's big tree behind him.

Since Charles can get food from the elves and give it back to everyone, why don't you make this money.

As a result, a while ago, several large granaries in the elven royal court were destroyed in the war, and the elves themselves had to buy food, and those nobles who bought the pick-up coupons naturally began to be worried.

At this time, Conradin appeared, he was willing to exchange the real grain from the south for the unclear prospect of the pick-up coupon, such a good stop-loss opportunity how could those northern nobles miss it.

Manfred said with a bitter face: "Your Highness, the Maccaden family has exchanged too much food, and even if our stocks are exhausted, they will not be enough. In addition to the vouchers, the Earl of Maccaden also signed a large grain loan agreement with the royal family of the Kingdom of Fringen. ”

Conradin frowned, and then made up his mind and said, "Purchase grain and send it over, and we will follow the list of the Philippine royal family." The more leverage we have now, the better it will be to negotiate with McCaden in the future. ”

Manfred hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Highness, in this way, we will lose a lot of money. ”

"I can afford to lose that money. "As long as you can get McCaden to give up Miss Diana, this money is not a problem." ”

Manfred frowned slightly, and said, "Your Highness, Miss Diana returned to Knowledge City not long ago, but she donated all the gifts you gave to the United Temple Children's Foundation. ”

Conradin was stunned for a few seconds, then said: "Then send more, then send more, and after February, when Mecaden, who can't get food, admits defeat, I'll go to her myself." ”

In the field of pickling girls, Manfred looks down on this nephew who can only give gifts, what does it matter if the gift doesn't arrive?

So he said, "Your Highness, it will soon be the New Year, and as a person who has been through a lot of battles, I suggest that you suddenly appear in front of Miss Diana on the New Year. ”

Conradin was stunned for a moment, he knew that this uncle had been a veteran of flowers since he was young, and since he listened to him like this, he would not be wrong.

"Oh well. He said, "You can arrange the gifts or something." ”

Then he added: "Then the sale of scratch tickets will be brought forward to tomorrow, and I expect it to be sold out before the new year." ”

At this moment, Manfred asked with some trepidation, "Your Highness, is it really good to do this, what if someone can see the pattern under the oil sludge?"

This is a question that Manfred has asked since Conradin proposed selling lottery tickets this year, and he is a master of magic, and he can still do it at close range with powerful mental power to detect objects or something.

Although the expected profit from selling lottery tickets was extremely high, and there was no shortage of merchants in the city at this time, Manfred shuddered at the thought of someone buying the winning ticket and leaving a large number of "thank you for your patronage" tickets unbought.

"Don't worry. Conradin said confidently, "Those lottery tickets are specially made by the Temple of Commerce, and they are blessed with divine power, which can isolate the exploration of spiritual power. ”

With that, he took out a box of tickets made of palm-sized pieces of wood and placed them in front of Manfred.

Manfred picked up the wood chips on the table, which were delicately printed, and a square in the middle was smeared with a layer of black clay.

He first invaded the piece of wood with his spiritual power, and no matter how he output, a layer of divine power isolated his spiritual power from the outside.

He then folded the piece of wood again, and although it was thinner than parchment, it had become extremely hard to break under the blessing of divine power.

He then pulled out a few tickets and flipped them to the back, and saw that the back of the ticket was printed with a fine and irregular pattern, eliminating the possibility of using different unwinning tickets to deduct the patterns to form a winning ticket.

Seeing that Conradin was well prepared, Manfred was also relieved.

But after a while, he asked worriedly: "It can block the exploration of spiritual power, but can it block the detection of divine power?"

Conradin replied: "I have asked the cardinal of the Temple of Commerce, that the believers of God do not use their divine powers to obtain money through opportunism, and if anyone does, he will be punished by God." ”

Manfred nodded and said, "That's right, the divine power of ordinary believers is not enough to penetrate and avoid obstacles, I can trust those powerful priests, their discipline is trustworthy." ”

The cardinal said the same thing. Conradin said.

However, neither Conradin nor Manfred, nor even the priests of the Temple of Commerce, did not know that there was such a deity, and there was no discipline since the deity.