Leveling Up My Husband to the Max

“I suppose that is all I have to say for now. I hope that you can judge me with a fair mind.” Amber set down her tea cup as she spoke with a gentle and relaxed expression on her face. Heinreich was unable to respond from the embarrassment he felt.

Heinreich deeply lowered his head when Amber was almost finished with her tea. “Madam, I apologize.” His first words were to make an with complete sincerity. He was ashamed at the prejudice he had towards Amber, and even more so that he unashamedly pretended otherwise when he knew he had such a bias.

Amber felt a mix of complicated emotions at the sight of Heinreich’s bowed head. She never once thought that she would receive such a sincere apology from someone in the Duke of Thales’ castle.

‘Was it because I changed? Or because the situation changed? Regardless… there’s no point in  thinking too hard about it anyway.’ Amber decided to focus on the situation unfolding in front of her eyes right now instead of internally questioning the situation. “I accept your apology.”

Heinreich finally lifted his head.

“Is this an acceptance of my suggestion then?”

“For now, I shall support you madam.”

“For now, you say.”

“I hope that you understand that I cannot simply put all my trust in you just yet.”

Amber nodded her head. Honestly, it was already a great success that Heinreich decided to accept her suggestion. “Then let us discuss the details about where my dowry shall be spent. We will be able to receive at least 5 million stal when all the jewelry is sold.”

“5 million stal…” It was such an unfathomable number that Heinreich could only mumble to himself in disbelief.

“That’s a calculation based on the lowest market price. If we can find a good merchant who is willing to work with us, we should be able to receive 5.5 million stal, but let’s think of it as 5 million for now.”

“Do you have any areas you want to focus on first?”

Amber absentmindedly tapped the table at Heinreich’s question while she re-organized her thoughts.

“I won’t be able to confirm until I see the ledgers… but for now, set aside 500 thousand stal. Half of the remaining money will be invested in saving the citizens from starvations. I was thinking of spending the other half to replace the knights’ armors and weapons.” The knights’ equipment was the undisputed priority after dealing with the food shortage issue.

She thought about the tired knights in the drill hall, garbed in worn-out armor.

Be it the emperor’s orders or the waves of monsters, the knights of the Eastern Lands endlessly faced the battlefield. Furthermore, with Kalix at the head, the knights prided themselves for their undefeatable prowess. It was thanks to them that the people of the East could survive their hardships for so long.

“Do the knights need anything else?”

“They do, but as you said, Mistress, the top priority is to acquire new armor and weaponry,” Heinreich’s expression was bright as he spoke. It seemed like he was quite happy to hear that Amber would not only take care of the citizens, but the knights as well.

“How will we import the weapons?”

“Though we do commission the local blacksmith after buying iron, mostare bought from the neighboring territory.”

“That’s right. There aren’t that many skilled blacksmiths working under the Duke of Thales after all.”

The number of people in the Duke of Thales’ employ was comparatively smaller than expected based on the size of land. Though there was a mine shaft, there wasn’t enough population to efficiently mine for ore. With no method of acquiring iron, it stood to reason that very little of the population were capable of making weaponry.

“Where are the weapons typically from?” Amber asked Heinreich, as she focused on every trade area the Thales household dealt with.

“That would be Nasto. Crops are imported from various territories, but Nasto is the only area where we can import weapons.”

“Nasto?”

Hearing the familiar name, Amber couldn’t help but frown her eyes in reaction.