“Wait, you mean, even if I manage to maximize my mastery of the first circle, I can’t do the next formation ritual yet?”

  Alexa was just finishing practicing her fire magic, which she had been doing in the Monile Palace courtyard for the last eight hours already. She’d been trying to do ‘Incinerate’ and ‘Fireball’ spells, as her previous iterations were, quite frankly, god awful. That must be the reason that without those combat staves, she could barely kill even the most basic demons.

  And Alexa wanted more than that!

  Not only does adding another magic circle add to one’s mana reserves, but it also allows you to use more complex and powerful magic. A single magic circle set to fire affinity couldn’t do much but the basics, but three?

  Imagine being able to cast triple fireballs at once instead of just one. It was something that would be awesome!

  And now, it’s being cruelly denied to me again?

  She curled her fist.

  Wilhelm in front of her had a blank expression. Ever since he started to work under her as a knight, it was exceedingly obvious that Wilhelm wasn’t quite the motivated servant.

  He was excessively autonomous, to the point where he still, even now, apparently was somehow commanding certain units in the Northern Front, while working under her. She supposed she couldn’t blame him. His abilities, background, and peculiarities lent to this behavior, so that it was to be expected.

  Who knew turning a borderline rogue officer into your personal knight wasn’t going to be that easy? At the very least, he was already proving useful in advising Alexa on matters of governance and military matters.

  “Look, I’ve already checked it,” Wilhelm said, still standing straight as he looked down at her. “The clearing teams in the Great Dungeon confirmed it. Many sections of it have collapsed, others are blocked by debris and such, many sections also still contain pockets of lesser demons, not to mention the increased monster spawning rate…”

  “So we really can’t go to that ritual room?”

  “Yes. Not that I would recommend that anyway. I picked it not just because it had the most refined mana condenser, being an ancient artifact, but because I knew it’d be a shining beacon that Sloth would latch on greedily.”

  “And because it’s underneath the Imperial Capital and it has enough mana to fuel her portal?”

  “And because Phoebe was in the room. So you see the potential risks of doing it again, ignoring the fact that the artifact is partially destroyed and I have no idea how to repair it,” Wilhelm held a lazy smile again as Alexa narrowed her eyes. “Come on, you’re still angry about that?”

  “Don’t speak to me that way. Your actions created a headache that an innocent sixteen-year-old girl like me now has to contend with. Repent and realize your mistakes!”

  “In any case, secondarily, I don’t possess enough of the herbs needed for the ritual. I’ve already contacted my friends in the Defense Forces. It seems like they’ve stashed away most of the harvested Redhill Moss, Dragonblue Thyme, and they didn’t even send a single pound of the Akome Leaves, which is the final ingredient necessary for your elixir.”

  Alexa felt a vein suddenly popping in her head.

  “W-what? Why are they doing that?”

  “...I’m afraid that while I have many allies in the Defense Forces, in the end, their main interest is to uphold their mandate, which is to defend mankind from the demon horde. In other words, if they can use—”

  “They’re blackmailing me.”

  “Let’s be charitable here. Maybe it’s just a negotiation tactic. They give you something they want, you give them something they want.”

  Alexa frowned, looking down. Now that she thought about it, maybe this made some sense. The Defense Forces were at -50 base opinion. With her Civila Mandato skill, of course, it would be at -25, but that was still negative. That meant more members of the Defense Forces disliked her than liked her.

  Of course, why would they work with me so easily? They have no reason to do so.

  “Aha! What if I threaten them that I’ll cut their budget and—”

  “Are you willing to accept whatever deaths that decision might cause?” Wilhelm suddenly asked. “I’m not going to blame you if you go this route. While the Continental Wartime Decree and the Anti-Demon Defense Treaty demand 15% of the annual budget of all nations on the continent to be spent on the Defense Forces, you can threaten to bypass that once you take the throne.”

  “Um…”

  “And if you do, that can compel them to act and give up the herbs. But, you’ll also be damaging relations with them in the long run. If they call your bluff, you’ll be forced to carry on the threat, because if you do not, you will appear a feckless monarch. Then, when you do take action to apply the pressure, people might die until an agreement is made.”

  “Ugh…why is ruling this hard?”

  Wilhelm smiled.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “It’s up to your benevolent judgment, Lady Alexa,” he even dared to bow as if imitating a servant. “So what is it?”

  “...About the Schengen Region’s status,” Alexa mumbled. “I want to use it to improve relations with the Defense Ministry. So is there any way to restore it to the Imperial Government now that the demons are mostly driven out?”

  “Yes. Because it’s also just another negotiating tactic by the Defense Ministry. They don’t hold onto that territory because they want it, they want an exchange not just for defending it, but also, because they need a lot of resources to continue the war up north.”

  “I see…so it all comes down to that,” Alexa narrowed her eyes. “They hold onto the keys to my powers, and the Schengen Region, because they need resources.”

  “Money, manpower, weapons, most importantly, an expanded supply of mana crystals. A prevailing idea in the Defense Ministry is that the entire continent should mobilize everything for a ‘Total War’, to drive out the demons once and for all,” Wilhelm smiled. “I think if you can somehow convince them that you’ll be the monarch to do just that, that they’ll easily join your side and give you what you want.”

  +++

  In the end, everything hinges on finishing those quests.

  Her plan was simple for now. To solve the crisis, at least in the midterms, she needed to show credibility. Therefore, she’d try to first begin tackling the refugee crisis to freshen her name to the Empire.

  Secondly, she needed to find a suitable dungeon with a refined mana condenser as well. That was going to be hard because the entire Schengen Region was now under increased monster attacks. Ever since the demons attacked the Great Dungeon, other dungeons have had their spawning miasma increased.

  Therefore, to reduce the people in the Schengen Region who’d end up as refugees, Alexa needed to pacify the dungeons. That was neat because she could do both pacification and exploration.

  That was the first near-term target.

  Next, she needed to talk to other nobles who had fled the Empire and negotiate how they would let in thousands of refugees into their lands. She already hatched a plan to target the original love interests in the Iron Saintess novel for that.

  Considering their less-than-virtuous display of joining the fleeing masses, because they didn’t have Phoebe with them, Alexa imagined they’d be groveling to restore their image, somehow.

  Then, she’d need to negotiate mass importation of food into the Schengen Region. All in all, she’ll do it one by one each week. First, pacification and exploration. Then, she’d have a little nationwide trip to negotiate deals with the Empire’s nobility about refugees. Then, she’d tackle the food problem by getting deals to let in more food.

  Finally, once all of those succeeded, she’d have enough credibility to mediate between the Imperial Government and the Defense Forces about the fate of the Schengen Region.

  She clapped to herself as she smiled.

  “Then, next month, I can finally have those herbs and get my second magic circle. Ah…I swear, my brilliance will really help me make life easy~”

  “Lady Alexa, we’re ready to depart now,” Adele suddenly interrupted Alexa from behind.

  Alexa turned back. Behind her was a convoy of four dragon-drawn carriages. They were in front of the Monile Palace, ready to depart on the main road that would lead them toward the Schengen Region.

  While the operation to pacify the dungeons was going to be led by Alfred’s Royal Guard knights, Wilhelm was going to watch over it too, as there were members from the Fuchs Brigade who would act as observers in case demons appeared again.

  Though, that was unlikely, unless Wilhelm had another nefarious plan because it was the one and only Mr. Scary Face that caused this entire headache in the first place!

  She watched as Wilhelm and Alfred, on the side of the lead carriage, stared at each other as if they were in another standoff. The two didn’t work well.

  They were like oil and water, that no matter how hard Alexa told them to cooperate, Alfred distrusted Wilhelm, and Wilhelm consistently had zero tact to make himself less suspicious and more agreeable.

  Even Phoebe, who was watching the two worriedly on the side, seemed like she was a deer caught in headlights, switching from looking at Wilhelm to Alfred to Wilhelm again and again as if she was waiting for the first one to throw a suckerpunch.

  Wilhelm finally decided that the staring contest bored him enough, and he reached for his whiskey.

  “Yeah, that right there is your true fate, Wilhelm,” Alfred said, his tone hostile. “Once all of this is over, you’ll be a drunkard.”

  “Sure.”

  He didn’t even deny it.

  Alexa approached the two, then, she decided to pinch both of their ears at once.

  “When will you two learn your lessons? Be friendly with each other, even if it’s fake!”

  Though, of course, they both barely reacted to it.

  Later, they were on the road, their land-dragons, the finest out there, pulling their four-wheeled carriages with such ease that Alexa felt like she was on a nice road trip.

  Seated inside her carriage were Alexa, Adele, and of course, Phoebe. There was enough space inside that Wilhelm or Alfred could fit in, but Alexa threw them both on the last-second carriage.

  As they deserved.

  While Adele peacefully snacked from a box of fancy cupcakes on the side, Alexa stared at Phoebe, who was twiddling with her fingers as she somewhat hugged her staff. A smile grew on Alexa’s face.

  “You know, I’ve been noticing. As of late, you’ve been more nervous,” Alexa pointed out.

  “E-eh?”

  Alexa sighed. This was just Phoebe, as was natural. The reason why it was called ‘Iron Saintess’ after all was that the main character started as this socially anxious, nervous, shy girl with powers she didn’t understand. By this point, after the complete nightmare scenario that was Perlenstadt, Phoebe should be a bit more hardened.

  It seemed that the fact that Alexa’s actions largely limited the disaster helped. The entire battle between her and Sloth alone should have been a massive trauma for Phoebe, as she had to fight Sloth without the Defense Forces, and the portal wasn’t disabled until the end.

  Still, she’d seen enough bloodshed that Alexa believed that Phoebe would by now develop into a girl who would, at least for a bit, stand up for herself. Instead, she remained a bit more like a cute puppy that followed Alexa around.

  It was certainly strange.

  “Chin up,” Alexa encouraged. “You’re the true saintess now, and a hero in the eyes of the people. You’re going to meet a lot of them this week, so if you can, give them a lot of smiles.”

  “But…I’m not really sure if I am a hero or anything…to be honest. Even if Wilhelm’s a sketchy guy, he still did more than I could ever do.”

  “Please, that guy just fancies using people as his pawns. Even with his contributions, you don’t need to make him sound greater than he is,” Alexa suddenly took Phoebe’s hand. “You, on the other hand, are a purely good person who did her best to save people.”

  “I…I am?”

  “Yes, and right now, I want you to look around us. Death, despair, and desolation surround us all. Your kind is rare, and the people, dragged into the mud, must be searching for someone like you. So I ask you, while we’re doing this, will you do me a favor—and give my subjects some hope? Give them a smile or two. Trust me, it will help so much.”

  “Lady Alexa…”

  Suddenly, the coachman interrupted the two.

  “Your Highness!” He called out. “There are refugees on the road!”