RE:WRITE

12.0 Candela_Chapter 3: Zugzwang

There was a knock on my door.

I shuffled my papers and put them in a neat pile and grabbed my cup of tea and raised it to my mouth.

"Enter." I sipped my tea.

"My Lord, the report from the Ministry of Agriculture has arrived." said my secretary Delin, as he handed me a brown file.

I sipped my tea and read the file.

Yield of staple crops increased by 240%...land reclamation in the Anderan Wastes is in the second phase...research in fertilizers and pesticides is showing promising results with three new chemicals ready for testing...more funds needed for development of farming machinery with Air Kingdom mechanics...need authorization for importing necessary food supplies from Holy Union.

I put down my half finished tea and began writing my orders.

Proceed to stage three of land reclamation...begin testing chemicals on isolated land samples...Ministry of Finance will be directed to release funds to the Air Kingdom, however, insist on our own engineers joining their team...

I chewed on the tip of my pen.

It was true that we were making progress in Agriculture, but the Dusk Alliance just didn't possess enough arable land. We were almost wholly reliant on the Holy Union and specifically the Light Kingdom, for our food supplies.

Although I didn't like the fact that they controlled our food, I knew that it was also true that the Dusk Alliance was far wealthier and well developed than the Holy Union. The technology of the Air Kingdom, the resources of the Earth Kingdom and the mercantile expertise of the Dark Kingdom ensured that the Holy Union could not afford to cut off trade with the Dusk Alliance, since that would cripple their economy and prevent crucial raw materials and technology from reaching their cities.

I tapped the desk with my pen for a while before continuing.

You may import necessary supplies from the Holy Union, however, utilize our connections in the LeAgua Company to ensure a good deal.

I signed the letter and put it in an envelope which I sealed with the Demon Lord's official seal.

As Delin left, I leaned back in my chair and sighed.

Being the Demon Lord is boring. It's totally a desk job. Well, it does have its perks.

I got up from my chair and opened the door behind me. I climbed the staircase behind it and entered a small room full of books.

I had been spending most of my free time here, researching magic and learning the history of this world. Surprisingly, it seems that the people of this world vaguely remembered the time when they were characters and refer to it as the "Haze." But even more surprisingly, after nearly a thousand years of research and experimentation, they've managed to create their own skills and magic, in particular, seems to have been developed to a frightening extent.

After spending some time pouring over books and writing some theoretical variations of skills and magic, I went back down to my office and started signing papers again.

There was another knock on the door.

"Enter."

"My Lord, the delegations from the Air and Earth Kingdoms are here."

I nodded and got up from my seat and followed Delin down the hallway to a large conference room.

Inside, sat a bald, middle aged man wearing a gray suit and an old, white haired lady wearing a yellow dress.