(Altura-MC)

I was now very happy that I had picked the staff. If I hadn’t done that then I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the benefit I was enjoying now. The benefit of looking super cool. But in another vein of thought, I had to wonder why there seemed to be a few thousand new people coming through a tunnel that hadn’t been built either.

It had taken all of five minutes for one of the guards to point me to where Aswelth was once I stepped out of the treehouse. I had decided that it would be better to ask Aswelth what had happened in the valley rather than try to piece things together from other people, besides there was something else I needed to do.

“So, may I know why you are here?” I asked the crowd, trying to fish out whoever was in charge.

“To ask for sanctuary, your grace, “a man stepped forward and said, bowing the entire time, “I am Corri-” the man continued before he was interrupted by another man kneeling of all things.

“Archduchess, I greet you.” the other man said, kneeling on one knee as he crossed his arms across his torso and knocked on his shoulder. And then, turning to Aswelth he said, with a voice that oozed far more reverence than it had held for me, “Blood General, I greet you.”

Aswelth froze beside me, his actions suddenly wooden. Whatever that gesture was, it struck a chord. The one from before, corri something, Corrin? Seemed to be panicking at the man’s actions. What was the proper greeting now anyway?

“And I greet you in return. I must ask which of you is the leader here?” I replied.

“There is no leader here, your grace, the closest equivalent would be the council of representatives we have, but I can serve as their representative if you so wish.” the kneeling man said. Why was he still kneeling, oh. I had forgotten to say rise hadn’t I?

“Please rise,” I said, trying to appear as regal as I could, “And I would like to meet with the entire council if it is possible. That said, could you please explain to me why the valley's population has grown by several thousand tonight?”

“As Corrin said, your grace, we are here to ask for Sanctuary, and if you would be so kind as to give it, citizenship in the valley.” the man replied, getting up from his position.

“Very well, and what is it that you are asking for Sanctuary from, Mister…?” I asked, curious as to why so many people had decided to travel all the way here and ask for sanctuary.

“Marcus, your grace, and we are requesting sanctuary from the Count of Cilanthra, your grace, we would like to migrate to your valley, and would like your permission to do so.” Marcus said.

“I fear that I will need more information than that before I make my decision, but for now, let us retire to the city. It is cold out here, and will only get colder. And there are children among your number.” I answered, as I looked at a shivering boy holding on to his mother. NO, Altura, don’t give Sanctuary just cause you saw a shivering kid, they could be criminals, even criminals have kids…maybe just give sanctuary to the kids.

I started walking back into the city, the crowd following me. Aswelth however was not.

“I think I will remain here, your grace, the tunnel is still unfinished.” he said.

“If that is truly your wish.” I replied, trying to hide my smirk. The old man was nervous, even scared of the crowd. I would say that Aswelth was nervous, but I doubted that the person that had commanded the guard all these days with such ease was nervous about being looked up to. What was it that had made him hesitate? Hmm…

But finding that out would have to wait till later, first I would have to deal with all of these people. I turned to Marcus and said, “The guard should be able to find somewhere for all of your number,”- I gestured to the nearby guard, one of the ones that had a cultivation, he nodded and started gesturing for people to follow him- “And while he does that we and the rest of your representatives can have a little talk.” I said.

“That would be very welcome, your grace,” Marcus said as he once again began bowing, “There is no need to bow repeatedly, once was more than enough.” I said as we resumed our journey, this time towards the Roalt mansion.

Behind me, about a dozen men and women separated from the group, following me to the Mansion. So these were the representatives I was dealing with. One of them in particular caught my eye, she was walking while clutching her stomach in a protective embrace, either she was pregnant or she was extremely worried about her stomach for some reason.

The rest of the walk went by silently, the representatives were far too nervous to say anything. Thankfully, the Mansion was not very far, and we reached it before it got overly awkward.

“I fear that this will be something of a climb. These trees are not the most accessible buildings. Follow me, I presumed you were hungry after a long walk, so we can have the talk while having dinner at the same time.” I said as I started walking towards the food hall.

It was just a few meters away from the gate, making it an even better location. Not too far of a walk. I snowflaked to the top as soon as we got close, looking down at the group of representatives.

“I fear that there is no other way to reach the treehouse than to climb up.”- I turned to the woman that was still clutching her stomach,- “Mam, are you pregnant?”

“Yes, your grace, I am. I hope you will forgive me for not climbing the ladder, I fear I have stressed the baby enough.”- the woman removed some kind of handkerchief, a single pill nestled within it. Eating it, she continued- “Is there anywhere else I can go to get some food, your grace, I fear I am a bit hungry.”

“Yes, you can come here.” I replied as I summoned my Qi, and incanted a staircase into existence.

‘Ice, oh Ice, hear my call, make a staircase that allows not slip and falls, use but 500Qi for this endeavor, and let me look quite clever!

A staircase of ice appeared before me, twirling around the trunk of the tree. It would disappear in a few minutes and leave a mess for someone to clean, but it solved the problem.

“That should suffice.” I stated as surprise flickered through the woman’s face.

“Yes, your grace, it should.” the woman said, as she stepped on the staircase. The other representatives followed suit walking up the staircase. Maybe I should have a new one built from wood? How were the duchy’s finances looking? And right there and then, I realized a very serious problem. I had absolutely no idea what the duchy’s finances were looking like. I did need to know that if I was to decide whether to increase the population of the duchy by thousands. Presuming that that was the reason they were her of course.

Thankfully the System had a solution for that. The solution was just a complicated mess of a table. But I had a superpower now, if I asked the System, could I get something other than the complicated ugly mess I got last time? Though it made no sense for the King to not have figured such a simple thing out, I was less sure about him sharing it with me.

System, could you please show me the concise list of finances of the duchy?

Please clarify parameter ‘concise’

Right, it's a computer AI. Had to keep things simple and with context. The System would not understand it. System, please show excess income versus average cost per citizen.

Please clarify unit of income

Gold, System, we use gold here.

Please specify value of objects

Okay, I get the gist, System knows nothing. Wait, phrasing. I was asking for the duchy's income, but it did not merely include tax, it also included the value of any beasts killed, trees cut down etc. And the former especially did not have any set value.

System, please show tax earned, expenses and average cost of life of citizen in units gold

Tax: 1376.83 gold/month

Expenses: 793.78 gold/month

Cost of life: 1.79 gold/month

Ooh, and I messed up again. Come on, System, could you please just tell me if we can afford to allow these people in?

Information restricted. Providing base data.

Ducal Gold: 1,311,376.97 gold

Increase per month: 583.05 gold/month

Economy: 537967.86 gold

Cost of life: 1.79 gold/month

Average wage: 17 gold/month

And the economy was smaller than my treasury. At least most of it was from Clan Qunaris’ hoard. And then we had the Average wage versus Cost of life. The number was very good, until it resulted in an uncontrolled inflation. How did one count the economy anyway? What exactly was it?

“Um, your grace,” Marcus said from right beside me, oh right they had been climbing up, “Can we, uh…” he pointed to the inside of the tree house

“Oh yes, do come in” I replied. The economy would have to wait, there was enough to prove that I could afford to let them in, at least economically.