The Legend of the Reclusive Princess Zuicho of the Rikan Empire ~She Escapes From The Palace Everyday and Works as a Capable Government Official.~ - Chapter 7

“So, here’s the situation.”

Thanks to Ichiru, Saya was able to change out of her soaked government uniform. She hurried through the hidden passage and arrived at the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ office, putting on a nonchalant expression as she entered—disguised, as usual, as a man.

She regretted not having enough time to properly dry her hair, but it wasn’t the fault of the black-haired man elegantly sitting nearby with his legs crossed. He apparently had brought something troublesome with him, so she waited for his explanation. Instead, he handed her a bundle of documents.

“…What’s this?”

She took the documents and flipped through a few pages.

“It’s the detailed income and expenditure report for Tagā Province this month.”
“I can see that.”
“…What do you think?”

The handsome man leaned in and peered at Saya from a close distance.

Although she had grown accustomed to him, she still found it puzzling that an individual of the Emperor’s stature would sit side by side with a mere civil servant such as herself. She always found that odd.

After briefly considering the man’s roundabout question, Saya began speaking in a dry tone as she flipped through the report with indifferent eyes.

“…There’s no mention of any public works in progress. Was that omitted? Also, at a glance, the figures for outsourcing costs don’t match here and here. The whole document is sloppy—it’s demotivating to read, and there’s too much inconsistency in terminology—and the biggest issue is: the handwriting is awful. Are they even trying to make the information readable?”

“I didn’t write it, okay? You can tell by the handwriting! Wait—that’s not the point—”

Saya had intentionally delivered a sarcastic review of the report as a small form of payback, causing the Emperor to fluster in confusion. She couldn’t help but chuckle at his reaction before shifting to actually address his intended question.

“I know what you’re getting at. You’re referring to the distribution of tax revenue, right? … Compared to last year, the drop in revenue from farmers is significant. To compensate, they’ve pulled adjustment funds from the local government, and there’s been an increase in funding requests for regional security forces, plus new public works contracts. Taken together, this likely points to some kind of issue with agriculture.”

“Exactly. … If you understand, just say it plainly.”

“I’ve been dealing with reports like these a lot lately.”

“…I’m going to issue a directive encouraging writing practice among officials with terrible penmanship.”

The Emperor nodded with a complicated expression, while in the back, the Minister of Civil Affairs seemed to be holding his amusement. Saya wisely kept quiet to avoid provoking the Emperor any further.

“…So, what’s the real problem here?”

She returned the now-unnecessary documents. All the important figures were already committed to memory.

Impressed by her speed-reading and memorization skills, the Emperor let out a slight exhale before looking straight at Saya.

“Apparently, there’s been a surge in crop damage caused by magical beasts.”