Chapter 505 - Latenight Work (Patreon)

Finally, the uncomfortable atmosphere of the walk was replaced with the cozy mood of the small study. This was a private work room close to Corco and Sumaci's bedroom. Due to its convenient location, it was sometimes used for work in the evening, or simply for hanging out. Compared to the relatively stiff and utilitarian main study Corco often used for meetings, this one was painted in much warmer colors and filled with comfortable, well-padded furniture. It also had an open fireplace, which was currently in use and spreading both warmth and a soft crackling.

"I never thought having a child would be this exhausting," Sumaci complained as she plopped down behind the main desk, which was stacked with new documents. "How did Lady Antaya take care of four at once?" she wondered, as she picked up the first of many pieces of paper.

"I guess it'll get easier with time," Corco hoped, and took a seat on a couch in front of the fireplace as well. As usual, hot tea had been prepared in a pot atop the fireplace. As per usual, the tea was probably spiked with some brandy and honey, just to warm them up in the cold winter night. While Sumaci was working, Corco picked up two cups, filled them with the liquid, and carried them over to her. Meanwhile, the queen had taken up a more comfortable position on the large chair, her legs dangling over the armrest as she skimmed through the documents.

"I sure hope so." Although Sumaci was complaining, there was a smile on her face. Her smile grew slightly, before she added: "Though the work is not so bad, is it?"

Corco simply smiled back as he handed her the drink. Sumaci put the documents back down and put the drink to her lips, but didn't take a sip and instead asked: "By the way, I was acting all confident earlier, but is any of that stuff about early child development true? Where did you actually learn about that?"

"You know, That place." Corco gestured vaguely, as he moved back to the sofa and took a seat, careful to not spill any of his tea. "The other world. So the info should be good. I'm not a hundred percent positive it's correct though. Childcare was hardly the focus of my research, to be honest."

"So we may be doing a lot more work than necessary? Maybe it would be better for professionals to handle our little one?" Sumaci asked, with an unsure expression on her face. She seemed to be struggling with something, before she said: "Still, I like our time with Primus."

"Well, I also thought we would want to spend less time at work, and more time with our kid." Corco readily agreed. He took a warming sip of the hot drink, before he added: "I know it's hard to believe, but I'd rather raise a family than debate the fifth update to the country's new entrance exam test papers for officials."

"Yeah, me too," Sumaci's voice drifted off, and a comfortable silence filled the room for a while, before she finally added, seemingly out of context: "He's cute, isn't he, our Primus."

"Of course." A proud Corco replied, and joked: "He's related to me, after all."

For some reason, Sumaci seemed to be suddenly done with the topic. She only gave him another eye roll, and then finally returned to the papers on the desk.

Come on, the joke wasn't that bad, Corco thought, but he knew better than to interrupt his wife during her work. After all, she wasn't only a wife and mother, but also a queen, and had her own responsibilities as a result.

While Sumaci was doing this and that throughout the day — usually supporting her husband or looking after her child — a group of her servants would listen to radio messages from Jurau, which would relay all information from the Verdant Isles back to Saniya. All information would first be written down, then sorted by importance and compiled for Sumaci to read at the end of the day. In the end, she was probably taking on as much work as Corco.

Although taking care of the child had become an extra burden for them, Corco considered it worth it. While Sumaci seemed more tired, Corco had also rarely seen his wife smile so much, and she was a very smiley person to begin with. Thus, he never considered lessening their load.

While Sumaci worked away, Corco himself took a short break. He would wake up earlier in the morning and start work immediately, so his responsibilities were often fulfilled by nightfall, which gave him ample time to relax.

Since Maci likes sleeping in so much, this is her own fault, the wise king concluded, and silently sipped at his spiked tea. He absolutely wasn't annoyed at her sleeping face while he had to go off to work in the middle of the night, certainly not.

"So how's things over there?" he finally asked once the rustling of papers had slowed down.

"Looks like we're finally making some progress on those damn traitors. Seems like that privateering plan is finally bearing fruit," Sumaci explained, as a grim smile formed on her face. Her reaction was hardly surprising, since 'those damn traitors' were the other Colored Kings, who had conspired to kill her father and brother. Corco could very well understand the desire for revenge. Still, based on his own experience, he wasn't quite so optimistic about a quick resolution.

"Well, from what I hear, most of our pirates are still just operating along safe routes, mostly along the west coast of Medala," he said, in reference to Atau's reports throughout the year.

"Still, it's better than nothing," Sumaci insisted. "Mere rumor of their presence in the Verduic Sea have already reduced the living space for those murderers. The more afraid they are, the less they will move around. And some more adventurous people are already making trouble further into the Isles. It says here attacks from enemy fleets are down a lot compared to the past year. As the Verduic Sea fills up with more of our own pirates, competition will push some of them deeper and deeper west. Eventually, they will cover more and more of the Isles. Soon, they will block every single escape path for those bastards. Soon, those bastards won't be able to run any longer."

As Sumaci spoke, her hands kept stroking across the papers on the desk with more and more force, until they began to crumple. On top of that, the more she talked, the deeper her voice became.

"What about the western road from Jurau into our jungle coal mines?" Corco asked in an attempt to distract his wife from her terrible mood. She was getting far too caught up in her revenge for his liking. Although Maci had every right to be angry about the death of her family, this kind of single-minded pursuit certainly wasn't healthy.

That much, Corco himself knew best. He knew how it felt to lose family to betrayal, to have someone become an enemy over greed for power. Most of all, he himself didn't like what kind of man he became every time he got caught up in another revenge plot. He didn't want his wife to go through the same thing, and so was eager to take her mind off such inauspicious thoughts.

Of course, he didn't just mindlessly switch topics to distract Sumaci for nothing. Rather, he was also genuinely interested in the results of the construction. At the very least, certainly more interested than he was in the remnants of their enemies who were still barely hanging on overseas. Unlike those surviving Colored 'Kings', the road west of Jurau actually mattered.

After all, at the end of this road, in the middle of a jungle, their scouts had found a deposit of coal. However, they hadn't known just how useful it was for the longest time. While the coal they had brought back was of high quality, exact estimates were difficult. Since the coal was hidden deep inland and surrounded by dense forest, they had struggled to make a good assessment.

This year however, they finally managed to transport a group of the Traveling Folk into the center of Rasacopa to investigate. It must have been a long, difficult trip full of uncertainty, but as soon as they had arrived, they had finally offered a more comprehensive estimate of the mine's scope.

According to their expertise, the coal mine was not only open-faced — and thus easy to mine — it also contained coal of high quality. Based on the descriptions Corco had read, he assumed that they had most likely found high-quality bituminous coal, or possibly even anthracite. Even better, they had found that the coal was located in a shallow basin, and had found evidence of the same deposit all throughout the area. If coal was present in the entire basin — which was hard to determine since it was still fully covered in jungle — the total size could reach dozens of square kilometers. If the reports from the Traveling Folk were correct or even just slightly too optimistic, this find alone would be more than enough to kick-start a steam-powered revolution that would shake the world.

All this time, Corco had been holding back their country's technological progress due to a lack of materials. Had he wanted to do so, he could have introduced cheap steam engines years earlier. After all, with its high quality steel production from their advanced furnaces, its advanced power tools built all along the river, and its many well-trained clock makers who were experts in mechanical construction, southern Medala long had the technical means to build proper steam engines.

Due to their strong foundation and precise directions from Corco, these steam engines would be far more than mere toys. After just a bit of practical experimentation, they would soon be powerful enough to run water pumps, mechanical spinning wheels, cotton gins, and even trains. So far however, Corco had stifled their development, since they had lacked the most important prerequisite of such progress: coal. As far as Corco was aware, there weren't any coal deposits worth mining anywhere in Medala. Even the coal for their steel mill had to be imported all the way from Chutwa.

Thus, if he had introduced the world to coal power earlier, the southern kingdom would have only benefited for a short time. Soon after, other countries would have just copied their technology, and then they would have quickly exceeded their level of industrialization by virtue of having cheaper, higher-quality coal available in larger quantities. Now however, with the discovery of coal in the Verdant Isles, everything had changed.

If the coal deposits there were to prove sufficient, Corco would be able to truly reform their industry. So far he had laid all the ground work for an industrial revolution, but then he could finally make good use of his preparations.

Though even if the coal deposit ultimately proved limited in size or purity, the coal hidden deep in the jungle still had great value. It was an ideal location to research new technologies in secret. While they searched for and secured more extensive coal deposits elsewhere, they would be able to perfect their steam engine technology already. Whatever ended up being the truth, it would be another huge step into the future.

Thus, the progress of the road into the jungle was an important question to ask, and certainly not just something Corco had said just to distract Sumaci. As a result, the queen just rolled her eyes a little to show that she knew what Corco was trying to do, but she still replied without jokes or complaints.

"It has been slow. Progress on the road has been much slower than I was hoping so far. And yes, you were right. Please don't gloat," she added, before Corco could say anything. While the king was sulking over the missed opportunity to show off, the queen continued to explain. "For now, we are still only halfway to the coal mine, maybe a bit less, since our speed keeps decreasing the deeper we get. Still, there are reasons to be optimistic. Over the past few years, our people have gotten much better at clearing the jungle and building roads. I hear that the south-east of Rasacopa has been completely transformed by their efforts, so they have amassed plenty of experience in this area. The Green Island has been changing so fast. I wonder if I would even recognize it anymore."

Unlike their slow initial progress, this was something Corco hadn't, in fact, predicted, though he very much could have, if only he had been more thorough in his considerations. After all, he had seen the progress in Rasacopa's south years ago. Back then, they had already cleared out a good portion of the forests down south. Now, years later, most of the cloth sold in Saniya was produced by large manufactories in southern Rasacopa, right next to the extensive cotton fields which had been established on former jungle land. Experience with such work would of course have an impact on the speed of their inland road construction.

However, none of that was something that needed discussing. At least, Corco no longer cared that much after he had learned that his industrial revolution would have to wait a little longer still. Instead of lifeless machines, he was more worried about Sumaci's listless look. Although he had tried to make his wife forget about her revenge, he had apparently just made her homesick in the process.

"Maybe it's time we get back to the Verdant Isles some time soon," he thus suggested, before he thought a bit and came up a more thorough plan. "Actually, it's probably best to introduce some kind of rotation. We could spend half a year here, and then half a year in Jurau. In the long term, we can't rule over radio anyways. Something is bound to go wrong eventually, and if we live in both places frequently, we can also improve communication between the people of the two kingdoms. Otherwise the people over there will start saying that we're neglecting them. That's the kind of reputation that's hard to shake. We should really put this on the agenda, and make it official, I think."

"Yes, I'd like that," Sumaci replied, with an appreciative smile, but sad eyes. She paused for a while, as a frown formed on her face, before she added: "But at least we will have to wait until the little one is big enough to travel with us. We can't leave him here by himself, while we enjoy the beaches of Jurau."

"That's true," Corco admitted his fault. From now on, he didn't only have to consider the needs of his people and his wife, but those of his son as well. It was something he quickly had to get used to. While Corco was still admonishing himself for his careless suggestion, Sumaci had already moved on to her own form of self-torture.

"Also, I don't want to take up too much of your time with this Verdant Isles business," she argued, in a voice which sounded casual, but felt forced. "You spent the whole last year on the pirate and hospital issues. I'd rather not delay our progress in Medala just because you want to help me with my own problems all the time."

"You're exaggerating. It's not like I really did things in spite of the country's needs, not even for my favorite student." Corco winked, which earned him another unamused look from Sumaci. However, the king remained undeterred. "There's plenty of other benefits from our health reform, besides the obvious, selfish ones. The hospital alone is going to massively improve our mortality rate, which is a huge benefit to all Yaku people. Just think how many newborns can be saved with the methods we've developed over the past year."

"If nothing else, at least my favorite actress could safely bring her successor into the world thanks to the new hospital," Sumaci admitted. Not long ago, the pregnant queen — herself in the last trimester — forced her way out into the city to visit the hospital, just because some actress she liked had safely given birth to a daughter. Corco didn't get it, but he also wanted to be supportive, so he simply hummed in agreement.

"Though even so, I think we're focused on the wrong place, and I feel like it's my fault," the queen still insisted. "Medala still hasn't been reunified, after all. That needs to take priority. So long as the two northern kingdoms exist, we will never be truly safe. But once the north has been retaken and the empire is unified, our population will triple, and we will be able to replicate our reforms in the north as well. By that point, we will have the strength and security to grow in peace, and improve the lives of the people."

"Sure, that might be true, but the north is developing all on its own. For now, there isn't much we can do without looking like invaders. Rashly getting involved will just unite the northern kingdoms —and more importantly their people — against us," Corco explained patiently. After all, the reunification of Medala had always been on his mind, ever since the country's split during the Succession War. By now, he had long developed a thorough strategy, and he wasn't about to throw everything out over impatience.

"Rather than rush north with an army and watch more Yaku kill Yaku — with dubious results — it'll be smarter to focus on the west for now," the king continued to explain. "Securing and pacifying the Verdant Isles will strengthen us as well, even more now that we have found coal on Rasacopa. As for the north, we've long finished up our layout there. Now, we simply have to help along the natural progression of things, until the people of Sinchay want to join us all on their own."

Hermit's Notes: Since halfway through the next chapter, I decided to do something a bit unusual with it, I've been stuck on it for a while. I'll try to get it done soon, but I'm no longer ahead on chapters for now. Might only post two chapters next week (though working towards three, obviously.)