The production and distribution of counterfeit currency.
…It was preposterous.
A capital crime that could wipe out even a noble family upon discovery.
More than a simple crime, wasn’t it an act of terrorism that shook the very foundation of the nation?
But, what? Counterfeit gold coins had appeared?
And he was being informed of this by an envoy from Millenia?
‘I’ve grown too complacent in this peace!!’
Leopoldus’s expression changed drastically.
The young man who had been enjoying tea with his sister in the warm sunlight.
In an instant, he returned to being the king responsible for an entire nation.
‘There’s no time to blame myself. The first thing I need to do is…’
“Seras, escort Frida back to my palace.”
First, he sent his sister away.
The conversation they were about to have would be a bit too bloody for his innocent sister to hear.
“Understood.”
“After that, immediately summon the Royal Knights and have them prepare for deployment.”
“Deployment? Where to…”
“I’ll explain later. Somewhere Frida isn’t.”
Grinding. His teeth gnashed involuntarily.
‘I don’t know who you bastards are, but forget about dying peacefully.’
“If you understand, move quickly. I have urgent matters to discuss with Mel, the Minister of Economy and Industry from Millenia.”
“Yes. Princess, I will escort you.”
“Ah, okay…”
Perhaps understanding the gravity of the situation, the two women hurried out of the room.
“Kyaa!”
“Princess, are you alright?!”
“I, I’m fine. I just tripped on my shoe…”
In her haste, Frida stumbled.
She nearly fell, and Seras had to support her…
But Leopoldus couldn’t even spare a glance.
His gaze had been fixed on Mel since earlier.
‘This one’s power is more than five times mine.’
‘If she were to unleash her bloodlust like last time, the fragile Frida wouldn’t be able to withstand it.’
‘Fortunately, she seems to be restraining herself so far…’
-Creak, thud….Fwoooosh!!!!
“Explain yourself?”
“……Kuh!”
‘As expected, she’s furious!!’
The moment the door closed, bloodlust erupted.
Mel’s anger was palpable.
‘Of course. If that’s true, those who are loyal to Teonar would be enraged.’
If Mel’s words were true, what situation was she in?
Following the will of the great Queen Teonar, she was engaging in equal and benevolent trade with a weaker nation.
But wait? These humans are giving us counterfeit gold coins?
‘She must feel insulted. That her kindness was taken advantage of.’
That was why he was so tense.
He knew firsthand that their loyalty bordered on madness.
‘How could she believe I wasn’t involved?’
One more thing.
The production of counterfeit currency was a capital crime.
There was no way a mere merchant would commit such an act.
Unless they were insane, they would never do that.
It was only natural for Mel to suspect a mastermind.
Someone who monopolized the right to mint coins and could produce counterfeit gold coins that were identical to the originals.
…The King of Arkenia, Leopoldus.
‘Damn it, of all places, it had to be Millenia!!’
“Calm down and sit. First, I will prove that I have nothing to do with this.”
He forced a smile.
Trying his best in the face of a high-ranking magical creature unleashing its bloodlust.
Mel’s reaction to that?
‘Pfft. Look at him, so scared♡ How inferior♡’
“You really didn’t know?”
“Of course. It’s embarrassing, but I didn’t notice a thing until you told me…”
“I see. I’ll believe you.”
Shlurp.
The violently surging slime calmed down.
In an instant, she withdrew her anger and returned to her usual gentle slime form.
Leopoldus was taken aback.
“…….I haven’t even said a proper word yet?”
“That’s enough. In the first place, if you were foolish enough to do something like this to us, the great you wouldn’t have formed an alliance in the first place.”
“….”
‘How much do they trust him, these creatures?’
He looked a bit weary after hearing the reason, but still.
He let out a sigh of relief and slumped back in his chair.
He was exhausted from taking the bloodlust head-on.
‘It’s nice that they trust me, but was there really a need to unleash the bloodlust…’
‘It’s fun bullying inferior creatures♡ I should do it again if I get the chance’
On the other hand, Mel was beaming.
Hiding a taste that was the complete opposite of her cute appearance.
It was the slime’s true nature that even Teonar would be horrified by if she knew.
Of course, as a human, he couldn’t see through the magical creature’s inner thoughts.
Only the sound of him slowly catching his breath echoed for a moment.
‘She was testing me. It would have been a disaster if I had reacted even slightly wrong.’
“Haa… Alright. Then tell me in detail. When did you receive the counterfeit gold coins? Who gave them to you, and how much did you receive?”
“According to the merchants’ reports, it was from at least twenty people. The total damage amounts to about three thousand gold.”
“…Twenty, you say.”
The breath he had just caught was disturbed again.
As far as he knew, the number of merchants participating in trade with the magical creatures was around two hundred.
Twenty out of that was almost ten percent.
The larger-than-expected scale gave him a headache.
“Thank you for informing me. Those bastards, haa. I will have those traitors executed, along with their families.”
“Oh my, really?”
“Yes. And, for the time being, I would like you to be careful when appraising the purity of gold coins during transactions. There’s no telling how many more of those counterfeit gold coins are circulating.”
Even with a headache, he handled the situation well.
Preventing further damage and trying to root out the source of the problem was a pretty good response, even in Mel’s eyes,
—— Unfortunately, the situation was not that simple.
“Ah, I guess you really don’t know.”
“…What do you mean?”
“These counterfeit gold coins cannot be appraised for purity. Or rather, it’s pointless to do so.”
“What?”
Mel’s additional testimony. The counterfeit gold coins were indistinguishable.
Leopoldus clutched his head again.
What kind of bizarre story was this now?
“…The appearance might be the same. If you hire a few dwarven artisans, you can imitate it almost perfectly.”
“Yes. It’s impossible to distinguish with the naked eye.”
“But, the weight should be different, shouldn’t it? I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t know such basic common sense.”
What kind of metal was gold?
The heaviest metal in the medieval era.
A mineral with a density at least twice that of silver for the same volume.
That was why gold coins were used as currency.
A pure gold coin could be roughly judged by its weight.
Even if cheap metals were mixed in, or if it was plated.
It was fundamentally impossible to imitate the weight.
“Surely they’re not all gold? No, then there would be no point in counterfeiting them.”
“They are plated, but the inside is brass.”
“Hmm. Let me hear it for a moment.”
-Clink.
“…It’s definitely lighter compared to a real gold coin, but? What do you mean it can’t be distinguished?”
That was why Leopoldus was puzzled.
Since the counterfeit gold coins used less gold, it was natural that they would weigh less.
He couldn’t understand why it was impossible to distinguish them.
“Until we received them, they all weighed the same. It only became like this in a day.”
“…Magic!!”
He immediately accepted it with the word magic.
His expression darkened even further.
He glanced subtly at Mel.
‘Could this be a Millenian scheme?’
When it came to magic, wasn’t it dragons?
And the ruler of Millenia was Teonar, who was said to be an exceptional dragon.
Casting weight manipulation magic on gold coins would be easier for Teo than eating cake.
Moreover, they possessed technology superior to Arkenia.
They had more than enough ability to create and distribute counterfeit currency.
It was impossible not to be suspicious.
‘…No, why would she go to such lengths?’
The suspicion quickly faded.
After all, what reasons could he think of for Teo to create counterfeit gold coins?
At best, two things. To disrupt the kingdom’s economy and to realize profits.
Neither of those applied to Teo.
If she wanted chaos, she could just mass-produce their specialty products and export them as manufactured goods.
If she wanted gold, she wouldn’t bother with this and would just say ‘give it to me.’
No. From the moment she allowed them to collect tariffs, both were out of the question.
There was no reason to engage in such hostile acts now.
‘If he really did play a trick… Haa. I don’t even want to imagine it.’
That was just what he wanted to believe, but still.
With that, Teo was completely cleared of suspicion.
All that remained was to guess who the real culprit was.
‘Is this a self-made drama caused by his subordinates’ excessive loyalty? No, they wouldn’t do this knowing his intentions.’
‘Moreover, the temporary weight increase is only 4th circle. Counterfeiting is possible with just a few dwarves.’
‘It’s unlikely that individual merchants acted on their own. If they did, they would have moved in small numbers.’
‘It’s highly likely that it’s the work of someone outside of Millenia. Probably, Valentia.’
The most likely suspect was Valentia.
But…
The neighboring country that had been making noise recently, saying they would not hesitate to go to war if they didn’t cut off trade with Millenia.
He couldn’t help but sigh.
“Haa… It seems like spies from another country have done this. They must have spread fake gold coins to drive a wedge between our two
nations.”
“We’re hated, aren’t we~.”
“It can’t be helped. Even merchants who have participated in trade several times are still nervous in front of you, let alone other countries.”
“We have a long way to go~.”
Unlike the serious atmosphere, Mel’s tone was calm.
The fact that fake gold coins were circulating in the kingdom was ultimately someone else’s problem.
There was no reason for her, who belonged to Millenia, to be shaken.
“Anyway, what are you going to do with the three thousand counterfeit gold coins that came to us?”
“I will compensate you for the full amount. Immediately, with my own funds.”
“Really? That would be a considerable expense even for His Majesty.”
“If you hadn’t noticed it first and told me, the damage would have been endless. I think I should be giving you a reward.”
“If that’s the case, well~ I’ll report it well. Even though there was an unfortunate incident, His Majesty fulfilled his duty as the ruler of an
allied nation.”
“I appreciate it.”
Soon after, creak. The sound of a chair sliding back.
Leopoldus stood up abruptly.
A cold glint flashed in his eyes.
“Then, would you please return now? I’m going to be doing some internal cleanup from now on. It’s not something I want to show to
outsiders.”
‘I should bring out the guillotine for the first time in a while, as an example.’
Thinking ominous thoughts in his head was a bonus, but…
—— Because of that, he didn’t realize.
-Smile.
“Yes.”
‘Try to solve it well- If you can’
At Mel’s lips, which bowed her head as if answering, there was a line of mockery.
* * *
A while later.
“Guild Master Groza. I thought he had already fled since he had been missing since yesterday…”
“Ugh!! Ugh, ugh!!!”
“…What is going on?”
Twenty-three distributors of counterfeit gold coins.
Found imprisoned in their homes.
“I’m innocent! I’ve been like this for days, what counterfeit gold coins!”
“……!?”
‘The Sword of Truth isn’t reacting?’
All of them denied the charges, claiming they had been kidnapped several days ago.