"What did you say?" Claude looked at Kefnie in surprise.
That day was the day Claude returned to Ferd Manor. He would stay there for two nights in five or six days.
News of him building another manor in the western outskirts of Lanu and having a beauty called Sheila by his side should've reached Kefnie's ears long ago.
However, Kefnie didn't say anything and pretended that she didn't know anything. She took better care of Claude during his stay and became gentler.
That was how smart Kefnie was. She wouldn't act like a jealous woman and incur Claude's disgust and disgust.
However, Claude didn't expect to hear from Kefnie that his mother had woken up. She had recovered quite well and was more or less recovered after lying in bed for more than a month.
However, she had someone bring Tesoray over and told Kefnie that she wanted to groom him to be a suitable head of House Ferd.
He decided that from now on, Tesoray would be educated like a noble. He would spend some money to hire some famous teachers to teach him the etiquette, knowledge, and style of nobility.
Tesoray should be sixteen this year. Time sure flies.
Claude didn't pay much attention to his eldest son. Tesoray wasn't close to him and was closer to the old lady instead.
In Claude's eyes, his eldest son was a brat who would do something infuriating every now and then.
It was just that whenever Claude or Kefnie wanted to teach him a lesson, his mother would always step in to protect him. In the end, nothing happened and Claude didn't really like his eldest son that much.
"Didn't Tesoray just graduate from Lanu elementary school?
He's going to middle school now, isn't he?
Didn't they say that his grades aren't that good and he's often reported to the teachers for bullying his classmates?
What are you trying to do, Mother? Are you still letting him go to middle school? "
Claude had wanted to throw his eldest son into the army for a few years after he graduated from middle school. No matter how mischievous his personality was, it would be tempered in the army. Whether or not he grew up in the future would depend on his own hard work.
But what was his mother trying to do now?
Tesoray was supposed to go to elementary school when he was 12, but his mother stopped him from playing at home for an extra year, which made him even more undisciplined and playful.
After entering elementary school, because he was one year older than his classmates and was taller and stronger, he often bullied his classmates and became the bully of Lanhu Elementary School.
His mother suggested that Tesoray be taught a lesson by the nobles. Would he still be allowed to go to the capital?
"What Mother means is that there's no need for him to go to middle school. In any case, those teachers aren't great teachers. Other than complaining, they don't have any other abilities. It's a waste of the child's talent.
Just let Tesoray stay at home and be lectured by the nobles. Don't hang out with those messy kids and pick up their bad habits … "Kefnie said.
"Heh heh …" Claude chuckled. Don't you and Mother know why the teacher only knows how to snitch? Don't you and Mother know?
If he wasn't in a high position, he would have been hung up by the teachers and given a harsh lesson for his mischievous behavior.
Claude's memories of the original owner of this body still remained in his mind. Before he transmigrated, Claude had been punished by the teachers for causing trouble when he was in elementary school and middle school in Whitestag.
Back then, Claude's father, Morssen, was still the chief executive of Whitestag. Even so, the teachers still punished him without any qualms. When Morssen found out that Claude would be punished a second time when he returned home, Claude's father, Morssen, didn't dare to punish him.
Now that Tesoray had done something bad in school, the teachers didn't dare to punish him directly out of consideration for his own safety, so he came to complain.
Kefnie and his mother always brushed it off, saying that the child was still young and would grow up to be sensible. They used that as an excuse to protect Tesoray, causing him to bully his classmates even more and become the little tyrant that everyone feared. Even Claude was called a bastard parent behind his back.
That was the typical example of a doting mother who spoiled her child too much.
Angelina had tested Tesoray's talent in magic before, but it was too bad, so Claude wasn't able to hand him over to Angelina to educate.
Back then, his younger brother, Borke, was just as mischievous, but Angelina managed to teach him well.
However, with Kefnie and his mother around, it wasn't Angelina's turn to educate Tesoray. Especially since Angelina had three babies to take care of, Claude didn't want to trouble her.
"Do as you wish."
Claude couldn't be bothered with that. He wanted to see how his mother's so-called noble education would turn Tesoray into.
Only his mother treated Tesoray like a treasure, saying that his talent was being held back by the teachers in middle school and that she was worried that he would pick up some bad habits from hanging out with his classmates.
Talent, my ass. Was it a skill to bully others?
Didn't she think about it? Had it not been for the fact that Claude was his father, Tesoray would've been taught a lesson a long time ago.
There was a saying that left a deep impression on Claude in his past life: three years of age, seven years of age of age.
In his previous life, when he was young, his grandfather would often repeat these words in his ears. It meant that he should learn to be good, develop good living habits, and develop a good attitude towards others and be diligent in taking care of himself. These would be of great help to him in the future.
That was also the main reason Claude didn't like his eldest son. When Tesoray was growing up, Claude was fighting wars outside and didn't have the time to care about the family matters.
When he reunited with his family in the colonies, he found out that his eldest son was spoiled beyond recognition by his mother and Kefnie.
So, he wasn't optimistic about Tesoray's future. He believed that it would be good enough if he could live a peaceful life.
Compared to Madam Sonia's illegitimate son, Marlex, Tesoray was nothing but a pile of sh * t.
Now, Marlex was 18 years old and about to come of age. His magic had already reached the third ring.
He even decided to enlist in the army after his birthday so that he could train like Claude.
It was a pity that Marlex wanted to inherit Liboyd's family name and couldn't become Claude's heir. He knew that Marlex viewed him as his idol. After all, Claude's story could be considered a military legend.
So, he wanted to join the army and got into a huge argument with his mother, Madam Sonia.
Madam Sonia hated Claude and tried to pressure him whenever she saw him because she wanted to have another obedient child.
Claude shook his head and reined in his wandering thoughts. He didn't want to care about it anymore. Regardless of how well Tesoray was educated, he would be thrown into the army when he came of age to be trained. Whether or not he turned out to be useful was up to him.
But now, it seemed that the old lady and Kefnie were getting more and more stubborn. They really thought of House Ferd as a noble family. He hoped that they could teach Tesoray the good things about noble education.
"Get some rest tonight. Have someone prepare some food and drinks for me in the study. I have guests and we might talk until late," Claude said.
The guests for the night were Generals Screed and Eiblont. They were there to discuss the matter of providing aid to the kingdom.
Half a month ago, the royal capital sent a few more envoys to the region. They weren't there to discuss the restoration of relations between the kingdom and the region. Instead, they hoped that the region would provide the kingdom with a large amount of agricultural products and mineral resources to lessen the economic impact of the war with Nasri.
The war between the kingdom and Nasri had been going on for more than three months. Nasri took the initiative to attack first and took over three of Aueras' prefectures while Aueras was unprepared.
Aueras was like an enraged hibernating bear that had been slapped in the face.
The fact that Nasri, who had always been defeated, dared to make the first move was the greatest humiliation Aueras had ever suffered.
As such, Reddragon, who was stationed at the border, was the first to show its might. Not only did they force the two standing corps of Nasri into a retreat, they also reclaimed the two lost prefectures in one fell swoop.
Next, both sides engaged in a large-scale battle in Ustya, the last prefecture that Aueras had fallen. With the arrival of the two Nasri standing corps, Reddragon had no choice but to wait for reinforcements.
The war wasn't good news for Aueras, which was in the midst of its economic revival.
It was an unexpected war that forced the kingdom's economy, which had just started to recover, into a downturn once more. Large areas of agricultural products failed.
The kingdom had to reorganize its military in order to face the war. At the same time, it also needed large amounts of rations to help the prefectures that had failed in their harvests to prevent another wave of refugees.
The envoy to the region wasn't sent by the new king, but by the new prime minister, Marquis Blancarte. He hoped that the region could support the kingdom with a large amount of agricultural products and rations to help the prefectures that were lacking in food production. They would also use a large amount of mineral resources to help the kingdom's four major military industries produce enough armaments to face the war.
Of course, the royal capital was also willing to agree to a few small conditions in consideration of the support from the region. For example, they wouldn't send any more governors or generals. They only wanted the region to revert to its original name.
The colonies' military and parliament could be maintained, but the overseas colonies would have to resume paying taxes and tributes to the kingdom. The royal capital would send tax commissioners to supervise the overseas colonies' collection of taxes, and at the same time, the royal capital would have to take back the authority of the overseas colonies' personnel and so on …
If not for General Skri's quick intervention, General Bolonik would have agreed to all the requests of the kingdom's envoys.
To General Bolonik, the Royal Capital had taken a huge step back and had given the Autonomous Territory enough face.
Changing the name didn't matter much. What was important was that the military and parliament would be kept. That meant that everyone's rights were guaranteed and they could accept the royal capital's conditions.
On the other hand, General Skri's mind was very clear. The king's plan was to cut his own flesh with a soft knife, and use time to slowly regain control of the overseas autonomous region.
If Bolonik agreed, he would definitely be forced to step down by the councilors in the region's parliament.
The reason was simple. The royal capital would keep the military and parliament, but taking back the authority of personnel meant that all councilors would have to be approved by the royal capital in the future.
It didn't matter to the current Councilors, but if any of the older Councilors wanted to have a descendant of their family inherit their position and the King didn't approve of it, then their family would be pushed out of the upper echelons of the Autonomous Region. This was intolerable to any Councilor.
No one wanted to have a mother-in-law controlling them. If the authority of personnel was taken back by the royal capital, the councilors in the region would have to report to the royal capital's parliament in the future. They would be questioned and investigated by the parliament, and there was even a possibility that they would be stripped of their councilor status. This was unacceptable to the councilors in the region.
They were now at the top of the region and had the right to supervise, advise and review the policies of the region's executive committee.
They were all outstanding people, and they were respected by nearly seven million people in the entire autonomous region.
Since things had reached this stage, of course no one was willing to go to the royal capital and pretend to be obedient. They would be discriminated by the councilors in the parliament as a country bumpkin and nouveau riche.
Also, the royal capital had sent a tax commissioner to supervise the region's tax collection, which meant that they wanted to interfere with the region's financial affairs. This would have a huge negative impact on the region's finances, and it would also have a serious impact on the military expenditure of the region's military.
If the entire region's tax collection was exposed, the royal capital would covet it, and it wouldn't be impossible for them to ask for a bigger share of the tax.
Bolonik, who finally understood the situation, was sweating profusely. He was almost tricked by the emissary from the royal capital.
Thus, he made an excuse that the military and the executive committee were busy and that he needed to carefully consider the royal capital's request.
Then, he made an excuse and left the emissary from the royal capital hanging for half a month.
Since the war was happening in the kingdom's territory, the region was not in a hurry. They had plenty of time to deal with the emissary from the royal capital.
But two days ago, the royal capital emissary received a letter from the kingdom and they went to the regional command center and the executive committee's office every day to block the entrance.
According to them, there were signs of a large-scale famine in the kingdom's territory and they hoped that the nobles of the region would help them out on account of their fellow countrymen and send a large amount of food to the kingdom before the end of the year to help the kingdom survive the famine and defeat the enemy.
Bolonik couldn't stand being pestered by the royal capital emissaries, so he left the matter to Claude, Skri and Eipolent.
Had it not been for the fact that Beechlin was far away in Cape Loducus, he might have come to Claude's house to discuss whether they needed help or not.
Beechlin went to Cape Loducus mainly because the five-year colonial lease agreement between Fochs and Shiks would expire at the end of the year.
Monolith's 2nd Folk, who had defeated Shiks and occupied Cape Loducus, would return to Loki Mountains at the end of the year and end their occupation of Cape Loducus.
Beechlin was there to take charge of the cleanup and retreat.
"Is the harvest really going to be bad this year and there'll be famine in many prefectures next year?
Hasn't everything been going well for the past few years? How did this happen? "Eipolent still didn't quite believe the words of the royal capital's emissaries.
"The spies we sent to the kingdom have reported back," Skri replied.
General Skri replied: "The situation is exactly as these envoys said. Two-thirds of the prefectures in the kingdom are experiencing a large scale crop failure.
The main reason is the civil war a few years ago and the refugees destroyed the irrigation facilities in those prefectures. They haven't been repaired since then.
It wasn't apparent last year when the small-scale farming resumed, but it was only discovered this year when large-scale agricultural production started. Due to the lack of funds and manpower, coupled with the fact that the local administration only reported the good news and didn't report the bad news, the problem only surfaced during the autumn harvest.
"If it wasn't for the debt war, the royal capital could still grit its teeth and endure the crisis.
As long as they take out some funds and organize manpower to repair the irrigation facilities and dredge the canals, they'll be able to have a good harvest next year.
But this Debt War came too unexpectedly, and the kingdom's limited funds have to be invested in this war. They are no longer able to deal with the great famine that is about to appear, so they have no choice but to seek help from us, the overseas autonomous region … "
There was another reason everyone knew, but it couldn't be brought out in public.
During the reign of Stellin X, Aueras's former king, various situations had happened in the kingdom, but the kingdom always managed to tide it over.
The main reason for this was the blood transfusion from the colonies to the natives, helping the natives survive natural and man-made disasters.
At that time, the overseas colonies were the source of the kingdom's wealth and raw materials for production. Be it agricultural products or mineral resources, they were all imported to the kingdom's mainland at an extremely low price, maintaining the kingdom's economic development for nearly two decades.
The unfair trade and scissor-like plunder allowed the kingdom to accumulate enough wealth to deal with the five anti-Aueras alliance.
However, a five-year war in the east wiped out the wealth Aueras had accumulated over the past two decades. Even though they were the victors in name, the colonial war initiated by Shiks dragged the colonies into the war and they were no longer able to support the kingdom's economic recovery.
The civil war between the two kings and Prince Wedrick's tyranny after he ascended the throne led to the kingdom's decline.
By the time the colonies won the colonial war, their relationship with the kingdom was severed. They became autonomous and no longer provided any support to the kingdom.
Even if the Fourth Prince Frederik the First ascended the throne and set things right, the war that followed and the large-scale harvest failure exposed the kingdom's weakness, which was the main reason why they could only seek help from the Overseas Dominion …