Chapter 63 | Reborn as a Saint in a Rotten World, I Refuse to Submit

If there are a thousand orphans, it would take twenty thousand copper coins, and ten thousand... would take two hundred thousand.

This is just the daily consumption, so a month would require six million copper coins, and a year would require seventy-two million.

In Brilliant City alone, there are no less than nearly twenty thousand orphans, which means the annual food cost, based on slightly better meals, would require one hundred and forty million.

Right now, the total money remaining in Brilliant City is only three billion.

Will nearly one-fifteenth of the money be spent just on raising orphans?

And this is only Brilliant City, where public order is relatively good, but if other cities are calculated according to this standard, the cost would be astronomical.

The Kingdom of the Moon has ten major cities, over a hundred small cities, and countless villages and towns.

Although there are no systematic statistics, based on the situation in Brilliant City, the orphans in the other ten cities will not be fewer than those in Brilliant City.

Adding those small cities, I am afraid it will cost at least over six or seven billion every year.

Lola told me that the total annual tax revenue is about fifty billion.

Spending one-tenth just on raising orphans is simply unacceptable.

In this way, there is no money left for construction.

This does not even include embezzlement, corruption, shipping costs, housing, clothing, daily necessities, and a series of other things.

If all these are included to let them live a slightly comfortable life, at least ten billion must be thrown in.

One-fifth of the entire year's tax revenue!

After the specific calculation, it is simply terrifying!

However... if a part of the nobles' interests can be seized, raising these children will become incomparably easy.

My conversation with Yuna made me understand that some nobles have already begun to choose sides.

They clearly understand that I am going to move against the noble class, so these people came to suck up to me at the first opportunity.

And Yuna's family, the Von family, is the first.

Although I do not know why, the Von family seems to believe that my side has a better chance of winning, otherwise they would not have let Yuna come to speak so frankly with me.

Some nobles have begun to watch from the sidelines, while some have begun to hesitate about their positioning.

In other words, this pebble I threw in has already caused undercurrents to surge beneath the surface before it even touched the water.

Politics is always accompanied by blood and storms, especially in this kind of feudal society.

Regardless of winning or losing, a large number of people will fall, and those who remain will enjoy the surplus fruits and gorge themselves again until the next time they are harvested or counter-harvested.

What I need to do is centralize power.

Hold the power in my own hands and completely turn the Kingdom of the Moon into my direct jurisdiction.

However, at this stage, I still need to hold back a bit, as the movement underwater has already begun, and if I continue to strike now, it might really cause stormy waves on the surface.

"The Von family... interesting, I did not expect them to choose a side so quickly, are they not afraid that I might lose?"

"What is... Your Highness saying?"

My self-muttering was heard by the little nun, and she asked me curiously with a trace of doubt flashing in her eyes.

"It is nothing... Oh, right, do you know anything about the Von family?"

"Von? Are you talking about... Knight Yuna's family?"

"Yes."

"I am not very sure, but some of my friends say that their family members are very kind and usually help some lonely and helpless elderly people."

It seems that elderly care in this era has not been solved yet.

As expected, the trouble is more than just a little bit.

If I did not have a vision far beyond this era, it would probably be difficult to change this time.

Even with a vision beyond the era, there must be people willing to change the world with me.

And now, the only thing I can hope for is the Heavenly Punishment Knight who has gone far away to the Snow Country on a mission.

If Kevin can stand on my side, then I can retreat behind the scenes and slowly erode the power of the nobles in the entire Kingdom of the Moon.

If he stands on the opposite side, things will get complicated.

Now, the Von family has already chosen a side, and I am afraid there are other families that have begun to secretly unite.

This is a gamble, and now... it has only just begun.

"I see, thank you, but what I am curious about is, why were you so afraid of me just now?"

Fanny's tension gradually relaxed after this conversation.

Now she has calmed down, and this is exactly what I wanted.

I want to know why she was so scared.

"Your Highness... actually..."

The little nun hesitated, so I gave her an encouraging look, and only then did she take a deep breath and speak up boldly.

"They all say... Your Highness is very cruel."

"Why do they say that?"

"There was a nun before... she was exiled and is now on her way to the southern cities."

The nun I suspected was a spy for the Cavendish family and thus was exiled by Lola?

"And..."

"Is there more?"

"Your Highness, the previous High Nun... no, the fiend, was very strict with us nuns, and they say... you are also very strict and will punish the nuns at the slightest provocation."

This rumor is not very good, and it certainly did not spread through normal channels.

I am afraid there are still some people from the nobility among the nuns.

"Then do you think now that I am the kind of person they say I am?"

I smiled and stroked Fanny's head.

"Your Highness is not that kind of person!"

"Why?"

"Your Highness can speak and chat so calmly with... with a nun like me, so Your Highness is definitely not the kind of person they say you are!"

Fanny firmly believed it.

"I am glad you know that, though perhaps you do not understand what I am saying, but those who spread rumors about me being a bad person probably intend to give me some warnings this way?"