Mira and Almeria

Lana took me to a spacious living room where a red-haired beauty with an indifferent expression was sitting. She was my court magician and advisor.

- Mira, why did you call me?

I asked the girl with interest.

-We don't have enough materials to finish the magic tower.

The only emotion in her voice was a trace of discontent. When she started talking about the magic tower, I smiled. The construction of the magic tower could give me 2 weeks of the "Golden Age".

- And what happened to the merchants from whom we ordered materials?

- They said that we should pay more, because, you see, we have too small gold coins.

- In what way are they small?

Instead of answering, she threw me two gold coins, both bearing the coat of arms of the kingdom of Jorgen, but one was much smaller than the other in diameter. My eyes shone with a dangerous light. I understood the reason and to make sure I asked the World.

- How much money do we have in the treasury?

- About 21,000 gold coins.

This figure was different from what the system was saying, and I understood what was going on. The system counted the money in face value. That is, small coins were worth from 70% to 80% of a large coin.

I asked, pointing to the smaller coin.

- I won't say exactly, but about half.

I fell into thought, after which I approached Lana, asking her to bring a knife. When she returned, I took a large coin and began to put serifs on the edge of the coin. Mira has been watching my actions with an indifferent expression on her face all this time. When I finished, I put the coin in front of her and asked.

-Will you be able to organize the melting of all coins and make sure that the same grooves on the edge were made during the minting?

- We will have to change the press cliché, but there should be no problems, but what is the purpose of these notches?

- Do you know why many coins are smaller than others?

- Yes, scammers cut the edge... ah! I get it!

As expected from someone who was considered a genius even outside the kingdom of Jorgen, Mira understood the idea I proposed. Here I think it is worth explaining what is happening. Scammers cut off a certain amount of gold from the edge of the coin, the cut gold is sold or melted down, and the cut coin is used as usual. Thus, an increasing number of coins are decreasing in size. And the serifs on the edge of the coin are designed to show that the coin is not cut. For this data, thanks to the documentary that I watched at the time.

- After you finish, announce that citizens must hand over their money to be exchanged for new ones.

- At what rate? 1 to 1?

- Those that are cut off for 90%, and whole 1 to 1.

- We will lose quite a lot of money on this initiative.

- It's for the future!

- Then I'll take my leave!

- I hope for you in this matter.

Mira left, I called Lana and told her to call my loyal general, Almeria. Soon they came to the living room. She was a curvaceous beauty with short blonde hair and a bandage on her left eye, which she lost when she studied at the academy in another country.

- Your Majesty!

She saluted. I nodded, pointing to the sofa opposite. After she sat down, I got down to business.

- Almeria, how many criminals have we sentenced to death?

- 10 of them are awaiting execution, Your Majesty.

- Announce that today at one o'clock in the afternoon I will personally execute them all in the main square!

- You don't need to do it yourself, your…

- Almeria, this is not a request!

I planned to execute them with my own hands for several reasons. Firstly, and this is the most important thing, I wanted to get experience points as a fighter as quickly as possible. Yes, if I execute them with a sword, I will get experience points, even if not all possible, because they will be chained, but this is enough for me to become a first-level fighter, because to go from 0 to 1 level, you need very few points. Secondly, it is a representation for the citizens of the kingdom. When the king personally executes criminals, it is both inspiring and frightening. Thirdly, I just wanted to get rid of such rabble on my territory as soon as possible. Fourth, it was better to quickly overcome the mental barrier associated with the murder of a person. Although, I wasn't sure at all that I would experience anything by killing criminals, because I never considered them to be people.

-As you wish, Your Majesty.

- Send a trusted person to monitor Kyle's movements, after we finish the execution, I want you to go to him with me.

Surprise and... relief flashed in Almeria's single eye? Then I explained the coin situation to her in general terms.

- Gather information about those who are engaged in this and other criminal groups, I give 2 days to this question.

Almeria nodded gravely. And she was about to leave when I asked her to stay for a moment.

-Do you have a trustworthy magic blacksmith?

- yes!

-Okay, tomorrow, prepare the mana-contract and bring this blacksmith to me.

I said, putting a drawing of a level 1 mana-rifle on the table.

- Excuse me, Your Majesty, but wouldn't it be better if Mira took care of it?

- Almeria, you are one of the few people I can trust, and whose loyalty I do not doubt.

- So you doubt Mira's loyalty? But why?

- I don't know, I think there's something wrong with her, but I can't say for sure, it's at the level of intuition.

I couldn't answer that I trusted Almeria more because in the [Relationship] tab she had 10/10 loyalty, and Mira only had 10/10 respect. A person who respects you can betray, one does not contradict the other, although the chances of such a development are small.

- Thank you for such trust, Your Majesty, I will try not to let you down! I'll take care of all this immediately!

When I watched Almeria leave the living room, my eyes instinctively caught on her ass in tight leather pants.

- Can it be that the title [Pervert] affects me so much, or have I always been like this?

I thought, but I had no answer. I unconsciously thought about the fate of this fighting and devoted girl, while three emotions arose in the depths of my soul: admiration, pity and a desire to give her tenderness. From birth, she grew up in a military family and was pressured by her father's resentment for being a daughter, but not a son. She gave her best to get at least a drop of respect and acceptance from him, but whatever she achieved, he didn't care. But her talent and perseverance bore fruit, she, as one of the most talented fighters of the kingdom, was sent to one of the best knight academies on the continent, but there she quarreled with many people, and it came to the point that she crippled one of them. Unfortunately, he had a difficult background and the academy had to bend over and fulfill his requirements.

As a result, she had to kneel in public and beg for her life, but it seemed to the guy that this was not enough, and he sent his henchmen to kill her at night, but she dealt with them, losing her left eye. She hurriedly fled from the academy back to the kingdom of Jorgen. But then she discovered that her father had died from a strange illness. In addition, without one eye, her coordination deteriorated, and it became much more difficult for her to fight. But with her hard work, she overcame everything and became a general of the kingdom, proving her strategic mind and courage in battle.

If you think about it, her story is a bit like the story of the main character of some novel about overcoming oneself. While I was thinking, the time approached one o'clock in the afternoon. I got up from the sofa, went to my chambers and took a straight blade in a golden sheath from the wall, I hung it on my belt and headed for the exit, where Almeria was already waiting for me. I said with a laugh.

- It's time to get rid of a few bastards!

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I have a gnawing feeling that the chapter turned out to be about nothing, but the strange thing is that this is about how I imagined it. I was debating whether to rewrite it or not, but in the end I chose to post it. Dispel or confirm my doubts, please.