I ignored the former king while the head maid pressed him into a corner. I told her later, yet she already started.
「Every dragon Noie defeats will become the property of the new unit. For now, let’s call the people handling them the Processing Division…… They will receive the corpses, handle dismantling, manufacturing, and product conversion. The goods will then be sold to merchants, and the payment will go to Augusta.
From that money, the Processing Division will first be paid operating expenses. The national army guarding things like dragon corpse storage sites will also bill you for labor costs and miscellaneous expenses, so those will need to be paid as well. In other words, after covering all expenses and paying your subordinates’ wages, whatever remains becomes Noie’s income. Taxes will be applied to that remainder, so the amount will decrease further.」
While the former king trembled in the corner of the room under pursuit by the head maid, onii-sama moved over to the sofa where we were sitting.
He wrote things down on paper while the rest of us added comments and refined the proposal together.
「Wouldn’t the Processing Division be able to falsify payments partway through?」
「Then why not just establish fixed processing fees? Like setting a price per job. That way, the Processing Division would know exactly how much income they’d make based on the number of dragons processed, making expenses and labor costs easier to calculate too.」
「In that case, it might also be good to establish a daily processing limit. Then merchants could regularly receive fixed quantities of goods.」
「Ah～. I’ll leave the money calculations to you guys.」
One person had already dropped out, so now it was basically a one-on-one battle with the new king.
I wanted things tilted in our favor as much as possible, but Noie’s income had become a problem already. Maybe it was actually better if it decreased a little.
More importantly, Noie didn’t hunt dragons for money.
It was simply her life’s work.
「Then maybe it’s better to establish fixed numbers from the start. Taking dragon appearances into account, the kingdom can determine a reasonable daily hunting quota and manage things that way. Then we can just tell Noie to freely hunt however many dragons are assigned within the allotted time.」
Onii-sama nodded at my suggestion.
「True. That would stabilize tax revenue too.」
「Yeah. Plus, it’d make scheduling Noie’s breaks easier. Honestly, it feels better overall that way.」
「Not bad. We’ll use this as the draft proposal and discuss the details further later.」
It felt like we’d discussed every tiny detail imaginable, but at least we now had a draft proposal.
Though honestly, when they called it a “draft”, it probably already meant the final version.
My idiot aniki, who had been watching our father get bullied by the head maid, finally noticed we were done discussing finances and looked back at us.
The annoyed look on his face was incredibly irritating.
「You really are obsessed with giving Noie breaks, huh? Wouldn’t she rather hunt dragons every single day?」
「I get what you’re saying…… but isn’t everyone forgetting something important?」
「What would that be?」
Whether they truly forgot or simply never realized it, the thing Noie wanted most right now was this:
「If Noie gets pregnant, who’s going to hunt the dragons?」
The moment those words left my mouth, everyone in the office froze.
Don’t tell me…… every single one of them forgot about that?
Or maybe they noticed and deliberately ignored it.
「……I had completely forgotten about that.」
Whoa there, onii-sama. Seriously?
「Noie could probably still handle it even while pregnant, right?」
You want to make a pregnant woman hunt dragons? Great. I’ll ask the head maid to discipline this idiot aniki later.
「The queen and I would also like to hold a grandchild soon…… but I see. In Noie’s case, that problem exists.」
If it was a girl, I’d reject with all my might the idea of the former king holding her. She’d probably become contaminated.
「……Shall I prepare more tea?」
Only the head maid remained completely unfazed. As expected of the head maid.
《I certainly couldn’t allow myself to be called Great Aunt. At that point……》
I heard an ominous mutter, but I’m sure it was just my imagination. More importantly, I really wanted to know what would happen at that point. Though it also felt like hearing the answer would mark the end of something, so I didn’t actually want to ask.
「But seriously, what do we do, aniki?」
「……We’ll have to ask her to avoid pregnancy during the seasons when dragon activity is at its worst. On the other hand, if she conceives now and gives birth during winter…… no, that would be difficult too.」
「Yeah. The cool season before the rainy period would become the problem.」
Both my brothers fell into serious thought.
Then the former king, looking utterly exhausted, returned and sat down on the sofa.
「But before Noie started hunting dragons, things somehow worked out, right?」
「……The numbers back then and now are overwhelmingly different. Before Noie arrived, only a handful appeared each day. Now it’s dozens. Honestly, the rate at which dragons are increasing is abnormal.」
I understood after hearing onii-sama’s explanation.
And at the same time, I realized once more how difficult it was for Noie to easily become pregnant.
I understand. As her husband, knowing how desperately Noie wants children, I truly do want to do everything possible to help make that happen.
But there’s another me inside my head thinking this:
『I still want a little more time alone together with Noie, flirting and enjoying ourselves.』
I understand that too. Which is why I’ve never once used contraception until now. Because I know she wants children…… though more importantly, does this world even have contraception?
I’ve never once seen anything like condoms here.
「Uh～. May I ask a very late question?」
「What is it, idiot?」
「……Does this world have contraceptives?」
The moment I swallowed my embarrassment and asked, the former king and my idiot aniki burst out laughing.
I was about to ask the head maid to punish both of them later too, but when I explained the situation after she returned with the tea prepared, she simply snorted in amusement.
In the end, my serious onii-sama explained it to me.
Apparently, this world had no contraceptives.
To begin with, relationships between men and women were considered acts for creating children, so using tools to prevent that was viewed as defeating the purpose entirely.
In the end, all I got out of it was embarrassment.
As for the issue of Noie’s pregnancy, everyone agreed to postpone the matter and deal with it once she actually became pregnant.
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