Volume 4 Chapter 44 - Being king isn’t a happy matter (1/2)

Eric stared at the document in his hand and deeply knit his brows.

After a while, he let out a long sigh and put the document down. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to relax a bit.

After reviewing documents for an entire afternoon, taking no breaks other than going to the washroom, he was naturally very tired.

Looking at the high pile of documents on the table, Eric couldn’t help revealing a bitter smile.

Before taking the throne he had fantasized that it would be a very happy and satisfying matter if he could become this country’s king.

But now that he had taken the throne, other than being happy for the first few days, he had been working without stop for the past half a year, having no time to rest at all.

This very busy life made him think fondly of the time when he could lounge around as a prince.

At that time, he didn’t need to think of national matters, he could eat, sleep, and play whenever he wanted.

But now that he was king, because he was too busy, he couldn’t sleep well, he barely had time to eat every day and didn’t have a moment of free time.

As for playing? He was even reviewing documents in his dream!

He didn’t care when he saw his father busily managing documents, but now that he was doing it himself, he understood that being a king really wasn’t a comfortable thing.

Actually, he knew that the reason why he felt tired was because he wasn’t satisfied.

Why did he want to become king? Naturally it was because being king gave you the greatest power in this kingdom.

But after he became king, he found that he didn’t control any power at all.

No one cared when he spoke or gave an order, so what meaning was there in being a king?

“Du, du.”

There was a knock from the door and before Eric could answer, it was opened and a familiar figure came in.

Seeing this middle aged man who always walked casually in front of him and acted like a ruler slowly come up in front of him, Eric forced out a smile.

“Duke Stagg, do you need something?”

Duke Stagg bent his waist slightly, which could be considered a bow to Eric.

“Your majesty, I’ve disrupted you now is to tell you that the military budget conference is coming up in three days.”

Duke Stagg’s tone was calm without any waves, but Eric’s heart skipped a beat when he heard this.

After being silent for a while, Eric finally asked, “Duke Stagg, is there something you wish to mention regarding this?”

“Yes.” Duke Stagg nodded, “I’ve heard that your majesty wants to increase the budget this year, especially the budget for the northern army, right?”

Eric knit his brows. He only started a slight rumour and this Duke Stagg came right away, not giving him any room at all.

But he was only thinking this and still had the same smile, “Un, I did have this idea. According to the reports, the Sack Kingdom is preparing to cause trouble. In order to protect the border, it’s appropriate to increase the military budget. Moveover, the kingdom’s revenue has been good this year, so there shouldn’t be a problem with increasing the budget.”

Duke Stagg was silent for a bit before asking, “Your majesty, have you not considered a very important problem?”

“What problem?”

“At the beginning of next year, the loan that you owe many nobles will expire. If you can’t pay this debt when the time comes, you’ll lose many important supporters……”

“Debt?” Eric deeply knit his brows.

This so-called debt was the investments the nobles had made in him before he took the throne.

Only those fellows had called it a donation before. But once he took the throne, these donations immediately became debts and they requested Eric to repay these debts.

The ten companies that the magic machine industry management department chose were backed by these fellows.

Eric had always found the Frestech Chamber of Commerce a nuisance, so using this, not only did he cleanse the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, he also repaid his debt. This was killing two birds with one stone.

Moreover, having the Frestech Chamber of Commerce hand over the technology was very good for the kingdom.