When I say tyrant, I immediately think of Nobunaga and Nero in my memories of my previous life. In my memory of this world, Isteria III, the emperor of the Lucius Empire 150 years ago, can also be considered a tyrant.

Out of these three people, I excluded Isetria III from being my model, as people would think that I'm imitating him, and that's bad for my image.

So I decided to refer to how Nobunaga and Nero ruled during their respective reigns.

I want to be a tyrant, but I don't want to destroy our country or be assassinated by someone, so I'll just use them as my reference and not exactly copy what they did.

I'm sure Sophia would be able to easily adjust to my new way of handling things.

"And with that, I want to construct a big theater and do a reform on commerce."

"Is that really what you wanted to do?"

Sophia then leans her cheeks on her desk, which is next to mine, and then she looks at me as if I'm some kind of idiot.

"I'm not kidding! I'm serious about this!"

"I understand that you want to become a tyrant, but is that really what you want to do for your first move as a tyrant?"

"Listen, what I'm proposing is based on ancient wisdom, and history has already proven that it works."

I then took out a map book of the royal capital from the bookshelf, opened the map, and pointed out the southwest corner of the map.

"There's a slum around here, right? We will demolish that area, and we will build a large theater there. If we did that, people from the slums would have jobs as construction workers for the theater, and once the construction is finished, we would be able to hire people from the slums and the general public as employees and performers in the theater. This is killing two birds with one stone. Also, since we will be going to demolish their houses, then they will have to rent the inn temporarily; that's why we will also build a dormitory for them so that they can live there."

Sophia then holds up three fingers.

"There are three problems with your proposition. First, what about those who don't want to work in the first place or those who can't work because of an illness or a permanent injury?"

"People who don't want to work are the people who don't pay taxes in the first place, right? If they are a hindrance to my national policy, then wouldn't it be better to kick them out? If they were kicked out of the slums, then they will probably look for another place to live. Next are those who are unable to work due to an illness or an injury. In the first place, those are the people that we must protect, regardless of whether we are going to build this theater or not. If we don't take care of our people, then it will be seen as the negligence of the government. That's why let's protect them and immediately send them to a medical facility."*

Sophia let out a "Hmmm" sound, then she took out a piece of paper and wrote something down.

"Ok next, You know theaters are an entertainment that nobles mainly use right? There are already five theaters in the royal capital. How can we expect to gain profits if we build a sixth theater?"

"This theater is for the commoners, you know?"

"Huh?"

Sophia was so shocked by what she'd heard that she opened her mouth and dropped her pen. Now, that is really unusual for her to do that.

"Didn't I already said it during the time when the monkey went on a rampage?"

"You mean that time when you broke up with your ex fiancee?"

A moment of silence falls between us. After a while, I let out a small growl, after all, I won't lose heart over something like that.

"During the monkey's rampage, I said that the commoners also needed to be educated, right?"

"I thought you'd said that because of the heat of the moment, and you won't actually do it."

Sophia then sighted then she looked straight at me.

"In the first place, if you just tell people to learn, you can't expect them to do it right away, can you? If we start the compulsory education system next year, even if the children are educated, if the parents are not educated, the children's education will be wasted. Also, how does the education of the commoners have anything to do with the theater that you are going to build?"

"At the large theater, even ordinary people can put on a performance for the masses at an affordable price that anyone can purchase if they splurge a little bit. Also, if their performance requires some knowledge, wouldn't that be enough reason for their parents to be interested in learning? In the first place, there's too little entertainment for the commoners. Did you know that commoners do not buy books because they believe that books are only for nobles?"

I learned this the other day when I was making my rounds around the royal capital on a whim.

I was surprised to see that a lot of bookstores that mainly sell books for the commoners are quite deserted.

Although books aren't exactly cheap enough for a commoner to buy on the spur of the moment, reading is something that many people associate with nobles.

"That's why we will give the commoners a taste of entertainment for cheap for the first time to let them know that things like theaters and books aren't just for the nobles."

Sophia then puts her hand on her chin and ponders what I have just said.

"Hey, I thought about it when you broke up with your ex-fiancée, but..."

"Go on, continue with what you were going to say, I'm fine."

I then scratched my head and urged her to continue.

"In the first place, the nobles are restricting the spread of knowledge among the commoners because it's one way of preventing a rebellion, right? Knowing that, do you really still think it's fine for the commoners to gain knowledge?"

"Knowledgeable commoners will revolt against the nobility if the nobility commits injustice, right? Just think about it. If all people were as smart as you, would you be willing to be used by the nobility and royalty?"

Sophia seemed to remember something as she burst out laughing.

"Certainly. If I were a commoner, I would become a merchant, and I wouldn't involve myself in politics."

"See? Also, even if the commoners aren't knowledgeable, the kingdom will still be in danger if the commoners with no knowledge are incited to go on a revolt by someone who is more or less a smart idiot. That's why, in order to prevent that from happening, it's necessary for the commoners to acquire the wisdom of the nobility."

In my previous life, it was proven time and time again that blind idiots pretending to be smart always incite the idiots who think they are smart by saying things like "All your suffering and misfortunes are caused by society and the government.".

I have no intention of letting that happen in this kingdom.

Sophia seemed to understand what I'm trying to say, she raised her three fingers again, but this time she put down the two of them.

"Then, lastly, where are we going to get the funds for the cost of removing the slums and the construction of the theater?"

"That's where the reform in commerce comes in."

I answer Sophia while remembering the state of the royal capital that I visited the other day while I was incognito.

"In the first place, we don't need gold coins, right?"

"Huh?"

Sophia looked at me again as if I were an idiot.

"Just think about it: how many exactly are the gold coins circulating in this kingdom? Commoners only use copper and silver, right? Adventurers may get gold coins depending on their job, but in the end, they will exchange them for silver coins to use them in the city, right? Nobles may use it to some extent, but in reality they mainly use checks, and transactions are completed by exchanging numbers within the merchant guild and the bank."

"Now that you say it, you're right. Even merchants only use checks or, in some instances, promissory notes."

"Right? That's why gold coins are just stored in a vault somewhere. And I want to get those gold coins."

"Can you really do that?"

"As a country, it's a big time gamble, but if we can successfully do this, then we will progress by leaps and bounds, and we will have a huge advantage over the other kingdoms."

I'm not that knowledgeable about this, but I believe Sophia and other ministers will do a good job... Well, I hope that they do.

I then cleared my throat and looked straight at Sophia so that my anxiety wouldn't show on my face.

"We will issue a check with a fixed denomination—a banknote, so to speak."

"Paper money, huh? What if people make counterfeits of the banknotes?"

I expected her to ask me that question.

I once again remembered the time when I went incognito the other day and smiled at Sophia.

"Sophia, do you know, when you become an adventurer, you will be issued a guild card?"

"Yeah I know that much.... Ah!"

Sophia, whose brain works terrifyingly fast, seems to have arrived at the answer on her own in just a matter of seconds.

"The guild cards are imbued with magic so that it's impossible to counterfeit, tamper, or deface them. Are you also going to use the same magic on the banknotes that you are planning to create?"

"That's right, and if we put serial numbers on them, we can easily tell the status of their distribution in the economy."

"If we issue banknotes and exchange them for gold coins, then the gold coins that weren't being used will be returned to the national treasury."

In reality, doing this kind of thing isn't easy because there are a lot of outside factors involved, such as foreign exchange fluctuations, inflation and deflation rates, and so on. But I'm sure Sophia and the people from the Treasury Department will take care of all of those.

Well, I'm a tyrant after all, that's why I can just command them to do that.

Sophia then started scribbling different formulas and other things on a piece of paper with great speed, after a while, she looked at me.

"We need to talk to the Minister of Finance and the Chief of the Court Mages. I'll go talk to them right now."

When Sophia said that, she got up from her seat.

"Hey, it seems you have forgotten about the large theater; what are you going to do about it?"

"If what I'm going to do really goes well, then I'm sure we can build as many as you want. So all you need to do is just stay there and wait in anticipation."

Sophia must be really excited, as when she passed me, she gave me a wink and a nice smile before she hurriedly left the office.

"Before you wink like that, please think about how old you are..."

I mutter, smiling wryly.

I'm sure it's just my imagination that my face is so hot right now.



Note:

1. The original and exact translation to one of the line on this is: Wouldn't it be better to cut them off? I changed it because it sounded like he wants to kill them rather than to kicked them out.