Witch Troupe and the Undead

The disdain and doubt that arose from the little witch's appearance and height vanished instantly. Of course, the side effect was that, in their minds, Livia had become an old witch who had lived for who knows how long, pretending to be young.

After catching her breath, Livia began to explain yesterday's test paper. Unsurprisingly, she simply read the lesson plan verbatim and finished it in half a class period. Then, she looked at the lucky few students with expectant eyes, only to be met with fear and confusion. So she had to go back and explain it again, this time adding more explanations and elaborations.

The students below could only say that "it seems like they understand, but they don't really understand. Please explain it again." This made Livia sigh again, and she asked Alessina to bring in a new stack of test papers to distribute.

The consequence of her actions was that, for the first time since becoming dean, Ms. Elena was bombarded with questions from a large number of students, which made her wonder when the academic atmosphere of the college had become so profound. How did these slackers manage to be so dedicated to learning?

Therefore, she had to go over the questions Livia had given her again in her large class. With the help of the two instructors' explanations, this time no one submitted a blank paper.

Livia and Roach's actions seemed to give the other mentors a glimmer of hope. While they did need to teach something real, at least they wouldn't have to suffer from a bunch of idiots and monkeys!

You see, for someone without teaching experience, how to cram knowledge into someone else's mind is a very troublesome thing, especially since this is a serious magic academy with many practical courses. The professors are genuinely afraid that these monkeys will blow up their lab.

Even if they don't, if they go out and say that they were taught by a great master, they might not ruin their reputation in the academic world, but they will definitely be infamous in the education field and among their peers, especially those who are not familiar with them, which could damage their reputation.

Between "teaching something real" and "being harmed in the public eye," they usually choose the former. But the problem is that it's really hard to teach these monkeys something real. After all, as the saying goes, they lack teaching experience. Education is a serious discipline, a practical subject guided by scientific theory. It's not something that can be achieved simply through enthusiasm and high academic level.

"Everyone, today's lesson is about correcting the mistakes made in the last Potions practice class. This is a Potions practice exam; take it home and do it, it's due next Tuesday."

"Today's ritual theory lesson will begin with a short quiz..."

"The practical session on potion identification will begin next Friday. Before that, here is a reference book on 100 commonly used potion plants. Memorize it by next Wednesday. We will then give a small test. Those who fail will have to memorize it in the classroom on their own next Friday. The rest of you will come with me to the greenhouse."

The professors found that this greatly reduced the difficulty and workload of their teaching work, because they only needed to target the wrongdoers one by one, and they also learned Old Ma's style of comments.

What? This will damage students' enthusiasm for learning and create mental stress? Which of the four colleges doesn't require mental resilience? If you can't handle it, just drop out and go home.

As future government officials, the students of the General Education College will not only have to bear the pressure from the consequences of their decisions, but also the pressure from the nobility. Without the ability to withstand pressure, they might be driven to a complete frenzy by the pile of nobles within three days of taking office, or they might become disheartened and become complicit in corruption.

Needless to say, the Alchemy Academy is a must-see. Remember this: even if you're not in the Explosion Sage's lab, just one extra drop from your dropper is enough to blast your handsome face and reputation to smithereens.

Needless to say, the Secret Court requires that even in the heat of battle, when a knife is about to stab someone in the face, they must keep the incantation spells perfectly accurate. Without that kind of mental fortitude, they probably wouldn't survive long.

The final Stargazing Temple truly requires the most mental resilience, because they study divination and prophecy. Prophecy emphasizes one thing: if you're wrong, you have to withstand the pressure; if you're right, you have to withstand even more pressure, especially when the divination result is bad. Before that bad thing happens, the psychological endurance required of the diviner is extremely high.

The traditional belief of the Star Gazing Institute is that "nine out of ten fortune tellers are crazy." In other words, if they really want to be fortune tellers and don't want to go crazy, they are indeed selected from people with high psychological resilience. Another reason why fortune tellers never divine about themselves is this—not because their fate will change or anything, but simply because divining about themselves can easily lead to madness—especially for those who don't believe in superstitions and divine when they will die.

Although many of the students in the academy are just there to get a degree and not more than a third of them will actually get a professional title in the future, it doesn't hurt to put them through some intense training at this stage to prevent them from having a mental breakdown later. If they have a breakdown now, at worst they'll drop out and go home, but if they have a breakdown later, who knows what the consequences will be?

Giant Rock Palace.

"Ms. Elena, Master Roach and Princess Livia have been at the academy for almost a week now. Are they satisfied?"

The emperor's condition was somewhat better than before, but he was still haggard. After confirming that he had been poisoned and that the so-called "poison of the sages" had completely invaded his lungs and internal organs, and that even if the poison was removed, his damaged body could not be repaired, he accelerated the training of Freya and began to entrust some of the political affairs to her and her advisors, while he himself only made final checks.

This naturally frees up a lot of time to concern themselves with trivial matters, such as the recent confusion among the nobles. They have discovered that their rascals have suddenly become more obedient, which is not a compliment for nobles.

"Well, Master Roach seems quite satisfied, but Miss Livia seems a bit... at a loss." After all, no one understands her explanations each time, but the accuracy rate of the assignments is not low. Even the simple-minded little witch feels that something is not right, but she can't figure out what is wrong.

"I see. Has there been some unrest at the academy recently?"

“No,” Elena answered definitively. Turmoil? What turmoil? Those guys who used to loiter around doing nothing are now reserving long-term seats in the library. This is great news for a dean who does have some sense of educational responsibility!

Even the less responsible professors felt it was much better than these kids staying up all night wandering around and trying to steal materials from their labs.

“However, several lords have said that their children have been acting strangely lately.” “If they think the Imperial Academy is not capable of properly educating their precious heirs, they can take them back. After all, the budget is indeed a bit tight right now, and these young masters are finding it difficult to receive decent care in the academy,” Elena said irritably.

"Oh, dear Elena, don't say that. That's not what they meant. They meant how those bastards suddenly became good overnight!"

The emperor immediately changed his tone. In fact, the nobles meant the same thing. They were not questioning Elena, but simply expressing their confusion and wanting to know what had happened. Of course, when the emperor relayed the message, he would naturally embellish it according to the situation and Elena's attitude.

"I see~" As long as they didn't come to interrogate her, that's fine, and Elena does have some experience with this kind of thing.

"This is a valuable lesson from Master Roach, who said: If a child is disobedient, it's because he hasn't given enough homework."

“Yes, that’s true.” The Emperor decided to increase the intensity of Freya’s tutor’s workload as well. “That makes a lot of sense, but if there’s too much homework, wouldn’t it be… I mean, some noble children do need to inherit the family business, and they need some time and personal space in terms of social interaction and family management.”

This is also an objective fact that Elena cannot deny. Unless this person can reach her or Livia's level directly after graduating from school, or at least reach Master Roch's level, then there is no need to consider social issues. Otherwise, the social interactions that nobles must have are something to consider.

"Well, Master Roach also offered a solution to this. In his hometown, there's a saying: sleep, socialize, study. Of these three S's, you can only choose two."

You can choose either sleep and socializing, and Elena will process your withdrawal from school; or you can choose study and sleep, and forget about socializing. Or you can choose study and socializing, but sleep? How can someone so young sleep?!

"That makes sense!" The emperor nodded in agreement. Sleep? Sleep what! When I first ascended the throne, I could only sleep for a maximum of four hours a day!

"I will speak with those nobles," the emperor said, indicating that this reason was enough to convince the nobles. Although most of those nobles were also inheriting the blessings of their ancestors and were themselves useless, it didn't mean they wanted to see their descendants be just as useless. After all, it wasn't them who couldn't sleep.

Even the most doting noble ladies would absolutely side with Elena on this issue. In fact, the more they loved their children, the more they would support this approach—sleep? This world has magic and potions! It's not like we can't afford energy potions, so give it a good pounding!

Element Science Classroom.

Livia brought over a chair. Standing for an entire class was too strenuous for her, so sitting was the better option. To elevate herself above the podium while seated, she placed a thick stack of books on the chair, then added a soft cushion. That would suffice. Beneath her pink and white skirt, a pair of small, jade-like feet swung back and forth, seemingly in a very good mood.

"Clang~" Alessina carried in a wooden box filled with bottles and jars. The witch's own concoction of "Potential Intelligence Enhancer," "Potential Concentration Potion," and "Extreme Energy Supplement"—a three-in-one potion—was swaying inside, emitting a mesmerizing glow.

Yes, it's true that she personally prepared the ingredients, but it wasn't like what most people imagine—brewing them bottle by bottle. She brewed three different potions in one pot at once, enough for an entire class. As for bottling... "You're already mature spoons and bottles; you should learn to bottle them yourselves!"

She clearly didn't realize that the reason everyone hadn't learned it was her fault, but rather that it was because these people lacked intelligence and concentration. As a true Potions Master, her first reaction was—to drink the potion, just like Roach had done!

The noble students might not have thought much of the "one bottle per person" thing, but the ordinary students were already showing expressions of being flattered. The instructor was giving out a bottle of magic potion worth at least 10 gold coins before class. What kind of merciful deity was this?!

Yes, this potion does cost more than 10 gold coins on the market. The most expensive of the three potions, the Energy Potion, costs 5 gold coins, and the other two cost 4 gold coins, which adds up to 12 gold coins. However, if you mix the three potions together and they don't turn into a deadly poison, the price won't be that.

Of course, for the witch, the cost of this potion is 150 gold coins per batch. Considering that she can mix and refine potions and that there is almost no waste in mass production, the cost per bottle is very low after spreading it out.

Furthermore, the materials, equipment, and even the bottles all came from the academy. Therefore, for Livia, the only cost was the labor fee.

"Drink it first," the witch whispered. The commoner students had already started pouring it into their mouths without hesitation. Then... the dark and deep taste, with a texture like sticky, slippery tentacles growing from the other side of a nightmare, flooded into their throats and quickly took over their brains and entire bodies.

"Ugh~!" As if they had returned from the other side of death, everyone had lifeless eyes, distorted expressions, and traces of medicine still on their lips.

Obviously, with such mass production, the little witch wouldn't have the ability to adjust the taste of the potion after mixing. In her opinion, as long as the potion is effective, the taste is unimportant!

Chapter 233 Bloodshed is imminent!

"What!?" Princess Freya's dessert fell silently onto the plate, her expression blank and her eyes lifeless. "What do you mean I'm in charge of these?" She pointed to the several large boxes of documents that the servants had brought over, the royal steward standing solemnly beside her, and the several new tutors.

"Does Your Majesty mean this will be your daily homework from now on?" The head eunuch's eyes held envy mixed with a hint of sympathy. The envy was because it meant that her status as the crown prince was basically confirmed, since only with this status could she be qualified to observe politics and even have this kind of practice opportunity. As for the sympathy... it was because the amount of this "homework" was a bit too much.

"..." Freya looked at her advisors beside her, her eyes filled with a pleading look that seemed to say, "Where are my men? Please save them!" However, her advisors were so overwhelmed by the joy of this opportunity that they completely ignored the princess's desperate plea.

"..." Freya carefully picked up the top document, "The Imperial Fourth Quarter Financial Summary Report." From the emperor's perspective, his daughter was the only one who could generate a financial surplus. And an empress who could make money, if not a good ruler, was at least not a bad one.

Because money allows one to train and control the army, and control of the army means that no matter how bad the politics are, no one will dare to openly oppose them.

At the same time, having a fiscal surplus means that in the event of natural disasters or man-made calamities, there are sufficient resources and funds to fill the gaps. As long as these gaps are roughly covered up, then the rule is basically stable.

On Earth, the most obvious example is the Song Dynasty, which was particularly good at making money. Even though the price was that it squeezed the entire country dry and there were more uprisings of all sizes than the later Yuan Dynasty, it was still able to maintain this mess and even had extra money to pay protection fees, which is enough to illustrate the point.

And how could someone so capable of making money not be involved in financial affairs? So this box was full of financial reports, the Empire's income and expenditure details, the Royal Family's income and expenditure details, as well as documents from various regions requesting funds and money. These were handed over to Freya to handle. Of course, the Emperor ultimately needed to review them, since being able to make money and knowing how to spend it are two different things.

"Your Majesty means that you would be better off producing a budget proposal for the first quarter of next year by next month."

"...Kill me!"

"What!?"

"I said kill me right now!" Freya firmly slammed the file back on the table. What the hell do you mean by "budget proposal by next month"? She only knew the phrase itself; what the hell is a budget proposal? What the hell is a budget?! And it's already the middle of the month!

“No need for a detailed plan, just a general one. Look at the reasons why each region is asking for money, then examine the income and expenditure results, determine our current surplus and approximate revenue for next year, and provide a general plan based on priorities.” The advisor finally began to exert his efforts, and Freya breathed a slight sigh of relief. “Then I’ll leave it all to you!”

"This...this won't do, Your Highness!!!" If she were to call her Empress Freya now, her staff would have to throw a banquet to celebrate, as it meant that the position of Minister of Finance was secure—what a lucrative post!

But now she's called Princess Freya, and the Emperor is overseeing things. If anything goes wrong, she won't be in trouble, but her entire family will be executed. So, this is something that only Princess Freya can handle personally, and they can only assist from the sidelines.

If the princess said, "It was all his/her idea, and I couldn't stop her," all of them, her advisors, would be dead. But if they said it, the matter could be big or small, and in the end, they would definitely have to take the blame for the princess.

However, everyone knows that this is a false accusation, at most the person in question will die, but not the whole family. But the former would really mean the death of the whole family. These smart people understand very well which is more important.

"..." Freya picked up the already sorted documents. The contents were a request for funds. The sender was Earl Anta of the Black Wheat Valley County. The reason was that the territory had been attacked by bandits, resulting in heavy casualties. Hundreds of people were brutally murdered, and various noble families suffered losses of varying degrees. The request was for the Empire to reduce or exempt taxes and noble tributes for next year. At the same time, the request was for the Empire to allocate funds, otherwise the various supplies of the Black Wheat Valley County would be in trouble, and even the economy would suffer significant losses.

Freya didn't care. She had seen plenty of these kinds of documents. The reasons her stewards who managed the royal assets gave for asking for money were far more elaborate than this. Whether she could convince the princess was not important; what mattered was convincing the others.

Otherwise, if this funding proposal remains unresolved for too long, they'll have to go to the octagon—either with the opposition or with those who haven't received the money. In any case, it'll be a real life-or-death situation.

This had an immediate and significant positive impact on the writing skills and official document drafting of these managers selected from the lower and middle classes; at the very least, they no longer made grammatical errors.

But when she turned to the second page, she rubbed her eyes, turned back to the first page, and was completely stunned. She didn't know much about finance and accounting, but even with Freya's elementary school level of arithmetic, she knew that 20 gold coins was definitely not a small number. At least she counted on her fingers for a while before she was sure that the number was not filled in wrong, it really was in the hundreds of thousands place, and the unit was gold coins!

Freya was silent for a few seconds, wanting to send the request for funds back, but her advisor said it was best not to, because at the very least, appeasement was needed for the nobles. In other words, 200,000 gold coins was impossible, but 20,000 gold coins could be squeezed out. However, this would not be in cash, and would not be given all at once, but rather in several installments or as tax credit.

"Find me the output tables and tax records of the Anta Territory over the years, along with their remittance documents." Freya's expression was extremely serious; this was the first time the princess had shown such an expression, as if she were about to get down to business. This greatly pleased her advisors. Could it be...?

"...I have a question?" The princess didn't look at the documents carefully; apart from glancing at the product list, she only looked at the results of the rest.

Does anyone have a price list for mercenaries?

"Um, what do you need this for?"

“Useful,” the princess said, glancing again at the cheese production list before turning to the Royal Guard commander beside her. “Go to the military headquarters and find this nobleman’s publicly disclosed military deployment list. Also, ask the military if they have any trustworthy mercenaries, and have the head of the Military Intelligence Bureau come see me.”

"You suspect there's something fishy about this request for funds? Are you planning to send someone to investigate?" This was the first thing the staff member thought of, rather than planning to hire mercenaries to kill the person requesting the funds and their entire family.

"..." Freya didn't say anything. What she was thinking was completely different from what her subordinates were thinking. Her idea was, if I have 20,000 gold coins, why not spend 5000 gold coins to hire a mercenary group to kill this Earl Anta and then reclaim the territory?

Didn't he say he suffered heavy losses? That means his military strength has decreased significantly, and he can probably get a discount by hiring mercenaries.

"How much money would it take to bribe the other minor nobles under Count Anta?" Freya threw the documents in front of the Military Intelligence Bureau. "Do you have 20,000 gold coins?"

"Are you planning to buy them all at once, or..."

"Anyway, it seems he can't pay wages. So, do you think they'll help me if I pay these knights?"

"This...we need to discuss it." The head of the military intelligence agency hadn't expected the princess to have this idea, but upon closer examination, it seemed to have some feasibility.

Why do you think that?

"Because he asks for the most money," Freya said matter-of-factly. Count Anta asked for the most money, while the requests from other minor nobles were much less. Of course, this was a common tacit understanding in politics. After all, you can't ask for 20 if your superior asks for 30. Even if the empire is out of its mind, the money will never reach you.

Therefore, according to their noble titles, they would request tribute in turn. To an emperor who understood politics, this meant that they were actually in the same camp, just like all the officials were submitting a memorial together.

This is simply an expression of attitude, meaning that you will stand with the Earl through thick and thin. You can't afford to offend all the nobles, can you? So you have to compromise, and the extent of the compromise depends on the number and scale of the nobles who made this statement.

However, Freya had no idea what politics was. She simply calculated the cost-effectiveness of satisfying the minor nobles and the leading group. After reviewing the information her subordinates had obtained, she found that satisfying the minor nobles and then hiring a mercenary group would only cost a little over 10,000 gold coins.

And it won't affect her cheese dessert supply. In fact, she even plans to incorporate this specialty into her business and make the "Freya Desserts Brand" bigger and stronger.

"I heard that there's a railway line along that route, right?"

"The old line is almost completely abandoned."

"What about the repair costs?"

"It's not too high. Master Roach and his group came from the old route before. According to their account, the section from the capital to Anta Territory only requires rebuilding the Greystone River Bridge."

“Hmm, have them repair the bridge, saying the gold coins need to be transported safely, or have Count Anta send his own men to the capital to escort them.” Freya thought for a moment, then looked at the head of the military intelligence agency who was daydreaming and not paying any attention to her. “Contact two trusted thief gangs. When they take the gold coins out of the capital, rob them back. Just say… well, it was done by people hired by Grand Duke Fresso.”

The intelligence chief froze for a moment, then looked at the princess with disbelief, his expression clearly saying, "No, you're not that pretty face! Who are you?! That pretty face couldn't possibly have come up with such a vicious idea!"

"What if they wait for me to build the railway?"

"Spend 20,000 gold coins to hire more people, and take another 10,000 gold coins with you. Once you get there, distribute the 10,000 gold coins to the minor and middle nobles. Then, use the 20,000 gold coins to hire people to pacify the Anta territory and say that the remaining major nobles have rebelled. Then, spend another 10,000 gold coins to send the Imperial Guard to pacify those nobles as well."

Princess Freya wasn't really stupid, and she had a bigger characteristic compared to the old emperor: she was much more ruthless. She didn't care how many people died; in fact, she was quite happy just thinking about the scene and couldn't wait to see this battle of the strong!

As for what might happen if the plan were to leak, she didn't care. That's just how she thought. And that's how she handled the previous industry issues too. It didn't matter if she couldn't solve the problem; getting rid of the people who caused it was also a solution.

As for who should rule the territory, she didn't care whether the bureaucracy in the capital was sufficient. After all, she wasn't an empress, and she'd let the old emperor worry about such trivial matters. However, she did have some ideas about local specialties.

She hadn't tried this local specialty cheese yet, so of course she had to grab it. And supposedly there were other local specialties as well, all of which were incorporated into her trade association alliance, and after further processing, they were exported to all directions from the capital.

As for how to satisfy the princess's gluttonous appetite while also meeting the needs of various regions, those merchants will solve the problem themselves. If they can't solve the problem, then whoever caused the problem should be put in the octagon to give her an explanation—I believe that under the iron fist of their accomplices who are eager to get away with their crimes, they will all confess honestly.

Princess Freya inadvertently exploited the prisoner's dilemma in this regard. After all, when several accomplices are stuffed into an octagon and told that if they don't want to confess, they can duel and the winner will be innocent, then after being hit by a few more of their accomplices' iron fists, their alliance will collapse on the spot.

Even collusion and conspiracy are impossible, because you can't tell from appearances whether there's collusion or not, but it's immediately obvious whether your punch is heavy enough and whether you splatter enough blood from the nose.

If you take drastic measures, then unless it's a life-or-death friendship and someone is willing to sacrifice their own happiness for the happiness of millions like a martyr, they will definitely turn against each other; but if you don't take drastic measures... then the eyes of the "people" in the stands are truly "sharp".

They have zero tolerance for this kind of lenient treatment and match-fixing, because they actually bought tickets and would really shout "RNM, refund our money!"

At this point, the princess would thoughtfully replace their opponents with the victims, charging them a "revenge fee" and a "life-or-death contract fee," then locking them and the victims in a cage together, and selling tickets for another round.

It has to be said that this kind of revenge drama is really popular with the masses. Every time such a scene appears, the princess's tickets sell out very quickly.

This is why she managed to turn the Empire's finances from deficit to surplus by relying on the Octagon and the Council. On the one hand, some of the more obvious instigators were eliminated by the princess and the Octagon, and on the other hand, the entrance fees and revenge fees she collected were really high!

There were even people asking about the private fees for getting the Imperial Minister into the Octagon, but the Emperor stopped them because he believed it would cause large-scale political turmoil. The princess was very disappointed because she felt that she had eyes to watch such battles between powerful figures!

Yes, residents of the capital and surrounding cities probably think the same way. To witness such a battle of the strong is worth dying for!

"Regarding the arena, there have been several massacres in the capital recently, which may be related to your actions. What you're doing is only forcing them to kill as many victims as possible..." Someone advised when this topic came up.

The princess pondered for a few seconds, then looked at the knight commander again, "The Imperial Guard must have many new recruits who need combat training, right? Their names and identities should be kept secret, shouldn't they?"

"Yes." As the most closely controlled force by the royal family, the Imperial Guard's recruitment is secret to prevent anyone from trying to win them over or bribe them. Therefore, the names and identities of new recruits are generally kept confidential.