Support or invasion?

"Phew, that’s the third one, then."

In a wasteland far from the town, the dragon’s massive body crumpled to the ground.

Releasing Yuria, whom I’d brought along just in case from the True Eternal Slave.

"…incredible…"

A breathless whisper from behind—Svetlana, stunned.

Just in case, meaning her.

She wouldn’t stop following no matter what, so I brought Yuria along, just in case something came up.

If Yuria’s inside the True Eternal Slave, she can anticipate things.

Perfect for protecting the people around her.

"So, what do we do with this?"

"Wait."

I dismantled the dragon. Collected the dragon’s blood.

Pulled out DORECA, drew the magic circle, poured in the blood.

And there it was—a stack of cash.

Currency in my country, denominated in “en.”

"…incredible…"

Again, Svetlana was amazed.

“You’ll never stop being amazed if you react like that.

“No, but—”

“Never mind that. Look.”

He grabs a bundle of cash and tosses it at her.

She fumbles, catches it.

“You wanted this, right?”

“Ah… yeah.”

Svetlana nods.

“But… well, um…”

Svetlana looks troubled.

“What’s wrong?”

“Kinda embarrassing to ask, but… isn’t this, like, really valuable? I mean, it’s made from dragon, isn’t it?”

“Ah. I see.”

He understands what she’s getting at.

The royal letter she brought was a request for trade—but the reason lay in the country’s currency situation.

Apparently, they’d minted coins after founding the nation.

In the old-fashioned way—copper, silver, gold.

Fine, but here’s the thing: in a world still struggling to regenerate, producing coins the usual way? That’s brutally expensive.

Even copper coins—each worth more than ten thousand yen in my country.

Used only for big transactions, mostly lying forgotten in citizens' homes.

Digging them up, smelting them, minting them—costly, yes, but still useless unless you pour in even more money to mass-produce them.

We don’t have that kind of surplus anywhere.

That’s why I heard about my country’s money.

Right now, the only place in the world where currency flows freely and the economy actually works is my country.

“Don’t worry. As you can see, dragons are no problem to hunt. Better yet, just trade with us—take something from you.”

“Yeah…”

It’s a ruse, really. I want to introduce my country’s “En” into my homeland.

That’s the real request.

“Thank you. I’m grateful.”

“It’s trade. We give you money, you give us goods. That’s all.”

“Yeah… thanks.”

Still getting thanks.

☆

The next day, inside the palace office in Rebeck.

Rirya entered the room and reported.

"Onii-chan, that woman has left."

"Slavtana?"

"Yes, Onii-chan. I assigned the guard squad as instructed."

"Good. I paid a hundred million en, so if anything goes wrong, it'll be a disaster."

"..."

Rirya stared at me intently.

"What?"

"What are you planning to buy with that money, Onii-chan?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"You haven't decided? Yet you paid in advance... that's not sane at all."

"Is that what you think?"

"Yes, Onii-chan. You're too kind-hearted."

"...Not really."

"Really?!"

Rirya tilted her head, puzzled.

She doesn't understand—how bad it is for a nation that can't produce its own currency.

If someone really wanted to, they could effectively invade.

Or... actually, maybe that's exactly what I'm hoping for.

"Nothing much. I mean, just import food or clothes, right?"

"Food, clothing, shelter? I see. Just like always, my big brother. Feels a bit reassuring, that."

"Or..."

"Or?"

"Could be a choice—invade with money, or just dissolve the whole country."

Rirya blinked once, then—

"Perfect! That's the way!"

—she latched onto it immediately.

"Being a subject of my big brother would make the other side happier, too! Yeah, no doubt about it."

She grabbed onto it with such earnestness I couldn’t help but smirk.