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>>6397138
>Month 1:

Following the conclusion of the competition for Yulia’s hand, it was thought that a sense of normalcy would return to Morfis. Many of the foreigners that had journeyed from far off countries such as Almyra and Sreng had all returned home, as did those from Fodlan who were not attached to the Knights of Seiros that were under the command of Cyril. The Morfisians had gone to great lengths to accommodate these guests, as well as the absurdity of Princess Yulia’s competition, and they were eager to see what the future held now that a suitor had finally been decided. Word had spread that you and Yulia would marry once her health improved. In the meantime, you would help govern the nation as her regent. Across the country, people wondered at the type of leader you would be. Almost immediately, you found yourself tested at great length.

The most important structure in all of Morfis was the Food Production Hub. Located in a key district of the city, the Hub was the heart of the country’s food supply. Because of Morfis’ arid and hostile desert climate, traditional farming methods such as what you were used to in Fodlan were mostly unsuitable here. But the mages of Morfis, using knowledge passed down to them by the Sorcerer King Xenophanes, had developed a method for creating food via the means of sorcery. It was through this ingenious arcane art, which was the envy of every nation, that Morfis was able to sustain and grow its population. The heart of this operation, which required extensive sorcery and equipment, as well as hundreds of working mages, was the Food Production Hub.

Almost immediately upon assuming power, an accident occurred that saw the entire Hub burned to the ground.

“I have our men sifting through the smoldering remains looking for any clues,” Bronte reports to you within the palace’s throne room, where you’d set up office. “So far though, their efforts have turned up nothing.”

>Bronte (Prime Minister)
>Level 45 Gremory
HP: 62/62
MAG: 37
SPD: 39
DEF: 12
RES: 35
>Spells:
Forseti (+20 DMG, 30% CRIT, Enemy attacks will miss you for 1 turn, 1 Use)
Thunder (+5 DMG, +10% Crit)
Fimbulvetr (+12 DMG, +10% Crit, Area of Effect, 3 Uses)
Bolting (12 DMG, 15% Crit, Long Range Siege Magic. 2 Uses)
>Skill: Flare (MAG% Chance to treat the target as if it has 0 RES for 1 attack)

>“Hasn’t that hub been around for over a hundred years?! Am I supposed to believe someone forgot to extinguish their cooking fire and now the entire country is going to stave?!”

“It’s suspicious, that much is certain, Bronte sighs in exhaustion. “If a culprit does exist, it is imperative that we find them. But more urgently, we’ll need to rectify this situation fast. The Hub was responsible for over half of the country’s food production. If something isn’t done soon, we’ll go through our reserves in no time. This is a national level crisis we have on our hands.”

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>>6397139
>“What’s it going to take to get those mages back to producing meals again? I don’t exactly get how this stuff works, but I know that it’s important. Can’t we just put them all up in another building or something?”

“It’s not that simple,” Bronte shakes her head. “The hub contained all the equipment and reagents necessary for that sorcery to even function properly. Not to mention the logistics to distribute it across the country. Getting production back up to even half of what it was previously is going to take a long time. As well as a boatload of gold.”

>“Of course. Why wouldn’t it? Everyone’s gotta get paid.” You grumble, annoyed at having to open up the treasury’s coffers. You’d just gotten your hands on them too! “What about the Royal College and those damn Sages? Surely they’re going to help get things back in order?”

“They claim they’re investigating the matter themselves, but given who we’re dealing with here, that’s dubious at best. Either way, we can’t sit around and hope they actually remain true to their word. The longer we wait, the worse things are going to get. Both for Morfis, and for you.”

>“Me? I just got here! What are you talking about?”

“Exactly,” Bronte says. “The people of Morfis are both furious and terrified. And rightfully so. But in the absence of a culprit, some pockets of them are beginning to blame you. After all, everything was going just fine until a foreigner came along and ascended to the highest seat of power. If this situation spirals any more out of control, you can be sure that you’ll lose popular support within the country.”

You sit back in your chair, contemplating your cousin’s words. This whole debacle seemed tailormade to drain your resources and weaken your position before you could even start gaining momentum as regent. Given the suspicious nature of this sudden fire, you couldn’t shake the feeling that the Sages had something to do with this. But would they really go so far as starving their own countrymen just to make you look bad? Perhaps this was the work of the Cult of the Serpent instead? Marek and his ilk that hadn’t defected were wholly devoted to eradicating Morfis. You were sure he’d be pleased with a catastrophe such as this. Either way, Bronte was right. Something had to be done. You had access to Morfis’ treasury, in addition to the substantial amount of gold given to you by Montblanc upon selling the rights to Shangri-La.

Current Gold: 143,800

>Choose One

>A): Spare no expense in getting the hub back up and running. You shall be known as Tristain the Magnanimous! (50,000g spent)
>B): Spare only what you can afford. (25,000g spent)
>C): Maybe you could but corners a bit and still look like you were helping… (10,000g spent)
>D): You needed this gold for your war against the Sages. Spend nothing and dip into the food reserves.
>E): Ask Fodlan for support.

>>6397140

>A): Spare no expense in getting the hub back up and running. You shall be known as Tristain the Magnanimous! (50,000g spent
Cultural victory option? Together with Morfisian Disney Land.

>>6397140
>>A): Spare no expense in getting the hub back up and running. You shall be known as Tristain the Magnanimous! (50,000g spent)

>>6397140
>A): Spare no expense in getting the hub back up and running. You shall be known as Tristain the Magnanimous! (50,000g spent)
Sucks for our pockets but yeah this ties very well with Tristanland for winning the hearts and minds. We gotta ease off the spending after this though.

>>6397140
>>B): Spare only what you can afford. (25,000g spent)
Idk man, fells like bait to me. There's probably some sick magic war machines that cost tons of gold which we will need in the coming mega war. (I'm chosing based on pure paranoia and on what the voices told me)

A wins, writing.

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>>6397140
>Month 2

>“Wow…these guys are pretty unimpressive…”

You watch dispassionately from a balcony overlooking a newly constructed training facility a few steps away from the Royal Palace. A Morfisian “soldier”, in reality a youth barely into adulthood, was dragging his sword along the ground as he struggled to lift the iron over his shoulder. Several feet away, about a dozen archers were firing at targets with aim so piss poor that it caused you to wonder if perhaps the desert sun were causing vision issues. Others were busy running a track that had been set up. Their endurance was failing, and what was supposed to be a brisk jog had morphed into the sort of leisurely stroll an elderly person would take after a modest lunch.

“Are you really so surprised?” Cuthbert asks at your side. “Fodlan may be in an extended era of peace, but we have hundreds of years of tried and tested warfare that we can look back upon for reference. Morfis meanwhile, hasn’t fought a real war in over a thousand years. The most these people do is patrol the desert for the Cult and fight off the occasional wandering Demonic Beast. Even then, much of that is handled by more specialized forces, like Hima’s Scorchers, the Warrior’s Guild, or the Yasha.”

>“See? I told you too much peace could be a bad thing.”

“Mmm. Peace is fine. But it’s no excuse to allow yourself to get rusty.”

>Cuthbert (Minister of War)
>Level 40 Sentinel
HP: 65/65
STR: 32
SPD: 31
DEF: 30
RES: 14
>Weapon: Silver Lance+ (+17 ATK) Killer Lance+ (+12 ATK, 25% Crit Chance)
>Skill: Rally Strength (Grant Ally +3 STR for one turn)

For all of Cuthbert’s bitching about having to be given a job to do, the man seemed to really enjoy working at a task that he was useful at. In order to better evaluate and address the needs of the military under your command, he’d whipped himself back into prime shape. The veteran standing next to you now was as close as ever to the spearman that fought as one of Empress Edelgard’s elite warriors.

>“I thought Hamilcar would have done a better job at training these guys. He seemed the type at least. But this is pretty shit.”

“Hamilcar is a man of the Royal Sages.” Cuthbert informs you. “They have their own army that answers to their command. One that I regret to inform you, also happens to outnumber the Royal Guard at least 4 to 1.”

>“Great. So he saves all the best stuff for him and his army?”

“Probably. But I wouldn’t dwell on it,” Cuthbert says, taking a long drawl from a smoking pipe. “Numbers are important, but it's tactics and skill that win battles. Hamilcar may show favoritism to his men, but he’ll still be dealing with a lack of fundamental battle knowledge that we Fodlanders have honed over centuries of killing each other. So long as we and Cyril’s Knights of Seiros can make up for the difference in skill, there’s a chance.”

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>>6397682
>“You think you can whip these guys into shape that quickly?” A drillsman down below blows a whistle, signaling that it was time for lunch. The soldiers breathe a collective sigh of relief before sauntering off to collect their meal. “I mean, a fight could break out at any moment.”

Cuthbert smirks. “I learned from the best tactician of the Unification War. Hubert Von Vestra was a strategist sent from hell itself. He knew how to bring out the best of his men, and more importantly, how to maximize their effectiveness without wasting them. If I apply what I picked up from those days, it should be no problem. These whelps have had it easy for too long. They thought they could just lay around and do a bit of napping without ever having to use those blades. Well it’s high time that changes.”

As if to demonstrate, Cuthbert leans over the railing and begins screaming at the throng of soldiers below.

“HEY! YOU PIECES OF TRASH! GET YOUR ASSES BACK OUT THERE! NO LUNCH UNTIL THOSE TARGETS ARE SO FULL OF ARROWS I CAN’T SEE THE PAINT! AND I WANT 25 MORE LAPS! NOW!”

The soldiers, cowed into submission, offer Cuthbert no resistance as they scatter back out onto the training field.

>“Alright, you’re the vet.” You wince. His screaming hurt your ears. “Just don’t break them too hard.”

“It’ll be necessary,” Cuthbert says. “We need to break them so we can remake them. That’s how you make a soldier. They’ll struggle, but they’ll hold the line. And the ones that rise above? They will be our ace in the hole. Our hammer that breaks the enemy’s spine. Elites to rival those back home.”

>“Elites, huh?”

Cuthbert was right. It wasn’t enough to whip these soldiers into fighting shape. You needed fighters that could rise above the norm. Specialists that were several grades above the standard. With hundreds of years of Fodlan military doctrine at your back, combined with knowledge imparted to you at Garreg Mach’s Officer Academy, such a core was well within your reach.

>What specialist unit will you create?

>A): Heavy Infantry (Tanky. Easily mow down enemy infantry)
>B): Archers (The bane of most mages.)
>C): Cavalry (Specialists in regards to hit and run tactics. Destroys archers and can flank enemy infantry.)
>D): Mages (The specialty of Morfis, but with a Fodlan twist. Useful in various battle situations, though not durable.)

>>6397687
>>C): Cavalry (Specialists in regards to hit and run tactics. Destroys archers and can flank enemy infantry.)