New Life, New Task: I'll Be A Mom Then!!!

The council members raised their eyebrows with interest.

What the projection stone showed were peculiar images.

The images flashed on the screen looked like lines and towers of different height with numbers, there was an image resembling a sliced pie as well!

What a cryptic presentation!

The nobles and even the Emperor Valentin himself were curious about the meaning of these images.

Kazimir and Antoine also didn't dare to show a dismissive and disdainful attitude after knowing that their father was in a bad mood.

They looked at Leon's presentation with focus, waiting for him to embarass himself. In their hearts, they thought that it was just a scheme of their little brother to stand out and gain approval from the nobles.

Little did they know that if Eli, the Grandpas and the Project Team would be here in the room, they would be shocked! This presentation was exactly what Eli brought into the team, the graphical charts!

This time, Leon used the bar, line and pie chart to visualize the data from the investigation and present it to the council.

It was all thanks to his future wife!

Eli came up with these ideas whenever she writes her research papers and feasibility studies. As he always received the copy of the report, he found that it was good.

He asked Eli to help him figure out how it was made and even how it can be interpreted.

Now, seeing that he had already obtained the attention and the interest of the audience, he stood firmly and charismatically as his aide manipulated the projection stone at his cue.

"I'd like to present to this council what my men had found during these past few days."

The bar graph was magnified.

"This image is called a bar graph. It is currently showing to the council how high the rates of abduction cases were in the villages and towns of the southern territory…

As you can see, the highest tower represents the territory with the highest case, the lowest represents territory with the fewest cases.

We can see that the top three territories which had the highest rate of abduction were the territories farthest from the forces of the east and west… Thus we can conclude that this chaos was more apparent in these areas due to the lack of authoritative figures…"

Leon calmly presented his interpretations of the reports from his aides and blades.

His listeners were mesmerized by how intelligent he sounded and how his presentation made sense.

It was also backed up by the vassals familiar with the southern territory, confirming his claims on the numbers.

Leon did not stop his presentation, this time the pie chart was magnified and they saw the demographic statistics of the victims.

"Here, you can visualize who the main victims of the abductions were, most of the victims, of course, were the commoners, which comprises 67% of the victim count.

However what's more surprising was, there was a higher percentage of missing nobility at 22% compared to the middle men at 11%.

Upon further investigation we have found out that these were because the cases involving nobilities were from the fallen and lower noble houses.

Because their resources had been dwindling in the first place, they gave up having reliable security, while most of the merchant families could afford it without batting an eye.."

The nobles nodded with Leon's words. It really made sense.

"Sadly most of these nobles were actually awarded with their status because of the great contributions of their ancestors during the unification of the empire.

It is sad to see that the families of the people, who shed blood for the peace and prestige of the Empire were pushed to such a state."

Leon eloquently continued, tugging the hearts of the council.

Compassionate discussions rose throughout the council room. They were affected by Leon's sympathetic speech.

Leon continued his presentation, this time he had his aide magnify the line graph.

This was the crux of his presentation.

He took a sudden pause, and let the crowd finish the discussions before continuing,

"This is the last part of my report. What I am showing you right now is a comparison of the economic situation of the southern empire in the months where the abductions happened versus the same month of the previous year.

The red line represents the period of economic performance when the abduction took place, while the green ones were the performance of the previous year. Everyone, take a look at the difference of the total remitted tax between the two periods."

"This!!!" Everyone was in uproar, even the Emperor widened his eyes in surprise and information overload.

But there's no need for everyone to hear Leon's detailed explanation, everyone saw the great decrease of the yields produced by the southern territory all because of this.

What that meant was less funds for the empire.

Less funds meant less military budget. Seirende is surrounded by enemies. They could not afford even a little bit of chunk taken off from the military budget.

"How did this happen?" One concerned council member couldn't help but ask Leon.

"Our initial investigation concluded that it was because of the murders along with the abduction and the poor families choosing to flee to hide their pregnant relatives because of terror. Some choose to give up work and guard their families.

This caused the farmlands and establishments lose workers. In the end, they will be poorer and their situation will become worse."

Everyone was silent. A grave and disturbed expression could be seen in their faces.

Leon's presentation had made them realize a lot of things. If they didn't eliminate this evil Spectres in their territories, the Empire's wealth would soon dwindle and so would theirs.

The Emperor gave a nod of satisfaction. The noble men looked at the Third Prince with a newfound interest.

"The Third Prince is actually a genius!" Murmured discussion about their approval of Leon's performance filled the room.

Blaze and the palace aide looked at Leon with extremely proud gazes.

"That's our Third Prince!"

However, the two princes wore an ashen expression. They could feel the piercing gazes of their respective uncles and the disappointed look of the noble men.

They could even hear how their little brother did an outstanding job while they did a substandard job.

They also could hear how they say the two lack wisdom despite being older than the third prince.

"I wonder how they do as a father of the family!"

"I know right?! How could they not care to solve this case and give a rubbish report to this council?"

"They have no sympathy! Didn't they experience having their wives pregnant, yet this is how they act when their subjects are in danger?"

"Fortunately the Third Prince is sensible! I bet that he will be a good father of the house and the Empire when the time comes!"

The Duke of Vesala and the Marquess of Aztaze had such an angry face when they heard about the third prince being the next father of the Empire. Green veins popped on their foreheads in agitation.

The two princes also couldn't help but curse in their heart.

'It's just a tricky presentation appealing because it was a completely new way of reporting! Now you lot are thinking he deserved to be the crown prince?!'

"Uhm.. I can't deny that His Highness, the Third Prince's presentation is very good. Yet these are just results after two days of investigation. Look, even the Third Prince does not have a conclusion yet. I'm sure the first and second prince can also come up with a good report on the next council."

The Marquess tried to smooth things out by emphasizing that two days was not really enough for a fruitful investigation.

The Emperor gave a cold harumph and said,

"The youngest didn't delay and went into action while the two actually dared to give me a mediocre performance. I'll tell you this soon! Mediocres do not have the right to sit on the throne. To sit on the highest seat of our Seirende Empire? Dream on!"

He looked sternly at the embarrassed princes and said,

"Very well, let this be a lesson to you two. I am not young anymore, but you are not young either. Do not act like kids and do your obligations excellently! I'm waiting for the results."

To be scolded in front of the council, the heads of the noble family, and their subordinates, the two princes had their faces full of hatred towards their little brother.

Yet they dared not to show it, so they hung their heads low in restraint.

"Just you wait, Leon!"

--

Crash! "Ahhh!"

A sound of glass breaking and a maid crying out in pain could be heard in a certain room of the Empress's palace.

"Damn that son of a bard! He one upped me good today!" An angry Kazimir threw his tea cup to the serving maid to vent his anger.

"Mother! I was made into a fool during the council!" Kazimir aggrievedly looked at a graceful yet cold woman leisurely sitting opposite him.

The Empress of Seirende Empire, Carolina Vesala.

Upon first look, even though her face had traces of age, her plum colored hair and amethyst eyes were a testament of the Empress's noble beauty.

However, with that vicious look in her eyes, one would think that her beauty was actually a lethal venom.

"Do not worry son, we'll get back to that trash of the family soon." She said so tenderly, but the disturbing contrast of the ruthlessness in her eyes looked so creepy.

"How are we going to do that mother? This brother of mine was so vigilant and so elusive." Kazimir said with doubt.

"Of course, with just his weakness alone, he will be on his knees in no time." Empress Carolina replied nonchalantly.

"Aren't the 'holy' family bound to be the representative of the Empire in the renewal of the treaty next month?" She said with a schemeful look on her face and continued,

"Then let me give my 'dear sister' a good luck gift to ensure that she wouldn't cause a ruckus in the Elven territory. Let's ensure that she would NOT get kicked out nor even cursed to death by the disdainful Elves!"

A baleful expression could be seen to the mother and son as they let out an evil laugh.