Half a month flew by in a blur. Tribios finished her teaching for the day and left the 'school'. Of course, calling it a school was a stretch; it was simply a designated patch of land where students sat on the ground. The teacher stood among them with a parchment scroll, lecturing directly to the students.
Construction plans for a proper school were underway, but it wouldn't be ready anytime soon, so they'd have to endure this arrangement for a while longer.
"Goodbye, Teacher Tribios~!"
"See you tomorrow, Teacher!"
As Tribios departed, her students waved goodbye, and she returned their farewells with a smile. She found these children quite endearing.
Her class was the largest, with fifty students: forty-two humans, five Beastmen, and three half-elves.
All of them were remarkably well-behaved, a stark contrast to the distracted and gossiping atmosphere of her previous life's classrooms. Not a single student whispered or daydreamed; everyone listened attentively.
The Beastman children, in particular, stared at her with bright, wide eyes, their ears twitching occasionally atop their heads. Tribios couldn't resist reaching out to ruffle their fur a few times.
It's worth noting that the three half-elf students weren't between the ages of 12 and 16 like the others; they were all in their early twenties. As Tribios had previously stated, anyone who wished to learn and had the time could attend her classes.
After leaving the school, Tribios returned directly to Olivia's House. In truth, she had only spent one night at her own home before moving in with Olivia full-time. This arrangement made it much more convenient to handle official duties.
Otherwise, official documents would first have to be sent to Tribios's home, processed there, and then forwarded to Olivia's House—a cumbersome process. With the two of them living together, Tribios could simply inform Olivia directly of any urgent matters.
As a result, the current Ruler of the Grand Duchy of Augustus—Olivia's father—had even been forced to move out of his own home and into a nearby vacant residence to make room for Tribios. It was quite a pitiable situation.
Upon returning home, Tribios found Olivia seated at the main table, gazing at a parchment with a pained expression.
Jay had purchased these parchments from the Kingdom of Ukel. After all, recording information on wooden slips had become too cumbersome and wasteful. While it had been a necessary compromise during the census, now that they had the funds, procuring proper paper was the logical next step.
However, the parchments were undeniably expensive, to the point that Tribios felt a pang of heartache during the purchase. How much grain could this money have bought? she thought.
At that moment, beyond crafting luxury art and brewing fine wines, Tribios conceived a new idea: papermaking. Paper produced using papermaking techniques would far surpass these parchments in both quality and yield, promising another lucrative venture!
Moreover, in the three centuries to come, paper had become ubiquitous. Whether Cipher sketching Cat Heads on small scraps of paper or Castorice writing novels in Chaos City, they all used ordinary paper, not parchment.
If paper didn't exist three hundred years in the future, Tribios inventing it now would undoubtedly be a grave disruption to the course of history. But since it does exist in the future, it surely wouldn't count as such!
Though I don't know who invented paper, I'm sorry—I'm stealing this invention ahead of time!
However, the moment this thought took root in Tribios's mind, she suddenly realized: Could it be possible that I myself am the one who invented paper?!
To be honest, it was entirely plausible, even highly likely.
Returning to the past and manipulating time was theoretically forbidden. But what if... Tribios's very act of returning to the past was part of the historical process itself?
Of course, even if she suspected this, she had no way to prove it. Returning to the present, Olivia immediately stood up when she saw Tribios return, trotting over with a piece of parchment in hand. "Little Trib, Little Trib! Look at this—what's the best way to handle it?"
The content on the parchment was straightforward: wage distribution. In the past half-moon, the Grand Duchy of Augustus had made a fortune selling timber, filling its coffers to overflowing.
If the concept of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) existed in this world, it would be no exaggeration to say that the GDP generated and wealth accumulated in those fifteen days likely surpassed the total wealth earned in the previous seventy to eighty years since the duchy's founding!
The problem then arose: how should such immense wealth be distributed? How should the loggers' wages be determined? And what about those who had stayed behind to tend the fields? While the loggers were reaping huge profits, how should these others be compensated?
Tribios rubbed her temples and explained to Olivia that these were extraordinary times. Most of the wealth would need to be reserved in the national treasury to fuel the country's development. The loggers' wages didn't need to be set too high. As for those who had stayed behind to farm, they would receive subsidies—essentially, direct cash payments—to bring their income roughly in line with the loggers' earnings.
In any other era or nation, such a command would undoubtedly have sparked widespread discontent. People might have protested: "Why are we earning so little when the wood sales are generating such huge profits?" or "I'm breaking my back felling trees—why is my pay barely comparable to those planting crops?"
But such dissent was utterly inconceivable in the Grand Duchy of Augustus. The region had been desperately poor before Tribios arrived. In the mere half-month since her arrival, the living standards of everyone in the Grand Duchy had improved beyond measure.
These people might be illiterate, but they weren't fools. They knew exactly who had brought about this transformation. Now, they no longer had to worry about making ends meet, fret over their next meal, or fear facing winter without proper clothing. Naturally, they would never defy Tribios's commands.
Without exaggeration, Tribios's current prestige ranked second only to Olivia's, making her the second most influential figure in the entire Grand Duchy of Augustus!
Of course, only Tribios herself knew that her "decisions" boiled down to a single strategy: selling timber. What had truly enriched the nation was the Century Gate—the Authority to "open doors" proving far more potent than she had ever imagined.
If any other Demigod had been in her place, they could never have developed a nation so quickly in such a short time.
"Mm-hmm! I understand!" Olivia nodded vigorously after hearing Tribios's solution, then immediately darted out of the house to get to work.
Seeing this, Tribios wore an expression of utter normalcy. Olivia was always like this—she never put off anything until the next day. If something could be done now, she'd do it immediately. She'd even worked through the night several times.
Tribios had been incredibly busy lately, but as the true Ruler... Princess, Olivia had been just as occupied.
Now alone in the house, Tribios sighed softly before hauling over a wooden barrel. Using the Century Gate, she opened a portal to a designated hot water station in the city and filled the barrel with steaming water.
After earning their first funds, Tribios had instructed Jay to purchase plenty of Chew Grass, wooden barrels, and other essentials. She also had a large cauldron set up in the city to heat water, ensuring proper hygiene and bathing facilities.
Day after day, she rose early and worked until late at night. Though her Demigod's Body felt little physical fatigue, the mental exhaustion was overwhelming. Soaking in a hot bath had become one of her few remaining ways to unwind.
Carrying the wooden tub filled with steaming water back to Olivia's House, Tribios slowly shed her clothes, removed her headdress, bracelets, and anklets, untied the calf straps, and slipped her pale, slender feet out of her high heels.
Despite spending the entire day under the sun, her skin showed no sign of tanning. Ah, the perks of a Demigod's Body!
Barefoot on the floor, Tribios first rotated her ankles before crouching down. With one hand pressing against her toes, she used the other to remove the toe rings.
It's always better to take these off for bathing and sleeping, she mused. Of course, I'll put them back on tomorrow morning. At first, I found wearing rings on my toes a little odd, but now I'm completely used to it. Besides, they look quite nice, so I might as well wear them often.
Tribios deftly coiled her hair into an updo, lifted her small foot, and gently tapped the water's surface with her toes. Finding the temperature just right, she slipped into the wooden tub, curled up so only her head remained above the rim. She rested the back of her head against the tub's edge, tilted her head back slightly, and exhaled deeply.
Who could truly understand the blissful sense of redemption that comes from soaking in a hot bath after a long day of toil?
Just then, Tribios suddenly remembered the Honkai: Star Rail game. Okhema was practically overflowing with hot springs and bathhouses! If the Grand Duchy of Augustus ever prospered, could she introduce a "hot spring culture" here too?
Of course, even if she did, it would be a long way off. More pressing matters demanded immediate attention. Speaking of which, Tribios couldn't help but feel nostalgic for her life back with Cipher and Castorice.
Cipher spent her days adventuring with Aria and the others—essentially gallivanting around. Castorice, too, lived a remarkably easy life, with servants attending to her every need.
And what about Tribios? The comparison brought tears to her eyes!
Moreover, the heavy workload was only one part of the problem. The other was the complete lack of any entertainment in this era! Three centuries later, Cipher would often play cards with Aria and the others, while Castorice could indulge in reading and writing novels.
But here, three centuries earlier, even if Tribios were to "invent" playing cards and try to find someone to play with, she doubted anyone would join her. Everyone was too busy. As for writing novels, that would take far too much time—time Tribios simply didn't have. Plus, parchment was prohibitively expensive.
Thus, Tribios's only form of entertainment, perhaps, maybe, possibly, was... self-comfort, or rather... self-reward.
Though somewhat embarrassing to admit, it was undeniably entertaining, stress-relieving, and didn't take up much time.
With that thought, Tribios slowly lowered one hand while placing the other on her chest. Her cheeks and the tips of her ears flushed crimson. "Ugh... there's no going back now... I've completely turned into a lewd girl..."
It all started when Cipher, unable to resist the Catgirl's massage, had opened the door to this new world. From then on, it spiraled out of control. She went from indulging every ten days to once a week, then every four or five days. Now, with the mounting work pressure, Tribios found herself doing it even more frequently.
But... it was just a normal physiological need. Besides, she was only playing with herself, not affecting anyone else. It's fine, right?
Time passed, and after a few more days, the demand for timber in Trinepeak Hold had nearly reached saturation. But this wasn't a major problem at all. Jay had acquired a highly detailed map of the Kingdom of Ukel. Once Trinepeak Hold reached saturation, Tribios could simply open another portal to a different city, right?
And if other cities were also saturated, they could always move on to other countries. Timber was a commodity that would always find buyers.
Then, a truly comical scene unfolded. In Trinepeak Hold, Jay's aggressive market entry had seized market share from other timber merchants, who were itching to tear him limb from limb. But with Tide standing guard—his nearly three-meter frame a towering deterrent—they didn't dare make a move.
Left with no other option, unable to compete on timber quality or brute force, the merchants grudgingly left Trinepeak Hold to sell their wares elsewhere.
However, after these merchants spent over ten days trekking through the wilderness to reach the next city, they were greeted by the sight of Jay selling wood right as they entered.
The merchants wore expressions as if they'd seen a ghost.
Jay, ever the cheeky one, greeted them with a grin, "Oh, what a coincidence~"
The merchants erupted in fury, "Coincidence my ass! I'll *** you sideways! I'll *** your ***!"
As the saying goes, cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents. The merchants lost their composure and charged at Jay, only to be effortlessly scooped up by Tide, who lifted them like chickens.
In short, using the vast wealth earned from selling wood, Tribios launched her next phase of development plans. She simultaneously initiated the production of high-end art, winemaking, and papermaking, pushing forward on multiple fronts!
However, she soon encountered her first major obstacle: the Grand Duchy of Augustus lacked sufficient manpower!
PS: After developing this nation a few more chapters, the Protagonist will get involved in the conflict between the Demon Lord and the Hero.