Seeds of the Future

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz was lying with his head on Thalia's lap, listening as she read the newspaper aloud.

Land prices in the United States were getting absurd. Franz had expected as much.

What he hadn't expected was for the land boom to spread from the East Coast steadily westward.

It left Franz scrambling. In his plans, he'd meant to fleece this American pig several times over.

Every plot the U.S. government put up for sale was already overpriced. Even so, buyers were making fortunes within days.

Fortunately, the wars to drive the Native Americans from their lands had halted the real estate frenzy's westward spread.

Otherwise, Franz would have had to consider buying land in the West more than a decade ahead of schedule.

Britain's wheat harvest had been exceptionally good, leading it to dump wheat everywhere and driving prices down by 40%.

Austria had also enjoyed a bumper wheat harvest. Fortunately, it could sell the surplus through the Zollverein and Italy, while Hungary was left under a cloud of gloom.

Hungarian wheat had suddenly lost its market. This led many landowners to switch to other crops to make up their losses, with the bitter consequences to emerge years later.

The Imperial Faction, represented by Széchenyi, had gained the upper hand. In history, the Royalist Faction in Hungary had always held the advantage.

But Prince Esterhazy's sudden fall from favor, along with Austria's successful entry into the Zollverein, had badly weakened the Royalist Faction while strengthening the Imperial Faction.

Imperial Faction: Those who supported Austrian rule over Hungary and hoped to merge the two completely. They believed Hungary would be courting destruction if it left Austria, and that the best way to protect its interests was to show the Empire Hungary's value.

Most of them were members of Hungary's rising nobility and capitalist class, as well as great nobles who had long lived in Austria and identified with Austrian culture.

Royalist Faction: Those who demanded autonomy and put Hungary's interests first. They hoped to rebuild the Kingdom of Hungary and draw a clear line between it and Austria.

They believed the Austrians were thieves who had stolen their property and kingdom. Power in Hungary had to remain in Hungarian hands. Hungarians shouldn't risk their lives for Austria or the House of Habsburg; instead, Austria and the House of Habsburg should repay the debts they owed Hungary.

Some of them were traditional land-owning nobles who held vast estates. Many lived in Vienna and Paris.

They had their own domains in Hungary, where they could control taxation and the courts, and even raise armies. These great nobles opposed Austria mostly to grab a larger share for themselves.

The Royalist Faction's main supporters were the so-called "Single-Garment Nobles." The term referred to nobles so poor that they had only one garment to their name.

They lived in abject poverty and desperately wanted to change their circumstances, hoping to rise in class by seizing power through violence.

Austrian explorer Costa is organizing an expedition to the Amazon Rainforest to search for a mysterious kingdom hidden deep within the jungle. He is currently seeking a philanthropic sponsor. The terms for sharing the profits are open for discussion.

The news caught Franz's attention, though he didn't care about some mysterious kingdom in the tropical rainforest.

As far as he knew, the place held nothing but a few Indigenous tribes, and certainly no treasure.

What Franz wanted was the seed of a plant that would one day change the world.

"Thalia, can you get in touch with this explorer?"

"Legends are all lies. If you have so much money you don't know what to do with it, you could spend some on better food," Thalia said, looking down at Franz.

"I'm not after treasure. I want the seed of a plant."

"A plant? The Royal Greenhouse has every kind of plant already. Can you eat the one you mean?" Thalia asked.

"Cough, cough. No. But I've heard it's a plant that weeps. Don't you want to see it?" Franz tried to pique Thalia's interest.

"A weeping plant? Wouldn't it affect people's moods? It sounds like a sad plant, and you can't even eat it," Thalia quipped.

"Have you never heard of building your happiness on someone else's misery?" Franz said.

"Archduke Franz, you've got it wrong. You mustn't build your happiness on someone else's misery," Thalia said.

"Now I can't see that weeping plant, and I'm miserable. When I'm miserable, I feel like building my happiness on someone else's misery." As he spoke, Franz pinched Thalia's thigh.

Thalia yelped in pain and begged him to stop.

"All right, then. You've convinced me. Now can you tell me what you want those rubber seeds for? If you like playing billiards, ivory is better. Rubber would be too soft."

Franz had unpleasant memories of billiards. He was too short, so people had to hold him up while he played.

Being used as someone's cushion, with no say in the matter, had been no fun at all.

Chenla, Kampong Som.

When Ambrosius arrived in Kampong Som, he felt he'd been deceived. What kind of port was this? It was plainly a fishing village.

The locals stared at Ambrosius and his party in terror.

Their ancestors hadn't been fishermen. They'd been honest farmers, but successive invasions by Vietnam and Siam had left their fields barren and the people destitute.

The Chenla authorities had resisted the Vietnamese and Siamese invasions by force, only to collude with bandits and tyrants and exploit the people even more ruthlessly.

To survive, their ancestors had fled to this uninhabited beach and become fishermen.

Kuan Kim-pan still commanded a measure of authority. With a single shout, he made the local minor official drop to the ground in fright.

"From now on, this place is under the command of Captain An. Don't cause trouble, unless you want to lose your head."

The local official had never seen a second-rank grandee before. Hearing that the fifth-rank captain was surnamed An, he naturally assumed a connection to the royal family.

As for why a royal relative would come to this backwater, the official quickly figured it out: Captain An looked so strange, he must have been driven out of Phnom Penh.

That made sense to him. The place barely had anyone living in it anyway, so he shut his mouth and let Captain An do as he pleased.

Ambrosius was dissatisfied, but the Catholic priests were overjoyed. They hadn't expected to secure a foothold so easily. This was a huge step forward for the Church in Southeast Asia.

After all, the French had come here, the Spanish had come, and the Dutch had come—but none had managed to leave behind so much as a church, let alone an outpost.

And once the Austrian Empire established a port here, they would be able to preach in Chenla without worry.

Along the way, the Catholic priests had told their fellow clergy about Kampong Som. They were sure that Catholics from across Chenla would soon come to settle there.

The two officers Ambrosius had brought were also delighted. It was, after all, a small colony. They might even go down in history as the Austrian Empire's first colonists.

Only the diplomat Zacker remained deeply troubled. He knew that Austria had neither plans to expand into Southeast Asia nor the strength to do so.