Translator: AkazaTL
Pr/Ed: Sol IX
***
Chapter 73 : After the Civil War
“General, shall I make a confession?”
“Please speak.”
“Actually, recently I’ve been thinking that life is a bit uninteresting.”
“…….”
eting the blue eyes of the boy looking at him, ‘Hannibal’ fell into thought.
Life is uninteresting?
It was an exceedingly arrogant remark coming from the mouth of a kid who hadn’t even turned twenty yet, but he couldn’t just let the boy’s words slide.
“Your Highness. You have been overworking yourself too much recently. If you take a little rest, you will be able to regain your energy. Appropriate rest is also a necessary part. I will look into a place.”
Because the boy in front of his eyes, ‘Gillian Tercios’, was the one and only ‘Lord’ to whom he had sworn to dedicate his life and serve.
“Haha, I’m a little disappointed. Did you think I would feel tired from just this tripe of work, General? Not at all.”
But the boy spoke while shining his blue eyes, which hadn’t lost even a bit of their usual brilliance.
“It is not because of the amount of work that I have lost interest. What makes my life tedious is not the amount of work, but the repetition.”
“By repetition, you an?”
“Don’t you know well? How surrounded I am recently by so many idiots and halfwits. From brothers who believe bloodline equals ability, to sisters busy giggling without even knowing that the pigsty they are rolling in will soon strangle their necks. General, do you know what thoughts I have been having most often recently?”
Taking his hands off the docunts, Gillian shrugged and spoke.
“That it is truly fortunate that this Empire is vast. If this place overflowing with trash didn’t even have a vast territory, the sll of rot would have filled the country so tightly that one couldn’t live at all.”
“Your Highness…….”
“Oops, our General feels heartbroken when I say things like this. Haha, I’m sorry.”
Gillian waved his hand while showing a refreshing smile befitting his age.
“Still, it seems there is no rule saying one must die. Haha.”
“Has sothing good happened?”
“Sothing good? There is. No, should I say sothing interesting? Would you like to take a look at this?”
Gillian held out a few docunts. And upon checking them, Hannibal’s right eyebrow twitched.
“It seems the General’s friend at the northern end has an incredibly skilled son.”
What Gillian held out was a report compressing the details of the recent Reichart civil war.
From the outbreak of the civil war to its developnt, the final battle on the Rodlan Plains, and the King’s lonely death.
Even the result ending with the fall of the Royal Family and nobles who dominated Zodiac, and a young man just past twenty seizing all power of the nation.
Although the intelligence report was not long, it ticulously showed the entire process of the civil war.
“Sir Hein Reichart has completely swallowed Zodiac. And while minimizing damage to his own country at that.”
“Minimizing, you say? In my opinion, Zodiac seems to have beco more prosperous instead? You see there. That he cut off most of the nobles gnawing at the country in the process of the civil war.”
Hannibal and Gillian briefly shared their impressions of the report.
“Although I have never cultivated a tree, doesn’t a tree grow bigger when the pests gnawing at the roots disappear?”
Gillian’s eyes twinkled as he said that.
“Your Highness, have you perhaps beco interested in this friend nad ‘Hein Reichart’?”
“You know well, don’t you? That I tend to be quite greedy in this regard.”
Seeing the Prince not denying his question, Hannibal nodded.
‘Because when it cos to this matter, he is always thirsty.’
The only area where his Lord, who usually showed no greed for material things, showed greed was the longing for capable talent.
“Judgnt to grasp the war situation, decisiveness without hesitation, action to put into practice imdiately once a conclusion is reached, and clean handling of the aftermath. Perfect. At least, the skill Sir Hein showed in the process of ending this civil war is flawless.”
Hannibal knew very well how high the standard of ‘perfection’ his Lord required was.
Naturally, curiosity about Hein also surged within him.
“If Your Highness wishes, you will be able to et Sir Hein before long.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. It is news I heard on my way back from stopping by the Pri Minister’s office a little while ago. They said the Sacred Festival held this year will be held on a much larger scale than usual, and they plan to receive congratulatory envoys from each country as well.”
“Ah!”
Gillian, who didn't particularly like ceremonies or rituals, originally didn't like the Sacred Festival.
But the mont he heard the words ‘congratulatory envoys from each country’, his eyes sparkled with brilliance.
“I’m looking forward to it already. I’ll be able to confirm it with my own eyes on that day.”
And sweeping back his silver hair that looked like it was embroidered with knotted moonlight, he spoke.
“Whether my expectations for Sir Hein are true, or not.”
***
Tick-tock.
Rustle.
A ti well past midnight.
Hein’s office located in the palace castle was filled only with the sound of the clock hands turning and thick docunts flipping over.
‘……Even though I searched through everything, there is absolutely no clue to be caught.’
The supply source of the Dragon Tooth Soldiers whose tail was nowhere to be seen.
It has already been fifteen days since I seized the power of Zodiac.
In the anti, I chased the whereabouts of the one who supplied Dragon Tooth Soldiers to Rishu and Luplan whenever I had ti.
But absolutely no clue was visible.
‘There’s no way that idiot Luplan could have successfully concluded a deal of this scale. Should I have found out even by torturing Rishu after all?’
But soon I shook my head.
Rishu was not a figure who would yield to sothing like torture and vomit out information. Rather, she would have rejoiced at the fact that she presented Hein with an unsolved curiosity even in a bloodied state.
‘…….’
I ticulously scanned the docunts investigating the remnants of the Vispon family once again.
‘If the supplier makes a deal again with other nobles or neighboring countries, great confusion could occur in this country that has barely found stability.’
Confirming the whereabouts of the Dragon Tooth Soldiers was a matter related to the safety of the entire nation.
Since I had made up my mind to compete with Gillian, I couldn't just watch Zodiac remain a country that staggered even in a gentle breeze like now.
When I compete with Gillian later, the strongest weapon on the continent called the ‘Empire’ will be in his hands.
To deal with such a Gillian, Zodiac had to possess the power to endure, even if a head-on contest against the continent was difficult.
‘Helkane, if it’s that guy, he might know sothing…….’
If it was Helkane, who acted like Rishu’s confidant, there was a high possibility he knew sothing.
But he hid his appearance after the battle on the Rodlan Plains.
The only clue regarding his whereabouts was just one thing.
The testimony of a border village resident that ‘a young man with disheveled blonde hair and an eyepatch on his left eye appeared near the border’ was all.
“Haa…….”
Letting out a short sigh once, I organized the information I knew once again.
Currently, across the entire continent, the institutions possessing the facilities and skills to supply Dragon Tooth Soldiers of that scale are two places.
‘The Empire’s Imperial Academy Academos, and the Magic Kingdom Maganus’s Magic Tower Milesian.’
The problem was that neither of these two institutions had any reason to intervene in Zodiac’s civil war.
‘Maganus’ was busy keeping the Empire’s expansion in check by allying with surrounding kingdoms under the strong will of the current King, ‘Skada’.
Such people would waste national power by intervening in a civil war at the northern end of the continent where there was nothing to gain?
‘Skada has no reason to act like that. And there’s no way Milesian, which is thoroughly controlled by his will, would do such a thing secretly.’
This was the sa for Academos as well; no, rather, if weighing the possibilities, this side was even slimr.
Unlike Maganus, where one could receive a pardon depending on how one persuaded Skada even if they disobeyed the King’s order.
‘The current Emperor never grants forgiveness to those who go against his will.
The possibility that figures from Academos intervened risking danger is extrely low.
Then, there is a high probability that the source of the Dragon Tooth Soldiers is sowhere else other than these two places.’
After excluding the two places, I retraced the mories of my previous and current lives one by one.
Ancient artifacts, mages, golems, undead…….
‘Don’t tell …….’
My expression, which had not lost its calm even while agonizing, suddenly hardened stiffly.
A voice I thought I had forgotten a long ti ago suddenly ca to mind.
“Brother, why did you decide to beco a mage?”
“I will find out all, all the secrets of this world.”
“Just wait and see. Because I will definitely beco a greater and smarter mage than you, Brother!”
I bit my lip.
‘No. It can’t be. If I hadn’t saved him, that guy would have died in the demon’s den long ago. As long as the existence called Alexar has disappeared from this world, there is no way that guy exists.’
Perhaps to strike down the thoughts that kept coming up, I shook my head.
Didn't I clearly verify multiple tis while examining the current situation after regressing, just in case?
That a large-scale massacre occurred in ‘Arias’ several years ago, and that among the children sacrificed there, not a single one survived.
I struggled to shake off thoughts about the ‘Seed of Sin’ that I thought I had severed long ago.
But the unpleasant mories stuck tenaciously like mud on a day of heavy rain and tornted .
And eventually, a na I hadn’t called for a very long ti leaked out of my mouth.
“Zephyros…….”
***
“You say there is a eting scheduled today with those supplying magic stones?”
“T-That is correct. Your Excellency Grand Duke.”
The next morning.
Not a trace of last night’s worries could be seen on my expression as I conversed with the Minister of Finance.
“If we contract the amount to be used for a year to a year and six months in the entire country all at once, the amount would be considerable.”
My usual sharp gaze was fixed on the docunts spread on the desk all along.
“It seems so, Your Excellency.”
Perhaps worried that the gaze might reach him, the Minister of Finance was busy bowing his head and waist repeatedly.
“Where are they now?”
“After arriving in Abysin three days ago, they have taken a spot in the guest room located in the West Palace.”
“The West Palace guest room?”
“That is so, Your Excellency.”
“It’s an amusing matter. That re rchants with no title and not under the command of another country are occupying the West Palace, and the guest room where official envoys of other countries stay, at that.”
“Y-Your Excellency. That is, u-until now the c-custom has been so, and as Your Excellency also knows, the item they supply is such an important item for the country…….”
Did he think I was reprimanding him? The Minister of Finance strung out excuses while even sweating cold sweat.
If I had added just one more word, the Minister of Finance might have knelt and burst into tears rather than just bowing his head.
“Magic stones…… It is indeed a very important item.”
Right, considering the value of magic stones as the Minister of Finance said, and the position of the rchants supplying this mineral, it wasn’t impossible to understand why they were staying in the guest room. Therefore…….
“You may attend to other duties today, Sir. Since I will take charge of the eting with these people.”
“Y-Your Excellency!”
The person in front of my eyes had preserved his position even in the turmoil thanks to not committing any major evil deeds, but he was a figure very far from competent.
I planned to blow him away anyway once a successor was decided.
‘I cannot entrust a problem that will shake the nation’s finances to a riffraff who will be blown away soon.’
I notified the Minister of Finance, who was making a flustered expression.
“Bring these people to the office after noon passes. I will talk to them personally.”
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