<h4>Chapter 118: The Foundation of the Imperial War</h4>


    “Father!!”


    A sharp, resonant voice echoed through the pce.


    “What on earth have you done? The national treasury is about to be emptied!!”


    “Silence! The ministers have all agreed to this. It’s only a year’s worth of budget. We can cover it by autumn.”


    “But—!”


    “This is not for you to question. Other kingdoms are in the same situation. If we remain idle, our Fenria Kingdom will fall behind. The Kingdom of Istan is already establishing an academy to create a sorcery unit.”


    Although autumn was only a few months away, everyone knew that the months before the harvest were the harshest.


    <i>How frustrating...!</i>


    Vi sighed, looking at her father, King Logrunth of Fenria. She had always known her father was ipetent, but she had no idea it was to this extent.


    “Return to your chambers. The ministers and I will manage the state affairs. It’s not your ce to intervene.”


    Clenching her fists, Vi turned away.


    <i>I have to intervene because the ministers are just as ipetent as you, Father!</i>


    She wanted to scream, but bit her lip instead under the gazes of those watching her.


    “It’s time to go, Princess,” Greys, her knight and attendant, suggested as to prevent further turmoil.


    Grinding her teeth, Vi red at the ministers in the conference room as she walked out.


    ***


    “Hmm.”


    Back in Tatur, Karyl was reviewing the piled-up ledgers.


    “What kind of magic did you use?”


    “What?”


    The person looking at him with curious eyes was none other than Dush.


    “You’ve established two branches in the principality and are preparing to trade with the empire. How do you manage to do things so easily that others struggle with?”


    “It wasn’t easy. It was difficult in its own way. Didn’t Suan tell you?”


    “He did. He said you dealt with the Water King, who had troubled people in Fonein for decades. And the Sea King too? Be honest. Are you a dragon?”


    “What?”


    “You must be rted to Riseria’s descendants or something. Oh, and you visited their of the me Dragon too.”


    Dush looked at Karyl with an astonished expression, and seeing her wide-eyed, Karyl chuckled.


    "Heh, I didn’t know you could disy such a variety of expressions.”


    “Well... I’m human too,” Dush replied with a slight blush. Her face was still veiled, but now she spoke in a softer, gentler tonepared to when Karyl had first met her.


    “Dragon or not, I heard from Aidan that you met the emperor at the Church... You didn’t n that either, did you?”


    “Nope. Just luck.”


    Karyl denied it, but his nonchnt response didn’t seem to convince Dush.


    “Honestly, do you know how flustered I was when you suddenly left all the affairs of the Three Kingdoms to me and ran off with that priest to the Church?”


    “That’s why I entrusted it to you. Aidan said you handled the n better than anyone else.”


    A faint smile tugged at her lips at Karyl’spliment.


    "But now that I think about it, I feel like it didn''t happen all of a sudden. When you said the empire wouldn''t be able to attack the south... I wondered if it had anything to do with the Church meeting the emperor."


    Her expression turned sharp. As the ruler of the ck market, she had spent years manipting the nobles. Karyl had entrusted her with the affairs of the Three Kingdoms because he knew she wouldn’t lose to ipetent nobles in a strategic battle.


    Dush’s sharpness was not only directed at enemies. She remembered when Karyl had remained silent during the meeting and predicted what he was hiding based on his actions and their oues.


    Breaking the silence, Karyl gently patted her shoulder.


    “You’re indeed a capable person. I need you.”


    “...What?”


    “Keep it up.”


    Seeing Karyl smile at her from up close, Dush took a step back in surprise.


    “What about the Three Kingdoms?”


    “Baron Beryl has been doing better than expected. He’s greedy, but he also delivers. I promised him a share of the magic stone mine in exchange for spreading rumors about the Kingdom of Istan’s sorcery unit.”


    Her face slightly red, Dush coughed a few times before calmly saying, “The proposal passed thanks to the nobles we bribed. Creating a sorcery unit requires a leader. Although Beryl is retired, no one is as skilled as him, so naturally, the sorcerers will gather under him.”


    “Good.”


    “And using that rumor, we instilled fear in the other two kingdoms, selling elemental stones under the pretext of preparing for Istan’s invasion.”


    But unlike Istan, Tevanel and Fenriacked skilled sorcerers.


    "It''s difficult to train new sorcerers now, and it''s not easy to recruit sorcerers of that caliber either."


    "So, the conditions have been met adequately. How about the sales then?"


    At that, Dush gave a thumbs-up.


    “Completely sold out. Thanks to that, the Kingdom of Istan is also under pressure. The treasury will soon be empty.”


    Dush brought out something from a corner of the office.


    “Some dwarves who finished repairing the mana battleship devised these based on your designs. One is a mana amplifier. The other creates shields matching the elements of the stones inserted.”


    She disyed a long staff and a hexagonal bracelet-like device.


    “These are for countering Istan’s sorcery unit.”


    <i>Click—</i>


    She inserted a low-grade elemental stone into the shield generator and pulled the handle.


    “This can create a much stronger shield than regr magic.”


    A faint blue barrier, shaped like a rectangr tower shield, appeared.


    “It looks impressive, but it has its ws. However, considering that Istan’s sorcery unit is in the triple digits, they won’t be picky.”


    She yfully hid behind the shield and peeked out at Karyl.


    “Changing the elemental stone means it can only block one element at a time. It’s like rock-paper-scissors. Magic fights are inherently like that, but it’s still an inefficient defense tool. In any case, by the time they realize, it’ll be toote.” She chuckled lightly.


    To survive the pressure from the empire and the principality, the Three Kingdoms had formed a precarious alliance, constantly eyeing each other. The spark that had ignited this delicate alliance was the mana mine, and maintaining a bnce in regards to that was what kept the alliance from crumbling.


    Karyl used Beryl to strengthen Istan.


    “Istan, through Baron Beryl, forms a sorcery unit and buys elemental stones to train them. The other two kingdoms buy magic tools to counter Istan’s pressure.”


    “And imperial nobles using the ck market helped too. I hinted at the value of the items.” Dush shrugged.


    Karyl was reassured that she was indeed the right person for the job.


    Causing them to copse from within—that was the essence of n B, which stood for “Break”.


    “We’ll hear from them soon.” Karyl nodded in satisfaction.


    The allure of elemental stones was immense. The temptation of easy power was especially appealing to the weak.


    Drunk on power, the nobles had started buying elemental stones, destabilizing the financial situation of the Three Kingdoms.


    <i>But this isn’t enough.</i>


    Simply forming a mary dependency wasn’t sufficient to absorb thempletely. What Karyl needed was loyalty.


    <i>Unlike the southern barbarians who revere the legends of the Horned King, the nobles of the Three Kingdoms only care about their gains.</i>


    They were the ones who would even dip into the national treasury for their own strength. However, that also meant that when faced with another temptation, they could betray him at any time.


    <i>The most certain method is war.</i>


    However, Karyl had a different n. Of course, if he wanted war, he ought to have started when he had absorbed the southern barbarians. After all, whyplicate the process of absorbing the weakest of the Three Kingdoms?


    It was because of those two formidable enemies, the empire and the principality.


    <i>Eventually, I’ll have to fight them. When that timees, the Three Kingdoms will be my power base. I must absorb them while preserving their strength.</i>


    Karyl was slowly tightening his grip from the bottom up.


    <i>Bleeding their treasury isn’t to destabilize the nobles’ lives.</i>


    His goal was not to shift the nobles'' loyalty from the royal family to himself. Instead, Karyl sought the loyalty of the people within those nations.


    <i>I will save them by recing the ipetent royal family that has drained the national treasury. What I seek to gain is the people''s support. Dealing with the nobles isn’t difficult. Once I have the unwavering support of the people, the nobles will not be able to rebel against me.</i>


    The royal family knew that they were nothing without the people.


    <i>Before the harvest, the people’s resentment will peak.</i>


    That was the moment to strike. As nobles would be tempted by elemental stones, the people wouldn’t be able to resist the lure of abundant food. People didn’t care who ruled them. It didn’t matter as long as they lived well.


    It was the simplest and the most certain way to win people’s hearts.


    “Should we sell these to the principalityter? Kamma said Tuli and Fran are about to sh.”


    “That’d be difficult. Unlike the Three Kingdoms, the principality has many skilled individuals. And their magitech rivals the dwarves’.”


    Dush shrugged at Karyl’s words, looking disappointed. When had he prepared all this? Creating magical tools wasn’t easy. Such intricate items were too much even for the magic guild.


    However, Tatur had countless skilled artisans, unmatched anywhere else on the continent. Along with the gnomes, who were unparalleled when it came to gemstones, there were the dwarves, master cksmiths who could create tools using elemental stones.


    Not only that, but the ck market was also full of ves who had fled from the empire and the principality, providing amplebor.


    Since the mana mine development, Tatur’s workshops never stopped.


    Then, there was a knock at the door.


    “What is it?”


    “Excuse me. Some people wish to see you, Master.”


    “Who?”


    “One of them introduced herself as Vi of the Kingdom of Fenria.”


    Karyl frowned slightly at the guard’s report.


    <i>Vi of the Kingdom of Fenria...</i>


    The name didn’t ring a bell.


    By the time the empire summoned him in his previous life, the Three Kingdoms were already on the verge of copse.


    Karyl looked at Dush.


    “Vi... That’s the name of the youngest of Fenria’s three princesses. Could it be her?”


    “Probably. No one else would use the princess’ name.”


    This visit came off as a surprise, even though Karyl had anticipated it. He was also perplexed by the fact that the third princess hade to see him, not the first.


    “Let them in.”


    The guard guided them in. Karyl noticed a beautiful woman wearing arge-brimmed ck hat.


    <i>So, she is a princess.</i>


    The reddish-brown eyes under the hat were proof of Fenria’s royal bloodline.


    <i>I expected one of the two kingdoms to contact me after realizing the severity of the situation.</i>


    But seeing her youthful face, he thought, <i>However, a princess, not the king or a noble, is unexpected...</i>


    The name Fenria immediately brought Anthem Howard to mind.


    <i>Perhaps the card you hoped for is her.</i>


    Looking at Vi''s face, Karyl realized he had no memory of her. He just hoped his guess was correct. Although she wasn’t aware of it, Karyl was well acquainted with the man standing behind her.


    His name was Greys Fanpinel.


    Just before the Three Kingdoms copsed, he had served as a knight for a small, ill-fated country, eventually bing a Sword Master. Although he had attained that glorious pinnacle, unfortunately, history had forgotten his feats.


    After Greys reached the peak of swordsmanship, he participated in her first andst battle, where she perished.


    Tragically, he had gone up against the continent’s greatest swordsman, Kuwell MacGovern. And the battlefield where he faced defeat was also the site of the final battle that led to the downfall of the Kingdom of Fenria.


    As Karyl looked at the two, he recalled the resolution he had made initially. He hoped that if the Three Kingdoms did not fall, he could harness the abilities of outstanding individuals from small countries who had not been able to blossom.


    And more, that they would be the key pieces to achieve victory in the Oracle War.


    <i>Alright. Let’s see if you can be the first step in my n.</i>