Chapter 118: The Foundation of the Imperial War

“Father!!”

A sharp, resonant voice echoed through the palace.

“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.

How frustrating...!

Viola sighed, looking at her father, King Logrunth of Fenria. She had always known her father was incompetent, 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 place to intervene.”

Clenching her fists, Viola turned away.

I have to intervene because the ministers are just as incompetent as you, Father!

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, Viola glared 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 Dushala.

“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 related to Riseria’s descendants or something. Oh, and you visited the lair of the Flame Dragon too.”

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

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

“Well... I’m human too,” Dushala replied with a slight blush. Her face was still veiled, but now she spoke in a softer, gentler tone compared 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 plan that either, did you?”

“Nope. Just luck.”

Karyl denied it, but his nonchalant response didn’t seem to convince Dushala.

“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 plan better than anyone else.”

A faint smile tugged at her lips at Karyl’s compliment.

"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 black market, she had spent years manipulating the nobles. Karyl had entrusted her with the affairs of the Three Kingdoms because he knew she wouldn’t lose to incompetent nobles in a strategic battle.

Dushala’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 outcomes.

Breaking the silence, Karyl gently patted her shoulder.

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

“...What?”

“Keep it up.”

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Seeing Karyl smile at her from up close, Dushala 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, Dushala 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 Fenria lacked 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, Dushala gave a thumbs-up.

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

Dushala 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 displayed a long staff and a hexagonal bracelet-like device.

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

Click—

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

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

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

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

She playfully 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 too late.” 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 balance 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 black market helped too. I hinted at the value of the items.” Dushala shrugged.

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

Causing them to collapse from within—that was the essence of Plan 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.

But this isn’t enough.

Simply forming a monetary dependency wasn’t sufficient to absorb them completely. What Karyl needed was loyalty.

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

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.

The most certain method is war.

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

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

Eventually, I’ll have to fight them. When that time comes, the Three Kingdoms will be my power base. I must absorb them while preserving their strength.

Karyl was slowly tightening his grip from the bottom up.

Bleeding their treasury isn’t to destabilize the nobles’ lives.

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 will save them by replacing the incompetent 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.

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

Before the harvest, the people’s resentment will peak.

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 principality later? Kamma said Tuli and Fran are about to clash.”

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

Dushala 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 blacksmiths who could create tools using elemental stones.

Not only that, but the black market was also full of slaves who had fled from the empire and the principality, providing ample labor.

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 Viola of the Kingdom of Fenria.”

Karyl frowned slightly at the guard’s report.

Viola of the Kingdom of Fenria...

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 collapse.

Karyl looked at Dushala.

“Viola... 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 had come to see him, not the first.

“Let them in.”

The guard guided them in. Karyl noticed a beautiful woman wearing a large-brimmed black hat.

So, she is a princess.

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

I expected one of the two kingdoms to contact me after realizing the severity of the situation.

But seeing her youthful face, he thought,

However, a princess, not the king or a noble, is unexpected...

The name Fenria immediately brought Anthem Howard to mind.

Perhaps the card you hoped for is her.

Looking at Viola'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 collapsed, he had served as a knight for a small, ill-fated country, eventually becoming 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 and last 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 become the key pieces to achieve victory in the Oracle War.

Alright. Let’s see if you can become the first step in my plan.