32 Back to Windfall City

Roland almost let out a cold snort when he saw Count Bastion fall from his seat.

The King sat there unmoved, his cold gaze following the members of the Aron Family as they rushed to the side of the Count.

If nothing else, this overreaction by Count Bastion had more or less helped Roland determine that the Count was indeed guilty as mentioned by Marquis Berghis.

Why else would the Count be this shocked upon hearing about the absolute victory that had been achieved by the expedition army?

Even if Count Bastion was frightened by the scale of the opponent, they had already been taken care of after all!

Roland had previously found it a pity that due to the dangers involved this time round, he was not able to bring Erin along to assess Count Bastion's position.

However, it seemed like things worked out conveniently for him in the end.

The experienced Count Bastion had actually lost control of himself in front of everyone and directly fainted in the main hall!

"It seems like Count Bastion must have been overworked from perpetually worrying about the matters of the state. Send him to the priests, and let us adjourn this meeting for now. Remember to send Count Bastion my regards when he finally wakes up!" Roland's voice was imbued with mana as it boomed authoritatively across the main hall.

Compared to the Roland who first arrived at Waterfall City, something was fundamentally different about him now.

Over the past few weeks, King Roland had gained a trait that all great leaders possessed, and that was a powerful will to accomplish his vision for the kingdom!

What he wanted was to establish was a kingdom in which the people could place complete trust in the nobles' integrity and capability, and for the nobles to never let down that trust!

His words carried with him a slight spiritual pressure that was directed at the members of the Aron Family, causing them to freeze for a moment.

It felt as though they were being watched by an ultimate predator, and that the first person who moved would have had his life mercilessly reaped from him.

This pressure only lasted for a moment, but it was more than enough to imprint a primordial level of fear within them.

Roland had meant it as a warning, to make sure that the Aron Family learn where they stood!

After that, Roland stood up from his seat and directly left the main hall, with Rose and Alexander following immediately.

The rest of the officers from the Royal Army were slightly startled by the abrupt way in which everything happened, but regained their senses quickly enough to follow their superiors out of the main hall.

---

Count Bastion had skipped out on the celebratory feast in the evening, apparently still yet to recover.

The guards had informed Roland that just as he mentioned before, Count Bastion had indeed fainted due to exhaustion, having heavily overworked for the past weeks.

Upon hearing that answer, Roland had to consciously refrain from immediately laughing out loud.

Heavily overworked for the past weeks?

Just as Count Bastion had men tagging along to update him on the actions of the expedition army, Roland had also left a few scouts in Waterfall City prior to setting out.

These scouts were not ninjas who could find out exactly what Count Bastion had been working on behind closed doors, but how could they miss the high profile feasts that the Count had been attending along with the many other nobles and merchants?

Even so, Roland decided not to question it.

Considering that Count Bastion had never gone against the kingdom while the late king was still in power, perhaps all Roland needed to do was to send an indirect warning to the Count.

As long as he could rid Count Bastion of his untoward motives, there was no need to push things too far.

After all, Count Bastion was a key appointment holder and wielded control over a powerful military.

Having just rid the people of the goblin scourge, Roland had no wish to immediately embroil them in a civil war.

Of course, if things did not pan out according to his plan, then Roland would have no choice but to resort to more extreme measures!

The other members of the Aron Family still had to show their faces at the celebratory feast, but Roland did not make things difficult for them.

Despite the absence of the main host, the main characters of the night were the members of the expedition army after all, and the feast carried on without a hitch.

Seeing the satisfied looks on the soldiers' faces, Roland nodded in satisfaction.

Indeed, it was a good decision to have allowed the soldiers this opportunity to unwind.

Even though there had been no outright complaints, it was a fact that he had been working the soldiers extremely hard over the past weeks.

Since they left Windfall City, they had marched for weeks at an unnaturally fast pace before arriving at Waterfall City, where they were only able to rest for two nights before setting out towards Dragontail Valley.

After the week long march to arrive at the main exits of Dragontail Valley, they were forced into labour for three consecutive days in order to set up the necessary fortifications.

Those stationed at the first exit were fortunate, but the other half was called to arms the very next morning after completing the fortifications!

This sort of schedule with the lack of a proper rest period would have placed a huge strain on anyone, both physically and psychologically.

Since Count Bastion had voluntarily offered to sponsor this celebratory feast, Roland would definitely not be courteous with him!

"To victory!" Roland shouted out as he held up the mug of beer in his hand.

"To victory!" the soldiers before him roared back in response with their own beer in hand.

The soldiers ate and drank to their hearts' content that night, finally falling into a deep sleep back at their allocated accommodations.

But Roland dared not do the same.

In fact, he did not sleep a wink that night.

Since Roland had made the decision to allow his subordinates to drink to the point of incapacitation, it was his duty to ensure that no harm befell them in this land fraught with danger.

He might have sent them a warning, but Roland did not have a firm grasp on how the Aron Family usually acted in such situations.

And if the Aron Family was still interested in staging a coup, tonight was the best opportunity to do so!

Thankfully, what he feared did not come to pass.

The next day passed by quickly as well, and the last of the expedition army soldiers finally recovered from the heavy hangover.

Seeing that everyone had sufficient rest, Roland chose not to stay any longer.

Even when the expedition army finally left Waterfall City under much fanfare from the crowds, Count Bastion was still said to be too weak to leave his bed, and was thus unable to personally send off the King.

Roland toyed with the idea of taking the initiative to visit Count Bastion instead, but ultimately decided against it.

It was not as though he was as good with words as Count Bastion, thus such a visit was doomed to be nothing but a waste of time.

So Roland might as well leave him be and spare both of them the unnecessary effort.

---

Princess Erin sat at her desk and was reading through a stack of paper, her eyes meticulously going through each and every word that was written.

Her sitting posture was as straight as ever, and her long wavy hair was tied up neatly into a bun.

Seeing the frown on her face slowly grow deeper and deeper as she read on, the man seated across the desk felt his fingers gradually grow colder as well.

"Are there any problems with the report…?" he finally managed to blurt out after much deliberation.

The vivid memory of Princess Erin ripping the late Crown Prince's proposal to oblivion suddenly came back to him, causing him to swallow a gulp of saliva in nervousness.

This man was Marquis Johnson, the eldest son of Duke Ivan, and also the man who was tasked to oversee the development of the Royal Fishing Company.

With Erin leading the initial phase, it had taken only three days for the conceptualisation of the company to be completed.

After that, the recruitment of staff, as well as the construction and procurement of the physical location, had taken weeks before they were finally done.

Slightly more than a month had passed since the Royal Fishing Company had effectively started its operations, and today Marquis Johnson had submitted the first operational reports to Erin for her reference.

These included the income statements that clearly stated the costs and revenues, the problems faced and the corresponding solutions implemented, the future plans for developments, and other essential information.

Marquis Johnson had already tried to be as detailed as possible, but he still could not help but feel like it might not leave up to the standards of the eldest Princess.

He had tried to approach his father for advice, but the Chancellor had chosen to completely wash his hands off of this matter, hoping to hone his son in this manner.

How heartless!

That was the thought that ran through Marquis Johnson's mind when he first heard his father's intentions.

However, he too knew that he truly had much more to learn if he intended to succeed his father as the highest ranked official in the realm!

Thus he could only grit his teeth and go about doing this the best way he could!

Princess Erin did not answer his question immediately, instead choosing to continue reading through to the end.

Marquis Johnson dared not bother her with more questions either, simply staying quiet until the last piece of paper had finally been read through.

Princess Erin let out a helpless sigh before looking up from the papers on her desk.

She was slightly younger than him, but when they made eye contact, the man was the one who cowered slightly.

"How do you intend to handle the problem of overproduction?" Erin's words were to the point.

"I believe that the overproduction is a temporary issue that arose because we have yet to gain a proper gauge on the market demand. In the following months, it is possible to adjust our production downwards, preventing such a thing from happening again!"

Marquis Johnson had already thought about this issue before, and gave the answer that he had rehearsed countless times in his mind.

However, who knew that Erin's frown would further deepen upon hearing that answer?

Seeing that reaction, Marquis Johnson immediately felt the blood being drained from his face!

Just as Erin opened her mouth and was about to speak, a knock from outside interrupted the conversation.

Lily immediately stepped forth to open the door slightly, listening to the message from the guard outside.

After receiving the message, Lily walked back to Erin's side and dutifully conveyed the message as she was told.

"King Roland has returned."