Kingdom Foundation (3)

*** Bonus Chapter Release!!! ***

Sorry all couldn't check the stats at work when I did the regular release, but we hit the milestone again so bonus chapter coming your way!!

Dont forget to keep dropping stones, and reviews ;) for additional bonus releases.

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- - Julius POV - -

The size of the mansions of the nobles in the royal capital differed depending on their rank.

The mansion in front of the royal castle belonged to the duke.

The more powerful they were, the closer their mansions were located to the royal castle.

On the other hand, the less powerful nobles had their mansions on the outskirts of the royal capital, or no mansion at all like in my case.

The place I visited was a noble's mansion in the suburbs.

It was not an official visit, that's why I asked Yuri for help.

She had a special ability that used mana to move through walls.

Guess she trust me more, enough at least to reveal her trump card.

But if she had this why attack through the window when she tried assassinating me?

I used her power to sneak into the mansion's office.

"What are you going to do here?" <Yuri >

"I have to finish this." <Julius >

Yurasia shook her head in disgust and disappeared from the window.

She had seen too much of Lunan's dirty side lately and was sick of everything.

Zeff was standing quietly behind me like a reliable guard.

I waited for a while, and then someone came into the office.

At the same time, the lights in the room came on.

Only the maid in charge of cleaning and the Count himself are allowed to enter his office and cleaning is usually done during the day.

Naturally, it was the Count who came into the room at night.

"Who are you?" <Count Hayna>

As soon as Hayna shouted, she was immediately attacked by Zeff.

He brought her to her knees and instantly gagged her mouth.

Zeff's speed was evolving more and more in proportion to his growing power level.

At this rate, it won't be long before he catches up to the speed of Ganev who tormented us in Bridget.

"It's been a long time, Madam." <Julius >

Responding to her inquiry, I tugged down the simple cloth mask obscuring my face.

When she noticed me, Hayna started struggling but Zeff pressed her even harder on the ground.

"You're in trouble. I can't believe you hired someone to kill me." <Julius >

Not wanting to make a scene, I whispered in her ear.

She glared at me enraged.

I don't know why she's angry in this situation when I should be.

"Why did you do that?" <Julius >

Of course, she couldn't answer my question because she had her mouth covered.

"You've done more research on my exploits than anyone else. I'm sure you knew that I wasn't the kind of person who would be killed by an assassin's squad. When I looked at the ledger, I found that you promised a tremendous amount of money for my death."

Hayna twisted around with a surprised look on her face as I spoke.

"Still, you're intelligent enough to have served as a military strategist. I admire you for that. Even if you are an idiot." <Julius >

Hayna tried her best to say something, but Zeff wasn't going to remove the gag because I didn't want to listen to her bullshit.

"You also knew that Ronen's name was written at the top of the ledger. Was your real goal to turn Ronen against me? Couldn't you have guessed that I'd come to kill you after seeing the ledger?" <Julius >

Hayna flinched even more as I unleashed my killing intent.

"Ronen doesn't like me, he's just using me. If he knew that fact, he would have wanted you to return even more. If Ronen favours you again, you will return to the position of strategist and rebuild your family. It's understandable that you feel that way, but you need to use your head. You've chosen the wrong man. Wouldn't it be better to be liked by me than Ronen?" <Julius >

After I said that much, I removed the gag from her mouth.

I didn't care if she screamed.

I've said all I needed to say.

"It's not true that your relationship with His Highness the Duke has fallen apart! His Excellency Hero Elheat was banished to the border, and the Duke didn't find that it was you who gave him the ledger." <Count Hayna>

"I see." <Julius >

Revealing what she knew, at least on the surface the Duke still held me in high regard as a useful and powerful tool, and with Elheat being gone, her position became worse as the one with power who had the Duke's ear was me.

As I suspected, Hero Elheat didn't tell him that I was the one who gave him the ledger.