Episode 133: Dream in the game becomes reality

33. Ambition (3)

The Crown Prince's call was sent to all high-ranking nobles above the count.

Even Gregory, who was scheduled to be granted the earldom in two days, and Princess Diana, who was still unmarried and a member of the royal family, attended the meeting. When the four of us, who could be said to be members of Duke Lawrence's group, entered the meeting room, people's attention was focused.

"Are you here?"

"Duke Haines? sorry. He should have come out and sat down first... … ."

"That's it. Now, aren't you the type of person that anyone will notice?"

I wondered if it was as important as I thought because the royal table, including the king and the crown prince, was still empty, but my expression naturally hardened when I saw Duke Hines, a big man in the aristocratic world, sitting there.

'Duke Landol Haines.'

He is the current head of the Hains duchy, which played an important role in the development of the Kingdom of Reinharts. He is the king's father-in-law and the actual operator of the Heins Magic Tower as well as the Royal Magic Tower.

Although he is one of the most outstanding wizards of the 7th Circle, there is a high possibility that he will never make it to the 8th Circle as he is nearing the end of his life.

However, you should never ignore someone because they are of a lower level than you.

Because he was a representative being symbolizing the kingdom.

It was entirely his achievement that the technology gap did not widen significantly even though the Kingdom of Reinharts had three fewer archmages than the Kingdom of Lucias, which had similar national power.

'You participate in person, not as an agent… … .'

He is a whopping 90 years old.

Therefore, there were more cases where I saw a proxy than when I attended the meeting in person, and no one had anything to say about it.

But Duke Haines personally participated in the meeting?

That meant that the current situation was very bad.

When I arrived at my reserved seat and was greeted by nobles, I sat down next to Arcia, and Princess Diana stood behind me even though there were many seats at the royal head table.

"It must be reassuring, but having two Auror Masters at your helm."

"It may be true that I control Lord Gregory, but Arcia is my fiancée. "She is like-minded and we are together."

"okay? "How come it all looks like a relationship between a superior and a subordinate to me?"

Because the old man is needlessly tactful.

However, when Arcia appropriately intervened and glared at Duke Hines, he had no choice but to change his words.

"I made a mistake. "I guess I saw it wrong."

Despite Arcia's murderous gaze, he smiled, wondering what was good about it.

I've always wanted to talk to him, but I don't think it's time yet.

"Let's all take a seat."

The conversation ended there as the king and other royal family members entered the conference hall and took their seats one by one.

- Roaring. Loud.

However, the assembled high-ranking nobles were all embarrassed when they saw the head table.

This is because the king retired to the seat next to him and the crown prince occupied the head seat.

"I will take the lead in what happens next. "Do you have any objections?"

Could it be possible?

Everyone here is no different from his person... … .

However, the nobles were unable to respond immediately because they were keeping an eye on the king.

The King added a word to that.

"As of today, major and minor affairs of state administration will be transferred to the Crown Prince. Think of it as training for abdication."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Isn't this too big a deal to be an education?

The crown prince sat at the head table and glanced at the high-ranking nobles, and when he made eye contact with me, he smiled.

And he brought up the reason why the meeting was convened.

"The Viscounty of Fjaaren fell around 2:30 PM today, about two hours ago. "The culprit was Count Tris, a margrave of the Croesian Empire, who suddenly mobilized 200 Vanguards and took down the Lord's Castle at once."

The reason I arrived late at the conference hall today was to look into the full story of this incident through the blue moon.

The response to this incident is bound to be ambiguous, because the fall of the Viscounty of Fjaaren was made to look like the Margrave of Tris's arbitrary decision.

"The Croesian Empire is denying this, saying it has nothing to do with them."

"Such shameless… … ."

"How can the Margrave move his troops without the emperor's instructions?"

"majesty. "This is a clear provocation by the empire."

If you had any common sense, you could not have known that all of this was an order from the imperial family.

However, the problem was that international relations were not that simple.

If the imperial family were to cut corners, the responsibility would inevitably be centered on the Margrave of Tris.

"The current Empire's Margrave of Tris is rationalizing his actions by saying that the Viscounty of Fjaaren was originally territory of the Croesian Empire and that his actions were restoration, not invasion."

"What nonsense… … ."

This is a method widely used in the Croesen Empire.

Also known as 'brain drop'.

An act of insisting and seeing things without any common sense or anything else.

The problem is that since the force is strong, the thug behavior works to some extent.

'Considering the tendencies of the past royal family, it would be concluded by sending a retrieval force to only the territory occupied by the Margrave of Tris and drawing in allies to protest against the empire.'

The Kingdom of Reinharts, which had been under the control of the Croesian Empire for a long time, always fought back resolutely, but it never pressured its opponent enough to escalate into a major war.

Can not help it.

Basically, the national power of the Croesen Empire was twice that of Reinharts.

If you bring in allies, you can deal with him well, but there are no permanent allies when it comes to Lee Gwon.

A leader running a country had to keep in mind the unlikely event of betrayal by an ally.

So, even if it gave up some of the initiative, the Kingdom of Reinharts only responded strongly to the Croisen Empire by saying, 'If you touch us, you will also be X', and did not hand over the justification for expanding the war.

"Duke Adrian L. Lawrence."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Capture the Margrave of Tris' territory."

"Yes, I understand… … . yes?"

However, the crown prince's instructions that followed were unexpected.

Rather than retaking the Viscounty of Fyaren, the order was to capture the Margrave of Tris' territory in the Croesian Empire.

Moreover, since the order had been given to me, I inevitably ended up reacting foolishly.

"Wow, Your Royal Highness? "What did you say?"

"Is it true that you told us to capture the Margrave of Tris' territory now?"

Naturally, the nobles could not help but be embarrassed.

Even the royal family members, including Princess Diana, who were sitting next to him.

It was a natural reaction since that instruction was 180 degrees different from the attitude the royal family has maintained so far.

The Crown Prince shrugged his shoulders, saying he didn't understand people's reactions.

"An eye for an eye. This includes: Isn't it like taking back what you've done? "What's the problem?"

The Crown Prince is a person whose thoughts cannot be easily read.

Nevertheless, if I had to judge his personality, I thought he was a person who liked intrigue and was good at behind-the-scenes maneuvering, but I never thought he would choose such a belligerent response.

So I had to look as surprised as everyone else.

'I knew that the king and I had very different tendencies, but... … . This is another unexpected reaction.'

However, he was not inclined to score an own goal for no reason, so he adjusted his expression and gathered his thoughts.

The Empire is drawing a line saying that this incident was the Margrave's arbitrariness and that it has nothing to do with them.

It would be a problem if we continued to occupy the imperial territory after capturing the Margrave of Tris' territory, but if we only collapsed the Margrave, his family, and his territory that caused the problem and retreated quickly, we could rationalize it as a response to the invaders. same.

'Of course, the Imperial Family of the Croesian Empire will be angry, but it is better than invading and occupying someone else's territory for no reason.'

The possibility of an escalation of war due to this does not seem very high.

I nodded and accepted the crown prince's instructions.

"all right. "Let us hold the Margrave of Tris thoroughly accountable for his crimes."

"His Royal Highness the Duke of Lawrence!"

"Your Majesty the Crown Prince! "Please think again!"

The meeting room was once again shaken by the dangerous instructions and my obedient acceptance of them.

The Crown Prince looked at me, nodded with satisfaction, and spoke firmly.

"From now on, our Kingdom of Reinharts will no longer laugh off the threat of the Croesen Empire. "Let us let them know that if they provoke, they will receive a corresponding reward."

"And what if an all-out war breaks out?"

"Isn't it okay to just accept it?"

The crown prince was sincere.

The nobles attending the meeting swallowed their saliva, and the crown prince smiled slyly as he looked at his subjects.

"Of course, you shouldn't do things without thinking."

At the same time, his gaze stays in empty space.

However, empty space appears that way to ordinary people, not to me wearing a spectacle.

"Sir James."

"Did you call me?"

The current Marquis James tilted his head at the crown prince's call, but just as quickly as he could, black smoke gathered together and a man appeared.

Former Marquis Gabriel James.

It was the king's arrangement and the hidden grandmaster of the kingdom.

'Are you going to drag him out to the sun?'

Among the embarrassed nobles, I let out an exclamation of exclamation alone.

"This is the 6th Grandmaster of Rondel, former Marquis Gabriel James."

"Oh, father!?"

"Grandmaster!?"

A person who was known to be dead has returned as a grandmaster.

Everyone was shocked by the appearance of the ghost, but the person who was most shocked was the head of the family of the current Marquess James, the son of the former Marquess Gabriel James.

"I would like to make it public that our kingdom also has a grandmaster."

A single grandmaster cannot win the war.

That's because the world isn't easy these days.

However, the war deterrence power is considerable, because you must keep in mind that if you become hostile to the country that owns the Grandmaster, a sword can secretly fly into your head at any time.

Of course, one of the five grandmasters also belongs to Croisen, but when they realize that even the enemy they had been threatening with ease also holds the strongest sword in their hands, the high-ranking officials who will decide on the war will have no choice but to hesitate.

"Sir James."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"You can recapture our kingdom's Viscounty of Fyaren, which fell to the enemy, by yourself, right?"

"of course."

"Then, let's leave the mission of recapturing it to the Lord. "Please feel free to show off your inaction."

"I follow your orders."

When the crown prince took out the joker card in his hand, the nobles' concerns were alleviated, and some of them showed flushed expressions.

This means that the grandmaster's presence is significant.

The Crown Prince, who instructed me to capture the territory of the Margrave of Tris in the Croesian Empire, and instructed the former Marquis James to retake the Viscounty of Fjaaren, continued.

"I'm sorry, but given the circumstances, I will not accept any objections. And let me take this opportunity to reveal it."

And the Crown Prince clearly revealed his differences with previous leaders.

"I want to make our kingdom a stronger nation. In that sense, going forward, we plan to abolish restrictions that impede growth one by one, and first of all, we will abolish the limit on lords holding Vanguards and Sky Fortresses, which limits the growth of military power."

"Oh oh!"

The Croesian Empire's provocation served as an opportunity to directly reveal the crown prince's ambition.

Some expressed concern about this, while others cheered, but what was clear was that a great wind of change was blowing in the Kingdom of Reinharts.

* * *

Viscounty of Fyaren, Kingdom of Reinharts.

"Hey, hey. "Isn't that too harsh?"

The army of the Margrave of Thriss of the Croesian Empire, who invaded without warning and illegally occupied the Viscounty of Fjaaren, looked like a marauding army.

If there was money to be made, they swept it up, and if they liked someone of the opposite sex, they dragged him by force and harassed him.

A soldier with the common name of Hans tried to stop his colleagues, but all he got in return was frustration and swearing.

"What is he saying now? "It's thanks to our empire that Reinharts is so big, so there's no problem in recovering a little bit, right?"

"Have you forgotten how much damage our empire suffered because of Reinharts? "These bastards have always ruined the image of our empire with past events that did not even exist."

"This land was originally ours, but they stole it, right?"

"I'm sorry, but a lot of the information you know is wrong. And, except for the time of the Calvados Empire, the Fjaren region has never been the territory of our Croesian Empire."

Common sense suggests that the damage inflicted on Reinharts by the Croesian Empire was much greater, but there was very little damage.

However, the imperial family and nobles of the Croesian Empire held onto the Kingdom of Reinharts at every turn to divert attention when something happened, and as many people accepted this as fact, their hatred of Reinharts became very strong.

Therefore, they did not feel any guilt about their criminal actions, but rather felt exhilarated as if they had succeeded in getting revenge.

"What bullshit?"

"Are you really Reinharts Harp?"

"uh?"

The truth doesn't matter.

What they believed was the truth, and they dismissed all claims that contradicted their beliefs as nonsense.

Hans had to take a step back when he saw his colleagues criticizing him with claims that were no different from exaggeration.

The crazy looks in the eyes of my colleagues who were laughing together until yesterday cannot be expressed in words.

For them, their actions were justified.

'Damn… … .'

Hans thought.

They say they will be punished at some point.

Even a mouse will bite a cat if it is cornered, and a relationship like this is bound to break down in the end.

-Quaaaaaang!

And then.

"W-what is it?"

As if responding to Hans' thoughts, a roar reverberates through the Viscounty of Fjaaren.

"Fortress in the sky!"

One of the Margrave of Tris' Sky Fortress, which was guarding the sky, was seen tilting and losing its balance.

-Wheeeeeeee!

At the same time, a siren sounded loudly, signaling the enemy's appearance.

"It's a mosquito! "Mosquito bastards are coming!"

Mosquito was a derogatory name given to the Reinharts Kingdom because it sucked the blood of the Croisen Empire.

With the sound of sirens, the soldiers and knights stopped what they were doing and began to form formation.

"what? "What about that old man?"

However, contrary to expectations that the enemy would come like a pack of dogs, there was only one person approaching.

Everyone in the Margrave Tris army expressed doubts about that.