Chapter 102: The Cost of Growth

Mid Afternoon - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

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"Haah..." I let out a deep breath as I glanced over at Ilios sleeping soundly. -It feels like time has sped up again...-

After returning to the shelter after my stop by the library, I set the metal book I made on the pedestal in the vault before spending several hours idly thinking about its contents.

But then, time started to pick up the pace again. Before I knew it, several days had passed, and the day Father was meant to return, came and passed.

I started to get a bit worried at first, but after a couple more days, he finally returned bearing good news.

In short, he got confirmation that Bahamut would cleanse the Tower without any more intervention from us. This meant that we just needed to wait for the fall of the Tower to be confirmed before we could finally go home.

It was exciting to hear, but unlike what I had hoped, its destruction took longer than anticipated.

Over the next several days, Father and I lounged around the shelter chatting and telling stories, but the royal family worked their asses off.

Kaelallan successfully managed to capture both the Kingdom of Zan and its neighbor, the Kingdom of Byria, in only ten days.

It was good news, but it caught me by surprise since, although Zan being walked over was expected, Byria should have been quite different.

From what I knew about the nation, they were a massive trade hub for the eastern half of the Main Continent and had 'undercover allies' all over the place.

To put it simply, it meant that there were nations that supported Byria in military efforts even when they weren't allied.

When I heard Kaelallan was going after Byria regardless of this fact, I honestly thought Oliver had gone crazy.

But to my surprise, not only did Byria's neighboring nations not move against Kaelallan, they even tried to curry their favor.

This didn't make much sense at first, but when I eventually asked Oliver, his answer was pretty simple: "They're all just using good judgment."

In short, nearby nations didn't have the means to handle Lawton, and the army he led in their current state, so instead of picking a losing battle, they were trying to gain favor and avoid their own demise.

This kind of attitude was even seen inside Zan's borders after the first few cities were destroyed. By the time Lawton got to the capital, Zan's knights had already surrendered the city and abandoned the royal family.

Many people in surrounding nations thought such a display of cowardice was against the Knight's Code of Honor, but it was actually the opposite. Zan's upper echelon wanted to fight to the bitter end, with no regard for the citizens within their borders, while the knights only wanted to protect their friends and family.

But just when I thought Oliver would lose his grip on the situation, once Zan was inevitably captured and absorbed by Kaelallan, the ensuing displeasure of the people was promptly calmed down by lower taxes and increased influence for the respected local noble families.

Following the immense shift in people's sentiment, the King of Zan lost any lingering support and was executed for foul judgment, while his family was stripped of nobility and all assets.

Continuing through Zan and into Byria, Kaelallan was met with a similar situation. Instead of fighting, Byria gave up and let Kaelallan march straight to the capital without resistance.

After a bit of peaceful negotiation, the royal family of Byria managed to quell their citizens' unrest by having Kaelallan promise favorable conditions to the people before finally surrendering.

Shortly following that, the royal family of Byria was put into the position of District Lord, where they would continue to govern the cities they originally had but instead, report the more pressing matters to Kaelallan itself.

At the end of it all, they became something akin to a satellite royal family, with extremely favorable conditions compared to the royal family and even nobles within Zan.

-I wonder if that will set an example for other neighboring nations as well…- Knowing Oliver, I already knew he was going to get greedy and not leave the other helpless nations trying to garner his favor alone. -But I guess that's for him to figure out later…-

In the days following Byria and Zan's capture, Oliver and Helen couldn't even leave their offices. Work continued to pile up, and the complications of suddenly absorbing two nations and nearly doubling their population in a few days started to arise.

But shockingly, things were going fairly well. Most cities made a clean shift in management, and there was minimal backlash from the citizens, thanks to lower taxes, and more citizen-oriented laws regarding sanitation and city cleanliness.

-It's honestly hard to believe things have gone this well…- But things didn't end there.

Amidst the chaos, the librarian showed up at the royal palace to propose the contract I explained to him.

He did eventually come clean about being a spy for the Tower, but with a bit of encouragement from me, and the ever-growing need for fast and reliable international information, both Helen and Oliver agreed to overlook it.

A couple more days after that, he left for Zan's old capital, where his new headquarters would be, and departed after meeting with me in a tavern to discuss the plan going forward.

In short, I just told him that I would occasionally visit him, and wanted to avoid having a hard time reaching him should I ever need to. -But I guess I was worried about nothing…- He already had a plan for it by the time I got there. -Maybe he will be a better asset than I thought...-

Then, another week and a half passed, and the chaos within the palace became routine.

"Haah…" -I warned Oliver not to get too cocky…- Out of boredom, I rolled onto my back next to Ilios, and right as I did, I sensed an approaching aura.

Looking over toward it, I saw Father walking out of the lift giving me an odd look. "You seem like you're ready to go home."

"Of course I am. I was expecting to be home, laying next to Mother, by now..."

"Well, in that case, I have some good news for you."

"Hm?" Looking back over at him, I saw him holding a paper covered in writing and went ahead and read it. "Pfft, haha!" To my surprise, it was a newspaper showing an announcement regarding something that happened within several nations spread across the Main Continent.

In short, nearly two dozen royal families vanished and hundreds of nobles were found dead, all in the span of a few days, with the Tower announcing that they would disband at the same time.

According to the paper Father was holding, almost every person with any sort of power within the tower was either dead or missing, with only the researcher's branch remaining untouched.

To others who read the announcement, they might think it's incredibly odd and hard to believe such a scenario could occur, but it made perfect sense to both Father and I.

-Bahamut was really thorough.. weren't they…- It was honestly a bit scary to see how precise their work was as well.

"I haven't been able to confirm this through official channels just yet, but according to Oliver, the total number of deaths, plus those still missing, is close to 1,200."

My eyes went wide immediately. "Good lord…"

Father just seemed to find my reaction funny. "Haha, yeah. I didn't expect it to be so many people either, but I wouldn't be too surprised if the number is inflated a little."

-That's still a lot…- "So will we get a full story from Bahamut?" As funny as the newsletter was to read because of humans' cluelessness, I also wanted to hear what really happened behind the scenes from Bahamut.

"When we go there, you can ask your grandmother. She is one of the elders in the Elder Hall, so she should be able to tell you the specifics."

-Okay, I should make note of that…- "So now that the tower is gone, when are we going home?"

Father changed to his dragon form as he walked over to the hot spring. "Unless Oliver has something for us to do before we go, it will be soon."

"Woohooo! Does that mean tonight?"

"Haha, yeah. I'd like to have dinner with them tonight before we go though."

"Alright, that's fine." -Until then, I should probably wrap up what I need to…- "What should I do with that halfie in the plaza?"

"You can do whatever you want with her. You could even make her a slave for... Nevermind." He showed me a smug look as he stepped into the shallow end of the spring. *splash-splash*

But I could only lay there, stunned for a moment. -He doesn't mean what I think he does, right?- "I'm 10 years old, Father."

"Mhm, I know. You're just maturing so quickly that I might need to.. have a certain talk with you sooner than expected."

-Lord, please no…- Although I didn't mind the idea of exploring that side of myself at some point, I knew now wasn't the right time. "I don't think I'll be venturing into that territory anytime soon, so... I'll pass."

"Haah..." Father let out a sigh of worry and relief as he laid down in the shallow water. "Alright, if that's the case, just do what you want with her. I trust your judgment."

-Phew…- "Okay, I'll go ahead and do that now then." Finally rolling back onto my feet, I hopped up and changed to my humanoid form. "Do you plan to stay down here for long?"

"Yeah, I am going to just relax here until it's time for dinner."

"Hmm… Alright, I'll be back later then."

"Be safe!"

Finally making my way out of the shelter, I wound my way out of the palace, down the main street, and to the plaza. It was a route I had come to frequent recently.

Once I got there, I was greeted by a knight who looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. "Welcome back, Sir Whyte. Please let me know if there is anything you need while you are here."

"Thanks." Making my way into the plaza, I nonchalantly walked toward Maria while thinking of the countless things I could do with her.

-Do I really need a slave?-

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