Henter

*huff* *huff* Seika fell down to one knee after continuously training for several hours. During this training, he got a bit more familiar with the dark mist surrounding me and confirmed that he can use it even without his spear. While his spear was definitely impressive, both light to wield and sharp enough to cut through even stone, it didn't have any special abilities as far as he found out.

'I might have been used to wielding the spear physically but now I am quickly getting used to wielding it also mentally. Even if I subconsciously know what to do next, it would be foolish to solely rely on my instincts. If a situation occurs where my body will be paralyzed with fear or such, it will be up to my mind to calmly and logically wield it.' The reason why Seika felt like also honing his mind is that he felt it...He felt remnants of original Seika's feelings.

Even if he himself wouldn't fear fighting that woman, at that time the original would most likely burden him since his spirit was quickly crushed even in the show.

Seika decided to take a rest and go back to have lunch and recover his energy.

.

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"Prince, Doya told me that you wanted the reports about our military situation so I gathered everything I could find and brought it to you" As Seika was eating, a woman around her 30s with long white hair wearing a formal black suit that nicely outlined her curves and fairly big breasts approached him with a stack of papers.

"Do you wish to review them after your lunch?" Seika could see that behind her glasses her cold ruby eyes were filled with nothing but respect.

"No, give them to me right now, I will go back to training in the afternoon and probably won't have enough time to review them later." Seika put down the cutlery and replied with a calm expression.

Dora's eyes slightly shook in surprise but she still bowed her head and handed him the reports.

'...Did the prince always look so mature?' She wondered as she was silently observing him reading through the reports with a focused expression.

'No wonder the empire felt the need to attack Northern Tribes, the prince was able to unify most of the tribes under his command and our military strength is quickly rising'

"Stop doing those random raids on the borders with the empire"

"W-What? Why?! It makes up a decent part of our income, if we stop now, our income will become unstable for quite a while." Dora tried to advise against his decision.

'If we stop those raids, it might give us some time before they will decide to invade us but the main reason is because we can make use of the empire's internal conflicts'

"Then we can make up for that loss by trading with the neighborhooding countries, we can also start trading with the empire's villages. The situation within the Empire isn't the brightest. They still have very strong military however the villagers suffer from high taxes, we can relieve their burden a bit and also earn some money." Seika explained while keeping the main reason behind trading with the villages secret.

Dora seemed a bit surprised by his suggestion before a cold smile formed on her beautiful face.

"The prince wants to fan the flames of rebellion and make the empire focus more on their own villages. We have recieved the reports saying the villages that decided to trade with hostile countries ended up being massacred, some villages might hesitate but ultimately beggars can't be choosers. Instead of going after us, they will end up going after their own villages, basically weakening themselves" Dora recited almost exactly what Seika had in mind which caught him a bit off guard but he ended up closing his eyes with a faint smile.

"What a mastermind you are, Dora" Seika praised his personal attendant.

"Please...I should be the one surprised by your cunningness. You once again managed to plesantly surprise me, prince" She adjusted her glasses but despite saying this, she wore quite a satisfied smile.

"Dora, what do you think about fighting with the empire? What are your honest thoughts?"

"Huh? I...believe we should try to prolong the time before starting the war with them as much as possible" She hesitated for a bit but in the end she closed her eyes to calm down a bit before replying staring straight into Seika's strong azure eyes.

"Hmm, I see. Dora, would you be so kind as to arrange something for me?" As maid took Seika's now empty plate, he asked while tapping on the desk with his index finger, wearing a thoughtful expression.

"Prince, I am your personal attendant, just say the word and it will be done" She said in strong tone while deeply bowing and pressing her hand to her heart. Seika felt like the respect Dora felt for him increased even further.

"I would like you to send expandable parties of people good at gathering intelligence to search for the person named Henter. He is from Ban Tribe so the only lead we have is Southern Lands, however, he could be anywhere within the empire"

"Ban Tribe?! Will he even want to join us?" Dora asked, seeing through Seika's intentions.

"If he is alive, he should, considering his entire tribe has been slaughtered by the empire"

'It would be good to bring one more strong person to my side, I hope he is still alive since it was never stated when he was killed.'

"Prince, how do you even know about this survivor?" Dora asked a question she must have been wondering for a good while but Seika just gave her a smile which was enough for her to understand him.