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(383)
War is the best business in the world, but it is also a business that can fail even after winning.
'One fireball for one silver coin!'
Every single spell cast by wizards melts away expensive reagents.
'Lord Linka's Bycon has fallen!'
Every time knights clash, good war horses that cannot be obtained for less than 300 gold pieces, no matter how much you bargain, are killed.
'It looks like there's an extra zero? Am I seeing things?'
The maintenance costs for a large battleship, such as an unsinkable battleship, alone are eye-popping.
Once full-scale conscription begins, production volumes will drop, making finances even more strained.
'Allied wizards have completely destroyed the enemy's walls! Capture was successful.'
'Then it's time to repair that wall.'
“……?!”
If you have completely destroyed your enemies and taken the castle, then it is time to repair the castle you just destroyed.
'Your Majesty, your breastplate was broken during the engagement.'
'no!'
High-level magical tools such as the armor of Lord Tentia are priced so that even a manor of decent quality can buy them.
So, the reason why the great lords can wage war with dozens of knights is not just because they have a lot of money.
This is because they can run a self-sufficient economy through the various goods and labor that come from their own territory.
This is the realm of power, not money.
If you were to buy all the armor of your knights at full price, even Jaylilith would go bankrupt.
So, isn't the great lord an artist of life who possesses money, power, and military force, and who makes each element enhance the other to achieve mutual prosperity?
The reason I'm mumbling these words to myself is because I have an ominous feeling that I might go bankrupt.
“Hardritan.”
“Valencianus.”
The white-haired, blue-eyed, genius administrator of the royal family pushed up his glasses and fiddled with his papers.
“Come on, tell me. I’m ready.”
“Then…… I won’t decline.”
Hardritan coughed in vain.
That cough sounded like a death sentence.
Thoughts like a magic lantern flowed through my mind like water.
In essence, war is an activity of consumption, not production, and in order to recover that consumption, the production facilities of the opponent must be taken over.
It's like the capital's gangsters raiding each other's casinos and the big lords taking each other's fiefs.
But I sent out a lot of expensive units like machine gunners and riflemen, but I couldn't take even a single coin from the Sultan.
They failed to sack Mecharis or take away the lands of the Emirate.
Of course, I have to repair the broken machine armor with my own money during the process, and I have to pay consolation money for the dead and injured machine gunners.
My reputation has reached its lowest point yet, so if I lose face, it's really over.
This is driving me crazy.
Is there no way to get money out of it?
As I was thinking about that, Hardritan handed me two documents.
“First, the taxes from the Instrumentum domain. The duties collected from trade with Doroisen are listed separately on the back page.”
“……Is this number correct?”
“You don’t trust me?”
The gold coins amounted to a whopping 12,000.
Considering that the Instrumentum was torn to pieces by a third and trade with Doroisen was only just beginning, the numbers written were more than one might imagine.
“The following are the tax shares of the Gremorius Free Trade City and the dividends from the Imperial Direct Trade Center.”
Four thousand gold coins.
This amount also far exceeded my expectations.
“King Asenortha’s colonial company has also turned a profit this year. This is the amount of dividends.”
This time, two thousand gold coins came out.
Considering that the colonial project was a project that would take at least 20 years, it was so fast that I was worried that something might have gone wrong.
I let out a sigh of relief.
That's good, Marcus.
I think we can continue to maintain the comprehensive workshop.
With this money, I can train elite soldiers, develop new magical tools, and kill all the invaders.
I went to the workshop, put the gold coins in front of Marcus, and told him about my financial situation.
“I thought more money would come in, but it’s not coming out.”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
He squinted his eyes and smiled.
“Instrumentum is also a pretty good territory for trade. If I had a base, I would have developed mines and traded instead of a pillaging economy.”
Marcus continued, saying,
“This time, the general workshop also made a profit of 10,000 gold coins.”
"what?"
“I exported a huge amount of my prosthetic limbs, eyes, and arms to Doroisen.”
"ah."
“As a country of swordsmen, how many casualties must there have been? They sold them off happily, making a lot of profit. It’s a shame that I didn’t start this business sooner.”
I let out a gasp.
——————
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“Well done, Marquis!”
Marcus smiled faintly and changed the subject.
“So, please don’t worry too much about the kids who got hurt and died this time. They were paid handsomely for their lives.”
It was something I never expected to hear coming from the mouth of an iron-blooded person.
I froze and he shrugged.
“I was also a great lord. I know that the lives of my soldiers are precious. The only way to repay their devotion is to first give them victory, and secondly, to give them lots of gold.”
It was a day when I somehow felt like I should give Lord Tentia a vacation and a reward.
* * *
Valencian's notoriety shook the entire capital.
“Did you hear that?”
“Didn’t you say that there was chaos in Amir’s emirate?”
“It was a stroke of luck that Your Majesty responded quickly.”
“I thought you were on probation, but you’re taking it out on me for being probation. You’re really cruel.”
This was especially true because the news came out of the blue after months of silence.
“It is said that he spread his six wings and burned down the entire capital of the Emirate.”
“He burned to death her father, the Sultan, and her fiancé in front of the princess.”
“You’re really not the same person anymore. I should have known when you started crushing your relatives like tomatoes.”
There was also a reason why the servants and maids who saw Naseria in the villa spread rumors about her beauty.
“Kidnapping the beautiful princess of the Southern Continent with healthy brown skin and mysterious purple eyes and keeping her locked in the palace…….”
“It’s a pity for him.”
“What’s wrong with being born there?”
The perception of the Amir emirates that served the old was so bad that the subjects did not feel sorry for them either.
“They were guys who deserved to die.”
“Why do you serve such monsters?”
“Let’s be clear. The problem with the bastard is that he disobeyed His Majesty the Emperor’s orders to remain silent and took out his anger on them, not that he burned those madmen to death.”
They thought that Valencian had expressed his discontent with the emperor.
For Valencianus, this was a reputation he had to be even more wary of than the reputation of being a world-class bastard.
If public opinion spread that the Emperor was unable to control him, even Jaylilith's authority could be shaken.
thus.
“I believe.”
“Just leave it to me.”
He managed to put some damper on the disturbing rumors by showing himself being dragged away by Sereraji after causing a ruckus in a red-light district gambling den.
“Sister, sister!”
“Shut up!”
It showed that the royal family was controlling him.
“Long live His Majesty the Serenade!”
“Thank you.”
At one point, Sereraji didn't even stand in front of people.
Now she too can put on a show, hanging a sagging Valencian on a broomstick and flying into the sky, waving one hand.
Despite all that, there were still rumors that did not subside.
An abandoned monastery somewhere.
The four archbishops of the Erosion Cult gathered together, leading their bodies made of smoke.
Although they were all in different places, they could see each other and hear each other's words.
They were silent for a moment, as if shocked, unusual for a secret society that shook the continent.
The Black Archbishop spoke first.
“I thought we would have a steady supply of excellent warriors, but I didn’t know it would fall apart so completely.”
The enemy archbishop let out an inappropriate sigh.
“The Pantheon and Mecharis were completely destroyed. It seems difficult to restore them.”
The Archbishop of Qing said mockingly.
“What are you talking about when the Amir emirate itself is on the verge of collapse?”
"you."
The enemy archbishop lowered his voice threateningly, but the blue archbishop did not stop talking.
“This was something we had to do on our own from the beginning. A mission is a mission, and interests are interests. We shouldn’t rely on help. I emphasize this again, this is something we have to do.”
The Archbishop of Baek, who had been silent, opened his mouth.
“……The ritual must succeed.”
There was a brief silence again.
The black, red, and blue archbishops all nodded their heads heavily.
“Yes. It has to be successful.”
“We can’t drag this out. Let’s finish this this summer. Now that the capital has been completely emptied of its military, this is our chance. Half of the Brass Knights, Purification Corps, and Silver Knights have gone out.”
“Yes, yes. Soletaras will only get stronger in the future. This is the low point.”
They spat it out as if they were strengthening their resolve.
Each of them checked the spiral black horns they each had, the artificial royal boys and girls who had caused the fall of the capital, and the dark purple beads that gave off an ominous aura.
The Black Archbishop spoke as he picked up one of the black horns with his slowly recovering right hand.
“It’s less than I expected, but it’s enough. Let’s definitely achieve unity. We must call Him to this land.”
* * *
The Black Archbishop left the abandoned monastery, but the bishops, priests, and knights who followed him remained in the monastery.
It was the hideout of the Erosion Cult and a warehouse where they kept all kinds of precious reagents.
A night with pale moonlight shining down.
The chapel where the barbaric ritual ended.
The large bishop looked at Justinian and said:
“Thank you, Justinian. Thanks to you, I was able to make a way into the capital.”
Justinian said with his yellow eyes sparkling.
“No, Your Excellency. I told you, I will do anything to get revenge on the Holy Emperor.”
He had grown taller in the months since, had a subtle, almost hidden look in his eyes, and his eyes were becoming more and more radiant with each passing day.
The bishop found this somewhat odd, but it was understandable, as the Soletaras Dragonblood royal family had accomplished more than a few strange feats throughout history.
The Holy Emperor Jaylilith became a Sword Master at the age of 15, and that family was the source of generations of geniuses who became Sword Masters in their teens and twenties despite possessing such a demigod-like status.
“You can rest. If you stay here too long, you might feel tired.”
The bishop walked away, making the ground shake, and Justinian bowed his head toward him.
A bitter, mismatched smile appeared on his lips.
“Yeah. You can do anything.”
Inside his sleeve was a single purple bead.
'I need to find out what this is. It seems like a reagent, but it's never been this ominous.'
Justinian covered himself with his hood and went out of the abandoned monastery into the mountains.
Check a few times to make sure there are no shadows following you.
He summoned the wind spirit.
Saaaaah.
A thin stream of green energy rose and swirled across the palm of my hand.
“Justia.”
A cheerful and nostalgic voice was heard.
“Elysia.”
It was the beautiful green-haired elf princess, Elysia.
She asked in a determined voice.
“Are you ready?”
Justinian nodded.
“I’ve set a date. That’s when the capital will be in chaos.”
“Yes. We are ready too. Everyone agrees.”
“Did you convince all the elders? Every single one of them?”
Justinian raised his voice without realizing it.
Even in his unknown memories and with his common sense, it was impossible to win the hearts of all the elves overnight.
Elicia smiled confidently.
“The elders said, you can trust, but not everyone will be like you. But we can still wait. We’ve waited a thousand years, so why can’t we wait a hundred more?”
"ah."
“If you can eliminate prejudice and hostility towards other races, then the future will be ours.”
Justinian felt his heart grow warm and his shoulders become heavy.
"……I am."
He intended to commit suicide after Jaylilis' death.
Elicia said as if she knew that.
“Let’s create the future together.”
Justinian realized anew that he was in a position where he could not even dare to say that he would die.
In order for the operation to work, he must give faith to those who believe in him.
He answered through gritted teeth.
“Yes. Elysia. Let’s create a wonderful future. A future where just and good people are happy.”