Episode 315
“How did this happen? Who already told the nobles to move!?”
A sharp shout erupted from inside the villa where the imperial guests stayed in Grand’s royal palace.
Of course, Luisa’s shouts were completely controlled by magic and could only be heard by the guard knight right next to her, Jun, and the other person beyond the communication port.
Soon, the old man across the communication port shook his head, sweating profusely.
[What happened in Dalan territory was not ours, Elder Luisa. We tried to proceed as originally planned.]
“What?”
[I could never have imagined that the nobles of McLane, whose hands and feet were tied, would voluntarily do such a thing. Really. Please believe me!]
“…Hah? Then it was a coincidence?”
[That’s right. At least in our sect, we never laid hands on nobles.]
“That…”
Luisa couldn’t help but frown at those words.
The original plan was to manipulate the nobles into attacking the disempowered or restricted commoners after the vigilantes were disbanded or restricted.
As part of the plan, the emotions of the people who were oppressed by the evil lords were unleashed. Now the possibility that ‘we too can kill nobles’ must have been engraved in their minds. In that situation, if the nobles begin to attack, they will think that it is not natural to be pressured, unlike the people who were powerless in the past.
The original plan was to fuel that spark through brainwashing and incitement and drive it into chaos that would overturn the entire country.
If the common people of this country had a weapon called a repeating crossbow, they really had the potential to overthrow the country.
Even if the royal family disbands the vigilante group, all weapons will not be completely recovered.
“But that’s wrong…”
Since the nobles’ attack has already begun, the king will try to limit the movements of both nobles and commoners.
Logan McLane is a king with absolute kingship. If he brainwashed the nobles and forced them to move even though his restrictions were in place, the royal family would definitely feel strange and move.
If King Choin, who led the revival of the kingdom, begins to use his legions in earnest, the seeds of strife will soon be shattered.
“Tsk. Now that it’s like this, it’s going to be a confrontation between nobles and commoners. In any case, division is essential. The Sun of McLane will have to choose between nobles and commoners.”
[yes. This kingdom will degenerate back closer to the days of Grandia.]
“Yes. That much is enough.”
If the royal family abandons the nobility, the current system will collapse. If you choose the nobility to protect the system, then you can agitate the commoners again.
And the royal family probably has no choice but to choose nobles to maintain immediate power.
“The impact may be weaker than originally planned, but…”
There was nothing I could do.
With that in mind, I’m refining my plan in my head.
“The results of the Great War Conference are in!”
“already?”
Why did it end so quickly?
It felt strangely ominous.
“But…”
That ominous feeling was immediately realized by the subordinate’s subsequent report.
“This fucking thing happened…!”
A rare swear word burst from Luisa’s red lips.
* * *
“The murderer who murders the lord shall be punished with the utmost punishment according to the law. However, the guilt by association does not apply to the murderer’s family, as the lords have accumulated a lot of wealth in the first place.”
A king who, rather than summoning nobles and gathering their opinions, gives one-sided notices. Even the contents were enough to shock the nobles.
A commoner committed a serious crime such as murdering a nobleman, but the guilt by association system would not be applied.
“Your Majesty! This is a measure that treats noble nobles the same as commoners. Please take it away!”
Even though King’s father-in-law, Roberts Floyd, shouted that, Logan’s voice was firm as he continued.
“For the lords who feel anxious, we will dispatch ten elite knights each. They will fiercely protect the lord’s well-being.”
Moreover, the follow-up measures actually further stimulated the anxiety of the nobles.
“Still, for those lords who are anxious, the royal family will take responsibility for them and ensure their safety. We will prepare a mansion in the capital, provide protection, and dispatch capable officials to the territory to manage it on their behalf.”
At first glance, it seemed like an attempt to appease the lords.
However, in essence, it was a much more drastic measure, so any noble with a brain could not help but harden their countenance.
“If it’s an ironclad guard, then surveillance…?”
“What does the manager mean? Isn’t this talking about dedicating the fiefdom to the royal family?…”
“Your Majesty destroyed the feudal system…”
The voice whispered so softly that only the person next to it could hear it. .
Those small voices were spreading everywhere, making the nobles’ complexions darken over and over again.
However, Logan’s next words completely changed the mood of the nobles.
“However! A lord with good management performance in his territory will be given the opportunity to rule a city under the royal family’s jurisdiction. The standard of evaluation will not be the size of the territory, but the percentage increase from the previous year’s harvest and public sentiment!”
This means that a larger territory will be given away without any merits of war or territory warfare.
Daejeon once again became noisy due to that unconventional declaration.
“Your Majesty. What do you mean…!?”
“Are you saying that you will grant territory based on management performance?”
“What specifically…!?”
“It means that even a rural lord can become the owner of a great estate like Harun.”
“…!!”
Logan’s added words heated up the atmosphere of Daejeon even more.
“A chance to become a great nobleman…!”
“Yes. He must have died because he committed a fatal act. If he had managed the territory well, who would have killed him?”
“That’s true. I’m popular with the people, so I wasn’t even worried in the first place!”
Greed erased the sense of crisis.
And Logan’s declaration became a proclamation and was proclaimed throughout the kingdom.
As a result.
“Isn’t this saying that nobles will be treated the same way as the common people?”
“The kingdom will become a better place to live.”
“As expected, Your Majesty….”
Praise for the king once again burst out from the people who made up the majority of the kingdom’s citizens, and even intellectuals who knew the true meaning of the decree were equally impressed.
“It means that the changes that the empire has achieved over hundreds of years will be implemented in a short period of time.”
“They pushed it as if they were waiting for an incident like this to happen.”
“Could it have been caused by the royal family on purpose? If the nobles weren’t scared of the threat to their lives, this wouldn’t be a policy that would have been passed so easily.”
“That’s right. No matter how stupid the majority of the nobles are, there are probably one or two who have brains. You would know this even if you just studied the history of the empire.”
“But could it have been done on purpose?”
“That’s right. If you get caught, the country could be overthrown. It’s gambling, it’s gambling.”
An empire where, except for a few nobles, the majority of nobles had no fiefdoms. It was a truly unconventional change that advocated a strict centralized system in the empire that awarded titles based on merit and entrusted non-hereditary ruling rights only to the one generation currently ruling the territory.
MacLane finally broke the slough of feudalism and came closer to absolute kingship in the true sense of the word.
And at that time, Logan was communicating with someone with a bright face.
“Thank you for your hard work, Baron.”
[How can you disobey His Majesty’s orders?]
“Nothing’s going on in the territory, right?”
[yes. They are only spreading rumors that it has become a sea of blood.]
Trevor Dalan smiled and continued talking beyond the communication port.
[But was there really a need to start a rumor like this? In order to maximize the nobles’ sense of crisis, it would be better to leave them alone….]
“There are people who are trying different tricks. It was difficult to push them to just one side.”
[Yes?]
“There’s no need to know more. Oh, you can look forward to next year’s performance evaluation.”
[Thank you, Your Majesty!]
I am now leaving this country estate.
The joy was clearly reflected on Trevor Dahlan’s face.
After completing the communication, Logan also turned around with a smile.
“Thanks to you, we’ve taken another step forward. How can we come out now…”
The 2nd Prince and Luisa. The image of what was now considered an empire quickly passed through Logan’s mind.
* * * [Failure?]
“…I’m sorry. In this situation, unreasonable instigation could draw unnecessary attention. We could be caught on our tail.”
[…I’m so disappointed, Luisa. He assured me that.]
“No shame.”
Luisa lowered her head and gritted her teeth.
‘I thought it was a perfect loophole, but I got hit in the back.’
Unless you know about it in advance and prepare for it, such a quick response is impossible.
‘I had no idea that McLane’s nobles were so stupid.’
He is drooling over the food in front of him without even realizing that a dog collar is attached to his neck in his territory. Aren’t the so-called leaders of the kingdom too stupid to do anything?
Of course, when people are in a crisis, their thinking tends to become narrow. Even in such a situation, there are very few people who can continue to make cool-headed judgments.
To ascend to the throne and after ascending to the throne. This is food given by the bloody monarch who carried out two cruel and bloody purges.
The psychology of the nobles, who had temporarily come together amidst a sense of extreme crisis, had no choice but to see it as a way out.
As a wizard who has studied the human mind all her life, it was something she could quickly analyze with just a little thought, but Luisa could only curse the nobles of McLane.
Because she too was feeling a sense of crisis.
[You don’t plan on coming back like this, do you? The empire’s request must be properly implemented. Even for our plans.]
“I know.”
[Then what is the next plan?]
“…I will go to assassinate the key person.”
[Clark. That’s interesting. Didn’t you say that you wanted to change the organization’s extreme tendencies?]
“…I will manipulate key figures in the kingdom into attacking others. If it is a superhuman, it will have an even bigger impact.”
[You will need information about McLane’s superhumans.]
“I’ve already researched everything.”
[no. It will be different from what you know. Quite a lot.]
“Yes?”
[Information left by Gerohin, who died in the coalition, was recently recovered. It looks like the stupid guy was trying to bury his mistake.]
“…What are you talking about?”
[There were people in the Principality of Tahiti who stopped him. In other words, there are three more superhumans in McLane besides the known superhumans.]
“Yes!?”
The old man in the communication port seemed to enjoy Luisa’s startled appearance and continued speaking with a grin.
[There is no further information, but fortunately their characteristics are clear. One is a gray aura and the other is an orange aura. And even the one who uses a bow.]
“That…!?”
And at that moment, something passed through Luisa’s mind.
Orange Auror? Force?
She had recently seen someone who displayed the same color force. There is no way such a unique force color is common.
However, the Master seemed to have a different take on the reason for her surprise.
[Yes, it is surprising. The gray auror user doesn’t mean that someone with our talent has become an auror user. Find him if you can. I promise you a reward equal to the success of this operation if you bring him back, whether by recruiting or tricking him.] It
was a tempting story, but the words did not reach Luisa’s ears.
“…You tricked me? That young guy? How dare you!?”
[…Do you have any guesses?]
Despite the question of the puzzled Master, Luisa was unable to easily continue speaking as she held her face trembling with contempt.
After a while, Luisa managed to calm down her emotions and opened her mouth.
“Maybe . I may have been playing in someone’s palm.”
[What?]
Luisa’s mind was filled with only the red-haired, red-eyed young man as she ground her teeth.
If she had really been deceived, she would have boasted that she was an Auror user. But
the fact that he didn’t…
“It seems like McLane is figuring out my identity.”
It was the worst case scenario.
[…How? Did he really show his magic power?]
The old man’s expression turned grim.
It was inevitable.
Luisa’s dual identity was a top secret even within the organization. The only thing known to the empire now was that the princess of the Eastern Kingdom was cooperating with the tower’s operation. If her true identity were to leak into the imperial family of the empire, numerous plans would be made. It becomes twisted.
“Is that possible? The seal is perfect. Even if other elders other than Master were around, I wouldn’t have felt it.”
[Yes, that’s right. But then, how could it be…? I sent it because I was confident that it would never be exposed. Huh… Do you have any guesses?]
“…doesn’t exist. I’m sorry.”
Luisa bit her lip and lowered her head.
I never thought I would come to McLane with such confidence that I would experience such shame.
[Ha… Yes, the king of McLane. A person who changes fate can’t be so easy. No. If only I knew now.]
“Yes?”
[The identity of our tower is a top secret, even in the imperial family. There is no way the king of McLane would know. He has not experienced our magic himself. … There is no way the king can use magic. You didn’t show it, right?]
“That’s absolutely not the case.”
[In that case, I probably suspected you as a spy for the empire from the beginning. So just worry about returning safely. I will entrust the operation you mentioned to another elder.]
” However, it seems that the deception placed on others has already been seen. That means about us as well…”
[…That can’t be possible. It’s a magic you’ve thoroughly prepared for. Is that something that can be prevented by preparing for the topic of a knight?]
It was a disparaging remark about auror users as simply knights, but it was a top priority for that. He was proud of his magic.
And it was the same for Luisa.
“No.”
[Yes. Perhaps the ‘power of fate’ he had naturally influenced the people around him. The legend of the tower explains it. It is possible with that power. It is completely opposite to our magic.]
“I see.”
[Remember that excessive worry also clouds your judgment. Just worry about your return.]
“No. This is the operation I mentioned, so I will do it.”
[What?]
“They don’t know that I noticed this. I’ll walk there.”
[…adventure is unacceptable. Your status is more important than you think.]
“I will put my safety first. Please allow me.”
I can’t go back like this with only shame.
Even if I don’t allow it, I will try my best.
His eyes full of determination turned towards the old man in the communication port.
