Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 126

126.

I didn’t force Hamilton to make a decision.

“What exactly *was* the Shadow Walkers Guild?”

“An assassination guild disguised as a thieves’ guild.”

Hamilton’s expression hardened. The fact that the Crown Prince had personally absorbed an organization that was essentially an assassination guild wasn’t a comforting thought.

Hamilton’s expression became complicated as he looked at my smiling face.

“Would you believe me if I said that my desire to protect my position isn’t just about a lust for power?”

Hamilton couldn’t answer easily.

“It would be a lie to say I have no desire for power. But what if most of my motivation for holding on is about survival? Wouldn’t that be even harder to believe?”

“I… I never dreamed it was to this extent.”

“There’s only one seat, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of people vying for it. His Majesty founded the Empire and solidified the succession, but the eldest, who had the most legitimate claim, was incompetent and timid.”

“Your Highness.”

“How tempting a position it must have seemed to others. And that…”

I erased my smile before I knew it.

“It’s still the same. I eliminated the seeds of evil in the West and achieved great merit… but their wariness has only increased, and their greed will never disappear. Desire is not easily abandoned.”

I was thirsty after speaking at length. The cooled tea moistened my dry throat.

“Every single person is precious in this situation. And then, the person who assassinated the Sword Master appears before me and swears loyalty. What should I do here?”

“Your Highness…”

I smiled again, seeing Hamilton trail off.

“Wouldn’t it be a waste of talent as a ruler to just let him live as a Western lord?”

“Your Highness is already a hero of the West. Now that I have sworn allegiance, I will serve Your Highness as a knight.”

Hamilton bowed his head.

I stood up and lightly tapped Hamilton’s shoulder.

“Thank you. Your baronial title will remain, and of course, your territory will be maintained. With the Reinhardt family’s goods and the Water of Purification, the lives of the lords’ people will improve.”

To Hamilton, the lords’ people were special.

They were like brothers, not just a lord and his people.

Most of them had eaten and slept together in the mines.

“If the residents directly prepare the Water of Purification and the flowers needed for it and hand them over to the intermediate merchants, there will be no problem in securing wealth.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

“Originally, I was going to go up and scout the merchants, but as a test for the new subordinates you’ll be getting, I’ll have them take charge of scouting the merchants.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Then, I would like to take a few people with me when I go up. All of them have mastered assassination techniques.”

“Good. If you send a letter to Soris in advance, he will come out to meet you.”

Now that the decision was made, I decided to move quickly.

“Go up when you’re ready. You should at least say goodbye.”

“Do I have to stay only in the Imperial Palace…?”

I shook my head.

“The organization you lead will be responsible for gathering information from enemy territory, as well as important information throughout the Empire. How can you just stay in the Imperial Palace?”

I was a little worried.

‘He’s excellent at assassination itself, but he needs to learn a lot else.’

It was true that Hamilton was clumsy, but I couldn’t change the decision to make him the leader.

‘Soris will be busy for a while, though.’

I sat back down and opened my mouth.

“Well, now that the decision has been made, let’s do better in the future.”

“Thank you for the opportunity, Your Highness.”

“Let’s have lunch together.”

I headed to the dining hall with Hamilton.

I felt good that I had entrusted Hamilton with the leadership of the new organization without any problems.

The Crown Prince’s direct organization was taking shape, one by one.

“Is Gale training?”

The butler answered from behind.

“He finished training with the knights this morning and gathered in the dining hall. I informed him that Your Highness was coming, so he will be waiting.”

It was a long-awaited moment of leisure.

I hadn’t rested a single day, with battles and reconnaissance. I had been camping out for a long time. I slept more often in field camps than in the comfortable lord’s castle.

Now that wyvern hunting was imminent, I was planning to rest fully in the meantime.

As I entered the dining hall, everyone bowed their heads to me.

“Sit down. Everyone is working hard.”

People began to place the food, and I picked up my fork first.

“Gale, how are the knights doing?”

“They are all excellent talents.”

“I know you’re busy, but there’s one more thing I’d like to entrust to Gale.”

“Just tell me.”

I smiled and nodded.

“Training for archers and knights. How about making Riorden the vice-instructor and doing hunting training until the Silver Sand arrives?”

“That’s a good idea.”

Riorden stepped forward before Gale. Seeing his enthusiastic appearance, it was Riorden who was putting the most effort into this hunt.

He had a stronger motive than others because of his personal circumstances.

“Yes, Your Highness. I will do that.”

“The Silver Sand will arrive within three days. It will take the artisans two more days to receive the sand and reinforce the arrows. The hunt isn’t far away.”

Everyone in the dining hall was scheduled to participate in the hunt.

No fear could be found in anyone’s eyes.

The war with the Orcs and the battle with the Undead had made the knights from the evaluation competition even stronger.

Both in skill and in mentality.

“Did Ken only send the Silver Sand?”

I shrugged at Gale’s question.

“Don’t tell me. He knows about the wyvern hunt, so of course he sent some magic items tailored to it. A lot of food will also come. There’s not much in the way of reserves in the West, so it will go to Marquis Mike’s castle. I’ll distribute it to other territories.”

The expressions of the maids and the butler carrying the food brightened without concealment.

They had been worried about having to skip dinner right away, so there was nothing more pleasing than the news that food was coming down from the capital.

“Well, let’s cheer up, because there’s not much left now.”

Everyone answered briefly to my words.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

* * *

The Silver Sand arrived faster than I expected.

I couldn’t help but smile contentedly as I watched the Silver Sand being carried on more than ten carts.

“The artisans were confident that they would complete the work by tomorrow, working all night.”

It was Marquis Mike’s words.

“The quantity seems sufficient.”

“Yes. Perhaps each archer will receive more arrows reinforced with Silver Sand than expected.”

The wyvern hunt was also of great interest to the Western lords.

Because I said that I would share the spoils of the successful hunt with the West, all the lords were coming forward to help in any way they could.

In order to reduce the time spent on the wyvern hunt, the lords had dispatched the artisans in their territories to Marquis Mike’s castle.

Thanks to this, the smithies in Marquis Mike’s castle were crowded with artisans gathered from all over the West.

As the last cart headed to the smithy, I turned my gaze to Marquis Mike.

“Have you given any thought to the alliance?”

“I know that Your Highness’s words are correct. It is also true that the burden is not relieved.”

It wasn’t that Marquis Mike was timid, but that it was such a sensitive issue.

“We’re not creating an official organization. That’s because it’s easily misunderstood.”

“That’s right. If local lords gather together, there is a high possibility that they will be branded as rebels.”

I cited other regions as examples.

“In the East, more than twenty nobles are influenced by Aetran. Also, in the South, more than fifteen are closely related to Duke Austin.”

It was no exaggeration to say that they were also an organization or alliance.

“But they are not receiving any misunderstandings. The reason is simple. Their leaders are the Aetran and Austin families.”

Marquis Mike swallowed a groan.

“I will be the de facto leader of the Western Alliance. Of course, Marquis Mike will have to endure a lot until I have power in the center.”

I smiled faintly.

“The capital and the West are very far apart. And the nobles in the center are not very interested in the West. It’s not a place facing the border, and it’s not rich in resources.”

Except for the fact that the soldiers under the lords were strong, the West was a worthless area.

Even strong soldiers are scary only if the number is supported to some extent. The West has elite soldiers, but the number is absolutely insufficient.

The population did not increase due to frequent monster invasions and famine.

“Food and various goods will come from the Riverhill family. Now that the Water of Purification has been discovered in Baron Hamilton’s territory, merchants will soon have no choice but to be interested in the West.”

I hadn’t discussed it with Ken yet, but I also explained to Marquis Mike about the commercial revitalization I was planning.

“Monsters are dangerous, but they are also a huge wealth in themselves. If you build the walls strong and solve the famine, consider putting the Western soldiers into monster hunting.”

“You’ve done a lot of… thinking.”

I didn’t hide my inner thoughts.

“The West will be my strength. If the power here does not become stronger, I cannot survive in the Imperial Palace. The size of the supporting forces is very important to strengthen political power.”

Marquis Mike also did not hide his surprise.

“It’s hard to believe that Your Highness is now celebrating his coming-of-age ceremony.”

“I heard that Marquis Mike’s grandson is about the same age as me.”

“He can’t even become a knight and only makes me suffer.”

Marquis Mike lost his son on the battlefield. His grandson also didn’t seem to have very outstanding talent.

“If it’s Marquis Mike’s bloodline, it will never be ordinary talent.”

“I wouldn’t have any wishes if he followed even half of Your Highness.”

A soldier approached, bowed to me, and opened his mouth.

“Your Highness, the artisans are short of work space, so some of them will move to nearby smithies to work.”

“Of course. Baron Hamilton’s territory is also close. Use all the smithies there, and if that’s not enough, fill the nearby smithies and work.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I turned my gaze to Marquis Mike’s butler.

“Feed the artisans well and pay them silver coins commensurate with their hard work when their work is finished.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I stretched out and urged Marquis Mike’s answer as if it were nothing.

“Should we wait any longer for the Marquis’s decision?”

“I will burn the last of the old man’s strength to unite the power of the West. The West has been a region that has relied on each other’s territories for generations. With a little effort, we can create a sufficient alliance.”

Marquis Mike added.

“Of course, it won’t be visible on the outside.”

I said secretly.

“When the chronic famine in the West is resolved, please focus on training soldiers. It’s a very long-term thing, but there’s no better place to build a magic tower than the West.”

Of course, this was a plan that even I couldn’t estimate when it would be achieved.

But I revealed everything I was thinking to Marquis Mike.

He is the person who will remain in the West and build up strength even if I go up to the Imperial Palace, and write the draft of the picture I am thinking of.

It was important that he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Monster hunting… This wyvern hunt will be the first step in the history of monster hunting in the West.”

The Dark Forest is vast.

There are countless monsters.

They periodically come down to the West and target humans.

As such, monster by-products could be supplied stably.

Rare monster by-products were magical materials for wizards.

The West was one of the few places in the entire continent where stable monster by-products could be obtained.

“How about discussing the detailed situation when Military Officer Ken comes down?”

“Of course.”

I felt much better that Marquis Mike accepted my proposal.

* * *

Silver Sand reinforced arrows completed by artisans over two days!

A total of twelve thousand five hundred arrows were made. Two hundred and fifty archers were given fifty arrows each.

I stood in front of the archers and knights and declared.

“Now, the ruler of the ruins! We hunt the monster with the excessive title, the Wyvern!”

Whatever title it has, whether it’s the guardian of the Reinhardt family, the Wyvern is a monster.

I reminded the soldiers of that fact and moved my steps.

For me, who was going out to hunt the Wyvern, the ruler of the ruins who left deep scars in the West, the residents went up to the walls and waved their hands until we were out of sight.

The old man who lost his son, who gave the clue that it was the guardian of the Reinhardt family, was also out on the wall.

As the walls gradually moved away, I said to the soldiers.

“Three days. We will return with the Wyvern’s corpse within three days.”