The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 118

99. The Foundation of the Imperial War

“Father!!!”

A sharp, resounding voice echoed through the palace.

“What on earth have you done? The national treasury is about to run dry!”

“Keep it down. The ministers all agreed. It’s only a year’s budget at most. We can cover that amount sufficiently by autumn.”

“But……!!”

“This isn’t something for you to meddle in. The other kingdoms are in the same situation. But if we stay like this, the Penria Kingdom will be left behind. The Istan Kingdom is already making a fuss about establishing an academy to create a magic division.”

Everyone knew that only a few months were left until autumn, and those months before the harvest were the most difficult.

‘How frustrating.’

Viola sighed as she looked at Logrent, the King of the Penria Kingdom and her father.

She already knew her father was incompetent, but she didn’t realize he was this hopeless.

“Go back. The affairs of state are for me and the ministers to handle, not for you, a princess, to interfere with.”

At his words, Viola clenched her fist and turned around.

‘Even the ministers who are supposed to take care of state affairs are just as incompetent, so isn’t that why I’m stepping in like this, Father!’

She wanted to shout, but she had to bite her lip at the gazes directed at her.

“Let’s go, Princess.”

Grace, her escort knight and attendant, spoke to prevent a more precarious situation.

Viola gritted her teeth once more, scanned the officials in the conference room, and walked out.

* * *

“Hmm.”

Karil, who had returned to Tatur, was reviewing the piled-up ledgers.

“What kind of magic did you use?”

“What?”

The person looking at him with wonder was none other than Dushala.

“I heard you’re setting up two branches in the Duchy and preparing to trade with the Empire. How do you make things that others struggle with so easy every time you go out?”

“It wasn’t easy. It was difficult in its own way. Didn’t you hear from Suan?”

“I did. I heard you dealt with the Beast King, who had been tormenting people in Four Nine for decades. And even the Sea King along with him? Tell me honestly. Are you a dragon?”

“What?”

“I wonder if there are any empty lairs somewhere… Oh, right, a descendant of Riceria or something. That’s right! Come to think of it, you actually went to the Flame Dragon’s lair.”

Dushala looked at Karil with a horrified expression. Karil chuckled at her wide eyes.

“I didn’t know you could make so many different expressions.”

“Well… I’m a person too.”

She answered, blushing slightly. She was still covering her face with a veil, but compared to when he first met her, her tone and inflection had definitely become lighter.

“Even if you’re a dragon, Aedan said you met the Emperor at the Order… You didn’t know about that and move accordingly, did you?”

“Well, I was just lucky.”

Karil denied it, but Dushala still couldn’t hide her suspicion at his nonchalant answer.

“Honestly, do you know how flustered I was when Master suddenly abandoned the affairs of the Three Kingdoms and went to that priest and the Order?”

“That’s why I entrusted it to you, not anyone else. Aedan said you executed the plan better than anyone else.”

Her lips curled up slightly at Karil’s compliment.

“But now that I think about it, I don’t think you went there suddenly. When you said the Empire wouldn’t attack the South… I wondered if that was related to meeting the Emperor at the Order.”

But that was only for a moment.

Unlike before, Dushala spoke with sharp eyes. As the owner of the black market, she had been above the nobles for years.

Karil confidently entrusted the affairs of the Three Kingdoms to her because he knew that she would never lose to incompetent nobles in a battle of wits, not brawn.

On the other hand,

That sharpness was not only directed at the enemy.

Not forgetting the part where Karil was silent in the conference room before, she predicted what Karil was hiding based on his actions and their results.

Thud-

As if breaking the silence, Karil lightly tapped her shoulder and said.

“You’re definitely a capable person. I need you very much.”

“……Huh?”

“Keep doing that in the future.”

She was startled and stepped back at Karil’s smiling face as he leaned in close.

“What about the Three Kingdoms?”

“Um, uhm… Baron Beril is doing better than expected. He’s a greedy old man, but he delivers results as much as he receives. I told him to spread rumors about the Istan Kingdom establishing a magic division in exchange for giving him a share of the Mana Mine.”

Her face slightly flushed, she coughed a few times and spoke in a calm tone.

“Well… the motion was passed thanks to the nobles who were already bought off, but if they create a magic division, they’ll need a leader. He’s a has-been, but there’s no one as skilled as Baron Beril, so naturally, the mages will flock to him.”

“Good.”

“Besides, the rumor created anxiety for the other two kingdoms. We packaged it as if the Istan Kingdom was preparing to invade and sold attribute stones to the other two kingdoms.”

But unlike Istan, Tvanel and Penria didn’t have as many mages as Beril.

“It’s difficult to train mages now, and it’s not easy to recruit that many mages.”

“The conditions are sufficient. So, how were the sales?”

At Karil’s question, Dushala gave a thumbs up and answered.

“Sold out. And thanks to that, the Istan Kingdom is now under pressure. It’s only a matter of time before the national treasury runs dry.”

Clatter-

Dushala brought out something that had been placed in a corner of the office.

“Among the dwarves who finished repairing the magic sailboat, I told a few of them about the design Master told me, and they came up with this. One is a magic amplifier. And this is a generator that can create shields that match the attribute each time you replace the attribute stone.”

Dushala took out a long staff-like object and a hexagonal bracelet-like tool in front of Karil.

“These are equipment to prepare for Istan’s magic division.”

Click-

She inserted a low-grade attribute stone into the shield generator that looked like a bracelet and pulled the handle protruding from the bracelet.

“You can create a much stronger barrier than a typical shield magic.”

Then, a faint rectangular tower shield-shaped blue barrier was created.

“But it sounds good, but it’s a flawed product. You can figure it out with a little thought, but with the news that the number of Istan Kingdom’s magic division has exceeded three digits, they won’t be able to afford to be picky.”

She pretended to hide behind the barrier a few times and hid her face, then said to Karil.

“Replacing the attribute stone means you can only block one attribute. It’s bound to be a rock-paper-scissors match. Well, that’s what the battle of mages is like… It’s actually a very inefficient defense tool. It’ll be too late when they find out.”

She smiled lightly.

In order to survive the pressure from the Empire and the Duchy, they are building a system called the Union, but the Three Kingdoms were constantly aiming at each other.

It was the Mana Mine that ignited the spark of war in this precarious alliance.

The alliance is maintained because there is a balance.

Karil empowers Istan through Beril.

“Istan makes a magic division through Baron Beril and buys attribute stones to nurture them, and sells magic tools to the other two kingdoms to prepare for Istan’s pressure.”

She shrugged her shoulders and said.

“Besides, the nobles of the Empire who use the black market also played a part. I subtly told them that it was a valuable item.”

Karil thought that she was the right person for this kind of work.

A plan to make them self-destruct from within.

This was the real name of Plan B (Break).

“We’ll be getting a call soon.”

Karil nodded in satisfaction and said.

The allure of attribute stones is enormous.

The temptation to become strong easily worked especially well for the weak.

Intoxicated with strength, the nobles began to buy attribute stones as if competing with each other, and the finances of the Three Kingdoms became precarious.

‘But this is not enough.’

Even if a relationship of superiority and inferiority is formed in terms of money, there is something else needed to absorb them.

What is needed to move a country.

Loyalty.

‘Unlike the southern barbarians who worship the legend of each king, the nobles of the Three Kingdoms only move for their own benefit.’

They are the ones who even touch the national treasury for their own strength.

But if that happens, it also means that they can betray him at any time when there is another temptation.

‘The most certain way is war.’

But Karil’s thoughts were different.

If that was the case, he would have already started when he absorbed the southern barbarians.

Why is the process of absorbing the Istan Three Kingdoms, which are evaluated as the weakest, so complicated?

Right.

The powerful enemies of the Empire and the Duchy.

‘In the end, I have to fight those two as well. When that happens, the power that will become the foundation of my power will eventually be the Three Kingdoms. I have to make their power mine while preserving it as much as possible.’

Karil was slowly tightening them from the bottom up.

‘The reason I made their national treasury poor is not to endanger the lives of the nobles.’

The loyalty he wants was elsewhere.

Not the loyalty of the nobles who serve the royal family, but the loyalty of the people living in that country.

‘Instead of the incompetent royal family that bankrupted the national treasury, I save them. What I want to obtain is the public sentiment [support of the people]. It is not difficult to deal with the nobles. If there is perfect support from the people, the nobles will not be able to resist me.’

They also know that the existence of nobles has no meaning without the people.

‘Before the harvest begins. Even if it is only for a few months, the resentment of the people will reach its peak during that time.’

He aims for that gap.

Just as the nobles are fascinated by attribute stones, abundant food is an irresistible temptation for the people.

The people don’t care who the king is.

As long as they can live a full life.

It’s simple, but that’s the most sure way to win the hearts of the people.

“I wonder if I should sell these to the Duchy later. Camma said that Tuli and Fran of the Duchy will be fighting soon?”

“That will be difficult. Unlike the Three Kingdoms, there are many talented people. Besides, their magic engineering technology is as good as the dwarves’.”

Dushala shrugged her shoulders as if she was disappointed at Karil’s words.

When did he start preparing these things?

It is never easy to make magic tools. Moreover, even the Magic Society could not do such elaborate things.

There were many jewelers in Tatur that could not be found anywhere else on the continent.

Along with the gnomes who are second to none when it comes to jewels, there are even dwarves, masters of blacksmithing, who can make tools that can use attribute stones.

Would that be all? There were plenty of slaves in the black market who had escaped the eyes of the Empire and the Duchy, so there was enough labor.

After the Mana Mine was developed.

The smoke never went out of the chimneys of Tatur’s workshops.

It was then.

A knock was heard from outside the hallway.

“What’s going on?”

“Excuse me. There are people who want to see the Master.”

“Who are they?”

“That’s… They said to tell you it’s Viola from the Penria Kingdom.”

Karil frowned slightly at the guard’s report.

‘Viola from the Penria Kingdom……’

She was not someone he particularly remembered.

The Three Kingdoms were on the verge of destruction when he received the call from the Empire.

Karil looked at Dushala.

“If it’s Viola… it’s the same name as the youngest of the three princesses of the Penria Kingdom. Could she have come herself?”

“Probably. Others wouldn’t use the princess’s name.”

An unexpected visit.

But it was also something Karil had been waiting for.

However,

It was a bit strange that it was the third, not the first, who visited.

“Let them in.”

Two people entered, guided by the guard.

His eyes fell on a beautiful woman wearing a large black hat.

‘Hmm, I guess she is a princess.’

The reddish-brown eyes visible under the hat certainly proved the lineage of the Penria Kingdom.

‘When the plan starts, I thought that one of the two kingdoms would realize the seriousness of this situation and contact me to make a deal.’

Looking at her, who still looked young, Karil suddenly had a thought.

‘It’s a bit unexpected that it’s a princess, not a king or a noble, who came……’

The person he thought of with the name of the Penria Kingdom was none other than Anthem Howard.

‘I have a feeling that the card you were expecting might be her.’

Looking at Viola’s face, Karil realized that she was still someone who was not in his memory.

However, he hoped that his guess was correct.

Because……

She doesn’t know, but Karil knew the man standing behind her very well.

Grace Panfinel.

Just before the Three Kingdoms were destroyed.

A knight of misfortune from a weak country who reached the realm of Sword Master.

He had reached that glorious peak, but unfortunately, this man’s achievements were not left in history.

After Grace reached the realm of the sword.

He died in the first and last battle he fought.

Unfortunately, the opponent he faced was Kwell McGovern, the best swordsman on the continent.

And the battlefield where he was defeated.

It was also the last battle in which the Penria Kingdom was destroyed.

Looking at the two, Karil recalled the determination he had first thought of.

If the Three Kingdoms are not destroyed, he can obtain the power of the outstanding people who could not bloom in the weak countries.

And furthermore, to become the horse that will lead the Holy War to victory.

‘Good. I’ll see if you can be the first button of my wish.’