The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 38

36. Dreaming of an Empire

“……”

Suan Hazar was speechless at Khalil’s relentless actions.

Qurran, Kama, and now Dushala.

He was manipulating the administrators of Tatur, whom the Empire, the Duchy, and even the Three Kingdoms couldn’t touch, all in less than a day.

“A bigger world? Kid, it’s good to have big dreams, but you don’t seem to know how hard it is to govern even one city. What are you going to show us? Here, surrounded by kingdoms on all sides?”

Dushala responded to Khalil’s words with a cold sneer.

“Are you planning to conquer the continent or something?”

“Well, Tatur’s rabble would make that difficult. At least, we’d need the strength of the northern barbarians and the southern savages.”

“You’re good with words.”

“I’m not just talking.”

It was then.

Khalil looked at Suan Hazar, who was standing behind him, and said,

“Ah……”

Feeling his gaze, Suan was startled and flinched.

“You’ve brought the solution I was curious about.”

“……What?”

Dushala also looked at Suan Hazar at those words. But seeing his bewildered expression, her face soon twisted, and she said in disbelief.

“That guy? All he knows how to do is fight and cross rivers?”

But unlike her cold reaction, Khalil wore a strange smile.

“I don’t think so.”

Swish—

Khalil tore the map hanging on the wall and spread it on the table.

“Suan Hazar, I ask you. In Tatur, surrounded by rivers on all four sides, what is the most reliable way to travel?”

“That’s……”

At his question, Suan looked at the map.

The map showed the Fournine River running through the continent, with Tatur in the middle.

The answer was simple.

It was what he had been doing all along.

“Crossing the river.”

At his words, Khalil nodded.

“Most people use land routes to travel the continent. But it’s faster to ride the currents. The Empire and the Duchy can’t do that. But we can.”

“So? Is that it? Are you going to bring more continental immigrants? Why don’t you just call all the northern barbarians here?”

Dushala glared at Suan Hazar and said,

“You do know that your useless compassion has put you in the bad graces of the kingdoms, and we’re barely managing to smooth things over in the black market, right?”

“……”

At her words, Suan’s face hardened.

“It’s not about carrying people.”

At that moment.

Khalil chuckled softly.

“Information.”

Then, without anyone noticing, he clenched his fist.

“From now on, you’ll have to thank him. This is something only Suan Hazar, who can ride the currents faster than anyone else, can do.”

“Sell information?”

“Yes. Tatur is the only place that can handle each other’s information in the Duchy, the Empire, and the Three Kingdoms. It can become the center that holds all the countries’ weaknesses.”

“How?”

Was she intrigued by Khalil’s words?

Dushala, who had been ignoring him until just now, asked him instead.

“The Empire has issued an Edict of Heresy [a decree condemning beliefs that contradict established doctrine], but the Duchy and the Three Kingdoms are different. There are immigrants living there. Besides, Tatur is not only a place where immigrants live, but also where imperial citizens live.”

“……Ah!!”

At Khalil’s words, Suan Hazar clapped his hands as if he had realized something.

Pointing to the map with an excited voice, like a young student who had solved a problem given by his teacher, he said,

“You’re going to use them. The immigrants scattered in various places! If they become our feet and each base is connected, and the collected information is transported through the Fournine River……”

“Wait.”

At that moment.

Khalil stopped him.

“If you just move, you’ll definitely be noticed. You might even be attacked by the Empire and the Duchy, right?”

But at that question, Suan confidently said as if he had been waiting for it.

“A merchant guild. This is the most free way to move around the continent.”

At Suan’s words, Khalil slowly nodded.

The Rabat Guild.

Suan’s appearance wearing a merchant’s unique tunic seemed to come to mind.

‘It’s the same as in my past life. Tatur was definitely a strategic point. The Rabat Guild also sold information. But it was Olivon’s idea to create the Rabat Guild and raise Tatur like that.’

But it’s different now.

Suan Hazar realized it himself.

This alone was a huge change from the past.

‘He was a talented man back then, but he certainly wasn’t the proactive man he was during his time as the Slave King. He just followed Olivon’s orders.’

If.

If Khalil hadn’t seen Suan Hazar, who was imprisoned, arguing with Olivon, he wouldn’t have thought of this.

But this time, he’s trying to build a guild himself.

He was the main player who brought victory to the Empire by gathering information for the Empire by running a free merchant guild under the Emperor’s orders.

‘But now it’s not a merchant guild limited to the Empire.’

He will be able to do more.

More freely.

More actively.

Khalil recalled the words that Kaie Essir had left behind.

‘Autonomy.’

The most important thing to live as a human being.

“That’s right.”

He slowly nodded and pulled out Agnel, which was stuck in the wall, and drew numerous lines on the map.

“The bigger world I’m talking about isn’t just a country.”

Khalil looked at Dushala for a moment.

“Rivers, cities, immigrants, and imperial citizens. If they become feet, bases, and each is connected……”

The map was torn to shreds.

Sharp, countless lines densely encroached on the map.

The lines looked like spiderwebs waiting for countless prey.

“……”

“……”

The two followed the movement of Khalil’s sword with their eyes.

From kingdoms to villages.

From the foothills to the deep mountains.

The cut gaps were all connected, looking like roads.

“This is the plan I’m thinking of.”

Tatur in the center.

Like.

All the roads on the continent were starting from here.

“A country that is nowhere but everywhere.”

Thud—

Khalil stabbed a dagger into Tatur and said,

“An invisible empire.”

At that moment.

The two doubted their ears.

The kid in front of them was talking so casually about a plan they had never even imagined.

Khalil slowly moved his lips.

“We will exist all over the continent.”

* * *

“Are you saying…… that I should become an information merchant?”

Dushala frowned and asked Khalil.

But from her trembling voice, it seemed that even the mighty Dushala was quite surprised.

“It’ll be much better than managing the black market. People should live in the sunlight. Don’t you think?”

“You’re bold. But I guess you can’t help being young. Do you even know how many information guilds there are on the continent? And what their end was like?”

Khalil laughed lightly at her words.

“That’s right. Their ends weren’t all good. Information is, after all, a secret. You can’t die of old age if you know too many secrets.”

“……”

Dushala made a dumbfounded expression at his words.

“Hey, are you telling me to live that kind of life?”

“I told you. Information is, after all, a secret. Do you know why the information guilds failed? It’s because they didn’t keep the secrets secret and sold them openly.”

“Then……”

“We’re going to build a merchant guild like Suan Hazar said. But the information will be kept secret. The merchant guild will collect it, but the sales will only be done in the black market.”

Khalil pointed to a part of the unfolded map and said,

“But it’s hard to maintain Tatur with that alone. Because what you need most to protect a city is wealth. The merchant guild led by Suan will actually sell goods.”

“A real merchant guild?”

“Yes.”

He pointed to a deep mountain range on the map.

Located not far from Tatur, it was the Kanatra Mountains between the Istria Three Kingdoms.

“Why here……?”

“To put it bluntly, we’re going to make this ours.”

At his words, Dushala frowned and said,

“Kanatra Mountains? This is a barren land with nothing, so none of the Three Kingdoms own it and have abandoned it, right?”

“That’s right.”

It was a fact that anyone living on the continent knew, even without intelligence.

‘It’s definitely a useless barren land.’

Until six months later.

Until the attribute stone ore is discovered.

The uses of attribute stones are diverse.

It’s good to take and can be applied to weapons, so it’s especially popular with wizards and alchemists.

It’s difficult to handle, but the biggest problem is that the places where you can get it are limited, so it’s difficult to get it in the first place.

‘Besides, it’s not easy to get an attribute stone that matches your attribute.’

But if you can get it, it becomes the best tool to increase your magic power.

Therefore, the popularity of attribute stones is soaring among nobles, regardless of the country.

‘This is the only place among the three attribute stone mines on the continent where octahedron stones are mined.’

That was the Kadihum Magic Mine, located in the location Khalil had just pointed to.

‘The mine will be discovered even if it’s left alone, but the problem is time. It takes a long time to mine, so I couldn’t use it properly in my past life.’

As valuable as it is, when it was first discovered, there was a battle for the magic mine between the kingdoms.

‘Thanks to that, instead of developing it, the countries of Astria Three Kingdoms fought each other and destroyed themselves…….’

As a result, the balance of power that had been maintained was shattered in an instant, giving the Empire an opportunity to overwhelm the Duchy and the Three Kingdoms.

‘If I get this place, I can prevent the Empire’s power from becoming excessive while boosting Tatur.’

If that happens, the Three Kingdoms will not be destroyed, and even some outstanding ability users will not die in vain.

“A magic mine……? Is there really such a thing?”

Suan Hazar was following Khalil, but even he seemed to have difficulty believing it, and said in a trembling voice.

“The adjacent Three Kingdoms don’t even know about it yet. The Empire is the only one who knows, so they’re moving secretly.”

At his words, Dushala stared at Khalil.

Knowing what she wanted, Khalil said with a confident look instead.

Tak—

Khalil took something out of his arms and placed it on the map.

“This is……”

“You, who runs the black market, would recognize it.”

What Khalil took out was the insignia of the Sword Master, Kwell McGovern, the leader of the Blue Knights.

He himself had never thought that he would use it in this way, but Khalil thought that there was nothing better than this to persuade Dushala.

It can prove his existence with just that one thing.

‘Is that true? How does he have the insignia at that age?’

She, who was connected to the nobles of each country, immediately recognized the meaning of it.

‘I expected him to be no ordinary kid…… Is he in this kind of position?’

“I can’t tell you all the sources of my information. But you need to gamble to do great things.”

Khalil said in a calm voice.

“How about it? With this, don’t you have the courage to try it?”