Chapter 231

(231)

“They had harbored ambitions to control the Empire’s logistics for personal gain, and I decided to call it economic infiltration. As an imperial constable, I eliminated them and successfully recovered their assets without incident.”

I seized all the properties that the Hoselron merchants and the Zahan Alliance traders possessed.

Every bill issued under Jeilliris’s name was burnt, and vast amounts of gold coins, jewels, and reagents were transferred to the imperial treasury. Luxury goods such as fine wines, whiskeys, top-grade tobacco, and fragrant oils were moved into my private palace.

At this time, I deliberately left untouched the shares in the Imperial trade houses that they held.

That was my carrot to entice the bourgeois of the capital.

“Isn’t it quite a sight? You bought ships funded by the Zahan Alliance; you constructed buildings with Zahan Alliance investments; you purchased carriages using the Zahan Alliance’s money; and this commercial voyage started with Zahan Alliance investments as well? Is this your trade house or the Zahan Alliance’s trade house?”

“I apologize.”

When I confronted the bourgeois in the capital, waving the share certificates in their faces, the guild masters and trade house owners could only bow their heads, unable to say a word in defense.

“Celebrations of me were merely pretense to assassinate me, right? But I shall believe it wasn’t your true intent.”

“That is correct, Your Highness.”

“It was all due to the coercion of those men.”

I smirked and summoned flames in my palm, incinerating all the share certificates the Zahan Alliance merchant nobles possessed.

Whoosh!

However money-mad they might have been, they likely hadn’t expected me to wipe out 380,000 silver taels like this. Showing them this much should be enough to prevent any further mischief in the empire.

I have no issue with them coming here to make money, after all the merchants of the Zahan Alliance were indeed very capable.

However, once they monopolize the market and use that dominance to extort exorbitant profits, I will not tolerate it.

Judging by the feedback, it seemed my message was well-received.

In the summer, Jeilliris summoned me to her study and said,

“You. A personal letter has arrived from the Zahan Alliance.”

“What does it say, Your Highness?”

“Cutting to the chase, it states that Hoselron and their faction’s attempt to provoke in the Empire had nothing to do with the official stance of the Zahan Alliance.”

“What reply did Your Majesty send?”

“I expressed my understanding and conveyed my regret over my reckless elder brother of the imperial family defiling the bodies.”

“An excellent decision, Your Majesty.”

Jeilliris smiled in satisfaction and extended her hand to me.

It was a beautiful hand, with long, slim fingers.

I hesitated momentarily before removing my gauntlets and extending my hand in return. Jeilliris gave my hand a firm, if somewhat small, handshake.

“Warm.”

The golden afterglow shining through the study window accented her delicate and long eyelashes which contrasted vividly with her fiery golden irises.

“I, is this warm weather agreeable to you?”

“I do not sleep due to the cold.”

“Ah.”

“I will never forget that it is you who are risking your hands for me.”

* * *

The virtue of the imperial family is not to hoard wealth but to use it wisely where it is needed.

Jeilliris distributed all the money and goods collected from the Zahan Alliance merchants to the knights of the central region.

“You have lingered near the capital for over nine months longer than expected. There were so many unforeseen events, yet I am truly grateful for your loyalty and protection to the imperial court.”

The knights had left their territories last early spring to come to the capital, planning to return in the fall, but they camped in front of the capital until summer.

By the terms of the pact, they could have returned to their territories last fall without question, but the knights and barons of the central region stayed out of their sense of duty.

The reward ceremony was overseen by Helena.

“Careful on your journey… may it be safe. I’ve done my utmost to prepare for you. Here’s gold, here are reagents, spirit pills, wines, silver cups. And I have acquired magical potions on behalf of His Majesty, which are rare out in the provinces.”

“All I ask for is a handkerchief from Your Highness. Could you leave me a token of having served under you?”

“My Lord!”

“Your Highness!”

“We shall meet again for certain!”

“Call me whenever you wish. I shall always respond.”

She, the warmongering golden-haired and crimson-eyed royal, had commanded the brass-knuckle knights of the central region for the past year.

Seeing her embrace and shed tears, it’s evident she has grown quite attached to them.

It’s understandable, really. They had been dividing into teams for daily horseback lance duels and sharing drinks every evening; it would be strange not to form a bond.

Lady Trentia also wore an expression filled with emotion.

Her burning tears were enviable.

The knights and barons of the central region left, leading the soldiers they had personally recruited, and Helena stood silently on the campsite until the dust settled.

The sun began to dip in the west, stretching Helena’s shadow infinitely long.

I approached her slowly, and Helena, with an expression of fatigue that didn’t quite match her fiery red eyes, said,

“Valenciaunos, thank you.”

“What for? Big sis.”

“Thanks to you, I could take proper action against them. If the imperial court had been too busy repaying debts, making it necessary to mistreat those who had dedicated themselves, things would have been very miserable.”

“It’s only right, honestly, it’s embarrassing to even mention it. If you’re royalty, your loyalty should go first to those who’ve offered their swords—not to those who only cry for coin. I’d strip the hides off those who bleat for money. Actually, thinking about it, it’s funny. Did they truly believe that we’d grant their demands when they didn’t even offer swords but only wanted coin?”

Helena chuckled as she shook off dust from her golden hair.

“You’re terrifying, ya know.”

“Aiyo, sorry about that.”

“I’ll be a simple knight officer again. A knight officer without troops. A knight officer who plays chess all day as if commanding toy soldiers on a board.”

“Why do you sound so pitiful?”

“Well, it’s the truth. All the graduates from the training regiment under the brass-knuckle corps have either moved to the constabulary, and repeatedly forming and severing bonds is exhausting, you know.”

I looked at Helena’s slumped shoulders.

She looked bedraggled, like a wet cat.

I did have an idea, though.

Of course, Jeilliris’s approval is necessary first and there’s a lot to check, but let’s start with hope.

“Big sis, would you like to form your own private army?”

* * *

Flames erupted on the Street of Learning at the Academy.

“Kill them all!”

“Drive out the students of the Seirose Academy from this street!”

“Hang the students of the Hellesio Academy on the flagpoles!”

Boom! BOOOOOM!

Flameballs exploded, and chains of lightning and lightning nets flickered with a bright blue radiance. Frost breath and plague breath were spewed forth.

SSHHHHHH!

Part-time students of the swordsmanship department equipped with small bucklers and broadswords, full-time students wielding longswords, all dashed into the fray.

Clang, Clang-KLANG!

Divinity students shouldering enormous steel crosses either reinforced their academy’s students with hymns or swung their maces to crack open the heads of opposing academy students.

POW!

Black magic specialists aimed curses at the elite students of rival academies.

“EEEEEEEEK!”

Meanwhile, the poor members of the Inter-Academy Student Union, caught between two or sometimes three academies, were desperately trying to break up the fights.

“UUUGGH!”

“President! When is the backup arriving?!”

“All wiped out by a misfired flameball just now?”

“Let’s fall back, fall back!”

As Jin led the charge with a metal pipe, swinging hard to escape the melee, this was no place to just leave once you entered—it was a whirlpool based on the philosophy of “you die, I live,” filled with students who could come up with a hundred reasons to fight.

“President, we’ve hit our limit!”

“I’ve taken a serious hit to my arm—”

“We’ll break through that way; I’ll lead!”

Jin found the least dangerous spot possible, knowing it would still be fiercely contested, but he committed fully and wouldn’t back down.

And above all, there was the ever-reliable royal family, helping those who help themselves.

Whoosh!

A massive pillar of fire plunged into the center of the battlefield.

“GGGAAHHHH!”

“A column of fire!”

“Run for it!”

The temperature of the flames, at about 80 degrees Celsius, wasn’t lethal enough to injure the students fatally but was certainly beyond what they could endure.

The students fighting like mad ants scattered in all directions.

Jin shielded his recent lover with his body and fell to the ground.

“Well, well, another fine mess. What happened here?”

Once the flames dissipated, he could gaze upon the all-too-familiar face.

A wild hair golden prince was strutting over in dramatic steps.

Jin helped his lover up and bowed deeply.

“We will lead you to the student council office immediately.”

* * *

The president of the Inter-Academy Student Union Jin, the vice president, the secretary, the treasurer, and others gathered in the conference room, followed closely by Valenciaunos, Lady Trentia, and Helena.

Valenciaunos eyed the map filled with numerous magnets marking the fight locations and the mountain of reports detailing the causes of the brawls.

“So, why the chaos again?”

He knew it was usually intense, but this seemed like a real war.

Jin sighed deeply and began explaining,

“Too many people couldn’t graduate last semester because classes were suspended.”

“Ah.”

“During their time under Your Majesty and me, they acted as vigilantes, cleaned up infiltration body remains, and even hunted infiltrators, which significantly boosted their skills. Even talents who were supposed to graduate and find jobs elsewhere ended up joining these fights, escalating both the size and ferocity of the brawls.”

“Umm.”

“Moreover, with new students joining as well, the population density has skyrocketed. Previously, securing spots in dormitories, lecture halls, apartments, restaurants, pubs, and cafes meant frequent fights. Now, those fights have grown even fiercer.”

Valenciaunos nodded, showing he understood.

“It seems there’s a push to entirely drive out neighboring academies.”

“Correct.”

“Could we manage the student gangs somehow? Maybe scare them enough to squeeze them back into their places?”

As if on cue, the meeting room window slid open and in leapt a red-haired beauty with an athletic figure.

Lady Trentia was startled, wide-eyed, while Catalin flashed a mischievous wink from her injured eye and bowed to Valenciaunos.

“That might be difficult, Your Majesty.”

“Why not?”

Valenciaunos also valued a well-reasoned opposition.

He had seen Catalin take out multiple ringleaders in Tent City’s unrest, proving herself as a capable and authoritative expert.

“Firstly, most student gangs are weaker compared to graduating students who couldn’t secure employment, which is why they turned to gang life. The primary drivers of this year’s brawls are mostly top talents competing for number one or two in their grades. Didn’t I just get hit?”

Sure enough, there were visible traces of potion use on her arms and legs.

Valenciaunos recalled how many top talents had applied to Serrassie and Marcus when they recruited students.

“…”

In other words, even highly skilled individuals had not been able to secure jobs thus far.

Their spilling blood on the brawl fields represents a loss for the Empire.

Valenciaunos glanced at Helena, noticing her eyes light up, reigniting her latent savage romanticism.

“Big sis Helena, did you hear? Here’s a chance to bring in already capable friends into the imperial army at a reasonable price, or even make them your private soldiers.”

“What do I need to do?”

“I need you to convince the Emperor that you wouldn’t do anything improper with this army. At the same time, explain the necessity of increasing the quantity of elite soldiers. Can you do it?”

Helena nodded immediately.

Valenciaunos was inwardly satisfied and smiled.

‘Even Jeilliris expressed interest in increasing elite forces, so there’s a good chance she’ll accept it.’

‘Turning student gang members into forced labor isn’t new. The difference this time is it’s about long-term integration instead of temporary conscription.’

‘Even though it costs a lot to maintain elite forces, once you’ve trained them, you can always find ways to use them at any time.’

‘Will they approve? Helena big sis taking charge of the Land of 랑소와 Republic sector would be ideal.’

‘Will it work? Will it work? It should work! Please.’

* * *

“It is permitted.”