Episode 53: The Situation Changed. (2)

As the deputy left, and dusk fell darkening the world outside the window, Harold couldn’t stop tapping his temple deep in thought.

“The longer time goes on, the stronger Perdium will become. Their troops will increase too.”

Runestones are treasures of immense value. Not only are they valuable in themselves, but they’re also easy to cash in.

If I sell the runestone and use that money to grow the territory, I’ll quickly secure more troops and supplies.

Even if I fight with the Digald territory now, Perdium will recover the damage fast, and as time goes by, it’ll become harder to touch.

“I can’t make a decision right away.”

If I take my time to scheme, I could somehow weaken them or create problems.

However, discovering a runestone resource that’s rare even in the kingdom isn’t something I can keep to myself.

Harold hurriedly sent a messenger using the fastest horse.

— Perdium, partial development of the Forest of Monsters. Runestone secured. Requesting orders.

A few short sentences, but that should be enough.

After waiting a few days, the Duke Faction’s response arrived.

— Annihilate Perdium. After that, the Duke Faction will intervene. Use Digald to instigate a territorial war. However, make sure to expend them afterward. It’s okay to risk some danger.

The Duke Faction’s response was blunt and to the point. Just a clean command, nothing more.

Harold mulled over the returned order.

“Annihilation… You want me to make it into a lordless territory?”

Without a head or heir, the territory defaults to the royal family.

Saying the Duke Faction will intervene afterward means they will choose a new owner from their side.

The command to use and then discard Digald also means they shouldn’t let Digald occupy Perdium.

While his relative, Count Rages, has a justification to claim Perdium, the Duke Faction could take care of that.

Otherwise, they could simply sweep away the Rages territory.

“I see. Now I understand. It was because of the Forest of Monsters.”

The command that had been incomprehensible until now finally made sense.

Keep weakening Perdium steadily but ensure it doesn’t collapse, and manage so it can’t be occupied by other territories.
That was the command.

The intention was to prevent anyone, including Perdium, from claiming the Forest of Monsters.

However, since Perdium dared to touch the Forest of Monsters, it was now time to sweep them away without mercy.

“But why do they want to claim the Forest of Monsters?”

Currently, the Duke Faction was secretly preparing for rebellion.

They were moving as cautiously as possible to ensure a definitive victory, but if they started a territorial conflict, their forces might inadvertently become exposed.

Harold couldn’t understand the reason behind securing the Forest of Monsters at the risk of such danger.

No matter how much the Runestone was discovered, it was excessive to go this far for just that.

After pondering for a moment with his head lowered, Harold shook it.

It was ultimately the Duke’s responsibility to set the direction. His role was only to minimize risks during that process.

“I’ll understand when the time comes.”

There was no time to ponder over reasons. He was busy formulating plans according to the changed direction.

Harold returned to the office and summoned the staff officers.

“How many of our people are left in Perdium?”

“Two retainers and one knight remain.”

“Send the two retainers to Digald. Use the justification that Gilmore was killed in Perdium to instigate a territorial conflict.”

The sudden command left the staff officers looking stunned. It was a stark contrast to the previous plan of slowly draining Perdium.

“Do you know why the policy changed suddenly?”

“The situation has changed.”

Harold didn’t elaborate further.

The staff officers were perplexed but soon went silent as if they understood in their own way. They had also heard the news about the Runestone.

“The target is the complete destruction of Perdium. We will also participate.”

The staff officers again looked surprised.

A territorial conflict couldn’t simply be initiated at will.

Without justification, starting a territorial conflict would undoubtedly provoke other lords’ sense of threat and prompt them to intervene.

One officer bowed his head.

“It is true that it is difficult to conquer Perdium with just Digald’s strength, but we lack justification to participate.”

Both were fairly evenly matched territories, and there could be no guarantees that one would defeat the other.

If the goal was merely to weaken Perdium, Digald was a suitable option, but if the aim was total destruction, Digald alone would not be enough.

“We won’t actively participate. We will gather troops through conscripts and mercenaries and push in.”

Most of Digald’s retainers were under Harold’s control. So, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to steer Digald in his desired direction.

“Prepare within two months. We will rapidly annihilate both Perdium and Digald.”

“Understood. Is there anything else to prepare?”

“Send Viktor along as well.”

The staff officers couldn’t hide their shock.

Viktor was the strongest knight of the territory, cultivated with great care in Desmond. He was also a hidden weapon.

Using such a powerful card meant that Harold was seriously determined.

The staff officers now believed that Perdium’s destruction was a predetermined outcome. It was a battle they couldn’t afford to lose, even if they wanted to.
It’s a fight you can’t afford to lose, even if you want to.

However, unlike the staff officers, Harold couldn’t shake off his uneasy feelings.

He repeated a certain name in his mind.

That name that continued to evoke ominous premonitions.

‘Ghislaine Perdium…….’

*

Amelia was enjoying tea with Bernap under the excuse of the sunny weather.

She elegantly placed her teacup down and petted Bastet, who lay on her lap.

She felt pretty good overall. She had directly manipulated information and swayed public opinion, cutting off support for Perdium.

‘I wonder how Ghislaine Perdium is doing.’

Just thinking about it brought a smile to her face.

Perdium was a poor territory that couldn’t even sustain itself without support from Raybold.

As soon as the support was cut off, there must have been chaos, and the source of that chaos, Ghislaine, would be caught and punished without a chance to escape.

Considering the accident and reputation up to this point, she was certainly at least imprisoned.

Then, it would be even easier to cut off Ghislaine’s head. They wouldn’t have a grand escort for someone locked up.

Seeing her smile brightly for the first time in a while, Bernap also smiled.

“I’m truly impressed by this scheme. It was far more beautiful than using brute force.”

Meow!

Bastet purred as if flattering her, rubbing against Amelia.

“Tell those wildcats to take the opportunity and definitely take Ghislaine’s head. And that maid too.”

“Understood. I’ll make sure to finish it off properly.”

Bernap was genuinely impressed by Amelia’s decisive action.

Despite having a hidden weakness, she took the risk of revealing it to manipulate the truth and set a trap.

With that bold move, both Perdium and Ghislaine were caught in downfall, which could be seen as a successful gamble.

It was an audacity and strategy not often seen in ordinary people.

Feeling exceptionally happy, Amelia hummed a tune, picked up a cookie piece, and fed it to the cat.

“Here you go, Bastet, try one.”

Meow!

As Bastet enjoyed the cookie, a maid cautiously approached Amelia and handed her a piece of paper.

“What’s this?”

The maid cautiously replied.

“It’s news from Perdium.”

“Oh? Hmm, does it say that Ghislaine is locked up in prison?”

With a smile on her face, Amelia unfolded the paper and began to read it slowly.

After a while, as she read, her expression started to fade.

Her eyes, cold enough to feel lethal intent, glared at the paper as if about to rip it apart.

Seeing Amelia’s ever-changing expression, Bernap felt a chill run down his spine.

Amelia’s face, which seemed unaffected by the death of a person in front of her, suddenly flushed red.

Amelia crumpled the paper and shouted.

“Ghislaine Perdium!”

Bastet, realizing the situation, quickly escaped behind Bernap.

“How could this happen!”

Amelia shot up from her seat. The impact shook the table, spilling tea and cookies everywhere.
He bolted upright. The shock rattled the table, spilling tea and cookies everywhere.

Bernap quickly dodged it and cautiously asked, “What’s going on? What did Ghislaine do this time?”

Instead of answering, Amelia threw a crumpled piece of paper.

Bernap snatched the paper out of the air as it flew toward his face, read it, and gasped, “W-What… You found a Runestone? What does that mean?”

“What do you mean what does it mean? The Perdium Territory is all festive, and that rascal Ghislaine is going to be the hero!”

Amelia continued, gnawing on her lips. “And he used the 20,000 gold he swindled from me as his starting capital!”

Amelia trembled with rage. Ghislaine had given her the biggest humiliation of her life. It was probably only her, a noble lady, who had been threatened by such a pathetic man and had her money extorted.

She had never experienced such treatment and disgrace before; this was a matter of life and death! She had to kill Ghislaine to regain her honor.

Just when she thought she had wiped him off, he was thriving instead!

Amelia felt like she would go mad wanting to drag Ghislaine over and kill him right in front of her.

“Ghislaine! Ghislaine Perdium!”

With blood vessels practically popping in her eyes, Amelia repeated Ghislaine’s name like a curse, causing Bernap to clamp his mouth shut.

Publicly, she was known to be kind, gentle, and graceful. At first, Bernap thought Amelia was genuinely that kind of person because she had shown those qualities at times.

However, there had been more than a few who had disappeared after getting on her bad side. It was hard to tell what her true self was.

“I can’t say she’s a nice person… but I’ve never seen her this angry before.”

Even when ordering someone’s death with elegance, she couldn’t contain her fury when it came to Ghislaine.

It seemed like that pathetic man’s actions were pushing her over the edge.

“Better to keep my mouth shut and stay low.”

If he happened to catch her eye wrong, even Bernap wouldn’t be able to smoothly navigate out of it.

Amelia glared at Bernap with her eyes red from rage. “Gather the wildcat guys and everyone else.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“What would those beggars do with the Runestone? They’ll sell it! Go raid them, kill them all, and bring it back!”

Bernap swallowed hard. “Isn’t it dangerous? Carrying the Runestone won’t be a simple task; the guards will be tough. We might even be able to call the merchant group to the territory without moving from Perdium.”

“That’s something we’ll think about later. For now, just gather the kids. Get the nearby bandits ready to move!”

“Understood. But please calm down a bit.”

Though Bernap tried to persuade her, Amelia couldn’t easily quell her fury.

“I’ll make sure to kill Ghislaine. And I will take the Runestone for myself.”

The sunny afternoon tea time was completely ruined by news of Ghislaine.