Chapter 426
Chapter 426: I Guess I’ll Have To Forcefully Take It (2)
It wasn’t only Belinda who had such thoughts. Gillian chimed in as well.
“You’ll eventually have to gather the North, even if not immediately.”
“What’s this? Why is Gillian suddenly saying that too?”
“Soldiers belonging to the Northern Army are all wanting to come to Penris. Even if the Northern Army disbands after the war, they will certainly be dissatisfied with their territories.”
“Hmmm…”
“The soldiers have been living with us and have gotten to know how the People of Penris live.”
“That’s true, they’re probably comparing a lot.”
“Right. In fact, they’re eating better now after joining the Northern Army. If they go back, they will all try to escape their territories and come to us.”
Ghislaine nodded.
He wasn’t unaware of the growing atmosphere among the Northern Army soldiers. There were more and more soldiers openly expressing their desire to come to Penris.
Gillian brought up another issue.
“If they merely escaped to us, it wouldn’t be a problem, but once the Northern Army is disbanded after the war, many issues will arise. It’s not just the soldiers, but also the knights and commanders leading them.”
When the managers of Penris drafted troops, commanders related by blood to the respective lords were completely excluded. This was to secure authority over them.
Hence, those who had been pushed out of the center of power became commanders and joined the Northern Army. Naturally, most of them wanted to come to Penris as well.
It’s rare for the desires of commanders and soldiers in an army to align. And that army is largely dissatisfied with their own territories.
If the Northern Army disbands like this, they will turn into bandits or incite rebellion.
Seeing Ghislaine deep in thought, Gillian continued.
“It’s an unavoidable flow of the times. Everyone wishes to follow our Lord. If we don’t harvest them, they will only fall into deeper despair.”
Kaor chimed in from the side.
“Yeah, since the Duke Faction has taken everything in the South, the North won’t be any different. Honestly, everyone wants it, so why not just do it? Just turning the army around will have them all kneeling.”
Alfoy added his two cents.
“Then are you giving me a territory? I want to be a lord too. As for the title, I’d prefer Count.”
He was immediately dragged away by Vanessa, speechless.
Ghislaine clicked his tongue and shook his head.
What started merely to protect their territory and family had grown far too large in scale.
He had no such ambitions. However, he couldn’t completely ignore the grand flow of the times.
After all, it was something he had also created.
“We’ll discuss that later. Anyway, there are more pressing matters at hand.”
People smiled slightly. They thought it was good that Ghislaine hadn’t outright refused.
‘They’re all serious about this.’
Ghislaine clicked his tongue again and spread out the map.
“Firstly, let’s deal with the urgent issues. An epidemic is spreading right now, but the lords aren’t cooperating at all.”
The messenger from the capital had conveyed the current situation. The lords were hoarding materials, attempting to sell the medicine at high prices.
Since most were doing this, there was no way the medicines could be produced properly. The shortage of medicines across the kingdom was causing the epidemic to spread even faster.
Ghislaine pointed to several locations on the map as he spoke.
“Sometimes, there are greedy bastards like this. And these guys always make things worse.”
Gillian cautiously asked, “Should we turn the army around now?”
“The Rift is urgent, but since people are dying right now, there’s no other choice. We’ll have to forcibly confiscate materials and produce medicine. I honestly don’t like doing things by force. I love freedom.”
Ghislaine shrugged while looking around at everyone.
“But if they keep exacerbating the issue with malicious intent, we’ll have no choice but to act forcefully, right?”
People smiled. As expected, they knew he intended to do what he wanted regardless.
Like Belinda said, it seemed better to act quickly, whether with the Duke of the North or whoever.
Anyway, although Marquis Branford had prohibited the trading of materials in the name of the royal family, that didn’t mean the lords would easily part with them.
The epidemic was sweeping across the continent. Whether selling medicinal herbs to other nations or producing and selling the medicines, they would surely be dealing with significant amounts of money.
At first, Ghislaine also worried about what to do.
‘There are still too many Rifts.’
The Rifts were gradually expanding their territory. Even powerful lords were unable to fend off the Cracked Beings and were being pushed back.
Small territories were struggling to hold on, continuously retreating.
In the end, the Northern Army had to go out and resolve the issue. Other lords would suffer enormous losses if they were to deal with Equidema.
If that were to happen, they would lose troops to fight against the Duke Faction.
However, they couldn’t just stand by while people were dying from the epidemic. Eliminating the Rifts would mean nothing if they let people die.
“Turn the army around. I need to meet the disobedient lords.”
With Ghislaine’s decision, the Northern Army changed direction.
Although the Kingdom Army and royal officials were also moving, it would be difficult to quickly pry the medicinal materials from the lords. It would be hard to forcibly search and fight against the lords.
Knowing this, Marquis Branford also granted Ghislaine all authority and relayed that intention.
‘In other words, they needed someone to dance with the sword instead.’
Ghislaine smirked. He too wanted to resolve this situation quickly, so he had no intention of refusing such a role.
“The North is safe for now, so tell Claude to send all the reserves. I’ll quickly eliminate the epidemic.”
The North hadn’t been hit by the epidemic. Troops, including Perdium, had taken the medicine, and there were no Rifts emerging nearby in the first place.
Belinda asked curiously.
“Is the epidemic really caused by the Rifts?”
“Yeah. Did you see the faint blue mist that spread out in the eroded areas? That’s what causes the epidemic. You could say it’s the breath of Equidema.”
“Aha, so that’s why the soldiers got sick.”
Belinda nodded, finally understanding.
Before departing, all the Northern Army members had taken medicine produced in Penris. They had followed Ghislaine’s insistence, but just now figured out why the epidemic was spreading.
Ghislaine nodded and continued.
“Right. That’s why I told them to isolate to minimize damage. Whether late or early, those who can’t handle mana will ultimately catch the illness, and thus it will inevitably spread.”
“So the lords heard all that and still didn’t listen, huh?”
“Because of greed.”
Just like the lords who didn’t believe Ghislaine’s words, they too were hoarding medicinal materials.
Once the production of medicine began under Marquis Branford’s leadership, the prices of those materials would surely rise, so the perceptive lords began hoarding materials from then.
Surely, they urged each territory to produce medicine to prepare for the epidemic. But even after making the medicine, they didn’t properly release it.
Ghislaine’s gaze turned cold.
“Too many madmen have started thinking only about profiting from that.”
And that behavior was now becoming a serious threat to the kingdom.
The main armies of the kingdom and the nobles had taken the medicines being produced, yet the supply was still critically lacking.
“Who’s the one who bought the most medicinal materials around here?”
“Just a moment.”
At Ghislaine’s question, Belinda rummaged through the documents she received from the royal family. When Claude and Lowell weren’t around, Belinda also acted as Ghislaine’s aide.
Surprisingly, she had excellent information gathering and sorting skills, and people often wondered how the butler could do such things.
Although Lowell was in charge of intelligence operations, most of the training for spies was handled by her, and very few knew this fact. Anyway, she was a genuinely mysterious woman.
“It’s Count Grafton. He’s purchased a tremendous amount recently.”
“But the surrounding areas are currently under epidemic conditions, right?”
“Yes, the medicine has hardly been released, and support has been passive. Only the families of the lord and their close associates, along with the troops near the lord’s castle, remain unharmed.”
“He’s quite perceptive. Let’s head over there first.”
The Northern Army immediately changed direction toward Count Grafton’s territory.
On the way, Ghislaine skimmed through information regarding Count Grafton.
Count Grafton’s territory was quite large and had the fortune of being outside the range of the Rifts. So, with the exception of some who had gone out to support the surrounding areas, the army remained intact.
The count himself was quite skilled in commerce and had amassed significant wealth.
“Surely, considering the amount he’s purchased, the medicine he released is far too little. He likely doesn’t want to give it to anyone else. He must have promised compensation, yet…”
After a public announcement was made by the royal family, Count Grafton immediately hoarded the medicinal materials. Yet in reality, the medicine had only been released in major cities and near the lord’s castle.
The remaining medicinal materials were clearly intended for trading.
“I’ll have to forcefully take it from those who are profiting from people’s lives.”
Tenant advised from the side.
“If the lords rebel, it might very well come back to bite you later. They’ll surely harbor resentment for a long time.”
Tenant understood the nature of nobility better than anyone else, having worked alongside lords like that before.
“I don’t care. If we don’t cut out the rotten areas out of fear of future troubles, the sickness will only grow worse.”
Ghislaine had seen countless cases like that in his past life. The outcomes where those blinded by greed before their eyes ultimately led to their destruction, along with everyone else involved.
He couldn’t dictate the entire continent according to his will. But at least, he had no intention of letting such events unfold in the Ruthania Kingdom.
This place was where Ghislaine wanted to protect everything.
Just as Ghislaine expected, Count Grafton was in high spirits, thinking about the fortune he was about to rake in.
“Hahaha! I truly never thought an epidemic would break out. I was skeptical, but it seems the words of the Count of Penris and Marquis Branford were indeed true!”
Amidst his laughter, one of his retainers spoke nervously.
“The royal family has prohibited all trades of medicinal materials. Will that be alright?”
“And so? They said not to sell the materials, but they didn’t say anything about selling the medicine, did they?”
“W-well, that’s true…”
The retainer broke into a cold sweat. They had indeed forbidden the sale of medicinal materials but not the sale of the medicine itself.
Count Grafton had already been ramping up the production of medicine since the Rifts broke out. Seeing that Rifts had formed, he thought there was a strong possibility of the epidemic spreading as well.
And his prediction had been spot on.
The retainer spoke again hesitantly.
“Uh, even if it’s not prohibited, you might face backlash when trying to sell it, and it could be confiscated. Currently, everywhere is in chaos due to the epidemic.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, why are you being so timid? Just look for an opportunity and sell it to foreign countries. I hear they are in greater chaos than we are, right? They weren’t able to prepare like we have.”
“Y-yes.”
“Right. So why limit ourselves to just the kingdom? Look how vast the world is. How many gold pieces will they call out to us from there?”
“Still… we need to prioritize the kingdom’s safety…”
“C’mon, money is made in times like this. There’s originally no blood or tears in money. Isn’t it thanks to my swift actions that we can earn like this?”
The retainers could only swallow hard and remained silent.
It was clear that Count Grafton was intelligent. He had read the atmosphere faster than anyone and prepared far more medicinal materials than anyone. It was thanks to his keen insight.
But it was also a problem that he had the wicked heart to hoard to the point where people were dying without being able to acquire medicinal materials.
The retainer cautiously suggested once more.
“Then shouldn’t we properly release the medicine in our territory and quickly treat the epidemic?”
“Of course. Since my army and the areas near the lord’s castle have already been supplied, I’ll select the towns that collect taxes well and distribute medicine mainly to them.”
“E-excuse me? Select?”
“Yeah, leave the towns and villages where taxes aren’t collected properly alone.”
“But they are also our territory residents. Ultimately, if the territory residents aren’t alive, they can’t continue to pay taxes, right?”
“Tsk, tsk, think about it. It’s more profitable to sell what you earn from those impoverished folk to foreign lands than to keep them alive for the taxes.”
“W-what?”
“You can handle a sum of money equivalent to decades’ worth of taxes all at once, why would you waste it? Those territory residents will increase again over time, and if we run low, we can always purchase more.”
The retainers could only swallow their saliva, unable to speak.
The lord had already calculated everything. To betray his duties as a lord over greed for money, he could truly be seen as having no blood or tears.
‘I wish he would use that good mind for the benefit of the territory…’
The retainers sighed. Since the lord had decided on it, they had no choice but to follow. After all, their priority was the prosperity of the territory.
However, they soon became tense upon hearing the news.
“T-the commander of the Northern Army is here!”
Ghislaine had come straight to the territory without giving any notice.
