Chapter 53
Chapter 53: The Situation Has Changed (2)
After the deputy left, Harold continued to tap his temples, deep in thought until dusk descended and the room darkened.
“The longer this goes on, the stronger Perdium will become. Its troop count will increase as well.”
Runestones are treasures of immense value. They are valuable in themselves, but it’s also easy to cash them in.
If I sell the runestone and use that money to expand the territory, I could quickly secure troops and supplies.
Even if I started a conflict with Digald territory now, Perdium would recover its losses swiftly, and it would only become more difficult to meddle with over time.
“I can’t make a decision right away.”
With enough time, I could devise schemes to weaken them or create problems.
However, discovering a resource of the rare runestones is not something I could just leave behind on my own terms.
Harold quickly sent a messenger using the fastest horse.
― Perdium has begun partial development of the Forest of Monsters. Secured runestones. Awaiting orders.
A brief message, but enough.
After a few days, a response from the Duke’s faction arrived.
― Annihilate Perdium. The Duke’s faction will intervene afterward. Incite a territorial war using Digald. Just ensure it’s expendable. A little risk is acceptable.
The reply from the Duke’s faction was straightforward and lacked elaboration. Just a clean order.
Harold pondered over the returned command.
“Annihilation… they want to make it a territory without a master?”
Without a head or an heir, the territory is returned to the royal family.
When the Duke’s faction intervenes, it means they’ll decide on a new master themselves.
The order to use Digald and then discard it means preventing Digald from taking over Perdium.
While Count Roges, a relative, has grounds to seize Perdium, I believe the Duke’s faction could resolve that.
Alternatively, they could simply wipe out Roges’ territory as well.
“Ah, now I understand. It was because of the Forest of Monsters.”
I finally grasped the command that had eluded my understanding until now.
To continuously weaken Perdium without letting it fall into ruin, ensuring no other territories can seize it.
That meant preventing anyone, including Perdium, from claiming the Forest of Monsters.
But now that Perdium has touched the Forest of Monsters, it warrants no mercy and must be wiped out.
“But why do they want to secure the Forest of Monsters?”
Currently, the Duke is preparing a rebellion, moving secretly.
In their quest for a definite victory, they are being exceedingly cautious, yet if a territorial war occurs, their forces might become apparent.
Harold couldn’t understand the reasoning behind needing to secure the Forest of Monsters at such a risk.
Even if runestones were discovered, it seemed excessive to take such drastic measures.
As he frowned in thought, he soon shook his head.
Setting the direction was ultimately the Duke’s responsibility. My role is merely to minimize risks in the process.
“I’ll find out in due time.”
There was no time to ponder over reasons. He was too busy planning according to the new direction.
Harold returned to the office and summoned his staff officers.
“How many of our people do we still have in Perdium?”
“We have two retainers and one knight remaining.”
“Send the two retainers to Digald. Use the pretext that Gilmore has died in Perdium to incite a territorial war.”
The abrupt order shocked the officers, differing significantly from the previous plan of gradually drying up Perdium.
“May I ask why the sudden change in direction?”
“The situation has changed.”
Harold offered no further explanation.
Though perplexed, the officers soon seemed to understand on their own. They too had heard the news of the runestones.
“Our goal is the annihilation of Perdium. We will participate.”
The officers again looked startled.
A territorial war isn’t something one can start at will.
Without a just cause, it was clear that other lords would perceive it as a threat and retaliate.
One officer lowered his head.
“It’s true that with just Digald’s strength, capturing Perdium won’t be easy, but we lack justification for our participation.”
Both territories were rather equal, making it hard to predict a winner.
If the goal were merely to weaken Perdium, Digald was suitable, but to annihilate it, Digald alone would be insufficient.
“We won’t take the field directly. We’ll outfit our forces with conscripts and mercenaries to push forward.”
Most of Digald’s retainers are already under Harold’s command, so driving Digald as he wishes wouldn’t be difficult.
“Prepare within two months. We will swiftly annihilate both Perdium and Digald.”
“Understood. Is there anything else to prepare?”
“Send Viktor along too.”
The officers couldn’t hide their shocked expressions.
Viktor was the top knight nurtured with great effort in Desmond, a hidden weapon.
Using someone of that caliber signaled Harold’s serious intent.
The officers now viewed the destruction of Perdium as a decided outcome. It seemed to be a battle they couldn’t afford to lose.
However, unlike his officers, Harold couldn’t shake off his unease.
He repeated the name of one person in his mind.
The name that perpetually stirred ominous premonitions.
‘Ghislaine Perdium…….’
*
Amelia was enjoying tea with Bernap, making the most of the sunny weather.
She elegantly set down her teacup and petted Bastet resting in her lap.
She felt quite good; she had directly manipulated information and swayed public opinion to cut off support to Perdium.
‘I wonder what happened to Ghislaine Perdium.’
Just thinking about it brought a smile to her face.
Without Raybold’s support, Perdium was so poor that it barely managed to sustain itself.
Once the support was cut, chaos would have surely erupted, and Ghislaine, the one responsible, would be caught and punished.
Given their previous behavior and reputation, she was certain he’d at least be imprisoned.
In that case, taking Ghislaine’s head would become even easier. There’s no grand protection for a captive.
Seeing her in high spirits after a long time, Bernap also smiled.
“I really admire this scheme. It’s much more beautiful than using brute force.”
Meow!
Bastet purred, almost seeming to flatter as she rubbed her head against Amelia.
“Tell the bandits to take the opportunity to get Ghislaine’s head. And that maid too.”
“Understood. I’ll make sure to wrap it up neatly.”
Bernap sincerely admired Amelia’s decisiveness.
Despite having weaknesses to keep hidden, she risked the chance of exposure to manipulate the truth and set a trap.
With that bold move, both Perdium and Ghislaine seemed to be heading toward doom, making it a successful gamble.
Such resolve and cunning weren’t something one could find in ordinary folks.
Feeling particularly upbeat, Amelia hummed a tune while picking up a cookie morsel to feed her cat.
“Here, Bastet, why don’t you have one?”
Meow!
While Bastet happily accepted the cookie, a maid cautiously approached Amelia with a folded note.
“What’s this?”
The maid answered carefully.
“It’s news from Perdium.”
“Oh? Hmm, I wonder if it says that Ghislaine is in prison?”
With a smile on her face, Amelia unfolded the paper and began to read slowly.
After a moment, as she read through the news, her expression gradually faded.
The icy glare in her eyes felt as if it would tear the paper apart.
Watching the fluctuations on Amelia’s face, Bernap felt a chill run down his spine.
Amelia’s face, which seemed unflappable even in the face of death, flushed red with rage.
Amelia crumpled the paper and shouted.
“Ghislaine Perdium!”
Bastet, sensing the situation, quickly scampered behind Bernap.
“How could this happen!”
Amelia shot up from her seat. The table shook from the shock, spilling tea and cookies everywhere.
Bernap dodged quickly and asked tentatively.
“What happened? What did Ghislaine do this time?”
Instead of answering, Amelia tossed the crumpled paper at him.
Bernap swiftly seized the paper flying towards his face and, after reading it, exclaimed in disbelief.
“W-what… they found a runestone? What does this mean?”
“What does it mean? The territory of Perdium is all festive, and that Ghislaine gets to take credit for it!”
Amelia gritted her teeth and continued.
“On top of that, he’s using the 20,000 gold I gave him as a base!”
Amelia trembled with fury.
Ghislaine delivered her the greatest humiliation of her life.
Perhaps it was only she, a noble lady, who could be intimidated and robbed by such a pathetic man.
She had never before received such treatment and humiliation in her life. This situation could only be resolved with Ghislaine’s death.
Just when she thought she had cleared the slate, he was instead thriving!
Amelia felt like she would go mad with the desire to drag Ghislaine here and kill him right before her eyes.
“Ghislaine! Ghislaine Perdium!”
With veins almost bursting in her heavily angry eyes, Amelia repeated Ghislaine’s name as if cursing him, and Bernap firmly kept his mouth shut.
Outwardly, she was known as a kind, gentle, and elegant lady. Bernap had thought that Amelia was that sort of person at first too, given she had shown such sides before.
However, many who had crossed her have mysteriously met their demise. It was hard to tell what her true nature was.
‘I can’t say she has a good temper… but she’s never been this angry before.’
Even when ordering someone’s death elegantly, she can’t contain herself when it comes to Ghislaine.
It seemed that being humiliated by such a worthless man was quite unbearable for her.
‘Best just to keep my mouth shut and remain still.’
Being noticed now could lead to trouble for Bernap, no matter who he was.
Amelia glared at Bernap with eyes turned red from indignation.
“Gather the bandits and everyone else.”
“What do you intend to do?”
“What’ll those beggars do with the runestones? They’ll sell them, right? Attack them, kill them all, and get them back!”
Bernap swallowed nervously.
“Isn’t that dangerous? If they’re transporting runestones, the guards will be considerable. They could also call traders to the territory without moving.”
“I’ll think about that when the time comes. Just gather the troops. Have the nearby bandits prepare to move too!”
“Understood. Please calm down for now.”
Though Bernap urged her to calm down, Amelia couldn’t easily quell her fury.
“I will kill Ghislaine for sure. And I will take the runestone, as well.”
The sunny afternoon tea time was completely ruined by news of Ghislaine.
