The Blood Knight’s Villains

My Villains Chapter 523

67. Lord of Icebobalt (16)

Chaos awaits in the middle world. Even if you are not a person with great insight, it is a fact that you can easily infer if you listen to rumors.

The Mittergerant Empire, which had failed in the attack in the last War of Blades but succeeded in defending it, put the fact that it had been victorious over the past two years in the dark, and an uneasy air flowed.

Emperor Ruilix II, who set out on an expedition to the south, won a decisive victory against the Amir allies. Amir’s sultans lost much of their influence in the southern continent, losing two battles, three raids, and seven naval battles.

Afterwards, the emperor joined hands with the electorate lords who participated in or cooperated with the expedition, such as the Duke of Geben, and set up a joint venture to accelerate the control and management of the colony. After a while, it started to bear fruit. The Elector Counts, who witnessed the enormous wealth they sent to the imperial capital, Miteltang, and were unable to put a spoon on their southern expedition, could not help but be astonished.

Instead of sucking their fingers, the Archduke of Jeria and the Vice King of Alzenberg decided to band together. As a member of the Empire, he demanded a share of the wealth he had reaped from the colonies.

King Ruilix II neatly but surely crushed that polite yet shameless request, which turned into a spark of conflict.

Nine Elector Counts, including the Emperor – as a result of the War of Blades, the Duke of Strom’s family split into two and the number of Elector Counts increased by one – split into two and began to form camps.

The atmosphere in the Milanol Kingdom was also unusual.

After the death of Lionel III, the ‘devout king’, it was Zachary Reese who became the eighth king of Milanol.

Looking at it for the past two years, it seems that he

regards checks and appeasement against the lords under his command as immediate and zero. He rechecked the old vassal contracts, investigated the family tree, took away the territories of the minor lords to increase his strength, while mobilizing his cousins and children in marriage alliances and calling in supportive forces. It must have been in the same context that the heirs and children and nephews of the great lords were kidnapped or invited to the Royal University and held.

It was said that because of his unreasonable actions, it was an atmosphere in which voices of shame came out among the nobles. But Zacharys seemed to have no intention of stopping it. And to be honest, it wasn’t that I couldn’t understand it at all.

He remembered, albeit dimly, about 30 years ago when the rebellion of Aloth, the Winged Lion, swept through the kingdom. The ‘Thousand-Day War’ from 8 years ago must be very vivid. It was at that time that he earned the humiliating nickname of ‘the tailless lion’.

Besides, he has a troublesome half-brother. Prince Ulkar.

Contrary to popular belief, Zacharys was quite competent, but compared to the prince who was called ‘the warrior of all the weak’ or ‘the guardian of the kingdom’ by the people of the kingdom, of course he was inferior. Well, who are you comparing yourself to?

Throughout his days as crown prince, he was compared and ridiculed with his half-brother, who had no resemblance, and was worried that Ulkar would become the second Aloth, so he frequently sent assassins. In the meantime, he must have been delighted to hear the news of Prince Ulkar’s disappearance. Maybe it was the feeling that the tooth that was sick was knocked out.

But what about this?

A huge piece of land with a population of 400,000 remained as the legacy of Prince Eun and stuck to the border. With the new name ‘Vermik-Strom Imperial Marshal’,

few people believed that Lu Yan, who was 15 years old this year, was the real owner of the Imperial Marshal, as the horse and the rest of the world were not stupid.

Most of them thought that I, the seventh knight of the ‘dead’ silver prince, declared the revenge of the master and the recapture of the princess, and that I would be the actual owner.

As a result, Zachary, not the current Milanol Kingdom, was walking a tightrope. It was a tightrope to gain more power and solidify the throne. The great lords

will watch the tightrope walk with disgruntled eyes .

I’m holding my breath, but those who have Prince Ulkar in their hearts will be watching me.

A wave of confusion rushes under my feet.

At this critical moment, he made up his mind to leave the territory and head for the royal capital. It was only natural that Heila was extremely against it.

I continued persuasion for almost half a day. Heyla’s cooperation was essential to my theft of the king, if anyone else knew, and he

would, and the Margrave of Defelken, including Eisbowald, is undoubtedly my base.

Even if we put aside for a moment the attachment that suddenly grew during the two years of being the owner of this large land, wouldn’t it be worth it just to be able to extract thousands of troops and a huge amount of money? No matter what lies ahead, there is no doubt that this estate will be of great help to me.

It was impossible to entrust such a base to just anyone. Especially in the middle of the surrounding situation like these days

.

In this aspect, the only person I can entrust this estate to is Heila. There is no one around me who is as trustworthy as her and as capable as her.

“……good.”

Heila nodded her head with a sigh. After much thought, he accepted my suggestion.

But that didn’t mean I could do whatever I wanted. She wanted to draw up a rough plan under her own supervision.

“A rough plan?”

“The royal road is far away.”

Heila dipped a quill in the gilded inkwell, pulling a blank piece of paper from the chest of drawers.

“It’s a place where many forces are lurking, and you don’t know what problems will arise. It requires detailed planning and careful consideration.”

“…not really.”

Planning took a lot less time than convincing.

Heila acted as if she was trying to consider all factors that could exist during the journey, but it was difficult to make a detailed plan as the given conditions were not yet sufficient. No matter how resourceful she was, it was difficult to predict what the Marquis of Eavon would do.

“The first thing to do is to decide where to make contact with the Marquis of Eavon, but once you enter the kingdom, it would be better to use the ship.”

Not only is it much faster in terms of schedule, but Oduenne, the port across from Proshafen, is the domain of Count Ines, the ‘Little Naga’, so it means that you will be able to get enough help

. Why? As long as you have enough spare horses, it would be faster to move to High Castle.”

“…How many men are you planning to take?”

“Only the guards. The risk of getting caught increases if you take too many.”

Heila shook her head quietly.

“Provinces with heavy checks are probably the Royal Capital and Troshire Gistol. In other provinces, if you spread them out in small detachments, there won’t be any problems.” “Is that so?”

“And borders are dangerous. Because the king’s army is there.”

The plateau bordering the Mittergerland Empire is the domain of a friendly lord. Because ‘Willow Night Baek’, the successor of the Margrave of Landry who was assassinated by the Sorcerer’s Sword Master, is the domain of Wynn.

However, as Heila warned, it is not a situation where you can expect help.

After the War of Blades, the king’s army occupied fortresses all over the highlands, and Garwin was invited to the royal road around autumn last year and entered the royal university.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask for help from the vassals of the Axodbruck family, who may be resentful of the king’s army, such as the ‘elegant’ Sir Zeppard and Captain Arbe Cohn. But I don’t think there’s any reason to take the risk by taking the easy path.

“But the same goes for Ines entering the Royal University?”

“There is no king’s army there. And Count Ines has a very firm grip on the family.” Earl Ines built up his authority as the head of the family through the Blade Man War.

It was rare for anyone to quarrel with her because of her young age of seventeen, as in the case of Garwin the ‘Wilderness White’, Os the ‘Little Fox’, and Ruyan the ‘Descendant of the Dragon’. At least it wouldn’t exist in the Milgrester family.

“And Oduenne is one of the elements of the Abiden region. It is a place where faithful retainers of Milgrester are lined up, such as Ecbert, the ‘bronze holding an axe’, and Slanweed, a high-ranking knight.”

“Um, yes.”

They are also comrades in arms with whom I am personally acquainted, so as long as I send a letter in advance, there is no need to worry about cooperation.

“It wouldn’t be bad to give Fogan a word at all.”

“Oh right. That uncle was there.”

During the War of Blades, when Atalante and I led the army to Oduenne, Count Ines promised to participate in the war in exchange for a share of the occupied territory.

Twenty knights, four skilled battle mages, and five hundred elite soldiers led by the count himself were said to have made a great contribution to the war situation afterward, even though the scale was small.

With such a story, the Milgrester family came to own 10,500 and 100,000 shares in Proshafen and Eisbowald, respectively.

It was for this reason that Fogan, a vassal and staff member of Count Ines, came to reside in Proshafen. He traveled between the two cities, managing the Milgester family’s trading post and stronghold, and was in charge of protecting the Nudane clan chiefs of Proshafen from encroaching on the family’s rights.

If you talk to Fogan and deliver the letter via the Milgrester family liner, you won’t have to worry about leaking anywhere.

“After crossing the blade, we just need to scatter the party and go stealth. Groups of five or six mercenary travelers are common in the kingdom. As long as you camouflage properly, you won’t get caught.”

“Except for the royal road, Trosher Gistol?”

“that’s right.”

Even after that, Heila’s plan continued for a while.

Then, when I suddenly noticed a gloomy twilight outside the window, I realized that it would take at least a few days to complete the plan to her satisfaction.