Chapter : 113
“Dekhan’s Bedrock, Master of the Eastern Granary Lands—
I present myself before His Grace Duke Eris and the Duchess.”
Hagel Czernin stated his business confidently, without flowery words.
“Your Grace borrowed from me an amount equivalent to two full years of taxes from the Eris Ducal Territory. You are far beyond the repayment deadline. This time, I am in serious difficulty as well, so I ask that you return the money you borrowed.”
If he could, Duke Eris wanted to strike the man across the face.
Did he think the Duke didn’t know that this bastard was freely manipulating the flow of the Kshantipia River? He wanted to shout it at the top of his lungs.
“…Droughts and floods have alternated, devastating the lands of Eris.”
“Oh my… how unfortunate.”
“…Give me a little more time.”
Hagel rolled his sharp blue eyes lazily before asking flatly,
“And what am I supposed to trust?”
Behind Duke Eris, the butler ground his teeth. But Hagel Czernin, a man who feared nothing, didn’t even blink.
“Your lands are in ruins. On what grounds should I extend the deadline?”
Then he revealed his true intention.
“Well. Unless I were to take some… collateral.”
“Collateral?”
“The territory itself is, of course, not something that can be sold, so we’ll set that aside. But how about this grand mansion in Ward One? From what I’ve learned, it doesn’t belong to the Eris territory.”
“How dare you!!”
The butler finally exploded, but Hagel merely looked at him calmly and continued.
“I believe I’ve been quite considerate. Why such a reaction?”
When Duke Eris fell silent, his face flushed crimson, Hagel spoke as if reluctantly.
“Is the Ward One mansion too much? Then how about this?”
He leaned toward the Duke. His blue eyes gleamed ominously, like those of a demon.
“How about lending me your voting rights in the Senate?”
“?!!”
“For each vote, I’ll reduce your debt by five percent. Twenty votes, and you’re completely clear.”
Duke Eris’s clenched fist trembled visibly.
“Please think it over carefully and get back to me, Your Grace. However, it’s already been three months past the deadline, so interest is accumulating daily. I’d appreciate a swift response.”
Hagel Czernin left the Duke’s office at a leisurely pace.
When the Duchess of Eris, who had been waiting in the corridor, hurried inside, Duke Eris had a cigarette between his lips—something he had never smoked in his life.
“My dear…”
Without a word, Duke Eris smoked three cigarettes in succession, then tore open the button at his collar as if it were choking him and glared out the window.
Below, Hagel Czernin was strolling leisurely around the estate, inspecting it here and there—
like someone choosing a house to move into.
“He demanded twenty uses of Eris’s voting rights in the Senate.”
“What?!”
“Otherwise, he wants this mansion.”
“Did you agree to that?!”
Instead of answering, Duke Eris gave an order to the butler.
“The man you said you’d been asking around about—what was his name?”
“He’s most commonly known by the alias ‘Red Moon.’”
“Arrange a secret meeting with him. Immediately.”
* * *
Grace remembered her father more clearly than her mother.
That was because she had spent more time with him.
Your father says teaching you brings him more joy than anything else.
But what about you? Mother worries that it might be hard on you sometimes.
Her father devoted himself wholeheartedly to teaching her—so much so that her mother worried. But contrary to those concerns, Grace found her time with her father enjoyable.
Her father often gave her assignments. Most of them were related to “dreams,” which he always referred to as “goals” or “direction.”
At first, he made her choose something she wanted right now, then think about how to obtain it. After she passed that task, “right now” became “within a month,” and eventually “within five years.”
When the timeframe extended to five years, problems arose.
Father, there are too many variables.
Of course. No matter what you do, variables always exist.
Then how do you make a plan? Doesn’t that make planning meaningless?
Not at all. Pursuing a goal without a plan is like sailing the sea without a compass. For mid- to long-term goals, setting intermediate objectives is more important than overly detailed planning.
Intermediate objectives?
Yes. Milestones that must be achieved to reach the final goal. First, plan in detail up to the nearest milestone. Then reassess, and sometimes revise. If you proceed this way, you’ll eventually reach your destination.
Following her father’s teachings, Grace set her goals and, following her mentor’s guidance, waited patiently for the right moment.
Under the grand objective of reclaiming Taylor, there were many intermediate goals, large and small. Fortunately, she had achieved a major one—Richmond.
Now that she had come to the capital, one of her most important objectives was replacing the Capital Defense Force, currently composed of Saxon troops, with soldiers from Richmond.
This “Capital Defense Force,” stationed only in the imperial capital, Empire City, was a highly unusual military organization.
It consisted of the private armies of nobles stationed on imperial land, tasked with guarding the outermost wall of the capital.
Father, why was such a force created? It seems strange.
Because of the conflict between imperial authority and divine authority.
The Capital Defense Force had been created jointly by the First Emperor and the early Senate. At the time, the empire had just unified four kingdoms, making it an extremely unstable era.
Reading the First Emperor’s diary made it clear how much he had been tormented by fears of rebellion.
Believing firmly that distance bred disloyalty, the First Emperor wanted the kings of the four kingdoms to stay in the capital regularly. Thus, he established the Senate and ruled that voting rights could not be exercised unless one attended in person.
However, this was the empire’s infancy—long before the orderly systems of today existed. The kings believed the Emperor’s proposal was equivalent to walking bareheaded into a tiger’s jaws.
Submitting to the Emperor was bad enough, but staying for months on imperial land where imperial troops were stationed?!
So the kings proposed building a neutral fortress—not belonging to any kingdom—in what is now the Marquisate of Etio, and meeting there regularly instead.
Though displeased, the First Emperor ultimately had to concede.
So you fear my troops stationed in the capital! Very well. Then why not have each of you guard one of the four walls of the capital? Wouldn’t that make staying here less frightening?
And who will be assigned to guard them?
How should I decide that? Hold a gladiatorial tournament, select the strongest, and have his house take on the duty. However, to account for unforeseen variables, the condition shall be that more than half the Senate must approve.
As soon as Grace boarded the carriage, she asked Ares,
“What happened with the gladiatorial tournament proposal?”
Ares, who had been looking at Grace’s neatly folded hands, lifted only his eyes to meet hers.
“They didn’t like it, but what could they do? It passed.”
Eliza, seated across from them, snorted.
“They didn’t like it? That’s rich.”
“The tournament will be held on the last day of the year—it’s not far off. Have you already decided who will participate?” Grace asked.
Ares responded only with a faint smile, pulling at his lips.
Was the tournament fought in dense fog where you couldn’t see an inch ahead?
Or against invisible enemies, relying purely on instinct?
No—it was a battle on flat, dry land, with nothing to obstruct the view, against an opponent you could see clearly.
Anyone who could lose such a fight wouldn’t have survived the Wall of Death. So who participated wasn’t the real issue.
“The real problem is Eris,” Ares continued. “Their debt is already massive, and from the looks of it, this year’s taxes will also end up as debt. If the Empress, who already controls five Senate houses, takes their voting rights as well, then even if we win the tournament, we won’t be able to secure the defense force.”
“How large is the debt?” Eliza asked.
Grace answered,
“The estimate is roughly four hundred billion gold.”
“Four hundred billion?!”
Eliza’s expression grew grave. Even for Richmond, mobilizing that much money on short notice would be difficult.
After a moment of thought, Eliza spoke.
“What if I meet with Marquis Rothes or Georgiac? If they join forces with Richmond—”
Grace quietly shook her head.
“Pirate activity in the South and East Seas has surged. They’re hiring mercenaries to deal with it, so they won’t be able to help much.”
“Then what do we—”
“Don’t worry. I can handle it.”
Grace spoke calmly, and Eliza’s eyes widened. Four hundred billion gold was not a sum one could simply conjure up.
But Grace smiled faintly and returned Eliza’s own words to her.
“Where do you think the blood of the sages who ruled the golden wheat fields went?”
Eliza blinked once, then laughed.
How could a newly-of-age young woman possibly mobilize that much money? It wasn’t even worth asking.
Looking back and forth between the magnificently grown Ares and Grace, Eliza muttered self-deprecatingly,
“While this old woman was lost in delusion, you children never rested for a single moment.”
