Besk Ronhadia.
He was the ‘Double Moon Duke,’ the lowest among the Eight Swords of the Empire, and just yesterday he was the master of this place.
Master of the Ronhadia Duke family.
“Welcome, Marquis Besk.”
He is a Marquis now, though.
“…Yes.”
He stood before me, trying to suppress his discomfort, but it was written all over his face.
“Are you uncomfortable?”
“No, not at all.”
“It seems like you are.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Hmmm…”
“……”
[Hahaha]
[Ahahaha, are you uncomfortable?]
[I feel a bit sorry for him; he lost everything overnight, haha]
[Hahaha]
[Karma, haha]
[Fact: If you hadn’t stirred things up first, this wouldn’t have happened]
[Wow! A donating angel]
[For real, lol]
[Marquis demoted, haha]
I lightly nodded and picked up a few documents from the table.
Reports on the internal and external situations of the Ronhadia Duchy, special reports, petitions coming from various parts of the territory, and so on.
“You handled all this yourself?”
“…Yes. That’s right.”
He doesn’t look like he did, though.
From what I heard, he inherited his family at a young age, but he seems surprisingly talented at managing the territory.
I rated him quite highly, and he nodded with an expression that didn’t seem very pleased.
“That’s good. No need to delegate twice.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll leave the management of the Duchy… Yes, the ‘Elbrite’ Duchy to you from now on.”
As I spoke while placing down the documents, his face twisted weirdly.
It wasn’t because he didn’t want to manage the territory.
“Why? Is that not so?”
“What do you mean?”
“…I’m affiliated with the Empire.”
Even though I inherited the entire Ronhadia from Duke Huangyeol, I didn’t take over the ‘Double Moon’ from the Eight Swords.
Of course, technically, I’m taking over the entire Ronhadia “family,” so it could be included, but fundamentally, the Eight Swords are loyal to the Imperial family.
After having managed to get a duchy separated out, handing over power to Besk, who is loyal to the Empire, would make this place no different from a colony governed by the Empire.
It was a ridiculously foolish action to take, given that I could clash with the Empire at any moment.
Tap, tap. I lightly tapped the table and smiled at him.
“Do as you like.”
“…Pardon?”
“It doesn’t matter how you run the Duchy. You can carry on as before, or if you find the situation has changed, you can run it differently; it’s up to you.”
But.
“Right now, your master is me. Lily Elbrite.”
So think carefully.
” I promise you a suitable reward and title, and I will also recognize separate territories and wealth for the existing Ronhadia family.”
“I’m giving you this much in reward.”
“So you only need to focus on the prosperity of the Elbrite Principality where I am. It doesn’t matter if that direction is a friendly relationship with the Empire or a close relationship with other kingdoms.”
“So just make sure this place grows well.”
“Spare no means or methods.”
“…….”
Besk’s expression grew a bit serious.
I looked at Besk and smiled strangely.
Besk Ronhadia.
Once a prominent house in the Empire, known for wielding the ‘Twin Moons’ weapon.
However, after the prematurely deceased former head of the family, who had been renowned like the Blood Fight Lord and Cloud Envoy, the young successor took his place.
Besk, who was far too young compared to the previous head, faced poor evaluations and envy under the guise of ‘qualification controversy.’
Moreover, there have been reports suggesting attempts to undermine the Duke’s house, which is comparable in size to the Talikal Kingdom.
Most importantly…
“Besk Ronhadia.”
“Yes.”
He lost the biggest line, the Magic Lord, Karia.
With the shield that once protected him gone, his house was like a candle before the wind.
“The ‘Ronhadia’ will be sold off due to the defeat in war. What do you think the world will say about this?”
“……”
“They’ll say, ‘Ronhadia failed because the head was incompetent.’ ‘If only the head had been fine, this wouldn’t have happened.'”
If the successor had been stronger than the previous head.
No, if the previous head hadn’t passed away early.
“The entire family wouldn’t have fallen to foreign powers.”
“…You see.”
“……It’s meaningless now.”
Besk muttered, biting his lips.
He was angry but felt the current situation more painfully than anyone else.
I handed him a gift.
Thud.
As a dull sound echoed on the table, Besk’s eyes widened.
A silver weapon that looked like two crescent moons drawn together.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t just sit still…”
“…!”
“You wouldn’t be satisfied with just this, right?”
What do you think?
Are you ready to give it a proper shot?
“……”
An opportunity.
Having lost everything, this is another chance.
A chance to restore the name ‘Ronhadia’ and take revenge on those who condemned his family and father.
The hesitation was short-lived.
“…Yes!”
Securing slaves.
■
With determination, Besk gathered his weapon and left the office with a resolute expression to begin his work.
After preparing, I stepped out of the office with a determined expression and got to work.
Maybe if it were in a comic, flames would be bursting out above his head?
[Lilswriting]
[Wow]
[Lily, what is this? LOL]
[Lilswriting, what’s this?]
[Wow, just turning the Eight Swords into his own side, huh? LOL]
[Lily, is she really a queen?]
[Making slaves is easy, huh?]
[LOL]
[How to casually eat the Eight Swords like a piece of cake, LOL]
[Lily, did you think you were from the medieval era?]
[Just like last time with the Crab Empire, why is this so natural?]
[Big Lily]
“…Well, I was just lucky.”
Besk and his family, Ronhadia, were already about 90% likely to fall apart even without me.
Of course, they wouldn’t completely collapse given the centuries of influence built up, but… they’d be much smaller than before.
Besides, if I had lost my weapon again and the line up to Karia…
“I would’ve been absorbed completely by Duke Huangyeol or Arne.”
From the Empire’s perspective, having a strong central authority is good, and Arne needs power to oppose that central authority.
“Ronhadia was a falling star. After losing the most significant landlord, Magic Lord, the reputation of the family head, Besk of the Twin Moons, hit rock bottom. I merely took advantage of that.”
[Really?]
[But that’s all Lily’s doing, right?]
[?]
[LOL]
[Losing the Magic Lord (Lily’s dough), Twin Moons’ reputation hit bottom (Lily took the weapon)]
[Anyway, Big Lily]
[In the end, Lily did everything and lured them in, huh?]
[Lily’s a cunning one?]
[As expected, it’s Lily]
“…Anyway, then…”
After leaving the office, I wandered around Elbrite Duchy to sort things out.
The 3rd Siege War ended yesterday, but the siege system will remain in place for another two weeks.
However, not everyone participates; both sides must agree for cores to appear at the respective castles, and if one is destroyed, the other disappears as well.
The siege war happening for two weeks is literally like an event game, so capturing is naturally impossible, and all broken castles and items will be restored.
‘…Speaking of which, Laguiel’s castle was also destroyed.’
The castle that was split in two by the Sword Saint.
Because of that, it’s said that Laguiel and the Archangels are trying to exert their influence, but since they came in first in the siege war, they shouldn’t be short on capital.
They might even be happy about it.
‘Should I go visit?’
I was just asked to stop by anyway.
“I’ll drop by the Angel Guild.”
[?]
[Okay]
[Let’s go]
[Suddenly?]
[Are you going to extort something from the Angel Guild too?]
[Hahaha]
“Well, maybe?”
“If necessary, of course.”
[?]
[Let’s go steal something, lol]
■
After arriving at the Eden Federation, I stopped by the restored castle, Kres, of Laguiel.
Kres Castle was already being put together with a clatter. Since it was being rebuilt, they said it was going to be much more upgraded than before.
It cost a lot, but they made plenty from the Siege War, so it was fine…
Afterwards, I was guided to the roundtable conference room where everyone except Raphael and Metatron was gathered.
“…By the way, haven’t you met the Blood Fight Lord?”
“Oh right. That person. Blood Fight Lord Kazar Lornbte.”
“Wow, that guy was really insane. I mean, he doesn’t even seem like a human.”
“I agree.”
Laguiel shivered as if recalling that day, and Uriel and Sandalphon, who were beside him, nodded.
[The Blood Fight Lord is indeed super strong]
[Even the three Archangels couldn’t win against him]
[Whoa]
[And Lily who defeats the Blood Fight Lord defeats the Magic Lord too, whoa]
[Big Lily, lol]
[Is Lily a god?]
“I caught a glimpse too, and he fights really well.”
“Hehe, is that so?”
“We are indeed strong!”
“…But if Lady Lily saw, wouldn’t it all look the same?”
If it were in their original strength, just the appearance of the Blood Fight Lord should have killed everyone, leaving at most one survivor barely holding on.
However, the Archangels endured the Blood Fight Lord’s attacks and even managed to deal some damage.
I heard that Rankers in the West were putting pressure on Leo and showing considerable performance against the other Eight Swords.
‘The skills of the Rankers have improved.’
Indeed, the abilities of the Rankers, or rather the Users, had dramatically changed since the first time I saw them.
The reason was probably my lectures.
‘Yena, Leo, Redberry…’
Countless other Rankers showed a stark improvement in their skills before and after attending my lectures.
Just by looking at the mock siege war, the balance adjustment system was practically ineffective.
I even had to give an emergency lecture to the Rankers gathered on the snowy mountain during the Sugarado incident.
‘This is a good sign.’
The more talented individuals achieved meaningful results, the more enjoyable it was for me, the teacher.
It wouldn’t be bad to actually create ‘that’ now.
Since I had the capital and land growing as well.
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