Chapter 328: 172. The Preparations for the Future -2 (Part Two)
Translated by A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
“She will be stripped of her title as the queen, then she will be made to serve in the military for the next thirty years to assist me. That is her punishment for failing to stop the insurrection.”
Jeram was inwardly relieved to hear that. A forced conscription to the military, was it? At least she didn’t end up as a slave again, which was a fortunate thing, indeed.
Not only that, she should be stationed somewhere far away from the frontlines, all thanks to her abilities. That meant that it would be quite unlikely for her to get hurt during combat situations.
“And now, I’ll give you a chance to help Tina out.”
Jeram’s eyes widened at what Allen said.
“We don’t have enough people to train the army, you see.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I heard that out of the twelve feudal lords, you were one of the stronger ones. Even Damon acknowledged you as a good drill instructor.”
“...Well, yes. It’s true, although you defeated me in just one hit.”
“Since that’s the case, why don’t you join our cause? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your annual wages are really juicy and dripping with fat.”
“...”
A hollow chuckle leaked out of Jeram’s mouth.
‘Dear lord, where would anyone find a king with no dignity whatsoever like this guy?’ Seeing the Holy King chat away without a care like this almost made Jeram think that they were long-time buddies or some such. “I’m a cripple now. I no longer possess the power to utilise the demonic energy, therefore I...”
“Don’t worry about that, because it’ll be possible with divinity.”
Jeram’s expression hardened as he stared at Allen.
“Just like I did with Tina, I’m going to plant divinity into you. I’m thinking that at minimum, in half a year’s time, you will have about the same amount of divinity as your lost demonic energy pool.”
“...Just what are you planning to do here? Are you sure you aren’t really planning to conquer the world?”
Allen shook his head as a bitter grin floated up on his lips. “I only have one reason for doing all this.”
“...?”
“I need an army to stop the advent of the end of the world.”
“...The end of the world?”
“This is what I want you to do. Nurture and train another five hundred or so of...” Allen’s head cocked to the side as he continued on, “...monks similar to what Damon managed to nurture.”
**
Inside the Imperial Palace’s executive office...
Luan looked like he was stained deeply to the core with exhaustion. Dark bags hung loosely below his eyes, and his head faltered on its own as sleepiness kept creeping up on him.
‘I shouldn’t have fooled around with those three maids last night...’
All thanks to his indiscretions, he couldn’t even get to enjoy a decent night’s sleep, yet he had still had to wage a bitter battle against mountains of documents for the past several days.
“This is the next set of reports,” said Charlotte, who was currently standing next to him. After Allen’s departure, she was left in charge of the army’s training, as well as assisting Luan with his work. “The plan to raise ten thousand troops is progressing smoothly as we speak, Your Highness. Also, the mass production of the cannons developed by Marquis Hans has commenced, as well.”
Luan shifted his gaze over to the reports.
Around five thousand ‘Priests’ had been successfully nurtured by now. Only about another five thousand left to go, in other words. Around two hundred more cannons were being manufactured currently, as well.
All of these things could only be utilised as tools of battle if Allen was present, however. Cannons and muskets would prove to be nothing more than some fancy toys without Allen’s Divine Aura.
Something found among the documents caught Luan’s attention just then. “...And what exactly is this item, now?”
“It’s a magical tool that His Majesty the Holy King mentioned in the past, Your Highness.”
“That magic tool, was he talking about this set of armour?” Luan picked up the document and his head began tilting to one side.
There was only one drawing on the parchment. It depicted a figure covered from head to toe in plate armour, each of those armour pieces featuring a rune engraved on its surface.
The document was actually a blueprint for a set of magic armour.
Luan muttered to himself, “...Even then, this armour is much larger in bulk than regular armour, isn’t it? Is he planning to manufacture small golems or something?”
“He said he wants to outfit the Paladins with them.”
“...”
Just for what purpose were all these preparations for? Luan just couldn’t figure it out.
Not only did the members of the Frants Royal Family suddenly show up, Holy Emperor Kelt vacated his position out of the blue as well. Despite achieving an overwhelming victory against the vampires, the nurturing of the army only intensified even more.
Everything was a mystery to Luan right now. He heard about the ‘end of the world’ from Allen before, but it still didn’t sound all that realistic. As such, the neighbouring nations were raising one hell of a ruckus, accusing the empire of raising an army to invade them in the future.
It was up to Luan to come up with a way to silence their discontent, but that was easier said than done.
His thoughts only grew more complicated, and he leaned his pouting face on the back of his hand.
‘Argh, my stress level...’ He then sneaked a glance at Charlotte next to him. ‘Although it’s pleasing to have such a beauty assist me in my affairs, I can’t exactly lay my hands on my younger brother’s personal knight, now can I...’
Most notably, though, Charlotte’s attitude when addressing Luan was very cold. It was like he was dealing with an Ice Princess or something.
It seemed that the biggest factor to blame here was Allen leaving her behind while he went off on another one of his adventures, making her ‘somewhat’ unhappy.
“...Oh, dear Charlotte Heraiz. You sure can make my heart palpitate.” Luan cracked a little joke, hoping to change the cold, stiff atmosphere.
“This is the next set of reports regarding the nurturing of the army, Your Highness.”
“...Please do me a favour and at least pretend to humour me. For the past ten days I’ve been doing nothing but administrative work on less than two hours of sleep. Allen just straight up abandoned his duties and ran away, you know? So like, can’t you humour me with a witty remark or something, at least?” Luan helplessly reached out.
However, Charlotte shot him a glare as if she just discovered an insect to squash. “He did not run away, Your Highness. He went there to perform his duties.”
Luan was suddenly overcome by a hallucination where his arm was chopped off by a sword, so he quickly withdrew his hand.
How scary. Allen was indeed amazing to keep an Ice Princess like her around by his side, without meeting any accidents.
Luan spat out a groan, and turned his attention back to the documents. But then, the outside of the office became rowdy for some reason.
He raised his head and looked at the door, only to hear loud “Bang, bang, bang!” pounding noises coming from over there.
‘What is it now?’
Now normally, whoever was outside should’ve politely knocked on the door, so how come...?
“Your Highness! Y-your Highness, His Highness the Seventh Imperial Prince has... No wait, His Majesty the Holy Emperor has returned to the palace!”
That report instantly loosened up Luan’s tense face.
‘Yeesss, I’m finally free! Now that Allen’s here, my workload should decrease by a lot!’
Just as his thoughts reached that part, he heard the sound of something falling to the floor and he turned his head.
It was Charlotte. She had inadvertently dropped her documents just now. “Ah, my apologies.”
The corners of her lips were quivering away. It seemed that she was forcibly suppressing a smile from trying to break out on her lips. She must’ve been really happy to hear the news, then.
Luan got up from the chair, but at the same time, the office door was flung open as well.
“Your Highness! We have a big problem, sir!!!”
“A big problem?!” Luan locked his gaze at a group of nobles standing before his eyes. They must’ve ran to get here as soon as possible, because cold sweat had utterly soaked them from top to bottom.
Luan couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion while looking at them, and the nobles quickly spoke up. “His Majesty the Holy King, he...”
“...?”
“...He is addressing the ambassadors of the other nations in the appearance of the Commander of the Goddess’s Army!”
The faces of both Luan and Charlotte hardened instantly at that report.
**
Aihrance’s Queen, Rox Aihrance, was currently heading towards the underground labyrinth of Titalos.
A request to procure a large quantity of the ancient plant creature’s sap had come from the Theocratic Empire. To answer that request, the queendom decided to open up the labyrinth and hired a bunch of adventures.
Some of those hired were definitely more than capable enough to survive the labyrinth, and then some. They were a trio of old men.
Their fame had spread quite quickly around the continent. The first place they had showed up in was Aslan. The rumours said that the three of them managed to hunt down a horde of Orcs over five hundred strong that had raided a village.
Next up was the Kingdom of Lome. They showed up there to subjugate some bandits taking advantage of the unrest of the civil war, then went on to massacre the remnants of the rebels who still hadn’t surrendered yet.
And finally, the trio had reached Aihrance.
Currently, they were sitting on top of an ancient dragon they had beaten down, found only inside the labyrinth of Titalos.
Queen Rox, hidden under a robe and hood, quietly observed the trio of old men.
A snap of fingers summoned a barrage of lightning to fall from the heavens. One swing of a sword, and apparently hundreds of Orcs were sliced apart and killed on the spot. When one of them prayed, countless rays of light descended from the sky to utterly evaporate the hapless bandits.
She had heard all those rumours countless times already, and she was able to guess a few things about the trio after listening to all of those stories.
There weren’t all that many people in this world capable of performing such feats. That’s why she had personally come down here to confirm the truth, and that’s how she had the chance to meet him like this.
“...It’s been a long while.” The old man sitting on the head of the downed ancient dragon addressed her.
Queen Rox’s eyes flew wide open. Her trembling hand rose up to cover her mouth.
“How have you been?” The old man turned his head, revealing a familiar face under his own hood.
“...Kelt.”
“It sure has been too long, Rox.”
Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse.
He was smiling gently at her.
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