Episode 53: The situation has changed. (2)
Even as the adjutant left and the fog descended and it grew dark outside the window, Harold continued to tap his temple and ponder.
‘As time passes, Ferdium will become richer and stronger. It will also have more troops.’
Runestones are a treasure of immense value. They are valuable in their own right, but they are also easy to cash out.
If you sell rune stones and use the money to grow your territory, you will be able to quickly secure troops and supplies.
Even if we were to fight the Digald Territory now, Ferdium would quickly recover from the damage, and would become more difficult to touch as time passes.
“It’s not something I can decide right now.”
If you take the time to plot, you can somehow weaken or create problems.
However, discovering a rare resource site for runestones even in the kingdom was not something he could keep hidden.
Harold sent a messenger quickly on his fastest horse.
– Ferdium, clear a part of the Forest of Demons. Secure the Rune Stone. Request instructions.
These are just a few words, but they are enough.
After waiting for a few days, the Duke’s reply arrived.
– Destroy the Ferdium clan. The Duke will intervene later. Use Digald to start a territorial war. However, make sure to use it and throw it away. It’s okay to take some risks.
The Duke’s answer was also not full of details. He simply gave a clear order.
Harold chewed over the returned order again.
‘Extermination… … Make it an ownerless territory?’
If there is no head of household or successor, the land reverts to the crown.
The fact that the Duke intervenes after that means that they will decide on a new owner.
The order to use and discard Digald also means to prevent Digald from occupying the Ferdium territory.
Although his relative, Count Loges, also has a claim to the Ferdium territory, the Duke’s family can handle that.
Or, you can just cleanly sweep away the Loges territory.
“I see. Now I understand. It was because of the Forest of Demons.”
The command that I couldn’t understand before has finally been understood.
An order to steadily weaken Ferdium but prevent its destruction, and to manage it so that it cannot be conquered by other territories.
That was the intention, to prevent anyone, including Ferdium, from taking over the Forest of Demons.
But since Ferdium has touched the forest of demons, they will no longer spare him and will sweep him away.
“But why do you want to take over the Demon Forest?”
The Duke is currently moving secretly, preparing for rebellion.
We were moving as cautiously as possible to ensure a sure victory, but if we started a territorial war, their power might be revealed.
Harold couldn’t understand why it was necessary to take such risks to secure the Forest of the Demons.
Even though the rune stone was discovered, it was excessive to do this just for that.
Harold looked down and thought for a moment, then shook his head.
It was entirely up to the Duke to decide the direction. His role was simply to minimize the risks in the process.
“You’ll know when the time comes.”
There was no time to think about the reason. I was busy making plans to fit the changed direction.
Harold returned to his office and summoned his staff.
“How many of our people are in Ferdium?”
“There is one knight left among the two who departed.”
“Send the two of you to Digald. Make it a point that Gilmore died in Ferdium and start a war for the territory.”
The staff looked bewildered by the sudden order. It was a big difference from the original plan to slowly dry up Perdium.
“Can you explain why the policy suddenly changed?”
“Things have changed.”
Harold didn’t answer any further.
The staff were puzzled, but soon they seemed to understand and said nothing. They too had heard the news about the Rune Stone.
“The goal is the destruction of Ferdium. We will also participate.”
The staff looked puzzled again.
The Youngjijeon is not something you can do as you please.
If a war were waged without a just cause, it was obvious that other lords would feel threatened and hold them back.
One of the staff members bowed his head.
“It is true that it is difficult to occupy Ferdium with Digald’s power alone, but we have no reason to participate in the war.”
Since both were small territories, it was impossible to guarantee that one would win.
If the goal was simply to weaken the Ferdium territory, Digald would have been the right choice, but if the goal was to destroy it, Digald alone was not enough.
“We won’t step forward ourselves. We’ll just push in our troops made up of conscripts and mercenaries.”
Most of Digald’s vassals are under Harold’s control, so it won’t be difficult for him to drive Digald as he wishes.
“Be prepared within two months. Both Ferdium and Digald will be annihilated quickly.”
“Okay. Is there anything else I need to prepare?”
“Send Victor too.”
The staff couldn’t hide their surprise.
Victor was the best knight in the realm, trained with great care by Desmond. He was also a hidden weapon.
The fact that he would use that much of a pattern really shows that Harold is determined.
The staff now thought that the destruction of the Ferdium territory was a foregone conclusion. It was a battle they could not lose even if they wanted to.
But unlike his staff, Harold could not shake off his unease.
He repeated the person’s name again.
That name continues to evoke ominous feelings.
‘Giselle Ferdium… … .’
* * *
Amelia was enjoying tea with Bernap, using the sunny weather as an excuse.
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She elegantly put down her teacup and stroked the Bastet on her lap.
She’s been feeling pretty good lately, because she’s taken it upon herself to manipulate information and influence public opinion, thereby cutting off support for Ferdium.
‘Giselle Ferdium, what happened to him?’
Just thinking about it brought a smile to my face.
Ferdium is a poor fiefdom that cannot even be properly maintained without Leipold’s support.
As soon as the support was cut off, there would have been chaos, and the person responsible, Jiselle, would have been caught and punished without fail.
Considering his reputation and the number of accidents he’s had so far, he would have definitely been imprisoned at the very least.
Then it would be even easier to cut off Giselle’s head, since there’s no way the imprisoned guy would be guarded that much.
Seeing her smiling happily after a long time, Bernap also smiled.
“I really admire this strategy. It was much more beautiful than using brute force.”
Meow!
Bastet also rubbed her head against Amelia’s chest, grumbling as if she was trying to flatter her.
“Tell those bastards to take the chance and blow off Giselle’s head. And that maid.”
“Okay, I’ll make sure to finish it.”
Bernap was truly impressed by Amelia’s initiative.
Even though he had a weakness that needed to be hidden, he set a trap by manipulating the truth, even at the risk of it being revealed.
That bold move caused the simultaneous downfall of both the Ferdium estate and Giselle, so it could be said that the gamble was successful.
It was a level of wisdom and strategy that you wouldn’t find in just anyone.
Amelia, feeling very happy, hummed a tune as she picked up a piece of cookie and fed it to the cat.
“Here, Bastet, you try one too.”
Meow!
As Bastet was happily eating the cookies, the maid approached her cautiously and handed Amelia a piece of paper.
“what?”
The maid answered cautiously.
“News from Ferdium.”
“Really? Hmm, I guess it says that Giselle is in prison?”
Amelia unfolded the paper with a smile on her lips and read it slowly.
After a while, the expression on her face began to disappear as she read the news.
His eyes were so cold that it felt like he was about to tear the paper.
Bernap watched Amelia’s expression change from moment to moment, and a chill ran down his spine.
Amelia’s face, which looked like she wouldn’t even bat an eyelash if someone died in front of her, turned bright red.
Amelia crumpled the paper and screamed.
“Giselle Ferdium!”
Bastet grasped the situation and quickly ran behind Bernap.
“How could this happen!”
Amelia jumped up from her seat, the impact causing the table to shake and spill tea and cookies.
Bernap quickly dodged it and asked cautiously.
“What’s going on? What did Giselle do again?”
Instead of answering, Amelia threw the crumpled paper down.
Bernap snatched the paper flying towards his face, read it, and cried out in horror.
“Oh, oh, oh… You found a rune stone? Then what happens?”
“What’s going on! The Ferdium estate is in a festive mood and that guy Giselle is getting credit for something!”
Amelia continued, biting her lip.
“That was also done using the 20,000 gold you stole from me as capital!”
Amelia trembled with anger.
Giselle gave her the biggest humiliation of her life.
There is probably no other noblewoman who has been blackmailed and extorted money by a worthless man than herself.
This was the first time in his life that he had received such treatment and humiliation. He knew that he would only be freed if he killed Jiselle.
I thought I had finally gotten it over with, but it’s going from strength to strength!
Amelia felt like she was going crazy, wanting to drag Giselle away and kill her right in front of her.
“Giselle! Giselle Ferdium!”
Bernap kept his mouth shut as he watched Amelia repeat Giselle’s name as if she was cursing her eyes with their blood vessels bursting.
To the outside world, she is known as a kind, gentle, and elegant woman. At first, Bernap thought Amelia was just that kind of person. She actually showed that side to her.
But there were more than a few people who secretly died after offending her. She was a woman whose true nature was hard to tell.
‘I wouldn’t say he has a good personality, but… … he’s never really gotten that angry.’
She, who would elegantly order anyone to kill, cannot control her anger when it comes to Giselle.
It seemed like it was quite difficult to endure being treated by such a worthless guy.
‘Just keep your mouth shut and be still.’
If you catch my eye now and sparks fly, even if it’s Bernap, it won’t go over well.
Amelia glared at Bernap with reddened eyes.
“Call in the wildcats, and everyone else.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“What are those beggars going to do with those runestones? They’re not going to sell them! Raid them, kill them all, and steal them!”
Bernap swallowed dry saliva.
“Isn’t it dangerous? If you’re transporting the runestone, the security will be considerable. You can also call the top to your territory without moving from the Ferdium side.”
“I’ll think about that later, so gather the kids first. All the bandits around here, get ready to move!”
“Okay, just calm down for now.”
Despite Bernap’s attempts to dissuade her, Amelia’s anger was not easily appeased.
“Giselle, I will definitely kill you. I will also take the rune stone.”
The sunny afternoon tea time was completely ruined by the news of Giselle.
