LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 71: Challenge
Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Himanshu02
The Grand Duke did not show it, but he felt very uncomfortable every time he attended the recent war council meetings.
The reason was obvious: it was Eurius, who sat on one side of the council.
“The plan to infiltrate spies failed?”
“The First Prince personally examined them and did not let anyone pass.”
“How is that possible? We didn’t just send some riffraff, did we?”
The Grand Duke felt a headache whenever he thought about Eurius lately.
He realized that none of his plans had succeeded in the past few years because of the First Prince’s interference.
‘There must be something about that bastard.’
It was hard to believe that it was just luck that he avoided his traps so skillfully.
The problem was that he had no clue what the cause of his failure was.
It was annoying enough that he could not figure it out, but Eurius also acted very relaxed at the war council meetings.
The princes who became adults had some authority to participate in state affairs.
They could express their opinions at the war council meetings and they would count as official deeds.
‘It feels like there are two emperors sitting there. How can a brat who just turned twenty be so familiar with the meetings?’
Of course, Eurius spoke from the side of the emperor’s faction and shared his thoughts on state affairs, but it was hard to ignore his words because of his recent achievements and the emperor also subtly supported what Eurius advocated, so the Grand Duke’s faction lost momentum continuously.
It was as if the situation had changed from the emperor versus the Grand Duke to the emperor & Eurius tag team against the Grand Duke, so naturally he lost his influence.
This was also one of the factors that the emperor and Eurius intended.
The First Prince’s achievements were not only about martial arts.
“You have already accumulated enough martial arts in the north. I think it would be better for you to participate in internal affairs at this point.”
“I will follow your will, Father.”
As he said, now was the time to build up his foundation and achieve other things.
That meant strengthening his political position.
He had been a part of state affairs in his previous life, even though they were not well managed, and he had also experienced being an emperor while suffering from the Grand Duke’s faction.
It was different from before, when the emperor stood firmly by his side. What was there to be afraid of?
Thus, today’s war council meeting also flowed smoothly in favor of the emperor’s faction.
“Then, we will reject the proposal to lower the nobility tax, which was today’s main topic.”
With that declaration that ended the meeting, the faces of the nobles from the Grand Duke’s faction darkened.
‘Damn it!’
‘What is the Grand Duke thinking?’
‘I have to console those stupid guys again today. What a useless job.’
The Grand Duke also felt bitter.
He was the strongest warrior in the empire and had the largest single force, but he never dared to think about overthrowing the empire with just that.
[The ‘Shadow’ group, a secret military organization that he raised]
[The force of the southern nobles who supported him]
[The connection with the Desert Kingdom through Wallace]
If one of these three things went wrong, it was almost impossible for him to overthrow the empire as he wished.
That was why he volunteered to represent Wallace and their interests while complaining that there were no talents among the southern nobles.
But as Eurius and the emperor kept pressuring them at the war council meetings, there was no way that there would not be a rift among the nobles who followed him.
“What is the Grand Duke doing?”
“At this rate, there is no difference from when His Majesty was young.”
A few years ago, it was quite difficult to break down the opinion of the nobility faction, but as the power of the officials who followed the emperor increased with the development of the north and Eurius’ military exploits, the situation gradually changed.
There were hardly any proposals from the Grand Duke’s faction that were approved at the meetings lately!
It was inevitable that they would be dissatisfied in this environment.
As they were leaving after finishing their discussions among themselves, a loud voice suddenly rang out.
“Your Majesty! An urgent envoy from the Western Alliance has arrived.”
“The Western Alliance?”
“Did they come to complain about this year’s tribute?”
There were murmurs among them.
The Western Alliance was a group of seven kingdoms in the northwest of the empire.
Each country was a small kingdom with little power, but they were hard to ignore as an empire when they united.
Sometimes they caused trouble for the empire over tribute or trade issues.
But the purpose of the envoy who came today seemed to be different.
The envoy, who said he came from the Carvan Kingdom, one of the Western Alliance, knelt down as soon as he entered and began to plead.
“Your Majesty, the great emperor of the empire, I beg you to save our kingdom!”
“What is wrong with the Western Alliance?”
The emperor asked with a curious expression.
“That is…”
The envoy of the Carvan Kingdom explained the situation with a desperate expression.
Even though it was called an alliance of kingdoms, there was usually a country that acted as the leader.
That was the Carvan Kingdom.
It was the most influential among the seven countries that formed the Western Alliance.
But there were also several kingdoms that were dissatisfied with that and they seemed to have started a civil war within the alliance.
“Your Majesty! Our Carvan Kingdom has maintained a close relationship with the empire for two hundred years since the establishment of the empire. Please show us mercy.”
The Scharnos Empire was the only empire on the continent.
It was also the duty of the empire to mediate disputes between kingdoms.
There was nothing that made the Carvan Kingdom particularly disliked by the empire as the leader of the Western Alliance.
They used that as a pretext to request salvation from the empire.
‘This meeting will be longer than I expected.’
The first prince thought that the war council meeting was over, but he summoned his officials again to discuss this issue.
The conclusion was already clear.
They had a reason to send salvation to the Carvan Kingdom and the empire would take as much benefit as they shed blood in return.
“Then, who do you think is appropriate to send as the commander of the expedition?”
The emperor’s question was met with silence in the hall.
And strangely enough, their eyes were all focused on Eurius.
He smiled inwardly.
‘As expected.’
He knew what was coming when the envoy entered.
[The Great Turmoil in the West]
In fact, a dispute between kingdoms seemed like nothing to the empire, but this incident was quite big.
This civil war would unify the seven countries of the Western Alliance into a single country in less than five years.
The reason why they focused their attention on him now was something like this:
‘He’s not going to go to war again, is he?’
‘Actually, whoever goes as the commander, it’s a golden opportunity to build up military achievements.’
The continent had been relatively peaceful under the leadership of the empire lately.
The opportunities for warriors to accumulate military achievements were very limited.
It was only one great victory, but Eurius’ reputation had risen so high in the north because of that reason.
It seemed like it was not a difficult task to lead the empire’s elite troops and suppress the rebellion of small kingdoms.
The nobles from the Grand Duke’s faction were tense.
‘If we let the First Prince gain more military achievements here, it will be really dangerous!’
Eurius had already proven his military ability in the north.
It would not be strange if the emperor appointed him as the expedition commander.
The Grand Duke also had to think for a moment.
‘At least, shouldn’t the second prince come to the capital by now?’
The second prince, Leonhart, was still stationed at the southern front.
He had achieved remarkable feats of arms, but they were overshadowed by Eurius’s achievements.
The northern front was already at peace, while the southern front was still in a state of minor skirmishes.
However, this deployment was an urgent matter and there was no reason to waste time by replacing the commander.
Of course, they could send him later, but if Eurius became the commander, there would be no need to send two princes to the same front.
On the other hand, the emperor looked at him with a curious expression.
He wondered what he would choose this time.
“It seems that your subjects want to hear your opinion. First prince Eurius, who do you think is suitable for this deployment?”
Eurius pretended to ponder for a moment.
Everyone in the hall held their breath and watched his lips.
“I would like to participate if I could.”
“…!”
“But!”
He changed his words with a regretful expression.
“The training of the knight order that I accepted is not yet finished, so it would be difficult for me to go.”
At that moment, the nobles of the Grand Duke faction sighed in relief.
‘Well, he must have decided that he had enough achievements and didn’t need to go to the far west.’
“But I have a recommendation for the commander.”
His words made the subjects perk up their ears again. What did he mean by that?
The only commander that the prince knew personally was Count Anderson, who was guarding the northern front.
Eurius spoke with a serious expression.
“As you know, the imperial third army was formed for the northern war, but they ended up doing nothing because the war ended quickly. I think it would be fair to give them another chance.”
Whisper whisper
“Is he talking about Count Perez?”
“Did he impress the first prince when he returned to the capital?”
The emperor also looked at Eurius with surprise for a moment and then nodded.
His words made sense.
The third army had gone all the way to the north but barely contributed to the war.
Giving them another chance was a reasonable excuse.
“Is there any objection to Eurius’s suggestion?”
Of course not.
The central military officials were on the emperor’s side, but they didn’t need to send their soldiers to help another kingdom.
They were satisfied with the result that Eurius didn’t participate in this war.
“Then let’s appoint Count Perez as the commander again and send him to the west!”
The emperor’s decision was swift. He didn’t want to send Eurius, who had enough achievements, to a dangerous battlefield.
Eurius added one more thing with a casual expression.
“Oh, by the way, I almost forgot. I have something to ask Father.”
***
The Grand Duke was lost in thought in his carriage heading back to his territory after the emergency meeting ended.
‘First prince… what is he thinking?’
He could understand that he didn’t want to go to war because he felt threatened by an assassination attempt last time. But his request this time was quite odd.
The emperor raised his eyebrows at Eurius’s sudden words and asked.
“What do you mean by asking? What is it?”
“It’s not a big deal.”
Eurius smiled and answered.
“I want to send my knight order to the royal martial arts tournament team event this summer. I want them to gain some real experience with my guidance.”
The emperor looked worried.
“It’s been only three months since you formed your knight order. Are you sure they are ready for the team event?”
“Of course they are not fully skilled yet. It’s just my intention to give them some experience.”
The royal martial arts tournament was a competition held every three years in the empire where martial artists competed.
It was one of the festivals that honored the will of Scharnos, the great emperor who revered martial arts.
The team event was where knight orders competed against each other.
Some foreign knight orders also participated and it was a very entertaining spectacle as almost all of the imperial knight orders joined.
‘Some experience… he says that but it sounds suspicious’
The emperor granted his permission easily but the Grand Duke felt uneasy.
The team event had been one of his ways of building his reputation for a long time.
The Golden Lion knight order raised by Grand Duke Wilhelm!
They were his best personal force excluding his shadows and they were composed of elite knights only.
‘Does he want to challenge my Golden Lion knight order with his ragtag knight order?’
The Grand Duke made a doubtful expression but he couldn’t ignore it since he had been hit by Eurius’s tricks many times.
‘I better prepare thoroughly just in case.’
He knew that Eurius’s knight order had some talented people. But his knight order was much better in terms of overall quality.
‘I don’t know what the first prince is aiming for but I can’t refuse such a challenge!’
The Grand Duke smiled grimly.
The royal martial arts tournament was not a friendly event.
The competition was fierce and accidents could happen.
***
‘He must be plotting something to humiliate my knight order with an overwhelming defeat.’
Eurius was also thinking about various things in his carriage returning to his palace.
The western upheaval was his second trap and the third one was the royal martial arts tournament.
‘Are there only three months left?’
He was also eager to win.
He had lost many of his elite knights in the north while fighting the Grand Duke’s dogs.
‘Let’s see who will have trouble in their knight order this time!’