Volume 13 Chapter 12 The True Demon King Stirring
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
*Arbalest’s Perspective
”What’s going on! Why are the True Demon Dukedom’s soldiers stationed in the Capital City! And, General Mild, who used to be Gwain’s Royal Guard, is leading them!”
I kicked the desk in my office to let out my anger.
Quenelra was next to me, pretending to read documents like she didn’t care.
”That’s the Chancellor Aldo and His Majesty Shifa’s decision. It’s none of our business.”
”Yeah. If Arbalest interferes now, there will definitely be conflict with Aldo.”
Eclair, who was also looking at the documents, answered calmly.
Eclair became my wife, but she didn’t quit being a guard, and she’s also a Secretary for the chief.
”But! This is a serious situation! Just like how Kent’s army withdrew to the South District, now Yaalan’s army is stationed in the Capital City.”
”Shut up, old man. They’re not stationing here to start a war, so just leave them alone. The True Demon Dukedom is pretending to be calm, but things are falling apart inside. They’re stationing in the Capital City to hide that.”
As Quenelra said, the True Demon Dukedom, which has taken over Gwain territory and part of the northeast, shouldn’t have much strength left for war, and the army stationed in the Capital City was only about a thousand soldiers led by General Mild.
Yaalan probably doesn’t intend to go to war with the Kingdom with this small army, but I was worried that Kingdom Nobles who cozy up to the True Demon Dukedom might appear and cause a new conflict.
”Lord Sobe is right. There’s nothing we can do even if we worry. For now, our job is to improve the training of the Kingdom army.”
A young Noble dude decked out in flashy armor was shrugging his shoulders in the office.
His name was Julius Parson, the 53rd head of the famous Parson family in the Asura Clan, and also one of the new officers in the Kingdom army.
Unlike most useless Noble kids in the Kingdom, he was a real fighter who had gone undercover in the South District and even fought monsters for real.
”Lord Parson, don’t get too chill! The military Nobles may have lost power, but tons of Nobles in the Capital City are plotting to get rid of His Majesty Shifa.”
The decision to station the True Demon Dukedom troops was made last minute, pushed forward between Yaalan and Aldo while ignoring me, the military boss, and His Majesty Shifa approved Aldo’s proposal.
A few days later, the troops arrived.
…I’m sure Aldo and Yaalan made some secret deal… If anything happens to His Majesty Shifa, I’m gonna have to run to Kent…
”A-a-anyway! We gotta have the army ready to move the second General Mild makes a move!”
I slammed my fist on the desk, and Quenelra started scratching his head like it was such a pain.
”More importantly! You gotta figure out where we’re getting the money to fix up the army’s equipment, old man. You know Kingdom’s broke too, don’t you?”
Quenelra hit me right where it hurt.
Even if we wanted to get the army ready fast, we were flat broke on gear funds.
We’d already burnt through His Majesty Shifa’s personal cash for the army reshuffle.
The money to buy ranks for military Nobles disappeared into rebuilding new lands in the northeast.
Chancellor Aldo shot down borrowing next season’s budget early.
Right now, the Kingdom army was just a paper tiger.
”But damn it! The Dukedom’s definitely cooking up something!”
”Old man! You can’t shake what you don’t have! If you want to do it so bad, go borrow from your son! Kent the King is the richest on the Demon Continent now, after kicking out His Majesty!”
Quenelra was good at managing the army’s money, even when it was tight. She could make things look good, and she was really talented. But she still couldn’t get around not having enough money.
”Yeah. Kent would probably lend it to you, right? But then you’d have to deal with that Lila’s Bureaucrat. I’ll pass on being there.”
Eclair also didn’t like the idea of borrowing from Kent that Quenelra suggested.
I’ve known Lila for a long time.
Ever since she was Gwain’s Secretary, she was amazing at getting money.
I’d seen how the young female Bureaucrats she taught were getting good and helping Kent become the richest on the Demon Continent, so I couldn’t accept Quenelra’s idea.
…If I borrow from Kent, how much will they take from me?.. I need to find money somewhere else…
”…Quenelra. How much will it cost to get a thousand soldiers ready to go?”
”Roughly, it’ll cost 15 to 16 large gold coins?”
Quenelra answered right away, like she knew what I was going to ask.
Even big Nobles can’t just whip out 15 large gold coins.
But, I decided to use my own money.
Luckily, I got a wedding gift from Kent for marrying Eclair recently, and the Haydon family’s secret stash was full, so I could somehow pay the 15 large gold coins.
”Okay! I’ll use my own money. Quenelra, pick a thousand soldiers and get them ready to go right away.”
Eclair just shrugged her shoulders a little and gave me a wry smile when she heard me.
Even though we’re married, she has her own money from Monster Hunting, so she wouldn’t be poor even if I lost all my money.
”Your Excellency Arbalest… Maybe you should ask for His Majesty Shifa’s judgment on this…”
Julius is worried about my rash decision and came to offer his opinion.
”…That’s true. Alright, let’s go to the court now and present this to His Majesty. Eclair, bring me paper and a pen.”
”This old guy really has too much energy… Wouldn’t it have been better for him to hunt monsters in the South District with his son?”
I ignored Quenelra’s nagging and started writing the proposal for the establishment of the rapid response unit on the paper Eclair prepared.
* * *
*Aldo’s perspective
”This letter was brought to me by Arbalest, so I called Aldo to see what we should do about it.”
Suddenly, I was summoned by His Majesty Shifa to attend, interrupting my work as I made my way from the office to the morning audience where His Majesty was waiting.
”Lord Haydon (Gwain) has become a headache for us… Even though Lord Yaalan sent troops to restore security in the Capital City while cutting down on his own territory’s security forces, now they think it’s suspicious…”
I wasn’t sure if Arbalest had sniffed out my secret pact with Yaalan, or if it was just his instincts from being a ruler of the South District that made him sense something was off.
He moved first because he felt something shady about the Dukedom forces’ deployment.
In reality, I did make a secret pact with Yaalan, but it only involved acknowledging the territory taken by the True Demon Dukedom from Gwain and establishing a Dukedom embassy.
So, the current deployment of Dukedom forces had a time limit, like what Kent had done, until the embassy could function.
”Suspicious? So is this just Arbalest jumping the gun? By the way, Yaalan said he would come to greet me, but he hasn’t shown up at all. What’s going on?”
Yaalan made a secret pact with me, then set up a meeting with His Majesty Shifa, but suddenly, because of a rebellion, he left only General Mild’s troops behind and returned to the capital.
…My spy network in the north is thin, so I can’t be sure if Yaalan really went back to crush the rebellion…
Yaalan’s actions, returning without meeting His Majesty Shifa, are hard to figure out.
For now, I’ve been communicating with him through General Mild, who’s staying in the Capital City.
”Lord Yaalan had to return because of a rebellion in his territory. He asked me to pass on his apologies to His Majesty… Soon, Lord Mild will be visiting in his stead.”
”I see… I wanted to meet the man who defeated Gwain, but oh well… So, is it okay to dismiss the Arbalest matter?”
”Yes, it seems that General Mild will be recalled soon, so there’s no need to worry too much.”
The militant Arbalest has effectively exiled the military nobles and taken control of the army, reshaping the Kingdom’s military forces.
Thanks to his achievements, he’s gained even more of the monarch’s trust.
This proposal may be rejected, but it’s certain to have won over the hearts of the young officers in the military.
…Lord Haydon is pretty hot-headed… There’s no way to find funds for war in the current Kingdom…
”If Aldo says so, I guess there’s no need to worry. Sorry for interrupting your work.”
”Then, I’ll be returning to my office now.”
I bowed to His Majesty and left the morning audience.
* * *
When I got back to the office, the old man handed me a single letter.
The letter was from Stefan Schuwelt, who took over the Kingdom Liberation Front.
Schuwelt was tasked with eliminating Lords and rebel armies in the northeastern region that still refused to return to the Kingdom, and he had already taken down 3 rebel armies and 2 lords.
The letter he sent said that an unidentified army was rampaging in the no-lord zone, systematically defeating rebel armies and opposition lords to expand their power.
”Old man… whose army do you think this is?”
”Could it be Lord Nokin? They’ve been working with a small elite troop after all. It’s cheaper to operate a small force for expeditions.”
”But if it were Nokin, they would probably report to His Majesty before launching any attacks, right? I mean, they were appointed by the Kingdom. Doing things on their own wouldn’t be allowed.”
”Then, is it the army of Lord Yaalan? After all that large-scale expedition, would they really launch another one? They poured a lot of national resources into the war with Gwain, so maintaining their territory is probably their limit right now.”
”But if they use Gwain’s legacy, they should be fine, right?”
At my remark, the old man looked shocked.
Yaalan, who defeated Gwain, had gotten his hands on the assets from the northern fortress, so it seemed possible to operate with a small number of troops.
…Maybe he returned to his territory to lead his troops and suppress the northeastern region… It could be a bit heavy for Schuwelt.
I might as well provoke Nokin a bit.
Get him to clash with Yaalan and have them weaken each other for the Kingdom’s stability.
I decided to identify the army moving in the northeastern region as Yaalan’s and coax Nokin into stopping his actions.
”Old man, I’m sending a letter to Nokin, so get it ready.”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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