Chapter 14

Sun Tzu said, if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles(Sun Tzu’s Art of War).

Like the genius of military strategy he was, Sun Tzu was a person who saw through the importance of information.

So accurately did Sun Tzu see through it that, even after thousands of years, the phrase was repeatedly quoted by modern entrepreneurs and authors of self-help books.

Times change, but insight is eternal.

Thus, I too tried to follow the adage of the ancients.

Meaning, I pondered what means would be best to use to win over Belius, who had emerged as the eye of the storm.

“Money, women, and honor?”

“What do you mean?”

“The means to win over Belius. Usually, it falls within these three.”

To entice someone, one must present their weakness, their deficiency, what they desire.

Among these, money is usually the easiest to present.

It's not that we live a life particularly swayed by capital.

It's because when the socio-economy is stable, the value of money is also stable.

In other words, gold neither rots nor changes its nature, and it sparkles a lot.

But I soon hit a snag.

Come to think of it, I knew almost nothing about Belius.

The only fact I knew was that Belius was Isak's closest aide.

But now, when what was yet to happen hadn't happened, that piece of information was useless.

What, should I arrest him for attempted rebellion?

If I did that, a riot would break out in the barracks.

Therefore, I couldn't decide on a way to win over Belius.

Just throwing money at him is also a problem.

From what I hear, Belius is a master general of commoner origin.

He was even a great figure who had once reached the highest echelons of the military, responsible for an entire front.

And it's common sense in any society that the higher-ups take everything behind the scenes.

This is even more so when considering the various interests that follow the military.

Would such a person really be without wealth?

For me, who had nothing but money, it was a given that negotiations would not be easy.

“Your Highness, I think you have a big misunderstanding. It's not that Your Highness has nothing but money, it's that you don't even have money.”

“Sh-shut up.”

When I told him my thoughts, Theo delivered a sharp retort.

A very cynical reaction.

Seeing a usually gentle kid suddenly become sharp at the mention of money, it seems he went through a lot of hardship following me.

But I had something to say back.

“Why don't I have money? I get living expenses from the royal family every quarter, don't I? If it really comes down to it, can't I ask for an advance?”

“That's really just at the level of dignity maintenance fees, and it's been cut every time Your Highness caused trouble, so there's not much left now. I thought you knew.”

“What?”

I was horrified, but after hearing Theo's explanation, I quickly accepted it.

It seemed to be the result of Leon working too hard on his reliability (decrease) project.

Even when he was called in by the emperor and scolded, he only pretended to be repentant, and that very night he would drink or go on a horseback gallop.

Trust is an individual's social capital.

And Leon Akardi's trust was bankrupt.

It seemed impossible for even a giant law firm to rehabilitate this.

Theo's reaction right now was an indicator of that.

“Even if I don't have money, since I'm royalty, shouldn't it be possible to borrow money from others?”

“……Considering Your Highness' notoriety, that seems very difficult too.”

“Then how about using the royal villa as collateral?”

“You can't. If you do that, Your Highness will really become a son of a bitch of the world.”

Suddenly, Theo reacted vehemently.

I was flustered.

“Why? I can just pay it back whenever the budget comes out, can't I?”

“That's easier said than done. Even if you write a contract, who would dare demand the central government to hand over the villa? Leaving aside the fact that Your Highness has no right to dispose of central government property, that's just openly saying you'll extort someone else's property.”

“Uh, okay, calm down. I won't do it.”

As Theo passionately argued, I was simply overwhelmed.

Theo's shoulder width was that intimidating.

“But how do you know the imperial law in such detail?”

At my question, Theo was extremely bewildered.

“Don't you remember?”

“What?”

“The incident where Your Highness tried to sell the royal villa to the chairman of the senate and failed. Fortunately, it ended as an attempt, but I was called in by Captain Zeta and got scolded a lot. Thanks to that, I can memorize the entire Central Government Facilities Management Act.”

“……”

Leon Akardi, what kind of life have you lived....

So that's why the senate chairman's gaze towards me was particularly bad.

Sorry, but I don't remember that.

If you want to complain, complain to the past Leon Akardi.

While Theo watched me with a suspicious gaze, I fell into thought.

There must be a good way.

How about going to Zeta and saying, ‘I need to win over Belius, so please open the national treasury, hehe.’?

I thought about it for a moment and then stopped.

It seemed I wouldn't hear anything good.

I'd probably get a few hours of nagging as a bonus.

Anyway, it's a shame that the last resort is not even possible to attempt.

In the worst-case scenario, if an apocalypse called the ‘Imperial Civil War’ opened up, I was thinking of quickly grabbing some money and fleeing to another country.

“Anyway, what's important now isn't where I get the money from. It's ‘how can I conquer Belius and make him our ally?’”

“That's true. Can't you do what you did to Nilion earlier again?”

“That's not easy either.”

I do have the trait of Descendant of a Demon, but it's not all-powerful.

It doesn't mean I can just brainwash or hypnotize someone indiscriminately.

At the very least, I need to know the keyword the opponent desires to activate the ability.

For Zeta, it was ‘justification,’ and for Nilion, it was ‘life.’

For me, who has no information, this is a fatal flaw.

Fortunately, I wasn't the only one here.

There were people more versed in the society of the empire.

I willingly reached out to them.

“Theo, do you know General Belius well?”

“He is a master general of the Imperial Army.”

“Not what everyone else knows. I mean things he likes, or his personal relationships.”

“……”

Theo, who had answered confidently, couldn't say anything and just darted his eyes left and right.

Oh, for goodness sake.

He only knows what he's heard from someone else.

I changed the person I was talking to.

“Ryuba, do you know General Belius well?”

“Of course. Isn't he a master general of the Imperial Army?”

“Not what everyone else knows, I mean things he likes or his personal relationships.”

“I don't know about that.”

“……”

“What. Why. What.”

Ugh, really.

That shameless face.

I suddenly feel sorry for Zeta.

How could she trust people like this with work?

This won't do.

Now is the time for me, the only intelligent character, to step up.

I need to use my head, is what I'm saying.

So I looked at Nilion.

As they say, for a task that isn't working out, you shouldn't waste time struggling with it, but entrust it to an expert who is much better at it.

Besides, Nilion was on his way to win over Belius, so he must know a lot of things.

Let's borrow your head a bit, that's what.

“Count of Apollia.”

“……”

“Nilion?”

“……”

“Hey.”

He's ignoring me.

Nilion responded with silence.

A defiant look was a bonus.

I felt like a father looking at his adolescent child.

Simply put, I didn't like it.

In fact, it's not that I can't understand his feelings.

Now that he's back to his senses, he must be ashamed of the situation earlier where he succumbed to danger and blabbed everything he knew.

So he's trying to rebel with all his might, but doesn't he think that's an incredibly reckless thing to do right now, logically speaking?

“Theo.”

“Shall I fetch the axe?”

“W-wait a minute!”

Futilely, Nilion's rebellion was suppressed in 5 seconds.

When I personally promoted friendship with the Snow Elves, he immediately raised the white flag.

Well.

No matter how much of a count he is, if muscular Snow Elves are glaring at him from the side, there's nothing he can do.

The fact that he even thought of putting up a brave front is more amazing.

If it were me, I would have spilled everything I knew long ago and found peace of mind.

“Count of Apollia, remember that the mere fact I am treating you with courtesy and not executing you on the spot is a sign of my respect for you.”

“……Keuk, I will be careful.”

At the warning not to get on my nerves, Nilion's face became one of suppressing indignation.

It's the face of someone saying, I have to let it go for now, but I'll get you someday.

Yes, yes, you must feel wronged.

Of course, you feel wronged being captured by someone you used to look down on.

But if you want to resent someone, resent the fact that you fell into my hands.

And know that once you're captured, you can't escape.

Now that he is in my hands, Nilion is nothing more than an AI service that must answer immediately when I call.

I suddenly feel like I have a doll that responds as soon as I press it.

Though this one is much uglier.

“Now, Count of Apollia. Tell me everything from beginning to end about how you were going to win over Belius, without leaving anything out.”

***

Fortunately, no bloodshed occurred during the interrogation process.

Humans have one thing that machines do not.

It is tact.

This was an important difference that distinguished machines from humans.

A machine needs to be hit to be fixed, but a person can fix themselves without being hit.

Nilion, who had completed his firmware performance patch, provided an answer immediately instead of pointlessly racking his brain.

“Belius would be wanting to restore his honor.”

“Why do you surmise that?”

“It's simple. Because he's currently in a demoted state.”

It was a statement I didn't really understand.

Why is that a demotion?

“Isn't Modera Fortress a fortress built for the defense of the Imperial Capital? If he went there as a commander, it doesn't seem like a demotion.”

“That's from the Royal Guard's perspective; in the military, the position of Modera Fortress commander is a dead-end job. With a triple wall and a navy, what chance is there for the Imperial Capital to fall?”

“Logically speaking, that is.”

Betraying that logic, Isak's gang burns down the Imperial Capital.

“Besides, Belius was a man who was responsible for an entire front. For such a person to be managing a mere traffic route is clearly a demotion.”

“Oh, I didn't know that.”

To use a modern analogy, it's as if a person who was in charge of a frontline division became a mere stationmaster.

Seen that way, it is indeed a demotion.

As one question was resolved, another arose.

Belius was a character who boasted vicious performance in the game.

How did such a person get demoted to a dead-end job?

Did the emperor have no eye for people?

No.

“That's because Belius was defeated in the war against the Turan.”

“Ah. I see.”

If that's the case, it makes sense.

The Turan are a semi-agricultural, semi-pastoral tribal state that plunders the northwestern border of Siberia.

As befits nomads, their main troop type is horse archers.

The basic tactic of horse archers is the swarm.

Simply put, it's hit and run.

They ride in on horseback, shower arrows before a response can be mounted, and then use the mobility unique to cavalry to disengage.

If you get angry from being hit and rashly give chase, you'll be picked off one by one.

For the opposing side, it is an extremely annoying tactic.

I didn't like it much when I was on the receiving end either.

“Right. I did hear that Belius was defeated on the western front. So that's why he was demoted.”

Ryuba chimed in from the side.

Nilion cautiously confessed.

“But in fact, it wasn't solely Belius' fault.”

“What?”

“Belius insisted on a defensive battle, but the nobles of the surrounding territories pressured him, forcing him to sortie, which led to his defeat. And Belius had to take sole responsibility for that defeat.”

“The sorrow of being a commoner.”

Even though he held the rank of general, without a family to protect him, Belius alone shouldered the blame and was cut loose.

It was a sight I had seen many times somewhere, and my chest felt a little tight.

I was about to let it go when a geographical factor suddenly came to mind.

“Wait. Don't Nike and Apollia share a border with the Turan?”

“……”

“Then weren't you the ones who pressured Belius back then? What on earth were you thinking, trying to recruit the very person you screwed over?”

“……At that time, the border was being plundered, it was an urgent situation, so we had no choice. If we didn't stop the Turan nomads, we would have been burned to the ground. In fact, thanks to Belius' sortie, didn't the nomads turn back?”

As I stared at him in disbelief, Nilion reluctantly made an excuse.

But I was astounded by the shamelessness of the nobles.

They were truly shameless.

Of course, since their recruitment attempt succeeded, the Imperial Capital burned down and Belius became the Wailing Wall in .

But that's not something you can do with an ordinary face, is it?

I gave Ryuba a look.

When Ryuba hit the back of Nilion's head, Nilion went into a 'response terminated' state and slumped over, unconscious.

Maybe I was thinking about it wrong.

It seems people also have to be beaten to be fixed.

Ryuba also had a displeased look on his face, as if he didn't like Nilion's behavior.

“Really, what kind of people are these. Leon, just say the word. I'll go bury him somewhere inconspicuous. I guarantee no one will ever know.”

I stopped Ryuba.

“Not yet. He still has his uses.”

“What are you going to use him for?”

“That's a secret.”

“Tch.”

To be honest, I also felt the blood of a citizen of a democratic republic boiling.

My body wanted a guillotine.

But Nilion still had his uses.

As befits a noble person, I plan to use him in a noble place.

Let's save him for that time.

Since he's already a prisoner, there's no loss in doing so anyway.

When I argued so, Ryuba didn't say much either.

Instead, he made a face as if worried about the difficult task ahead.

“Then all that's left is to win over Belius. It doesn't seem like it will be easy to persuade him, do you think this is possible?”

“It’s not a problem at all.”

But I wasn't worried in the slightest.

Because Nilion had told me all the important keywords.

As a sign of my resolve, I clenched my fist towards Ryuba and grinned.

“I guarantee it. Belius will eventually fall into my hands. It's bound to happen.”

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.