TL: Etude
Cecil, with a stack of papers in his arms, hurried out of his intelligence departnt and made his way to the lord’s residence. After a brief adjustnt of his collars at the entrance, he walked in directly. No one stopped him; as the lord’s third eye, Cecil possessed the privilege to see Paul without prior notice.
After asking a servant inside for Paul’s location, Cecil quickly made his way upstairs and knocked on a room door.
“Lord Grayman, I have important matters to report to you.”
“Ah, Cecil, please co in,” Paul’s voice ca from inside.
Cecil pushed the door open and found that apart from the count, there were two unexpected people inside—alchemy apprentices from the chemical laboratory, Wells and old Hoffman.
These two alchemists, along with a bunch of their colleagues and pupils, were usually out of sight, and not many sought them out. After all, anyone would keep their distance from a group that dealt with waste materials in stinky “saltpeter plants” all day.
They were there to report on the progress of the saltpeter experints.
Paul looked at the report in his hands with a frown.
“Fellows!” The tone of the master of the house revealed skepticism and dissatisfaction. “If I rember correctly…uh, no, I an, the output of the saltpeter should not be so low according to my estimates.”
The alchemists had finally co up with so results, but it was still far from satisfying Paul.
“No mistakes? Has the count dealt with so-called saltpeter plants before?” A fleeting doubt crossed the alchemists’ minds.
“Uh… cough! Lord Grayman…”
Old Hoffman explained, “I apologize, we have not yet fully mastered the patterns. Please give us a bit more ti.”
Wells on the side also complained, “Temperature, humidity, ventilation, light… there are too many variables, we need to adjust them bit by bit and accumulate experience…”
Paul raised a hand to cut them off. “Alright, ‘Parater Tuners!’ I did not call you here to hear complaints.”
The count’s nickna for the alchemists brought a chuckle to Cecil standing at the door, while the two old alchemists blushed with embarrassnt.
“Let’s not talk about the saltpeter issue for now. I heard that the chemical laboratory has bought a large number of glass vessels and experintal materials. Where did you get the money from? It wasn’t from the special funds for saltpeter research, was it?”
“This… this… Lord Grayman… we are… you see, so many students have never touched alchemy, so… so… we need to let them practice more…”
Seeing the alchemists stamring, Paul secretly laughed, but he warned them with a stern voice:
“Listen, you two, I do not oppose you conducting other research privately outside of your main tasks, you might co up with sothing. However, if you’re short of money, you can report to , but I strictly forbid the misappropriation of special funds ever happening again.”
Paul, through investigation, found that the funds had not been used for the alchemists’ personal life, and given their passion for scientific exploration, he let it slide this ti.
Old Hoffman and Wells, relieved as if granted an amnesty, swore to strictly follow the rules set by Paul.
“Alright you two, you can go back now. I hope that within a year, our saltpeter plants will allow us to reduce our dependence on ores.”
“Rest assured, Lord Grayman. Since we have achieved sothing from nothing, optimization on this basis should not be difficult.”
The two alchemists bid their goodbyes and left.
Paul then turned to Cecil. “My intelligence chief, what’s the important matter?”
Cecil stepped forward. “Lord Grayman, news just ca in. The war in the South has ended!”
“Oh? Who won, the royal army or the rebels?”
Cecil touched his chin as he spoke, “It could be said that the royal army won.”
With skepticism evident in his response, Paul asked, “Could be? What does that an?”
Cecil explained, “Jars has resud his fealty to the crown…”
Paul asked, “Then… the southern territories loyal to the crown before the rebellion, were they returned by Jars?”
Cecil shook his head. “Both sides didn’t ntion it.”
Paul guessed, “It looks like the crown has tacitly allowed Jars to annex those territories.”
“Yes, both sides suffered heavy losses, and even though the royal army won, they no longer have the strength to move south.”
This was indeed an awkward victory for the crown.
“What about the Duke of Viburen in the East?”
“Like Jars, he has also renewed his fealty to the crown. But likewise, the eastern territories that remained loyal to the crown…”
They were also taken by Viburen; after all, the royal army’s main force was tied down in the South.
“It looks like the crown has essentially lost influence over the South and the East, and henceforth these two places have beco the private kingdoms of Jars and Viburen.”
This was the conclusion Paul and Cecil arrived at together.
“Uh, with the war in the South over, it’s going to be difficult to do business for industry in the Northwest.” Paul was sowhat worried.
“Lord Grayman, there is never a shortage of turmoil in this world, you can rest assured.”
Ah, had he fully taken on the role of a weapons rchant? What a sin!
…
“Your Highness! We should leave now.”
Ofina approached the princess and whispered a gentle reminder.
The two stood on the impressive battlents of Thorn Fortress, gazing out at the land stretching towards the South.
Catherine remained silent.
Was the kingdom finally going to lose control over the South?
Jars had stopped the rebellion, and initially his slogan was to replace the Kingdom of Ordo. Now, returning to the crown’s allegiance, if only from that standpoint, the suppression of the rebellion was a victory.
But it was a bitter victory.
The Southern territories comprised not only Jars and his supporters, but also a considerable number of noble families loyal to the kingdom. However, now their lands were all in the pockets of Jars and his followers.
If these lords had all been loyal to the kingdom, it would have been manageable, but after the ceasefire, Jars had politely sent them all over, leaving the problem of how to settle these nobles without land to be a big issue.
And then there was Viburen in the East…
After the final battle, Catherine wanted to grit her teeth and hold on, but the huge losses and instability in the rear finally forced her to accept the peace talks.
Crystal Shine Fortress reported a large number of goblins appearing in the forests, requiring the army to go and exterminate them. Furthermore, there were sporadic reports of pirate attacks on the west coast. The northwest fleet that went south to support the crown perford admirably, but with only a dozen or so ships, how could they protect such a long coastline?
“Sigh!”
The princess exhaled a sigh.
“Ofina, let’s go. But I swear…”
…
“Ah!”
With his eyes bloodshot, Jars let out a roar and knocked the man in front of him to the ground, then raised his greatsword to bring it down decisively.
“Please have rcy, Your Grace!”
The fallen man urgently begged for his life.
The war had ended, but the outco was far from what Jars had hoped for.
Generation after generation of his family’s accumulations, his own years of plotting, only led to being a local warlord.
He was supposed to ride a high horse through the streets of Crystal Shine Fortress to the cheers of the masses.
He was supposed to sit in the palace in Crystal Shine, receiving the congratulations of his ministers.
But now, he could only vent his fury in the dueling arena.
“Get out!” Jars stopped his hand.
“Thank you for sparing , Your Grace!” the man selected as a dueling opponent scurried away in haste.
Sweat wiped from his brow, Jars then viciously cursed those who had thwarted his ambitions.
“The damned Viburen!”
Without this ‘ally’ holding him back, the last battle should have been a clear victory.
“The damned Northwesterners!”
The northwest sea bay also made it onto the duke’s blacklist; had they not sold so much armor and weaponry to the crown, his own troops, with their powerful support, would have swept through the battlefield. And information indicated that during the war, the Northwest had also supplied a significant amount of military provisions.
“I will deal with you one by one!”
“I swear…”
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