History of the Greatest Territory Design - Episode 336
336fury. Shortcut to hegemony (2)
“I will build a project that will give the Magentano royal family a thousand years of continental hegemony..”
“hmm?”
Kwaang-!
Wooden swords and shovel heads clash again.
Shock waves and noise rushing in all directions.
And each other's sweat drops blowing and scattering.
King Alicia raised an eyebrow amid the stormy air currents..
I looked straight at Lloyd, who was fighting this wooden sword with a shovel..
“Just now, you must have boasted that you would give overwhelming benefits to Jim and the royal family.?”
“Yes, I did..”
“A benefit so great that it could be considered the reward for being granted summer eyes..”
“Yes, it certainly will be so..”
“But it's strange.”
“yes?”
Lloyd tilted his head..
A fierce smile appeared at the corner of Alicia's lips..
“The benefit of gaining a thousand years of continental hegemony. Jim didn't know. I wouldn't have guessed that your knowledge of bragging was so great and deep..”
“Oh, that's not a bluff…….”
nettle-!
In an instant, King Alicia’s swordsmanship changed..
If the previous focus was on countless rapid-fire attacks,.
Now, the style has quickly changed to one where one heavy blow is struck and plunged in..
Lloyd, who was trying to answer the king's questions, was unable to respond flexibly to the change..
“……gagging!”
Tookkuk!
A heavy strike that strikes at once like a giant's axe strike..
I haphazardly lifted the shovel and blocked it..
At that moment, my eyes turned pitch black..
Like a film cut out.
Although it was only about 1 second.
My vision went completely black..
Of course, my stomach turned..
‘Wow, ugh!’
Is this what it would feel like to get hit in the solar plexus about 100 times with a hammer?.
My knees creaked and folded halfway on their own..
My back was also hunched over..
But there was no time to just sit back and laugh..
“If I stay blank like that, my head will get smashed.?”
“……!”
Wow!-!
The second strike was coming.
‘It's too late to stop it!’
The moment I felt it.
Lloyd leaned his bowed body forward..
He fell down and performed a forward roll..
Thanks to this, I was able to avoid the king's second strike by a narrow margin..
Toukwaang-!
Even before I finish rolling forward, a bloody ground cry is heard right behind me..
A pit created by a single blow from the king.
Lloyd spoke quickly, feeling cold sweat welling up on the back of his neck like an oil field in Block 7 exploded..
“I'm not bluffing..”
But the king's offensive did not stop..
The wooden sword that hit the ground was swept up and swung sideways..
Whoaaaahhh!
“……!”
If hit, at least the left rib is completely destroyed..
Lloyd, who sensed this, said while trying to get out of the range of the attack..
“You can do this by opening a trade route in the Pantara Mountains..”
“what?”
Whoop!
The king's wooden sword stopped 2 cm in front of the left rib..
Soon her head tilted to one side.
“What nonsense is that??”
“This is not nonsense. It's not even a bluff. I am truly speaking to you with all seriousness, Your Majesty..”
“okay?”
“yes.”
“really?”
“yep.”
“Well then, shall we keep competing till the blood boils?.”
King Alicia chuckled..
Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced towards the other side of the training ground..
The meaning was clear.
The royal guard that I sent back far away is over there..
By any chance, they might be able to hear this conversation with their bright hearing..
The idea was to keep bumping into each other and making loud noises while talking..
Lloyd caught that and laughed hard..
“Seo, Seong-eun is devastated..”
Will I be able to walk away from here safely after we talk?.
I grabbed the shovel handle with all my might..
and didn't wait.
Rather, he pounced on me..
‘If you give up the initiative, they will keep flocking to you.!’
The King's sister is clearly stronger than this one..
Even if you use a shabby mentality, it's the same..
So, when competing with such a strong person,?
We must maintain the offensive as much as possible..
That way, we can keep breathing here a little bit..
With that fact in mind, Lloyd turned his shovel head around..
A sharp stab was mixed into the clumsy movements..
“under?”
A look of joy appeared in the king's eyes..
Her wooden sword easily took this shovel head stab..
Kakang! Kang! Kakakang! Kakakakakang-!
I opened the door to the story I wanted to tell amidst the noise..
“First of all, I would like to ask your Majesty one thing. The Pantara Mountains rise high in the southwestern part of our kingdom. Are you familiar with the length or scale??”
“So cruelly. Do you dare test me??”
“Yes, I am sorry.…….”
“The Pantara Mountains are about 690 kilometers long. The highest peak is Mount Pantara in the center, with a height of approximately 5,700 meters. The approximate shape of the mountain range starts from the southeast and extends diagonally toward the northwest. Is this enough??”
“Excellent work, Your Majesty. However, there must be something more unusual that you left out..”
“Oh, you mean that unusual mountain slope?.”
“That's right.”
“Should Jim even mention that??”
“It's not like you don't know, but I get it..”
“……Compared to its distant height and length, the width of the mountain range is extremely narrow. It's only a few tens of kilometers. As if a tall partition had been erected. So, because of its high peaks and narrow width, it is also the steepest mountain range in the world..”
“Yes, you are excellent, Your Majesty. For this reason, the Pantara Mountains are also called ‘the blade set by God’..”
Still breathlessly stabbing at the shovel.
Even while the offensive was completely blocked by the king,.
Lloyd grinned..
Everything I just said to the King was true..
The Pantara Mountains were the most rugged and terrible mountain range on the Laurasia continent..
The highest peak is a whopping 5,700 meters high..
The average height of the entire mountain range is approximately 4,200 meters..
However, the width of the mountain range was only tens of kilometers..
Thanks to that, it was incredibly steep..
It wasn't just steep..
If you leave the blade on the ground, wouldn't it look like that?.
It was a series of cliffs and cliffs that were so rough that it made me think that way..
It looked like a knife or a potato chip had been stuck upright in the ground..
or…….
‘I just put up a folding screen, a folding screen..’
Of course, it was not a naturally formed mountain range..
Originally, it was said that in the distant past, it was quite normal..
But was it about a hundred years ago?.
It is said that the demonic dragon Kaisertooth, who had turned the world into a fiery pit at the time, carved and shattered the mountain range, creating such a strange appearance..
‘……It was mentioned in the Iron Blood article. The demon dragon was later destroyed by the Dragon King Berkis..’
Lloyd, who was thinking about the secret story(?) of the birth of such a mountain range, organized his thoughts..
The big picture you drew.
I said it with that in mind..
“In any case, the unique shape and extreme slope of the Pantara Mountains have caused great inconvenience to our kingdom's trade in the southwestern part of the country.?”
“That's right.”
King Alicia nodded..
What Lloyd said was true..
“Because the mountains are too rough. Therefore, only a very small number of hunters, explorers, or hardened native traders risk their lives..”
“Yes, I'll buy it back. Unless you are an indigenous person who is familiar with the geography of the mountain range, it is a mountain range that only a veteran explorer can barely cross. Because of this, the current situation is that it is impossible to even dream of large-scale movement of goods through the top..”
“But they said they would open a trade route there.?”
“Yes, Your Highness. If successful, there will indeed be enormous benefits..”
Lloyd's voice became softer..
Still continuing the dazzling battle with King Kanka Cankang..
In the meantime, I continued talking while trying hard to control my breathing..
“Think about it, Your Majesty. Isn't direct trade currently impossible in the southwestern part of the kingdom? The fourth dimension that cannot be overcome... … No, it's because of the Pantara Mountains..”
“yes. Because trade only exists through the southeast or northwest of the long mountain range..”
“That's right, Your Majesty. Not only is the length of the trade route needlessly extended by more than a thousand kilometers, but the unfortunate situation is that you have to pass through two kingdoms on the detour to advance to the southwest beyond the mountains. In the process, we have to waste a huge amount of customs duties and logistics costs..”
“All that waste and spending will be completely resolved.?”
“Of course, your highness..”
Now, it is beyond the mountain range that can be reached by going around the mountain range for nearly a thousand kilometers..
If you open a passage to get there?
However, if the length of the passage is only about 100 kilometers,?
If you don't have to go through another kingdom?
If a direct(?) trade route is opened like that,?
There will be tremendous benefits..
‘It will have an economic effect almost similar to the opening of the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal..’
Lloyd recalled similar cases on Earth..
Although it's a little different because it's the sea.
The Suez Canal eliminated the need for ships to circle the Cape of Good Hope in Africa when traveling between Europe and Asia..
Reduced travel distances by nearly thousands of kilometers.
The same was true for the Panama Canal in the Americas..
Thanks to the Panama Canal, located between North and South America, direct travel between the Pacific and the Atlantic became possible..
Its economic effect is?
Needless to say, it was enormous..
Same here too.
‘Direct trade becomes possible with countries in the southwestern region beyond the mountain range. In the aftermath, the distribution of various resources, agricultural products, and processed products will increase explosively. The entire industry and commerce will be experiencing a boom. Moreover, since the entire trade route through the mountain range will be completely managed by the Magentano royal family, there will be customs benefits as well..’
It is even advantageous militarily..
It is possible to advance militarily into the southwestern region whenever one wishes..
‘The Magentano royal family is already slowly rising to the position of hegemony on the continent. If we can get through that trade, it would be like giving a tiger wings. If you think of it as a snack craft, it means eating 5 multi-dishes from the start. In a League of Legends game, it's like eating Baron 3 times in a row. In terms of parenting, the child has an IQ of 200 from birth, has no minor illnesses, does not cry at night, and sleeps for 8 hours at a time. how cool.’
It was a thrilling effect just thinking about it..
If that trade route is really opened,?
Depending on how it is managed and utilized, the Magentano royal family will be able to solidify its position as a hegemon for about a thousand years..
‘So, if you're the king's sister, you can't refuse this. never.’
Lloyd was confident.
No matter how you look at it, this is unconditionally beneficial to the royal family..
This is true even when compared side by side with the royal family's new item, Summer Eyes..
‘Even if it's a new item, it's just put in a warehouse and left to rot. But what about trade routes? Once opened, it can be used for hundreds of years until the sweet water runs out..’
That was his calculation..
From the first time I drew up this big picture.
This was the most important thing to keep in mind..
‘And if you were the king, you would probably express your concern at this point..’
Busily moving the shovel.
Trying not to get hit by a wooden sword.
Lloyd glanced at the king..
At that moment, the king looked towards us and frowned slightly..
“Lloyd Frontera. My loyal subject. Your arguments and suggestions are certainly fascinating. But there are two things that bother me..”
“What's the point... … Ugh! Are you coming??”
bang! Go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go!
A wooden sword and shovel move violently, scattering shock waves and flames in all directions..
Meanwhile, the king's voice of concern was mixed in..
“First concern. Because of the revelation that the angel came down today, the House of Nobles will be divided into two in the future. Are you taking that into account??”
“Of course, your highness..”
“really?”
“yes.”
Lloyd nodded vigorously..
Build confidence and state your expectations.
“This is an unprecedented situation in which an angel came down and made a revelation. The House of Lords will be divided. There are those in favor of following revelation and those against it that say it should not be followed..”
“I guess so..”
“Yes, Your Highness. Those in favor will argue that I should be given summer eyes according to heaven's revelation. It would be a bonus to accuse the opposition of trying to commit blasphemy..”
“that's right. The opposition will argue that no matter how much of a revelation it may be, it is excessive to bestow the royal family's treasures on you, a mere subject. Accusing the supporters of being traitors to the country.”
“Yes, that will happen. So, Your Majesty, aren’t you worried about me??”
“……Did you even notice that??”
“Yep, Your Highness.”
Of course.
I noticed it early.
“Your Majesty will be in an awkward position because of the division in public opinion. This is because both the proponents and the opponents will each have the right cause. Therefore, it will be difficult for you to give up one side willingly..”
“Probably so. But doesn’t this mean that you will bear the burden and responsibility of that choice?.”
“I'll buy it for you.”
right.
That's what I'm proposing..
“Take me to the test, Your Majesty..”
“test?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Please order me to build a direct trade route to the Pantara Mountains. And grant qualifications depending on the success or failure of the construction..”
“……No way, the qualification is the qualification to get summer eyes?”
“So it is, Your Majesty..”
Lloyd said in a more subdued voice..
“If you do this, both those in favor of following revelation and those opposed to it will agree to the result. Whether I receive the eyes of summer or not will depend solely on the success or failure of my project..”
“In addition, I will ease the political burden of your choice.?”
“Since you know that much, I can only appreciate it..”
“under.”
The king burst out laughing..
The more I looked at it, the more it was truly a clever suggestion and tactic..
In addition, it was clearly visible how hard Lloyd tried to keep his head down..
“If the construction is successful, a trade route with a value comparable to that of the sacred object will be secured, and the royal family will benefit greatly, so the opposing faction will agree. Even if the construction fails, the supporters will agree, as it will have been proven that you are not worthy of receiving the sacred object. That's what I'm saying.”
“That's right, Your Majesty..”
kacang!
Lloyd answered, kicking away the stabbing wooden sword..
I thought as I counterattacked with a sharp stab..
‘If you are the king, you will accept this offer. From the king's point of view, this is a complete flower viewing party..’
As a king, you have nothing to lose..
If this project succeeds?
Instead of receiving the Eyes of Summer, you will receive a huge trade route..
If this project fails?
You won't get the trade route, but you won't lose the eyes of summer either..
Either way, there is no loss..
Moreover, this side took the stance of opening up important information to emphasize that point..
‘So, earlier, I casually revealed that I did not lose the Heart of Winter, but gained it. Because she is the king's sister who is at the peak level of political secrets and has a good sense of humor. I think I can guess that much by now. But I thought that if I made up another excuse to hide it, I would lose trust..’
So naturally I said I got the heart of winter..
The Heart of Winter is threatening his life with side effects..
frankly stated.
The result is?
‘It wasn't bad.’
The King’s sister naturally accepted this secret confession(?).
As expected, he must have had some idea of how this side would acquire the Winter Heart..
‘So, Sister King, this is enough for you to understand my intentions..’
Lloyd was quite confident..
But was this party’s intention too obvious?.
Suddenly, King Alicia smiled meaningfully..
“under. Ridiculously.”
Kagagak!
The shovel that was stabbing got stuck..
Before I knew it, the king's wooden sword had entangled the handle of my shovel..
One hand reached out.
I grabbed this guy by the neck..
Teotuk!
“……!”
A tremendous grip tightened around my neck..
The king's smile became bloodthirsty..
“Are you now trying to tempt me with an offer that will not cause any harm to either side??”
“……Cough! I got caught, do you buy it??”
“of course.”
The king's cruel smile turned into a bitter, bitter smile..
“But still, I fully understand that your proposal is attractive. So I would like to ask about my second concern..”
“Please ask..”
“of course. You may have seemed like fools to me and the royal family, but the Magentano royal family has already attempted several times to build a trade route through the Pantara Mountains..”
“I know it well..”
“I know?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“If you do that, you also know that all those projects failed..”
“Of course, your highness..”
“But with what confidence do you dare to be sure of the success of this project??”
“I can see a way to succeed..”
“method?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“to tell.”
The king's eyes flashed coolly..
It was a look that seemed to see through the truth of this place..
But Lloyd wasn't intimidated..
“Yes, Your Highness. The secret to success in this project that I suggested is-”
Rather, it seems as if he was waiting for the king's reaction and question..
Like a first-time college entrance exam instructor, he came up with the correct answer he had in mind..
“Narrow gauge railway, loop track and switchback system..”
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