Chapter 37: Crescent Empire |
“Did Kyle make any arrangements before entering dormancy?” Patriarch Rayleigh·Aiven turned his gaze toward Alvaro.
“My lord…”
Alvaro gave a detailed report, item by item, on Kyle’s discovery of an unknown secret realm appearing along the Greenfield Trade Route, the follow-up arrangements for the power conflicts in Coral Thorn City, and the various items that needed to be bid on at the large auction this October, especially the most important matter of the Flood Dragon blood.
The only thing he concealed was the information related to the paladin O’Brien.
Alvaro’s report gave the elders a kind of absurd feeling they had never experienced before.
For the first time, they felt that the world was actually so ‘lively’? As if there were endless amounts of ‘work’ waiting to be done?
This feeling was extremely unfamiliar and uncomfortable to elders like them, who were used to spending their days at leisure.
“Wasn’t it said… that he understood how to proceed step by step? Why does it feel like he became even worse than when he was in the family?”
Great Elder Alec looked at Patriarch Rayleigh, his eyes full of confusion.
Did he not find it tiring?
Kyle truly did not find it tiring. It was not because he was used to being a workhorse, but because his desire to explore was extraordinarily strong!
To be reborn in such a magnificent and fantastical world, one filled with endless unknowns, and to possess such outstanding talent and starting point— in his eyes, every day in this world was like a freshly unfurled scroll, waiting for him to lift veil after veil of mystery.
Only by leaving his own footprints in such a grand and turbulent world could he avoid wasting this chance to begin again!
What he wanted most right now was to be like the Great Sage and leave behind the glorious mark “Kyle·Aiven was here” at the very end of this world!
“Ah!”
Patriarch Rayleigh let out a heavy sigh, and weariness seemed to surge over him all at once. He did not want overtime work…
“Which of you will help that brat clean up this mess? And should we get involved in that secret realm?”
“I’ll go,” Elder Irlton said.
“The transformation ritual for that boy’s newly accepted subordinate still hasn’t been completed, and someone is needed to preside over it. I should be the most suitable one.”
“As for the secret realm… let Kyle deal with it himself after he wakes up. No one knows what it is really like inside. Even if we went, we might not be able to uncover any useful information.” Great Elder Alec shook his head, not optimistic about exploring the secret realm.
“Then it’s settled. Everyone, go take care of your own matters.”
Once he finished speaking, Patriarch Rayleigh vanished from the hall. The other elders also left one after another in complete silence.
In the blink of an eye, only Elder Irlton and Alvaro remained in the empty hall.
“Let’s set out as well, Alvaro.”
“Yes, Elder Irlton.”
Alvaro expanded his domain, put away the ‘metal cocoon,’ and took Elder Irlton away through the air.
*
Mills now had a splitting headache. He did not know whether he should regret it, or not regret it.
He had probably caused a huge disaster, the sort that tore a hole in the sky. But at the same time, he seemed to have accidentally pushed Kyle’s plan forward and done something good.
Looking at the letters on the table from the highest persons in charge of several major forces, he did not know whether to cry or laugh.
What made him feel the worst was that he had not received a letter from Kyle, and that left him so uneasy that he could neither sit nor stand still.
Kyle was his greatest backing in Coral Thorn City. Without Kyle, he was just a nobody whom no one cared about, at most with the added labels of ‘rich’ and ‘troublesome.’
Just as Mills was sitting in restless anxiety—
“Thud!”
A muffled sound rang out!
A cold magic crystal struck his shiny forehead with perfect accuracy!
“Hiss!”
Mills cried out in pain. Ignoring the swelling bump that instantly rose on his head, he almost lunged forward, grabbed the crystal in one hand, and impatiently checked the information inside it.
After learning that he was to advance all the funds for every item to be bid on at the October auction, Mills finally let out a sigh of relief, collapsing back into his wide velvet chair like a deflated balloon.
Then he could not help bursting into wild laughter.
“Hahaha… hahaha…”
Hearing Mills erupt into laughter yet again, the secretary outside the door could not help shaking his head in worry.
‘It’s over, the boss might really have gone mad!’ the secretary lamented inwardly.
This superior of his had recently been suffering from extreme mood swings, gloomy and depressed one moment, wildly excited and laughing the next. He would have to be even more careful in the future.
After all, a superior with extremely unstable emotions was far too likely to drag others into it.
*
Crescent Empire, Aurelia Imperial Capital, inside the imperial palace.
“Your Majesty, this is the latest urgent secret report sent back from Coral Thorn City.”
A sharp-featured middle-aged official stood bowed before the desk, holding in both hands a letter box sealed with complex magical ciphers.
Behind the desk, Elius·Field VII, Emperor of the Crescent Empire, who was busy reviewing official documents, stopped the feather pen in his hand when he heard this and raised his eyes toward the middle-aged official with a somewhat tired look.
The Chief Steward of the Court standing at the side immediately stepped forward without a sound and took the letter box.
Magic power flowed through both his hands as he skillfully undid the seals on the box, revealing the specially made magic crystal inside.
The steward respectfully placed the magic crystal in front of the Emperor, then stepped back to the side as though he had never moved at all.
Elius picked up the crystal and poured his spiritual power into it, checking the important information within its multiple layers of encryption.
A long while later, Elius set the crystal back down on the desk. No emotion could be seen on his face, but inwardly he was anything but calm.
‘Legendary creature… spatial domain… suspected connection to the vampire ‘information broker’… expelling the Shadow Guild… taking over its enormous assets…’
The flood of information battered his already exhausted mind. Maintaining the stable operation of a vast empire required handling simply too many affairs.
So many, in fact, that a large part of the territory was under the autonomous control of nobles and local forces.
All he could do was ensure that those forces did not completely break away from the Empire’s central rule.
But how difficult was that!
The Empire occupied nearly one-fifth of the landmass of the Kaluo Continent. It was the greatest empire on this continent, with a territory of fully eighty million square kilometers and a population in the billions.
The Empire’s high-end combat power could only be stationed in a few of the most important strategic locations.
For a city like Coral Thorn City, one located on the fringes yet still considered a top-tier metropolis even within the Empire, the Empire simply lacked the strength to station sufficiently powerful combat forces there as well.
Most importantly, cities like Coral Thorn City had originally been established and developed independently by scattered powerful individuals.
At most, the Empire could only maintain superficial jurisdiction through taxation and nominal rule.
If the Empire forcibly took over, it would inevitably provoke the dissatisfaction of a large number of powerful individuals. Even if the Empire had sufficient military force to suppress them, it would still inevitably lose popular support, drive talent away, and might even trigger a chain reaction.
‘Ah… why does Coral Thorn City have so many problems? I only just received the preliminary investigation results from the Greenfield Trade Route, and now I’ve received news of internal chaos in Coral Thorn City as well. Fortunately, it isn’t all bad news…’
As for the possible reaction after taking over the Shadow Guild’s enormous assets? Elius did not care about that at all.
Expecting a group of people who lived in the shadows to stand up for the dead, and against a behemoth like the Empire?
That was nothing but a joke.