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Charles’s entrance had turned the tide in a flash. Joshua finally came forward with a faint smile dancing on his lips.
“I’ve listened to all your concerns,” Joshua said.
The nobles, who had been tiptoeing around, flinched. Although they had been trying hard to ignore Joshua, his presence wasn’t something that could be ignored once he stepped up.
“The clock is ticking right now, so I think it’s meaningless to continue this meeting. What do you all think?” Joshua bluntly asked.
The nobles bursted into anger.
“How rude…!”
“Their Highnesses are present right now—how can he be that insolent?!”
“He thinks he can have it all because he’s skilled. Gosh, what will happen to this country…”
“Well, he’s the man who threatened to destroy us if we didn’t gather up immediately,” Marquess Broy sarcastically quipped, as he usually did.
His remark came just as the nobles were about to quiet down. Naturally, the mood in the chamber turned cold—much colder than before. Some nobles were even outright hostile, so if Joshua kept pressing, something bad was bound to happen…
“Then do as you wish,” Joshua said with chilly eyes.
“…What?” Broy asked.
To begin with, Joshua wasn’t the kind of person to care about their opinions.
“Drown with the sinking ship or live happily ever after in hell together. I’ll no longer involve myself in the Avalon Empire’s affairs.”
“What…?” Broy frowned. “You said you want the throne…!”
“This empire is doomed, so I see no reason to have lingering feelings about it.” Joshua stood up without hesitation.
The chamber turned silent. The nobles couldn’t say anything since they didn’t know what Joshua was thinking.
“Hmmm…”
Everyone in the chamber was instantly frozen stiff. It was obvious what was going to happen once Joshua left.
“Gosh, so why did you have to get on his nerves…?”
Just then, someone quietly criticized Broy.
“Come on, apologize.”
“Right! We’re in desperate need of his help.”
“Marquess Broy!”
Even Broy was forced to tiptoe around Joshua. In the end, Broy surrendered.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” Joshua repeated.
“I… apologize…” Broy slowly said.[1]
“We got sidetracked for a moment.” Joshua finally loosened up and looked away from Broy with a deep smile. “I agree with one thing: no one respects the Imperial Family’s authority nor do they trust each other right now. So although I’m not sure who in the world is going to be the commander-in-chief, what would happen when the soldiers are asked to follow the commander-in-chief’s order? Just like you said, Marquess Broy, the soldiers won’t be able to focus on the battle because they’ll be too busy looking over their shoulders.”
Joshua turned his head to look at the top seats.
“What do you think, princes?
“Th-that’s…” Kaizen was blindsided; he hadn’t expected to suddenly become the center of attention. Deep in his heart, he already subconsciously feared Joshua. But, in contrast to him…
“…Then are you telling me that you’re not going to follow the commander-in-chief’s order?” Kiser coldly asked. “It’s the basics of the basics in military strategy books. An army is an organism, so an army made up of discordant units is just sheep without a shepherd. That kind of army always loses in war. What you’re suggesting is dividing up the command system even before we go into the war. No matter how hard I try to think of this in a positive light, I can’t.”
Joshua just chuckled.
“Then do you have any other solution, prince?”
“…What?” Kiser narrowed his eyes.
“If you’re capable of finding an exceptional commander-in-chief that also satisfies everyone’s requirements, then we don’t even need to have this discussion, do we?” Joshua shrugged.
Kiser immediately shut his mouth because Joshua was right. This meeting was taking place precisely because he couldn’t find one, which was why, at least this time, the nobles were agreeing with Joshua.
“It’s actually… not bad,” one of the nobles mused.
“At least we won’t have to worry about getting backstabbed…”
“We’ll be able to pay all our attention to fighting against the enemies.”
Charles of the Pontier Family had unexpectedly shown the nobles her family’s power, so they were baffled for a moment. However, that was it. After all, the Pontier Family was their ally who was going to fight with them, not their enemy who was going to point a sword at the nobles inside the chamber right now.
On top of that, the method of each noble family choosing their own commanding officer for their private army was quite a good way to protect their army. Since the nobles were able to choose someone from their own family to be the commanding officer, the officers were guaranteed trustworthy. In the end, Kiser could only grit his teeth as he was forced into silence. Kiser had lost completely before none other than his unrequited love.
“…Then I believe we’ve come to a decision.”
Joshua immediately turned away; he had nothing more to say to them.
Although it was rude to do so in front of the princes, no one stopped Joshua because he had left a striking impression on them. After that meeting, the name “Joshua Sanders” was imprinted even in the provincial nobles’ heads.
Joshua quietly walked across the silent chamber, and the woman with scarlet eyes quickly followed him.
* * *
Right outside the palace, Joshua was walking and Cain was quietly following him.
“Wait!”
When they heard someone calling for them, they came to a halt.
“Lady Charles…?” Cain blankly mumbled. He quickly straightened his clothes as the stunningly beautiful woman with cat-like eyes walked towards them. The woman had fully blossomed over just a year like a rose in all its glory.
“Wait, is it because of me…?” Cain gaped in disbelief.
“Huff, huff.” When Charles reached them, she stopped and panted for a very long time. Then she raised her head. “You are so mean!”
Cain felt his heart sink because the beautiful woman in front of him was disappointed, but why? Fortunately, he didn’t have to ponder for a long time.
“I’m sorry, Lady Charles! I didn’t know you’d thought of me that way—!”
“Joshua, you’re still too apathetic. How can you do that?” Charles complained.
Cain instantly became the disappointed one. Meanwhile, Joshua awkwardly smiled.
“Thank you for earlier,” he said.
“Is this how a grateful man acts?” Charles demanded, glaring playfully at him.
“I’m always like this.” Joshua shrugged.
“What are you talking about? You should have at least said ‘hi’.” Charles pouted.
“Well, you were there. I couldn’t really say hi there…”
“Forget it, I’m expecting too much from you.” Charles sighed and looked into Joshua’s eyes. “It’s good.”
Joshua tilted his head in confusion.
“It’s good to see you alive.” Charles smiled lightly.
Joshua chuckled. “Did you wish something would happen to me?”
“Oh, no, why would you think that?” Charles dramatically answered, giggling.
“Because of the many things I’ve done,” he replied with a shrug.
Charles looked down at his feet and smiled.
“It’s really good that you do know that. I’m serious. Of course, when I think about the things that have happened up to now, I want to break something…”
Cold sweats ran down Joshua’s back.
“Since we have a lot of matters to take care of, I’ll let it slide this time, but I won’t do it again,” Charles said.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Joshua elegantly smiled like nothing had happened.
Charles then looked timidly down at the ground as if she hadn’t just threatened Joshua.
“…I’m doing this for you because we’re friends.”
Her voice was inaudibly quiet, but it wasn’t faint enough for Joshua to miss it.
Cain watched her blush so hard that it turned her neck red.
“I miss you, Icarus…” he pouted.
“B-by the way!” Charles quickly changed the topic. “Mr. Akshuller is waiting for you, so come with me right now.”
“You mean…” Joshua trailed off.
“The number of soldiers that the Pontier Family can deploy is the same as what you’ve heard in the chamber, and you need to lead them. But it’s assumed that the enemy army consists of at least two thousand thousand soldiers… I’m sorry. I should have tried harder…”
Joshua shook his head. “The only noble family on the continent that can mobilize seventy thousand soldiers would be the Pontier Family.”
“Well, fifty thousand of them are the mercenaries that are loyal to Mr. Akshuller.” Charles shrugged.
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“Is someone else paying for the mercenaries?” Joshua asked.
Charles finally smiled. “It’s good if you think of it that way. I’m glad that at least time is on our side. It’s said that the attacking force needs at least double the numbers of the defending force, so if we hold for as long as possible…”
“No,” Joshua interrupted before Charles could finish, “time is not on our side.”
“Pardon?” Charles asked.
“The man I saw in the Swallow Empire was very dangerous.” Joshua’s eyes turned sharp.
“Are you talking about Grand Duke Lucifer?” Charles cautiously asked.
Joshua’s silence was as good as agreeing. Charles’s expression turned grim.
“Over the past century, Einberg has been the impregnable fortress that protected us from countless enemy countries’ attacks. In addition to that, the man protecting the fortress is Count Theord, one of the few A-Class knights in the Empire.”
“I also know Count Theord very well, master,” Cain interjected. “In the previous generation of knights, he was considered to be as talented as Marquess Arie, but he’s more known for his leadership, rather than his sword skills. The story about how he defeated a grand army of a hundred thousand soldiers with only twenty thousand soldiers is still famous around the Empire.”
“On top of that, he’s neutral, so he didn’t join any sides. He’s famous for saying that he’s not interested in politics because his duty is protecting the border,” Charles added.
“There is a rumor that Prince Kiser, the first in line to the throne, offered to promote Count Theord to a marquess several years ago, but Count Theord insisted on staying near the eastern battlefront in spite of the fact that it’s known as a place for exiling nobles,” Cain explained.
“Anyhow, while Count Theord has been the commander of Einberg, the place… has never been conquered.” Charles shrugged.
Despite Cain and Charles’s description, Joshua’s expression was still grim.
“What happens after Einberg falls?” he asked.
Was he considering the worst possible scenario? Charles had to think for a moment.
“The Avalon Empire knows the importance of Einberg,” she answered, “so the Empire has mobilized most of the army to Einberg. So if your worst scenario comes true…”
Charles trailed off for a moment and her face darkened. “The entire eastern battlefront is going to collapse immediately, so the best way to win would be to defend Einberg…”
However, she couldn’t finish speaking.
“Captain!” someone else loudly shouted. He practically flew over to Charles, Cain, and Joshua with how fast he was going.
“…Cazes?” Joshua blankly murmured upon realizing who it was.
“Th-there’s a problem!” Cazes yelled.
Joshua tilted his head in confusion at Cazes as he slammed to a halt next to them.
“What is the problem?”
“A message has arrived from Einberg just now!” Cazes desperately reported.
The other three nodded. They had a rough idea of what the message contained.
“That would be…?” Cain trailed off.
“Einberg… has just fallen to the Swallow Empire’s attack!” Cazes continued.
The three’s eyes simultaneously widened.
“What…?”
“Instead of attacking the Swallow Empire… Einberg has fallen?” Cain couldn’t hide how shocked he was.
It had been less than a day since they received the message that Einberg was under attack.
1. Broy had apologized in an informal manner 미안하오, so Joshua repeats it—drawing attention and questioning the informality. ☜