Chapter 69 - 69 Urgent Contact
The Royal Capital of the Kingdom of Cascade was in an uproar because Steve had captured the Yellow Empire's Queen of Sword. Steve had reported all the information about the Empire he heard from Nancy to the King. Based on that information, he thoroughly crushed the intelligence network built by the Empire within the country. Among the information were names of nobles and officials who had been leaking information to the Empire; they were arrested and imprisoned, subjected to harsh interrogations, and many died during torture or committed suicide.
As a result, power struggles began targeting the vacant posts, so there was no sign of the commotion settling down at all.
In such a Royal Capital, the King and the Chancellor were face-to-face.
The King let out a large sigh.
"With this, have we mostly eliminated the worms inside the lion's body?" (T/N: Idiom for internal traitor)
"It should be said regarding the Yellow Empire."
"Well, that should be enough for now. Still, there are no medals higher than the Dragon Head Medal, so what should we do about the reward for that fellow?"
When the King said "that fellow," it referred to Steve. Capturing a high-ranking officer of the enemy army, the information obtained from him was truly worth a thousand gold, and it helped destroy the enemy's spy network. Also, having the captured high-ranking officer as an ally is a great achievement. Both the King and the Chancellor were troubled by this. The Chancellor voiced that worry.
"With Lord Archibalt joined, and the Queen of Sword also belonging to them, Lord Archibalt's military strength is undoubtedly the strongest in the country. However, since absolute manpower is lacking, expanding the territory of control will be difficult. But, my concern until now was that if Lord Sowell and Lord Macintosh were to join them, but if we grant them further land increases, that [expansion] becomes possible on their own."
"Fortunately, the fact that we captured the enemy's Queen of Sword is not public knowledge. We can give something other than land, citing the excuse that we cannot justify giving land, but we have already bestowed the highest rank medal as honor."
What the King and Chancellor were troubled about was the content of the reward for Steve. He is already the strongest in terms of military power within the country, and if we give him economic power to maintain a standing army, the risk of rebellion will increase. On the other hand, if we give nothing, it won't set an example for others. They were troubled about how to handle this balance.
"Your Majesty, it is fortunate that Lord Archibalt is training Oliver and Daphne, father and daughter, while bringing the Queen of Sword. In addition to the invention content, he is cooperative in strengthening the national army, so if we strengthen the national army now, in the future our military power will surpass theirs."
Steve had come to the Royal Capital with Nancy and was teaching Oliver and Daphne how to fight. The reason Daphne was there was to show that even a woman can become this strong. Of course, Nancy's matter was top secret, and they were secretly training at the Royal Capital's training ground where people were shut out. When the Chancellor said that, the King came up with a good idea.
"That's right, how about we allow the life of that Queen of Sword to be spared?"
"As expected of Your Majesty."
The Chancellor struck his knee at the King's plan. Nancy was currently following Steve's orders with Charm Magic, but if that magic were to be broken, she would be like a tiger out of a cage, and it was easy to imagine she would bring great calamity to the country. Furthermore, if Nancy's matter were made public, direct negotiations with the Empire would be necessary, and considering that, the conclusion was that disposing of Nancy secretly was optimal. The King once ordered Steve to dispose of Nancy after absorbing the confidential information and fighting techniques, but Steve showed reluctance to that order. For Steve, even though it was the effect of magic, he hesitated to kill an unarmed woman who had affection for him. Therefore, he petitioned to hold off on that royal order. The deadline was until the Shields' father and daughter training ended. (T/N: Likely surname for Oliver and Daphne)
Originally, if Nancy's fighting techniques were made into a work standard manual, she would be used up there, but without telling the King that the work standard manual was created, they made up the excuse that Nancy was training the two. Steve was also thinking he had to think of a way to save Nancy by that deadline. Due to these circumstances, the King made the reward for this incident the sparing of Nancy's life. With this, the Kingdom of Cascade's stomach won't be upset, and there's no chance of being hated by Steve. The bomb named Nancy will remain, though.
The fact that the Kingdom of Cascade destroyed the domestic spy network was quickly conveyed to the Yellow Empire's Eastern Military District HQ. General Garrett, the Commander of the Eastern Military District, was holding a meeting with the executives including the Ace and King of the Sword Knights Order. The participants were sitting around a round table centered on General Garrett.
"The spy network within the Kingdom of Cascade has all been exposed and crushed. At the same time, we cannot consider it a coincidence that contact with Cromwell has been lost." (T/N: Nancy's codename)
General Garrett looked around at the faces of the members participating in the meeting. Ethan Leighton, the King of Sword, whispered to Joe Kirkland, the Ace of Sword, who was in the seat next to him.
"Is there no urgent contact from Nancy?"
"No. Besides, she was given a ring with Teleportation Magic so she could escape in an emergency. It's unthinkable that Nancy would lose without being able to use that."
"But, if the deadline for Nancy to return actually passes and she doesn't return, and we can't make contact..."
"The spies sent to investigate that have also been swept away."
"Did they crack under interrogation?"
"On the contrary, that would be likely. With Nancy's magic, she can make anyone happily talk about any secret. Besides, she is a trained knight. She won't crack easily."
Ethan and Joe were worried about Nancy, their comrade. After Rowan was killed, they sent her out thinking that Nancy, who had power and magic beyond Rowan, would be fine infiltrating the Kingdom of Cascade. However, she who was like that did not return, and contact cannot be made. At the same time, the destruction of the spy network. Even without General Garrett, one could think Nancy provided information to the enemy. They wanted to confirm Nancy's situation somehow, but there were circumstances where Ethan and Joe could not go to the Kingdom of Cascade in this situation. For vigilance against rebellion in conquered territories and preparation for outside the Kingdom of Cascade, they cannot allocate more of the Sword Knights Order's main force solely to the Kingdom of Cascade.
"Should we construct a new spy network? There, let's confirm where the Queen of Sword's information and the current spy network's information leaked from."
Joe proposed that. General Garrett thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
"Even if we construct anew, it will take time. At least for a year, we cannot operate it properly."
"If we seek results in the short term, shall we invade the Kingdom of Cascade?"
"Crossing the weakened Kingdom of Forest and invading the Kingdom of Cascade is fine, but there is no guarantee that other countries will stay quiet during that time. Now that the Knight and Queen of the Sword Knights Order are gone, it is imperative to rebuild our formation first."
The Central Government, especially the Minister of Industry, criticized the Eastern Military District as weak, but General Garrett accurately grasped the current situation and did not treat his subordinates' lives carelessly with unreasonable operations. Not provoking a fight head-on, inciting the Kingdom of Pasture, or trying to have Nancy find information was an operation to avoid casualties in the midst of unprepared formation. However, Steve had greatly disrupted the plan.
"Does anyone else have an opinion?"
General Garrett asked, but no one spoke an opinion. As the Empire Army where might is justice, few held thoughts other than frontal breakthrough. Even the members present, while not doing reckless charges, held the thought that they should just crush the Kingdom of Cascade. General Garrett wanted a staff officer who could think of wisdom at times like this, but such talent was not in the Eastern Military District. Everyone was somewhat excellent, but their wisdom didn't turn outside the battlefield. There was irritation at that insufficiency. When General Garrett was about to give up thinking no one had an opinion, Joe raised his hand.
"How about for Nancy's rescue, I and the King, two people, infiltrate the Kingdom of Cascade?"
"I'd like to say it's not bad, but sending the Ace and King to the Kingdom of Cascade here makes it hard to give permission."
"In my foolish consideration, I think the cause is sending the Knight and Queen alone until now. Suppose the Dragon Head Medal was stronger than us, what would happen if they faced both of us at the same time?"
"Indeed, even if we search the entire continent, there would be no one who can win against the two Suit Knights. But we cannot use that card here and now. For the same reason war is bad. We cannot send the Ace and King to one country in the still unstable East."
With these words from General Garrett, the two gave up on infiltrating the Kingdom of Cascade. And they could only pray that Nancy would be safe somehow.
That Nancy, of course, was safe. She was now dining at the Archibalt residence.
"The Soba and Oden made by Master are delicious. I want to live like this forever with the Master I admire."
Both Soba and Oden were made by Steve, and Steve was happy praised by Nancy.
"There's still plenty left."
While saying that, Steve took daikon radish from the Oden Pot on the table onto his plate. The hot daikon radish was steaming. The pot on the table being hot was due to Steve's magic. Using Fire Magic, he was simmering it on the table with low heat. Because wood is not used, smoke does not fill the room. Thinking he couldn't use Fire Magic like a cassette stove, as a result of adjusting the power, this became possible. When Sherry also tried to take daikon radish, since the pot's broth was decreasing,
"Steve, add broth."
She requested. Steve readily accepted.
"Yes."
Answering, he used Water Magic to create broth. This was an original magic Steve invented, noticing that the water created by magic was not pure water but contained minerals. Investigating the cause of why water created by magic contained things other than H2O, it was found that the true cause was that the water mages imagined was river or well water, so from there, first imagining seawater and using magic, he succeeded in making salt water. If that's the case, next he imagined broth, and succeeded in that too. If that's the case, next he imagined soup, and was able to make soup without ingredients. However, since it consumes enormous magic power, the amount he can make in a day is very small. Although it was a dining table where other mages would see it and get furious thinking he was using magic wrong, the Archibalt family members and Nancy were dining together in harmony. Except for one person. That was Christina. Even though it was the effect of magic, Nancy coming on strongly to Steve was not interesting to her. Once, she had consulted Abigail about Nancy. Abigail also wasn't interested if Brian had such a partner, but this time it was a serious matter that would become state secrets, and Steve wasn't acting doting on Nancy, and was told Christina was the most important, so she couldn't say anything more. From Christina's perspective, Bella was originally Steve's childhood friend and wouldn't try to become more than a retainer, so she was relieved, but Nancy was not like that. She had heard Charm Magic didn't arouse sexual impulses -- Nancy said "You can't stand being looked at sexually by the person you cast magic on forever" -- but even so, she wasn't in a good mood with Nancy acting like a lover with Steve. Well, with Christina being annoyed like that, Steve brought out a special dish.
"It's ramen for the finish."
What Steve brought was ramen. Since the soup was created with Water Magic, it accurately reproduces Earth's ramen. Thinking if soup can be made, he tried making ramen soup, and this was wonderfully reproduced. However, since it requires enormous magic power, even for Steve, 10 bowls a day is the limit. For other mages, they cannot make even one bowl.
"Soy sauce, miso, salt, and each pork bone soup. Please choose what you like."
Since it's Brian, Abigail, Sherry, Christina, Nancy, and Steve, 6 people, he prepared 6 types of ramen. He also used magic power for the Oden just now, so Steve's magic power for today is almost over with this.
"Master's magic makes people happy."
While Nancy ate miso tonkotsu and said that, seeing that smile, Christina also thought if it's Steve, it can't be helped, and gave up on stopping Nancy from showing affection.