Chapter 32: Mine Development 1

At the mansion in the north of Lamer City.

Sizzling sounds were coming from the mansion of the home of the Count Monarch.

"What the? Count, you can't be doing this right at the start of the morning."

"Huhuhu, can't? What can't I do! I can do whatever I want to."

In the office, the Count Monarch was going against everyone to flirt with the new concubine that he recently brought into the mansion.

Right when he was having fun, he heard the voice of a retainer along with a knock on the door,

"Sir, I have an important matter to report!"

'Dammit, why now...?'

The count was feeling very sullen within, but the news was coming in from none other than Goth.

He sent his concubine out on a small door to the next room and fixed his clothes.

"Hum hum! Enter."

As the order came inside the entrance, the door opened and the retainer Goth entered immediately.

Goth had entered, he was currently the special advisor of the Count.

"What was the important thing you had to report? Did maybe the nobles and imperial family have fights again in the castle capital?"

300 years ago, as the new empire grew on the continent, thy became powerful imperial family.

The nobles began to feel a sense of crisis gathered little after little, they later grew into a faction called—The Nobleman.

However, the nobles were still less powerful than the Imperial nobles.

And influences could often be intensified by imperial affairs.

As a result, the nobles and the imperial families moved away from the other.

The Count Monarch, the relative of the imperial family, was forced to care for the most important region.

The southern provinces of the Empire had a high ratio of noble lords.

In addition, one of the three nobles, Marquis Mayers of the South could be banished if he ever did anything wrong.

"That isn't the matter, we have discovered the identity of the Black Knight who has made you lose the other day."

"Bla, black knight?!"

With fear in his eyes, the Count asked as he jumped up from the seat.

The bet with Reina was important enough.

Hundreds and thousands of pesos were all sown over the bet that was placed.

But then a mercenary rider stepped into the game and threw mud on their efforts.

"Who knows who that is? Was he working for one of the noblemen who sent to hinder me?"

"Not at all, actually..."

Goth laid out the information he had gathered over the past month.

The face of Count had changed strangely after hearing the information.

"The Black Knight is the servant of the Rakan's youngest?"

"Yes. During that time he had appeared in the arena along with the young lord."

"... no, that Luke guy is still alive?"

The Count asked with a face not understanding how it was possible.

He had the information that the last living person of the Rakan family had died from a brain injury because of a Gigant.

"That, that..."

Goth couldn't answer that, the Count with a very twisted expression asked,

"Why aren't you able to answer?! Did you say that the guy was going to die for sure?!"

"That was what I had thought. It was true that he had died from the run down accident."

But the guy was still alive and fine.

Just surviving from the accident wouldn't have caused anger, but he had to go over to Lamer and meddle with the Count.

"Kaaak! What are you even doing? If you'd have sent him right in the first place, he wouldn't have worked with the princess and gotten closer to her!"

Two months ago, the Count had plotted to remove the young lord to devour the Rakan estates.

Buying off one of the field chiefs, they decided to kill off the young lord by altering the core engine of the Gigant.

But the plan had failed.

As angry Count kept ranting, Goth kneeled on the floor.

"I'm very sorry, Count! I'll kill this incompetent person!"

He wasn't actually asking for death. Whenever the Count had lost his temper, it was best for the servants to do that.

Wah! Phuk!

The Count Monarch, who had been very angry for quite some time, barely managed to calm down and said,

"Hwo! Hwoo! You haven't left any evidence or clues, right?"

Goth who was standing up moved back and answered,

"I drew out the chief to another territory and cleaned him off. No matter how hard they investigate, they won't be able to find out what we tried to do."

"Well, that is better."

If it was known that this person's hand had been in the attempt, the matter could turn annoying at any moment.

It wasn't that he was afraid of Rakan's bloodline.

If they were caught by Marquis Mayers and the other lords of the South, things could turn bad.

Although he was the second-largest nobleman in the South, he wouldn't be able to handle it if a war waged in the entire South.

"Keuk! I don't understand why the Emperor still plans to keep silent on the matter of the nobles. I would have mobilized an army and wiped them off."

'Well, then the Volga Republic and the Holy Artenia Empire wouldn't stay still.'

It was often the case when one wants to hit an inside enemy, they end up attracting outside enemies.

Emperor Rudolf was unable to wipe off the other nobles because of that.

However, Goth decided not to speak his words in that situation. If he did that in front of the Count Monarch, he could only see the damage.

In any case, one of the most important reasons for Count Monarch to covet Rakan was because it recently emerged as a breakthrough to breach off the siege of the Southern nobles.

As new roads opened on the western side of the empire, it was possible to connect the Rakan islands to the southwest with a little effort.

Of course, the villages of Rakan estates which were built in those places didn't know of that at all.

"Even if it is a hassle, you'll have to deal with the Luke guy."

"Not the exact manner, we will move the shadow knights in a few days and bring his neck."

"Shadow Knights?"

"Yes, I thought that the guy who had challenged the authority of the Count needs to be done this time."

"Kukkk, you surely are Goth. You did well, you did well."

The Shadow Knights were one of the secret powers of Count Monarch, a military force or mercenaries and freelancing knights enlisted though the Gigant arena.

They mainly took care of the messy work for the Count, and the skills and arts of these people regarding the Gigants have surpassed those of the Knights.

Count Monarch, nodded with a satisfied face and asked something that was on his mind,

"How is princess Reina these days?"

He was still obsessed with the princess.

He was still thinking of ways to pressure her and make her as his own.

He started with raising the taxes for the people who came in from the Volga kingdom, if they did something uncomfortable or showed unpleasant behavior, the police soldiers will grab them.

As a result, the old servants who worked with the princess came to protest numerous times. But the Count Monarch didn't meet them.

"She is meeting people here and there, but she'll soon run out of options."

"Right! In the end, she will yield and embrace me."

Both Goth and the Count who were feeling irritable began to smile thinking about the princess running into their arms.