Chapter 155
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At the Palace in Imperial Capital,
One of the spies reported to King Lionheart about the latest developments as he gave a written report, "Milord, Count John has successfully delivered the machines and blueprints of the Ballistae . This time it was overseen by Lord Luke himself . Here are the blueprints which I bought personally from the northern domain . The machines are working well according to Ambassador Luke's testing . "
King Lionheart immediately caught the blueprints and read the report, "Hahaha, Good, at last, we can start our plans without worrying about anything . "
The spy spoke with some hesitation, "However there is a problem . "
King furrowed his brows as he asked, "What's the problem?"
Spy laid out the problems, "That Count is asking for our political protection for quite some time . This time again his butler insisted on political protection before handing over the blueprints . "
King Lionheart rugged it off and ordered, "Let Luke handle it and delay it as much as possible . This Count seems really persistent . I am sure he is desperate . What a fool . He is only a businessman, he doesn't know how politics works . "
The Spy sighed as he heard him and noted it down .
King Lionheart ordered after reading the report, "Order all of our military factories to start the production of these ballistae according to the blueprints . At last with these weapons, we can solve the problems of those aggressive Dwarves which are lingering in eastern waters for a long time . Master Eanred, what do you think?"
Eanred stroked his white beard as he spoke, "I still feel that count is hiding something . This ominous feeling just doesn't go away . However, the addition of these weapons is a welcome thing as it will be helpful against the dwarves as well as the demons in the west . "
King Lionheart ordered, "Bring our best craftsmen to oversee the production of weapons . These weapons are really revolutionizing . I guess Fjord will be facing a tough time right now against these weapons . "
Suddenly One of Ambassador Luke's subordinate barged in and gave him a detailed report on the battle which took place just now .
The subordinate gave the letter to the king, "Milord, there is an emergency letter addressed for you . "
King Lionheart handed over the letter to Plato, "Plato, what do you think? What are your opinions on this battle?"
Plato rubbed his beard and gave a thorough understanding, "A very good ambush with another ambush is what I can feel . I guess, Count John knew about Fjord's raid and hence he laid out a bait for Fjord's men . The very fact that Blake arrived at the last moment was so that they can cause as many casualties as possible to their Fleet . This is also aided by the fact that even Eric didn't know about the raid hence the better results . This count is quite thorough and ruthless when it comes to information . I guess Fjord too is getting his information just now since the battle concluded just earlier today . From the looks of it, Admiral Blake was quite ruthless when he encountered Fjord's men . He didn't take any prisoners . However, the range and firepower of the ballistae is quite shocking this time around . Even those Mini-ballistae would be quite useful to us in naval battles . "
Lionheart rebuked as soon as he heard about Blake, "As expected from a pirate, no ethics or etiquette . That pirate had ruined a lot of our plans from the past and hence we made a bounty of 20000 gold coins on him . Anyway, If Fjord comes with a dispute, we can use this against count since he is employing a pirate in his navy which even the royal family is targetting . "
Plato didn't agree and laid out his plans, "Lord, won't it make it obvious? I think we should refrain and use this as a pretext to delay giving count John any political protection . Currently, he also has one more weapon which you aren't aware of . I was only made aware of it after reading one of the reports from Ambassador Luke . "
Lionheart furrowed his brows and asked: "What is it?"
Plato bought one of the newspapers spoke about the influence created by them, He spoke severely: "Its the printing press . With his printing press, he was fully able to influence his domain into hating Duke Fjord . Previously, Mostly these situations only happened after a war took place and mostly when the population was affected by the war directly bearing the brunt of the soldiers . However, this situation is even before the start of war right now . He can reduce the influence of the Royal family using that press in his domain . This would be fatal for us . "
King: "Hmm . . . Okay . I will agree with you as your counsel has helped me a lot of times . One of them may be creating anarchy in the southwestern Beast domain . "
Lionheart continued as he asked Plato, "What about that guy you sent to that count's domain? Are there any results?"
Plato shook his head: "Nah, Although Dwight too is the great-grandson of Grand potioneer Melanie . However, even if that count finds him out he won't be able to do anything to him as he knows that he is related directly to his Master . So this is one of the reasons why I decided to take him in . Currently, his father also holds a position as a minister in health and potioneering . Dwight's mission will take some time because of their past . You too know why Grandpotioneer left the court in the past . "
King Lionheart was quite irritated because of remembering the past, He thought, 'That Old hag still bores a grudge against me for harboring his other Grandson and plotting against another one . Who knew she would take such a radical action and quit the court after my appointment . This caused a lot of problems for me politically . If she wants to blame someone then blame her own grandson who wanted to plot for gaining power . '
Plato saw King's face and immediately understood, 'I guess Lord is pissed after remembering the past . I guess one of the reasons why some ministers hate king is because they lost their source of life-saving potions via Grand potioneer Melanie . '
Defense Minister Plato laid out his report, "The medicines from Count John's Institute is doing wonders and many people are nowadays traveling there just to seek medication on many diseases like typhoid and malaria which were previously incurable with normal methods so Most of the time people would seek out Radiant church . So this is anyway helping us curb the influence of the Radiant Church . So it isn't all bad . However, this Count is earning a heck load of money which he would most likely be investing in his weapons of war and ships most likely . From my information, these medicines are most likely created by the Count himself . "
King Lionheart furrowed his eyebrows a bit and spoke, "Why do I feel irritated this time around . Whether its the count or the radiant church, they give me a prick in my ass whenever I hear about them getting more power or money . Well, that count is still a nobody . Okay, anyway continue with trying to win over that old hag . She would be a great asset to deal with the radiant church as they have quite big ambitions . This time this war has come at a good time as it is good for us and this would anyway empty the pockets of Radiant Church and reduce the power of that Shorty as well . This time I am very close to gain most of the power which the royal family lost over a period of time . Hmm . . . Okay, we will go with the waiting game and increase the immigration to that upstart's domain as much as possible . In the end, he will come begging in front of me when he doesn't have enough food to feed his subjects . "
Defense Minister Plato nodded asked Lionheart, "There is one problem though, Milord . "
"Speak . "
Plato gave one report and asked, "Recently Prince Charlie is getting quite close to the Radiant Church . Shouldn't we be worried?"
King smiled and shrugged him off, "You don't know him, he is a very cunning individual . Even more cunning than me . He will use the Radiant Church and throw them out just like used clothing . Before coming into the political world, he did quite a bit of affairs which I had to hide . I remember, he was capturing people and selling them as slaves during the war to make a lot of profit . Even here, he used a Baron to do his bidding which kept his name fully clean . You remember about blacktiger, right?"
Plato remembered about Blacktiger and spoke, "Yeah, he was quite notorious, wasn't he recently assassinated by some businessmen who bore a grudge from years ago?"
King smiled and gave a meaningful look, "He was working under Charlie . So you understand?"
Plato showed a surprised expression as he understood Charlie's connection with Blacktiger . Plato thought, "Hmm . . . so Prince Charlie was the one who started all that border slave trade . No wonder, even I wasn't able to trace back the origin of the guys doing this trade . So that was the reason why King had decided to suspend any investigations on this matter previously . I guess I missed a big player this whole time when those three princes were fighting each other . "
King asked, "Have you found any clues on the guys who assassinated Blacktiger?"
"Yes, I think this is related to the demon house of bluesea . The most likely culprit is their best assassin Grey or that slave Jake as he was seen going in the same direction of that town where Blacktiger stayed . And there was also this case of many suspicious men roaming the area of murder which was most likely associated with Bluesea house and their assassins . "
This time king Lionheart broke the wine glass of Red moon as he raged and banged the table, "Again this count and those demons . When will they stop interfering in the business where they shouldn't poke their noses . I guess I really need to find a solution against that Count . "
Plato seriously thought after watching Lionheart, 'I guess it was true that Prince Charlie was involved in trafficking our own men in the slave trade years ago . "
Eanred only spoke now after hearing Lionheart, "Lionheart you are still bad at keeping your emotions under control . We will soon find a fix on that Count as he is upsetting a lot of things after his arrival . "
Lionheart calmed down spoke, "Yes, Master . "
