The Goblin King felt as if an army had just appeared out of nowhere in the lands he ruled.
He could only groan at the skill displayed here. Fanzel, who had been dispatched to ensure the stability of the areas behind them, has gone past the Western Capital from Germion State, and has now reached Fatina through the south.
Stability at the Western Capital was temporarily being maintained, but there was still some time until Yoshu’s recovery. Fortunately, the main pillar that held the south, Elrain Kingdom, hasn’t experienced any uprisings, but the number of soldiers they had left wasn’t reassuring.
The appearance of an enemy that attacked that very weak point demonstrated fully the enemy’s eye for military stratagems.
Pale was similarly left grinding her teeth. Everything had been going well after she sent Sophia with the Burning Bright Moons clan and cleaned out the dark hands from Tortoki, but she didn’t expect that they’d be able to instigate this big of a force.
Her information network has been spread throughout the lands, but it was especially focused on enemy territories and did not prioritize their own.
That was partly because there was not enough time to complete their defense against enemy espionage and partly because she believed that the king’s impartial ruling would prevent a large-scale uprising from occurring.
So long as the people had a roof over their heads and had a full stomach, revolts and uprisings shouldn’t be easy to come by.
That line of thought was correct.
But there were exceptions to everything.
And this insurrection was partly brought about by Esgare continuously pouring oil into the buried flames and Pale reaching her limits from serving as the political and military adviser at the front lines and serving as aide to the king.
“In any case, they must be disposed of.”
The king’s words roused Pale from her current mindset.
They could search for the cause as much as they want later. For now, they should focus on dealing with the problem at hand.
“For the time being, let’s send Fanzel to intercept them. As for the other cities, I believe we should tell them to fortify their defense.”
The Goblin King nodded to Pale’s advise.
“How much damage do you think there’ll be?”
“…The trades will probably have an even harder time. It would be one thing if the rebels have a long-term plan in mind, but the way I see it, they’re just causing violence. So at most they’ll probably just steal to fill their stomachs.”
Elrain Kingdom or perhaps the Western Capital.
“Let’s send the demihumans to the Western Capital, and then Fanzel to Elrain Kingdom.”
“A wise decision, Your Majesty.”
There were countless small cities between them. Pale and the Goblin King quietly looked at the map, their harsh gaze falling onto it.
“Is Pena sympathizing with them?”
“…We don’t know that much yet, but some of the elders are involved.”
When they received the reports, the uprisings have only been occurring around Pena. The king did not want to think that all of Pena had rebelled under the lead of the Elder Council.
The naivety of a statesman, perhaps it would be fine to word it as such, but if Pena has decided on its own volition to rebel, then appropriate punishment must be meted out.
Already, the equipment of the rebels have gone beyond that of mere rioters. The king’s feelings no longer mattered.
“A rebellion, huh.”
Now that the king has received the report, he had no choice but to acknowledge it.
“Even if they were instigated by the War Princess…”
As the king bitterly spoke those words, the cracks that have begun to form on his ruling stirred the anger in his heart. He knew that the War Princess had a hand in this, but his anger was greater.
Despite this, however, he did not change his behavior. He continued to assume his kingly posture and acted as he normally did. This was proof that he had gotten used to his position as the king.
When the summit wavers, the torrents will reach those below.
It was because he heard about his subordinates approaching Pale that he was once again reminded of that. The higher ranked goblins were sensitive to the king’s impatient desire to head east. It was because of that that they approached Pale and besought her to let them go to war.
And that is also why, this time, the Goblin King made sure to keep his wrath within the piths of his stomach. He committed himself steadfastly to his governmental affairs. But that did not by any means mean that he would forget his wrath. In fact, not only did its flames not quench, they burned fiercer, unable to release themselves from the prison that was the Goblin King.
◆◆◇
At the region that centered on Pena, just as one may have expected, the first to clash with the rebel army was Fanzel. And just as the king and his strategist, Pale, had foreseen, the rebel army headed to Elrain Kingdom in search of food.
There was a chance that the War Princess might take advantage of this opportunity and attack from the south, so the Goblin King dispatched the fastest of the goblins, the Aransain, and ordered them to go without passing through the rebelling regions.
But the rebels were not all headed to Elrain Kingdom.
“Roughly a third of them has been dispatched to the Western Capital. It is believed this might be a diversion, however.”
Pale had no good news to present, and the Goblin King could only leave the Western Capital’s defense to the demihumans and the goblins. Responding only upon receiving reports would always introduce a time delay in giving orders. That was proof that his kingdom had grown, but at the same time, it also mean that the speed of communication has remained the same.
