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Chapter 14: Aristocratic Thugs Give me the Jitters
Meanwhile, within the royal palace's Flower District, where the harem and female relatives of the Blood Smelting King gathered, a middle-aged man prostrated himself at a woman who hid behind golden curtains.
"Your Majesty...is this wise?" The woman asked, causing the man, who wore the scarlet and gold-hammer robes of the Blood Smelting King, to rise from the ground—now facing the hidden woman with a wolfish grin.
"Yes, mother. Cassandra's rise took us by surprise, making proper use of the Elektra and Astalon Houses indispensable to the expansion of the Blood Smelting Kingdom. Don't worry, I've taken all the necessary precautions to make sure that this plan doesn't backfire," King Gaiseric, sovereign ruler of the Blood Smelting Kingdom, said—causing the Queen Mother to shake her head in exasperation.
"Your Majesty, as the ruler of this nation, you do not need anyone's approval to set its course. But as your mother, I must do all I can to advise you to the best of my abilities—even if it offends you. And right now, I advise you to call off this plan.
House Elektra's connection to the Red Cloud Theocracy is too deep. Using them as a weapon against the Red Cloud Theocracy is like trying to rely on the enemy's spies to destroy its foundation. For crying out loud, even your wife—another Elektra woman—used to be a priestess of the Red Cloud Theocracy! How can you trust them with this?
House Astalon isn't much better. Now that Arian is the headmistress' official heir and a candidate to succeed the Grand Priest, who do you think House Astalon will listen to? The Red Cloud Theocracy that lords over us, or our vulnerable Blood Smelting Kingdom?
You are inviting wolves into our house and giving them the keys to tear us all to shreds." Unable to understand her son's train of thought, the Queen Mother snapped. But used to his mother's passive aggressiveness, King Gaiseric shook his head, his smile unchanged.
"No need to worry, queen mother. I've got it all figured out. In this generation, the Elektra and Astalon are destined to become the spears that enable us to take down the Red Cloud Theocracy and restore...the Great Blood Empire."
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As this played out, within House Astalon's main hall, the elite of House Astalon gathered alongside Luther and Cassandra. This group included the elder templars, administrators, and most promising youngsters—a demographic that due to Cassandra's rise, included many females.
The males in the group had their eyes locked on Cassandra, all gawking as they wondered how in the span of one day, she'd gotten so much more radiant and hypnotic.
If before, Cassandra was a stunning beauty, as they stared at her new look, the Astalon men didn't doubt that their matriarch had turned into a divine bombshell. But despite all the salivating and lecherous gazes surrounding her, Cassandra stayed stoic, facing the audience with a commanding aura. Mithras stood to her left, holding paper notes and manuscripts.
And just like the males couldn't take their eyes off Cassandra, the females drooled over Mithras—their eyes flaring with lust.
"I will not beat around the bush." Cassandra started, seizing the audience's attention.
"The houses of Astalon and Elektra have received a massive opportunity from His Majesty. King Gaiseric has wolfish ambitions and aims to turn the Blood Smelting Kingdom into a superpower capable of meeting the Red Cloud Theocracy as an equal.
To that end, the king wishes to speed up the development of Springtime City, using it to manipulate the economies of cities beyond our borders." Here, Cassandra paused, giving the audience some time to digest her words.
The talk of the hour, Springtime City was the most bustling and fastest-growing city of the Blood Smelting Kingdom, developing at a speed that left even the royal capital in the dust.
This was beyond unusual. After all, in general, the farther a town or city was from the capital, the less trade and opportunities it received. Border cities typically had it worse—often being the first victims of enemy invasions and treated as military fortresses more than actual cities.
Springtime City was the only exception. Built 200 years ago on the Queen Mother's orders to act as a buffer against enemy factions, Springtime City was a semi-independent city-state that possessed the unique right to set its own laws—laws that came before the king's decrees and could outright ignore royal will. By relying on that privilege, Springtime City legalized a variety of illicit activities—becoming a hub for extravagant spending, crime syndicates and information trading.
Now a megalopolis of over three million citizens, Springtime City alone offered twice the flux of Ener Crystals and other Sid-related tools or luxury goods than the capital, Flameheart City, could. And this was without reaching its full potential.
One can therefore imagine why the royal family was more than a little bit upset about having lost control of many of the city's key industries to one of the criminal factions that ran it from the shadows: the Jade-Faced Academy.
"Now, under the cover of putting Springtime City under new management, Gaiseric is ordering us to suppress the rising factions, retake full control of Springtime City, and expand both economically and militarily. The state has already prepared a new mansion for us to take office as Lords and Magistrates of Springtime City—alongside a retinue of 3,000 royal guards, subsidies, and other minor gifts," Cassandra said in a calm but serious tone.
A moment of silence followed, soon broken by Luther, who paled at his wife's news.
"My lady, is this wise? While already the most lucrative asset of the Blood Smelting Kingdom, the geographical location of Springtime City is catastrophic at best. We will be sharing a border with the Seafaring Nations to the east, the Gorefiend tribes to the south, the Mysterious Bone Forest to the west, and if all three weren't bad enough, you still have the Red Cloud Theocracy to worry about.
Don't forget that the Jade-Faced Academy is already allied with their headmistress and contributing to the training of many of her subordinates and students!
Did I mention that with Springtime City's current wealth levels and growth pace, in the Blood Smelting Kingdom's next war, it is destined to be the main target of our enemies? And we're supposed to defend it with what? 3,000 royal guards plus the personal forces of the Astalon and Elektra? Now let's be serious for one second. That will not even be enough to act as toothpicks for the Red Cloud Theocracy!
Whoever is ruling Springtime City during the next war...and it will come sooner than we all expect, will be sacrificed by the state!" Luther was speaking facts. Even in the war that ended twelve years ago, the only reason why the Red Cloud Theocracy didn't conquer Springtime City was that the Jade-Faced Academy signed a secret agreement with them and the Gorefiend Tribes, relying on that three-way alliance to maintain the peace.
Springtime City's geographical position made it impossible for the central government to dispatch the reinforcements it'd need to resist the invader. And even if they could, the Blood Smelting Kingdom didn't have the military force to resist the Red Cloud Theocracy.
In this part of the Purple Dawn Continent, only the Gorefiend Tribes could achieve that feat—assuming that they dropped their tribal struggles and united into one horde.
"But believe it or not, that's not even the most troubling part. 3,000 royal guards? My lady, considering our ties to the Red Cloud Theocracy, can we really afford to bring 3,000 spies deathly loyal to the king into our house?" If they played their cards right, powerful families always had the means to survive disastrous wars and pledge allegiance to the next overlord.
However, once they accepted King Gaiseric's offer and received the 3,000 royal guards, House Astalon would be unable to defy the royal family.
Trained from the cradle to live and die for their monarch, the royal guard was the number one military force of the Blood Smelting Kingdom, with the weakest members standing at the early stages of Minor Expansion, and top-ranking officers all possessing Inner Accumulation strength at the very least.
This wasn't a force that House Astalon could control. So, while on the surface, the 3,000 royal guards would be defending the interests of house Astalon, in truth, they would be acting as the king's eyes and ears in Springtime City—reporting all the Astalon and Elektra nobles' moves.
As a powerful and experienced noble, Luther immediately saw through the pitfalls of Gaiseric's offer. But since her husband could see them, how could Cassandra not?
"We've also received unique expansion rights. Meaning that whatever land we conquer automatically becomes ours."
"Wait...you mean that...if we conquer the Seafaring Nations?"
"Ours."
"If we conquer the Gorefiend tribes?"
"Ours."
"The Mysterious Bone Forest...and Red Cloud Theocracy?"
"Still...ours!" Cassandra's voice thundered throughout the main hall, causing the eyes of the men and women on the scene to stretch impossibly.
"Do you understand, ladies and gentlemen? We're not the only ones playing with fire here. Gaiseric has outright given the Astalon and Elektra houses the opportunity and legal freedom to build new nations.
As for whether we can take advantage of this opportunity, that will depend on our abilities.
Nine years ago, 13 Red Cloud Pythons sneaked into House Astalon, almost laying waste to the female side of the family. To command that many Red Cloud Pythons of Great Expansion Sid rank, at least one elder priest had to be involved. That alone goes to show that, while we might have many strong allies in the Red Cloud Theocracy, we've also made troublesome enemies—enemies with such vicious intentions that, as we speak, they are likely devising ways to exterminate us once and for all.
Are we going to allow them to have their way?
Are we just going to roll over and die?
No. We're going to stand up. We're going to rise and fight, to keep defying the odds, crush our foes one by one, and come out on top—so that at the end of it all, the Astalon and Elektra names are immortalized in the annals of the Purple Dawn Continent!" Cassandra made a shocking statement, instantly lighting up the fighting spirit of the house's leadership.
Mithras, however, had simpler thoughts.
'Why is the mood so heavy here? Acting so serious when you're really just a riffraff of thugs and gangs with nobility titles. These aristocratic bandits are giving me the jitters! Hopefully, I can make up for it by stuffing three holes tonight.'
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