A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

146 – Even if Everyone Becomes Your Enemy (1)

The empire’s spy network spreads throughout the kingdom, and shadowy surveillance exists wherever you go in the kingdom.

‘Shadows are everywhere.’

After the Port of Sirene opened, more shadows infiltrated the kingdom.

‘I wouldn’t have known if they had stopped me from coming in at all…’

This was something that could not be helped.

‘The Empire’s magic engineering machines are too convenient for that.’

Even if it meant passing on some information to the shadows, it was important to move as carefully and secretly as possible in an unseen place.

‘Then it’s easier to move like now. On the outside, they pretend to be deviant, but in reality, they are secretly sharpening knives underground.’

In that sense, the fact that I brought Astasia here to Gibraltar territory for her birthday her was a powerful smokescreen that could not be compared to any other method.

“On the pretext of it being her on her on her birthday her, I came all the way to the canyon to show her the means to fight and win against the Empire.”

The crown prince must be thinking by now that I am going to do something insidious and shady against Astasia.

s*xual and promiscuous behavior is prohibited due to the oath of Gibraltar, but until then, you will think that you are virtually creating a fait accompli with Astasia.

But what about now?

We are simply very wholesome, and our friends of s*xual and promiscuous nature are diligently carrying out their work with their own pickaxes and shovels.

“Elf… This is my first time seeing it.”

“First time?”

From noble mtl dot come

“Yes. I’ve heard of elves, but I never thought there would be so many.”

Astacia stuck out her tongue, looking around at the elves clutching pickaxes, wearing only her underwear.

“They really are no different from humans. In fact, even among humans, they resemble those born with the blood of very handsome and beautiful women. Oh, is it the opposite? Wouldn’t it be correct to say that such people are like elves?”

“…”

“Why are you doing that?”

“Has Chairman Erwin ever told you anything?”

“…?”

I guess Chairman Erwin didn’t talk about it that far.

Since it was my first time seeing an elf, I thought it was my first time seeing an elf digging an underground tunnel wearing only underwear, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“Let me tell you, Chairman Erwin’s mother is an elf.”

“…So, does that mean 1/4 of them are elves?”

“That is, if the blood of the Habsburg prince is not mixed with the blood of the elves.”

“Wow, shocking.”

Having said that, I don’t think there’s any reason to be that shocked.

“Did your mother do that too, wearing only underwear and hoeing?”

“…It can’t be.”

Correction.

I think there are enough elements to be shocked.

Anyone would be shocked to think that their parents were digging in the ground wearing only their underwear.

“Chairman Erwin entered human society having learned common sense and knowledge about society from the elven forest elder, the head of the elves called Lord White. Although she is also a half-elf, her sensibilities are closer to that of a human than that of You’re a human.”

“That’s right.”

“Chairman Erwin doesn’t do that. If he says he does that…”

I think that would be a bit of a shock.

“I don’t think I’ll use a pickaxe.”

“What about picking axes? So do you mean doing something else?”

“Yes.”

“What…?”

“Well, Mado Bike?”

“Oh.”

It seems like I tend to expose almost my underwear when I ride my bike a lot, but that doesn’t mean I don’t go to a swimming pool or beach and only wear real underwear.

“Astasia. I’m glad you resemble Chairman Erwin.”

“…Oh, now that I think about it, saying something like that is a dangerous thing to say.”

“It’s okay to say anything here. Being discovered is essentially the same as starting an all-out war with the empire.”

I pointed to the goods the elves were carrying on the cart.

“Do you know what this is?”

“Isn’t it a wooden plank?”

“Yes. They are wooden boards cut from firewood with a sword. They are trees that are comparable to any other trees in the world.”

The presence of what appears to be a person screaming in the tree rings may be just a coincidence, or it may just be a remnant of the vengeful spirit of a person who starved to death under the tree.

“In the maze that protects the elven forest, the ‘Blood Tree’, one of the monsters that lives by sucking people’s blood, has been cut down.”

“Aren’t elves a clan that protects the forest?”

“That’s a prejudice. They protect their ‘home’, not all the trees.”

Although they do not cut down trees unnecessarily, they are willing to kill tree monsters for the cause of overthrowing the ‘Bloody Elves’ by forming an alliance with us.

“Their pickaxes are not ordinary pickaxes. They are hunting tools for not only chopping the bodies of tree-type monsters such as blood trees and Ents with firewood, but also pulling out their roots.”

Of course, there is no such monster here.

Now, moving around with pickaxes and shovels is purely a tool for long-term work to widen underground tunnels.

In case of emergency, it will be used as a weapon.

Or, for the original purpose of mining resources.

“But why a pickaxe?”

“In the past, we used shovels, but recently a magic stone mine was discovered in a cave leading underground.”

Last two years.

“Nostrum was a blessed land. No one would have guessed that there would be so much treasure underground. Minerals and gems to be exact.”

The underground passage directly connected between Gibraltar and the Elven Forest became the foundation for us to obtain new resources.

“Some gems are found here. They are unprocessed gemstones, but the children at the orphanage are crafting them through various manipulations.”

“Even jewels…?”

“It’s a small and light item, but it’s extremely expensive.”

The reason the children worked in shifts late at night and made Caroline with fern-like hands was not because someone forced them.

This is due to the extremely financial, imperial capitalist desire to receive a lot of compensation through profits from selling luxury items such as Caroline and jewelry.

“But you wonder where these resources came from.”

“That’s why we’re changing the country of origin.”

“…What?”

“Fortunately, among the coal mines that Morgania has, there are many gem mines in addition to steel mines.”

And here, the probability and smokescreen that Gibraltar does not have physically belong to Morgania.

“As long as there is Morgania’s ‘certification,’ the unidentified gems obtained from the underground coal mine here will be born under a new name and sold everywhere.”

Who in the world could have predicted?

I had no idea that the gems such as ‘red diamond’ and ‘lapis lazuli’, which have begun to spread around Morgania in the past year, are actually minerals that come from underground here.

Although Morgania’s mineral veins are depleted and cannot be found even if she squeezes all her blood, people in the world mistakenly believe that Morgania is enjoying a boom by finding new mineral veins in existing mineral veins.

Of course, we also went through a lot of hardships.

‘I searched almost the entire land to find it.’

Now it’s all filled in, but there were no ant holes at the beginning of the work.

‘It was a side income I discovered while making a hole for the sole purpose of digging a tunnel in the first place.’

Filling it was laborious and took a lot of hard work, but considering the area dug up, the discovered reserves were extremely small. However, unlike cubic gems made by counterfeiting, the gemstone had its own value.

Both as a luxury item and as a ‘magic stone’.

“Astasia. Would you like to listen to this?”

I took out a wooden plank from the cart, and attached the brilliantly shining lapis lazuli underneath it – the magic stone that had been ground under the cart.

“I’m not a wizard, but if I understand the principles, I can use some simple magic. All I have to do is dig a well.”

Buuung.

“Huh?!”

“It’s magic.”

“It’s magic!”

Lapis lazuli floats in the air.

Of course, a wooden plank that balances on top and does not fall is also on top of the lapis lazuli.

“Can you see it? Mana is being released very minutely from under the lapis lazuli.”

A release of magical power that is invisible to the eyes of ordinary people.

However, the eyes of the elves, as well as Lord Mente and Astasia, are clearly visible.

“This is a wind stone. An invention that can levitate objects in the air.”

“This is…”

“Yes. There are similar items installed in the elevator at the last gate of the Gibraltar Gorge, as well as in the elevators installed throughout the dormitories.”

Originally.

This concept of ‘wind stone’ was a concept developed in the empire.

In fact, it was like that in this history as well.

“I mean the imperial family. They collect magic stones in large quantities, right?”

“…”

“All of those magic stones will be improved with this. They will dig a groove inside and engrave a magic circle, and when mana flows, it will automatically create a magic that releases wind and make the object float.”

Before the war, the Empire purchased all of the Nostrum Kingdom’s magic stones, even at a price that was more than twice the market value.

At the time, everyone in the kingdom sold all their magic stones to the empire due to the sudden inflation of magic stones, and all of those magic stones were later used as a power source to invade the kingdom.

“Astasia. What do you think moves this cart?”

“…A magic stone on both sides. A magic stone imbued with the ‘Aero Blast’ magic.”

“That’s right.”

Wheel.

Track.

Appropriate weight.

“Just like the magic automatic ship that the crown prince gave me as a birthday present, all you have to do is to release magical power so that it rolls forward and the body will roll.”

And a solid wheel running on a given rail.

“We’re moving forward.”

I grabbed the windstone floating in the air.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to go up.”

* * *

That time.

Dawn, 4:33.

It’s an awkward time for the early morning rooster to crow.

“…I can’t forgive.”

Crown Princess Isabella appeared on the terrace wearing only a nightgown and bit her fingernails in the cold dawn wind.

“It will definitely succeed. Definitely.”

Success.

What does it say?

This can be seen by looking at the printed papers lined up behind Crown Princess Isabella in her room.

Revolution.

If it succeeds, it is a revolution. If it fails, it is treason.

“It’s okay. It’s possible. The Grand Duke of the West decided to help, and most of all, the 3rd Knights decided to help.”

Is it sufficient as a basis for treason?

If you ask me, honestly, even Isabella herself is not sure.

However, he was already on the back of a tiger.

If there is no treason, the Crown Prince will deprive Isabella of all authority held by her family her, and will confiscate not only her her authority her her her her her but also her her her her her her her her her .

And if there is a personal reason.

“How dare you send my child into exile…?”

He must have been a child who inherited blood from someone, but they forcibly sent him away, telling him to attack the snowy plains of the far north.

Maybe he froze to death in the snow.

Contact is becoming less and less as each day goes by, and even contacting through magic devices is now difficult.

Just hoping to stay alive-

“…?”

Black sky.

A red light begins to twinkle in the sky, which should be filled with only darkness.

“Bird?”

Is it a crow?

Or is it a wyvern that flew from the direction of the kingdom to the end of this continent?

“…Huh?”

The moment she thought it was a living thing, a strange sparkle sent a chill down Isabella’s spine.

“What’s going on, Crown Princess?”

“That’s it, Captain. If that’s what I’m seeing right now…!”

Pa-ah.

As the lights twinkled, numerous lights began to illuminate the sky, illuminating the dawn of the night sky.

“…Navy First Fleet?”

The flagship of the fleet led by the now deceased General Hayreddin.

If you connect the vertices of the flagship’s surface with glowing dots, wouldn’t it look like this?

And if you take into account the appearance of the fleet following it.

Fa–ah.

“What is that?”

Night sky.

“The ship flies in the sky…?”

At an altitude that seemed several hundred meters high, a ship that was supposed to cruise the sea was flying above the clouds like a wave.

And.

“Looks like something is aiming at us-“

“Crown princess! Lie down-“

As more powerful lights twinkled, something began raining down from the sky.

Flap.

Something in the shape of a human being, fluttering a wide cloak.

* * *

“Nostrum has ruled the sky for 500 years. Controlling air superiority through the Drake Knights. A canyon is a canyon, but it was not easy for the empire that lost the sky to gain the upper hand in war.”

The musket, which is undervalued as a magic missile cover, was also made to snipe at the air force.

Arrows consume a lot of resources, but shooting a magic missile only consumes the individual’s mana and stamina.

“When it comes to war, this would have been the most important part for the Habsburg Crown Prince. Flying in the sky. What?”

“I’m hungry.”

The empire attached windstones to ships and made them float in the sky.

Now, the age of airships.

“It would be more correct to call it an air battleship.”

“…Is artillery fire coming from the sky?”

“No.”

More dangerous than artillery fire, lightning in a dry sky.

“The Sword Master falls.”