A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

289 – Paradigm Change (3)

After escaping from the end of time.

Even if we leave aside the unidentified something at the end of time, there are a mountain of problems that we cannot solve right away.

For example, a golden slave.

We can use the gold at the end of time as much as we want, but the amount of false gold is still increasing rapidly.

Even the demand for it is gradually increasing-

“Marquis! I give you a first-level emergency report…!”

“Come in. What’s going on?”

“It is said that the residents of Seville are collectively eating up false gold!!”

This is what Malcolm, the head deacon, hurriedly knocks on the door of the study and reports.

“How much?”

“That number is now 30!”

“…30 people ate up false gold at once?”

A strange situation that neither my father nor I could understand.

Even Malcolm, the head of the house, doesn’t seem to understand and report back.

“Yes, yes. A group of 30 people were found in an old chapel building in Seville territory. They were all sleeping with golden dragons covering their faces.”

“That’s… “

“It’s mass incitement.”

I was reminded of an anecdote about imperial drug dealers selling silver at the time Nostrum was destroyed.

“They may encourage people to consume it, saying it is good for their health. Either they experience another version of themselves in a dream, or they hide it and pretend it is a health product.”

Although there was a tendency for heroic Nostrum talents to commit fraud against the Empire, the vast majority of frauds were carried out by the Empire against second-class Nostrum subjects.

“I also like the Barony of Seville. This is a place where people who are relatively not well-off live.”

Baek Eun said that.

Although it may seem like something that costs a lot of money to consume, silver tends to become addictive more easily to those who lack financial means.

I hope to escape from the difficulties of reality and live in oblivion and hallucination, and if someone in real life kills me while I am drunk in a white dream, there is no other death in a happier situation than that.

“People who have money can’t think of eating false gold. But what about people who don’t have enough money in life? They may be tempted by the promise that it will make them dream of another life. Or… “

“You may have been fooled into thinking it was similar to Caroline.”

His father carefully fingered the bottle of Caroline in his arms.

“Malcolm. First, make an announcement on the bulletin board. Caroline, make sure it can only be consumed through official routes. I always told you to be careful, but especially be careful of imitation products. Especially if it’s golden.”

“I understand, Marquis.”

Malcolm immediately bowed his head and left.

“If Seville had been ours, she would have sent knights.”

“Seville is closer to Nostrum, if you must. It is either a follower of Saint Geo or Queen Naria.”

“Why Gibraltar?”

“Because they are jealous. The area next to them is a polluted area and is overrun with demonic beasts. Isn’t Gibraltar interacting with the empire?”

“Wasn’t the Empire more annoying than the Demon Beast 10 years ago?”

“Circumstances are bound to change. If I were to say that to the current Baron of Seville, would he even listen? It makes me sick to my stomach when my neighbor buys land, and even makes me jealous when he lives much better than before. I want to kill him. To that extent.”

That’s what being human is like.

And the current Baron of Seville, Gamos Seville, is a typical person of that type.

As if it represents the average personality of the people in the Seville territory.

“It seems like someone is spreading the word about what happens when false gold is consumed in liquefied form.”

Starting with William Tale, the phenomenon of falling into a dream and experiencing oneself in a new world.

“That’s strange. The information wouldn’t have reached Seville.”

Neither my father nor I had any intention of spreading this phenomenon carelessly.

However, the fact that this is slowly spreading means that people other than us who are aware of this phenomenon are slowly conducting ‘experiments’.

“Is he the emperor?”

“Probably not the emperor. Not yet.”

“…Not yet?”

“The world of ‘Guardian Gibraltar’ shown by False Gold. Wouldn’t it be a good thing for the empire if it spreads?”

“That’s right.”

Gibraltar and the Empire created an unprecedented atmosphere of peace.

But suddenly, in a dream, it shows that ‘you guys are actually at war forever’?

“Then it must be Saint Geo Nostrum.”

“Yes. It may be a bit extreme, but it may also have been the incompetent king who made William Tail eat false gold.”

“He is truly a capable man when it comes to destroying a country.”

“For someone who wants to lead the country to prosperity and strong military power, this is incompetence itself.”

Is there a way to suppress the incompetent king?

“Father, how about trying an experiment?”

“Experiment?”

“Yes.”

It does exist.

However, setting a trap does not always catch mice.

“In the end, the incompetent king is only targeting one person.”

“…You, really?”

“Of course, I’m not saying let’s put my mother in danger. Would I really commit such disloyalty?”

I will set a trap, but I cannot make my father suffer from separation anxiety.

“Perhaps something that could be more important to the Incompetent King than his mother has come to us. It’s all just a guess.”

I pointed to the side.

“Major General Bathory.”

“…”

A woman lying face down towards the disk, wearing her glasses, taking in the structure of the disk one by one with her eyes her eyes her.

“That original version. I’m planning to make it public.”

“…What?”

“An ancient relic found in the Gibraltar Gorge. It is even known in the form of a disk. Not only the people of Gibraltar but the entire Nostrum are aware that the Gibraltar Gorge is currently undergoing extensive construction.”

Apart from the fact that people are lost in the false golden dream, this may be a way to catch the incompetent king.

“What are you going to do? Are you going to put it on top of the Marquis Castle?”

“That’s a good idea, but isn’t there a billboard that everyone can see?”

I pointed to the ceiling.

“I’ll hang it in the sky.”

“…”

“We are promoting this by attaching this disc to a golden airship. “This golden treasure is hidden in the Gibraltar Gorge.”

“…He’s just trying to do something mean.”

Director Bathory giggled and touched his lips.

“It may be the only passage to the end of time, so why not just tie it to an airship and advertise it as treasure or something?”

“Right now there are only five people who know that they can enter the end of time.”

Me. Father. Director Bathory. Sir Robert. And the Tennessee Warden.

“If you want to ensure information control, you can also inform one more person.”

“…Your Majesty the Habsburg Emperor?”

“Yes.”

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous?”

My father grabbed my shoulder.

“If you show him something like this, he might react differently. He might try to take it away from you.”

“I know. It’s the perfect thing to try to control.”

More gold than the amount of gold currently released on the continent.

And the dragon’s body and an unidentified pillar.

“But if the goal you want to achieve with something like that is ‘capturing an incompetent king,’ the emperor will also accept it. He is a person who hates uncontrollable variables.”

“Grey.”

“It’s okay. It’s been like that for a long time, but isn’t pursuing practical benefit by labeling it ‘incompetent’ my specialty?”

Pretending not to know anything.

Pretend to open your arms so that the other person can assassinate you.

“For those who know, it must be a thousand dollars inside. No, they manage the portal to the dragon’s lair like that? Of course. For those who don’t know, they wonder if this relic is a golden decoration, or the legacy of a dragon entering the end of time. How would you know?”

We know.

However, if people who know each other keep quiet, they end up officially ‘not knowing.’

“Whether it is a holy relic imbued with God’s miracle, or a miraculous artifact that can resurrect a dragon. We just found a golden disc in the canyon.”

If you set gold in a trap, everyone will drool.

But even though they know that the person guarding the trap is Gibraltar, they attack it?

Only those who know that gold is not just a lump of gold.

I can only guess, but if the Incompetent King is what I think he is, I have no choice but to react unconditionally.

“And this way, there will be no more people trying to eat false gold. The gold they eat will disappear, but the gold hidden in the canyon will immediately end up in their pocket.”

“…”

“The canyon is wide. In addition to the places the empire develops, there are plenty of places for the people of the kingdom to develop.”

Although the Empire occupied the area near the canyon, there are still plenty of empty spaces in the canyon.

“Will you travel through a dream world that does not exist with false gold? Or will you seek out the dragon’s legacy hidden in the canyon? Here, the real dragon’s legacy has appeared, so all that’s left is to promote it.”

“…”

“We have seen through the Barcelona gold mine how greedy those who are already blinded by gold can go. Among them, there may be someone like Balzac Lembourg Gunther. But…”

I tapped the disk lightly with my foot.

“Even if there are 100,000 Balzacs, if we catch just one Saint Geo Nostrum hiding among them, we will win.”

“If you catch it, what are you going to do?”

“Is there anything special? Now, there are about two months left.”

Before we knew it, October of year 99 of the imperial calendar was already well over halfway through.

“It’s not us who are nervous. It’s Saint Geo Nostrum.”

There are only two months left until Naria becomes an adult.

And.

Perhaps, the return device is in our hands.

Or…

‘Not.’

Even if not, the current problem is solved to some extent.

“Father. No matter how much it is a dragon’s legacy, if you don’t know how to use it, it is just a pretty decoration. To put it more bluntly, it is nothing more than a pretty decoration.”

I pretended to burn tobacco and shook the ashes toward the disc.

“If you don’t know, you become an ashtray.”

From noble mtl dot come

“Gray. Do you smoke?”

“…Father.”

“If you think about Astacia, it can’t be like that, but why does it feel familiar, like I’ve smoked it many times?”

“…”

If I had to make an excuse.

When Astasia was alive, she didn’t smoke.

* * *

Three days later.

In the sky above the Marquess of Gibraltar, a huge golden airship began to fly.

A golden-painted rope was lowered from the deck, and instead of an anchor, a huge golden disc was wrapped around the end of it.

[Is that the legacy of the dragon buried in the Gibraltar Gorge?]

[Oh my god. That kind of geometric pattern. Was it really left behind by the dragon?]

The residents of the territory were mesmerized by the huge disc fluttering in the wind while whispering.

And the blond man who was watching the people whispering through the crystal ball looked at the original and pulled out his head.

“…These crazy b*stards.”

His fists were shaking as he stared at the disk fluttering in the sky until his crystal ball pierced through it.

“I know what that is…!”

Gibraltar doesn’t know.

“…”

They are just advertising while deploying dragon knights to protect the golden disc.

[Ah.]

From the skies above, the voice of an absolutely abominable person rang out.

[People of Gibraltar. Gray Gibraltar. I will quickly talk about the main point.]

Tuk-tuk, tuk.

With the sound of hitting something.

[We are recruiting workers to safely develop the canyon. The canyon will be developed safely without fatal accidents, and all dragon legacies discovered during the development process will be distributed equally to the discoverers.]

Gray Gibraltar started talking crazy things.

[Gold? I’ll give it to you if you want. All the gold in the world is in the Gibraltar Gorge.]