War Online

*Ding! You are being summoned by the Queen. Go to the Imperial Palace and meet the Queen at her chamber.

'Even after experiencing this kind of thing, again and again, I still don't understand the logic behind why the things like invitations appear in the form of notification directly, instead of receiving it from a soldier.'

He didn't waste any time and teleported to the capital city, and walked to the palace.

As a Prince, no one dared to stop him until he reaches the Queen's chamber, where the two Royal knights stopped him.

After the permission is granted, Wil stepped inside the familiar chamber where it used to be Mirella's room but now, it is used by Rikilda.

Inside the chamber, along with the Queen, he saw Prime Minister Arry, Newly appointed Duke of the Blackburn region, the finance minister, as well as General Gawyne, are waiting for him.

After greeting the Queen, Wil took his seat.

Then Queen glared at him as if she wants to rip him into pieces while Wil continuously received the notifications of her favorability decreasing once again, even though he didn't speak anything yet.

Ignoring the tensed atmosphere, the Duke spoke, in place of Queen, "Your highness, our Queen is interested in your proposal."

Wil glanced at her for confirmation.

Suppressing her rage, she said, "The ministers convinced me."

The Duke then continued, "So, in exchange for declaring Eldershore as the autonomous region, you will not only provide a loan of five hundred thousand gold coins to the palace, but you will also never rebel against the kingdom. General Gerrad and his soldiers will also stay loyal to the throne. Are we clear?"

Wil shook his head, "Nope. I have a few other conditions."

A frown appeared on everyone's faces.

"What is it?" asked the Queen.

Wil replied, "First. The autonomous region of Eldershore will be under my control. You will not dismiss my post assigned by the late King."

"That goes without saying." The Duke replied with a smile.

Wil then said, "Second. The kingdom won't have the authority over the army that's deployed at Eldershore region."

His second condition made everyone's face darkened.

"Impossible." A growl escaped from Rikilda.

*Ding! Your favorability with Rikilda Llyne reached -40.

Wil ignored the notification and explained, "Let me finish, Your Majesty. I already have an army under me. Along with them, only those who will be hired by me will be under my control.

The Kingdom won't have authority over it.

Their salaries will also be paid by me. As for the soldiers stationed at the region by the kingdom, they are naturally in the control of the palace while their salaries or accommodation has nothing to do with me."

Arry then whispered something into Rikilda's ear and she nodded, "fine." 

"Third. Until the loan will be repaid by the palace, Eldershore region will not pay taxes. In exchange, I won't ask for the interest."

'This brat knows how to take advantage of the situation…' Rikilda muttered her breath, and finally nodded, expressing her annoyance, "fine. Is that it? Or, are there any more?"

"Just one more. My final condition is to take back the city of Seagle from the guild.

If you let them like that, then, another guild will dare to occupy some city. Soon, your majesty will lose all the regions to the guilds. Then, I will lose my money too."

For a while, as they went silent, wondering whether this greedy Prince has any enmity with the Dreamwalkers guild, Wil shrugged his shoulders, "well, if you have a problem with it, then, it doesn't really matter.

Instead, I don't want the taxes to be raised for East Ocean City even in the future. No, forget about East Ocean city, how about exempting the taxes of my businesses only."

For the final condition, Wil purposely changed the condition two more times to give an impression that he made up the condition on spot.

Rikilda's expression hardened after she misunderstood that it might because of her tongue slip earlier.

The finance minister then, whispered in her ear, to give a suggestion, "Your Majesty, in just the first month, the crown prince has paid more than 1000 gold coins as tax, which means his business is doing well. In the future, who knows, his earnings will increase further.

Right now, we can raise the taxes all over the kingdom in the name of bringing stability that was destroyed because of the war. Don't agree to exempt the tax for him. If we agree, then, it'll be our loss in the long term."

Rikilda gave a nod in response and the minister backed away and takes his seat.

Then, Arry whispered something in her ear.

After thinking for a long time Rikilda then answered his final condition, "You know our treasury is empty, right now. So, I can't compromise on the tax. Neither can I afford to send the army.

Instead, I'm passing a new law. Any guild is welcomed to invade and occupy the city or a town.

But, the city that was ruled by people other than the ones that were appointed by the palace will have to pay the tax by three times the palace is imposing on everywhere." 

*Ding! The Queen imposed a rule. Cities and towns occupied by players will have to pay thrice the amount of tax. Those who violate the rule will be punished by the Imperial army.

Upon receiving a notification like everyone else, Wil frowned for a bit as that law includes the Eldershore and Springwood town. If one adds a player town, his taxes would surge once the debt is paid.

Looking at the expression on Wil, Rikilda's lips curled up. "So, let's sign the contract? Arry, write the conditions we just agreed upon."

'No matter what, I need to make sure that they never pay me the principal amount.' Forming a plan in his mind, he smiled and countered, making the smirk on the Queen disappear in an instant.

"Your majesty, I forgot to mention. The principal amount you will return me later should be the equal amount at that time of return, not the present."

Arry immediately lifted the quilt with a frown and turned towards him. Rikilda asked with a frown, "What does that mean?"

"Let me explain, Your Majesty." The finance minister volunteered to give an explanation.

As the Queen gave him the permission, the minister said, "It's like buying a fruit that's worth five hundred thousand gold coins.

When we decide to pay back the amount, we have to give the value of that fruit at that current time.

If it's 1 million, we will give 1 million. If it's 100 thousand, then, we will only pay a hundred thousand gold coins. Our banks use the same system for Private vaults, Your Majesty. "

'Except that fruit, you are talking about is the credits.'

The Duke then spoke, "you shouldn't agree to this condition, Your Majesty."

After the General also said the same thing, Prime Minister Arry quickly stood up and whispered to her, "We can control the market rate as we wish, your majesty. At the time of returning, we just need to force everything in the kingdom to sell their products to one-tenth of a price. 

That way, we only need to return 50 thousand and give an explanation as it is.

Later, we can increase the tax again to make up the loss."

Rikilda became silent and went into a thinking mode.

What they don't know is that Wil already prepared to lose those five hundred thousand gold coins since it wasn't his, to begin with.

So, he kept silent and waited until he hears okay from her.

After all, they were just a distraction. What he wants is absolute authority over the region including the military.

Once he has control of the military, he can hire and train the soldiers as he wishes with the rest of the money to increase the strength so that he can declare a rebellion whenever he wishes.

Putting the Imperial stamp on the parchment, she handed it to him, "your fingerprint."

Wil carefully read the contract and a wide appeared on his face as he put his fingerprint on the contract.

'Inventory' Wil mumbled to himself to summon the holographic screen before him.

Then, he started taking the pouches with 500 gold coins in each and put them on the floor, one by one until a heap of thousand pouches formed at the corner of the room.