Emperor of Steel

A month had passed since the war with the Volga Republic had ended.

During those days, the Torlot Fortress was busy with cleaning up their Fortress, the battlefield and repairing their walls.

"There are 78 Gigants and 125 enemy canons which we have recovered from the river. Other weapons and small weaponry were collected in 5892 bags, clothes, and all the kinds of usable munitions account to 36,201."

Luke seemed very pleased with Alex's report.

Rather than anything else, being able to gather 78 Gigants made his day.

The reason why he was able to get the Gigants was because the enemy had left them when the dam broke as they were very heavy.

In the process, there was a lot of sand and debris stuck in the joints and core engine parts of the Gigants.

"It is a bit troublesome, but go to the iron mages and ask them to clean the Gigants."

"…"

Luke looked over at Erwin, who was next to him. However, she didn't respond, like she was contemplating on something.

"Look here, are you listening, Erwin?", Luke called out again.

When Luke spoke a little louder, she broke out from her thoughts.

"Ah… What did you just say?"

"I told, inform the Iron Mages to clean up the Gigants. Since we lack the manpower, you should go and help them," Luke repeated himself.

"Understood."

Erwin nodded and stepped out of Luke's office. She then stepped into the Gigant maintenance room.

'Saymon huh… maybe it really isn't a lie, but the truth?'

Erwin was recalling what happened two weeks ago.

The Meister of Dark Moon had come to visit. The conversation she heard in the meet was something she couldn't forget.

Luke said that he wanted to speak in private and dismissed his attendants.

Even the brightest red ears of the elves had trouble hearing from a certain distance. Erwin, who had always been better than her cousins at hearing, unintentionally listened to their conversation.

However, it sounded so absurd that she couldn't get her mind around it.

The problem was that Johas was convinced!

He knelt in front of Luke, who identified himself as Saymon, and placed his head on the ground.

It was hard for Erwin to believe that the Meister threw away his esteem and pride in front of a man he never met.

"Ahhha, Meister has recognized Sir Luke as the keeper and guardian of the Magic Tower."

Rob explained to them, but Erwin was suspicious.

Philip seemed convinced with Rob's words, but Erwin couldn't help but be confused about what she heard.

'It is true that Viscount Luke has completeness in magic. He is a person with drive and inspiration. But Saymon being reborn… Will anyone really believe that?'

The lady wasn't able to concentrate on her work or any other task allotted to her for the past two weeks because she couldn't sleep well.

'Does it have something to do with the weird words Master kept on saying?'

Erenes told her something the last time she saw him. The star, which fell 500 years ago, would come back to life once again.

Did the star coming back to life mean Saymon and his rebirth as Luke?

While she was in deep thought, flames suddenly burst in front of her eyes.

Puah?!

"Ah!"

"Ahh…"

Erwin and Anna fell back on the floor, rubbing their heads as they bumped into each other.

Erwin who got back up faster than Anna began to nag her.

"Where did you leave your mind!"

"So, sorry."

The war had ended, and Anna was walking thinking that she would ask Luke for a personal training date.

Anna, anxious over her mistake, bowed and apologized, disappearing seconds later.

Erwin couldn't help but just sigh at the situation.

She couldn't say much about the girl who was walking while preoccupied with her thoughts as she was doing the same.

While Erwin was deep in her thoughts, Luke was looking over the report that Alex had left.

"Huhuhu, the Gigants we got should be useful enough when we decide to take down the emperor."

To do that, he had to operate them and bring them back to their basic alignment structure.

He was going to talk with Alex and the other men later, but he had documents to write first.

'I feel like an official attempting to commit corruption.'

Luke felt hesitant, but soon the feeling faded.

After all, it was his goal to overthrow the Baroque Empire.

In order to ruin the Empire, Luke thought that it was necessary for him to commit to a little corruption.

While he was doing the paperwork, Philip knocked on the door and entered.

"What is it?" Asked Luke

"Well, there are a lot of letters addressed to you. Most of them are the ones from Princess Reina."

At the words from Philip, Luke jumped out of his seat.

For a while, he was busy with the war and then the post-war reorganization. He had completely forgotten to send letters over to the estates.

But it looked like many had been sent for him.

Luke took over the letters and looked at them.

Many of Reina's letters were about Luke's regards.

But there were other things written in the recent ones.

'Hans has created an Information Guild for giving out information? Yeah, well the land definitely needs one,' thought Luke.

The Information Guild wasn't necessarily needed in the rural regions. But, if one needed to know something, then they could pay money and get the information in return.

And in order for a territory to grow and for Luke to confront the Imperial family, a reliable Information Guild was essential.

'And… Erenes has come to the estate?!'

Luke was shocked at what he read in the other part of the letter.

He just stated that he knew Erenes when they tried to kidnap Reina, but he never imagined that Erenes would really come for him.

'Because of the Earth's Tears? That was something Erwin spoke of the last time… Was that the mysterious power that comes out of Reina occasionally?'

But what was more concerning was Erenes's health which was mentioned in the letter.

'I need to reply immediately. And I need to send something to Johas too.'

The last time Johas came, he bowed to Luke giving him full authority. Luke had shared some of his vision with the Dark Moon Magic Tower, which they weren't aware of.

And he promised them that he would send a copy of the blueprint of the Gigant, Atlas, which was being studied at the Katarina Magic Tower.

It was going to take time for the study and the design of the Gigant at Katarina Magic Tower, as the Magic Tower was just founded, and Luke decided to make a profit, which was why he thought of asking Dark Moon to manufacture it.

He did hear that the Dark Moon makes Gigants.

After sorting out the letters which Reina had sent, Luke reached out to the last letter, an order from the Imperial court.

Luke opened the enveloped with a very displeased expression and looked at the order.

"What does it say?" Asked Philip seeing the weird expression on Luke's face.

"Come to the capital with the captured enemy Gigants and weapons. And to attend the Imperial Council to explain the battle process and attend the Victory Parade at the Nemesis Central Square?"

Luke wasn't aware of it, but after the war with the Volga Republic, the Baroque Empire was suffering from conflict.

Until then, the nobles, who had the roles of only being the humans to keep the others in check had no power to make their own decision, and now they were attacking the Emperor, stating that the Emperor had to take responsibility for the Empire's defeat.

The Emperor argued that the war wasn't a defeat but a victory.

The evidence was not just driving the enemy troops from the Empire but also advancing into the territory of the Republic and defeating several of their Fortresses.

"Huh! Just recently you tried to get me killed, and now you want me to join you in the Victory Parade?"

He wanted to speak like that to the Emperor who gave him the orders.

However, as the Emperor was politically being cornered, Luke thought he could use this situation to his benefit.

"What do you think?" Asked Philip

"We need to go and see how pathetic they look, right?"

At the response of Luke, Philip couldn't help but smile.

"Then, just give the orders and we'll begin to prepare."

"Good work."

After Philip went to do his duty, Luke responded to Reina's letters.

Luke wanted to make her feel at ease as quickly as possible, so he stated that he was safe, which was why he called for his demon, Sebastian.

"Did you call me, Master?"

"Send this letter over to Princess Reina who is in Lamer city. If you're capable of flying it will only take a day to do this."

"Tch, Lamer is quite far from here…"

Grumbling to himself, Sebastian flew to the south with his black wings that spread widely in the sky.

After that, Luke attended a military meeting in the afternoon.

But the knights attending the meeting seemed to be very excited.

"Sire, we heard that you were invited to this year's Victory Parade, is that right?"

"Did Philip told you?" Asked Luke.

"Yes, if you need an attendant, please take me!"

"No, please take me. I can do it well!"

"What nonsense, you aren't even an Expert!"

The knights were taking a dig at each other.

If it was possible, Luke wanted to take them all.

However, they needed to stay back to protect the Fortress.

"Don't fight. Let's deal with this fairly," Luke said.

When it came down to thinking fairly, Anna and Alex were the lucky ones to go to the Capital city.

'Ah, thank God!'

Anna was feeling all jumpy as she liked it.

She believed it as God's sign for her to make some sort of connection with Luke.

'Hehe, if I am going to the capital, I need to make a move.'

Anna was in her own line of thought. She had never even imagined that she would be able to meet the tremendous force of the capital.