Emperor of Steel

Navarre duchy’s capital, Avignon, got flipped over due to the monster wave.

The monsters frequently flocked to the border fortresses and threatened the soldiers’ stationed there, but it was the first time in Navarre’s history that tens of thousands of monsters attacked them in unison.

In the capital, was a fierce debate among the nobility over who would be taking responsibility over the current situation.

“What the hell is the military doing not being able to know the massive monsters attacking us?”

The army general, who was standing on the other side of the nobles’ conference table, answered the nobles who asked him, “We weren’t able to know? And wasn’t it the very nobles seated here who ignored our request for assistance at the border fortresses every time we asked?”

“No, when did we…”

“Count Cork did! It was why our Baron Caseron had died. Wasn’t it you all, you constantly refused to grant the request of the Commander of the border fortress?”

The nobles were very embarrassed by the general’s rebuke and condemnation, which made them make random excuses.

“Uhm, Count Cork is a royal and not a noble.”

“That was all ten years ago. Wasn’t it because of your men that he changed into a noble ten years ago?” The general asked.

“What? My men? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Why? Do you feel like drawing your sword?” Instigated the general.

“Hung, once I pull it out, I would do a lot of things. Just the number of monsters that I’ve…”

“All of you shut up!!” King Henry III, who was seated at the table, seeing the nobles blame each other back and forth, could no longer endure it and shouted.

“What is the situation, and you’re crying over who should take the responsibility? Shouldn’t we be talking about what measures we need to be taking right away?” King Henry asked.

Dozens of fortresses that were guarding the west border were all captured by the monsters.

Not just that.

The region of Cork and the other western territories were devastated, and with the endless march of the monster legion, they were now just four days away from Avignon.

If things went like the way they were, Avignon was bound to fall.

However, the crazy high-headed nobles had no countermeasures, nor could they come up with one.

The only thing they knew was the reinforcements would arrive from the empire, and the monster wave would slowly subside.

As the nobles kept on dotting one after the other, Henry III sighed.

“So, none of you has a solution,” Henry said out loud.

“We are looking for one, your majesty.”

“Aing, I don’t feel like seeing anyone of you. Get out!”

As Henry III pushed away his noblemen, he went out of the palace to cool his head and think of something.

It was then that he found someone which made his eyes shine.

A girl with a red braided hair.

Looking as cute as a doll, she was slender yet had curves which wasn’t common in the region.

She didn’t know that the king was near her. She kept intently looking at something that was on the ground.

“Uhm, what are you doing here?”

“Appa, mama is here.”

As the king approached and talked to her, the girl looked back at the man and bowed.

“Oh my, what are you looking at so intently, princess?”

The girl was princess Margareta, the daughter of Henry III.

By looking at her eyes, she looked like a girl in her late teens, but she was almost 30 years old.

It wasn’t like she was old, she had already been married twice, but her husband died early and had no children.

And due to that, there were numerous words that went around the palace.

But she was young, broken and clever, she would always give the proper advice wherever the king was struggling.

“I was watching the ants fight.”

“Ants?”

The king, not understanding, looked at the ground where Margareta pointed to.

In that spot, black and red ants were fighting one another.

The red ants seemed huge and they seemed to have the advantage, but surprisingly, the black ants were the ones winning.

As the King watched it, Margareta explained, “The reason why the black ants are winning is because they have a queen ant which the red ants don’t have. They are moving in unison and command of the queen ant and pushing the red ants away.”

Margareta stopped for a moment and killed the queen of the black ants.

“But once the queen disappears, they have no choice but to fight for themselves.”

When the commanding entity disappeared, the swarm of black ants eventually ran away from the battle.

Margareta turned to her father, who had a dark expression and asked, “Things don’t seem to be working well?”

“Phew, I had meetings with the nobles the entire day, and they are all trying to get on my good side.”

At the words of Henry III, Margareta talked with a very narrow smile.

“I have one measure, would you like to listen to it?”

“Oh my, I would.”

At the end of the king’s words, the thing which happened not once or twice, Margareta began to explain the plan, “Turn away the reinforcements from the empire.”

“And then?”

“I heard that there are a lot of reinforcements from the empire, but they don’t really have a lot of power. They won’t be able to stop the monster legion. So, the girl thinks that we should attract the Volga.”

“That, that can’t happen!”

At the words of Margareta, Henry III jumped out. The involvement of Volga meant betrayal to the Baroque empire.

Moreover, these people didn’t acknowledge monarchy.

Just to avoid a crisis, he couldn’t ruin the future.

At the words of Henry, Margareta responded with a firm and cold look.

“Right now, the state of our country is at stake. We are in a situation with the Baroque Empire, we are the slave country, and it doesn’t support us properly. Once we live, can’t we plan for the future?”

“Kuhm.”

“And the empire seems like it is strong, but the sun will soon have to set. You have seen it in their war with the Volga Republic which happened a few months back.”

Henry III, he heard about the war with the Volga Republic and the Baroque Empire.

The empire stated that they deployed the troops right after they got the information and took over the Volga, but the truth was it was the Volga who won.

They invaded the lands of the North, defeated the imperial army and destroyed numerous regions on their way.

Some of the empire’s troops eventually managed to win and invaded the Republic from another way, but the damage the empire took was far worse.

In addition, with that war, the disruption between the emperor and the noblemen worsened.

‘Just as Margareta said, the empire could be losing. But in reality, the sun is still in the sky.’

The king couldn’t make an immediate judgment.

After contemplating for a while, he said, “Fine. I will do what you want. But the Baroque reinforcements commander, will he stand still watching us join hands with the Volga Republic?”

“A deceptive trick. It will be good to hide it with beauty.”

“You mean yourself?”

At the question of the king, Margareta nodded with a grin.

“Trust me as I have good helpers.”

Navarre princess, Margareta.

She was the successor of the magic tower, unknown to the continent.

The magic tower consisting of only female wizards who inherited magic and not the magic used in the continent.

The magic was something she learned since childhood, and it now fully bloomed. Margareta was confident in trying to imprison the Imperial reinforcements commander.

‘It doesn’t matter if it’s the Baroque or the Volga, they are all going to be my stepping stones. Once the Orc Hero is finished, then next would be… huhu.’

An ambitious smile crept to her lips.