Emperor of Steel

A few days after the victory banquet, Luke was ready to return back to his estate.

However, it wasn’t possible to immediately return back to the Marquis Estate.

It was because he couldn’t leave his reward—Albertville—behind just like that.

So, he led the Red Wolf Mercenaries to the territory of Albertville.

“Lord, this is a lot more useful than what the rumors say.”

Philip’s thoughts of the Albertville Estate seemed pretty interesting from Luke’s view.

He had heard about the sacred nobles, but no concrete details were provided.

“It has 4 cities and 200,000 people. There are fertile farmlands along with the rivers and the salt mine in the south. The area is really neat, right?”

And it wasn’t just that.

“It was also very close to Jason Manor, which was rewarded to us by Emperor Rudolf. We might encounter a few wastelands and mountains, but we can go directly through it.”

Of course, Luke, who had hidden the Dark Moon Magic Tower in the Jason Estate, had no intention of linking its path to his newly acquired estate. The more men it had, the more easily it was to get past to.

“Princess Reina really thought a lot about it. Obviously, she does so for her man.”

Philip smiled to himself after seeing Luke, who tried to keep a straight face while riding his horse.

“By the way, did nothing else happen other than a meeting?”

“Nothing else in what sense?” Asked Luke.

“Ah, don’t try to act all naïve. When a man and woman meet and decide to keep meeting, of course, that happens, right? The Lord and Princess Reina too might…”

“Nothing like that happened.”

Luke interrupted Philip’s words before he could say them out loud. Philip, who couldn’t believe it, decided to voice his thoughts, “Do not lie to me!”

“All those will happen only after the wedding.”

“U-uh? I don’t get it. You are a warrior and the devil king, and she knew that too, right!” exclaimed Philip.

Honestly, Luke, who was from 500 years ago, lived with such a notion.

Although he got the chance to be reincarnated and although he had been acquainted with a variety of new knowledge and trends, the social atmosphere of that duration hadn’t been changed.

“Didn’t the princess say anything?” Asked Philip.

“Reina isn’t a woman whom you can just think lightly of,” answered Luke.

“You people are really a dry couple.”

Philip pounded his chest, trying to relieve himself of frustration.

He was actually feeling glad, almost to the extent that he thought they were a really good match.

“But, the mercenaries brought their families along with them. Wouldn’t that slow us down?” Asked Luke while looking at the back.

The Red Wolf Mercenaries returned after a week-long vacation.

Each of them had brought back their families, friends, and acquaintances, and their number went to 10,000.

Most of them were old men, children, and women, but a small number of them were mercenaries, who wanted to join the Red Wolf Mercenaries.

Hearing the rumors about the second coming of the mercenary king, they wanted to join the man.

“I thought that a few would, but I never imagined that everyone would bring their families like this,” answered Philip.

“I heard that the mercenary families in the Holy Empire had different customs. Many men came from the meadows, so they usually carry their families with them and stay in the areas where they are hired,” said Luke about the stuff he learned.

So some mercenaries made their families join.

Though the mercenary family didn’t join the battle, they were paid for their logistical activities such as the camp buildings, laundry, and meal preparations.

“Anyway, there will be no problem with the march. They are all used to marching, and they randomly gathered the wagons from Bless,” answered Philip nonchalantly.

“Won’t it be hard for the elderly?”

“I think that we will be fine since we have hired new priests,” answered Philip.

Luke initially planned to take all the mercenaries to Marquis Rakan, and for that, they thought of calling a ship from Kirillov.

But his plans changed when Reina gave them the Albertville Estate.

Rather than taking them to the Rakan Estate and exposing them to the eyes of the emperor, they thought that it would be better to strengthen their power in the Albertville Estate, which was close to the Baroque Empire and avoid the emperor’s eyes.

They decided to not travel by sea and travel by land instead.

At the end of the war, the used wagons and carriages were all gathered and sold in the market, so they were bought at a relatively low cost.

“Then, I am glad. The problem is… who am I supposed to leave the Albertville Estate to?”

Luke shook his head as he couldn’t decide on a person to hand it over to.

Hans had been ruling Rakan as a vice lord while Luke was away for his military service.

Although he was a good fit for the job, he needed to always be there in the Rakan Estate whenever Luke decided to leave.

While Luke was concerned, Philip suggested.

“What about Dixon from the finance office? He is a little tilted towards the aspects of money, but his loyalty for the family runs deep.”

Luke nodded thinking that it was reasonable.

“Maybe he is the right person?”

“Yes, he had a lot of experience in the administrative aspects, so he might be able to lead Albertville.”

“Then, I need to call him.”

Once it was decided who would lead Albertville, Philip asked something else, “Then what about the officers and the knights? Will you call them from our estates?”

Since a part of the land given to him was a part of the rebellion, the forces from the rebellion and its officers wouldn’t be stable.

There were chances that they might have joined the rebels or have been killed, or they could just plainly not be reliable.

“If one of the Rakan Knights or Silver Knights makes an appearance, the emperor is bound to find it suspicious. So, I am going to bring out new knights from Red Wolf, who are quite smart and reliable.”

AKA the Red Wolf knights.

He was willing to make them equal to the Rakan Knights and the Silver Knights.

And to do that, Luke intended to teach the Silver Sword to the mercenaries who would become knights.

Also, he decided to distribute Gigants to them equally.

Luke devised a plan for the Albertville Estate and wrote a letter to the Rakan Estate during lunch break.

Long-range magic communication could be intercepted, so Luke didn’t want to use it.

He thought that it was safer to send and receive an encrypted letter through a trusted person, who could deliver the letter faster than a human being.

-Have Sebastian deliver it to Hans Butler.

Luke telepathically asked Belfair, who was seated on his shoulder and bothering him.

-Me being a Vampire, should I even be doing such kinds of things? Just ask someone else…

-I guess you are missing the touch of a woman’s hand.

At that very moment, Belfair remembered what had happened a few days ago.

Women in their late teens and early twenties rubbed Belfair’s entire body.

His wings, torso and every nook and cranny of his body was indiscriminately devastated, and his prestige of being a proud vampire had fallen to the ground.

Belfair vowed that no matter what happened, he would never let himself be humiliated by women ever again.

-Come to think of it, there are a lot of women and kids following us, right?

-Hiick! No! I will deliver it right away!

Terrified, Belfair took the letter into his mouth and quickly disappeared into the sky.

‘I caught a good weakness of his.’

Looking at the back of Belfair who was flying away, Luke smiled and began to move toward the Albertville Estate.