Emperor of Steel

Count Bazzo, who got pushed out by Luke, immediately reported that Luke’s recruitment had failed through magic communication.

Whatever the result, Mayers had asked to be reported as soon as possible.

Upon receiving the communication from Bazzo, Mayers yelled.

“Huh, make a big decision? I did expect him to refuse, but that cheeky bastard!”

“Your Majesty, did you know that he would refuse, then why intend to recruit him?”

The Iron Fist knight Reynold glanced through the conversation as he couldn’t understand.

After the last victory banquet, their king had been secretly gathering military personnel and announced his intention to invade into the Rakan estates.

And after that, the military was preparing for war and increased the military exchanges with the Grenada kingdom.

But after a while, he sent Count Bazzo as an envoy to Luke.

“Why I sent the offer? If he accepted out the offer, we would absorb the Rakan estates without any loss.”

“But didn’t you think that there was a high probability of rejection?” Asked Bazzo.

“I did. Failure couldn’t be a bad thing. We have a cause for invasion.”

“Standing up for rejecting a proposal?”

“It is surely difficult. But if we move in the right direction, we can do it.”

‘No way…’

Reynold, whose head was never dull was able to predict what His Majesty meant.

“Your Majesty, you don’t…”

“Shh! If you know more, you will get hurt. Stop talking. The opening isn’t far so train the knights well.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Reynold politely bowed his head and stepped back.

But once he reached to a place where no one was there, he spits at the knowledge of war.

“Sh*t! Greedy humans…”

Sneaky, greedy, and mean people.

Even though he knew well about them, he couldn’t help but get back to them.

No matter what kind of people the humans were, half of their blood and his brother Reynard had human blood flow.

A few days after Count Bazzo left, Luke was hearing a series of reports from Sebastian and Belfair.

“Rudolf lost the battle against Libiya Kingdom?”

“Yes, Master. It was said that he took in more damage than expected.”

The Imperial Intelligence agency remained dominated by the two demons.

Pretending to follow the Emperor and took in the information.

“Hm, lost a lot… was it because of Shaikan?”

Shaikan had turned into the King of the self-declared Libiya Kingdom.

Luke knew that he was a Dragonian.

However, when he heard that he was Reichard de Baroque, the third crown prince of Baroque Empire, he was shocked.

‘Was that why he told me that he had a debt to pay back to the Baroque Empire?’

He mentioned that Luke could be his fellow on the same path.

Either way, the plan of Shaikan was helping Luke.

“The Dragonian king didn’t go out in the battle.”

“Shaikan didn’t play? Even then, Rudolf lost?”

Luke couldn’t believe it.

Although the Emperor had been injured because of the high ranking demon, Rudolf was in a Sword Emperor class.

Who could stop such a strong man?

“That.. the supply line was blocked.”

According to Belfair’s description, the monster corps of Shaikan attacked the Imperial army and burned the warehouse ammunition and supplies were stored.

Rudolf did plan on driving the Gigant unit and blow away the rebels, but he was unable to fight properly because the number of units weren’t available.

And no matter how brave the knights were, they couldn’t fight without food and water, and even the most powerful Gigant of all cannot be operated without proper timely maintenance.

“The battle between the two armies took place in the border area and was very minimal. However, Rudolf had retreated because he would have taken in severe damage if he hadn’t retreated the moment his supplies were short.”

“When I witnessed it, the battle seemed to be a draw.”

“But the results, since subduing Libiya Kingdom failed, everyone considered the Baroque to had been defeated. Which is why the Baroque Empire is in trouble.”

Emperor Rudolf wasn’t defeated in a direct battle.

Even the demon in the capital got defeated by him.

The Emperor, a strong man, was defeated, and such public statements were made up.

“Currently, the Emperor is placing power in Marquis Vanden. Even everyone expects the supply and the units to stabilize and then go back to subdue them again.”

“So he won’t be caring about this for a while.”

Luke thought of the monsters which played according to Shaikan.

Even during the days as Saymon, the monsters were brainwashed with dark magic and used.

However, that wasn’t the strategy of Shaikan. Because brainwashing never included a change in the intelligence or the nature of the monster.

According to Argos, the power of Shaikan in the God Dragon’s power and when used on a monster can make them strong and clever.

Not only that, but the nation was also rapidly developing by mobilizing monsters into wastelands, mine developing, and even civil engineering.

‘I am envious of this. And when I did I was called Devil king.’

In the early days of Luke’s reincarnation, he developed a mine and waterway construction by brainwashing monsters with dark magic.

However, with the fear in public, the monsters were sent out of the estate left unattended.

Still, there were some advantages.

Thanks to the brainwashing of monsters in advance, the raids and looting of monsters had disappeared.

As a result, it was possible to prevent the loss of residents’ lives inside the estate.

That was also considered as a factor for the rapid development of the estates.

‘Even if it isn’t because of Shaikan, I need to think of ways to use them again.’

It was when Luke was thinking.

Hans burst into the office with a shocked face.

Sebastian and Belfair went unnoticed as they disappeared the moment they heard someone outside the door.

“What is it?”

Luke seemed uncomfortable for a second.

It was because he asked the escorts to not let anyone into the room for a while.

But seeing Hans, his feelings began to flow in all directions.

“The envoy of Milton Kingdom has been said to be assaulted and killed during the return!”

“What?”

According to Hans, the envoy which visited them 4 days ago was on a fast move.

However, they were attacked by masked men at the border between Marquis Rakan and the Milton Kingdom.

“The troops who were patrolling found them and ran to them, but the envoy was already destroyed.”

“the masked men?”

“When our men reached there, they had already fled, and they were told to have disappeared in an instant. Perhaps the transportation scroll.”

Upon hearing the report from Hans, Luke was able to see what happened.

“This, one-shot kill.”

“Sorry?”

“This raid is a self-play.” Said Luke.

The Marquis Rakan had never had any visits from monsters or bandits in their estate due to the constant subjugation teams.

And there was no way other nobles would break Luke’s rules and attack men.

Nevertheless, the envoy of Milton Kingdom was the one who got attacked.

A proper justification for war.

“Are you saying that it isn’t an act of the Baroque Imperial?”

Hans too knew that the attack on the envoy was very suspicious.

However, seeing Rudolf was on the other side, he couldn’t even see what happened to the Milton Kingdom.

And there was a reason for that.

“Even Count Bazzo who led the envoy is dead. And if what Lord said is true, then isn’t this like King Mayers to plot a story by killing his right arm?”

Hans thought that it was too much for a person to kill their trusted man.

However, it was an act that happened with one who knew and the other two in the dark.

“Those who are blinded by ambition and greed have no blood or tears.”

“Even so, to a long-serving retainer suddenly turned into a sacrifice…” Said Hans, feeling bad.

“Because such a person is dead, it will be justifiable to fight. Anyway, things have turned dirty.”

The envoy got wiped out and at that time, the Rakan guards appeared, and the criminals fled without a trace.

And now that things were aligned, Luke couldn’t help but feel suspicious of the fact that it wasn’t actually the work of Rakan.

Well, he convinced that the Milton Kingdom did everything.

“No matter what we say, they will never listen to us. Sir Hans, inform chief commander Rogers to get the Gigant troops ready. Ask for a warning to be issued in the army units.”

“Understood, Lord.”

The fight was going to be bad, but Luke had no intention of avoiding it.

If he wanted to fight with Rudolf, he had to get over Mayers.

‘Let me pay back the cost of your act.’

Luke who was releasing energy, recalled the face of King Mayers.