Chapter 153 - Insider

The leadership of the imperial family was moving busily.

A strategy team composed entirely of dozens of legal advisors and strategists was in the middle of organizing materials for the public hearing.

Alexander, whose own feet were on fire with urgency, was leisurely watching them.

From the experts' perspective, this was actually better.

Because if Alexander had stepped in, it was obvious he would only hold the strategy team back.

The only thing he could do was watch the situation as much as possible.

And use his current position to gather as many capable people as he could.

Still, as if to prove he hadn't just been twiddling his thumbs, he had one achievement.

"Are these details accurate?"

Alexander read the copied proposal and called out a name into the crystal ball.

"Baron Guillot?"

Baron Guillot.

He was a noble acting as a lord in the far east.

"Y-Yes, they are!"

"Relax a little. I'm not trying to eat you alive, so what are you so nervous about?"

"A-Ah, I apologize! Anyway, the scenario I sent you is a summary of the contents we brainstormed regarding what strategy the Regent will take in this upcoming meeting."

"The Regent?"

"Ah, the Regent. Regent Ferda..."

The sensitive Alexander and the intimidated Baron Guillot.

The breathing heard through the crystal ball hesitated before finally speaking up.

"Um... Crown Prince..."

"What is it?"

"If this matter goes well, will you keep your promise?"

"How absurd... Are you doubting me right now?"

"N-No, not at all! How could I? I was just saying something presumptuous and strange again..."

Alexander sighed as if he found it pathetic and said.

"Don't worry. I will guarantee your personal safety. And I will prepare an official position for you within the inner walls."

"I don't know what to do with myself now that you've reassured me! Thank you!"

"So, since you volunteered to be a traitor, make sure you spy thoroughly."

"Understood! Please remember this Guillot, who is always loyal to the Empire!"

With that, the communication from the crystal ball cut off.

A position was something he could make at any time.

And if he couldn't?

He could just throw him away.

Since he was a guy who had already become a traitor anyway, keeping the promise or not meant nothing to Alexander.

People were merely consumables in the Empire, objects to be discarded whenever they exhausted their usefulness.

Nobles were no exception.

'Still, since I received a promise that old man Gold would help...'

There was no doubt that things wouldn't easily turn disadvantageous for Alexander.

Besides, didn't he also have a 'helper' that everyone wanted to have?

Just thinking about it made him pleased, so he expressed his gratitude to him once more for no reason.

"To think you would lend me your wisdom, I am truly overwhelmed with emotion."

At those words, the seated middle-aged man replied politely.

"Not at all. The pillars of the Empire are the ones with golden blood flowing in their veins; how could I not help, Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty? I am still just the Crown Prince."

"You will ascend to the throne and reign in the future, so what difference does it make if I call you that now?"

"Haha! Have you seen a future where I become Emperor?"

"Of course."

Hearing that, unfounded confidence surged within him.

Alexander was easily swayed by flattering words, but the flattery from this man was on a different level.

And rightly so, because...

"Thank you for cooperating with me, Sage of Water."

It was Hellus Phobidas, widely known to the world as the Sage of Water.

"Not at all. It is my honor to be able to cooperate with Your Highness."

Laughter filled with the certainty of victory spread throughout the Crown Prince's office.

"... And with that, the Crown Prince's current strategy is as follows."

"I see."

Ferda, having received the copy, gave a short reply.

As he was quietly reading it, an anxious voice rang out annoyingly.

"Um... Do I have to stay here?"

Hellus asked cautiously.

Ferda asked him as if it was absurd.

"Aren't you able to do whatever you want over there?"

"O-Of course I can, but... it's actually getting to be quite burdensome."

No matter how much Hellus lived large boasting as a sage, a poor mage resided deep down inside him.

Therefore, the luxury of the imperial family was on a completely different level.

When Hellus indulged in what he considered luxury, the imperial family reacted by saying, 'He is frugal, as befitting a sage.'

It was incredibly shocking to Hellus to realize he was merely a frog in a well.

"Enjoy it while you can. Imperial entertainment is something even ordinary nobles find hard to experience."

"Enjoying it is fine, but... I have a favor to ask."

"I'm listening."

"Well... I was hoping you could help me use my wisdom a little more..."

Well, it was a request he had been expecting.

Ferda replied to that request like this.

"For a sage, three opportunities to ask questions are more than enough."

"Three times is too few. People ask me so many different things, how am I supposed to answer them all..."

"Isn't thinking you have to answer everything a stupid idea in itself?"

"I don't even know what's important..."

"Use that."

"H-How do you mean?"

"Occasionally answer things that don't seem important so that you make them look important. That's exactly why I sent you."

He appeared to have infiltrated the imperial family to solve problems, but in reality, he was merely a tool to cause confusion.

Olivia had also instantly caught on to that purpose and sent him to Alexander.

"I'll try to use it in my own way, but... could you still increase the number of questions a little..."

Hellus pleaded again.

Ferda openly let out a sigh.

'I thought he'd be hard to use properly, but...'

He was more frustrating than imagined.

Since he was, for the moment, called one of the top sages on the continent, Ferda decided to adjust things to match his capacity.

"Understood. I will help you ask questions up to five times a day. It increased by two, so think a bit more about what is important before you use them."

"T-Thank you!"

"Make sure to report regularly on what happens while helping Alexander, and prioritize the Princess's orders. Understood?"

"Y-Yes! Of course!"

He would undoubtedly be loyal.

Because when he looked at Olivia, he had the face of a man thoroughly bewitched by a demon of lust.

"Speaking of which, how is the Princess?"

Curious about Olivia's recent condition, he asked him.

"She has been visiting the Order of Altes frequently these days. From what I've heard, she intends to take classes to become a Saintess..."

Upon reaching the 4th Circle, she began to earnestly learn the magic taught to priests.

Since she had reached that difficult fourth enlightenment in her faith, the Order of Altes would naturally be proactive.

Whether to make her a nun or to serve as a connection linking their power to the imperial family.

'A Red Circle said to be created from deep faith...'

Ferda still couldn't understand it.

The sight of Olivia circulating her circle after suddenly achieving enlightenment in a single room at a cheap inn.

Why had Olivia attained enlightenment at that moment?

Religious enlightenment is inherently bizarre.

Like awakening two circle stages at once at the end of an intense meditation beneath a bodhi tree, or feeling a sense of spirit and awakening just from watching the flowing water of a river.

Even Olivia herself might not know what she saw or how she felt.

Enlightenment is indescribable, and it inevitably fades away once the circle is formed.

'Either way, the stepping stone to becoming a Saintess has been laid.'

She had to reach the 5th Circle, but having broken through the 4th Circle, which was the biggest hurdle, he felt it wouldn't be unreasonable for Olivia.

Ferda examined the contents Hellus had prepared.

"..."

It was a complete mess.

The information was completely disorganized and all over the place.

He wondered if he should get angry, but the man must have decided in his own mind that giving him the raw data was better than organizing it.

"Mori."

Mori, whom he had summoned, turned her head.

The expressionless girl waited for instructions.

"Organize these contents for me."

Nod, nod.

Mori quickly skimmed through it and began to weed out the core information.

Garnet, who was watching the process, asked Ferda in surprise.

"Is this girl the source of knowledge that the Sage of Water possessed?"

"Yeah."

"She's beyond my imagination."

"Mori's abilities?"

"There's that, but the source of knowledge was largely undervalued because of Hellus. However, it seems he simply wasn't able to utilize it at all."

Ferda nodded in agreement.

Garnet leaned toward Mori.

It was to look at the phrases she was writing down.

"Intelligence Director."

"Yes?"

"I apologize, but please do not approach Miss Mori so carelessly."

Isabella glared at her.

Eyes filled with an emotion not normally seen from her.

"I apologize, Administrator."

Garnet felt a chill and meekly backed away.

It was a situation with a clear justification.

'She is a precious asset to the far east, so I should be careful for now.'

To Ferda, who had known her, it looked a little different.

'Does she consider even Garnet a competitor?'

She was indeed a precious asset, but Garnet was the only one unaware that Isabella's reaction was due to a highly personal reason.

In the meantime, Mori handled the work cleanly and presented the organized version.

A block of text was turned into an easy-to-read summary.

Ferda skimmed the summary and extracted the necessary information.

"It seems Grand Duke Waldemar Gold is acting as Alexander's helper."

"If Grand Duke Gold is helping... the game is practically tilted in his favor."

Waldemar Gold.

As that name was mentioned, Garnet's expression soured.

It meant he was that tricky of a person to mess with.

Ferda also knew what kind of person this man was.

'The Emperor's closest confidant...'

If asked whether he was loyal to the Emperor, it was hard to tell, but it was certain they had a symbiotic relationship.

He was a man called the hero of the people due to his high popularity and widespread reputation.

"There are a total of five senior committee members in the Crisis Response Headquarters, and Grand Duke Gold currently has a hold on two of the other members."

The list of senior committee members was as follows.

The hero of the people, Grand Duke Waldemar Gold.

The conqueror of the Black Death, Marquis Akkad Dvelung.

The veteran hero, Count Aldin Ruster.

The reckless Great Mage, Erdes Roton.

The leader of the Order of Altes, Joseph Faust.

Another person was originally supposed to take Erdes's seat, but coincidentally, it was the man who had been beheaded for ignoring Alexander's deployment orders.

That vacancy was given to Erdes, who made the greatest contribution during this attack.

Normally, it would be something she wouldn't do out of annoyance, but knowing it was involved with Ferda, she had definitely attended with uncanny timing.

"Well, the key will be how we win over Waldemar."

"That is correct."

Ferda recalled the image of Grand Duke Gold he had last seen.

He was an old man covered in age spots, but his posture was always impeccably straight.

He was always curious about the source of that popularity.

A person loved by the commoners is bound to be hated by the nobles, and a person loved by the nobles is bound to be hated by the commoners, yet he received love from both factions.

"Grand Duke Gold should be a fading old man, so how is he still going strong?"

"That is because of his greenhouse."

"Greenhouse?"

"There is a dome-shaped greenhouse in Grand Duke Gold's territory."

It was not in Ferda's memories.

It seemed he hadn't cared because, from his perspective, it was a trivial matter.

"What kind of place is this greenhouse?"

"It is a place that can maintain the warmth of spring even in the cold winter, and the coolness of autumn even in the summer."

He wondered why he couldn't remember it, but it was because it wasn't as amazing as he thought.

Because that was a magic installed as a standard feature in the castle Ferda was in.

"If it's just a trick like that, even 4th Circle mages should be more than capable of pulling it off, right?"

"You are correct."

If it were just a greenhouse like that, Garnet wouldn't have bothered mentioning it.

"But the story changes if it can also control the internal mana concentration."

"Even the mana concentration?"

When she said that, Ferda's interest was also piqued.

"How much can it be adjusted?"

"I don't know exactly how high it can raise the density, but it is at least capable of creating a mana-less zone."

Magic that controls the climate can easily be cast time and again, as long as one can handle the aftermath.

However, using magic to create a mana-less zone was a contradiction.

It was purely similar to vacuuming out all the air in an entire area.

It might be one thing for a small space, but applying it to an entire wide dome was impossible for a simple mage.

"If he can create a mana-less zone... then cultivating rare elixir ingredients wouldn't be unreasonable either."

"That's correct."

Some ingredients with miraculous effects require extreme conditions.

Among those, a demanding condition was the mana concentration, which was incredibly difficult to maintain unless one literally worked people to the bone.

"Do you know what kind of magic formula is used?"

"We have tried infiltrating our agents several times to dig it up, but... rather, we were nearly counter-tracked numerous times."

A place with security so thorough that even a secret intelligence organization couldn't pry into it—that was intriguing.

Grand Duke Gold wasn't even from a mage family, so how could he possess such technology?

'Nine times out of ten, he must have stolen it from some mage or scholar.'

But that alone wasn't enough.

If a non-mage stole something and made it his own, it meant it was something other mages could easily imitate.

However, it meant Waldemar had grasped the core of a formula that couldn't be mastered simply by stealing it.

It also meant he was brimming with the talent of a mage.

'If he uses that as a weapon to command the nobles, then Burnel could become a target too.'

Just as Alexander had, Waldemar could also target Burnel.

He had planted high expectations during the presentation in Halim, but the incredible results currently pouring out were enough to make even those expectations pale in comparison.

'There are four projects being conducted in the Grand Duchy's territory.'

The improvement of the magical engineering rifle being conducted by the technicians of the Grand Duchy's territory.

The waterway pioneering through the water purification work being conducted in collaboration with Blue Eye.

The magical vehicle being developed by Escolaia and the trading company.

The efficiency upgrade of mana stones, which was the foundational work required to make these three projects successful, was still underway.

Currently, it was showing a groundbreaking efficiency of 30% of total capacity.

With all the projects having gained momentum, it would be a disaster if they were stolen or if the brakes were put on them.

"The Empire will use this crisis as an excuse to demand the magical engineering technology, right?"

"That is correct."

The technology they would have lost if they had submitted to Alexander.

The possibility that it could still be stolen even after the situation was resolved made things a headache.

They truly were a vicious bunch.

"If we could take the easy way..."

Ferda muttered like that.

Nothing in the world was easy, but that wish just showed that he couldn't help being human.

"There is an easy way."

At that, Garnet didn't let those words slip by and answered.