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Chapter 315.

Duke Asteria and I headed to the Adventurers’ Guild Headquarters in our carriage first.

"Oh my!"

Fiona sat at the counter, surprised to see me as I entered the Adventurer’s Guild.

I smiled and asked after seeing Fiona, "How have you been?”

"We’ve been well, of course. Den, did you get hurt anywhere?” Fiona tried to answer me with a smile.

"Why would I get hurt? I was just telling them to do this and that from behind,” I replied.

Fiona saw Duke Asteria coming in from behind and bowed with a serious expression, "It’s an honor to have you visit the Adventurers’ Guild." She didn’t say his name in consideration of the adventurers around her.

Duke Asteria smiled at such consideration and waved in greeting. "Is Glont up there?"

"Yes, that’s correct. I’ll guide you,” Fiona said as she tried to get up from the counter.

Duke Asteria waved his hand and pointed at me. "Huh-huh, it’s fine. What’s the point of taking away time from a busy person? This friend is enough for guidance.”

I smiled playfully and joked to Fiona, "It was passed on to me by Hameln."

Fiona covered her mouth and laughed at my joke. "Hohoho, I heard about that from Hameln when he came to work earlier. I heard you arrived at the capital this morning?”

"Yes. Thanks to that, I can’t rest and have to work,” I said.

Duke Asteria grumbled like a grumpy man, "Do you mean being with me is tiring?"

"Ahahaha, that can’t be. I’m just saying I don’t have enough time to take a nap."

"You’re such a smooth talker,” Duke Asteria said, although he had a gentle expression.

"Let’s stop joking and go up,” I said, heading upstairs with Duke Asteria.

Upon arriving in front of the Adventurers’ Guild Director’s office, the duke spoke to the Debt-ridden Knight and the knight captain. "You two wait outside.” He then added, trying to bring only me into the Director’s office, “You come in with me."

"If you’re going to talk about something secretive, I’ll wait outside, too,” I said.

"It’s fine. With your ears, wouldn’t it be the same whether you’re inside or outside?" Duke Asteria said. He seemed to know that I was a Crow.

Surely, before the war had begun, those in a position to know had already found out, since I had also openly toyed with the Black Water Buffalo Knights in the middle of the command center.

"If you go as far as to say that, then I’ll go inside,” I said, nodding. Duke Asteria smiled, seemingly content, and opened the door without knocking.

"Your Highness, you’ve arrived? Please take a seat. I just baked some tasty cookies. Den, you sit down, too,” Glont said promptly.

Duke Asteria sat on a guest sofa and grumbled, "If I open the door suddenly, at least pretend to be surprised. What’s with this boring reaction?"

"Hahaha, did I do something wrong? It’s usually polite to knock."

The two exchanged jokes without any formalities, as they had known each other for a long time. Guild Director Glont brought out cookies and tea, and I also sat on the guest sofa.

"By the way, I saw a newspaper article saying that Den was coming back to the capital in a hurry, but I didn’t know you would come so early,” Guild Director Glont commented.

I replied as I bit into a cookie, "I rode a strong horse from Shellen Fortress to the border. Thanks to that, it took less than half the time.” I washed the cookies down with tea and added, "But I’m very disappointed that there was a newspaper article. I thought His Highness Prime Minister would at least control the media."

Guild Director Glont took the newspapers from under the reception table and handed them over to me, asking, "You haven’t read the newspaper yet, have you? Ohohohoho, of course they hid as much as they could about you."

I quickly looked over the newspaper I received from the Guild Director. The only content of the first newspaper was that "Den von Mark" had pushed the Dresden front back with a genius strategy. I couldn’t find any content mentioning that I was a Crow anywhere. The same was true of the second and third newspapers. Of course, everyone in a position to know likely already knew, but since no pictures were included, few people would know my face.

Glont added, "Thanks to the newspaper, it was also a hot topic among my children—that after the war, no matter what, a third-grade rank of prestige or higher will be awarded. Hohoho.”

Well, the reality was that I was already thinking about whether to retire or not. I replied, "Personally, I would rather receive money than a promotion." Of course, a different compensation based on performance had been promised.

Duke Asteria and Guild Director Glont laughed cheerfully.

"Ahahaha! Don’t people usually choose career success? Is it because you’re a Crow?”

"Ohohohoho! That’s what I wanted to say too."

I grinned as I folded the newspaper. "If I wanted a successful career, I would have become a court magician. But anyway, there’s only content about having defeated the enemy’s main army, but there’s nothing about how it happened?” I asked.

Glont replied with a bitter smile, "After a meeting between the upper ranks of the imperial army and the ministers, we decided to keep it a military secret."

Duke Asteria added to Guild Director Glont’s explanation, "Since there were many shocking events, it might stimulate the trauma of older nobles."

In short, they were saying that I could be treated as the second coming of my father. In reality, my father was already in the system, but I decided to hide that fact. Even if I decided to tell, I should hide it at least until Caradoc found my father.

"Now, let’s check what I have to do in the capital this time,” Duke Asteria said. Guild Director Glont listened seriously. The Duke continued, "First, obtaining conscription permission from the emperor. This must have become a topic of the meetings by now.”

The conscription mentioned here referred to an order to pull in soldiers from the territories, not the general populace. The number of soldiers that could be held in each territory was limited, and troops couldn’t be moved to other territories without the permission of the emperor. This wasn’t only meant to control private internal strife, but also to prevent the lords from rallying together from rebelling.

"This won’t be too difficult. Your Highness the Duke has many in the Imperial Faction that are indebted to you,” I said.

I was the one who had assisted Duke Asteria in the last three congress meetings. Few people knew better than I did about the friction between the strong Noble Faction and the nobles the duke kept on a tight leash.

In addition, I had personally had a lot of exchanges with the duke. In recent years, monetary reform was the biggest debt the imperial family owed to Duke Asteria.

Duke Asteria nodded. "But just in case, depending on the situation, you can attend the meeting later and persuade him.”

"Yes, I understand."

"And I’ll also need the support of the forces from the Adventurers’ Guild and the Mercenary Alliance,” Duke Asteria added.

"Of course, since it’s related to the overall safety of the empire, I’ll tell Eranto, the head of the alliance,” Guild Director Glont said.

Next, Duke Asteria pulled out a bunch of documents with a serious expression on his face. "Next is securing supplies. In particular, there’s a major shortage of war supplies. I have to scrounge for arrows, spears, and swords as much as I can.”

"This is...!" After confirming the bundle of documents, Guild Director Glont, broke out in cold sweat.

"It’s time to harvest the seeds I’ve been sowing." Duke Asteria smiled mercilessly.

I checked the documents Guild Director Glont had put down and said, "Wow, my goodness."

I was amazed by the contents of the documents. They contained details of the nobles who owed the duke, and the nobles who had committed all kinds of corruption.

Hang on. These corruption documents look familiar, I thought.

While my gaze fixated on the corruption documents, Duke Asteria put his arm around my shoulder and said, "I’ll use it gratefully, Lupin." He winked playfully at me.

As expected, these corruption documents were the ones I had worked hard to steal and sold to my aunt.

"Hahaha, I’m glad it helped you,” I replied, thinking, Just how much does this grandpa know?

"I’ve sent some friends who’ll coax the nobles with these. You’ll just need to move the military somewhat with ‘just a little bit of personal connections’,” Duke Asteria said.

Guild Director Glont sighed, and I was left in awe.

Those in debt would spit it out on their own, but some of those whose weaknesses, or in other words corruption, had been exposed were likely to try to rebel.

What if the imperial army were to charge in to set an example in that situation? It would turn into a proper threat even to other nobles whose weaknesses hadn’t been exposed.

"’If you don’t listen to me, I’ll show you hell,’ is the message. I’ll tell you the names of the nobles to attack." Duke Asteria seemed to have already decided on the nobles to use to set an example.

"Can’t you just move your troops and put pressure on them?" Glont said, seemingly cautious about attacking the nobles hastily.

"That would usually be enough, but now, it’s wartime and we don’t have enough time on the frontlines. Cleanly and quickly severing their necks is better."

The key was that the ‘neck’ in that phrase wasn’t used as a metaphor or symbol, but was instead meant literally. This method could be seen as dealing with nobles who usually showed signs of rebellion against Duke Asteria.

"If grudges become built up over this, isn’t there a chance that an arrow may be pointed towards your future descendants?" Glont said, worried about the person who would succeed Duke Asteria.

Certainly, even if they bowed their heads because they were afraid of Duke Asteria right now, there was no rule saying it’d be the same for the next duke. As far as I knew, though, the duke hadn’t publicly announced any successors.

"Don’t worry. None of the people I’m considering as my successor wouldn’t be able to handle this. Rather, they’re the ones who’d fully take advantage of the nobles instead.”

As expected, Duke Asteria seemed to have at least decided on a candidate for his successor. Although considering his age, he’d done so very late. Usually, no matter how bad the circumstances, one would usually decide on a successor in middle age, and have them make their debut in society to build connections and create factions.

Well, if it was someone who had caught the duke’s eye, they’d do well even without such a cumbersome procedure. That was how accurate Duke Asteria’s judgment was.

However, when he heard the duke’s answer, Guild Director Glont glanced at me. I asked, "Why are you looking at me?"

"Huh? No way! Hohohoho, I understand. Then I’ll follow the will of Your Highness the Duke." For some reason, Glont was visibly embarrassed.

Seeing that, Duke Asteria rose from his seat. "Then the second task seems to have been handled, so I think only the last one is left."

"Is there another item?" Guild Director Glont looked at Duke Asteria tiredly.

The duke grinned and said, "Don’t worry. It’s not something I’ll ask of you." He then turned and spoke to me. "All right, let’s head to the temple. Let’s go and beg the priests."