Chapter 282
Chapter: 282
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 282
>Chapter Title: Impulse Soft (2)
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Ortona's capital, Brindisi.
The beautiful city, once a center of high literature, was now overrun with refugees' filthy tents and wandering beggars, its former glory nowhere to be found.
In the center of the city stood the half-destroyed Magenta Palace. This place had once boasted a scale and beauty rivaling the Delcros Imperial Palace, but after the Sardinian dynasty, which had ruled for half a century, fell, it was becoming an empty ruin without an owner.
In the grand audience hall of that desolate palace.
Four nobles sat around a massive table.
They were the lords of Castiya, Millo, Venso, and Cabour, each wielding real power in Ortona.
During the civil war, they had often held strategy meetings here against the republicans, and even after the fall of the kingdom, they occasionally gathered irregularly in this place.
"First, congratulations on your son's wedding, Count Castiya."
The conversation among those meeting after so long was nothing special.
Count Castiya had taken a daughter-in-law from the great Anatolian merchant house. She was plain-looking, but she had brought a dowry larger than the fat on her body, or so the rumors went. Things like that.
"I've never even seen the new baby, and you're all talking so much. At least she's prettier than your daughters, Baron Cabour."
The person in question, Count Castiya, responded politely, and Earl Millo slyly backed him up from the side.
"Baron Venso. Anyone else, maybe, but you're in no position to judge beauty right now."
It was a jab at his eldest son, more famous by the nickname 'Pockmarked Alberto.'
Baron Venso shot back with an unhappy expression.
"No matter what, Alberto's situation is better than your sons'. No family on the continent will propose marriage to your sons, Earl Millo. You know there's a wanted order out for Giacomo Millo from Delcros, right? Where the hell did you hide that criminal son of yours?"
Now it was Earl Millo's turn to get angry at him.
"What? You think I know where that bastard is? He used the family name without permission to start a merchant company and even dirtied it! He's no longer my son!"
Baron Cabour, unable to bear the heated atmosphere, tried to soothe them gently.
"Come on, now. Let's not say unnecessary things and be honest. We're not going to marry into northern families anyway, so we're all equally troubled by our children's marriages, aren't we?"
As he said, the northern lords had been sharply on guard against each other for years, avoiding any marriages between their houses.
They were lords who had survived Ortona's chaos with roughly equal power remaining. Now was the time to be wary of alliances through marriage.
"So let's stop the useless talk and discuss the future. We all know we can't keep the north in chaos forever."
At Cabour's words, Count Castiya added in his mild voice.
"Indeed. To rebuild the north, we need a king. A focal point to unite all our strength without breaking the current balance."
"But who the hell are we going to crown?"
Yeah. That was the problem.
During Ortona's civil war, Amadeo III had desperately tried to restore the monarchy, even dragging in Brittany, but he had been dead for a long time.
His eldest son, Crown Prince Vittorio, had no interest in the country and was holed up in Brittany, indulging in debauchery.
His reputation for dissipation was so notorious that rumors spread across the continent that he was little more than a useless wreck.
What about the other prince, Benicio? His survival wasn't confirmed, but wasn't Prince Benicio the main culprit behind the monarchy's fall and the leader of the republicans?
"We can't expect anything more from the royal bloodline. Even if we luckily find a collateral heir and secure legitimacy, do you think he'd make a proper monarch? The real rulers who have maintained order in the north so far are us."
At Baron Cabour's words, Earl Millo sneered.
"Ah, there it is, the true intentions. Do you want to be king of the north?"
"No, of course I'm not saying I'd do it..."
An uncomfortable silence followed for a while.
Everyone wanted the throne, but no one stepped forward. They knew that the moment anyone took a step toward it, they would be savagely torn apart from all sides.
Then Count Castiya broke the long silence.
"If there's no right answer, there's a method handed down from ancient times. We justly elect our own king."
"You're saying we become elector princes?"
"Yes. Wouldn't that be the most reasonable way to maintain the current balance?"
Kwang!
At that moment, the door to the audience hall burst open violently, and a voice filled with rage boomed through.
"Don't you dare utter the word 'elect'! Just thinking of that filthy remnant of republicanism makes me want to vomit."
Thud, thud.
The hulking man who shouted strode across the audience hall with his roughly cut wild hair flying. It was Berseus Daiano, a central figure in the royalist faction.
*'The elector prince system is an ancient tradition in the north dating back to the era of the Three Elder Dragons. It has nothing to do with those damned republicans.'*
But no one could readily voice that. Berseus's presence, soaked in blood from head to toe, was overwhelmingly intimidating.
Sure enough, in one hand he held a bloodied axe, and in the other, several severed human heads by the hair.
Drip, drop.
Blood dripping from the cut necks traced a long trail behind his steps.
"...What are those heads?"
Overwhelmed by Berseus's advancing presence, the knights guarding the lords hesitated, hands on their sword hilts, inching closer to their masters.
But ignoring the reactions around him, Berseus tossed the bloodied heads onto the table with a snort.
"Ha! Bandits who were foolish enough to attack me. Unfortunately for them, I wasn't in a good mood today."
The lords blinked.
"Who dares attack even after seeing Marquis Daiano's crest?"
"Who knows. Maybe their eyes were pea-sized."
Snorting dismissively, Berseus suddenly bared his teeth in a savage grin.
"Or maybe the carriage didn't have a crest from the start."
"......!"
The group was shocked.
If they hadn't misheard, Berseus had deliberately lured the bandits' attack.
"...Why?"
"I said it earlier, didn't I? I wasn't in a good mood today."
Berseus had just heard from the elder sent to rein him in that the stolen tribal key had ultimately fallen into the Holy Emperor's hands.
Unable to contain his surging rage, he had already rampaged once at his own mansion.
"And I've been feeling sluggish lately. I just thought I needed a little post-meal exercise for my health."
"......"
Everyone made faces of disgust at his nonchalant reply.
"Come on, we don't have time for this."
Finally, unable to stand it, Count Castiya called attention back.
"The reason I proposed this meeting today is simple. I assume you've all received the letter from Schmidt branch manager of the Merchant Alliance."
At those words, everyone fell silent for a different reason. The proposal was that unexpected for them.
The Merchant Alliance, which had been gouging during the chaos and avoiding investments, suddenly proposing a massive plan for northern economic stability and seeking the lords' cooperation?
"I've heard Schmidt branch manager is a workaholic. But I didn't think he'd step up like this."
"Either way, if we follow his letter, we can make considerable profits in a short time. The problem is that the northeast will monopolize most of those profits."
Then Earl Millo openly voiced his dissatisfaction.
"In that case, I can't cooperate. What about the northwest?"
"Or how about scaling it up a bit more? So the benefits are evenly spread across all of Ortona."
"Hmm......"
The lords placed the utmost importance on maintaining the balance of power and minimizing variables.
But the proposal from Schmidt branch manager was too attractive to just pass over. It could expand the stagnant northern power, and perhaps give one an edge over the others.
In the end, instead of accepting it as is, the lords began devising ways to expand the plan's scale for fair benefits to all.
Thus, the plan Seongjin had started for his 'sockeye salmon specialty shop' was showing signs of snowballing beyond his knowledge.
"Hmph! All that hassle just to lower the price of flour on the table a bit?"
Berseus, who had been listening quietly, said indifferently.
"That's knowing one thing and not the other, Marquis Daiano. While southern tycoons feed their soldiers well, our northern soldiers are turning into starved mules one by one. The gap will only widen over time."
"Then let them come. I'll smash them all with this axe."
But for all his words, Berseus was a capable lord who had successfully defended his territory amid the chaotic north.
After grumbling with an unhappy face for a while, he soon began poring over the documents with sharp eyes, calculating profits and losses.
How much time passed like that? Having found something, Berseus suddenly widened his eyes and shouted.
"You damned thief!"
"......?"
Everyone looked up puzzled, but flames were already shooting from Berseus's eyes.
It was because of the merchant company's name modestly listed in the middle of the documents.
-Merchant Company: Bertrand & Lee
-Owner: Logan Klein, Mores Klein
Kraaa!
Berseus slammed the table and stood, kicking his chair as he bellowed in fury.
"Chosen One! Not content with stealing my tribal key, now you aim to seize the entire north! You insolent bastard!!"
"......?"
"You think I'll cooperate meekly! As long as Daiano here has eyes to see, your plan will never come to fruition!!"
His rage-filled shout violently shook the air of the ruined palace.
Amid it all, the lords, suddenly facing this outburst, could only exchange silent glances in confusion.
* * *
'So this is the Lycanslope tribe's key...'
Back at the Pearl Palace, Seongjin gazed at the palm-sized, silver-glowing disc.
It was said anyone designated as the tribe's representative could use it, and sure enough, even without the Divine Eye, clear menus appeared in Seongjin's vision.
〚Voting: Locked〛
〚Tribe: Locked〛
〚Boundary Setting: Locked〛
Of course, they were all locked.
Only a small menu at the bottom glowed faintly, indicating it was active.
〚Portal〛
〚-Workshop〛
〚-Locked〛
〚-Locked〛
〚-Locked〛
⁝
But the Demon King, who usually would shout 'Lee Seongjin, this is from the manifest world!', said nothing.
'You know what this is, Demon King? It's the tribal key held by Ionia's tribal representatives.'
At Seongjin's explanation, the Demon King replied curiously.
[Really? Hmm. On the surface, it functions like manifest world stuff, but I can't figure it out no matter how I look.]
After pondering the disc for a while longer, the Demon King continued.
[Indeed. Looking closely, it does have that massive flow of laws like manifest world items. But no matter how I see it, this looks like something from the primal world.]
'Really?'
[Yeah. I've seen something like this before... Ah, right! That weird gem you're holding! That's confusing in the same way.]
The milestone?
He had heard about it from Dexter. It had features of both the manifest and primal worlds.
Certainly, the [Key] governed a tribe's essence. So it made sense for it to feel similar to the milestone made by the Oracle, the living tribal essence.
'Anyway, I'll look into this later.'
Seongjin skipped meditation and prepared hastily. To keep the milestone from running out, he hugged it and lay on his side.
[You're going to sleep already?]
'Yeah.'
He couldn't risk logging in late and missing Owen.
[If you sleep holding that, you go to the manifest world called 'Pangea Chronicle'?]
The Demon King asked, having heard about last night from Seongjin.
'Yeah, that's right.'
[No wonder you didn't sleep-talk at all yesterday.]
Had he? No wonder Edis had been glancing at him strangely since morning.
[I'm curious. I can clearly feel your soul here, so how do you go to another world?]
'Tell me about it.'
[I want to go too.......]
Listening to the Demon King's mutter, Seongjin quietly closed his eyes.
[Guest ID login confirmed.]
After a short wait, the familiar small voice came.
[□□□ □□ confirmed. Switching to unique ID...]
Unique ID?
Before he could question it—
Whoosh.
Suddenly his vision brightened, revealing the small restaurant where he had logged out yesterday.
"You're here, newbie!"
Someone called Seongjin. It was a cheerful voice he was already used to.
"Perfect timing! We were just about to enter the dungeon! As expected, the newbie is fated to adventure with us!"
The red fox Owen welcomed him with a bright smile on his joyful face.