Grollmog's Summons
Rumors spread through the streets that Grollmog's horde, the Kara Kingdom, and the Bastain Kingdom were discussing a conditional three-nation alliance treaty. In response, the Yosrahim Empire hastily assembled an envoy delegation and sent them racing over. It wasn't a treaty worth worrying much about if there was no intent to wage war first, but if that "conditional" clause got dropped during negotiations, it would put the Empire in a real bind.
Perhaps because of that, they'd handpicked the envoy leader with extreme care. The head of the delegation was Duke Manfred, who'd served as Interior Minister for years before recently becoming Foreign Minister. The deputy was Duke Brendel, the top man on military affairs.
And tagging along as part of the staff was Hubeo, who was on pretty close terms with me.
"My lord husband. Young Master Hubeo is here to see you."
I raised an eyebrow at my secretary's voice from outside the door. The aura seeping through the crack wasn't ordinary at all.
I stood and headed to the reception sofa as I called out.
"Yeah. Tell him to come in."
The door opened soon after, and Hubeo stepped inside. He closed the door behind him and flashed a bright smile.
"Yan. Long time no see."
I narrowed my eyes. So that was the source of the aura—Hubeo.
"Yeah. Come on in. Have a seat here."
Hubeo plopped down on the sofa with a face full of pride. He gave me a quick once-over and commented.
"So you've got this much power now. Feeling it in person makes it seem even more impressive."
"You can sense my aura?"
"Yeah."
From the looks of it, Hubeo had developed the ability to detect not just his own mana but the mana flowing around him too. Unless he'd learned assassin tracking techniques or mana detection spells, that meant he'd reached Master-level mage ability.
"No way—you hit 6-Cycle Mage?"
"Yeah. Just recently."
I stared at Hubeo in disbelief. A 6-Cycle Mage was one of those absolute untouchable realms that all mages saw as an insurmountable wall, just like for Master swordsmen. Almost no one reached it before their forties, but this guy had.
To climb to 6-Cycle Mage at Hubeo's age, you'd have to live a blood-and-guts life and grasp the true meaning of existence.
"No way. What kind of hardship did you go through to hit 6-Cycle Mage at your age? You're a duke's heir—no shortages there, and everyone around you props you up, so no real suffering either, right? Was the succession fight that tough?"
"Nah, nothing like that."
"Then what?"
"Anyway, just... thanks to you, I guess?"
I grabbed Hubeo by the collar with a murderous glare.
"What the hell does that mean?"
Hubeo straightened up in a panic, waving his hands wildly.
"No, I mean, you showed me my own true path before. And it fit perfectly."
I let go of his collar, looking puzzled.
"My path for you? Did I say something like that?"
"Yeah. You helped. So I found it."
"Oh? Sounds familiar... what was it?"
"Forget it. No need for you to remember. It's my path, after all."
A twinge of unease hit me, but I let it drop. Hubeo's path was his alone. He seemed to have found the right one, so no need for me to meddle or even know.
"Fair enough. So what's up? This about the conditional three-nation alliance?"
"Partly, yeah. And other stuff."
Hubeo let out a deep sigh.
"Other stuff?"
"Legal runaway. Using this as an excuse to bolt."
I blinked.
"Why?"
"Great-grandpa's trying to force me into marriage."
"With who?"
"The daughter of the Addis Duke family from the Billiont Kingdom."
The Addis Duke family was a venerable mage house recognized worldwide. They'd produced one 9-Cycle Mage and four 8-Cycle Mages from within, and the current head, Duke Addis, had hit 7-Cycle Mage in middle age, practically guaranteeing a fifth 8-Cycle Mage.
"Hmm. Grafting, huh."
Hubeo scowled.
"Man, do you have to phrase it like that?"
"It's not wrong."
"True."
"She ugly or something?"
"Nah, she's gorgeous."
"Then what's the problem? You're set."
Hubeo gave me a slightly rebellious look.
"Beauty solves everything?"
"Obviously."
"Sigh. Whatever. Drop it."
As Hubeo sighed deeply, I eyed him suspiciously. There's only one reason a guy turns down a pretty girl.
"You got someone you actually like?"
Hubeo looked sheepish.
"Yeah."
"Who?"
"You know her. That student you saw at the Imperial Noble Academy. I brought her to the magic steam locomotive demo too."
I pictured a prickly girl. Erisa from the Lupert Grand Duke's family.
I squinted at him.
"You thieving bastard. A professor crushing on his student? You're scum."
"We're only three years apart."
"Still. You thief."
"Hey, I haven't confessed yet."
Hubeo whined at my scolding. I scratched my nose bridge.
"You like her but haven't confessed? Something wrong with you down there?"
"No!"
"Then why not?"
"Don't know how."
Hubeo's face flushed red. I knew it. He'd ignored girls during school while attending to me, and now this day had come. Only guys who've confessed before know how to do it right.
"Heh. Want some tips?"
"No thanks. I know your style. Grab her hand, say let's fuck, then pin her down."
I widened my eyes.
"Huh. You get it. So why not?"
"That's insane!"
Hubeo yelled. I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, not professor-student appropriate."
"Not for any girl!"
At Hubeo's shout, I gave him a sharp look.
"Love, huh?"
"What?"
"Or is it the confidence from hitting 6-Cycle Mage?"
"W-Well..."
"I've been living nice lately. You know that?"
"Yeah."
"Right. Let's keep living nice."
"Got it."
I stood up. Hubeo's love life could wait. I was busy being good right now.
"By the way, what's the mood in the Yosrahim Empire?"
"Total chaos. If your three nations drop the 'conditional' and form a pure alliance, the Empire's screwed."
"Yeah, on paper that's a million troops."
Plus, each of those 300,000 orc warriors counted as three human soldiers, Kara was a rising superpower leading cutting-edge tech, and Bastain had been the Empire's main rival until recently.
Combined, even the Yosrahim Empire would have to bow.
Hubeo probed cautiously.
"You planning to attack the Yosrahim Empire?"
"Nah. You know where I'm from. No matter how ruthless, I wouldn't draw a sword on siblings."
"Yeah, figured."
I glared at Hubeo.
"But if they pull stupid shit, I could whip 'em for old times' sake."
"Stupid shit?"
"War. You guys don't want war, Grollmog's side doesn't either—how's it supposed to happen? This ain't kids playing. What the hell are they doing?"
"Yeah..."
"Try starting a war like lunatics. I'll show you real crazy. We've been developing new weapons lately—if war breaks out, we'll unload everything. Meaning whoever starts it gets fucked."
Hubeo swallowed dryly.
"So you're doing this to stop the war?"
"Yeah. This one can't happen. Anyway, that's my real intent—tell 'em straight. Don't fuck up the abacus and get your asses kicked."
"Got it."
"Alright, head out. Four-nation talks soon—see you then."
"Yeah. Later."
Hubeo left, and I narrowed my eyes with killing intent. I wanted to stop the war, but if it happened anyway, I wouldn't sit idle. I'd throw everything at the start for a quick ceasefire.
Minimize casualties, at least.
It was the day of the four-nation negotiation talks. As the delegations gathered at the Kara palace, I held an impromptu mobile unit military parade right out front. No big reason—just to show each nation's reps exactly what the Kara Kingdom was.
We rolled out 50 magic cars total. Eight were hastily armored versions.
Reactions were hot, thankfully. Everyone trembled at the sight of the armored magic cars.
Of course, they were still prototypes—just two magic cars linked with thin aluminum alloy plates slapped on. Who cares? No one knew how they were made anyway.
The key was the concept.
The moment armored magic cars that spears couldn't pierce rampaged across the battlefield, warfare would change forever. No army could stop their charge.
Good—they all get what armored magic cars are.
The conference hall where the four-nation reps gathered was dead silent. Turei smirked and snorted repeatedly. Duke Manfred's face turned ashen at Duke Brendel's advice, while Duke Fabius glared at me like he wanted to kill me over some grievance.
They'd just witnessed the continental power map flip completely.
Duke Fabius slammed the negotiation table and bellowed.
"Baekmyeon! You hid forces like armored magic cars from me without a word?"
I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Why make a fuss? Even allies have military secrets they can't share."
"Military secrets? Then why show them today? Don't tell me it was a mistake."
"Obviously not. I show what’s worth showing. Honestly, Bastain Kingdom could make them too."
Duke Fabius looked puzzled.
"Us?"
"Yeah. Transferred magic steam locomotive tech recently, right? This is a derivative."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. So don't gripe at me—tell Bastain to make some if they're interested."
"Ahem. Understood."
Duke Brendel urgently asked me.
"Baekmyeon. So we in the Empire can make armored magic cars too?"
"Yeah. You bought the railway system tech. Just add some creativity."
"I see. Got it."
Duke Brendel seemed hooked on armored magic cars too. My intent had landed perfectly.
The reason I'd unveiled the concept today was partly to instill fear, but mostly to make them antsy. To build armored magic cars.
Even with the tech, developing a new weapon system takes ages. Needs serious R&D and strategy time.
Ironically, that buys peace—no need to rush into war and risk defeat when you can develop superweapons.
Plus, if they build them, humanity gets stronger. Better prep for the future apocalypse.
Sure, if they used them to invade Kara, it'd suck—but no biggie. We had levitation boats. They could rain catapult strikes from beyond arrow or magic bullet range. Unbeatable.
"Alright. Let me explain the conditional three-nation alliance concept to you all."
I laid out the meaning and my thoughts without filter. Long-winded, but boiled down to: start a war, and you lose.
Duke Manfred spoke up, looking flustered.
"Baekmyeon. What you're doing is clear and serious interference in our Empire's internal affairs."
I scowled.
"Fuck. You think I want to? I'm doing this 'cause it's so goddamn ridiculous."
"Pardon?"
"Be real—you don't want war."
Duke Manfred glanced at Turei. No good came from enemies knowing their intentions.
"Well..."
"And you mobilized over one guy—Cloud Duke's threat, right?"
"There's that element, but..."
"That's not how you wage war. What'll you tell the soldiers dying and the people suffering? Sweeping the orc plains? For what—there's nothing to loot. Just wasting national strength. What the hell?"
"..."
Duke Manfred averted his eyes, speechless. My words weren't wrong, and starting a war on Cloud Grandpa's say-so must seem insane to him.
Bigger issue: Cloud Grandpa was missing. The Empire was in a real pickle.
"The conditional alliance isn't interference—it's mediation. Sure, threatening, but aimed at Cloud Duke, not the Empire. Why threaten people who don't want war? It's mockery. A gift—use me as excuse to stop."
"Ah, yes."
"Tell your emperor my intent clearly. It's a threat, but not to the Empire or him. Just to arrogant Cloud Duke. Got it?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
I turned to Turei.
"What about Great Chieftain Grollmog? He accepting the conditional three-nation alliance?"
"Not sure yet."
I frowned.
"What? I showed trust—demanded it first. The conditional alliance."
"Great Chieftain says treaties mean nothing. Promises get broken. He wants different trust."
"Like what?"
"Baekmyeon. He says he'll judge you in person."
"Me? Why?"
"Dunno. But you must come to the orc plains for his trust. Come for peace; don't, and war."
I rubbed my face. That damn orc was too picky.
I hoped the old orc lived, but didn't particularly want to see him. I'd been hunted near death by him in my past life—major trauma.
But no choice. No visit meant war.
Ugh. Fuck! These old bastards—human or orc—are all selfish pricks.