Chapter 201: The Wheel of Destiny (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 201: The Wheel of Destiny (1)
In Dmitry's reception room.
As he entered, a familiar face came into view.
Edwin Hector, who was casually sipping tea, welcomed Roman Dmitry with a natural expression.
"It has been a long time."
"What brings you to see me?"
"You are in a hurry. Please, have a seat first."
It was an unexpected visit.
The last memory Roman Dmitry and Edwin Hector shared was far from pleasant.
Watching Roman tear down the castle walls and slaughter Hector's soldiers, Edwin Hector had glared at him with eyes filled with enough hatred to weep tears of blood. Their relationship was undoubtedly ill-fated. No matter how much personal feelings had to be set aside for national interests, they were not on terms to exchange peaceful pleasantries like this.
Roman took a seat.
Perhaps to ease the tension, Edwin Hector lightly brought up a topic of conversation.
"First of all, congratulations on the founding of the Dmitry Duchy. I always knew you were an extraordinary individual, Lord Roman Dmitry, but I never imagined you would settle Cairo's civil war in one fell swoop and even defeat the Kronos Empire. Many in Hector were astonished by your actions. Everyone is furious at the Empire's atrocities, but no one actually puts their words into action quite like you do."
"Get straight to the point. We are not close enough to exchange embarrassing compliments."
"...That is true. To be honest, I never expected us to meet anywhere other than a battlefield either."
The atmosphere grew cold.
That day.
Edwin Hector still could not forget it.
Though he forced a smile now for a specific purpose, on the battlefield, Roman Dmitry had been nothing short of an overwhelming terror. Back when they had crossed the border for the sake of their country, Hector's soldiers had been unilaterally slaughtered. The defeated remnants, having gained absolutely nothing, were left with no choice but to endure a brutally cold and harsh winter.
And then there was Butler.
Having suffered severe internal injuries, Butler required a full year of rehabilitation just to hold a sword again.
Edwin's heart burned with anguish.
Hearing news of Butler's nightly despair and frustration while staying in Sky, Edwin Hector had fallen into deep guilt, believing his choices had been entirely wrong. Hector was in decline. If he had not instigated the war, things might have been difficult in the short term, but they would not have had to experience the agonizing pain of such a defeat.
He caught his breath.
Despite their past ill-fate.
Precisely because he had experienced Roman Dmitry on the battlefield, he was all the more convinced that he had to meet him.
Edwin Hector spoke.
"I will get straight to the point. The war between Cairo and Hector. Behind it, there was a mastermind who instigated the conflict."
* * *
Roman Dmitry's expression didn't change.
Seeing him calmly accept such shocking news, Edwin Hector poured out the words he had organized in his mind.
"As you know, Lord Roman Dmitry, the Hector Kingdom decided on war due to consecutive years of poor harvests. I am not making excuses for that. We attacked Cairo to survive, and that is inexcusable. However, immediately after the war ended, we discovered circumstances suggesting that the famine might have been artificially engineered."
The timing was far too coincidental.
Villages that had previously seemed normal began showing abnormal signs as soon as the war ended, as if there was no longer any need to hide it.
"It began with a single village in Hector. It was a village that had been suffering from an unusually severe famine, but as soon as the war ended, reports came in that the ground had dried up, turning crumbly and pitch-black, and an excessive number of animal carcasses were found nearby. And that was just the beginning. As these anomalies suddenly spread throughout Hector, we realized there was another reason behind the famine plaguing our kingdom. It was clearly a Necromancer's curse. Those who had spent a long time drying up the land stopped hiding the true nature of the curse once they achieved their goal."
Maintaining such a curse required a corresponding amount of effort.
The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.
Hector had believed that God had abandoned their country due to the continuous crop failures, but the real reason lay elsewhere.
When suspicion turned into conviction, Edwin Hector could not contain his boiling rage.
The war with Cairo.
Just how many people had died?
Those who had marched onto the battlefield to feed Hector had met a monster named Roman Dmitry and achieved absolutely nothing. He did not want to blame his opponent. Falling foolishly for the mastermind's plot and losing the war were ultimately the faults of Hector's own incompetent leadership.
However, he needed to uncover the truth.
Having joined the Magic Tower through a deal with Sky, he had spent a grueling year investigating.
"Which faction benefited the most from the war between Cairo and Hector? Thinking simply, one can confidently say it was the Kronos Empire. Since they intend to use Cairo as a bridgehead for their continental conquest, they would benefit regardless of whether Cairo or Hector won. Thus, I focused my investigation on them. At first, I didn't want to believe it. No matter how extreme the Empire's ambitions were, black magic is a domain humanity must never touch."
Exactly one year had passed.
Recently, he had discovered a single, undeniable fact.
And that fact had led Edwin Hector straight to Dmitry.
"I discovered that ten years ago, a phenomenon identical to Hector's had occurred within the Kronos Empire. It was an intentionally engineered famine, but rather than taking active measures to resolve it, the Kronos Empire covered up the truth. And when we found a clue regarding a person connected to it, we realized that their famine was the result of an 'experiment'."
It wasn't perfect evidence.
The person who knew about the famine was merely an errand boy, lacking the weight to serve as solid proof.
However, Edwin Hector had attained certainty.
Looking at Roman Dmitry, he revealed the true purpose of his visit.
"It was just as we suspected. The mastermind was none other than the Kronos Empire."
* * *
A war between two kingdoms.
The practical benefit to be gained from it was obvious.
It was the principle of using barbarians to control barbarians.
Even without exerting much effort, the Kronos Empire could drive Cairo into a corner by drawing in external forces. In fact, the war on the Southern Front had directly benefited Kronos. The Hector Kingdom had tried to bring in the Kronos Empire to resolve their disadvantageous situation, and regardless of the outcome, the Cairo Kingdom was left with no choice but to focus on the Southern Front rather than the Western Front for a while.
Slowly, but surely.
Cairo was being suffocated.
Just as Hector withered from the famine, internal and external conflicts were gradually weakening Cairo.
Edwin Hector spoke.
"People only focus on the atrocities the Kronos Empire commits right before their eyes. Because they openly speak of continental conquest, people consider themselves fortunate as long as their own borders aren't directly invaded. But the truth is entirely different. The Kronos Empire is cunningly tearing down obstacles one by one. Their top priority is Cairo. Unlike the Kingdom Alliance, where four kingdoms have joined forces, they want to use Cairo—which they can defeat with relatively little effort—as a bridgehead for war. Cairo, Hector... Once they crush both kingdoms and completely seize control of the northern part of the continent, they will split the continent in half and begin their full-scale conquest."
"If that is true, why did you come to me instead of making it public?" Roman asked. "Black magic is a highly sensitive topic. Even the Kronos Empire wouldn't be able to completely evade responsibility for it."
"I agree. But that alone cannot bring down the Empire. If anything, it might even trigger an early outbreak of the Continental War. The Kronos Empire is currently restraining its ambition due to the presence of the Valhalla Empire, but in reality, it wouldn't be surprising if war broke out this very moment. And I have no confidence that the strength of the Kingdom Alliance alone, excluding the empires, can withstand Kronos's ambitions."
The evidence was flimsy.
Kronos could simply deny it, and Edwin knew all too well that claims unsupported by power were utterly meaningless.
That was why he had thought of Roman Dmitry first.
"Our relationship was wrong from the start. The responsibility lies entirely with Hector, and if you wish to hold us accountable, I will gladly accept it. However, to stop Kronos's ambition, Dmitry and Hector must join forces."
This was his true purpose.
An alliance.
He wanted Roman Dmitry's strength.
"For years, the people of Hector starved to death. Every time I think about how their gaunt faces were caused by the Kronos Empire, I feel that I cannot live under the same sky as them. Even now, my heart burns. I am so angry I could go mad. This is not just Hector's problem. So, please, join my plan to bring down the Kronos Empire."
It was a somewhat one-sided conversation.
Edwin Hector poured out all the resentment he had harbored, and his words carried considerable weight.
Yet...
It was strange.
Even after hearing the entire truth, Roman Dmitry's expression remained incredibly calm.
* * *
A strange atmosphere settled over the room.
Roman Dmitry took a sip of his tea, set down the teacup, and looked at Edwin Hector.
"I already knew."
"...What do you mean by that?"
"After the battle on the Southern Front, I scattered my people across the continent. In truth, the war between Hector and Cairo was something no one desired, and I suspected it might have been artificially engineered. Just as you said, Prince Edwin Hector, the entity that benefited from the bloodshed of both nations was far too obvious."
The Hao Sect.
The members of his information guild had infiltrated every corner of the continent.
They gathered all kinds of intelligence, and as they pieced the puzzle together, they obtained clues about black magic.
Hector's famine.
It reeked of artificial manipulation.
Although Roman had not found clear evidence pointing directly to the Kronos Empire like Edwin Hector had, he could at least deduce that there was a conspiracy at play. In truth, it was not that surprising. While Edwin Hector expressed outrage over how humans could use black magic, Roman had experienced far worse in Murim.
Jiangshi created from corpses.
Monsters that sucked the Qi of humans.
There were plenty of people who would gladly abandon their humanity to achieve their goals.
Roman Dmitry spoke.
"We are already preparing for war with Kronos. They will undoubtedly put their ambitions of continental conquest into action, and they will stop at nothing to bring down Dmitry, just as they did with the Hector Kingdom. But putting that aside, why should Dmitry participate in a plan led by Hector?"
"...Does that mean you are rejecting my proposal?"
"Let us be precise. To be exact, I am asking if Hector is in any position to make such a proposal."
His gaze shifted.
It was the exact same look he had on the battlefield.
Roman Dmitry glared at Edwin Hector with a fierce gaze, as if he were about to devour him whole.
"The Hector Kingdom was driven into a corner exactly as Kronos intended. And despite launching a surprise attack on the Cairo Kingdom, you achieved absolutely nothing. That speaks to Hector's weakness. Due to the prolonged famine, Hector has rotted from the inside out, and people who cannot even eat or live properly will inevitably lose their value as soldiers as time goes on. And that is not all."
It was a brutal truth.
Roman Dmitry ruthlessly exposed what Edwin had tried so hard to ignore.
"The war with Cairo is over, and the engineered famine has ended. However, restoring land that has already withered takes time, and the people of the Hector Kingdom are still suffering from hunger due to unresolved issues. I heard that you, Prince Edwin Hector, received massive support upon entering Sky. But has that completely solved Hector's problems? If war were to break out right now, does Hector have abundant provisions and the perfect environment to arm its troops? Prince... I do not doubt your sincerity. Your care for your people and your burning desire for revenge must make you want to tear down the Kronos Empire by any means necessary. But..."
This meeting.
The conversation, which had been expected to go smoothly, had gone awry from the start, perfectly mirroring the ill-fated relationship between the two men.
"Instead of telling me things I already know, give me a reason why Dmitry should join hands with you."