episode_0148

After a week, William nods his head as he looks at the dam with satisfaction, seeing that it has been completed.

“Hmm… The water flow downstream of the river has decreased considerably. You probably noticed something strange in Toulouse too. There’s no response.”

Matthew responds to William’s words.

“Let’s hear it, Hani. I heard that General Dzeko prefers defensive warfare. He’s probably locked in his fortress, preparing for a defensive battle.”

At those words, William shakes his head and sighs.

“Zeko does not prefer defensive warfare. He’s just a coward. The only people who are really good at defensive warfare are Adin and Uthman of the Babylonian Empire.”

William clicks his tongue and speaks, recalling memories of the hardships he endured after defeating the Babylonian Empire that invaded his empire in the past and entering their land.

“I say there are a lot of people around Yoanes. How did they send me a diploma like that? I want…”

Matthew speaks carefully at those words.

“Did you really expect us to use manual labor? Probably no one expected it.”

William shakes his head and says those words.

“Although we did not expect the effort, it was foolish to just abandon the fortress of Ephesus.”

Thinking about the surrender of the fortress of Ephesus in less than two days, William trembles at Zeko’s incompetence.

“In war, the incompetence of our troops is more dangerous than the enemy’s large troops. If Zeko had deployed 20,000… or even 10,000 troops to Ephesus, it would have been difficult for us to gain time to launch an assault.”

In fact, as soon as Ephesus was easily captured, the Golden Knights were deployed to quickly build a dam, so William was not wrong.

“Well, whatever. Once construction is completed today, everyone should rest well for about three days. After that, we’ll have to deal with the remainder.”

Matthew is lost in thought as he sees William heading to look around the embankment that will divert the river to Toulouse.

‘The knight commander… you are truly a blessing from God to the empire…’

***

Meanwhile, a letter was sent to Zeko at that time.

A letter from Ioanes reprimanding Dzeko.

[Dear General Dzeko.

How can you move so rashly?

Even if it was the Golden Knights, it would have been difficult to overcome if they had relied on the fortress to fight. How could they easily abandon Ephesus?

First of all, I urgently ordered additional troops to be reinforced from Byzantium, so I hope you will find a way to prevent the enemy from blocking the supply.

As you well know, if Adria falls to the enemy, our troops’ supplies will be in jeopardy.

The Jarl Front and the Dupol Front will meet within a few weeks, so we will do our best to protect Toulouse.]

Zeko trembles after seeing the letter.

‘Big… it’s a big deal. Your Majesty was angry. ‘What should I do?’

Zeko feels fear and worry and tries to think of a way to escape this situation…

There is no way that comes to mind for him.

‘I have thoughts too. Your Majesty doesn’t know anything…’

Zeko’s plan seems like a good decision.

Of course, they said to deploy 10,000 men in Ephesus when the enemy lands on the Adriatic Sea, but I think that was an order given because they did not think the Golden Knights had arrived.

But when he sees Ioanes so angry, Dzeko feels sad.

‘Your Highness… you don’t even know that I’m doing my best. ‘I’m upset.’

But regardless of his personal thoughts, he must escape the current situation.

Otherwise, you might be executed for disobeying orders.

So, it’s time to worry about whether he will somehow overcome the obstacle.

“Huh? Don’t you think the river has cooled down a bit these days?”

Soldiers say with puzzled faces as they look at the river flowing next to the fortress.

“After hearing it, it seems like that?”

“Is it because it hasn’t rained these days?”

Everyone begins to whisper as they see the water level in the river has dropped.

***

A letter from Agrippa stating that the United Kingdom had dealt a huge blow to Nicaea’s navy.

I am troubled by the technique of throwing a shot put with a ballista, which has a much longer range than ours.

Hmm… interesting.

It’s a tactic specialized for naval warfare.

The strategy of mounting a heavy ballista on a ship and throwing a shot put seems quite good, but it is not a good strategy to use on land.

For that reason, the Empire is excellent at attacking using knights.

In that case, if you shoot a heavy ballista, you will be targeted by knights and will be helpless against their attacks.

In comparison, grenadiers and wizards can move after attacking, and grenadiers in particular have equipment that can counter knights, so it is not easy for knights to attack them.

Although wizards attack enemies with magic, the range is not that long, but this is why they do not prefer attacks using ballistas.

But it’s different in a naval battle.

Because there is no driver to improve mobility.

-smart

“Who?”

[His Majesty the Emperor has visited.]

It’s been a while since I came here.

It’s been quite a while since the last cabinet meeting, but the corners of my mouth slowly turn up at the fact that I’ve finally made it to the Grand Duke’s Office.

Are you finally going to have a little less work to do?

“Take them inside.”

I have a pleasant imagination that I can get some relief from the pile of papers.

“Are you here?”

Theodora nodded with a cold expression at my words.

“First, sit over there.”

I say this as I watch him obediently sit down on the sofa as I say.

“Okay, now back to official duties…”

“Because I’m going to go out often from now on. I came to ask for permission.”

outing? allow?

Could it be that he came here to acquire the talent that Duke Jans was talking about?

Her words make me smile a little bitterly.

I thought you were here to relieve me of some work.

When you think like that. She continues speaking.

“And I will be grateful to the university from now on. That’s how I know it.”

Thanks to the Grand Duke?

“What and how do you want to thank me?”

She responds to my puzzled words.

“I will check all reports coming to you from now on. So I need to know how the empire is going now.”

I frown at those words.

That’s right too. The reports coming to me are content that will inevitably lead to confusion if made public, ranging from details about Theodora being monitored, reports on a demon worshiper called Amon, and a research report on a plan for the imperial faction to fall under Theodora for a stable transfer of power. There are a lot of these.

But after thinking about it, I reach a new conclusion.

Excluding reports from the Ministry of Information, there would be no harm in making it public, right?

All sensitive information is handled by the Intelligence Department.

I rub my chin and get lost in thought.

Logically, I am confident that there will be no major problems as long as the information department’s reports do not flow to her, but it seems necessary to reprimand her for ignoring her responsibility and throwing away her work until now.

Should I give it a try first?

“I will allow you to go out. Instead, the security will be based on the emperor’s visit. And the audit of the Grand Duke… is not permitted.”

Theodora frowns at my words.

“Surely, according to imperial law, I have the authority to audit the Archduchy?”

I leisurely accept what she said, which I expected.

“That’s it. It’s the same when you’re a good emperor who does his job well. I don’t think this is something an emperor who abandoned his official duties because of something unpleasant like you would say?”

Theodora’s face blushes slightly at my words.

That is to say, saying that a noble cannot fulfill his or her duties is the same as saying that he or she is not qualified to be a noble.

In other words, you can think of it as me saying that Theodora is not qualified to be emperor.

“That… That! You are with Epirus…”

I cut her off and speak coldly.

“Obligation is something that must be done no matter what. No matter what excuse you have.”

Nobles have a duty to follow the orders of the rightful emperor.

If you don’t follow that, you have nothing to say even if your title is taken away.

Typically, there are two reasons why I can currently give orders to all nobles, regardless of factions such as the Emperor and Anti-Emperor faction. Refusing the right to convene and command the capital’s troops given to me by the Assembly is an act of abandoning their duty, and failing to follow my orders, which allow me to use the emperor’s privileges, is an act of abandoning my own duty.

No matter how bad our relationship is, nobles do not abandon their duties.

That’s the same as saying that you and your family are no longer nobles.

“Ugh…”

Theodora shakes her shoulders briefly, as if she is exasperated by my words.

She gently closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

After a few seconds like that, she gently opens her beautiful red eyes and speaks.

“Ha… I like it. So what do you want?”

“From now on, I will come to the Ministry of Defense and take care of the official duties that I was supposed to do, and I will be grateful to exclude the report from the Ministry of Intelligence because it contains a lot of sensitive content. I am satisfied with these two things.”

There has been a great harvest in recent internal affairs.

Fertilizer production was successful.

Of course, it is still a fertilizer in the testing stage and research is needed to mass produce it, but I am happy that fertilizer research has achieved great results sooner than expected.

In addition, there are many other achievements.

Princess Ea’s project has also been a huge success, and we are now in contact with guilds to produce related products.

It is also encouraging to know that the existing processing method to significantly increase the shelf life of magic stones and the technology to refine mana into magic stones have shown some results.

And considering the indicators comparing tax revenues and prices from the Ministry of Education in the previous quarter.

It clearly shows that the empire’s economy has developed.

Well… it’s probably natural because the government has increased spending on experiments and research using investment funds other than war.

I was worried that inflation might have occurred, so I looked into related data, but other than a very slight increase in prices, there was nothing unusual.

In other words… we can say that the empire’s economy is moving toward a boom period.

Theodore nods his head slightly at my words.

“Good. Then… I will carry out my previous official duties as you said.”

In this way, Theodora’s official duties, excluding that of the Ministry of Intelligence, resumed.