Chapter 132

Variables and Changes (1)

Leon fell silent in thought, as though recalling a memory. After a moment, his eyes darkened.

"... It's a feeling that's difficult to put into words."

He tapped his fingertips again, as though choosing his words.

"His appearance hadn't changed. His manner of speaking and his behavior weren't much different from before, either. But..."

He exhaled slowly, then murmured in a low voice.

"Perhaps I should say he seemed like... a puppet playing the part of Blake."

"A puppet?"

"Yes. He seemed to be consciously acting out the role of Blake."

"Hmm."

"But I'm not certain. For some reason, my memories of Blake... aren't clear. I can barely remember what he was like as a child."

Leon shook his head, looking confused.

Was Blake the Sovereign of Darkness?

It seemed I would have to capture and interrogate him myself to get a definitive answer.

That was disappointing, but this hadn't been fruitless. At least I had learned that Blake had a 'close' connection to the Sovereign of Darkness.

Moreover, Leon and I had clearly 'perceived' Blake through Present Vision[L] and Predatory Instincts[S]. He could no longer hide in the darkness. He could no longer serve as an unknown variable.

And if Blake was the Sovereign of Darkness, then I had neutralized the Emperor's greatest and most dangerous variable.

If so.

Aucta From Afar—the one who existed far beyond understanding and perception.

I would be able to bring the Emperor of the empire into the palm of my hand.

I needed to set up a new game to draw him in.

"... Hmm? Are you leaving?"

"I am."

"So suddenly?"

"There's no reason for me to remain at the palace any longer, is there? Unless there's something you need my help with?"

"Not as such..."

Leon broke off, picked up his quill, and scribbled on a piece of parchment. Then he stamped the royal seal onto it with a bang and handed it to me.

"Take this with you."

"What is it?"

"A royal decree incorporating Veneron viscounty into Whitewolf county."

"Are you really allowed to give it away just like that?"

"If anyone doesn't like it, they can become crown prince themselves."

... Was making this guy crown prince really the right decision?

"So you're openly acting as crown prince now?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Prince Walter won't take that lying down."

"What can Walter do when he's implicated in treason? More importantly, do you think he can beat me?"

... He had a point. Walter was a prince by blood alone. In ability or any other respect, he was no match for Leon.

"Blake is still alive. If he returns to the palace—"

"What could he do even if he did return?"

... He had a point there, too.

Blake couldn't erase rumors that had spread throughout the kingdom from everyone's memories. With Leon and me aware of him, making people forget his existence would be difficult as well. A warrant for his arrest had therefore been issued nationwide.

There was nowhere left for Blake to set foot in the Kingdom of Battenberg.

With the king already bedridden thanks to Queen Marceline's machinations, Leon was serving as regent as well. He simply hadn't been formally invested as crown prince; in practice, he wielded virtually the same authority as the king.

Leon's approval was the king's will, and his commands set the entire kingdom in motion.

In that case, I might as well take advantage of the situation.

"Then give me a decree investing Seraphia as countess, too."

"Of course."

Huh?

He was agreeing that readily?

"Have you given up?"

"Hardly. Didn't I tell you before? I'll keep proposing until you give me permission, so I'm already as good as married to Seraphia."

"Then why—"

"Once I have your permission, I can simply strip Seraphia of the countship and invest you as count."

"You can't treat a count's title like—"

"I'm the crown prince. What is anyone going to do about it?"

... Was making this guy crown prince really the right decision?

Leon quickly wrote out the decree and handed it to me.

"Anything else I can do to earn points with you?"

"Lend me the authority of the royal court, too."

"What for?"

"There's someone I'm currently sponsoring. Her name is Iliana, a mistress's daughter of House Segretus."

"Hmm."

Leon seemed to ponder for a moment, then said,

"You want the royal court to use its authority to protect this Iliana from Marquis Segretus?"

Present Vision[L] spared me a lengthy explanation. I liked that aspect of it.

"That's right."

Queen Marceline had fallen, but Marquis Segretus was still going strong. But if the royal court protected Iliana directly?

No matter what he tried, the marquis wouldn't be able to lay a finger on her.

"Very well. I needed to keep Marquis Segretus in check anyway. Leave it to me."

Leon nodded readily.

"If there's anything else I can do to earn points, just say the word."

"This is enough."

"Come now. Tell me."

He didn't seem to have the slightest intention of giving up. It looked as though he'd keep pestering me...

'Oh, right.'

A good idea occurred to me.

"Your Highness, there's a knight named Kai in the county."

"Kai...? Ah, yes. I know of him."

"You know Kai?"

"Isn't he House Whitewolf's head knight? Commander Lucas has been watching for a chance to recruit him, so I made a point of remembering him."

So the recruitment overtures from the royal guard had apparently come from the Royal Guard. That made this easier.

"Win Kai's approval."

"Hmm?"

"Then I'll give you as many points as you want."

"Do you mean that?"

Leon's eyes lit up. He seemed to have taken my words at face value: all he had to do was win Kai's approval.

In other words, he didn't know that Kai was a lunatic prepared to make an enemy of 'anyone' for Seraphia's sake.

Getting my permission would be easier. Unaware of that, however, Leon was brimming with anticipation.

"There was a dwarven-made sword among the bribes I received..."

Looking at it this way, the situation was rather peculiar.

The Lion of the Allied Army and the Legion Commander of Bitter Cold—with the Sovereign of Bitter Cold between them.

"Ah! Here it is! Take this and give it to Kai as a gift."

It looked as though quite an entertaining spectacle was in store.

* * *

After leaving Leon's office, I returned to the palace guest suites.

That concluded all my business in the capital. But it wasn't the end of everything.

Blake remained a nagging concern, and above all, the Emperor was certain to respond in some way.

Perhaps he would intervene with military force. He might even be willing to wage war.

If I was going to set up a new game to draw him in, I needed to prepare accordingly.

◆A player-owned realm exists.

◆Would you like to register the player-owned realm in 「Management Mode」?

I had been a little worried because I hadn't inherited the countship, but I could still use 「Management Mode」 normally.

When I registered Veneron viscounty, which Leon had granted me, it was recognized as my realm, and messages appeared before my eyes.

◆Registering the player-owned realm in 「Management Mode」.

◆Loading...

Registration was taking quite a while. I brought up the existing 「Management Mode」 information for Whitewolf county, taking the opportunity to check the newly unlocked [Resources] function.

==<Whitewolf County>==

[Area] - 2,234 km²

[Population] - 4,003

[Prosperity] - Township

[Resources] - Trace

There were some noticeable differences from last time. First, the population had increased dramatically.

Apparently, completing the Territory Quest [Here Come the Recruits!] had caused the Vister recruits to be counted as residents of the county.

Sure enough, the number of soldiers in the occupational breakdown had increased from 598 to 2,730.

'And...'

There was the newly added [Resources] category, the reward for the Territory Quest I had completed by gaining Leon's recognition.

Like Prosperity, it seemed to have tiers based on resource distribution. When I checked, I found the following progression:

Absent < Trace < Scattered < Localized < Abundant < Overwhelming.

Whitewolf county was rated 'Trace,' the second-lowest tier. It was quite surprising that it wasn't at the very bottom, Absent...

◆Native Resources - [Ice], [Moss]

◆Undeveloped Farmland Area - 0 km²

◆No land suitable for agriculture exists.

◆No abandoned ruins exist.

◆No rare mineral deposits exist.

... Well, I hadn't expected much. At least there was ice. Ice was a valuable resource in its own right.

◆Registration complete.

At last, the completion message appeared, followed by the information for Veneron viscounty.

==<Whitewolf County 2>==

[Area] - 282 km²

[Population] - 0

[Prosperity] - Ruin

[Resources] - Overwhelming

Whitewolf County 2.

Apparently, the name had changed because its incorporation into the county had abolished the name Veneron viscounty.

... But what kind of name was that?

'I can change the realm's name, at least.'

There was no need to do it right away, so I left it alone for now.

'Let's see...'

A viscounty was generally around ten square kilometers. Even a large one only covered about fifty.

At 282 square kilometers, this far exceeded the norm for a viscounty.

'Why did he give me so much?'

Apparently, Leon had quietly added more land. Count Edmond, who had originally granted the viscounty, had also left behind a county with no lord thanks to Avarus. Leon seemed to have added that, too.

He had effectively given me an entire county.

And that wasn't all.

'Overwhelming?'

Its resource distribution was rated Overwhelming. That was quite unexpected. Even in the tundra, resources weren't plentiful.

I had expected Scattered, or Localized at best. But Overwhelming?

◆Native Resources - [Blue Sandalwood], [Reindeer], [Moose], [Smelt], [Whitefish], [Cod], [Cranberries]

◆Undeveloped farmland covers 171 km².

◆Rye, potatoes, barley, and buckwheat can be cultivated.

◆No abandoned ruins exist.

... It certainly was different.

There were native plants and animals, along with various species of fish. There was also land that could be cleared for farming, allowing crops to be cultivated.

But calling it 'Overwhelming' on that basis alone seemed a stretch...

◆Rare mineral deposits exist.

'There are rare mineral deposits?'

The moment the question occurred to me, a new message appeared.

◆A runesteel vein exists.

'A runesteel vein!'

My eyes flew wide before I knew it.

Runesteel.

A rare metal, a special steel imbued with magical properties that made it resistant to mana. It didn't merely resist mana, either; it could temporarily 'nullify' it.

That made it ill-suited for weapons. Because it nullified mana, it couldn't hold aura or magical power.

For armor, however, its effectiveness was absurd. Its ability to nullify mana had earned it a reputation as a mage's nightmare.

Knights were no exception. It could even withstand an aura blade, the hallmark of a Master, allowing a coordinated group of knights to hold a Master at bay.

And that wasn't all. Used on a building's outer walls, it turned the structure into an impregnable fortress. It was so outrageously overpowered that it changed the very concept of siege warfare.

Naturally, its value was astronomical. It was ridiculously expensive.

Worth its weight in gold? No. It was worth more than its weight in diamonds.

There wasn't enough available to cover a building's exterior in the first place, and the astronomical cost would be impossible to bear.

And yet.

[Area] - 46.7 km²

[Mineral] - Runesteel Ore

[Reserves] - 1,676,420,552 tons

A truly staggering quantity of runesteel lay buried in Whitewolf County 2. A full 1.67 billion tons.

It was no exaggeration to say that this dwarfed the supply of runesteel across the entire continent. It truly was 'Overwhelming.'

Come to think of it...

'Could this be why Avarus made his secret vault's door out of solid runesteel...?'

Apparently, it was.

The roughly twenty million gold in the secret vault hadn't come from the Dark Merchant Company, either, it seemed. It was likely the profit Avarus had made selling runesteel.

But...

'Even Avarus didn't know there was this much buried here.'

After all...

'Even the empire didn't have this much runesteel in my previous life.'

Runesteel was so scarce that even the empire managed it as a strategic resource. It had never secured enough for large-scale armament.

It was used only in sections of the defensive walls at key strongholds and vital structures, and distributed in limited quantities to a select few of the most elite soldiers.

In other words, neither Avarus nor the empire and its Emperor had known that Whitewolf County 2 contained so much runesteel.

Which meant I hadn't known, either. If I had, I would have tried to obtain it by any means necessary. I probably would have made securing Whitewolf County 2 my first priority as soon as I returned to the past.

This was information neither the Emperor nor I had possessed. Yet I had learned it through Ian's ability, 「Management Mode」.

Then had Ian known?

'... He hadn't known, either.'

I still didn't understand how a function like this was possible. But even if Ian had possessed 「Management Mode」, he couldn't have known. Back then, Whitewolf County 2 had been a realm ruled by the Sovereign of Bitter Cold.

「Management Mode」 only worked for realms one 'owned.' It therefore couldn't have provided Ian with information about County 2.

But now, by taking ownership of Whitewolf County 2, I had obtained information that had been beyond my reach in my previous life.

A variable.

One that hadn't existed in my previous life. One that could put the Emperor in the palm of my hand.

The greatest variable of all was now mine.