Chapter 153

Chapter 153: Informant

The leadership of the Imperial House was moving busily.
A strategy team composed of dozens of legal advisors and strategists was organizing the materials for the public hearing.
Alexander, who had the fire at his feet, watched them quietly.
From the experts’ perspective, that was much better.
Because it was obvious that if Alexander intervened there, he would only delay the strategy team.
The only thing he could do was observe this situation as much as possible.
And use his current position to gather the most capable people possible.
Even so, as if to prove that he was not merely twiddling his thumbs, he had an achievement.
“Are these contents certain?”
Alexander read the copied plan and uttered a name into that crystal orb.
“Baron Giyot?”
Baron Giyot. He was a noble who acted as a lord in the Far East.
“Y-yes, sir!”
“Relax a bit. I’m not trying to eat you, why so much tension?”
“Ah, I-I’m sorry! Anyway, the scenario sent is a summary of a brainstorming session regarding what strategy Regent-nim will take in this meeting.”
“Regent-nim?”
“Ah, Regent. Regent Ferda…”
Alexander acted sensitive and Baron Giyot shrank back.
The breathing heard through the crystal orb wavered, then he finally opened his mouth.
“Uhm… Crown Prince-nim…”
“What is it?”
“If this goes well, will you keep the promise?”
“That is absurd… Are you doubting me right now?”
“Ah, no! How could I? Me saying something presumptuous and strange again…”
Alexander sighed as if it were pathetic and spoke.
“Do not worry. I will protect your safety. And I will also prepare a position for you within the Inner Wall.”
“Thank you for saying it again! I don’t know what to do with myself! Thank you!”
“So, since you are acting as a traitor, spy thoroughly.”
“Understood! Please remember this Giyot who is always loyal to the Empire!”
With that, the crystal orb’s communication was cut off.
A position can be created at any time.
If it cannot be created?
Simply discard him.
Since he had become a traitor anyway, whether the promise was fulfilled or not meant nothing to Alexander.
The people in the Empire are mere consumables; things that can be discarded at any time once their use is over.
The nobles are no different.
‘Even so, I secured a promise from Old Golt to help…’
There is no way things will turn out unfavorable for Alexander.
Besides, doesn’t he have that “assistant” that everyone wants?
Just thinking about it pleased him, so he expressed his gratitude once more unnecessarily.
“To think you would lend me your wisdom, it is truly touching.”
The middle-aged man sitting there responded with dignity.
“Not at all. The pillars of the Empire are those with Golden Blood flowing, so how could I not help, Your Majesty?”
“Your Majesty, I am still only the Crown Prince.”
“You will ascend to the throne and reign someday, so what difference does it make calling you that now?”
“Haha! Did you see the future where I become king?”
“Of course.”
Upon hearing those words, an unfounded confidence surged.
Alexander’s ears twitched at the flattery, but this man’s flattery was on a different dimension.
No wonder, since he was precisely…
“Thank you for cooperating with me, Sage of Water.”
Because he was Helus Povidas, famous in the world as the Sage of Water.
“Not at all. I am honored to cooperate with you, Your Highness.”
A laugh full of certainty of victory spread through the Crown Prince’s office.

“…The above is the Crown Prince’s current strategy.”
“I understand.”
Ferda, having received the copy, answered briefly.
While he read it in silence, an uneasy voice sounded troubled.
“Uhm… Do I have to stay here continuously?”
Helus asked cautiously.
Ferda asked him as if dumbfounded.
“Can’t you do everything you can do here, over there?”
“S-sure… but rather it is to the point of being a burden.”
As much as Helus lived strutting around as a Sage, inside him resided a poor mage.
So the luxury of the Imperial House was on a different dimension.
When Helus indulged in the luxury he knew, the Imperial people reacted with “befitting a Sage, frugal.”
It was truly shocking that Helus was nothing more than a frog in a well.
“Enjoy while you can there. Imperial entertainment is not something that even common nobles easily experience.”
“Enjoying is fine, but… I have a request.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“T-that… I would like you to help me use Wisdom a bit more…”
A request he had expected.
Ferda answered that request like this.
“For a Sage, three question opportunities should be enough.”
“Three are too few. People ask this and that, how am I supposed to answer everything…?”
“To think that you have to answer everything is stupid, isn’t it?”
“I don’t even know what is important…”
“Use that.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“Answer even things that sometimes don’t seem important, to make them seem important. That is why I sent you.”
It seems he infiltrates the Imperial interior to solve things, but in reality it is just a means to cause confusion.
Olivia also grasped that purpose instantly and sent him to Alexander.
“I will use it in my own way too… but even so, could you increase the number of questions a bit…?”
Helus begging again.
Ferda sighed openly.
‘I thought it would be difficult to use properly…’
It is frustrating beyond imagination.
For now, since he is called one of the most important Sages of the continent, he decided to adjust to match that capacity.
“All right. I will help so that you can ask up to five times a day. Two increased, so think more carefully about what is important when using them.”
“T-thank you very much!”
“Report regularly on what happens while helping Alexander, and prioritize the Princess’s orders. Understood?”
“Y-yes! Of course!”
He will definitely be loyal.
When he saw Olivia, he made a face like someone properly bewitched by the Demon of Lust.
“By the way, the Princess?”
Curious about Olivia’s recent news, he asked.
“Lately she often visits the side of the Alteshin Religion. From what I heard, she is trying to take Saint lessons…”
Reaching the Fourth Circle, she began to properly learn the magic that priests learn.
In faith she reached the difficult Fourth Realization, so the Alteshin Religion will be proactive.
Whether turning her into a nun, or a connection linking the Imperial House and power.
‘Red Circle made of deep faith…’
Ferda still could not understand.
The figure of Olivia suddenly gaining realization in a single room of a cheap inn and spinning her Circle.
Why then, why did Olivia realize?
Religious realization is originally strange.
Awakening two Circle stages at once at the end of a terrible meditation under the Bodhi tree, or sensing the spirit of flowing river water and awakening.
What she saw and how she felt, Olivia herself might not know.
Realization is indescribable, and it fades as the Circle forms.
‘Anyway, the foothold for Saint is made.’
She must reach the Fifth Circle, but having broken through the Fourth Circle, which is the greatest obstacle, Ferda thought that Olivia could do it without problems.

Ferda examined the contents Helus prepared.
…….
It is a mess.
The content was too scattered.
He wondered if he should get angry, but Helus must have judged that it was better to deliver the raw material than to organize it himself.
“Mori.”
Mori, who was waiting, turned her head.
The expressionless girl awaited instructions.
“Organize this content and give it to me.”
She nodded.
Mori scanned quickly and began selecting the key points.
Garnet, observing that process, asked Ferda with a look of surprise.
“Is this girl the source of knowledge that the Sage of Water possessed?”
“Yes.”
“Beyond imagination.”
“Mori’s skill?”
“That too, but there were many parts where the source of knowledge was underestimated because of Helus. It was simply not being used at all.”
Ferda nodded as if sympathizing.
Garnet leaned toward Mori.
To see the text she was writing.
“Chief of Intelligence.”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry, but please do not approach Miss Mori carelessly.”
Isabella glared at her.
Her eyes contained an emotion that was not usually visible.
“I’m sorry, Administrator.”
Garnet felt a chill and stepped back obediently.
It was a sufficiently justified situation.
‘A valuable asset from the Far East, so one must be careful for now.’
To Ferda, who knew her, the situation seemed a bit different.
‘Could even Garnet consider her a rival?’
She was a precious asset, but the fact that it was for extremely personal reasons, only Garnet was unaware of.
Meanwhile, Mori finished the work cleanly and showed the organized version.
The cluster of text became an easy-to-read summary.
Ferda scanned the summary and extracted the necessary information.
“Grand Duke Valdemar Golt seems to be acting as Alexander’s assistant.”
“If Grand Duke Golt assists… the game is practically tilted, isn’t it?”
Valdemar Golt.
At the mention of that name, Garnet’s expression was not good.
Which meant he was that difficult to touch.
Ferda also knew what kind of person this man was.
‘The Emperor’s closest aide…’
If one wondered whether he was loyal to the Emperor, it was unknown, but they were definitely in a symbiotic relationship.
So much prestige, recognized fame, called the Hero of the People.
“The Crisis Countermeasures Headquarters has a total of 5 Supreme Councilors, but Grand Duke Golt also has two other Assemblymen in his pocket.”
The list of Supreme Councilors was as follows:
Hero of the People, Grand Duke Valdemar Golt.
Conqueror of the Black Plague, Marquis Acad de Belung.
Reverse Hero, Count Oldin Rooster.
Rogue Archmage, Erdes Roton.
Leader of the Alteshin Religion, Joseph Faust.
Erdes’s seat was originally occupied by another person, but coincidentally it was a man who ignored Alexander’s deployment order and was beheaded.
That vacancy was granted to Erdes, who obtained the greatest merit in this raid.
Normally, she would not do something so annoying, but knowing that it involved Ferda, she must have attended like a ghost.
“The key is how to win over Valdemar, then.”
“That’s right.”
Ferda remembered the last Grand Duke Golt he had seen.
He was an old man full of age spots, but his back was always straight.
He always wondered about the source of that prestige.
One loved by commoners is hated by nobles, one loved by nobles is hated by commoners, but he receives love from both powers.
“Grand Duke Golt is just a dying old man, so why is he still so strong?”
“It is because of the greenhouse.”
“Greenhouse?”
“Grand Duke Golt’s territory has a dome-shaped greenhouse.”
It was not in Ferda’s memory.
It seemed that, from his position, it was a trivial story, so he didn’t pay attention to it.
“What kind of greenhouse is it?”
“A place that can maintain spring warmth even in the cold winter, and autumn coolness even in summer.”
He wondered why he didn’t remember it, but it was because it wasn’t that amazing.
Because it is basic magic equipped in this castle where Ferda is located.
“If it’s that kind of trick, Fourth Circle mages can do it too, right?”
“Your words are correct.”
If it were that kind of greenhouse, Garnet would not have mentioned it unnecessarily.
“But if the internal mana concentration is also controlled, the story changes.”
“Mana concentration too?”
At those words, Ferda’s interest was also ignited.
“How much can it adjust?”
“I don’t know about high concentration, but at the very least it can create a mana-free zone level.”
Climate adjustment magic, if the consequences can be handled, can be used many times.
But creating a mana-free zone using magic does not work.
It is a principle similar to sucking all the air out of that zone.
A small space perhaps, but applying it to that entire wide dome is impossible for a simple mage.
“If a mana-free zone can be created… cultivating rare ingredients for elixirs wouldn’t be impossible either.”
“That’s right.”
Some ingredients with spiritual efficacy demand extreme conditions.
Among them, the tricky condition is the mana concentration, which is literally difficult to maintain without exhausting people.
“Do you know what spell formula it uses?”
“We tried infiltrating our agents several times to dig it up… but we were almost tracked instead on several occasions.”
Security so strict that not even a secret intelligence organization can dig it up, interesting.
Grand Duke Golt does not come from a family of mages, so how can he possess such technology?
‘Most likely he stole it from some mage or scholar.’
But that alone is not enough.
If a non-mage steals it and makes it his own, it means other mages can copy it easily.
Yet Valdemar understanding the core of a spell formula for which theft alone is not enough.
Which means he is also full of magical talent.
‘If he uses that as a weapon to lead the nobles, Vernel could also become a target.’
Just like Alexander, Valdemar could also target Vernel.
In Halim’s presentation, he generated great expectations, but the pouring results were so astonishing that they paled those expectations.
‘Four ongoing projects in the Grand Duke’s territory.’
Improvement of Magitech Rifles by technicians of the Grand Duke’s territory.
Water purification and waterway development in collaboration with Blue Eye.
Mana Automobile with Escolleia and the Merchant Company.
Improvement of Mana Stone efficiency, the fundamental work for the success of these three projects, still ongoing.
Currently showing a groundbreaking efficiency of 30% overall.
All projects gaining momentum, it would be a disaster if they were seized or halted now.
“The Empire will use this situation as a pretext to demand magitech technology, right?”
“That’s right.”
That technology would almost be lost if handed over to Alexander.
Even if the situation calms down, the possibility of seizure makes it a headache.
Truly persistent bastards.
“If there were an easy way…”
Ferda murmured that.
Nothing in the world is easy, but that wish meant that, after all, he was human.
“There is an easy way.”
Then Garnet did not let those words pass and responded.