Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 146: The Reply
Next, White turned his head toward Count Munster.
“Count Munster, wait here a while. I need to write a reply to Duke Eddie.”
“Yes.”
Then White quickly turned around, hurried up the ship, and urged his attendants to prepare paper, pen, and other writing tools.
He swiftly wrote the letter, sealed it with wax, and handed it to Count Munster, instructing him to send someone to deliver it.
After that, White issued new orders to the fleet, instructing all warships to turn around and immediately return to the royal capital.
Standing at the edge of the dock, Count Munster looked at the dozen or so warships turning back into the distance, then glanced at the letter in his hand with a thoughtful expression.
A nearby noble cautiously asked:
“Muns… ah, I mean, Count, do you know why His Majesty is returning to the capital in such haste?”
“Who knows.”
Turning around, Count Munster said to the noble before heading back to his castle:
“We just need to do what His Majesty has entrusted us with. Don’t meddle in other matters too much. Let’s go back.”
Dongsheng Fortress, the lord’s castle.
Duke Eddie kept shifting between sitting and reclining on his specially made chair, unable to calm the unrest in his heart.
He had just received word from his spies that the land army, which had originally been marching east, had suddenly turned back.
When he first learned that the troops stationed outside Lingshui City were still advancing east, Duke Eddie had been terrified—living in constant anxiety, thinking White would never let him off.
Now that the army had withdrawn, it was highly likely that White had only recently received the letter Eddie had sent.
This retreat seemed to mean that, after consideration, White had chosen to spare Dongsheng Fortress.
It was no wonder Duke Eddie thought this way. Because of the delay in information flow, he still didn’t know that Duke Connie of the South had already dispatched troops to march on the capital.
“This delivery speed is ridiculous! It kept me trembling in fear for days.”
Duke Eddie grumbled.
Still, he needed to wait for White’s reply to finally confirm whether he had truly been spared.
Of course, Duke Eddie wasn’t idle while waiting.
He painfully spent a sum of money to hire a shady organization from the Black Street to spread an earth-shattering secret:
That Owen Eisen possessed royal blood, and was in fact the illegitimate son of the late King Wells.
Once spread by merchants traveling through different regions, this secret would rapidly spread throughout the Morning Light Kingdom.
Duke Eddie’s goal in doing this was to put pressure on White, forcing him to confront the hidden threat posed by Owen Eisen.
“Your Grace! A letter from the royal court!”
At that moment, a skinny man rushed into the room, holding a letter.
“Quick! Bring it here.”
Snatching it impatiently from the man’s hand, Duke Eddie tore off the narrow leather strap and unfolded the parchment.
The contents of White’s reply were, in essence, an order for Duke Eddie to personally go to the Bianshu town, bring Owen Eisen to the capital, and ensure that he was present before the coronation ceremony scheduled for this summer.
After reading the letter, Duke Eddie’s fat pig-like face twisted into an awkward smile, revealing several gold-inlaid teeth.
Excellent. At last, White had assigned him a task—giving Duke Eddie an opportunity to atone for his past sins and render meritorious service.
As long as this mission was completed smoothly, Duke Eddie thought, White surely wouldn’t kill someone who had rendered meritorious service, right?
However, Duke Eddie had no idea of White’s true intentions. The reason White had ordered him to personally bring Owen to the royal capital was so that, after confirming the royal blood flowing in Owen’s veins, he could dispose of them both at once.
Yet Duke Eddie, still smug and complacent, actually believed that White would spare him. Truly pitiful.
“Someone, bring me paper and pen!”
Determined to carry out the mission, Duke Eddie decided to first write a letter to be sent to Marquis Owen Eisen.
The servants hurried to bring over a table, along with paper, pen, and other writing supplies.
Duke Eddie picked up a quill and began writing, fabricating falsehoods in the letter.
He wrote that White was a benevolent new king, and upon hearing that Marquis Owen Eisen was his half-brother, he wished Owen to come and confirm the matter. If it was true, he would even allow Owen to offer respects to the late king. Therefore, Owen must accompany Duke Eddie to the capital without fail.
If he could trick Owen Eisen into coming to Dongsheng Fortress, Duke Eddie would save himself a lot of trouble.
Sealing the letter with wax, he handed it to a thin man and urged:
“Send this to Marquis Eisen in Bianshu Town—quickly.”
“Yes.”
The thin man took the letter and hurried away.
Next, Duke Eddie ordered someone to contact the nobles of Bianshu Town who had fled to Dongsheng Fortress for refuge last year.
He wasn’t fully confident that Marquis Eisen would take the bait, so he had to prepare for marching an army north toward Bianshu Town. Those discontented minor nobles, who resented Owen deeply, could be put to use.
Besides, last winter’s plot had failed, which left him bitterly unsatisfied.
Duke Eddie intended to vent all his pent-up frustration on Bianshu Town this time.
On the eastern stretch of the Transverse Mountain Range, deep in the mountains, a survey team was carrying out an exploration mission.
Worth noting: this survey team was entirely composed of dwarves, ten members in total.
The dwarves were one of the few demi-human races not severely oppressed by humans.
This was because certain technologies they mastered were highly valuable to humans, and their subterranean cities did not greatly conflict with the humans’ surface cities.
The dwarves preferred to build their cities along major ore veins. In the Transverse Mountains, they had established three vast underground cities, which became the foundation of their survival.
During the wars when humans were ruthlessly driving out other demi-human races, the dwarves, for the sake of self-preservation, united the three originally independent underground cities and formed the Kingdom of Femit-Gon. Together they chose a king, and made their capital in Rhudaur, the central city.
Although the wars never reached the dwarves, the form of an independent kingdom remained, continuing to the present day.
It was rumored that the dwarf king at the time ordered a spacious underground passage dug to connect the three cities.
If humans suddenly attacked one of the underground cities, the other two could swiftly dispatch reinforcements through this underground route.
After the Lumichael Church came under the control of the New Faction, Pope Layev XXIII officially recognized the Kingdom of Femit-Gon and established diplomatic relations at the national level, in an attempt to ease tensions between humans and demi-human races.
Only then did the Kingdom of Femit-Gon begin forging formal relations with human nations, also exporting their finely crafted weapons and goods.
Thanks to their superb blacksmithing and rich experience in surveying ore veins, the dwarves managed to thrive in this human-dominated world.
For example, dwarf currency—especially their gold coins—was universally acknowledged by all human nations as the finest in quality.
Because of this, large-scale international trade was usually conducted using dwarf gold coins, since other nations’ coinage might be debased or lacking in weight.