Count and Assassin

Count and Assassin

Thundercloud County was home to the tallest mountains in Northwind Province. Every autumn, thunderclouds gathered above those peaks.

It was hard to imagine that an ancient castle stood atop a mountain three or four hundred meters high.

Count Love Weiss's territory was located here. He was also the only noble in Northwind Province who served as a county governor yet did not reside in Thundercloud City's fortress.

He preferred living in his own count's castle, where virtually no enemy could ever attack.

But the greater reason was that Count Love Weiss harbored an unknown secret.

At this moment, Count Weiss stood against the snowstorm on the mountain, gazing into the distant North with reminiscence in his eyes.

"How many years has it been? Who still remembers that the Weiss Family were the true masters of this land?"

Before the War of the Deities Across Planes, Northwind Province had been part of a kingdom known as the Northgar Kingdom, where spring reigned all year round.

The former royal family of the Northgar Kingdom had been the Weiss Family.

But when the War of the Deities Across Planes arrived, the Northgar Kingdom followed behind the Lord of Dawn. After the war ended, it too declined, and every member of the royal family died.

Later, the winds of Fierce Winter blew down from the North. The nobles continually migrated South, while the Northgar Kingdom endured the impact of the armies moving south.

That kingdom completely fell into ruin. Even Northwind Province was occupied by the Grand Duke Northwind of that era.

Love Weiss was not a direct descendant of that former kingdom's royal family. He was merely an exceedingly distant branch of that family.

Yet even as a collateral branch, bearing the Weiss Family name still earned him recognition as a noble.

When Grand Duke Mayers attacked Northwind Province, Weiss saw an opportunity. He was the first to pledge allegiance to the Empire, and with the Empire's backing and the soldiers he received, Love Weiss became one of Northwind Province's three counts.

But no one had expected that during his rise to become a count, Count Weiss had crossed the Fragrant Mountain Plains and entered the Northlands, where he found the assets left behind by the former Northgar Kingdom.

The kingdom's assets consisted of only two things. The first was a crown, within which was buried the divinity left after the death of a Thunder Giant that had been infinitely close to godhood, slain by the Northgar Kingdom during the War of the Deities.

That battle had cost the Northgar Kingdom over seventy percent of its army, leading to all the events that followed.

The second inheritance was the method of cultivating Catfolk Assassins, which the royal court of the Northgar Kingdom had favored.

During the War of the Deities Across Planes, the kingdoms across the continent had engaged in brutal internal strife. Assassins were among the most efficient and least costly methods.

Count Weiss was very clever. Perhaps he had been the first to bring such an unsavory group as assassins into warfare.

But the results had been remarkable.

"With the Catfolk Assassins helping them, the Black Goat Orc Warriors should be able to inflict grievous casualties on those two fellows, hahaha!"

Count Weiss held a glass of red wine in his hand. It came from the Empire's South, and it was said that brewing it consumed quite a bit of grain.

"The Empire really does have so many good things."

"What a pity..."

Struggle flashed through Weiss's eyes, but they soon became incomparably resolute.

"A count is only a count, after all. I want to become the king of Northwind Province."

His gaze turned fervent, and the crown atop his head further displayed his ambition.

He wanted Northwind Province to suffer a total defeat in its efforts to repel the orc invasion this year, allowing the orcs to ravage the province.

That way, he could use the connections he had built within the Empire over the years to push that matter forward once more.

Within the Empire, many nobles did not recognize the value of Northwind Province. They had proposed several times that Northwind Province be severed.

In truth, Weiss understood those nobles' intentions. They sought the benefits of Winged Gorge. So long as Northwind Province remained imperial territory, the existence of Winged Gorge was utterly redundant. Some imperial nobles, such as Grand Duke Mayers, had proposed deploying the army of Winged Gorge to garrison the Fragrant Mountain Plains in Northwind Province.

This was the Empire's internal political struggle over its northeastern corner, and clearly, Grand Duke Mayers had lost.

But the other faction of nobles had not won either. Their repeated proposals to sever Northwind Province had yielded no results. As one of the Empire's four grand dukes, Mayers also possessed powerful connections.

This was entirely contrary to Count Weiss's interests. He wanted to restore the kingdom. He wanted Northwind Province to become his own kingdom, the Weiss Kingdom.

For as long as Northwind Province remained imperial territory, he would not dare act. Thus, the first thing he had to do was make the Empire abandon Northwind Province and turn it completely into a land without an owner. Then, how could two counts whose Extraordinary Legions had suffered grievous casualties possibly be a match for Count Weiss?

At this thought, Count Weiss could not help growing excited. Faint arcs of lightning appeared around his body.

"As long as Northwind Province suffers a crushing defeat, the Empire will see its annual million Gold Coins go down the drain. It will see that rebuilding Northwind Province will require even more Gold Coins. One million Gold Coins a year will definitely not be enough. It will take at least three million, five million a year. Those great nobles will never agree to it, and even the royal family will hesitate."

"Once Northwind Province is severed from the Empire, this place will belong to me—to Love Weiss."

Count Weiss burst into laughter. For the dream of his own kingdom, even having the Catfolk Assassins assist the orcs was acceptable.

Yet he could not help feeling uneasy. Count Winter's Flying Wolf Cavalry was an exceptionally rare aerial force. There were not even many such flying legions in the Empire.

"Appia, your Catfolk Assassins won't disappoint me, will they?"

Count Weiss could not help asking. From the shadows of the Mountain Forest behind him, a blue Catfolk Assassin leaped out.

"My lord Count, once we Catfolk Assassins lock onto a target, we have never failed."

"Never? You failed once last year."

Count Weiss snorted coldly.

"You couldn't even kill a child, yet you dare claim you've never failed. If that baron from the Clayton family had died in Northwind Province, would I have needed to make a deal with those stupid orcs?"

"If that Clayton boy had died in the territory, the Empire would have had to reevaluate Northwind Province's value by the end of the year. It could even have dragged Count Clayton and the royal family into it."

"Then, no matter how unwilling Grand Duke Mayers was to abandon Northwind Province, he would have faced tremendous pressure and been forced to compromise."

Appia lowered his head. He did not know why the mission had failed. The assassin who returned had clearly told him that the youth was dead beyond doubt.

"Then, my lord, should we carry out another assassination? This time, I guarantee we won't fail."

Tremendous force, carrying lightning, crashed down upon the frail catfolk. Count Weiss looked grimly at this catfolk slave.

"Count Clayton has already returned to the Empire. Do you want to drag a powerful count into the Northlands as well?"

"It's too late to kill him now."

"You had better pray that your Catfolk Assassins' extraordinary cultivation methods do not lead this war somewhere I do not wish to see."

"As you command." Appia knelt on the ground in terror.