Revival Palace, Ballad Room.
The setting sun streamed through the stone windows, casting long shadows across the conference table like blades of gold and black.
"Is there really such a good thing?"
Viscount Connie, Starfall Kingdom's Minister of Commerce, set down the Emerald City Substitute Petition that had just arrived in the conference room, his face full of suspicion.
"The Owner of the Iris Flower."
Connie looked toward his fellow members of the Imperial Council.
"Duke Kevendell actually requested tax substitution for conscription, reducing Emerald City's conscript quota and even supporting the Crown's expansion of the Standing Army to fill the defense duties left by the conscripts?"
The ministers of the Imperial Council exchanged looks.
Only the scarred man from the Kingdom Secret Bureau, who had returned with this petition, stood silently to one side.
"Setting aside his position, does he not know the risks?"
Viscount Connie narrowed his eyes, his expression subtle.
"If Emerald City really carries out what the letter says, challenging tradition and shaking up vested interests... Heh. When every conscript in every fief uses this as a reason to refuse labor and service for their feudal lord, Kevendell will become the target of every subordinate vassal—no, of the entire kingdom's nobility."
"Not the entire system." Military Advisor Sodow Red was radiant, excited by the letter's arrival. "Only those noble lords who cling to old ways, remain backward and rigid, insist on conscripted militia, and refuse to accept tax substitution."
Viscount Connie lowered the letter and said slyly, "Which is more or less everyone except the Royalist Party?"
Laughter spread through the Imperial Council.
"This letter came at the perfect time. It speaks for us and shifts the pressure," Sodow said with a smile. "Whether it is reducing the Bright Star Private Soldiers or expanding the Standing