In the warm rear palace chamber of the Crystal Radiance Imperial Palace, flames crackled in the fireplace, yet they could not dispel the gloom between Rhodesney XVIII's brows.
The king tugged at the gemstone tie pin constricting his neck and tossed the preliminary plan for attacking Paradise Basin onto the gold-patterned low table. The shadow of the mortars still lingered in his heart.
"Relying on Northwest Bay..." he murmured. Paul Greiman's cannons could indeed blast open the Veblen Family's fortress, but every time he sought help from the northwest, it felt like another mark being carved into the kingdom's sovereignty. Those rifles, cannons, and even the "Golden Fertilizer" had long since allowed Northwest Bay's influence to seep into every corner of the Royal Territory. Now, even a siege required their weapons. How much say would the Royal Family have before Paul in the future?
Yet without mortars, the fortress in Paradise Basin, surrounded by mountains on three sides, would be an impregnable wall of bronze and iron. The Veblen Family's separatist rule would remain like a thorn forever, lodged in Aldo's southeast.
Rhodesney rose and paced back and forth. He thought of the military provisions Rupert had reported, then of the Guano Mine Earl Merlin had mentioned. His thoughts kept circling back to the deadlock of "reliance." Only when his gaze swept across the kingdom map hanging on the wall and stopped at the south did he suddenly halt. A name that had nearly been forgotten slammed into his mind.
Deke Doyle.
The wizard once secretly kept by Giles, along with his companions, who were equally skilled in magical potions and strange arcane arts. After Giles fell, these people had not been executed. Instead, they had been confined to the towers on the western side of the Imperial Palace. Rhodesney