A Formidable Visitor

In Weissenburg City, the secretaries brought the day's paperwork into Frederick's office.

As the morning drew to a close, Frederick was engrossed in a top-secret report submitted by the relevant department, carefully reading every word. It contained a detailed account of a high-level, semi-public conversation between Baron Durgot and Little Louis, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Gaul.

Baron Durgot had been having a rough time lately. But after meeting with His Highness the Crown Prince, he felt as if he were riding high, and his delight was plain to see. He had nearly spilled every key detail of their conversation. From his manner and words, it seemed he could already picture the bright future ahead of him: rising through the ranks and soaring to success after offering this advice.

After reading the lengthy report, Frederick merely shook his head, a faint smile flickering across his lips.

The contents were nothing more than the same old "Weissen Collapse Theory" and "Weissen Threat Theory" that Durgot had been peddling. The report was riddled with stale prejudices and baseless speculation, and contained nothing new.

He picked up his pen and neatly scrawled several notes in the margin, jotting down key points such as "Weissen is doomed." Then, drawing on recent intelligence from various regions about falling grain yields and market fluctuations, he quickly drafted a concise set of instructions to send at once to the trusted agent planted beside Baron Durgot.

Afterward, he leaned back in his broad chair, looking somewhat tired. He picked up a chilled bottle of Happy Water from the corner of the desk, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip, sinking into deep thought.

Though Little Louis had yet to fully grasp how the Duchy of Weissen functioned or understand its inner workings, he had already begun