To Give A Warning

The next day, at about 8:10 in the morning.

Boom-!

A huge explosion occurred in a residential area of the capital. The shock was so great that the entire neighborhood shook. Flames roared up and in an instant began to burn everything around them, and in the midst of that sight, the one whose face twisted with dismay was none other than Viscount Rubingston.

“These bastards, they actually set up suicide bombs.”

It had been a surprise attack. Perhaps ten minutes had passed since the infiltrators went inside. Then, all at once, a massive explosion went off. At that fact, he could not help but clench his fist. How many assets had been sent into that place? It was something that could have caused a huge hole in their combat strength.

Thud! Just then, as the sound of something breaking rang out, silhouettes could be seen escaping from the rapidly burning building. He flinched and stared, and at a glance he could tell that they were Guardians and special agents. In their hands, they were dragging a few figures.

He instantly understood that those were the agents who had infiltrated with them. At that, he turned toward the surroundings and shouted harshly.

“P-p-put out the fire at once!”

At his cry, the secret police officers who had been standing by around the area hurriedly moved in to douse the flames on the bodies of those who were burning. It was a relief. It seemed that only a few of the special assets they had sent in had been caught in the blast.

‘Whew, do you know how much money it cost to mass-produce them?’

Feeling relieved that both financially and in terms of combat strength the loss had been kept to a minimum, Viscount Rubingston could not help grinding his teeth at the fact that the enemy had gone so far as to prepare suicide bombs to cover their tracks. They were people who caused trouble right to the very end.

As he was thinking that, the sound of sirens signaling an emergency rang out, and he saw fire engines racing toward the site. Crude-looking trucks with large water tanks mounted on them came into view, and at that sight he could only sigh again.

‘How am I supposed to report this to His Majesty..’

His Majesty had personally stepped forward and worked hard to obtain information on them, only for it to be blown away so meaninglessly like this. It was a truly painful loss. Even so, it was also true that they had wiped out a base of the organization that had been lurking here in the shadows, so he thought that if they spun it well, it would be enough to calm the angry populace over this incident.

As the burning house continued to blaze, the firefighters who had gotten off the arriving fire engines were busily moving to put out the flames. In the midst of that scene, news of what had happened was delivered to King Ian as well.

“They really are vile.”

In any case, the explosion had been loud enough to be heard even in the royal palace without warning. Startled, he had ordered people to find out what had happened, and from the first reports that came in, he was able to grasp the situation.

‘So he didn’t know about the suicide bombs.’

Camyu, the man whose name they had learned, had only recently been brought in from outside, so he would not have known. More than that, Ian realized that in dealing with these people in the future, they would have to act with the utmost caution. They were extremely adept at hiding themselves, to the point of not sparing their own lives.

‘What’s certain is that the enemy’s main base inside our palace has been completely wiped out.’

There might still be some secret hideout tucked away somewhere, but the important thing was that their range of action had been greatly reduced. On top of that, thanks to them, a secret passageway had been found, and the safety of the royal palace had been secured more firmly.

‘And as a bonus, we got our hands on a huge amount of funds as well.’

While searching for the secret passageway, they had unexpectedly discovered the secret rooms of the previous king and the king before him, and as a result had gained a massive amount of funds on top of that. In a strange way, he felt as if their actions had ended up helping him. Of course, his anger toward them still remained.

‘Will they try to take it back?’

If there was one thing he had learned from the fragments of memory, it was that what they were after was none other than that white crystal discovered in the ruins on one of the islands of the Marin Archipelago. They had broken into the palace in order to seize it.

‘So they strongly deduced that we had obtained it and targeted the royal treasury vault.’

He could understand their bold actions and their clear sense of purpose. He had absorbed the power of the very thing they were after. By doing so, he had gained abilities that were far more diverse and had become much stronger.

‘Am I greedy too..?’

He found that he himself also desired the other crystal. For that very reason, he was sure they would not give up their greed for it either. They might find another way and attempt to invade the palace again. Thinking of that, he decided that they would have to increase the number of royal guards and equip them with much better gear.

‘Come to think of it, there were those submachine guns.’

The submachine guns that the intruders had carried were astonishing things. Of course, they were currently researching firearms of a similar concept, and he had thought that perhaps within a few years both they and the empires would have completed development.

However, now that they had actual finished products in hand, if they reverse-engineered them, the chances were high that they would be able to bring them into reality much more quickly.

‘Compared to single-shot rifles, submachine guns are far better in terms of firepower. Especially in narrow spaces, submachine guns can really show their performance, so they’ll make excellent weapons for use inside the palace.’

They had already collected the weapons and sent them to the research lab, so he thought they would see decent results by the end of the year. With that, he realized that there was now roughly half a year left. It felt like the new year had only just begun, yet another year was already racing by.

With the internal situation of the kingdom and the war both moving so busily, he felt it was only natural that it should seem that way. Incidentally, the tank sales that their kingdom had implemented were going very well. At the moment, they were selling tanks to both sides.

Because of that, the war situation had become even more complex and chaotic. As time passed and the tanks were brought into use, reports were coming in that tank battles were breaking out all over the continent. Of course, the locations were almost all within the territory of the Moria Empire.

‘They said that only now are they finally starting to receive tanks in any real quantity, and even now they’re being pushed back helplessly, didn’t they?’

It was assessed that the army, spearheaded by tanks, had already seized a significant amount of land. Of course, those seized lands were themselves little more than frozen tundra. Naturally, it was the Doicheun Imperial Army that was advancing with great difficulty through such terrain.

‘Driving tanks forward through mud is hardly an easy task.’

On top of that, in those cold regions the winter must be truly brutal, and the freezing temperatures would continue to torment them. Yet in the midst of all that, there was one ironic fact: the fur boots, fur gloves, and fur hats produced in their kingdom were being sold in huge quantities to the Doicheun Empire.

‘Because we have to make money.’

Considering his relationship with Prince Alexei, this was something he probably should not have been doing, but from a national standpoint, they had to act coldly. Personal matters were personal, and they had to be viewed separately from the interests of the state.

“Your Majesty, the citizens of the capital are surely unsettled. What should we do now?”

At the words of his secretary, Mirdin, Ian finally pulled himself out of his thoughts. One idea had led to another, and his mind had been wandering in all directions. Thinking that he really needed to fix this habit, he recalled what they had been talking about and spoke.

“First, once Viscount Rubingston returns, we’ll assess the situation and then announce the current state of affairs to the public.”

“Understood, Your Majesty. Then I will prepare in haste, assuming the announcement will be in the afternoon.”

“Do that.”

At his words, Mirdin immediately moved off to begin preparations, and as Ian watched his retreating back, he once more turned his gaze to the office window. Unlike before, the smoke that had billowed up to the sky seemed to have diminished considerably, as if the flames had been brought under control.

‘It’s a relief I managed to make it rain in time and get it over with quickly.’

The blaze had been too intense for the firefighters alone to handle, and once the palace had witnessed the scene, Ian had formed dark clouds in the sky and made it rain, thus allowing them to put out the fire.

More than that, what had happened here today was the sort of thing that could be happening every day in the cities of the empires embroiled in war. Thinking of that, he once more felt that it had been the right decision to remain a neutral country and stay out of the war.

‘Our neutrality must continue.’

Thinking that, a few hours later Ian made a statement about the situation they had prepared. Through a radio broadcast, his words spread not only throughout the capital but across the entire kingdom. In effect, it was a warning addressed to those who aimed at the palace.[The vile ones who invaded the royal palace of the Great Polia Kingdom to target Me have all been wiped out. However, the explosion that occurred in the capital today was an act carried out by them to hide themselves to the very end, and they remained despicable to their last. But rest assured. Those who targeted the palace and Me are gone, and even if any who remain move again to aim at Me, I will stop them. Furthermore, I will pursue them to the very end and make them pay the price for daring to target the kingdom and Me! And……..]

At the king’s voice issuing from the radio, many people condemned those who had committed such cowardly acts to the bitter end. At the same time, they brightened at the news that the ones who had been targeting the king had been wiped out.

In an already anxious situation, the fact that they had tracked down the enemy’s base was clearly a very swift response. At the same time, people could not help but wonder what sort of organization it was. While the general public’s attention focused on the fact that the king was unharmed, the nobles’ eyes were entirely fixed on this secretive organization.

They could not help but question what their objective was and at what level they were operating. Throughout the Polia Kingdom, people everywhere were reacting to the announcement.

Capital Noa of the Magnia Empire, inside the imperial palace.

“Looks like they really got their asses handed to them this time.”

A smile naturally formed on Emperor Jedic’s face as he spoke. From the steady stream of reports coming from the Polia Kingdom, he had learned that the organization had judged that the object was in the royal palace of Polia and had invaded it.

When he first heard the news, he had simply thought, So they managed to block them well. But then, when he heard that not only had they repelled a second infiltration, they had even tracked down the base, he could not help but be surprised.

‘Finding that organization’s secret bases should be almost impossible. How did they manage it?’

As he wondered, How did they find it? his thoughts on the Polia Kingdom were forced to change. It was a nation with more hidden strength than he had imagined. At the same time, he had to reconsider King Ian, the current monarch. Of course, he had already viewed him differently than before.

‘He must have someone hidden behind him.’

Emperor Jedic also believed that there had to be some hidden power standing behind King Ian. In fact, he suspected that this hidden power might be closely tied to the very organization he himself was clashing with. A mere prince who had been pushed out of the line of succession seizing the throne was something that would be impossible without someone behind him.

‘This latest incident makes it pretty clear they’re not connected to that organization, though. So what is the true nature of the force hiding behind him?’

His suspicions could only grow. Clearly, there was some third force that even he did not know about. Precisely because of that, he thought it was all the more beneficial for his younger sister, Princess Adrina, to remain at King Ian’s side.

For now, the information she was bringing him was quite useful. Of course, it did not touch on the most deeply classified secrets, but considering her current status, that was not so bad. Naturally, he had no idea that this information was precisely what Ian was choosing to leak to him through Princess Adrina.

“Lacen, do you, in your view, truly believe that the object is not in the Polia Kingdom?”

Emperor Jedic turned his gaze to Lacen, who always served as his bodyguard. Receiving that look, Lacen seemed to ponder briefly, then spoke in a quiet voice.

“Thinking in terms of probability, there is a possibility. For one, at the time, King Ian was leading a fleet in that area, and now he has even gone as far as approaching the island where the goblins appeared.”

“So you think it is there?”

“I only believe there is a possibility. It is also possible that it is not there at all.”

“I could say as much myself.”

“My apologies. I cannot be certain.”

As Lacen bowed his head and apologized, Emperor Jedic waved it off as if that was enough. From the start, he himself had judged the odds to be fifty-fifty. That was why he had gone so far as to arrange an engagement between his younger sister Adrina and King Ian.

“In any case, this latest affair has shown that the Polia Kingdom is not to be taken lightly. Neither we nor they.”

“They must have sent in highly elite forces, yet they were taken out far too easily.”

“It seems they have quite a few hidden cards. We’ll need to keep watching them.”

“Significant assets from the Intelligence Bureau (Longsword) have already infiltrated the Polia Kingdom in large numbers.”

“Then what are they doing? How can it be so hard to get information on the royal palace?”

“It seems that, at least when it comes to the palace, the level of surveillance is extremely high. I also hear that, due to this incident, security has been further tightened.”

“Hmph, that can’t be helped. Ah, and I hear yet another of our transport ships has been sunk?”

A look of irritation crossed Emperor Jedic’s face as he spoke. In just the past month, no fewer than five cargo ships bearing their flag had been sunk by mysterious torpedo attacks. Naturally, he knew exactly who was responsible.