The Magnia Empire Fell Into A Difficult Situation

October 20.

“According to the confirmation results, that place was indeed an ancient ruin.”

At Viscount Rubingston’s report, Ian nodded. Since it was confirmed to be a definite ancient ruin, it could be said that all that remained now was to capture it.

“From now on, we will have to explore the ancient ruin and succeed in capturing it.”

“With the forces Your Highness has prepared, you should be fully able to succeed.”

“I believe so as well. The problem is that it must be kept absolutely secret.”

“According to the confirmation results, the Pasrado Family, who discovered the ancient ruin, is absolutely loyal to the imperial family of the Doicheun Empire.”

“You mean there is no need to worry about them betraying us?”

Ian was worried that, if that family betrayed them and revealed it to the public, the situation would become difficult.

“Even if there is no 100% certainty, it is true that they are a family that can be trusted. If the imperial family told them to die, it seems likely that they really would.”

“It seems their loyalty is that extraordinary. Then we must now send our forces.”

“Yes. Considering the rough scale, I think we will have to send at least over 100 people.”

“Over 100 people. That is a large number to send in secret.”

“That is true, but if we assume variables, it seems that we must send that many.”

“Hmm. Can you prepare it?”

“We have prepared it in the meantime. We have even prepared Betos, the biological weapons.”

“Even Betos?”

“We must minimize casualties as much as possible, so we plan to have them take the lead and identify traps in advance.”

“That will do.”

“Now, as soon as Your Highness gives the order, they will immediately begin moving.”

“Good. Send them.”

At the king’s words to begin the capture, Viscount Rubingston nodded and said with a serious expression that he would make sure they succeeded. At those words, Ian first thought about the elite forces that would move together with the 100 or so personnel.

Starting with Camyu, Wizard Oran, Holy Knight Midran, and two additional Holy Knights would go with them. For reference, as a result of human experimentation using criminals in the meantime, two people had fortunately been revealed to be compatible, so Holy Knights had been reborn and could be mass-produced.

‘With forces of this level, they should be able to succeed.’

Thinking that they were forces optimized for exploring ancient ruins, he felt secretly expectant. He wanted them to finish the capture quickly and bring back the White Crystal. That was why there was something he was pondering.

‘If there are two, could I not absorb one of them?’

If they obtained two, then including the ones he currently had, there could be four in total. Their value had increased even more, but since the number would increase, he could not help but feel the desire to absorb one again. In reality, he was in a stagnant period. In a situation where his growth had stopped, the only way to increase his ability was to absorb a White Crystal.

‘Hmm, this is troubling.’

If he absorbed one, they would decrease to three, which could be a loss, but what was certain was that he could become stronger than he was now, and the things he could do could increase even more. Perhaps a new ability could awaken, and he might even be able to further strengthen the power of those he currently had, turn them into an even stronger force, and make them become reliable pillars of support.

‘Thinking that the number of White Crystals may increase from what it is now makes me have these kinds of concerns.’

He had given up because there were only two, but thinking that they might increase by even more made the concern arise again. Of course, this could also be counting his chickens before they hatched. To begin with, they might obtain only one, not two. As such, what he was doing now could simply be a useless concern.

‘It would be better to think about it when the report that they succeeded comes in, right?’

When he thought that, his heart seemed to become comfortable again. Like that, the forces for the ancient ruin quickly headed for the Doicheun Empire, and under the swift movements of the intelligence department Mauter, they were able to secretly enter the interior of Doicheun.

It was done through rapid movement using an airship, and when the end of October approached, he received a report that all the forces had gathered at the ancient ruin, along with a message that they would begin the capture. Inwardly, Ian spent his everyday life without showing anything.

He continued his work as king and spent time with his family as the head of the household. He also frequently visited Consort Helena, who was pregnant. Naturally, he also spent a lot of time playing with his daughter. In the midst of this situation, time passed quickly, going past November and becoming December.

More than a month had passed since the operation began.

December 3.

Tap, tap. As Ian tapped the desk with his fingers, he could not erase the thought that his mind kept drifting elsewhere.

‘My attention keeps being drawn to the capture of the ancient ruin.’

It had already been a month since the capture began. Reports came in almost once a week, and from what he heard, it was said to be a fairly large place. In addition, there were many traps, so they were also receiving a great deal of help from Betos, the biological weapons.

‘So 25 Betos have already been sacrificed.’

They had apparently placed Betos, which had been put into suspended animation and sent in storage containers, back under electric current to activate them, then had them advance at the front. It was said that powerful traps were lurking there, so powerful that bodies capable of withstanding most impacts were literally blown apart.

‘The sacrifice of biological weapons does not matter, no matter how many there are, since we can produce them again, but seven people have already died.’

It was a small number if one called it small, but the fact that casualties had occurred could not help but weigh on his mind. Of course, at this point, he had no intention whatsoever of quitting. It was a subjugation that had already begun, and they would absolutely have to break through the ancient ruin and obtain the White Crystal.

“Your Highness, these are the documents you need to process.”

“Ah, bring them up quickly.”

When he turned his gaze at the voice of his secretary Mardin, which he heard while lost in thought, he saw a pile of documents loaded onto a cart. As expected, he thought there was nothing better than work for getting rid of stray thoughts. Thinking that he should just work, he examined the documents placed before him, and one among those documents caught his eye.

‘There is additional bridge construction?’

There was a river running across the capital, and the new bridge to be built over that river was a type of bridge that both cars and the subway could use. Since ships even had to pass through the middle of the river, the bridge inevitably had to be high, and it was a project of considerable scale that had to be built with quite a large amount of funding.

‘Come to think of it, Line 2 was completed not long ago.’

He had heard a report not long ago that subway Line 2 had been completed. Line 1, completed in 1915, was still being used as the feet of many citizens. As such, Line 2 would also be used heavily, and considering Line 3, which had just entered construction, he thought it would continue to handle the movement of the ever-increasing population.

‘There are too many places where money needs to go.’

Not only this bridge, but construction that would require enormous funds had to be carried out in various other places as well. In general, places such as large theaters to be used as cultural spaces for ordinary citizens also had to be directly built by the state.

Of course, since private capital would also enter, the shares would have to be divided, but the financial burden could be reduced. He immediately signed the document with his fountain pen and approved the construction.

It looked simple, but in reality, documents like these were reports that had been raised from below with various opinions included and even the budget adjusted. In other words, he only had to give the final approval.

Like that, just as he passed the signed document to the side and was about to examine a new document, from outside came knock, knock, knock, and along with the knocking, the chief chamberlain informed him that Viscount Rubingston had come.

“Your Highness, Viscount Rubingston has come.”

“He has? Have him enter at once.”

With those words, the door to the office opened, and he could soon see Viscount Rubingston entering inside with quick steps. From his stiff expression, Ian knew that something had happened. So he urgently asked what had happened.

“Has something happened?”

“Your Highness, information about an ancient ruin has been leaked.”

“Is that true!? How was it discovered?”

“Please calm down. It is not ours.”

“What do you mean, it is not ours? Could it be that there was another ancient ruin?”

“Yes. It seems there was an ancient ruin discovered in the frozen region of the Noma Empire, and in a situation where personnel from the Magnia Empire were currently stationed there, they seemed to have been proceeding with the capture.”

“The Magnia Empire? How lucky. To think they found another ancient ruin again. Ah, now that it has been discovered, perhaps they are unlucky.”

If the Noma Empire had learned of it, they would not stay still now. Since people from another country had secretly entered their territory and were investigating ruins, they were certainly angry. Meanwhile, it was certain that they would immediately send forces and block the Magnia Empire’s actions.

‘If things go well, we may be able to deal a huge blow to the Magnia Empire.’

There was a need to lend strength to the Noma Empire regarding this incident. There were more than enough justifications. Since it was the territory of another country, the Magnia Empire would have nothing to say. In addition, the bigger the matter becomes, the more beneficial it could be to Pollia as well.

‘It will be something that can hide the part about our own capture even more.’

“If things go well, this could hide the part about our own capture even more.”

“That will be the case. Attention will gather greatly toward that place.”

“We will have to issue a statement of condemnation.”

“I will prepare a statement at the most moderate level possible.”

“Do that.”

After saying that, Ian soon began to feel curious about how the Magnia Empire would react.

Due to a secret that happened to leak out by chance, the Magnia Empire’s situation had become quite difficult. The Noma Empire was already condemning them heavily and had even summoned the ambassador at the embassy within its own country to question them about this matter, but since it was a situation where they could not make any excuse, they had still not been able to give a proper answer.

Even in this moment, the Noma Empire’s actions were to hastily move as many as 50,000 troops toward the revealed location. Since they showed such military movement openly, the Magnia Empire’s ruin exploration team had no choice but to stop its movements regarding the capture.

There were many opinions on what they should do, but in the end, they had no choice but to choose to withdraw. If the army arrived like this, everyone would inevitably be arrested with no way out. No matter how powerful a force they had, since they had moved secretly, they numbered only several hundred people.

They had no choice but to decide to retreat, and at this time, they continued the work of detonating explosives at the entrance of the ruin and collapsing it. They were trying to buy as much time as possible so that the Noma Empire could not explore the ruin they had been capturing.

Amid these actions, a clash also occurred. There were movements by the police who had first received the information and been dispatched, and when as many as about a thousand personnel arrived, the Magnia Empire’s side was also in the middle of preparing to withdraw.

In a situation where the police tried to stop them from withdrawing and they tried to shake them off, a gunfight broke out. Since the Magnia Empire had sent a fairly powerful force, hundreds of police officers ended up dying. Of course, there were also many casualties on the exploration team’s side.

Since things had turned out this way, the Noma Empire could not help but be greatly enraged. They were already furious that someone had acted as they pleased on their land, and now they had even killed dispatched police officers and had even collapsed the entrance to the ruins, so they could not help but be enraged.

[The Magnia Empire must resolve the issue regarding this matter immediately! And hand over the criminals who killed the police officers to us at once!]

At this statement of condemnation from the Noma Empire, the Magnia Empire said nothing. They literally maintained an attitude of ignoring it. At this behavior, the imperial family of the Noma Empire became even more furious and immediately began to show military movements.

The naval fleet located in the east immediately moved, and at these military movements, the Magnia Empire also had to immediately move its fleet. In a situation where they had somehow come to face off at sea, the Polia Kingdom stepped forward first and announced a condemnation regarding this matter.

[The Magnia Empire must immediately apologize to the Noma Empire. Who could tolerate another country’s “army” entering their national territory as they pleased? They must hand over the parties involved at once and provide proper compensation.]

Once this announcement was made, the Moria Empire also issued a statement of condemnation afterward. In a way, the secret alliance formed after the Great War had been activated. Under the pretext of training, troops were concentrated toward the border area before anyone knew it, and fleets were dispatched to the sea as well, so the situation could only become one of confrontation.

In a situation where even the Moria Empire had stepped forward, the Magnia Empire’s position could only become even worse. If they did not announce any statement like this, it could potentially become a spark for war.

In truth, there was no possibility that it would go as far as war. For now, neither the Noma Empire nor the Moria Empire had the strength to start a war like the Great War again. Still, the future was unknown, and from the Magnia Empire’s perspective, they had to hurry and resolve the situation.

In the end, on December 27, when the year was nearly over, the Magnia Empire had no choice but to announce a statement.

[Our fault in this matter is great. Some “exploration team” proceeded with the exploration of a ruin they had discovered as they pleased out of greed, and there was even an incident where they harmed dispatched police officers. In response, we offer words of consolation to the Noma Empire, and we will transfer the related parties to the Noma Empire. In addition, we will also provide compensation at the national level for those who were sacrificed. Once again, we offer our apologies and promise that we will thoroughly crack down so that such a thing does not happen again in the future.]

One could ask what kind of statement this was, but the Magnia Empire maintained this attitude. They were literally saying that it was not an action they themselves had taken, but an action some exploration team had taken as they pleased. They were even designating irrelevant people as the related parties and saying they would send them.

It was absurd, but in a situation where the Magnia Empire showed this attitude, there was no special measure that could be taken. Since they could not go to war, the confrontation could only continue, and looking at the situation, the mood could only become one where things would pass as they were.