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“Did you really think we wouldn’t notice the petty tricks of mere slaves?”

The runaway slaves began to murmur. Fear spread among them like an epidemic. Hadatoum bit his lower lip.

He hadn’t expected things to turn out this way…

‘About a hundred in front, and twenty archers between the buildings?’

It wasn’t enough to say they were being overwhelmed yet. Moreover, he couldn’t sense the presence of any warriors comparable to himself. Frankly, this wasn’t what one would call a full encirclement.

Bwoooong!

Aura surged from Hadatoum’s entire body. The blessing of Debata, the fierce energy of his aura, spread in all directions as Hadatoum sneered.

“It’s commendable that you’ve tracked our movements, but did you think you could stop us with just this?”

However, the enemy didn’t seem particularly flustered by the display of aura.

“So, it’s true that an orc can wield aura.”

“Hm?”

As Hadatoum frowned in confusion, five knights appeared in succession. All of them were heavily armed with extravagant magical armor and swords. Even Hadatoum, who wasn’t knowledgeable about magic, could easily feel the power of the magical tools. He immediately guessed their identity.

“Zeppelin Knights….”

Even for an aura user like Hadatoum, five Zeppelin Knights would be a formidable challenge. Moreover, the Zeppelin Knights, being magic swordsmen, were not bound by the typical knightly code. They had no qualms about joining forces in a group attack.

As Hadatoum and the orc warriors stood tense, cold sweat dripping down their faces, Chatan’s magic swordsman shouted as if to drive the final nail in.

“This isn’t all! Other Zeppelin knights are leading troops to complete the encirclement! Over a thousand soldiers are closing in behind you right now! Hahahah!”

* * *

‘…Damn, are we really surrounded?’

Repenhardt stared at the forces before him with a grim expression. He had just joined up with a group of runaway slaves on the southwestern side of Zeppelin, accompanied by Russ and Sillan. Leading this group were the dwarf aura user Malroid and the warriors of the Grand Forge, all of whom were now running to the outer edges of the group, hurriedly preparing a defensive formation, their faces filled with alarm.

They, too, were in a similar situation as Hadatoum.

No matter how elite they were, or how many aura users they had, it was impossible for just over ten people to protect all the slaves from five Zeppelin Knights and their numerous soldiers.

The Zeppelin Knights, blocking their path, called out in an imposing voice, as they eyed the frightened slaves.

“No matter how strong you are, you can’t save them all! If you value their lives, surrender at once!”

Watching the gathered forces ahead, Russ whispered to Repenhardt.

‘What should we do, brother? Do we push through, even if it costs us?’

‘That might be the only way… but most of the slaves would lose their lives.’

‘But we can’t just let ourselves get captured here, can we?’

In the end, Repenhardt made his decision.

“We break through with force!”

Russ unsheathed his sword and stepped forward. Repenhardt clenched his fists tightly and glared at the soldiers.

The Zeppelin Knight sneered.

“Are you planning to resist? You’re already surrounded! Soon, a thousand soldiers will be upon you! You have no way out!”

But just then, Sillan tilted her head in curiosity.

“But… when exactly are those thousand reinforcements supposed to arrive?”

Indeed, aside from the loud boasts of the Chatan knight earlier, it didn’t really feel like they were surrounded.

Russ and Repenhardt exchanged glances and instinctively nodded. They raised their senses, scanning the surroundings. They looked ahead, to the sides, behind, and even up toward the sky.

Oddly enough, it was quiet behind them.

It didn’t make sense for a force of a thousand to be so silent while moving.

Russ squinted at the Zeppelin Knight, raising an eyebrow.

“…They’re not coming, are they?”

* * *

Duchy of Antares.

Inside the Chancellor’s Office within the White King’s Castle.

Though it was late into the night, the lights in the office were still brightly lit. Karl sat absentmindedly at the table, staring up at the night sky. Suddenly, the door to the office opened, and a woman stepped inside.

“Aren’t you going to sleep, Karl?”

Karl’s lover, Tilla, approached him, dressed simply in her nightwear. Though she looked like a young girl, the sight of her ample chest peeking through her clothes gave her a seductive appearance.

“T-Tilla…”

Karl, feeling awkward, adjusted Tilla’s disheveled clothing. Tilla giggled. Even though they had already shared a bed, was he still embarrassed by such a sight?

‘Just like a knight,’ she thought with a teasing grin.

She playfully stuck out her tongue and then sat on Karl’s lap.

“Can’t sleep?”

Karl sighed deeply.

“How could I sleep knowing others are risking their lives in Zeppelin right now?”

“That’s true…”

Tilla sighed as well. At that very moment, beneath the night sky of Zeppelin, her family and friends were likely racing to save their people. No matter how much she believed in their strength and Karl’s strategy, she couldn’t help but worry.

“Do you think they’ll all be safe?”

“If everything goes according to plan.”

“Is there any reason it won’t? Your plans are always flawless, Karl.”

Karl shook his head.

“There’s no such thing as a perfect plan. As long as we are human, there will always be a flaw somewhere.”

“But Karl, you’re the smartest person I’ve ever known.”

“I appreciate the compliment, but…”

Karl smiled wryly and gave Tilla a light kiss on the cheek before continuing.

“Every action in this world has both pros and cons. The strategy I’ve devised is certainly a high-probability plan, using powerful forces to achieve definite results. But it’s a double-edged sword. If, by any chance, our plan leaks, the Duchy of Antares will be wiped out instantly.”

Tilla’s expression stiffened. Karl was right. It wasn’t just a baseless fear. White King Repenhardt and the entire leadership of the Duchy of Antares were currently in Zeppelin. If anything happened to them, the newly established Duchy would cease to exist. So, too, would the fragile sanctuary they had built for the various races.

“Tilla…”

Seeing the worried expression on his beloved’s face, Karl shook his head.

“There’s no need to worry so much. I didn’t overlook such a possibility.”

“Huh?”

Tilla looked up at Karl in confusion. He let out a small chuckle.

“I’ve learned the hard way that the world doesn’t always work the way I want. If it did, I’d be sitting on the throne of Crovence right now, wouldn’t I? I don’t overestimate myself.”

Suddenly, a satisfied smile spread across Karl’s face.

“That’s why I took some precautions. I’ve bribed all the key middle-ranking officers of Zeppelin’s army. Even if our plan is discovered and orders are given from central command, they won’t act in time.”

* * *

“What… what’s going on?”

The Zeppelin Knight looked around in shock.

“Why aren’t the reinforcements coming?”

It didn’t make sense. The headquarters had sent clear orders to all garrison troops throughout Zeppelin. Those orders had been issued yesterday evening, long before this situation erupted. There was no way the orders had been lost or delayed.

Even if one or two units had somehow missed the message, it was impossible that the entire army had failed to receive it.

“…What’s happening?”

“I’m not sure, but it seems Karl’s behind it again…”

Repenhardt clicked his tongue as he exchanged words with Russ.

He had heard Karl mention he’d taken measures to suppress the movement of Zeppelin’s garrison forces just in case, but Repenhardt had no idea how he’d managed to pull it off so thoroughly.

“I heard something about him spreading some bribes around… but still…”

Well, it was true that the Duchy of Chatan was a place where money talked. Most of Zeppelin’s garrison was notoriously corrupt, too. So while it might have been impossible in other nations, in Chatan, using bribes to immobilize the army wasn’t completely out of the question.

But even so, it should have only worked on a handful of units.

No matter how lax the discipline in the Duchy of Chatan’s military had become, even fermenting to a soft, cheese-like state, they were still considered elite soldiers. Just because they were bribed by a foreign power didn’t mean they would neglect their country in its time of crisis.

Bribes are taken for personal gain, after all. Even the most corrupt soldiers wouldn’t ignore orders just because some stranger handed them money and asked them to “stay put and ignore deployment orders.” If the Duchy of Chatan’s army had been that susceptible, the nation would have collapsed long ago.

‘Seriously, what did Karl do to pull this off?’

* * *

“But Karl, even if they were bribed, do you really think the soldiers of Zeppelin would ignore direct orders when they have their own duties to fulfill? And it’s hard to believe that every single middle-ranking officer would be stupid enough to accept money from a stranger without any suspicion,” Tilla asked, her doubt evident.

Karl smiled gently.

“You’re right, my love. Even as corrupt as the Duchy of Chatan is, it wouldn’t work that easily.”

“Then, wasn’t it a waste of money?”

Tilla looked at him, puzzled, while Karl smiled confidently.

“I wasn’t the one who gave the bribes.”

“What?”

“The bribes they received were merely an extension of what they were already accustomed to.”

Karl had indeed widely distributed bribes to Zeppelin’s garrison, to the point where it nearly crippled the finances of the Duchy of Antares. (This was also one of the reasons Karl had complained to Repenhardt about being short on funds.)

However, the bribes weren’t handed over in the name of the Duchy of Antares.

“A large portion of Zeppelin’s garrison has always received bribes under various pretexts from different merchant groups.”

Zeppelin was a hub for various trading companies. One of the biggest headaches for merchants was government regulations. Naturally, a common practice among Zeppelin’s merchants was to bribe officials and soldiers in order to smooth over business operations.

In simple terms, Zeppelin’s garrison already had established routes through which they regularly received bribes.

“The bribes I handed out were all given in the name of those very same merchant groups.”

When Karl’s agents in Zeppelin distributed the money, they didn’t demand that the soldiers stand by and do nothing, even if the city was engulfed in flames. No matter how large the bribe, no one would be foolish enough to follow orders that would put their life at risk.

Instead, the request they made was much simpler.

— Lately, I’ve come across some information that suggests something big is about to go down in Zeppelin. Of course, as a mere merchant, there’s nothing I can do about it. But I’m quite worried about what might happen to my family during the chaos. So, I was wondering… If things do get out of hand, could you come to my family’s estate for a bit and look out for them? If you just keep an eye on them for a while before responding to orders, it wouldn’t exactly be considered insubordination, would it? And if you get into trouble because of it, I’ll make sure everything gets smoothed over afterwards.

It’s hard to refuse a request like that—especially when it comes from someone who has consistently padded your wallet, and especially when it’s accompanied by a generous amount of money.

And unless they completely failed to respond to the order, a slight delay wouldn’t cause too many problems. At least, according to the laws of the Duchy of Chatan, a minor delay would only result in a small fine. That fine, of course, would be trivial compared to the bribes they received.

Handing over bribes under another trading company’s name was not a difficult task. Bribes, by nature, are not exactly aboveboard transactions. It’s common practice to hide one’s identity and secretly pass the money, so there’s no real way to verify whose name was used.

Naturally, if the request itself seemed suspicious, the soldiers would have been wary. But there was nothing odd about the request at all, was there?

Of course, the garrison soldiers’ natural response would be, “I should drop by and check on the XX Trading Company that’s always been so generous to me!”

On top of that, Karl added a magical phrase, one that had the power to move people’s hearts.

— Zeppelin’s forces number in the tens of thousands, so surely it won’t be a problem if ‘one of you’ is missing, right?

“The phrase ‘It’s just me, it’ll be fine’ is one of the most powerful spells that can corrupt a person,” Karl explained.

If the entire garrison was armed with the mindset of ‘It’s just me,’ it could completely paralyze the entire army across Zeppelin!

“The only thing… I never imagined that almost the entire garrison would be taking bribes. I thought it’d be a miracle if even half of them were swayed. But after investigating, I realized this place is more corrupt than I could have ever guessed.”

Karl shrugged his shoulders, and Tilla couldn’t help but let out a stunned laugh. Honestly, she was amazed that anyone had ever managed to win a war against a country like this.

As she thought of Repenhardt, far away under the skies of Zeppelin, she muttered to herself.

‘Wow, Lord Repenhardt. You really made the right call keeping this man alive…’

Tilla resolved to keep Karl close, not just for the future of the Duchy of Antares, but for the future of the dwarves as well.