Caron was currently adjusting his attire, preparing to attend the scheduled meeting at the An Zhu Royal Palace.
At first, Alberto thought that Cape’s roundtable meeting system was quite good, and after Lilith’s improvements, it had become a regular meeting system, which Alberto had completely adopted.
Alberto was originally a very diligent monarch; having small meetings every three days and large meetings every seven days was not a problem for him. The only issue was that the nobles of An Zhu were considerably busier compared to those of Cape and often absent.
However, most of the nobles who could attend were present because the pressure from Cape forced them to start keeping up with Alberto on the latest developments.
Caron’s status also rose with the news coming from the Tower and the pressure from Cape.
After all, everyone was now considering the forces and supremacy magic from the opposite shore.
This even allowed Caron to stand on equal footing in the short term with Alberto’s most trusted aide—Cassius.
“Your Majesty.”
Caron respectfully bowed in the main hall of the palace, then took his seat.
It was only after Caron had taken his seat that the meeting officially began.
“The opposing side has been constantly provoking us along our border line, almost daily allowing those iron monsters to fire!”
The first to speak was the military’s commander.
“The opposing side’s iron monsters are too exaggerated; even if we have means to penetrate their defenses, it is difficult to approach those iron monsters under the protection of their infantry.”
This had been a longstanding issue. Ever since tanks emerged, An Zhu had not gained any advantage in field operations.
At the same time, images and data about tanks had also been distributed among the attending nobles.
“This is a blatant provocation against us; they are mocking our ineptitude!”
After the military commander finished speaking, the meeting fell into silence until Alberto spoke.
“Can we capture one?”
Looking at the tank image, Alberto couldn’t help but feel a sense of urgency; its allure was far greater to him than the daughters of those nobles.
“Your Majesty, Cape’s southeastern army is no longer the same as it was before; now it is personally led by the duke from the Southern Border. It is no longer possible to rely solely on intimidation to make them drop their weapons and flee.”
However, the military commander’s tone shifted as he glanced at the few unfamiliar figures in the hall, saying, “Collective capture is difficult, but if we aim to catch a solitary one, there is still a chance if Your Majesty is willing to take action.”
Those unfamiliar figures looked at the tank images before huffing, “Your Majesty, you wouldn’t really make us go catch this pile of scrap metal, would you? We’re here to assist you in your grand ambitions, not to be ordered around like a bunch of mortals.”
These high-level professionals spoke condescendingly, showing no regard for the tanks; to them, these peculiar things from Cape, while impressive, were too cumbersome. As long as a large-scale magic spell cleared the infantry, wouldn’t those tanks just be a pile of scrap metal toyed with?
“And isn’t Your Majesty’s power enough with us around? That arrogant governor of Cape, we went through great lengths to come from the Tower, and that young child actually thinks he can set the rules for us. Only a fool would resort to them.”
“Your Majesty currently has such a plethora of high-level professionals; why not directly break into total war and push through?”
Meanwhile, the military commander remained silent, not even daring to sigh.
Ever since these high-level professionals returned, the situation in An Zhu had become increasingly chaotic. The traditional military’s influence was shrinking, while the nobles allied with high-level professionals grew more powerful.
These high-level professionals still held an understanding of warfare rooted in more than a decade ago, believing that whoever had more professionals and cast more powerful spells would win.
“I can understand your feelings, but this is also for our grand ambitions. I assure you all, as long as we can fully capture this iron monster called a tank, you will all gain the military merits and honors you deserve.”
Alberto was also under great pressure; these high-level professionals were very difficult to restrain. To cooperate with them and meet their demands, Alberto’s economic minister had recently been visibly losing hair.
For this reason, Alberto even had to open up special trade to guests from the opposite shore to generate more funds.
For Alberto, there was only one path, which was to shift conflicts outward. As long as he could defeat Cape, everything would improve.
Hearing what Alberto said, the few high-level professionals had nothing more to say, except for a few who muttered quietly, feeling that Alberto was too afraid of Cape and indeed lacked determination.
After all, there were only a handful of high-level professionals allied with Cape, while most professionals chose to ally with Alberto, including those who originally belonged to Cape.
After all, who would want to jump from one cage to another?
Caron quietly observed the meeting. The Avar Kingdom would not have this problem because it is currently under the rule of the families of those high-level professionals and dragons; the king was merely a symbol.
Those high-level professionals monopolized knowledge and power. Even if a genius could break free from the constraints and become a high-level professional, they would only be trained to become supremacy magic launchers; it would be hard to access other forms of magic.
Sooner or later, An Zhu would also become like this.
After finalizing the basic plan, Cassius stood up and said, “Next is the excavation of the relics from the Old Empire; the progress is going very smoothly. With the help of various high-level mages, we have been able to uncover some technologies from the Old Empire.”
Hearing this, many nobles stood and applauded; even the military marshal who had been frowning earlier was taken aback by how quickly they could reproduce the technologies of the Old Empire, which exceeded everyone’s expectations.
This made everyone marvel; there indeed was a reason why high-level professionals were valued.
However, the high-level professional responsible for reproducing the Old Empire’s technology wore a proud expression: “The Old Empire didn’t even have high-level professionals; this is merely a bit of our trivial cleverness.”
This was a lie. The technology from the Old Empire had left these high-level professionals in a quandary; some ideas seemed to be completely detached from modern techniques, as obscure and difficult to comprehend as the knowledge of the last world. If Cassius had not acted as a guiding light for these high-level professionals in selecting research directions, they might still be at a loss with the research materials from the Old Empire.
“The Old Empire once had many specialized professionals using certain skills, just like us, and this is worth our reference. I believe it will not be long before we can leverage the power of the Old Empire and restore its glory!”
This was one of the few pieces of good news recently, allowing everyone present to relax somewhat.
However, someone immediately asked Cassius, “Doesn’t Cape also have quite a few relics from the Old Empire? What if Cape begins to research the Old Empire relics?”
Cassius shook his head, saying, “There’s no need to worry about this. Regardless of whether Cape has as many high-level professionals assisting in research as we do, we have recently received news that the governor over there in Cape has inexplicably abandoned the research of Old Empire technology.”
The reason Lind abandoned it was simple: why continue laboriously digging with a shovel for something that could be purchased for 550C?
The nobles of An Zhu had their own assumptions: “After all, Cape is currently surrounded on three sides; they must be under a lot of pressure and cannot dedicate any energy to research.”
Cassius remained noncommittal, continuing, “Thanks to the materials left by the Old Empire and the guests from the Tower, we have been able to glimpse the secrets of the soul and the mysteries of the gods.”
Those high-level professionals nodded at Alberto, saying, “Your Majesty, although the knowledge about souls and consciousness cannot yet be put into practical combat, we must conduct in-depth research.”
“We are already far ahead of Cape in this regard; we must also be cautious to consolidate our initial advantage.”
“By the time Cape reacts, their souls and consciousness will likely have already been breached by us.”
The venue erupted with cheerful laughter.
