CHAPTER 117: GROUNDWORK AND DOUBT

"Oh, yes. He’s ready to move whenever we are. When I told him about the ancient magic circle, he was furious. He’s always been critical of the way the rebellion party does things. He’s fully on board with Jircniv’s coronation. All we need to do now is coordinate the timing."

"And what about Rosaria?"

"They sent a magic paper with the coordinates for the teleportation circle. If we fix it to the floor, we can open a teleportation circle in the church without even a millimeter of error. We found out the magical device can actually send physical things better than we thought. This experiment was a success. I really am a genius, aren’t I? I’d like to improve it even more and make it so it can send things other than documents. Shiao Yi told me there’s a system in his world that can send voice and video back and forth. I’ve been thinking about whether we can make something like that too..."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it," Louis interrupted.

He had to stop Aaron before he wandered off-topic again.

"So? When will His Excellency arrive?" Louis asked.

"Late tonight. It’s still too early to be drawing attention," Aaron answered.

"Got it. I’ll give instructions to the personnel on the Rosaria side to come here as escorts at that time. I’ll come later. Captain Dominic plans to move together with Tenby and the rest of the royalist group."

"Understood. We’ll coordinate with the church side to do the same. Anything else? You can ask me anything. The genius that I am will take care of it," Aaron said with a grin.

Louis paused to think. Was there anything else to worry about?

"Ah, yeah... I was wondering about the nobles. They haven’t made any moves, right? That makes me a little nervous. When the time comes, we still don’t know which side they’ll support."

"True," Aaron said, resting his chin on one hand. "Unwanted noise can be annoying. Maybe a bit of advance groundwork wouldn’t hurt."

"Groundwork?" Louis repeated.

"Those nobles only care about not losing what’s theirs. As long as their lands and titles are secure, they won’t care who’s in power. The ones who might be useful in the new administration—Chelmsford and his people probably already have their eyes on them and are working on that. The rest? They’ll just wait and follow whoever comes out on top."

Then Aaron suddenly clapped his hands together, a sly look on his face. He ran a hand through his long silver hair and gave a smile that was far too seductive for no good reason.

"Oh right. I’ve still got all those decorative goods for business piled up in the carriage. They’re fine jewelry, very high quality. You should go ahead and hand them out as gifts."

"Are you sure? Aren’t those the expensive goods your family asked you to sell for business?" Louis asked.

"It’s fine, really. It all belongs to the family anyway. If it ends up helping me, they’ll be more than happy. So go on—coordinate that groundwork with Lord Chelmsford. I’m super busy, you know."

With a firm push on the back, Aaron practically shoved Louis out of the church.

So now Louis was handling the groundwork with the nobles too? That meant more work for him, didn’t it?

Leaving the church with a heavy heart, Louis headed toward Lord Chelmsford’s estate. On the way, he made up his mind to get everyone moving—Tenby and the royalist faction, Rex and the Rosaria crew—all of them. He was going to run them ragged.

...

Since morning, Talcott had been feeling uneasy and irritated. It started with the woman from last night.

She was said to be one of the most beautiful women in the western district of Rabanastre, so he had her brought to him. The daughter of a craftsman, just sixteen years old, but clearly an innocent girl with no experience. She had no skill, no charm, and was completely lifeless. It turned out she had a lover, and all she did was sob quietly for him the whole time. She was dull and no fun at all. Before morning even came, Talcott gave her to the soldiers to do with as they pleased.

But even after that, something heavy and restless kept swirling in his chest. The same unsettling feeling had been with him since yesterday.

When he entered his office and saw his adjutant’s face, his mood lifted a little. Today was finally the day the army would march. That thought helped him rise above the gloom. After all, Talcott was a soldier. He felt most alive and fulfilled when leading troops into action.

He straightened the collar of his formal military uniform, dressed for the ceremony, and inspected his appearance in the mirror on the office wall. Even at his age, his body—shaped by years of training—had no excess fat and remained strong. He had a hawk-like nose and thick eyebrows. His stern face and posture gave off a powerful presence. In the mirror, his gray eyes shone with a satisfied smile.

But after a few moments, that strange, nameless anxiety started creeping up again from deep inside him.

—What exactly am I anxious about?

He was the highest authority in Dalmasca. Everything went as he wished, and no one dared defy him.

Anyone who even hinted at disobedience or acted suspiciously was punished without mercy.

Everyone around him constantly watched his expression, afraid of him. No one could possibly stand against him.

The second-in-command, Weskham, clearly wanted to overthrow him and take the top position, but he didn’t have the power or soldiers to stand a chance. Watching Weskham squirm in frustration had become one of Talcott’s quiet pleasures.

There were even signs that Weskham had tried to join forces with the third-in-line, Libertus, to fight back. But that move had failed miserably. It was Libertus’s adjutant—Roalille, or something like that—who had caused a major blunder by introducing some strange magical circle.