The Water Magician

There are three major powers in the Central Nations.

To the north, the Empire, Debuhi Empire.

To the south, the Kingdom, Naitorei Kingdom.

And to the east, the Union, Handalu Federation.

The Handalu Federation borders the kingdom to the southwest and the Empire to the northwest.

The Empire overwhelmingly surpasses the other two nations in all aspects, but the kingdom and the federation have maintained a balance for a long time. However, this balance was significantly disrupted by the "Great War" that occurred between the two nations ten years ago.

The outcome was a great victory for the kingdom.

The federation ceded part of its territory to the kingdom and allowed several small nations that were under its control to gain complete independence.

One of these was the Duchy of Inberri, which lies in the southern part of the federation, bordering the eastern part of the kingdom.

Though it is a small nation, the complete independence of the Duchy of Inberri, which holds many important resources, was a significant blow to the federation.

“Ku ku ku ku ku. Ah hahahahaha. Wah hahahahahahahaha!”

In the capital of the Handalu Federation, Jakelea.

Laughter echoed through the regent's office.

“Your Excellency…”

As the room's master laughed adequately, the assistant who brought the report spoke up.

“Oh, my apologies. But surely, Lumber read it as well? The report on the royal capital turmoil. The destruction of the Royal Knight Order, the enormous damage to the nobles and their families, and the incompetence of the leaders who could not take effective measures against it. How can one help but laugh at this?”

Saying this, Lord Aubrey burst into laughter once more.

However, after laughing for a while, he frowned slightly and continued speaking.

“However, this makes it clear. His Majesty Stafford IV is not normal.”

Lord Aubrey mentioned the name of King Stafford IV of the Naitorei Kingdom.

“It is indeed strange for a king known for his wisdom, isn’t it?”

Lumber nodded slightly and said.

“Is he ill? Or perhaps…”

“Or perhaps…?”

“Is it the work of someone other than us…?”

Lord Aubrey shook his head several times as he said this.

“The citizens of the kingdom are unfortunate… There is nothing they can do about it.”

“It’s a difficult point about the concentration of power.”

“If it’s too dispersed, decisions take time. If it’s too concentrated, the impact when that point is broken is too great. Human organizations never go as planned.”

“Your Excellency, we have confirmed it, and it was indeed true. The seeds we finally planted in Duke Flitwick's residence… have been lost.”

“Ah… it was Viscount Fletcher, wasn’t it? I finally promoted him to manage the duke's interests, but he has passed away… Moreover, he also failed to involve the hero. Well, since the hero was not part of the plan, as long as he doesn’t interfere with us, that’s fine. Still, the damage to the duke's residence was certainly unexpected.”

Lord Aubrey continued with a somewhat grim face.

“Even so, it was an abomination beyond imagination that swallowed the duke's residence… The cause of this unexpected rampage is…”

“I’m sorry. We still don’t know.”

“Well, that would be the case.”

Lord Aubrey did not expect it to be resolved in such a short time.

After all, it was an “orb” obtained from a suspicious source.

“What was it called… Ah, was it ‘gem’? How about obtaining it once more?”

“I anticipated your words, and I tried to make contact with the person I arranged, but I could not reach them.”

In response to Lord Aubrey’s inquiry, Assistant Lumber bowed his head as he replied.

“Hm, they have disappeared then. From our side, we could cause confusion in the kingdom, so that's good. Moreover, with the Royal Knight Order being annihilated, they cannot send reinforcements to other nations. …It's finally time.”

“Yes. We will be ready for deployment in four months.”

“Four months… at the end of spring.”

Lord Aubrey grinned and murmured further.