Emperor of Steel

The Sea of Reapers, located between the continent of Rhodesia and the Southern Continent.

In the heart of the gloomy misty sea were seven islands called the Archipelago of Hell.

A group of wizards were gathered on the largest island in there, the Thanatos Island.

They were the remnants of the Veritas Magic Tower, which had been destroyed on the Rhodesia Continent.

Since they were secretly studying dark magic, they had fallen into a trap by unexpectedly summoning a high ranking demon and were waiting under the shadows of Arsene for the resurrection to be completed.

A giant pyramid was located to the north of the island.

The leader of the Veritas Magic Tower gathered in a secret room inside the pyramid to receive a series of reports and proceeded with the meetings.

“What is the current situation of the Rhodesia Continent?”

When asked by Nestar, the former Meister of Veritas Magic Tower, the current Meister Albert, answered, “The Baroque Empire has been completely divided, Father. Emperor Rudolf continued to attack the Libiya Kingdom founded by Reichard, but he hasn’t been able to get favorable results.”

“Then in the south? What was it about Mayers being dead?”

“A spy of ours got caught and committed suicide in the battle against Marquis Rakan. There were rumors that Mayers had committed suicide or was killed…. Either way, Luke de Rakan has taken over the Milton Kingdom and renamed it the Symphonia Kingdom.”

“Hmm… Will there be a 3rd battle?”

“Yes, neither the Dragonian Reichard nor Luke, the warrior of Rakan are normal.”

It was already assessed by the elders and Albert of the Veritas Magic Tower that with the current abilities of Rudolf, defeating those two would be hard

If it came to force, Rudolf surely was the strongest in the continent.

However, force alone wasn’t enough to win a war.

It was needed to have a calm and divisive strategy and think of careful tactics, and currently, Rudolf didn’t have such a strategy.

“Was it because his family was killed?”

“That could be too. Our spies stated that the Intelligence Agency of the Baroque Empire has been acting weird.”

“The Imperial intelligence agency is acting weird?”

At Nestar’s question, Albert spoke in detail, “We still haven’t figured it out, but it seemed like the reporting process within the Intelligence Agency has changed.”

In the past few days, all the information was sent directly to the right hand of the Emperor, which was Count Voltas. However, that wasn’t the case anymore.

It was said that the speed of information was slowed and the report was reduced comparatively from the past.

“At first, I thought that it was because Voltas, who was the one in charge of the Intelligence, went missing during the process of subjugation of the western nobles. However, even after he is back, there seems to be no change.”

“Well, then Rudolf might be putting Voltas on a tight leash, or both Voltas and Rudolf have turned blind.”

It was still just words. However, Nestar thought that a 3rd party might have taken over the Baroque Empire.

‘Maybe it’s related to the division of the empire…’

Nestar, thinking for a moment, shook his head.

He wasn’t ready to make any assumptions or conclusions about it.

If he acted and decided something when the information was still uncertain, they could suffer enormous losses.

“Anyway, apart from the Baroque Empire, how about the Holy Empire?”

Nestar was handed a map of the Holy Empire.

It was the Holy Arthenia Empire which was a huge stumbling block for the wizards to create their own world.

“We did hear that Veronica III certainly took power, right?”

When Nestar asked, Belmond answered, “That is right. It is unlikely for Arch Duke Gregory to stop her, and the people love her, so she will not be opposed.”

It was almost as if there were no forces in the Holy Empire to challenge Veronica III.

However, there was opposition from Constantine, a few Archbishops, and lords who started a political offense based on rumors.

So it was Belmond’s thoughts that it would be hard to oppose the Pope unless they found something very wrong about her.

“In this situation, the Pope of the Holy Empire visited Symphonia and crowned Luke de Rakan herself. And there are so many stories about it.”

Belmond saw the alliance of Symphonia and the Holy Empire. The rumors said by some were very unlikely to happen.

However, Symphonia, which seemed to know that going against the Baroque Empire with its own power would be tough, relied on the Holy Empire, and the Holy Empire lent its power to Symphonia and helped to defeat Milton and the Grenada Navy.

“In the future, the Rhodesia Continent will mainly move around Symphonia and Holy Empire.”

“Tch, that’s unfortunate. We should have intervened during the last civil war in the Holy Empire and drained off all their power.”

At the words of Nestar, Belmond replied as if he agreed, “That is true.”

Honestly, Veritas Magic Tower was planning to use their warlocks and undead within the Holy Empire during the civil war.

No matter who won, the Holy Empire would have been in a mess, and the land would have weakened.

That way, they wouldn’t be able to interfere with the future business of Arsene.

They waited for the right time to have their warlocks infiltrate the Empire, but the civil war ended.

As the civil war ended within a short time and turned into a happy ending, the heads of the Veritas Magic Tower ended by being chickens.

It was a moment of regret.

Because right after, a demon had been summoned, and their tower was destroyed.

“By the way, when will Lord Arsene come back from the Southern Continent, Father?”

At the question of Albert, Nestar shook his head and spoke,

“Well, he should have come back by now, but we haven’t been contacted yet, so I am worried as to what is happening over there.”

Arsene had gone to the Southern Continent with his completed undead Death Knights and Lich for testing purposes.

He thought that it was a good opportunity with the request of the Hwang Bo clan to help them.

However, since then, the members of Veritas had lost contact with Arsene.

Despite the success or failure of his test, it was time for Arsene to come back.

“Maybe something happened to the Lord?”

“No way. There is no way anyone in this current world could beat our Ancestor.”

He was someone who could freely use the 9th circle white and dark magic.

In addition, a Lich would never die as long as his life vessel was safe.

Could such a being be defeated?

Even if it was the dragon itself, the strongest creature from the ancient times, he would still return.

“That could…”

Albert felt uneasy.

This was because the Veritas Magic Tower was painstakingly aware that the affairs of the world wouldn’t go as one intended.

Like his father, there could be no one who could beat their Ancestor.

However, on the southern continent, there could be a different leveled transcendental being which the Veritas’ members weren’t aware of.

“Well, I just can’t wait for our Ancestor to return.”

“But, in order to help our Ancestor with his cause, we need to build a solid foundation on that continent.”

Nestar nodded at Belmond’s opinion and gave orders, looking at Albert.

“I heard that the magic society is hoping for a revival through the war between the Baroque and Libiya. Take the men you can use and lay down some groundwork. However, refrain from acting too openly.”

“Understood, Father.”

When the other elders along with Albert and Belmond retreated, Nestar left the room to look at the undead.

They didn’t know when Arsene would return. However, it was necessary to prepare everything once he returned.