Emperor of Steel

The mountain fortress on the Southern border of the Volga Republic.

The same place where King Luke of the Symphonia Kingdom and President of Volga, Vladimir, had talked.

In the same place, another meeting was held.

The only difference was that the meeting wasn’t with Luke but with the Orc Hero Shaikan, the King of Libiya, Reichard.

Vladimir, who looked at Reichard that was in front of him, asked with a disgruntled voice, “Do you really need to wear that mask?”

“Don’t you feel the need to take off that mask?”

Duke Dimitry, who spoke after the president, looked at Reichard with his hands ready on his sword.

However, President Vladimir glanced at Dimitry.

The opponent was a legendary dragon blood owner.

Even if Duke Dimitry was a Sword Sage, a Dragonian was a tough opponent to deal with.

He felt that it wasn’t necessary to sacrifice his precious Sword Sage just because of some trivial need.

“We don’t intend you to take off that mask, but can’t a small word and kind act deepen the relationship between us?”

“Shouldn’t there be trust for a relationship to last?”

‘Huh, surely it isn’t wrong.’

Vladimir’s attention was completely focused on the nations to the south of the Baroque Empire.

The Symphonia and Libiya kingdoms.

As the two Kingdoms split from Baroque Empire, the power of Baroque wasn’t able to recover.

Moreover, as Baroque was focused on the South, he was unable to send in armed troops to attack the Volga Republic that was in the North.

This was why Vladimir wanted the two Kingdoms to fight with Baroque as long as possible.

‘But both nations are going in completely different directions.’

The Symphonia Kingdom, ruled by Luke, was implementing numerous republican reforms.

Centralized military reforms, people-oriented policies that prioritized the well being of the general public, active commerce, and industry, the republican activities were tolerated until it was for the well being of the nation.

The idea of republicanism spread among young people.

However, another emerging nation, the Libiya Kingdom, was different.

Unlike the unpredictable use of monsters that were known to have intelligence and skills, their national system was rather conservative.

The nobles’ powers and interests were retained.

Besides that, those who rebelled because of the issues of the nations or acted even a tiny bit suspicious were relentlessly executed.

The same was true for the Volga Republic. Those nobles, who were regarded as thorns, were removed.

So, the people and scholars with republican thoughts in the Libiya Kingdom were exiled either into Symphonia or the Volga Republic.

‘People’s taxes were greatly reduced, but it was possible because they were able to save money by using the monsters to secure labor and military power instead of humans.’

In other words, Libiya Kingdom was no different from the Baroque Empire.

No matter how it was seen, they seemed very similar.

He did have the Dragonian blood in him. However, Reichard was still a member of the Baroque family.

Perhaps, if he had the borders close to Volga, he would have been as troublesome as the Baroque Empire.

“Even if there is no trust, we just need to hold hands. We have a common enemy. Isn’t that why the king himself has come here?”

“That is true. I need your cooperation in defeating Rudolf.”

The heads of the two nations realized that it was better to attack the Baroque Empire together than by themselves.

That was why the meeting had been proposed.

When Reichard agreed to it, Vladimir immediately began talking.

“It was said that the Baroque Empire had weakened a lot. However, neither Rudolf nor his knights can be dealt with easily. Which means, we will have to act more aggressively than our current attempts.”

“A more aggressive attempt… In what way?”

“Firstly, we’ll manage and support the peasant uprising in the Baroque Empire.”

In the Baroque Empire, peasants uprising had been taking place throughout the nation due to the high tax and the lootings during the war.

Both the Volga Republic and the Libiya Kingdom were secretly supporting the movement.

In addition to handing them the military supplies, they hired mercenaries to increase the power of the rebels.

The peasant rebels, which were scattered in Baroque Empire, were a great help in shaving down Baroque’s power.

“It was something I felt too. I think that we should unify the rebel forces first.”

“Firstly, we don’t have the skill to push the peasant rebels.”

“Then, we will have to build an integrated command based on the people we put into the movement.”

Vladimir and Reichard shared their views on how to support the peasant rebels of the Baroque Empire and the roles to be done.

“The next would be sharing information to open a common front.”

The two nations were currently invading the Baroque Empire from North to West.

However, if information could be shared about the common front, they could attack Baroque a lot more efficiently than now.

“That sounds like a good idea too.”

“And it would be good to discuss the territorial division in case of the fall of Baroque Empire. Each side can prevent unnecessary doubts and conflicts with each other.”

Vladimir, who said that, spoke what he had thought in advance.

“Our Volga Republic needs 32 estates north of Irtis river.”

“If you put them together, that will be almost 2/3rd of the Republic, are you confident enough to hold it? It isn’t a good thing to have too much land.”

“It is my job to think about it. And if you say it like that, shouldn’t the king be worrying about it? Libiya is taking a lot more land than it can handle.”

“Well, half my blood is of Baroque. I think I can manage things a lot better than one would know.”

Reichard wasn’t pleased with the division of land.

It was because he regarded the Baroque Empire as his own.

‘Well, we can let him take it for now and then snatch it back at a later time.’

Of course, Volga wasn’t so innocent as to stand still either.

At some point, he would try to stomp on the Volga Republic, the Symphonia, and the Holy Arthenia Empire too.

That way, he could rule the continent with his God’s Dragon blood.

‘For now, I’ll dance to your rhythm. But the next time, I will be moving along to my own rhythm.’

‘His eyes are sneaky looking ones. I need to find a way to slay this Dragonian.’

With different thoughts, the two leaders of the nations documented their discussed issues and signed on them.

“King Shaikan, I think your future will be rather very busy.”

“All of that to win.”

“Then hope you see victory and prosperity.”

Vladimir’s right hand reached out to Reichard.

It was meant for a handshake.

After a brief thought, Reichard accepted the handshake.

Ching!

“…!”

The moment their hands joined, a series of images passed through Vladimir’s head.

“What is it?” Reichard asked when he saw Vladimir flinched.

The president quickly recovered his composure and smiled as if nothing had happened.

“Nothing at all. All of a sudden, I felt a chill…”

“That so? Maybe it was because of me.”

Reichard thought that it was because of the energy he had released that Vladimir felt dizzy.

He did refrain when he was talking, but still, Shaikan was releasing enough energy to show his power once their conversation was done.

Surely, Reichard thought that. However, it was wrong.

All of a sudden, Vladimir had visions of the future because of Reichard’s energy.

The only one who noticed it was Duke Dimitry.

After Reichard and his men left, Dimitry immediately spoke to the president, “Did you see anything?”

“Well… a dragon was wrapped completely by a grey snake with fog around it, like it was dying.”

“A dying dragon? That looks auspicious.”

Duke Dimitry’s complexion rose.

The Dragon was a symbol used by the Baroque Imperial family.

Therefore, the death of the dragon could be interpreted as the fall of the Baroque Empire.

‘Is it really auspicious?’

The president had different thoughts.

Baroque Imperial blood was in both Rudolf and Reichard.

If one thought about it, didn’t that mean that Libiya Kingdom too would perish?

What could the grey snake that killed the dragon mean?

‘It doesn’t feel good. I think something unusual will happen.’

Vladimir, who was able to recover from the unfamiliar images, stepped back into the fort while looking back and forth over the south side where Reichard had gone.