21st Century Archmage

Chapter 78: Elemia, the Witch

“He went into the inner castle?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. Outside of our expectations, he apparently landed at the Imperial Familys exclusive hangar in the inner castle. He was then greeted by Princess Igis and is now staying at Isabel Palace.”

“Kuku… That means the bastard has a fairly good head on his shoulders.”

Due to the approach of the Emperors birthday, Duke Ormere was very busy.

He was a man who wielded authority second only to the emperor in the Bajran Empire. As the leader of the nobility, there was much he had to prepare. The only two occasions that could gather nobles in the capital from all over the expansive empire were the emperors birthday and the Day of National Foundation, so this was overall a very important time.

Despite all the bustle, Ormere paid very close attention to the provisional Lord of Nerman, Kyre.

The current expression on his thin face was one of caution.

‘He continues to get on my nerves. Hes a dangerous bastard.

Just because you were born within a ducal house of the empire did not mean that you were automatically guaranteed success and influence. It was possible to be like Duke Garvit, buried in his countryside territory fighting a gruesome battle against monsters day after day. If you were unable to gain the emperors favor and were restrained by the nobles, it was simply the way of politics that you would naturally be eliminated.

However, Duke Ormere had risen to the top of the nobles in such a ruthless world.

He paid close attention to the uneasy cry sprouting in his heart.

‘He must be killed. The roots must be severed before the bud can grow.

The fearless rookie had broken their expectations and had blatantly landed his wyvern right in the Imperial Palaces hangar instead of going to Kirphone Covert.

“Things have become a little troublesome.”

“He is extraordinarily intelligent. We planned on dealing with him right as he left the Imperial Palace after the banquet, before he could return to the covert, but…” The crafty Viscount Parquess trailed off, looking troubled.

“Its alright. Its no fun if one catches the fish with the first bait. In any case, he is a rat inside a vase. All we have to do is to create a new way…”

In his lifetime, Ormere had led dozens of noble houses to their unwitting demise. His wicked eyes gleamed.

“That aside, the Laviter Empire is in an uproar right now correct?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. According to the information that came in just now, the Laviter Empires Second Prince, Alskane, has disappeared. Accompanied by Imperial Skyknights and Skyknights of his maternal grandfather Yanovis duchy, he disappeared after saying he was going to clear out black mages. Therefore, the Laviters side of the Kovilan Mountains are currently in a state of emergency.”

“Hooh, isnt Alskane the second prince receiving Hadverias favor?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. I heard there are quite a few nobles supporting him as well.”

“Black mage cleanup, you say. Puhahaha. Thats indeed something youd do at that age.”

If anything big happened on the continent, Ormere would hear about it right away. Handling information was a given when managing the empire.

“I will give another report after finding out more.”

The longer the emperor laid in bed, the brighter Duke Ormeres expression became.

‘Soon… the empire will come into my hands! Soon!

No matter how sick he was, the emperor was the emperor. And the current emperor, Havitron, was an outstanding emperor who bothered Ormere quite a lot.

If Havitron died, then Poltviran would become the next emperor. His personality was violent and crude, but he listened oh so obediently to the words of his mother, Queen Elmiane, and Duke Ormere.

If that came to pass, then the empire would safely fall into Duke Ormeres hands.

And he would gain power no one would dare to protest….

* * *

“Halt!”

Neeeigh!

On the official road about one day away from the central city of Nerman, Denfors, a merchant caravan around twenty carriages large was stopped by around twenty soldiers on horseback.

“What is the matter, sir?”

The merchant leading the group put both hands together, bobbing his head in front of the knight.

“An important person of Nerman has been kidnapped. Permit us to conduct a search.”

The faces of the knight and soldiers were hard with built-up fatigue.

“Of course. How may we assist?”

“What kinds of goods are you carrying?”

“They are the orc hides obtained in the recent monster hunts. They have undergone the first round of processing and will be made into leather armor in the Havis Kingdom.”

The merchant group only had around 20 mercenaries who looked to have third-rate skills and some coachmen who looked like typical, regular merchants commonplace in Nerman.

“Remove the canvas. I must check each carriage.”

“Understood, sir.”

The merchant bowed deeply to accept the command of the prickly knight.

“Remove all the canvas.”

Under the hard expressions of the knight and soldiers, the coachmen and mercenaries quickly drew back the canvases covering the carriages, knowing that the situation was strange.

“Eurgh…”

“Geh…”

The knights and soldiers grimaced at the sight that greeted them when the canvases were removed. The hides had apparently been processed once, but the sight of the hides with holes in them and blue flesh was still nauseating. During the large-scale monster hunts, over a hundred thousand orcs had been caught, an amount Nerman could not handle on its own. Therefore, merchants were busily going to and fro, busily washing the hides and leaving the territory. These orc hides worth less than 1 Gold here in Nerman today could become goods and leather armor that could fetch several Gold after processing them well.

“Do a thorough search!”

Though they were disgusted, the knight and soldiers had a duty to fulfill the command given to them.