ALL NOVEL chapter 16
16 – Lydia on her knees
“Kalos! I know you’re in the wagon! It’ll take a while, so let’s talk with me! Huh? I will ask you this!”
I didn’t even want to hear it…
The wagon made of wood was not soundproof, so I could hear Lydia’s voice from outside.
“That woman now! Warrior! I’ll go out and say something sharp. Stay here!”
Seeing her protagonist blocking her carriage with her window, Clara tried to get out of her carriage to say something to her, but
I grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“Princess, I will go.”
“Ha.. But…”
When I said I was leaving, not only Clara, but also Lucia, who was sitting across from her, had a worried face.
I smiled at them, saying it was okay, and opened the carriage door and headed outside.
I wonder if that’s why I’m insecure,
Clara and Lucia soon followed, but…
I thought you left early this morning after being almost kicked out of the palace by Edwin yesterday.
It seemed that Lydia had been waiting outside the palace for me to come out.
“Kalos!!”
When I got out of the carriage, Lydia, who had been blocking the front of the carriage, came towards me.
“How have you been? Carlos?”
“What is it? Just tell me your business.”
“Uh… That… Carlos didn’t want to see me? Sometimes I think of…”
“If you have nothing to say, I will go.”
As I listened to Lydia’s words that I hadn’t even thought of, instead of the usual anxiety disorder, something bubbled up in her heart and anger rose.
It was time to get on the carriage again, not wanting to see each other go bad.
“Kalos!! I’m sorry!! It’s my fault!!”
Lydia, who suddenly grabbed my hand and took it into her own arms, pulling me to keep me from getting into her carriage.
“Have you been having a hard time because of me? I’m really sorry. I’m really guilty I must have been a little crazy back then!”
“Is that what you were doing in front of the castle gate as a queen to say that?”
“Yes. I really want to say this before I leave…”
“Then we talked, and that’s it. Goodbye then.”
I tried to get on the carriage again, except for the arm that was already pulled into her arms…
“Kalos!!”
Lydia took hold of my arm again and pulled me into her own arms, holding her back so that I could not get into her carriage.
“Save our kingdom! Huh? The demon king’s army has invaded the kingdom of Jeremiah!! There are so many of them that if something goes wrong, the kingdom could be destroyed!”
Lydia finally gets to the point.
“By the way?”
“You come and help me! Huh? If it’s you, you can stop that demon lord!”
“Do I really need to go? Lydia, if you were a former warrior party, wouldn’t you be able to stop the Demon King’s army alone without the Four Heavenly Kings?”
“Kalos…”
“Three years ago, where did the self-confident wizard Lydia go? Didn’t she say that she was a self-proclaimed great mage…?”
“…..”
Perhaps it was because I touched the past that I shouldn’t have touched, Lydia just stood there silently, holding onto my arm.
Waiting for what she would say again, I took her arm out of her arms again and tried to get into her carriage.
“Kalos!!! It’s my fault!! Huh?”
Lydia suddenly drops to her knees and grabs my leg, preventing me from getting into her carriage.
“I was wrong about that time. I beg you like this!! I’m pregnant… I did something wrong, but the baby in my belly didn’t do anything wrong…”
“…..”
“So, let me ask you this. Please come to support our Jeremiah Kingdom!”
At first I tried to move my leg, but Lydia was holding it so hard that she came along.
In the end, I couldn’t have her better than her….
“Huuu… Ok. I will support you.”
“I…Really!!?”
“Yes. Instead, there are conditions.”
“Conditions? What… What conditions…? Money? Title? Wisdom? Say anything!”
I gave Lydia a gentle smile and released her hand from her grip on my leg.
She squatted her down to her eye level with her slumped on the floor.
“Anyway, I have a money contract with the kingdom of Argen here, right? Just give me money and I’ll support you.”
“Ah… Ok!! How much do you need!? No, just say it! I’ll save you somehow!”
“It’s a bit expensive… But is it possible?”
“Yes!! I still have my stake in the imperial treasures of the Eritre Empire, and if I combine the royal property of the Jeremiah kingdom, I can somehow raise money!! How much do you need? How much do you need? Carlos?”
“500 Million gold.”
“If it was 500 million gold, would I… 500 million… gold?”
I don’t know how she first heard my words, but Lydia froze as her eyes widened at the word 500 million gold.
“I won’t bother asking about the past three years ago. Instead, the money I didn’t get from the Empire + Travel expenses to Jeremiah Kingdom + Guards of party members here helping me + Army maintenance expenses of Argen Kingdom while I’m gone + One month’s fee for using the holy sword Ascalon + Additional amount for night battles + Depending on the situation If you enter the dungeon accordingly, risk allowance + Lastly, 500 million gold including compensation for my mental damage that I often encounter you there.”
“Ka… Carlos… How… Realistically…”
“Why? It’s hard? If it’s hard, do something that didn’t exist.”
Lydia, stunned by the word 500 million gold, Lydia grabbed my leg when I tried to get back on the carriage.
She tried to get on the carriage, whether or not it dragged on, but she said she was pregnant, so I didn’t use my strength because if she had a miscarriage because of me, she might bite it.
“My… I’ll arrange it somehow. First, I give 10% as a down payment and the rest later…”
“I’m sorry, Lydia. I want you to pay in advance.”
“Eh… Huh?? What… What?”
“Because I made a contract like that before and didn’t get a lot of money from the Eritre Empire? I’m sorry, but from that day on, when I do business with your family, I’m going to do it after the first payment. All in gold.”
“Ah.. No matter how you do it.. How did you bring all that money…”
The value of 500 million gold coins is not only difficult to make even if you bring and sell all the land, buildings, and treasures of Jeremiah’s kingdom,
If you were to transport those 500 million gold coins to the Kingdom of Argen using a wagon, it would be difficult to move them all, even if it took your whole life.
In fact, my offer in exchange for support was nothing short of false,
After beating the calculations in her head for a long time, Lydia no longer grabbed or hung on to my legs, as if she knew what I was thinking.
“Then I’ll be waiting for you. Lydia. Let me know when the payment is made.”
I approached the carriage and beckoned to Clara and Lucia,
Clara tried to say something to Lydia on the spot, but Lucia stopped her and got on the carriage as if she were being dragged.
And even the moment I set off in the carriage, Lydia remained in the same position as she knelt down on her bare floor and did not even move.
As our carriage left, the nobles of the kingdom of Jeremiah rushed to see her supporting her, and she gradually moved away from her sight.
*****
Unlike the Eritre Empire, a powerful country in the western part of the continent, the Fjord Empire in the north was free from the threat of the Demon King’s army.
The central area where the demon army appeared was at a certain distance from them, and in the meantime, many kingdoms were like shields, so there was no need to worry too much.
Just…
It wasn’t like that with the Kingdom of Argen, which had a little bit of an awkward relationship with them.
The relationship with them is also related, but it was not easy to touch them because they knew the fear of the hero better than anyone else.
After defeating the demon king, I tried to plan an assassination, and tried to appease the kingdom on better terms than the kingdom of Argen, but
Most of the nobles did not agree with this, and suggested a solution.
Ttogak Togak Togak Togak
That’s right…
“Your Highness, did you call?”
“Yes. Irene, you’re welcome.”
As soon as Princess Cecilia returned to her home country after attending a banquet in the kingdom of Arjen, she was called by Irene, commander-in-chief of the Northern Army.
“You know the reason I called you from hearing about it, right?”
“Yes. Her Highness the Princess.”
Irene, dressed in a white uniform, the uniform of the Northern Army, with her silver hair, her bangs pulled back, and her forehead showing through, bowed on one knee in front of Cecilia.
The method to be used to appease the warriors in the Fjord Empire…
It starts with putting trustworthy people in the warrior party.
And even if something happens between the Argen Kingdom and the Fjord Empire in the future, I decided to use this method because I can easily convince my colleagues who are members of the same party…
Irene was chosen as the right person for him.
In order to enter the warrior’s party, first and second, you must have a strong power to fight against the demon army.
In addition, it was required to have enough beauty to do Plan B, and Irene was the one who met those two requirements.
“If you don’t want to go to the warrior party, tell me. It’s because someone else can find out.”
“No. Majesty. You can.”
“Did you hear about Plan B?”
“……Yes.”
“Can you do it?”
“…..Yes. You can.”
Cold-blooded Irene, her face, which always sticks to only one expression, moves, albeit subtly,
Princess Cecilia, seeing her for the first time, just stared at her with a smile as if she was having fun.
“Even the cold-blooded Irene knows how to make that expression.”
“Sorry. Majesty.”
“I’m sorry, well.. It’s me, it’s been a while since I saw Irene’s different face, so it’s fun? Ha ha ha ha ha”
“……”
Irene returned to her original hard face, but Cecilia burst into laughter again as if she couldn’t forget that face just before.
Irene just kept her head down as she waited for her laugh to end.
“Guys like that slightly shy face, so practice more often.”
“……”
“Well… No matter what we do or what expression we make, we just need to succeed in our goal. Irene.”
“Yes. Her Highness the Princess.”
“If you succeed… I will grant the independence of the Principality of Alsmeyer as you wish…”
Irene hid her face with her head lowered, so as not to let Cecilia see her own subtle changes in her facial expressions,
Of course, when the story of Alsmeyer’s independence, her family’s greatest long-cherished wish, came out, her eyes shook violently, which seemed to show her complex feelings as they were.