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The King was agitated, truth be told, he didn't care what would happen to his citizens. All he wanted was to maximize his chances of winning the war and maintaining his position. Valencia was one of the reasons why he could sustain his reigning, as long as he could give the people food, he would be treated like a saint. 

Anyway, when he found that Valencia was invaded, he realized that this may become shitty. He was frustrated that his sources of income disappeared. 

And now, he realized that another factor that kept him from reigning left him. The followers of True Apostle protected him from any danger because he was necessary. The King was a good dog and the King understood it, he didn't care because all he wanted was to live in pleasure. 

His protection was now gone together with his source of income. The king knew that to feed the soldiers that were attacking the Empire, he needed a large amount of food. However, their main source was gone. 

"W- What should I do?"

The King stuttered, he was only confident of invading the Cransia because the Apostle was protecting him, but now he lost it. The King started to think about how he could salvage this situation. 

He was sweating crazily, he thought of using the runic artifacts that his predecessor stored. He ran into the secret storage of their family, reached the royal library, and went to the farthest corner of the library. He looked for a golden book and at last, he found it. 

He took the book out of the shelf and the mechanism started to open. He recalled that his ancestors had an artifact that could cause genocide but it had a bad effect on the user. The King didn't care about it, he had a lot of people that he could use. 

The Stolen Soul was not here so he decided to use another artifact. 

He was descending into the room, he was gasping for air because this was the first that he spent so much energy. Yet, the tired King didn't stop, he moved his body. 

He reached the room and immediately opened it. His eyes almost popped out, he lost his strength and kneeled. 

There were no artifacts, nothing, the room didn't have any item inside. The artifacts were gone. 

The King slammed his fists on the floor. He realized that even the artifacts that his ancestors had were from the Apostle. They had nothing, he had nothing, since the start. 

Artifacts were the options because he didn't want to spend money, however, this option vanished. 

"I don't have a choice, I have to hire mercenaries to end this war quickly. "

War was expensive and the King didn't want to drain his money. To do that, he must hire strong mercenaries to end the war. It was ironic, he would spend money to prevent spending more money. 

The King panted and looked up at the stairs, it seemed that he had to climb up… 

"Damn it!"

The King said a cursed word. He moved his aching legs and started to go up. 

It took ten minutes for him to reach the surface. The retainers who were waiting for him helped him, the King was angry when he saw these people. 

These people were fucking late! The King slapped the first person that came to him. After that, he opened his mouth and ordered them with a commanding tone. 

"What is the state of our national budget!?"

"380 thousand gold, Your Highness!"

The person who knew it stepped in and replied. 

"What!? That's too small!"

The King reacted and grasped his neck.

"Gah, w- we used a lot of funds buying armors and weapons for the war. Y-Your Highness!"

The man fell on the floor coughing. 

"My personal budget, how much is it?"

"It's 2 million."

The King had a lavish lifestyle, so his budget was bigger. The King smiled when he heard it. He told his followers to start finding strong mercenaries that they could hire. After that, he commanded the others to gather all of the money and placed them in a room. 

The retainers nodded their heads and started to do their job. However, before they could leave the library another message came to them. 

"Your Highness, Natan had come back."

The King learned that the Baudan had fallen so he wasn't shocked when he learned that Natan returned. He trusted that Natan won't die and it seemed that he was right. 

However, the image of Natan running to him was different. Natan was pale and he looked like a man that escaped danger, it was different from how he normally saw him. 

"Y- Your Highness!"

He kneeled. 

" Our forces were destroyed!"

The King couldn't comprehend what he said so he asked again.

"What do you mean?"

"The forces that attacked the Empire  were annihilated!"

"What!?"

The King felt that he lost half of his life. 

"Impossible! General Renejay is a strong man, he won't die easily!"

Renejay was a Master that was commanded by the King to march to the Empire and attack it. 

Natan shook his head. 

"They lost when the Cransi-"

"Your Highness!"

Another news came which caused Natan not to continue his sentence. 

A man came into them, he was holding an opened letter and his hands were trembling. He read the contents of the letters and it was bad news. 

"Your Highness! Two forces were going here!"

"What!? Give me the letter!"

The King snatched the letter and read it. The writing looked new, it came from the guards that were patrolling the perimeter of the city. However, even though the writing was new, it looked like it was written fast. 

The King read every word of the letter, the enemies had come, with them noticing. The forces of Duke Saraza made a path for their ally, the forces of Duke Caparal advanced swiftly because of that.

"Aaahhhhhh!!!"

The King screamed so loud.