"R666. Umm. Elidranthia. Hmm.. how should we approach this?"

"Hmm? Why use my real name?"

" We have a commission to deliver a message to you. From your father."

"Huh? My father knew I was a reaper!!"

"No. Arghh… I am sorry. Let me ask R661 instead."

A few moments later, R661 knocked on my door. "Lady Elidranthia, I have a message from your father."

"Yes?"

"Your father asked The Reapers to deliver a message to you. Here is the message." He handed me a paper that says, 'Elidranthia, this is Count Shadowstep and Zach. I want you to meet with Prince Ludwin and ask him to deliver supplies to our county. The enemy employed thousands of monsters as a meat shield. If they pass through here, our empire is doomed.' That's what they say, milady. They also listed several things they needed and their current supplies."

*badump

My heart beat in shock. My eyes were red as my emotions ran rampant. I closed my eyes, trying not to scare Narwhal, and simply said good night to him, excusing myself from his sight. As the night grew darker, I looked at my reflection in the window, and a pair of glowing red eyes stared back at me. Anger and sadness filled me as images of that fateful night flashed before me.

Controlling monsters? My grandfather and mother died because some monsters ran amok at them. Moreover, Grandfather was somehow distracted when he fought monsters. That group of monsters was obviously being controlled by someone. It was Elderan Empire. However, there was no scene of Elderan Empire conquering our Althemer Empire in the web novel. There has been some proof they supported the Western Front as enemies, but that's it. Why are we fighting them upfront right now?"

"R25B, do you know Elderan Empire could control monsters?"

"No. It was a huge piece of information to us too. We made a big buck by selling it to other empires and kingdoms." R25B said. I sighed at his remark, but that's the nature of his organization, I guess.

As I continued to stare into the ceiling, dawn finally broke. I went to classes as usual. Thankfully, the first period was just math. I could sleep and would still get 100% on it. I kept looking out the window during class and nobody batted an eye due to my score. Meritocracy is awesome, isn't it? Clocks exist, but they are rare. This school only had one in the lobby. So, I gazed at the sun and tried to gauge how many hours were left until lunch break.

As soon as the bell rang, I went up to the prince. "Prince Ludwin, could I have a bit of your time?"

"Sure. Where do you want to talk? Want somewhere more private?" He said, seeming to expect something.

"Um… We could talk here. As long as only our retainers can hear it. I am fine."

"Alright. Let's go to the cafeteria then. I will book a table that's a bit further away. I am famished."

When we reached the cafeteria, Thor and Gladeus, Prince Ludwin's guards, were there. They waved at him with a smile.

"Umm, you said a retainer could hear it, right? If I may trouble you…" He stammered a bit, looking toward his entourage and mine. I nodded at once. It would not be fair if I surrounded him with my girls. With his entourage, it would be three girls and three boys.

"Alright. Prince Ludwin. I have just received a message from my father that the Elderan Empire attacked County Shadowstep. He desperately asked for your assistance in supplies. The enemy was using monsters. Thousands of them." I got to the point at once.

"Hmm? That's not what the report said." I see. Ludwin seemed unfazed. "I knew about the attack. The soldiers who retreated gave us their debriefing. I knew about the monsters. But I didn't know about the supplies. The soldiers merely complained that your father kicked them out from his county."

"However, we know that Elderan began its assault on your county seriously now. We also know they employed monsters. However, thousands of them?" Ludwin looked at his guards. "Well, we sent the royal guards there. They are the most elite of soldiers. We won't have to worry as long as they have their guns and bullets."

"Will you send supplies? My father said the county could fall if we don't send it to him."

"What the f—?" Thor almost cursed, which was unbefitting of nobles when he looked at the supplies. "Hey!… Ahem. Lady Elidranthia. Is this correct? It says your county only has 150 guns? I remember my father said you should have about double than this. Was he so incompetent he lost half of the rifles in wars?"

I was astonished at their accusation. However, Alicia defended me. "No. That is impossible. I was in the military too, and Count Shadowstep and Zach weren't the type to lose that many supplies. This number was the amount of supplies the empire sent us. We didn't lose a single rifle."

"What?"

"Ah! I see. It was John Sark. John Sark was diverting our supplies to the Western Front." I muttered. Everyone looked at me.

"Lady Elidranthia. That was a serious accusation. You were accusing Count Sark of embezzlement of military supplies during a war. Do you have proof?" Thor and Gladeus glared at me.

"Em… No. But when we had breakfast together, he mourned the ten thousand soldiers that died in the western front and told me not to be selfish."

"That was not enough proof."

"However, the fact remains that Count Shadowstep lacked the necessary supplies for war due to no fault of his own." Prince Ludwin said. "If Shadowstep falls, we will be screwed. We are not ready to defend Alrisa should Shadowstep fall."

"Yes. I didn't want to accuse anyone. War and my county come first. Please help us. We can discuss who was at fault later," I pleaded.

"Ugh… I have to ask Johann and Father directly about this. Give me two days, Lady Eli." Prince Ludwin said. As our meeting concluded, he muttered. "Monsters, huh? They could control monsters?"

---

---

Ludwin POV, Royal Castle.

"Papa! Lady Eli said her county needs more supplies." Charlotte and I reported to Father and Johan.

"Yes. We just learned about it." Johan nodded, and Father facepalmed at the grave news.

"I should have dealt with more of those merchant crooks; they've been a thorn in our side lately. Why stop at four baron families?"

"We couldn't do that, sir. Without them, the distribution of our goods will be a mess. They are on the brink of rebelling due to our oppression."

"Yes, I know. I also know it was a mistake to put the blame solely on the merchant faction. A quarter of the Bron faction and half of the Slane faction are also to blame for neglecting Shadowstep County."

"Father, Lady Eli and Alicia said there has been an indication of embezzlement of weapons by royal guards from their county to the Western Front," I reported. I didn't want to accuse John Sark immediately; Eli and Alicia didn't have evidence to back up their claims of John Sark's corruption. "Due to said corruption, here is the list of their supplies. Alicia insisted that Count Shadowstep couldn't possibly lose guns in the battlefield."

"Johan?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. It matched the information we bought from the Reapers. The Reapers also supported Alicia's claims that no guns were lost to the enemy but merely broken down due to normal use."

"What can we give them, Johan?" Father nursed his head. I hope our maid can brew some lovely tea later so he can relax.

"I'm afraid we can only give this much. We still need to guard the prince's return next month. With the Highland princess in tow, we cannot afford the princess' safety to be compromised." Johan altered the list Count Shadowstep gave us and handed it to Father. Father frowned. Johan seemed to give a lower number than he had hoped.

"Why do we care more for the foreign princess than our county, Father?"

"Because if she is treated well, the Western Alliance promised there would be a ceasefire and even peace," Father said.

"Peace?"

"Yes, that's why we sent our crown prince to the Western Nations in the first place," Johan chimed in.

"But will the Theocracy agree?"

"We are independent. If the peace treaty succeeded, we would simply hand over County Thorandum to the Theocracy so they have direct access to the Western front. Then they could wage the war on their own."

"I see. Hmm? will he agree?"

"He was a devout believer of mana child. I am sure he will be glad to join Theocracy. We have too much land lately. Count Thorandum could ask the Theocracy for supplies instead of us to develop his county."

"Yes. Our empire expanded a bit too quickly. We need a moment to breathe. With us developing Shadowstep County arbitrarily, new counts have been asking us to develop theirs too."

"Will the Theocracy accept our policy? They have criticized our policy for commoners. Peace with the Western nation would be tantamount to betrayal."

"They have to. If they attacked us out of the blue, they would face our empire and the Western Alliance simultaneously. Moreover, on the surface, it is a ceasefire, not a peace treaty. So, we could go to war with them again anytime we want. We just need some time to breathe," my father said. "We are currently relying on Reapers more than our own intelligence department. I can't figure out which one is lying and which one is telling the truth."

"I believe we have digressed, Father. What about County Shadowstep?" Charlotte asked. I almost forgot. The main point of this meeting was to discuss our reinforcement to Shadowstep County.

"We can only help this much. The muskets and the bullets can only be produced in the royal capital workshops, and they have been running 24/7 for the past year. We are currently in the process of enlarging the workshop, but the demand keeps going up," Johan sighed.

"Well, something is better than nothing. Shadowstep knights have been dealing with monsters since its founding. You may reply to Elidranthia that way, Ludwin." Father gave me the list of supplies he would send.

"But this is only half of what is required…" I frowned when the list was finally handed to me.

"If Shadowstep can weather the assault for two weeks, we can fulfill all their requests for supplies. Who was in charge of the supply lines?"

"It was Baron Kharn, Your Majesty."

Everyone facepalmed at the fact. "I see. So, he was silenced due to this embezzlement too. What a shame. All evidence went to the grave with him."

With a heavy heart, I reported back to Elidranthia, apologizing for only being able to do this much.