Chapter 570: Arriving at the Imperial Capital

Who wanted to assassinate Duke Kemais? Although Lorist insisted it was Duke Kemais's philandering that had brought this calamity upon him, in truth he was muttering to himself and racking his brain over the question. As for Duke Kemais's self-proclaimed intuition, Lorist didn't take it seriously. Everyone knew that Knight Vexas was merely a bastard child of the Second Prince, especially now that the queen the Second Prince had recently married had given birth to a legitimate heir to the Krisen imperial throne. Knight Vexas's importance and his chances of inheriting the throne had plummeted.

Although Knight Vexas had been granted the title of territorial Count and had secured the Second Prince's forgiveness to remain in the imperial capital, he had been stripped of his position as commander of the royal palace guard. He was nothing more than a idle noble now, which was why he had gone and set up a commerce guild—to keep himself busy and, more likely, to leverage his identity as the Second Prince's bastard to squeeze out some money. Lorist didn't take him seriously one bit. With the resources Knight Vexas had, he couldn't possibly support a Great Swordmaster, let alone come up with a massive sum of gold to bribe one into assassinating a territorial Duke.

Could the mastermind hiding in the shadows be the Second Prince? After mulling it over, Lorist found that the most suspicious party was indeed the Second Prince, who was about to ascend to the throne. If the Second Prince truly was behind it, that would mean he still feared the power of the Norton Family immensely—particularly the Northland Four Families Alliance led by the Norton Family, which had already become the empire's largest territorial noble faction. Even the Second Prince had to deliberate carefully in his governance to avoid damaging the interests and spheres of influence of those four families.

Lorist shook his head. Although he wasn't sure how reliable his guess was, he suspected the Second Prince wouldn't be so foolish. No matter how you looked at it, sending someone to assassinate a territorial Duke was an extremely taboo act. The Second Prince, with all his rationality, wouldn't make such a brainless arrangement. If the Great Swordmaster sent to carry out the assassination were captured and confessed that the Second Prince had ordered it, the currently favorable situation in the Andinac Kingdom would be ruined by the Second Prince himself. At this critical moment, right before he was about to take the throne and become the great restorer of the revived Krisen Empire, the Second Prince shouldn't engage in such self-destructive behavior. Besides, Duke Kemais posed no real obstacle to the Second Prince.

Could someone be framing him? The Commerce Alliance? Unlikely. The Commerce Alliance, having just endured a rebellion, could barely look after itself—where would it find the energy to send a Great Swordmaster to cause trouble in the kingdom? If the attempt failed, they'd have more than they could handle. Grand Duke Cambelite wouldn't do something so foolish. Setting aside the Commerce Alliance, Lorist racked his brain through every faction in the kingdom and the surrounding regions but simply couldn't think of anyone who harbored such deep, mortal enmity toward Kemais. A first-rate Great Swordmaster, carrying out assassination attempts on Kemais repeatedly—this couldn't be a random act.

Lorist rubbed his temples, his head starting to ache from thinking so hard. He was sitting in a spacious and luxurious ship cabin. Across from him sat Reddy. The master and disciple had spent the better part of the day guessing who might be the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on Duke Kemais, but they had come up with nothing—only growing more confused the more they speculated.

"It can't be Grand Duke Fisablen—how did you even land on him?" Lorist reproached. "The Fisablen Family's Great Swordmasters are only the old man, Grand Swordmaster Cindy, and Viscount Kristoph. These past few years, the Fisablen Family hasn't recruited any new Great Swordmasters, nor has any family member advanced to that rank. Besides, the Fisablen Family stands with the Second Prince. If the Second Prince didn't make a move, then the Fisablen Family wouldn't go after Kemais either. Furthermore, killing Kemais would bring no benefit to the Fisablen Family—on the contrary, it would offend our Northland Four Families Alliance. Grand Duke Fisablen isn't that stupid."

Reddy shrugged. "Your Excellency, you know I'm not much for using my head, yet you insist on making me guess. By your own reasoning, I still think the Second Prince is the most suspicious. After all, in the entire kingdom, only the Second Prince, as king, has both the resources and the influence to recruit new Great Swordmasters to serve the royal family. Duke Kemais himself said that the Great Swordmaster who came to assassinate him was a stranger—not a single Great Swordmaster bodyguard from any of the kingdom's grand dukes that he had ever seen. And didn't the Second Prince recruit two new royal Great Swordmasters just last year? Perhaps the assassin was one of those two."

Lorist shook his head again. "That's even more unlikely. The Second Prince wouldn't be foolish enough to send off the two Great Swordmasters he had just recruited to assassinate Kemais. Besides, Kemais isn't unfamiliar with those two newly recruited Great Swordmasters. He made it clear—the assassin was a completely unknown Great Swordmaster…"

"This whole affair is rather strange," Reddy said. "If I hadn't personally seen Duke Kemais changing the bandages on his chest wound, I would have thought he was joking. Who would bother assassinating someone as insignificant as him? Besides, the Kemais Family doesn't consist of only him—even if he were assassinated, there would still be plenty of candidates to inherit the ducal title. The Second Prince would certainly not reclaim the family's territories just because Duke Kemais was killed. The more I look at it, the more it seems like what you said—someone acting out of personal grudge. Perhaps it really is trouble brought on by his womanizing ways..."

"No, the least likely explanation for this assassination is the romantic angle I mentioned. No one would assassinate a territorial duke over a personal affair. Besides, while Kemais is indeed a born philanderer who has attracted his share of women, he never forces anyone. It always ends amicably. The women he's involved with are all nobodies of minor standing—just casual affairs of mutual pleasure. There's no way any of them would drag a Great Swordmaster into it over jealousy."

"At this point, our family's strength is the greatest among the kingdom's territorial nobles. Even the Second Prince, as king, is powerless to rival us. So even with my advancement to Sword Saint, it won't ease his suspicion. Under these circumstances, if the Second Prince wishes to move against us and curtail our family's sphere of influence, the best target would be the Northland Four Families Alliance."

"Your Excellency, but in reality our family doesn't actually need the help of those three allied families. In a sense, those three allies are nothing but dead weight dragging us down..." Reddy said somewhat uncongruously.

Lorist nodded. "You're right, but that's simply because our family's development has far outpaced the growth of our three allies. They can no longer keep up with our pace. But so what? Should we tear up the alliance agreement? No, we cannot rely on our family alone to conquer the world, and we can never do without the help of allies.

Currently, there are no conflicts or contradictions between our family and the three allied families. Moreover, having our three allies standing with us is what allows us to expand our family's sphere of influence even further. Especially when it comes to dealing with the Second Prince—having our allies at our side prevents our family from appearing isolated and cut off from the circles of the nobility.

So if the Second Prince wants to move against our Northland Four Families Alliance, then Duke Kemais is the key to it all. Don't let the fact that Kemais looks like a merchant and behaves like a philanderer fool you. In truth, he is the most critical bond holding our four-family alliance together. Even I never imagined that a snow salt trade association proposed on a whim would, under Kemais's hands, become the finest mutual interest community linking our four families.

For our family, the snow salt trade association serves as a second major purchaser of our territory's goods and products, a spokesperson that monopolizes the Andinak Kingdom market. For the Shahin and Felim families, the snow salt trade association has become a financial revenue pillar for both of them. It is precisely the substantial annual dividends from the association that sustain their ability to build family military corps and carry out territory development. And for the Norton Family, the snow salt trade association has given this family—once merchants, now territorial nobles—three strong and reliable allies, enough to secure their place as a noble lineage lasting for generations.

So for Duke Kemais, the better he manages the snow salt trade association, the more solid his family's foundation becomes, and the longer our four-family alliance will endure. Now let us consider the reverse—if the Second Prince wishes to dissolve our four-family alliance, all he needs to do is eliminate Duke Kemais. Without him, the snow salt trade association would likely collapse. With no shared interests binding them together, the Second Prince could perhaps use generous terms to win over the Felim and Shahin families as his supporters, causing our alliance to fall apart and leaving our family isolated.

This is precisely why I was so furious when I learned of the assassination attempt on Duke Kemais. It strikes at the greatest weakness of our four-family alliance. Others may look at our Northland Four Families Alliance and see the merchant-origin Norton Family as the weakest and least conspicuous—unimposing in terms of military might. But in truth, the Norton Family is the most important link in our alliance. Without profit as the bond holding the alliance together, even the most eloquent vows of alliance are nothing more than empty words on paper."

Radie was somewhat alarmed: "Your Highness, do you believe that if Duke Kemais were gone, Duke Felim and Duke Shahin would withdraw from their alliance with our family?"

"There's a possibility, and who knows what other changes might arise." Lorist waved his hand to cut off Radie's follow-up questions. "I know what you're thinking—do you believe that our family's military is unmatched in the world, and that there's no need to take these three allied families seriously? Radie, as a territorial noble, you still have much to learn. In this world of Galentea, every territorial noble considers their own family's interests first and foremost. Only after that come their liege lord, their allies, and the nation they belong to.

If Duke Kemais were gone, then Duke Felim would consider whether maintaining the alliance was still worthwhile. Admittedly, being allied with our family relieves some of the pressure his family faces from the Fisabrun family. But Duke Felim also worries about whether he would eventually become a vassal of our family—and that, to him, is intolerable, given how well he already knows the strength of our family's military forces. So if Duke Felim decides to withdraw from the Northland Four Families Alliance, he might very well shift his stance and begin treating our family as an enemy to guard against.

Sometimes our family's overwhelming strength gives our allies a greater sense of insecurity than our enemies do. Look at the map and you'll understand—the Felim family's territory is the Southern Province, which borders the Winston Province under our family's jurisdiction. It also serves as our family's first line of defense against the Fisabrun family. If the Felim family withdrew from our alliance and instead joined the Second Prince and the Fisabrun family, our family would have to deploy legions to the Winston and Muye Plain provinces for heavy fortification. That wouldn't just increase our family's military expenditure—the Southern Province could even block our family's trade routes to the central provinces of the Empire…

So the value of an alliance lies in lightening a family's financial burdens and expenditures, as well as having allies who speak on our behalf. That has always been my attitude toward maintaining the Northland Four Families Alliance. This time, Duke Kemais was targeted by assassins, and fortune favored him—the assassins failed. I'm sending you to serve as Duke Kemais's personal bodyguard, with the hope that should assassins strike again, first you protect Duke Kemais's safety, and second, you wound rather than kill—capture that Great Swordmaster assassin alive and find out who's pulling the strings behind the scenes. I have confidence in your skills…"

Radie: "Your Highness, please rest easy. With me there, Duke Kemais will be completely safe."

The sea voyage went smoothly, and eleven days later they arrived at Chilin Port. Lorist and Duke Kemais's party then stayed at Chilin Port for a day, waiting for a thousand-man garrison that Lorist had requisitioned from Shilowass Island to arrive before packing up and gathering their force of over three thousand to set out for the Imperial Capital.

The day they arrived at the Imperial Capital was August 4th. The Second Prince showed considerable courtesy, first dispatching Knight Commander Lipired of the Royal Imperial Guard Corps with a thousand-man detachment to greet them ten li outside the city, and then waiting at the city gate himself alongside the kingdom's nobles who had already arrived. Lorist had no choice but to dismount early and perform a scene of harmonious ruler and loyal subject at the city gates with the Second Prince—a grand show of their united will to revive the Empire—displaying to all the attending nobles and the Imperial Capital's onlookers that Lorist, the National Sword Saint, was wholeheartedly devoting his loyalty to the Second Prince…

Having just arrived at the Imperial Capital and already been put in such a position by the Second Prince, Lorist was somewhat displeased, but there was nothing he could do. As king, the Second Prince had personally come to the city gate to welcome Lorist's arrival—that was an extraordinarily grand courtesy. Ordinarily, it was the nobles who went to the royal palace to audience with the Second Prince; when had a king ever personally come to the city gate to receive someone? This was already extremely generous, one might even say excessive hospitality.

So Lorist had no choice but to dismount and show deference and respect to the Second Prince. To onlookers, this was the Second Prince and Lorist demonstrating their mutual reverence and close bond—bromance in full force. At the same time, the Second Prince was making a clear statement to everyone that Lorist, the National Sword Saint, stood firmly on his side and was a loyal supporter devoted to him—just as the Second Prince addressed him, always calling him "my brother Rock" in every breath.

The Second Prince's coronation ceremony was only five days away, and the entire Imperial Capital was festooned with lanterns and decorations, colorful flags fluttering and flowers in full bloom. The streets and alleyways had been swept spotlessly clean, and even the pedestrians along the roads were dressed in new clothes.

The Second Prince was extremely pleased and delighted that Lorist had brought his entire family—his wives and children—to attend the grand ceremony. He arranged for Lorist's family to stay in a luxurious villa near the royal palace, and at Lorist's request, also placed Duke Kenmaise in a residence adjacent to Lorist's villa. He further decided to host a grand welcoming banquet for Lorist and Duke Kenmaise that evening.

......