Chapter 181: Caught Up

“Um… Sorry.”

My gaze was enough to silence his amusement.

“The guy you are talking about isn’t bad or arrogant like you may have believed him to be. It’s just that the environment he came from was similar to a cult, so he finds it difficult to adjust to showing respect towards other people. He is the same with me and Arthur, but leaving that aside, No. 300 is quite capable. I mean, his number may give you a fair idea.”

Yeah.

Individuals like that always ended up becoming someone important in the world.

Julien was a prime example, as he too had been part of a cult in the game.

And I had to say… Julien’s character was indeed, one of a self-centred guy who thought that the world was beneath him and— His god.

“So… How is everything here?”

I paused in my track to look at Julien, waiting for him to explain all the developments that had happened in the time I was gone.

“Well… The business is doing great. As for the bank, the expansion had faced some hurdles, but I have taken sufficient measures to solve most of them.”

“…”

“Uh… There are some issues with the other banks, which, as you may have noticed earlier, are trying their best to dampen our spirits.”

Hm.

I had indeed heard it from the bank manager back then.

“As for the plan you had suggested, I have already made my preparations for it. The attack in the Levaith Duchy was a good foundation, and the results were… greater than expected.”

Julien shrugged his shoulders while looking at me.

“Why the Levaiths?”

That was the part that had aroused my curiosity.

Julien could have targeted any other place, but he chose to follow up with the raid in the Levaith Duchy.

“Oh, them! Boss, you might already know, but your family is the strongest house in the empire, second only to the royal family. Well… I would even rate them as equals to the royals, but for now… they are the strongest duchy in the empire.”

Motioning me to walk towards the control room, Julien continued his explanation.

“For the raid to have a significant impact on the world, I had to carry it out in a place that was strong and had decent status, while at the same time playing it safe.”

“…”

“I mean… The Frosts are too strong to mess with in our current situation, as our forces are spread thin across the world. And if we target a weaker power then—the impact wouldn’t be decisive enough for others to react according to our wishes. So—”

Julien paused, giving a faint smirk.

“The Levaiths had to serve as the scapegoats… And I have to admit it—they were the best ones for the task.”

That… I certainly couldn’t deny.

The Levaiths had indeed served their purpose.

“What about the forces at hand? Recruitment?”

I had to ask the most important question.

As I had now arrived to speed up the progress of D.X. and its objectives—having enough forces at my disposal was a necessary requirement.

“That… we have slowed down a bit in that department. Recruitment has had its best pace in the human territories only. As for the other races, it’s proving more difficult than expected. But the ones who have been recruited from among the other races are some of the best soldiers in D.X.”

I wasn’t surprised hearing Julien’s report.

The results were within my calculations. Still… having more forces in other territories was more important than just their combat strength.

Locals served as the best agents without being caught easily.

A human criminal would be far more suspicious and prone to being arrested by the authorities than the locals of that particular race.

“Try and find a solution to increase recruitment, as we will require far more people under us if we are planning to go against everyone out there.”

“Roger!”

Julien replied while thumping his chest.

“And yes… how is Alfred doing?”

“That guy! He has been working on the things that you had assigned him to complete. As for the progress… uh—I haven’t contacted him in a while. Alfred doesn’t respond to my summons, so… you will have to ask him directly by visiting his base in Ares.”

Julien explained while scratching the back of his head in apology.

Well… it was within Alfred’s character.

“As for Arthur, he has been out on an expedition to the Great Forest of Azuna. After receiving information about the mine there, I sent a good amount of soldiers along with a number of miners to work in the area, but the monsters in the forest were making it difficult to sustain operations, and sending more forces was not an option. So, I asked Arthur to go there himself.”

Julien paused to let me process his words.

“The materials for the teleportation passage had been sent with Arthur, and the moment it’s connected to our base, the mana stones will be transferred here.”

I had given all the information to Julien in the letter.

Though I had expected the stones to already be teleported to the base, some delay was expected.

Azuna wasn’t a place for weaklings, and proper precautions had to be taken—lest the passage be destroyed by the monsters, leaving all the people sent there to die.

“Just asking, but boss—are those stones meant to heal Sophie?”

“Yes.”

From the name of the stones itself, it was clear that they had something to do with mana.

As for Sophie, it was the name of Arthur’s daughter.

“You had to be there when I told Arthur about the mine and the stones we were going to extract from it. Though I mentioned the possibility of them being the cure for his daughter—even I wasn’t confident in my assumption. Still… Arthur was over the clouds hearing about the mine.”

“Was he.”

I said it more as a statement than a question.

Sigh.

I had now caught up with most of the developments. The only thing left was to meet Alfred and see how things had progressed on his end.

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