Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

In the next few days, Annette carefully searched through the mind of the agent, hoping to get in contact with that strange energy she felt inside his body.

That's right, the thing that made her frown her brows in consternation was a peculiar energy that she involuntarily came in contact with when trying to break the mind imprint a few days ago.

This strange energy, for some reason she was unable to get it out of her mind. The reason for that made even her surprised. Although it was only for a fraction of a second, but when she came in contact with this energy, the feeling she got was awfully similar to the energy her master displayed from time to time.

But how could that be? That energy was something special to her master and not something the likes of a person from Blackthorn should be capable of even coming in contact with. She reasoned; however, no matter how many times she said that to herself, the feeling she got from that energy was still fresh in her mind and refused to go away.

"If I can just reconfirm my suspicions, this thing would no longer weigh on my mind" Annette spoke, using her spirit magic to surf through the agent's mind. Nevertheless, the past few days have proven that her efforts were useless and today was no different either.

There was not even a single trace of that strange energy inside that man, as if it was never there.

"Hmm, it's strange. Could it be that I was wrong in searching him? The energy I sensed might have come from the mind imprint. If that is the case, there is no point in searching this man"

Realising that it was a wasted effort from the start, Annette turned around to leave. As for the agent, these past few days of being constantly subjected to her spirit magic had deteriorated his mind, making him no different than a vegetable.

If he was left here like this, he would die on his own. After leaving the cellar, Annette appeared in front of the Main hall. At this moment, a senate was taking place with all the nobles present in the city, in attendance.

A day ago, the army from Mountmend arrived shocking all of the people and nobles present. Led by Count Alfred, the army numbered more than 110,000 soldiers and was a sight to see as they marched through the city gates while carrying the flag of Her Royal Highness.

For being the princess' personal army, the number was quite impressive. However, the reason why all the nobles were so shocked was because the rag tag army of soldiers hastily recruited by the princess that they expected to see was not there. Novel Fire - novelfire.net

Instead, an impressive army, no different than the king's own, marched through the city gate. Decked out in impressive looking armours and riding on Mooseback, they looked regal and impressive.

It was not just their gears, but even the aura they gave off was powerful enough to give a heavy pressure to non combatants.

"Woah, have you seen the army that arrived yesterday? The way they marched, it looked so impressive. I still have goosebumps from that day"…

"Yeah, me too. Who knew that the princess had such an impressive army on her beck and call. With such an army, wouldn't it be possible to capture the capital back".

The gasps of awe from the shocking event from yesterday, could still be heard in the castle halls today. Annette picked up the conversation between two maids as they brought food and drinks for the nobles.

When the door to the hall was pushed open, the sounds from the inside flooded out.

"Your Highness, my forces are nearing castledor and are ready on your command" One of the nobles kneeled in front of the princess and declared.

"Your Highness, my army is ready too. 20,000 strong, we are ready to serve your highness and reclaim the capital back"…

"So is mine. We are currently stationed twenty kilometres north of here".

Inside, one by one the nobles lined up in front of Cynthia declaring their featly and their eagerness to join the battle. After they saw the example of what happened to the nobles who refused to listen to her and the grand and impressive army that entered through the city gates yesterday, their opinion of her instantly changed.

Now they no longer thought that they were marching to the capital just to suffer a loss. Needless to say, not all nobles were going to a war out of their loyalty to the empire. In fact, many of them were only using this chance to make more profit out of it or were doing it because there was no other choice.

"I see that everything is going well. In that case, we will march as planned. I hope there is no one foolish enough to suggest otherwise" Cynthia glanced at the nobles. However, this time there was no one to go against her.

"Good, Alfred you are in charge of making necessary preparations for the upcoming war. You may use these illegal resources that I have just listed in the parchment of paper to fund our war expenses".

Taking out a paper, she passed it onto Alfred who received it with both hands.

"I understand" The latter gave the parchment a read and was wide eyed. "This!! With this amount, we can easily cover the expenses of the war, deck each soldier with good armour and weapons and still have more. Where did You Highness get this information from?"

Hearing his question Cynthia gave a smile that had several different meanings.

"Since you asked, let me tell you where I got this information from. Before defeating Alstin, I have been keeping an eye on his every movement and all the people he has been in contact with. Out of them, one person was particularly close to him and was by Alstin's side on every occasion. Later when I captured and investigated this person, they turned out to be an agent of the kingdom of Blackthorn".

At those words, it was as if a bomb had gone off, all the people inside the hall looked at Cynthia, eyes wide in astonishment. They couldn't believe what they just heard. One of the first prince's close aid was a spy from Blackthorn?

If the enemy actually got so close to their inner circle, then didn't it mean that all of his highness' plans and schemes were revealed to the enemy? What was even more astonishing was the fact that the princess was able to spy on his highness without him even realising it.

Most of the nobles showed an astonished expression at that news, except for a few who had a strange look plastered on their face. Cynthia observed them from the corner of her eyes before continuing.

"That's not all, what was truly astonishing was the fact that was revealed after my subordinates thoroughly investigated this agent. As it turns out, this spy did quite some research on all the nobles supporting Alstin and dug out all kinds of information on them. It appeared that he was using this information to blackmail some nobles to work for Blackthorn from the shadows".

At this point, everybody understood what was going on. Where did all this money to fund their war expenses come from and why Prince Alstin always seem to lose as if his every move was predicted by the enemy?

"Is that true Your Highness?" Alfred questioned, a serious look dawning on his face.

"Yeah, fortunately my comrades were quickly able to identify and capture this person before he could do any significant damage to us. In any case, since these are all illegal resources acquired through dirty means and hadn't been accounted for, feel free to use them to sustain our war expenses" Cynthia ordered off handedly.

"Yes, Your Highness" With those words, the deal was sealed. All those nobles who were associated with these illegal resources, could only bite their lips and stay silent as they saw their lifetime resources getting ceased.

They did not dare to try anything funny or even utter a word since they knew that they had been spared only because of this. Since the princess had investigated that agent, she must already know about their names and all the nobles who were involved in these transactions.

Nevertheless, she did not name them or even use it against them to snatch their fief and position. The nobles were not fools, they knew that the only reason why she didn't do so was because she was giving them a chance.

It was either they take her side and fight the enemy along with her or be destroyed just like Baron Regor.

The discussion continued and the senate moved on to discussing the diplomatic relations with Duke Redcrest who was one of the few Dukes still loyal to the crown.

Duke Montford and Duke Redcrest had good relations and were working together to fend off the invading army of Blackthorn. Now that Duke Montford was gone and Prince Alstin whom they supported was defeated by Cynthia, it remained uncertain as to what kind of reply they would get from the other Dutchy.

There were only a few days remaining before they started marching towards the capital. The messenger carrying the news was expected to arrive here soon. Just as they had expected the messenger arrived from the Dukedom of Redcrest carrying their message.

The messenger first bowed towards the princess before beginning his message.

"Your Highness and the esteemed nobles of the kingdom. I bring tidings from the noble Dukedom of Redcrest"

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