Chapter 112 (2/2)

“Of course not, I like capable individuals. Superiors want to leave their work to trustworthy subordinates, you know.”

If it weren’t for that silver tongue of his… Cordnell spoke, his eyes burning with anger.

“That’s good and all, but are you mad?”

“What’s annoyed you this time?”

“Mr. Saints sent me an invoice, and it says we are paying 1000 Giga for each mercenary we are sending.”

“What, did you think they would pay to hire mercenaries that only looked the part?”

“Are you saying we are paying them to use our mercenaries…”

Cordnell put his hands on the back on his neck, his blood pressure rising dangerously. Out of pity, Isaac spoke to Cordnell with a soothing tone.

“Wars make money, you know.”

“How so?! If any of them die, we’ll need to provide compensation as well! Plus, neither Count Wolfgang and Marquis Lichten wanted to partic.i.p.ate in War Gambling in fear of intel leaks!”

“What? They didn’t?”

Isaac looked with a hint of surprise, and Cordnell seemed to gain a bit of confidence.

“Of course they didn’t! This war isn’t just about rights or land; their t.i.tles are on the line!”

“That’s a little troublesome…”

“Even the Department of Administration requested that you restrain yourself this time.”

“For whose good? Go ahead with the gamble anyway.”

“What? How? The Department of Administration will…”

“Who’s higher? The Commissioner of Administration or the Director of Security from Central?”

“…”

It was clearly the Director of Security. Not just by a few steps, but significantly so. The Department of Administration couldn’t even utter a word against a decision from a Director of Central.

“But will the Count and Marquis be willing to reveal their strength?”

“It doesn’t matter. In fact, it’ll be more interesting this time with the lack of information. This war will have special rules.”

“Special rules?”

“No information given. There’s no need to stop baseless rumours, but they must bet with their instincts alone on who will win this war – the Count or the Marquis. Now this is true gambling.”

“… That’s good and all but will the Count and Marquis stand for this?”

“Tell them we’ll donate the winner an amount equivalent to the total bets on them winning. From the sound of things, they both seem like they are in a bit of a stretch, so I doubt they’ll go against it. Now, they’ll try even harder to win. Which would make the war all the more interesting.”

“…”

The continent was wrapped up in a strange frenzy of excitement. This was war on a ma.s.sive scale, not like the other instances of Provincial Warfare. A war with both the land and t.i.tles of the partic.i.p.ating families on the line. A war that only occured between families that are deeply embroiled in hatred. Winner taking all, the loser losing all. A zero sum game.

This ma.s.sive war involved just the main families but even the branch families and their va.s.sal families too. Somebody once said war is an opportunity. Just as the saying went, those who sought fame, riches, t.i.tles and honour for their families flocked to Count Wolfgang and Marquis Lichten to prove themselves.

It was only Central who was exhausted by this. This war of a ma.s.sive scale was the perfect environment for turncoats to spread their wings. They couldn’t let their surveillance slip up for even a moment, so all core agents were deployed to search for any signs of turncoats, be they from the Directorates of Strategy, Surveillance or a.n.a.lysis.

“Wars are so much more fun to watch when they tussle around. Wars in our place just have explosions. It doesn’t have such a fierce atmosphere like this.”

Isaac muttered excitedly as he sat on a chair atop a hill, observing the war with a telescope. He munched on some cookies as two thousand of Count Wolfgang faced off against Marquis’ three thousand.

This scale would be considered an all-out battle for an average provincial war, but a war of this scale wouldn’t end in a single day or two. Both sides having summoned all military families under them, Count Wolfgang had 45 thousand, while Marquis Lichten had 60 thousand men. It was a total of 100 thousand combatants; a war on this scale would only be seen maybe once in a hundred years.

So it was typical for both sides to skirmish with one another to test the other side and whittle down their numbers until the tug of war escalated into a ma.s.sive all-out battle. And considering that siege battles would also take place since the family’s lives were at stake, no one could predict when this war would end.

This battle’s stalemate shattered when Marquis Lichten’s right wing fell apart. The frontline quickly crumbled and were pushed back rapidly, ending up in full retreat.

“I swear, it’s so easy to make money when you’re running the gambling ring.”

Those obsessed with gambling flocked to this special occasion of provincial war gambling. They were monitoring the war in real time from the screen installed at the City Hall Plaza. And the betting would begin when the battle started.

So those who wanted to gamble focused on the screen as they sorted out their meals and even slept at the city plaza. Count Wolfgang and Marquis Lichten, at first infuriated by Isaac’s intention to make money using them, soon realised the benefit of this and deployed promoters to New Port City.

The promoters put in their all to attract bettors, boasting of their respective sides’ forces and prowess. The real information was hidden anyway, so they could boast all they wanted and a.s.sure the gamblers that their side would win.

Meanwhile, Isaac received exact information through Central, so he could easily figure out which side was likely to win.

“I can see why the Marquis is scared s.h.i.+tless. They are no match at all.”

Isaac figured out that Count Wolfgang was bound to win in this war the moment he looked at the military a.n.a.lysis sent from Central.

Who would win between a sheep that commands a hundred lions and a lion who commands a hundred sheep? The importance of leaders.h.i.+p was paramount in the military, more than any other organisations.

When you considered that, the Marquis’s forces were no use. These brats without a single experience found their position through their birth and boasted of their t.i.tles; only two or three of them were Campus graduates.

And these graduates weren’t from the main family, but as branch and va.s.sal families so they only served as low ranking officers or advisers. Which was why they would lose to Count Wolfgang’s forces, whose leaders.h.i.+p was organized by experience with perfect candidates filling every job.

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