Emperor of Steel

The knights of Symphonia Kingdom had arrived in the city, where more than half of the city was destroyed between the battle of the two super humans.

Under the command of Rogers, the knights had gone to the places where the Undead had led to confusion and havoc in the southern side of the cities and rescued a survivor from the wreckage.

“Now, now! Move fast!”

“I can hear the screams of the people trapped under that collapsed building!”

“What are the Gigants doing?! Get rid of that stone boulder from there!”

At the command of their Commander, the riders ran around and rescued people.

As the day began to pass, complaints began to erupt.

“This is really! I thought that we would be fighting till death, but to be shoveling around the dirt like this!”

“But at least your task is better than mine. I think I just came here as a delivery man. Bringing in the food, the water… should a Gigant rider be doing this?”

The knights did all their work even without much words.

Maybe they thought they had to do all the work as they were late for the battle.

“But Your Majesty?”

“Healing his wounds, getting the insane number of reports and consoling the survivors.”

Despite defeating Arsene, Luke had no time to rest.

Fortunately, the undead which appeared in the south were taken down by Arch Duke Gregory, yet, the restoration of the place was entirely Luke’s responsibility.

“That Lich bastard!”

Luke broke down at the reports which he had been submitted about the property damages.

In the city of Anbury itself, around 20,000 casualties had occurred and half the stationed soldiers were killed.

In addition, the total amount of damage to the city, the destroyed Gigants, and the civilian properties exceeded 15 million pesos.

Yet, that wasn’t the end.

He still hadn’t gotten the reports from the south.

Although it was said that the human loss was much less than Anbury, they still had to suspend the trade for a while.

The treasury was bound to turn up empty, and the nation’s finances would turn tight.

‘Ugh-uhh! Arsene, I swear on God that I’ll get rid of you!’

That was what Luke thought, yet he had to look after his duties for the time being.

Luke, who stayed in Anbury for a week, comforted the citizens over there and returned to Brandon.

Reading the reports of damage sent by Marquis Pavel and Marquis Volant, he left another long sigh.

Yet, there was something comforting.

“Your Majesty, there is an active donation from various parts of the kingdom.”

Luke glanced at Sebastian at his report.

“Donations? Who is leading it?”

“The nobles. Just something I heard, but it doesn’t seem to be less in amount.”

Beginning with the nobles, merchants, and the commoners—most people joined the donation campaign to help Anbury and the other people of the southern cities.

The money collected was no small amount.

“It is a lot of money, though it will not be able to rectify the damages, yet, it seems meaningful as people are united in such a national crisis.”

“Right. It is a good thing.”

Luke had a smile on his face.

If there was no bond in the nation, confusion would begin one after another.

Opponents would try to criticize the one in power, the policies, and in a worst-case scenario—revolt.

It was seen only in the Baroque Empire.

The Baroque Empire ended up dividing into three parts because the Emperor and the nobles broke out and civil war took place, everything happened right after the demon descended in the capital.

In addition, he was suffering from the invasion and rebels of the neighboring nations of Volga Republic.

‘Huh. honestly, it was because of me that baroque turned out like this.’

Luke was the reason why the high ranking demon had appeared in the capital, Nemesis.

However, he didn’t have to do anything after that.

All Luke did was throw in the embers, and the others fanned hard, which soon developed into a great flame that burned the entire Empire.

‘It would be easy to say that such amount of complaints were there.’

As the Emperor turned weak, the nobles and the others who had been oppressed by the Emperor began to stand up.

In other words, the Rakan family, which had founded the Symphonia Kingdom, was one of the noble families which was dissatisfied with the Emperor.

The Baroque and Rakan families, which were known to have bad past, have been waiting to take the other one down for 500 years.

‘Even if it wasn’t me, the Empire was bound to land in trouble. Unlike that Baroque, my nation is strong and happy.’

The Symphonia Kingdom was a new one that has just been established.

Even if there were forces against Luke, it won’t be that bad.

In particular, the local lords who lost their power over the military because of the new military policy were the ones who had the most complaints.

Even though the rebellion hadn’t started, there would always be an attempt to blame the king.

However, learning through the information guilds, no forces showed signs of movement.

‘Although there are complaints, the nobles know their place. The fact that their claims cannot be presented.’

There were people who didn’t have great power, however, they felt responsible for the power given to them.

It was because the nobles were given the duties of looking after farming, trading, and good production.

Yet, the taxes which were needed for the run of the Kingdom came from the nobles’ pockets.

If they failed in doing their tasks, the estate would turn poor, and if they decided to turn their backs, the kingdom would fall.

Even if they wanted to revolt, they would have to win the hearts of the people in their land.

However, the nobles were having a hard time getting the people to like them in Symphonia.

It was because Luke’s priority was the well being of the people.

So, people knew about the uprising which happened in the Baroque Empire and the remnants of Veritas Magic tower.

Woong!

“What? Reina?”

Luke looked at the communication crystal in his arms, when he received the communication from Reina.

-Are you good?

“What is it, Reina? Didn’t we speak just a few days back?”

Luke had contacted Reina immediately after defeating Arsene.

It was to prevent Reina from turning anxious or impatient while she stayed in the Holy Empire.

-Huh, should I have a reason to contact you? I just wanted to see you.

“That is fine…”

Reina, who watched Luke in silence, spoke with worry.

-Your face looks dark. Just as Sir Pavel said, it seems like you took a hit this time.

“We did. But the nation isn’t ruined.”

Luke told Reina about the donations which were happening within the kingdom.

“Like the saying, the ground hardens after a strong rain, I think that overcoming this disaster would be a good change for us.”

-It will be. I will use my hands to make sure that the ground hardens quickly.

At Reina’s words, Luke immediately shook his hand.

“There is no need. The Holy Empire hasn’t recovered from the zombies’ attack.”

The zombie situation in Jackson was settled with the power of Reina.

People who became zombies turned back to humans, however, there were still many who had died as zombies before they could be treated.

In addition, Jackson was the gateway to transportation, and since it was blocked for a while, the financial damage was severe, and the people were suffering because of the high prices.

“Marquis Reas had come over after taking care of the Undead. I heard that the priest began to jump out because of the sanctuaries being opened to gather resources.”

-Hohoho. They had no choice but to do that. They did see miracles happen right in front of their eyes.

The miracle wasn’t done by Reina.

In the sanctuaries which had to loot the money from the believers, gold ingots were made and buried under the statues.

The gold ingots were secretly used, not for the sake of God and his believers, but for the political people and private needs of the priests.

“Huh. well, how did you end up getting the information? Did God tell you in your dreams? Or did Constantine’s family confess it after the family got caught?”

-The little child of God told me.

“Little child?”

-You know her too.

“Ah! The heartless daughter who is in the Holy Empire thinking that her mom is better.”

As Luke smiled, the face of the daughter appeared in the crystal.

It might because Reina was looking after her, Karen seemed a lot cuter than before.

Almost as if she was the princess of a nation.

Well, should she be mentioned as the real princess since both Luke and Reina adopted her?

When Luke was thinking.

Reina stroked the head of Karen, and spoke.

-It is amazing. I did know that she was a child with different abilities, but for her to know about that…

‘That is because Karen is from the future.’

Couldn’t she have heard it or seen it in the future?

It was Luke’s prediction and he was right.

In the future which had disappeared, Karen had suffered a lot, she had stolen the fortunes hidden in the famous sanctuaries of the Holy Empire, all to fight the undead legion and Lich King, Arsene.

Money meant power, a purpose to live life, and it was important to survive.

However, with all the economy of the continent destroyed, gold didn’t hold such value.

Instead of that gold stone, it would have been better to have food or weapon.

“Anyway, you are going to help your husband with free gold.”

-Our side needs it too, so I can’t send much, but I will send you around 5 million pesos. And I am asking the other nations to support the Symphonia Kingdom.

‘Foreign support, huh…’

Luke and his retainers hadn’t thought about it.

The problem was, there was no free help in the world, and it was a diplomatic practice to give something for what is received at a later time.

Which was why Luke was hesitant, however, Reina seemed to found a way.

If the Pope of the Holy Empire was ready to take the initiative, the Symphonia Kingdom could take a step back.

Yet, there was no great burden over the Holy Empire.

There were no nobles or rulers who would make unreasonable demands in the Holy Empire, the strongest nation of Rhodesia.

And if there was any noble who would resort to being so rude, El Kassel priests would go against the noble for standing against the Pope.

The Holy Empire was a place where the influence of religion was overwhelming.

“Thank you. I am seeing the advantages of having a beautiful wife like you.”

-Since my handsome husband had done a good job in his role.

After a few conversations with Reina, Luke ended the magic communication.

Sebastian, who was still listening near Luke, spoke.

“She surely is the Queen, the budget problem will be solved!”

“Yes, thanks to her I am able to breathe.”

The restoration costs will be sufficient if the budget of the Symphonia Kingdom was combined with the funds collected by the donations and foreign aid.

When Luke felt a little relieved.

Knock. Knock.

A knock came from the outside.

“Who is it?”

Luke asked.

“Your Majesty, this is Hudson. I have something to report, can I come in?”

“Come on in.”

When the permission fell, Hudson entered the office.

“Your Majesty, our agents outside the nation just sent in information.”

“Is it? Where from?”

Luke was curious as to how the outside situation was.

On the first line was the situation of the Baroque Empire.

“Hmm…It isn’t a sign of a peasant uprising.”

“Emperor Rudolf isn’t just stopping at nobles, he is defeating all the rebels over the nation. On the contrary, even if he is at loss, he is able to maintain the power by taking a few nobles under him.”

Hudson chimed in.

“It feels like there are external forces, too?”

“Yes, the Volga Republic and Libiya Kingdom are openly supporting each other when attacking the Baroque Empire. There was also the information where the two heads of the nations would soon meet.”

“Did you find the reason?”

“We still haven’t…”

Luke laughed as Hudson bowed his head in embarrassment.

“Well, either way, this is fun. The snake and raccoon meet.”

Shaikan was a leader of monsters, and the half brother of Rudolf, who had been in dark most of his life.

Volga’s Vladimir was also an insignificant figure, Luke wondered what they would talk about.

“And the Song Empire…”

The report also spoke about the Song Empire.

“Yes, the conflict between the princes is rising in the Southern Continent. It isn’t that good for us, who are dealing with the money and trade with the Song Empire.”

“Tch, I knew this would happen and sent those fairies… was I late?”

The 2nd prince, Jo Won-gyun, took control of the Song Empire.

It was said that he was leading in the administration on behalf of the Emperor, who had turned as a victim to a sudden disease.

That didn’t mean that the 3rd prince, Jo Won-rak had completely collapsed.

He had escaped from the forces of Jo Won-gyun and escaped to the neighboring state of Yemaek.

‘There seems to be no quiet place anywhere.’

The distinction of the Holy Empire and the Symphonia Kingdom were currently off, however, the neighboring states were noisy.

There was no time for him to breathe.

In order to prevent future troubles, we had to take safety measures.

Luke fell into deep thought.