Despite the turmoil in the northern part of the empire, the war seemed like a distant matter for the capital and the central-southern regions.
The Grand Duke nodded his head in satisfaction as he read the letter that secretly arrived from his direct territory of Flandre.
[It seems like we have gathered almost all of the barbarian tribes at the entrance of the mountain range.
Even considering Count Anderson's first reinforcement army, we should be able to maintain the front line with our shadows' power. However, if a second reinforcement army is formed…]
'It was worth sending out the shadows that I raised with great care. Actually, I hoped they would struggle a bit more but Count Anderson is not an easy opponent.'
The Grand Duke felt conflicted on one hand.
He was also a knight of the empire after all.
He was opposing the emperor because of his own power hunger and succession scheme but he didn't want this kind of situation where he was weakening the country's strength.
'That's why I wished that the first prince would grow up as incompetent as possible…'
He resorted to this kind of method because he heard too many rumors about Eurius from the north.
"I heard that he always shares the corrosion with the ordinary soldiers and knights. He might become an even greater war hero than the current emperor."
"I heard that the situation in the north is not good but he is rather establishing a brilliant military achievement. Where does the bloodline of the imperial family go? He is a born genius!"
When he received that report, the Grand Duke had to raise his evaluation of Eurius by one more level.
'Maybe he is much more talented than the second prince. The north is not an easy region to deal with.'
The Grand Duke's original intention was to shake up the north a little bit and make it a dangerous region so that Eurius wouldn't be able to stand out with his military achievement.
But if Eurius had won over the hearts of the people in the north, then it was a different story.
'That was his intention from the beginning. The first prince will rise to the position of crown prince by establishing a powerful military achievement this time and if the knights of the north also join him, it will be hard to suppress the emperor's faction with force.'
The position of crown prince in the empire was different from that of an ordinary prince.
First of all, when the emperor was absent or sick, he could act as a proxy and run the state affairs. He also had the authority to move some of the central knight order and troops directly.
'And the most important thing is the issue of legitimacy!'
If Eurius was appointed as the crown prince, then the emperor's biggest force, the imperial guard knight order, would also likely become Eurius's side.
'I doubt that the first prince appointed Carlos as his swordsmanship teacher for no reason.'
No matter how much Count Carlos was his son-in-law, the imperial guard knight order was absolutely on the emperor's side.
The Grand Duke also only took Carlos as his son-in-law because he was wary of his legitimacy as an enemy in case a succession dispute occurred. He didn't think of the imperial guard knight order as his own force.
'I misjudged him from the beginning. It wasn't just a problem between Marius and the emperor. Maybe the first prince himself is my biggest enemy.'
The Grand Duke's response was swift.
He immediately ordered his secretly raised shadows to be sent to the north and start a large-scale war.
'I don't like it but I have no choice if I want to keep the first prince in check.'
[Shadow] was what he called the knights that he personally trained as the empire's best superhuman.
No, they were closer to a group of force users that he raised for a special purpose rather than knights.
The Grand Duke's family was one of the three great martial families in the continent and they also had a special privilege of not paying taxes to the emperor as the only territory in the empire.
He raised this group based on his enormous power and his skill as a superhuman.
'They were not something I wanted to use so soon but it's time to test them out in real battle.'
He had secretly built his own power for decades, rivaling the emperor's imperial guard.
Finally, he had created a group that was no less than the imperial guard in terms of strength, even by objective standards.
"Deploy half of the shadows to the north."
"Do we need to deploy that many?"
Dmitri, the leader of the shadows, looked surprised.
Half of the shadows could surpass the knightly force of any small kingdom. Was it necessary to use that many people to deal with the northern barbarians?
The Grand duke sneered.
Dmitri was not only the leader of the shadows, but also the most talented knight among the disciples he had secretly raised.
He felt a bit sorry for him, who had the potential to become the next superhuman if he was not part of a secret organization, to send him to the harsh north.
"I know this is not a suitable mission for you. But I want to block the path of the first prince for sure this time."
The Grand duke's no longer believed in coincidence.
How many times had his expectations been wrong? He had been feeling a vague pressure from Eurius lately.
'What if everything I thought was coincidence was actually planned by the first prince? Then we would have been hit hard on the back of our heads.'
Dmitri nodded coolly.
They were all raised to be the hands and feet of the archduke anyway.
"We will follow your orders, your grace."
"Don't be complacent, even though I trust your abilities. I only realized this now."
"I will keep that in mind."
The Grand duke finished his reminiscence and planned to proceed with his plan himself.
'Dmitri's judgment is that they can stop them until the first reinforcement arrives.'
The Grand duke's eyes sparkled.
'When the news comes that the situation is difficult even with the first reinforcement, I will step in and wipe out all the barbarians!'
Surprisingly, he, who was not only a noble but also one of the best warriors in the continent, was thinking of going out himself.
That was how much he was wary of Eurius now.
'When the next war council is held, I will say it then. The emperor's expression will be very interesting.'
The Grand duke smiled inwardly.
How could the emperor refuse him, who was going to solve the situation quickly with his own hands?
'He won't be able to reject it, even for the sake of his people.'
But it remained to be seen whether his plan would succeed.
…
And at that time.
The Eurius alliance was backtracking inside the mountain range.
They had been chasing for a week, so they were quite far from the entrance of the mountain range.
They had to wander around the mountain range while looking for neutral tribes, so it was quite a march.
But their march was noticeably easier.
"It would be better to spread out our tents around that big hill on the right. It will block some of the cold wind."
"Indeed, an experienced person's advice is different."
Surprisingly, it was Nuada, the chief, who was leading them. He had taken on the role of guiding them himself to observe these foreigners.
'I need to learn more about them.'
That was partly because he wanted to explore them, but also because he was curious how they came into the mountain range.
His advice was very helpful when they were marching or camping.
Even though Eurius had gained some knowledge from the books, it was no match for the experience of the natives who had lived in the northern mountain range for hundreds of years.
On the other hand, Nuada was also quite amazed.
'These people are not ignorant of the mountains.'
They could understand why they had followed them.
Although they were still like children compared to them, they had some basic knowledge of surviving in the mountains.
Crack!
"It's hard to start a fire with dry branches or leaves. I'll use dite ore."
Sir Linfield took out some of the scarce dite and lit it.
Whoosh!
Nuada, who was staring at the burning fire, suddenly opened his mouth.
"So you use the blue flint like this?"
"You call dite ore blue flint?"
Eurius asked with a gleam in his eyes.
He finally got a chance to talk.
One of the big reasons he came to the north was because of this dite ore.
Nuada answered with a sour tone.
"Yes. It's not a common thing for us, and only warriors can use it. But it seems that you foreigners use it quite often."
Now Eurius's expression was filled with doubt.
"You said this stone is not common for you?"
"Well, it's a fortune if we find it by chance. It's the best thing for warriors to prepare for hunting outside for a long time in the cold winter."
'Something has changed again from my previous life?'
Eurius's expression became serious.
The reason he came to the north was because of this blue flint, or dite ore.
'As far as I know, there were several mines rich in dite ore near Nuada's Thunder Rock tribe.'
The reason why the empire didn't bother to develop the northern mountain range was because there was nothing to gain from it.
There were no mines where gold, silver or jewels were mined, and copper or iron ore were just common in the vast empire.
But dite ore was different.
This ore contained a small amount of force, and there were very few places where it could be obtained.
It was so valuable that only those who had permission from the empire could mine it, not privately owned.
It was so efficient as a fuel that it would bring huge profits if the mining volume was secured.
Eurius had tried to negotiate with the north on the condition of developing these dite mines, but it seemed that things went wrong from the start.
His expression twisted slightly.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Haha! By the way, you have a lot of interesting stories. Tell me more about the mountain range."
'I'll have to build more trust with Nuada for later.'
There must be some reason why the mines that existed suddenly disappeared.
He put that issue aside and Eurius needed more time to talk with Nuada.
In fact, they were allies in his previous life, but he and Nuada were not very close.
The reason was because his strength was inferior.
Rather, he respected Beatrix more as a warrior, who was always guarding him by his side.
The northern immigrants were very respectful of the strong.
'Well, this time I might be able to get closer to him since I beat him up once?'
Eurius's strength was that he had a good personality and he had suffered a lot in his previous life as an emperor, so he had a good understanding of the lower people(?).
In other words, he was a kind and smart person.
He didn't ignore or dismiss the immigrants with a high-handed attitude, and he listened to them well. Nuada's company was not intended, but it helped his journey a lot.
After a few days of alliance, he felt that his guard had loosened a lot, and Eurius also sighed with relief inwardly.
'I'm not fully friends with him yet, but this should be enough trust to make a deal later.'
It was a huge improvement from just a few days ago, when they fought for their lives with growls.
In this way, he and Nuada became closer than just an alliance based on debt.