I like crossing the most

Chapter 505: The Menacing Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown
The impact of this incident on the royal capital was far greater than Lin had imagined.

It will take a long time to repair the damaged buildings, and the cost will undoubtedly be huge, which is a considerable burden for the royal family.

In addition, civilians were abducted and the royal family was unable to give an explanation, which caused some civilians to talk about it.

Of course, there is more praise.

The king bravely fought against the devil and worked hard to revive the capital, and the people gradually turned to the royal family.

When the demons invaded, the royal family ordered the surrounding nobles to defend the capital, but all of them refused except those who supported the king.

The reason, of course, was to protect their own territory. At the same time, they also accused the royal family of not being able to take care of the capital they managed. The royal supporters naturally shouted that the king had personally gone to the battlefield to spread his greatness.

The conflict between the aristocracy and the monarchists intensified.

While he was messing around outside, Lin enjoyed the careful care of the two beauties.

Lana and Lachis.

One is his nominal fiancée, and the other is his childhood sweetheart.

A month has passed since the demon invasion, and Lin's body has almost recovered. However, Lana still insists on him to rest as if he were taking care of a child. It is obviously a burden to her, but she still enjoys doing it.

And today, Lana is rarely here.

"I don't know why, but I've been feeling uneasy lately."

"…Could it be because Lana isn't around?"

Listening to the slightly jealous tone of his childhood sweetheart Cha Cha, Lin shook his head and said, "No, I just simply feel that something is going to happen."

Things have changed a little too fast this month.

Theocracy, fortress city, kingdom, empire, a series of changes caught everyone off guard, not to mention that the capital is still in a period of turmoil, and the kingdom, which is already on the verge of destruction, is even worse.

Naturally, he has his intelligence network on the Empire side.

Recently, there is news about a new relic… It is called the Great Tomb. It is an extremely dangerous place. It is said that everyone who enters it dies. The Blood Emperor received an invitation to visit it, and his temperament changed drastically after returning.

After telling Nina this information, her face turned grim, but she was glad that she had made the right choice.

Looking at the piles of information, Lin was a little troubled.

He is smarter than the average person, and with the blessing of [The Goddess's Favor] he can even compete with Lana, but this does not mean that his ability to process information is the same as Lana's, so he simply leaves all the information to the other party to deal with.

I felt a lot more relaxed, but my anxiety also increased.

"By the way, there is a palace council today."

"Well, I heard that the royal family and the six nobles will be present today. It seems that they are going to discuss something important."

"Really? Is that why Lana didn't come?"

Lin pinched his chin.

I always feel like a storm is coming.

----

In the palace.

Gazef remained motionless, standing beside the king who was sitting on the throne. He spotted the figures of the six nobles among the many nobles who had gathered, and his eyes widened slightly.

It is a rare situation that everyone is present.

The six largest noble families, whose territories are second only to the kingdom, each have at least one strength above the king, such as military strength or financial resources. Therefore, they often find excuses to be absent from the king's summons.

Especially the aristocratic faction. The current leader, Marquis Bolop, did not even hide his contempt for the king. For a period of time, people even suspected that the kingdom might collapse from within.

Next came the three princes and princesses present.

The most eye-catching ones are the third daughter, the golden princess Lana, followed by the second prince Zanak, who became famous for standing up for the people after the king during the demon riots, and the eldest son Pablo, who is supported by the aristocratic faction.

Marquis Bolop was probably invited to attend this court meeting by the eldest prince. With him present, this court meeting would surely be a mess.

Gazef looked at the six nobles again.

The Marquis of Polumra, who possesses the greatest wealth in the kingdom, the Marquis of Pespeia, who married the king's eldest daughter, and the Border Count of Urovana, these three are pro-kingdom people.

Sitting opposite the three of them was Marquis Bolop, who owned the largest territory among the nobles. He was also the mastermind behind vetoing almost all of Princess Lana's bills. Next was Earl Lytton, who was the weakest of the six nobles and therefore tried every possible means to improve his own value, even at the cost of any means.

As for the last one...

He had smoothed-back blond hair and a pair of narrow-cornered green eyes. His face had the sickly pallor of someone who didn't get enough sun, and his tall, thin frame gave him a snake-like appearance.

On the one hand, he was his friend’s brother, and on the other hand, he was the bat that was causing chaos in the kingdom. Gazef had mixed feelings about him - Marquis Rebuen.

The issue of succession to the throne further complicated the power struggle in the kingdom.

The aristocratic Marquis Bolop and Earl Lytton, together with the pro-royal Earl of Ulowana, supported the first prince to become the next king.

Yes, this has nothing to do with factions.

Many nobles support the king's eldest son-in-law, Marquis Pespeia. After Rebuhn, he has revealed his werewolf identity to support the second prince, while Marquis Polumrashu has expressed his attitude of supporting whoever wins and will not quit for the time being.

This situation indirectly formed the reason why the king has not been able to abdicate until now, because if the king named a successor now, it might cause civil unrest.

Not long ago, Gazef thought it didn't matter who became king, but now he personally supports the second prince, or Princess Lana, the dark horse.

To be honest, he was more inclined to the latter, not just because of his good friend Lin. However, there had never been a queen in the history of the kingdom, so the hope was slim. Of course, if Lin was engaged to Lana, that would be another matter.

"Well, the meeting will begin now."

The king's tone was somewhat different from usual. Those with sharp ears should have known the reason for the summons today, and those who didn't know also noticed the subtle change in the atmosphere and became serious.

"The Empire has sent a proclamation officer. Read out the Imperial Declaration this person has brought."

"As ordered."

The attendant on the side read out the article on the parchment. The content is as follows:
The Baharuth Empire recognized the Nazarick organization led by the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown, the great magic caster, as a nation, and an alliance was formed between the two countries.

Ultimately, the land near E-Rantel was occupied by the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown, and the kingdom is now occupying it improperly, so the kingdom should return the land to its original owner.

If the Kingdom does not listen to the good advice, the Empire will assist the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown in launching an invasion of the Kingdom to retake the territory.

It was a righteous act to free the land from wrongful rule.

----

What was read out was simply a bunch of fallacies, and forcing the kingdom to obey was simply crazy.

Obviously, this was unacceptable to the kingdom.

Many people started to curse and even attacked others. One of them was Gazef.

“By the way, I seem to have heard the name of this lunatic who calls himself the Sorcerer King somewhere before. Am I wrong? Your Excellency, Warrior Captain Stronoff?”

“…It must be the magic caster who helped me when I went to the outskirts of E-Rantel.”

"So that's how it is. He considers the villagers as his subjects, so that's why he helps them?"

Undoubtedly, this was a mockery of Gazef's collusion with outsiders to seize the kingdom's territory.

Even though everyone knows that this is impossible, they don't need the authenticity of the matter, they just need a reason to criticize the royal family.

Annoying.

"But the most important thing is not that crazy magic caster. What we should decide is how to respond to Emperor Jia's declaration. Don't you agree, Your Majesty?"

"Well, Marquis Bolop is absolutely right."

"Well... I think the emperor's declaration is hard to accept, so we have no choice but to go to war. This time it's our turn to repel the enemy and directly counterattack the empire!"

His words were recognized by the nobles and the atmosphere became heated.

However, this is also extremely annoying.

It’s the same thing every time. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard it.

Over the past few years, wars between the Kingdom and the Empire in the Katz Plains have always been staged regularly. This year, the two countries will start a confrontation again, or it will end when the Kingdom suffers some losses. It is just an unchanging small-scale war. The nobles have a relaxed atmosphere of familiarity.

These rubbish!

Why don’t they understand that people are born in sorrow and die in comfort?
Only Gazef, who knew how powerful Ainz Ooal Gown was, had the courage to speak out even if he was mocked and criticized by the nobles and tortured. He said, “Your Majesty… can you give the suburbs of E-Rantel to the Empire… no, give it to that magic caster?”

After a moment of silence, insults suddenly exploded.

"What are you talking about! Do you have any shame?!"

"You are so kind to the king, but you dare to ask him to give up his territory!"

"When did your monarch become a fake emperor!"

There was a lot of noise, and some people even said that Gazef was a spy sent by the Empire and came to the Kingdom just for this day.

Lana, who was sitting in the corner, looked at him with disdain.

A bunch of stupid people who can't see the current situation clearly.

Gazef's loyalty was unquestionable, and when such a powerful person made it clear that the other party was an enemy that the kingdom could not defeat, shouldn't he choose to bow his head at this time?
It was boring. She hoped the parliament would end soon. She just wanted to go back and continue taking care of Lin.

While she smiled gently on the surface but complained darkly in her heart, the king stretched out his hand to silence the noisy hall.

"All right."

"But!"

"You are angry for my sake, and I appreciate your kindness. In that case, I hope you can also remember that my warrior-captain will never betray me. He has gone through fire and water for me many times, and it is impossible for him to say anything that would harm my interests."

Although the king is old, he has a sharp mind.

Of course, he also thought that since the other party could make Gazef say this, he must have some outstanding qualities, and he might even be able to persuade the Empire to help.

but--

"My right-hand warrior, even if it is your proposal, I cannot agree to it. It is not the behavior of a ruler to hand over the territory without fighting. Moreover, considering the local residents, such behavior that destroys the stability of the people is not allowed."

The current state of the kingdom must not undergo any major changes. Once a part of the basic foundation is removed, the kingdom will fall apart in an instant.

In addition, we must take into account the feelings of the local residents and cannot abandon them when ceding territory, otherwise the other party might do something inhumane to the local residents.

"Your Majesty, please forgive my foolish words."

Hearing the king's words of concern for the local residents, Gazef bowed his head and apologized.

If it were a foolish noble who only treated the people of the territory as a tool to make money, he would definitely not say what he just said. It was precisely because the king was kind-hearted that Gazef devoted himself to his work.

At this time, one of the nobles spoke up, "But maybe what the Knight-Captain said is not wrong? As long as we hand over a city, we can avoid the war. It is also the king's duty to try to avoid the people's complaints beforehand. Only those who would rather sacrifice themselves than let the people grieve are the true kings, aren't they?"

It sounds nice, but the purpose is just to reduce the king's territory.

……

"So, what is the King's response?"

"Of course my father refused."

In response to Lin's question, Lana answered with a smile.

He ceded five cities tonight, and ten cities to the next day, and then he could sleep peacefully for one night. He got up and looked around, and the Qin army was approaching again.

Even though there is no such sentence in the other world, they understand what it means. Once the other party gets a taste of being easily cut, they won't be able to stop talking, so this will naturally not be agreed to.

"Then the nobles started quarreling in the hall like little kids. Hehehe."

Lana smiled happily.

It was like the nobles arguing in parliament with their faces red and ears red. The contrast was so great that it was really funny.

Laqisi also sighed helplessly.

She also knew the kingdom's current predicament, but she was just an ordinary noble daughter. At most, she was the descendant of a hero and an adamantine-level adventurer. She was still a little short of being able to influence the kingdom with this.

Lin thought for a moment and said, "I guess we will have to go to war with the Empire in the end, and my brother has offered his full assistance, right?"

"Yes, that's it." Lana smiled.

The Kingdom's soldiers were ordinary citizens who were conscripted. Their strength and quality were very different from those of the Empire's soldiers. In order to defeat the Empire's powerful army, the Kingdom could only use the human wave tactic, and it had been doing so for the past few years. If it lost even to the opponent in terms of numbers, the result was self-evident.

"With Lord Rebuen's words, the nobles who own territories in E-Rantel have all agreed to assist."

"Brother, are you going to do this? It's a smart move."

Almost all of the nobles who owned territories in E-Rantel were members of the Aristocracy Faction, so this would reduce most of their manpower.

...if it's the same as previous years.

"Then who is commanding the war? Could it be the King?"

I don’t know if the benefits of personally leading the army are high enough, the king always wants to play this trick, and it is foreseeable that he will personally lead the army. However——

"No, it was Brother Pablo who went to the battle."

"First Prince?"

Lin raised his eyebrows.

Needless to say, this idiot must have been thinking of gaining credit by taking the initiative to attack. After all, his father-in-law is the Border Count of Ulowana, who has a strong military force.

"This stupid prince is doomed to die."

Lin issued him a death notice.

The Empire was coming with such force that it even issued a notice, clearly determined to capture E-Rantel. Even if the First Prince went, no matter what the final result would be, they would kill him in order to establish their authority.

Most importantly, the kingdom has no way to retaliate and can only sulk.

Who made the kingdom weak?

After thinking about it, Lin and Lana had the same idea and had already started to prepare to take over the First Prince's forces. At the same time, he summoned all of E-Rantel's men back, and he had already tacitly accepted that the territory had been taken away.

but……

Ainz Ooal Gown?

Gazef became more and more curious about the powerful magic caster who could make him say such words in front of so many nobles.

(End of this chapter)