The Founding Monarch Became the Mastermind

Chapter 86

“What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?”

Calvert Si-on Rozin, the mayor of Rozin City, anxiously bit his nails as he paced around his office.

With a population of 12,000 residents and a total of 27,000 when including the surrounding areas, both the size and the number of people in the territory rivaled a mid-sized estate.

Yet, his appearance did not reflect the stature of someone responsible for such a large region.

Knock knock.

“Mayor, Mr. Belin and Ms. Muran’s party is here.”

“Oh, bring them in quickly.”

At Calvert’s urgent words, the office door opened, and seven men and women entered in a rush.

“Please, come in quickly!”

“How have you been, Mayor?”

The seven men and women greeted Calvert politely in response to his welcome.

Their exotic appearance, with brown skin and curly hair, along with their clothing, were different from the people of the duchy or the Kingdom of Obla.

They clearly weren’t from the duchy.

“Yes, yes. Let’s skip the pleasantries. Belin, do you have any good news?”

At Calvert’s hasty tone, a woman named Belin stepped forward.

With blue eyes and black hair, she was a striking beauty.

“We in Yazan have decided to accept your request, Mayor.”

“Ooh!”

Calvert’s face brightened instantly, while Belin suppressed a smirk and continued to speak respectfully.

“But I’ve heard that a system with a proxy for the Duke named Hander and some ministers has been established in Sionia, correct? The Yazan Council is concerned that there might be a conflict with them.”

“Moreover, you’ve also requested reinforcements from Sionia, haven’t you? They should be arriving soon, which would make it a bit awkward for Yazan to support Rozin.”

“Ah…”

Calvert’s expression darkened abruptly. Seeing this, Belin clicked her tongue internally.

‘How did such an idiot become the mayor of a city like this? In times like this, you don’t play both sides; you go all in. Fool.’

Of course, Belin knew exactly how Calvert had become the mayor of Rozin.

It was thanks to the name “Si-on” in his family name.

Since the founding Duke Jang Si-on entrusted the city to his third son, the mayor of Rozin had always come from the Si-on Rozin family.

It was an unspoken rule that had persisted since then.

Although the other officials and administrators beneath the mayor had changed over time, only the mayor remained from the Si-on Rozin family. And that was unlikely to change in the future.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter. After all, we’ve already bought off half of the high-ranking officials here.’

Belin smiled grimly to herself.

Over the past few years, they had spent several chests of gold coins to bribe the administrators of Rozin.

It hadn’t been possible from the start, of course.

But during the past year, as internal strife broke out among the direct descendants of Paloma and Sionia, Yazan’s merchants, who had been eyeing the two southern cities, saw their chance.

“What would you like to do? Shall we bring in the Yazan mercenaries as per the original plan? We’re fine with it, but I’m mentioning this because I think it might cause some problems for you later.”

At Belin’s suggestion, her right-hand man and lover, Muran, stepped forward.

“Just say the word, and within five days, Yazan’s mercenaries can arrive at Rozin Port. With 800 verified Yazan mercenaries, we’ll be more than capable of clearing out the monsters threatening the Rozin territory.”

Muran, who was missing one eye, was a merchant from Yazan with a background as a mercenary. To be more precise, he was essentially a pirate.

In fact, most of the merchants sailing out of Yazan were both merchants and pirates.

So the mercenaries he just mentioned…

‘They’re basically pirates, hehe. We’ll chase away the monsters, and once we settle in under various pretexts…’

Not even all 800 would be necessary.

If just 200 or 300 of them managed to secure a foothold, Rozin would effectively become a subordinate city of Yazan.

With over half of the high-ranking officials on their side and hundreds of troops under their control, on top of this foolish mayor still relying on them…

‘Starting here, we’ll eventually expand into Fland. Although that might take some more time, once we take Fland as well…’

They would dominate the southern peninsula of the Si-on Duchy.

This meant that Yazan would effectively control half of the vast inland sea and its trade routes.

“Eight hundred mercenaries…”

“Does that sound like too few? If you’d like, we could send more in a second wave.”

“No, no. The number is sufficient. It’s just… compared to the reinforcements being sent by Sionia…”

“Oh, by the way, did you receive word from Hander that reinforcements were coming?”

“Yes, but… the number is less than 100.”

“What? Pfft!”

Muran couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Belin and the other Yazan people twitched their lips as well.

Even if it wasn’t as many as the first batch of mercenaries they were sending, they would need at least 300 or 400 troops to put out this fire.

But fewer than 100?

Were the higher-ups in the Si-on Duchy all incompetent?

Well, no wonder.

After a year of bickering over the title, they barely managed to patch things up, only to create some meaningless position like Hander instead of appointing a proper Duke.

“Mayor, with all due respect, do you really think you can get through this crisis with fewer than 100 soldiers? It seems to me that the Three-headed Eagle Castle and Hander don’t really care much about Rozin.”

“Hander doesn’t seem to have fully consolidated the duchy’s forces, does he? Otherwise, there’s no way he’d send such a small number of troops…”

“Well, um, yes, that’s possible.”

As soon as Calvert had heard the news that Jonas had taken Hander’s place and that the duchy’s forces had crushed the Pamel Count’s family, he had immediately lowered his stance and stopped playing both sides.

But that was a mistake.

It was good that he had acted quickly out of fear, but there had been no need to go that far.

Because, as Belin and Muran had just pointed out, Hander had not yet fully consolidated the duchy’s military forces. His actions had shown that he hadn’t yet properly taken command of the army.

Of course, there were several reasons for this, but Calvert, who was a frightened puppet, and Belin and Muran, who were foreigners, couldn’t have known everything.

Especially the Yazan merchants, who sailed along the coast and had no knowledge of the internal affairs of the inland Pamel Count’s family or the August Estate.

In fact, even the nobles of the Kingdom of Obla had only gotten wind of the situation through a few bits of information gathered by the guilds. It was impossible for the Yazan merchants to have known earlier.

As a result, they made a grave miscalculation.

“Mayor, it seems to me that either Sionia’s situation is still unstable, or they’re severely underestimating Rozin. What do you think?”

From Belin and Muran’s perspective, the fact that Sionia, the heart of the duchy, and the ministers of the Three-headed Eagle Castle had responded so poorly to Rozin’s request for support clearly indicated that they were still in a state of confusion.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent such a pathetic response to the request for aid from Rozin, one of the three largest cities in the duchy.

“I think you’re right. Hmm. So then…”

“Shouldn’t you take care of the most urgent matter first?”

“Yes, that’s true. Then…”

After pausing for a moment, Calvert looked around at the Yazan merchants and spoke.

“Bring in the mercenaries. We need to deal with the monsters first, no matter what.”

‘Got him!’

Belin and Muran exchanged glances and clenched their fists.

In 5 or 6 days, the mercenaries (though more accurately pirates) would arrive, and once that happened, Rozin would effectively fall into their hands.

“The people will cheer for your wise decision, Mayor.”

“And the friendship between Rozin and Yazan will grow even deeper.”

Like sharks circling prey, the two lovers hid their dark intentions as they showered Calvert with praise.

At this point, they believed everything was already settled.

However, right after sending a letter via a fast ship to Yazan the next day, after a group of armed soldiers arrived in Rozin, things began to change.

***

“Who… arrived?”

“The reinforcements from the Three-headed Eagle Castle! They are elite soldiers mixed with warriors from the northern and southern mountains, as well as Gosan elves, Mayor!”

The guard captain of Rozin City reported with a beaming face as he ran in.

But despite the news that the long-awaited reinforcements had finally arrived, Mayor Calvert’s expression soured.

‘Why now, of all times!? And besides, wasn’t their support force supposed to be really small? Why is this guy so excited?’

“They sent fewer than 100, right? How are they going to help?”

“Ah! There’s something I haven’t reported yet. On their way here, the reinforcements helped organize three villages and took down over 1,000 kobolds and gnolls!”

“W-What!?”

Calvert was stunned.

Not hundreds, but over 1,000 monsters?

Dealing with 1,000 monsters was no easy feat. Even mobilizing all the city’s guards might not be enough.

And they’d done it with fewer than 100 soldiers?

‘D-Did they really send only the best of the best? If that’s true, things might change.’

Suddenly, Calvert remembered the decision he had made the day before.

He had told them to bring in the Yazan mercenaries because the Sionian reinforcements seemed so inadequate.

But if, by some chance, this support force alone resolved the monster crisis?

‘W-What happens then?’

Calvert’s mind began to race.

Meanwhile, the high-ranking city officials who had heard the shocking news were also abuzz with conversation.

Some of them knew about the mayor’s decision to bring in the Yazan mercenaries just yesterday.

“First, call in the reinforcements. Yes, I need to meet their leader.”

“Yes, they’re on their way to the city hall right now. There’s some officer who seems to be in charge. I’ll send them straight to your office.”

After a while, the officials dispersed, and Calvert returned to his office.

A few of the officials, however, rushed to the inn where Belin and Muran were staying to inform them of the news.

“Hmm. So, the Si-on Duchy’s soldiers are still somewhat capable, huh?”

At Belin’s remark, Muran snickered as he stroked her waist.

“They probably just ran into a lucky encounter with 1 or 200 monsters and are blowing it out of proportion. Once our boys arrive, they won’t even be able to breathe in front of us. Rozin is already in the bag.”

“True, but we should still check out their leader in person. Want to come along?”

“Let’s do that. If we can sway him, we will. If not, we’ll just crush his spirit. Heh.”

Muran, a former pirate, was confident in his abilities.

He had killed many arrogant knights before.

These noble knights, full of pride, were nothing to him. He had various ways to break their spirit.

So, the two lovers weren’t overly concerned by the news of the reinforcements, who called themselves the “Peregrine Division.”

As they leisurely prepared to head to city hall, they had no idea what was about to unfold in the mayor’s office.