Chapter 144 – The Alternative (2)

Roman took a sip of his tea.
As he set the teacup down, savoring its bitter flavor, Lucas, who was standing across from him, was giving him the report.

“It was as expected, Lord.
After using the Black Moon to leak the information, Count Douglas contacted the northeast nobles and expressed his intention to go to war.
Actually, it didn’t seem to end with just an emotional reaction either.
Given that he was gathering troops, it seemed to have turned into something serious.”

“The Northern Beast is known to be extreme.
Even if he reacted emotionally, he isn’t the type to go back on his words.”

As he was devising the plan, Roman found the right person.
By absorbing the Black Moon into his Lower District Sect, he managed to obtain information about the funds and the relationship between Count Douglas and the Northeast Nobles’ Alliance.

From then on, Roman let his imagination run wild.
When he was thinking of organizing the rankings within the northeast, he thought of various methods.

Roman’s plan was set when he met Dmitry’s farmers.
All of the scattered puzzle pieces came together and showed him how to get rid of the northeastern nobles.

‘There was nothing said or done that wasn’t part of the plan.’

He purposefully made offensive remarks in front of everyone at the banquet, knowing that Viscount Conrad would be outraged.

And the reports revealed what kind of person he was.
The man felt proud of belonging to the Northeast Nobles’ Alliance, and he could hardly stand the remarks about being the eldest son of a noble.

Roman understood his tendencies.
Viscount Conrad was a key figure in the northeastern nobility, and his tendencies always influenced the decisions of the nobles.

From start to finish, everything went as planned.
As Viscount Conrad responded to the provocation, the tension between the northeastern nobles and Dmitry grew, and when Roman announced the tournament, they willingly walked into the trap.

It was the same with Count Douglas.
If the northeastern nobles had bowed from the start, Count Douglas would have calmed down, but they made the situation worse by taking advantage of it.

Did they know?

Just because their pride was hurt, they would go to war and sink into despair.

Roman said,

“Things went as planned.
However, unlike Count Douglas, Viscount Conrad isn’t the type to run into a corner without looking back.
Which was why he apologized at the banquet and didn’t raise his voice after the loss in the tournament either.
It will be the same this time.
If Count Douglas comes out strong, he is more likely to raise the white flag first.”

It was obvious.

Strong to the weak and weak to the strong.
That was the type of nobleman he was.
The opponent was the Beast of the North, so he wouldn’t have the courage to drag out a fight until the end.

And so…

“From now on, spread rumors as planned so that the spilled water cannot be gathered into the bowl.
Create a situation where Count Douglas’s anger doesn’t subside, no matter what the alliance does to calm him.
And when they are in the final stage with no retreat possible, they will realize they have no other choice but to let go of their pride.”

“I understand.”

Gulp.

Lucas felt sorry for his opponents.
Roman was like a snake that continued to tighten the rope around their necks.
Once he made a plan, no one could escape from him.

The smallest people started to spread rumors.
At the Douglas estate, one merchant spoke in a low voice as he handed goods to his customers.

“We might not be able to do business for a while.”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you think? We usually receive deliveries from the northeast at this time, but it seems like the relationship between Count Douglas and the Northeast Alliance has turned sour.
At first, I thought it was a simple misunderstanding, but it seems like the alliance is preparing to attack the Douglas estate, so they are not sending us anything.
So, for the time being, I will be closing my business.
If we don’t have supplies, how can we even do business?”

“… is this the truth?”

The customer was shocked.

The news of the war was not something anyone could overlook, and as soon as the customer went home, he told his family.

The wife who heard those words relayed them to the women around her, and they, in turn, told their families that Douglas was in dangerous times.

Someone once said that words could travel a thousand miles without any feet.
The rumors started with the most trivial person and began to spread all over the estate.
That wasn’t all.
Servants at the Douglas mansion worked and spoke in hushed voices, too.

“I heard from a servant at the Conrad mansion that when Viscount Conrad contacted the Count, he was extremely angry.
The servant said he smashed all the furniture and made a mess.
I am not sure, but it seems like he is plotting some kind of revenge on Count Douglas.”

“Viscount Conrad is like a snake.
On the surface, he acts like he can solve problems by talking and smiling, but I am sure he is plotting revenge.
If not, the rumors about the alliance gathering troops wouldn’t have even started.
From what I heard, they are trying to crush Count Douglas.
Aren’t we going to get involved in the war for no reason if we stay here?”

The servant said.

This wasn’t an everyday thing.
The rumors spread, and the chatter couldn’t be overlooked.
The rumors continued to increase.

At first, the rumors were about a possible war.
But at some point, it turned into the alliance having ill intentions toward Count Douglas.

The merchant who started the rumors and the servants who fueled them all belonged to the Lower District sect.

The Lower District Sect.
They were the people who lived at the bottom of the food chain, people who weren’t taken seriously by anyone, but each word they said shaped the public’s opinion.

And the rumors increased like this.

Kwang!

“How dare they do this to me?! Issue the conscription order right now! If they had admitted their fault and shown repentance, I would have let them go, but they go around saying whatever they want, so they need to get punished for it.
I swear in the name of the Douglas family, I will never forgive those rats!”

The Northern Beast exploded in anger.

Shortly after the first contact with Count Douglas, the alliance came to a conclusion after a long discussion.

“There is nothing to gain from a war with Count Douglas.
In a situation where we are fighting for power with Dmitry, we cannot handle the outcome of the war by losing troops.
And doesn’t Roman Dmitry like war? Even if we bow our heads to Count Douglas and take a financial loss, we need to conserve the troops to prepare for the dangers in the future.”

“Then we should wait for a few days to contact him.
Shouldn’t we at least act like we have some respect for him?”

If Count Douglas becomes more enraged and cuts off the negotiations, it would be unfavorable for the alliance.

So they waited…

But they couldn’t imagine that something worse happened while they were delaying the apology for a few days.

“Count Douglas! We have been framed! What war? The alliance has no intention of going to war! We’re considering paying back the money and apologizing for what happened.
Please control your anger.
The rumors are entirely different from the truth.”

On the screen was Count Douglas’s face.

Viscount Conrad tried to explain to him, but Count Douglas covered his ears.

[Different from the truth? Viscount Conrad, do you think I am deaf? Everyone in the world is saying that the alliance is ready to make a mess.
There is smoke where there is fire.
I know that you are doing something that is making people scared and that you are getting ready for war.]

The situation has escalated.
Count Douglas was upset by how the other person talked, as if they had done nothing wrong.

[I never liked you, people, from the beginning.
I thought that bastards like you, who chase after profit, would one day show your true colors to me.
The reason I contacted you is not to compromise now.
It’s to make you throw away that fake face! Because on the day you and I face each other, I will trample on your face and force you to stop smiling fakely.]

Tak!

And the communication got cut off.

A declaration of war.
It was like a fire was thrown on the alliance.
They wanted to avoid the war at any cost, but now it seemed like it was inevitable.

A noble said,

“This is bad.
Count Douglas isn’t the type to lie.
Rumor has it that he is trying to involve the lords of the north.
We cannot win on our own.
And if war cannot be avoided, we have to find a way to somehow overwhelm them.”

“The Central Government! Contact them!”

There was no other way.
It would be great if they could get help from other nobles around Count Douglas, but there was no way they wouldn’t know about their clash with Dmitry.

In that case, their only solution was to attract external forces.
The last time they contacted central nobles wasn’t so good, but they still contacted Count Fabius in the hopes of accomplishing something.

[Yes.
I understand how difficult your situation is, but we cannot get involved in such matters.
Isn’t it true that your alliance was to blame? If you make a mistake, don’t try to pass the damage onto other people.]

Since the last call, Count Fabius had been cold to them.
And because of the way he clearly drew the line, Viscount Conrad cut off the call and returned his gaze to the nobles who were speechless.

“… it is over.
We cannot avoid war anymore.”

It was a mess.
In a situation where every route was blocked, it felt like someone was stomping on their stomachs.

A war with Count Douglas.
They didn’t think they would be defeated so easily, but there were too many things one would lose in war.

No one said anything.
They ran around trying to solve this, but reality didn’t give them much hope.

It was then…

“Lord! Roman Dmitry has contacted you!”

The person holding the communication device announced.

In an instant, everyone’s attention turned to him.

The reason for contacting them? It was obvious—to ridicule the alliance’s situation.
Even though they didn’t want to hear from him, Viscount Conrad still accepted the call.

[I heard you are having trouble with Count Douglas.
Can you explain the situation?]

Roman asked.

It was unexpected.

Unknowingly, Viscount Conrad explained in a calm voice.

“I have nothing to say to the Dmitry family, but the people of the Northeast Alliance and I had to be compensated by Barco.
But Count Douglas acted on his own and stole the slush funds of the Barco family, and we only took our share.
That was all.
Count Douglas, who learned the truth, claimed that it was our fault when he was going to do the same thing anyway.
What he did was wrong.
If he had disclosed the existence of the slush funds and distributed them fairly, we wouldn’t have stolen them.”

This wasn’t about showing sympathy.
The man on the other side was Roman Dmitry.
And they weren’t sure how he would interpret this.
They just expressed their frustration.

But…

[So what will you do? You can’t just stand by and do nothing as the Northeast Alliance, can you?]

At that moment, they looked at Roman.

His words.

What did they mean?

“… you are willing to help us?”

[It depends on the attitude of the Northeast Alliance.
What I can say with certainty is that whatever our relationship is, I have no intention of standing by when something like this is going to happen in the northeast.]

He meant it.

It was a development completely different from what the alliance expected.