Half-elf Notebook

Chapter 185 Nobles and Interests

"At least the king is not aware of the details of the assassination of Princess Mera and Princess Noel."

"Otherwise, it would not be as simple as depriving an earl of his title and transferring the governance of Cyrilor Province to the royalists..."

Sitting next to Feisong, a non-hereditary earl, who was dressed more like an old-time aristocrat and had his hands covered with all kinds of expensive gems and gold rings, touched his chin.

His face was about 50% similar to the Duke's, but his body was much more bloated.

"Ah."

Duke Eric responded lightly, acknowledging his blood brother's statement.

To be honest, this was already a good result that the Duke had expected. He had never expected that the desperate conservatives would kill the princess in order to gain back a piece of the pie.

This forced him to fight back.

Not only did he lose two extremely precious silver-level family warriors, but he was also charged with murdering the royal family.

Even if it is a princess who has no right to inherit the throne, or the last prince, killing the crown prince is killing the crown prince, which means intending to rebel against the royal family and subvert the royal power.

——The failure to resist the orcs could still be excused by factors such as insufficient armaments and disparity in troop strength, but if the former was proven guilty, there would be absolutely no room for excuses.

"That bunch of mad dogs with old-fashioned ideas!"

Duke Eric cursed in his heart.

On the surface, the conservatives were condemned for failing to protect the princess and lost their title, seemingly at a disadvantage.

But once the three dukes or the king find some clues and obtain sufficient evidence.

He and the entire Eric family will be doomed!

The reason why they and the conservatives are in tacit agreement is simply because neither side has any witnesses or evidence to accuse the other of guilt.

"The important thing is...what should I do next?"

The speaker was another modern earl, who said indignantly:

"Let's not talk about the assassination issue for now. We are already doing our best to clean up the relevant traces."

"Two of the three cities we operate in the Cyrillor Province have fallen to the orcs."

"Not only have all the efforts we have made in recent years to expand the province of Cyrilor while taking advantage of the conservatives' declining control over the province have been wasted. We also have to pay forty percent of the expenses of the Kingdom's temporary coalition forces' stationing and operations. Forty percent!"

The loss of tens of thousands of gold coins invested in the two plundered cities was already heartbreaking for an earl.

And now the entire new faction will pay 40% of the military expenses for a newly formed army of 30,000 people, as well as its equipment and logistics?

My God, that's an army of five hundred-man knights, a thousand-man magic regiment, more than 120 artillery pieces, and 20 magical heavy artillery pieces.

A huge army consisting of 2000 heavily armored knights, 5000 light cavalry, scouts, 2500 crossbowmen, 2500 musketeers, standard plate armored infantry, a large number of officers, a huge number of magic props, scrolls, and magical weapons!

It is only to maintain the normal replacement of military operations, equipment and personnel.

The new faction has to pay more than 20 gold coins every year for this!

In addition to the initial cost of building the army, even without interest, if spread out, the new faction will have to pay 36 gold coins every year for the next five years!

"Calm down, Count Hemer, this is not an unacceptable loss."

The earl who was speaking had a scar on his face that extended from his cheek to his ear. He was wearing a coat that looked like a military uniform. On his left chest was a family emblem embroidered with gold thread and precious silk. He folded his arms across his chest:

"Our expansion in Cyrilol Province is also to balance the suppression of the conservatives against the new faction. It is a fantasy to erode the governance of a province from a few dangerous marginal cities."

"The Kingists are not our enemies."

"The conservatives borne more military expenses than the new faction, not to mention that they also lost an earldom and handed over the governance and taxation of a province."

"This achievement has far exceeded our lowest expectations at the beginning."

"But that is the conservative faction, consisting of three dukes and nine earls. Just to achieve the minimum expected impact is not enough..."

Count Hemer was about to argue, but suddenly noticed the Duke's gaze, which was looking at him.

"What's wrong? Is something wrong?"

It then interrupted its own speech with a look of dissatisfaction.

But then, in the quiet room, the sound of leather shoes hitting the floor tiles attracted his attention.

The Duke raised his head and saw that the wizard holding a staff, who was supposed to be guarding the door, had already come to the tea table where the nobles were talking.

He reported without hesitation, neither humble nor overbearing:

"Duke Eric, His Royal Highness Prince Perry wishes to speak with you about some practical matters."

"I wonder what your wish is?"