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After a minor confrontation with Rose, the first thing Jenis did was rush to the south and administratively fully integrate her normatively unified territory. It wasn’t a difficult task. The territories that Jenis proclaimed to unify were all already economically, and even administratively, subjugated lands of the Harker County Territory.

Some territories that had been half-demolished in the confrontation with Dracula had lost their original purpose as residences and had become fortified strongholds. Jenis expressed her determination to manage the newly acquired territory without a hint of slack by ordering the dismantling of the fortifications and establishing the Harker Clan’s administrative offices in their place.

Most of the southern lords and barons had crumbled. Where there had once been a castle, buildings resembling lodges with crosses and laurel wreath insignias were constructed. Bureaucrats from the Harker Clan were directly dispatched to govern the regions, or if the local lord still existed, the heir of the existing lord managed the area as a village chief.

Even if they appointed an heir, they wouldn’t have the qualifications of a lord. If they accepted the title of village chief, they had to be treated as members of the Harker Clan during their tenure and, naturally, had no inheritance rights over that territory. From now on, the place they governed was no longer a separate territory but rather directly governed territory of the Harker Clan. In a sense, there was a more powerful centralized system than that of the Audrich Empire.

What Jeongjae could do while watching from the side was merely thwart another act that would surely provoke Rose.

“No, Jenis. I cannot accept that flag.”

Jeongjae was aghast at the new flag that Jenis had presented. Jenis shrugged her shoulders with a disappointed expression.

“Why? I think it looks pretty. The cross and the laurel wreath pattern. Don’t you think it’s a well-suited combination?”

Jenis appeared with a new flag named the ‘Harker Alliance Flag’. This flag, which combined the southern alliance flag of the previous generation with the Harker Clan’s cross, depicted a white laurel wreath on a blue background with a Latin cross drawn inside.

Even a fool could understand the meaning of this flag. Now that she had swallowed the south, it meant nothing less than completely absorbing the allied forces into the Harker Clan’s military. Seeing even Jeongjae horrified, Jenis smacked her lips in disappointment and began folding the flag.

“Why do you think this crosses the line?”

“There are three reasons. To start with the trivial, first, it damages your relationship with Koesernis. You’ve already promised to share a certain portion of the southern alliance with Koesernis, and if you raise such a flag, Douglas Koesernis will doubt your true intentions. Considering who helped you become the number one in the south so quickly, that wouldn’t be wise.”

“That makes sense. The Baron is not a trivial figure. Not at this moment.”

“Also, it could betray your trust with Eramenia. The Southern Alliance Flag is modeled after the Eramenia flag, so you must handle that pattern with care. Casually inserting your family’s insignia between the laurel wreath flags could provoke the elves.”

“That’s also a valid point.”

“And lastly, and most importantly, are you really not afraid of the royal family at all? You’ve fought alongside Rose. You’ve even gone toe-to-toe with Rose. I have no clue why you’re so confident. This is a time when we need to be more united than ever, and you are employing… the most extreme method of staging a scam against the assembly members. But in my eyes, it seems like you are the one trying to dismantle that achievement, Jenis.”

“A scam, professor?”

Jenis chuckled softly.

“The assembly members have never been scammed. What do you think I showcased at the Imperial Assembly? That Sally Jeffrey has committed a crime? Therefore, she must be impeached? If you saw it that way, professor, you’ve merely skimmed the surface of the minutes.”

“I don’t understand the meaning.”

“What I showed those individuals was, you see, I possess the power to easily suppress Sally Jeffrey. Douglas Koesernis agreed to my deal, and when I set my mind to it, you are nothing before me. Yes, that’s it. I delivered that message, and they understood it well. Honestly, let’s be real. If I had gone to trial with just that flimsy video and testimony, I would have had no words even in defeat. The Hero had no will to stop me. Since I prevented the imperial civil war, it would have been impossible for him to step forward to flip the atmosphere out of sheer guilt.”

“Could it be that you maliciously exploited that sentiment?”

“Exploit? Maliciously? If every act for ambition must be labeled as a malicious prank, then perhaps. But I maximized what I could take from that spot. It’s clear that my actions were the most efficient. That fact won’t change.”

“Why go that far? Until you extended your territory in the assembly and cut off your rival’s limbs, you were already a prominent feudal lord of the south and the lord of the Magic Tower. You were a companion of the Hero and my former student. You had so much possibility in that state, so why are you so desperate for more?”

Jenis was always that kind of student. Jeongjae understood from her learning attitude that she constantly sought to grasp more and chase after more.

In particular, Jenis’s intellectual curiosity in practical combat studies easily surpassed that of other quirky students. It was only natural that Jeongjae, already a top expert in that field, would become close to Jenis since their university days.

Her thirst for power was nothing new. However, her ambition for power in the empire was running abnormally rampant. Jenis sighed with a despondent expression.

“On that day, I swore as I looked at the blood flowing from my father’s heart. The one who caused this bloodshed, I will kill with my own hands. No matter what, I will make sure to end this myself, such was my vow.”

“Anger… no matter how deep and strong the grudge, it should be used productively. Of course, I know it can be hard to control, but it doesn’t seem healthy for you to hoard that power alone when others could support you.”

“If I lack sufficient power, there’s one more person who can’t be protected, don’t you think?”

Jenis smiled faintly. Jeongjae felt a strange shiver and unease from that smile.

“Until last year, he even looked like a god. The strongest wizard in the world. A gift from another realm. Though he came from the farthest land, he fought harder for us than anyone else. I was a little anxious, but I took you as my point of orientation. I wanted to work hard, aiming for a goal I could never reach. But… you were weaker than I imagined. I only realized that when I graduated.”

“Yeah, I’m weak. Compared to the visible magical power, I’m quite a weak person.”

“If no one steps out in front to protect, I might shatter and crumble instantly. But the biggest problem was that there were no stronger beings left around you.”

Jeongjae fell silent at Jenis’s words. Jenis, with a calm expression, caressed her staff.

“Margaret, the world’s strongest queen, has crumbled beneath the pride built over 400 years and has become as weak as a child. Walter Hellhound has rotted from the inside and is in a terrible state, and Rose has never been anything but a soulless being with no talent for embracing people from the start. Bernard Silverpoint might be the most mature internally, but unfortunately, he has no extraordinary talents. At best, he is just a human hero with his limits.”

“They are all remarkable individuals.”

“Who says they aren’t? But in my eyes, professor, I don’t see anyone who can protect you. You are so vulnerable. In fact, you walk the tightrope of vulnerability more than anyone else. Everyone seems so preoccupied with their own issues that they won’t even think about you. Who else can do it? If not me, then who?”

Jeongjae gaped in shock. Now, he began to understand. Behind all of Jenis’s rampages, behind all her ambitions, even her reckless defiance against the royal family was the broken image of Jenis, who was steeped in fear of something.

The tears Jenis had shown that day when she nearly used Manhattan resurfaced in his mind. That dispel spell, which had rescued Jeongjae while even giving up the chance to remove her hated Demon King, came back to the surface.

Jeongjae could not raise his head against the overwhelming sense of responsibility. He could only open his mouth to apologize.

“I’m sorry, Jenis. Because I was foolish, I pushed you this far… I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not a matter worth apologizing for when a person is weak and foolish. What I resent is this world, where everyone who should be supporting you has started to crumble simultaneously. The world is wrong, so to fix it, we must stand atop it. As quickly as possible, we must rise above it and proclaim the arrival of the world of Jenis Harker. That was the power I craved, and now I am closest to that power. I have no intention of holding onto this power for long. It will be sufficient until I sever the Demon King’s neck and place everything wrong back in its place.”

Jenis smiled sadly.

“Then, the world will automatically move in the most correct direction. That is something we can think about when the time comes. Just help me. Since this is something I started for you, if you want it to end quickly, help me directly with your own hands.”

That was a request Jeongjae couldn’t refuse. Perhaps from the moment he became her point of orientation at school, he bore a debt to help her.

Initially appearing as a powerful being like a god, she had revealed herself to be a broken human prepared to even throw away her own life, so he felt no right to criticize the obsessive madness she displayed. Whether or not that was true varied by person, but at least to Jeongjae, he felt he had no right to blame or restrain Jenis, more than anyone else.

“What can I do?”

“Shall we go and check the ships first? Our new ally has nearly completed the construction of new vessels. Now we just need to assemble the components by calling in the mages from the Magic Tower, including Geminia. We also need to check the status of the ships, including the cannons, and see to the transports for the troops.”

“Jenis, this operation doesn’t seem like it’s merely to satisfy Koesernis. What’s the real purpose? Why was the ship made from the start?”

“Initially, it was just curiosity about creating a weapon that could fight against the Kraken. But now it’s a little different.”

The Great Sage’s eyes sparkled as he spoke.

“The competition with the Hellhound’s northern expedition. The ultimate goal of this landing operation is to bring the flow of the Demon Lord War, even the overall command authority, entirely over to this side.”

 

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