Emperor of Steel - Chapter 82

Chapter 82

After sharing congratulatory gesture over a glass of wine, Luke had rewarded the major role players in the battle over the territory .

The greatest reward was given to Rogers, the Knight General .

He had been very diligent in preparing for the battle on the command of Luke and also fought the battle by staying in the front lines .

And before anyone did, he was the first one to offer the proposal of attacking Lamer .

“Knight Rogers . We are placing you as the Baron to the newly acquired territory to the east of the Rakan territory . Do your best in the future . ”

“Yes, I’ll be loyal!”

Knights apart from Rogers, who had played an active role in the administration and in the battle, were also given corresponding merits .

Luke even awarded a few nobles and the knights of the Count .

They were the ones who were opposed to the Count and hence were imprisoned, which meant they hadn’t even entered the filed .

However, the award was given in recognition of their active cooperation in their attempt to control the war .

The award was enough to shake the hearts of the nobles who supported the Count .

‘I need to give it . Rakan’s young Lord is surely great!’

‘Maybe we can keep our lands . ’

If rumors of these spread around, the nobles who were neutral and haven’t decided a side yet would surely change their minds .

Luke took that into consideration and awarded them .

If he wasn’t going to drive out the nobles of the Count Monarch, he had to embrace them and be sure to motivate them .

The award, which wasn’t sided, had to be given .

Hopefully, the wrongdoings of the past could be tomorrow’s strength . However, the loyalists of today could be tomorrow’s enemies too .

Knowing that from his past mistakes, Luke decided to never make that mistake again .

“Okay, let’s enjoy the banquet to the fullest since we are done with the formalities . ”

Luke raised his glass, and the band began to play .

Those who wanted to participate in the banquet went into the center of the hall and danced to their heart’s content .

“Can I ask you for a song?”

“Gladly . ”

Luke took Reina’s hand at her request and led her to the center of the hall .

Princess Reina was quite acquainted with the social dancing as it was in her culture for being born in a royal family .

However, Luke had never learned to dance in the past, and the real young Lord was too clumsy to dance, so he dedicated himself to studying and fencing .

Which led him to unintentionally step on Princess Reina’s foot or her dress .

“Oops! I am so sorry . ”

“It is okay . It isn’t that hard, you will get it soon . ”

Reina took her time and taught it to him step by step .

Seeing those two get along well, the old retainers of Rakan and Kirillov were smiling happily .

“They are a very good pair . ”

“That is true . Would you like to have a wedding at this point?”

“No, it is better to not hurry into those things . ”

Luke and Reina had been going at it strongly since the first time they met .

Since then, they had developed a very close relationship which had been strengthened further at the refugee migration .

And more than anything else, the progress of their relationship took a huge leap with the recent kidnapping that had happened .

When the dark elves, who were asked by the Volga Republic, kidnapped princess Reina, Luke tracked them alone and rescued the princess .

That made Reina even more grateful to Luke, making her embrace her feelings to him .

Luke too had felt deeply inclined to Reina as he saw her and understood her from his days as Saymon . He sympathized with her and her feelings .

He now considered her to be her incarnation, not just a woman like Katarina .

As a result, his tone too had turned into a friendly one .

“What is Sebastian doing now?”

Reina asked as she was in Luke’s arms .

In the kidnapping that had happened, she came to know that Luke could summon demons .

And she was much more curious about the demons like they weren’t scary but rather cute, faithful and obedient .

“He is faithfully acting like a cat . ”

Reina turned to the place where Luke was looking at .

She saw a cute baby cat sitting .

The ladies were there enjoying the cute cat, but they didn’t know of the fact that their brooches and pieces of jewelry would soon disappear .

No one would be expecting a cat demon . They would be watching out for real thieves instead .

Sebastian was a low-rank demon, but he was able to hide his Magi energy very well .

“I thought that all demons were scary, but I guess not . ”

“That is true . He gave me his soul . But he is a dangerous guy . ”

In fact, Sebastian was the biggest player in the battle .

Not only did he adequately poison the Monarch’s army making it impossible for them to fight, but he had also removed the backbone (core) of their Gigants, which contributed a lot to the surprise attack of the Rakan .

However, he was excluded from the rewarding ceremony as his presence couldn’t be announced in front of the people .

Neither did Sebastian have any complaints about that .

No, he couldn’t even bear to be a part of it .

Because Luke had a hold of him till the day he died .

“Well, while I am in control of his soul, he won’t do anything bad to me and to those around me, so there is no need to worry . ”

Luke then changed the topic of their conversation .

“Well, how is your preparation for the city of Lamer?”

“Ah, as you have stated, we have expanded our business and influence in Lamer . ”

Luke had normally planned to leave the city of Lamer to the merchants .

It was because the administrating force of Rakan was insufficient to directly take control of a city with a population of 200,000 .

However, he couldn’t just place the city into the wrong hands .

So he decided to create a Merchant Union by trying to center a few trades around the Kirillov .

The rulers of the Merchant Union saw that the rule of the city was not much different from their own rule .

It was indirect governance, not direct governance .

The Merchant Union, of course, wasn’t doing its business at the city for free .

The city had to be developed with a certain amount of investment every month, and the land rent was supposed to be paid to the Rakan Viscount .

And as a trader, they could develop a base where they want to operate, and Rakan was sure to get good profits from it .

The wealth obtained from these would go into developing the estates of other numerous cities and towns .

In order for Kirillov co . to become the largest shareholder and lead the Merchant Union, their power and capital had to be strong .

To get such an end, Luke financed some of the funds seized from Monarch while entrusting her with a number of businesses, including the Gigants, the Arena and the Southern Trade Fair .

These were what the baron, Goth, had been managing on behalf of the Count .

Goth had been secretly stealing funds from them and accumulated a lot of money for himself .

They got all of that information after Victor tortured him in the chambers with a club .

Luke had left all the slush funds with Reina . Dixon, the finance officer, also wasn’t able to manage them .

However, it was different for Reina because of her old men .

As they were the ones who had managed the household in the past, they didn’t seem to have any trouble with the increase in business .

Making good use of the money funded by Luke, they changed the employees of each business and hired new talents . They also opened branches of shops in various cities .

Thanks to that, Kirillov co . was growing into a huge thing in a short time .

“The Volga people who wandered around the territory were beginning to come back after hearing the good rumors . More people may come in the future . ”

“Do not worry and just take them in . Instead, you need to pay attention to them . At the time of Count Monarch, they were refugees who were being treated as outcasts, but now, they will have a different position in society . ”

“As a result of what happened to them in the past, do you think there could be riots? We don’t have to worry about that . Whether Volga refugees or a resident of Lamer, everyone will be treated equally in the Rakan estate . ”

‘Huhu, she is definitely a smart woman . ’

At first, he thought that she was just a good naïve girl who looked like Katarina .

Reina, however, descended from a royal family and had considerable knowledge about administration and political knowledge .

Previously, they had no power and money to perform their duties properly .

Her talents were intriguing, and Luke trusted that she would build trust between them and help in overthrowing the Baroque Imperial family and clear out the Veritas Magic Tower .

Luke didn’t like Reina just because he was able to share his past with her . He liked her because she would always help him in every task he took .

“I’m definitely lucky to have met someone like you . ”

“Huhuhu, I should be the one saying that . ”

While they were having a good time with lively conversations, the song they requested had ended .

Hans approached them with a serious look .

“What is it?”

“Ambassadors from the high nobles have come . I was told that they had to tell you something . ”

“Is it urgent?”

“It looks like it . ”

Luke briefly arranged his thought and then decided to be the nobles’ envoy .

“Where are the ambassadors?”

“They are waiting in the lobby room . ”

Luke decided to move away from Reina and headed toward the lobby .

As he left the hall as naturally as possible, no one in the banquet hall even knew that the protagonist was missing .

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