Gerhardt asked the person who show an agreement toward Kyle"s suggestion.
Duke Gerhardt"s adjutant’s face turns pale.
It was a natural reaction. After all, the one who agreed was the second most powerful person in the n.o.ble faction.
In other words, the right-hand man of Duke Gerhardt who had supported him for many years had approved Hodram leadership.
"Don"t be mistaken. Duke Gerhardt... We"re responsible for our va.s.sals after all so I can’t just sit down and wait for our deaths to come."
His tone of voice seems to indicate that he had made a difficult choice, but Duke Gerhardt was not going to be deceived.
For many years, the Earl had exploited Rozeria Kingdom.
Va.s.sals?
Gerhardt had known the Earl for sometime and in that span of time he never once heard of the Earl having such admirable thoughts.
But, if the Earl shows such a regretful face and voice, the surrounding will easily be deceived by it.
(This... This is hopeless...)
While hostility and anger dominating his heart, Gerhardt tries to calm his mind and a.s.sess the situation.
He thought that if Earl Aldeheid the second most influential person within the faction approve Hodram leadership, then it would be just a waste of time for him to argue more.
In a matter of fact, the n.o.bles within n.o.bles" faction seem to have approved Hodram leadership.
"Well then! With this, I will lead the soldiers!"
The meeting ended with Hodram uttered those words.
Leaving Duke Gerhardt to sit in silence in his chair.
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"I"m begging you Sudou! I can only depend on you! Please!"
Sudou is looking at Duke Gerhardt with cold eyes.
Disregarding his appearance, Duke Gerhardt clung on Sudou for help.
"Kyle or Hodram huh?", that is what inside Sudou"s mind
Sudou is not sure what had happened, but he can see that as the result of the meeting, it has become clear that Duke Gerhardt has lost his faction.
Understanding that Princess Lupis main army is closing in, Duke Gerhardt is cornered.
(This is the man that holds the position of prime minister of Rozeria Kingdom? The moment he lost in power struggle, all that remains is trash eh...)
Within his mind, Sudou was scorning Duke Gerhardt.
(Speaking of influential people, the moment a person falls from power, that person would end up alone huh? Well, I guess this is what we call politics.)
However, for Sudou, to achieve his mission he can"t just ignore Duke Gerhardt.
At least for now...
(In order to fulfill the mission from my home country, in half a year... Well, I will make use of this guy, I guess I need to take a few measures huh?...)
"Please rest a.s.sured Duke Gerhardt. I will try to help you..."
Sadou gently grasps Duke Gerhardt"s hand.
"Ooh! R-Really? Will you really help me?! But, right now my situation is..."
His usual high handed att.i.tude had disappeared completely.
Sudou thought that he might lick his shoes if he ordered him to.
"It"s alright... I have a solution."
"What! You have a solution for this situation?!"
Duke Gerhardt"s tone had returned to his usual in a blink of an eye revealing that the humble and servile att.i.tude he donned just moments ago was nothing more than an act.
However, Sudou did not care about Gerhardt"s att.i.tude.
"Well, but your Excellency will have to pay all the burdens alright?"
Hearing Sudou"s words Duke Gerhardt"s face darkened.
"Pay... Is it money? Or power? It can"t be, my head?"
(This b.a.s.t.a.r.d... Even while he"s in the middle of such crisis, he still cares about his personal greed?)
Sudou shook his head as he felt amazed towards the creature called n.o.bles .
"It"s fine without your neck. I can"t do anything unless you give up all your money and power."
"Foolish! Then there would be no meaning!"
"No no, that is not the case. I did say to give it up, but it doesn’t mean we are just going to give it up so easily.."
Duke Gerhardt"s expression change.
"What do you mean?"
"Right now, Duke Gerhardt has very little cards to play after General Hodram robbed you of your authority over the army.."
"I"m aware of that without you telling me!"
Hearing Sudou"s words, Gerhardt raises his voice, feeling that Sudou was mocking him and rubbing salt on his wounds for his failure.
"But, I can say that this can actually be considered as a stroke of good luck."
"What did you say? What does that mean?! Hodram stole my authority from me and you call that lucky?!"
"To be honest, the enemy"s commander is quite powerful. Plainly speaking, there"s no chance of winning here."
"What! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
Gerhardt shoots his gaze toward Sudou as if trying to kill him with it.
"Please listen first."
Sudou did not change his tone of voice.
But it was evident that the atmosphere has changed.
The air filled with a bloodthirst.
Sadou"s words immediately return Gerhardt"s mind back.
"S-Sorry..."
Words of apology come out from Gerhardt"s mouth.
"Let me continue explaining it. Although I"m half in doubt, it was quite a feat with how the enemy"s commander defeated Kyle by drowning him. His information manipulation is also good. "
"Information manipulation? You mean those rumors?"
"Yes. The rumors were cleary the enemy commander’s doing.."
"As expected... It"s true huh..."
Gerhardt seems to have also noticed it.
"Do you think General Hodram can defeat an enemy that is capable of drawing such detailed plan? It is obvious that the enemy should still have some trump cards in his hand?"
"Really?!"
"Indeed. If it was me, I would definitely have one hidden.."
Gerhardt felt like the face is hidden behind the hood was laughing.
"Then what are we going to do?! Should we tell Hodram about it?!"
Gerhardt’s response was one that anyone would naturally come to but considering Gerhardt’s current predicament, even by doing so, he wouldn’t be able to get everything back. This was something Gerhardt failed to realize.
Sudou denied his proposal by shaking his head.
"If we do that, it would be useless. Rather than doing that, I will make use of it."
"Make use of it? What do you mean?"
"Leave it as it is, and let General Hodram lose against Princess lupis."
"Such foolishness! If that were to happen then everything would be over!r!"
Although this side has Princess Ladine as justification, from Princess Lupis perspective, this is only a rebellion and since Gerhardt was the mastermind of such a rebellion, if Princess Lupis were to win the war he would without a doubt be held accountable and take responsibility for his actions thus far.
Sudou shook his head once more.
"That is fine. We can push all responsibility to Hodram."
"What did you say?!"
"After all your leadership has been taken over. Thus, let"s make the most out of this situation."
Gerhardt felt that a frightening smile appeared on Sudou"s face.
"But, is that even possible? But, the fact that I had gathered the army won"t change..."
"No... Indeed that is true. However, we still can alleviate the responsibility. Even Princess Lupis would need to execute someone as the mastermind of the civil war. Normally Duke Gerhardt would be the one..."
"I see! But right now Hodram is here..."
"Exactly. If there are two people that can be executed as the mastermind, one of them should be able to negotiate for their life.n."
"But... Is there something we have that will make Princess Lupis spare my life?"
"There"s no way that she would spare the mastermind," that is what Gerhardt had thought.
It is probably impossible for Gerhardt to capture Hodram and present it to Princess Lupis either.
Sudou keeps insisting despite Gerhardt"s suffering.
"You do have it no? In that dungeon."
"Dungeon? Dungeon, Dungeon!"
Toward Sudou"s words, Gerhardt remembered a certain human.
"But still... Is it really worth that much?"
As Sudou had said. Indeed it can be used as a negotiation tool but Gerhardt was doubting if it really was worthy enough to make the Princess spare his life.
"What are you saying... Don"t worry about it. Princess Lupis will definitely respond to the negotiation."
From behind the hood, Gerhardt can hear he"s laughing and he couldn’t help but nod his head while feeling anxious in the coming days. Right now he was in a desperate situation and as the big battle approaches, noone would be able to foresee the outcome of it.