Translator: Leyy3

  As the 1st battle for the Esmerelda territory finished, Lee Gong-Myung and Alex Rothschild met privately.

  “Milord, congratulations on the victory!”

  Lee Gong-Myung bowed towards Alex Rothschild.

  “This is all thanks to you.”

  Rothschild smiled widely, hugging Lee Gong-Myung.

  “If not for you, I would have been unable to defeat Albrecht’s army. The one to be congratulated is not me, but you instead. After all, the contributions to the victory belong solely to you. If you weren’t here, it would have been impossible for me to grasp victory.”

  Rothschild felt grateful for Lee Gong-Myung, and he expressed his thoughts truthfully.

  He wasn’t lying.

  Due to the price of his greed, Rothschild was afraid of being taken over by the other Overlords. Even becoming an Overlord was too much of a challenge at the moment.

  And that wasn’t all.

  During the Lord Meetings, Kang Chul-In had exposed his secret, making him seem like an untrustworthy ally. And thanks to this, he hadn’t been able to make any alliances yet.

  With this kind of situation, Lee Gong-Myung had pushed on with the invasion of the Esmerelda territory and had shown the miracle of winning. Lee Gong-Myung was Alex Rothschild’s light, and his only hope.

  “If not for the fact that you were my friend, I don’t know what would have……”

  “Milord.”

  Lee Gong-Myung smiled faintly.

  “How could you say that? Even if I were not here, I’m sure that milord would have made it anyway.”

  “Haha!”

  “And not only that, but milord has contributed greatly to this battle. I’ve only done some scheming behind the back, so the glory should belong solely to milord.”

  Rather than becoming arrogant about his victory, Lee Gong-Myung pushed all the glory onto his Lord. He was an incredibly loyal, and useful servant.

  “Lee Gong-Myung.”

  Rothschild looked at Lee Gong-Myung with caring eyes.

  “The fact that I know you……”

  Rothschild started speaking like he was on Earth, not like he was a Lord in Pangaea.

  “I think that’s the luckiest part of me.”

  “Me also, milord.”

  “Stop. When we’re alone……”

  “Milord is a Lord, while I’m just a mere servant.”

  But Lee Gong-Myung drew the line.

  “Milord, please become the true emperor.”

  “Emperor……”

  “Shouldn’t you allow small things like this in order to prepare for when you truly become the emperor?”

  “Is that so……”

  “Yes, milord.”

  For unknown reasons, Lee Gong-Myung started to treat Rothschild as his master, and not as a former friend.

  “Anyways…… Milord, this isn’t all we have to do.”

  Lee Gong-Myung changed the topic.

  “Since we have achieved victory here, we have to look behind us now.”

  “Behind us? Do you mean to focus on our internal affairs?”

  “No, milord.”

  Lee Gong-Myung shook his head.

  “Behind us…… we’re being threatened, milord.”

  “Threatened……”

  “Overlord Kang Chul-In. We don’t know when he’ll strike against us.”

  “Kang…… Chul-In!”

  As the name of the opponent that he wouldn’t even be satisfied with ripping to shreds came out, killing intent filled Rothschild’s face.

  “Overlord Kang Chul-In despises milord; no, he has to despise milord. After all, the interactions between milord and Overlord Kang Chul-In makes it seem so.”

  “That’s true.”

  “One day, he’ll come. If the one that has an overwhelming lead in 1st place comes to invade us……”

  At that, Rothschild’s face started to stiffen.

  \r \r \r

  “.……The truth is that we struggled against an army the likes of Albrecht Vilhelm's, so it would be nigh impossible for us to fight against Kang Chul-In’s attacks. We would have no future.”

  “Exactly, milord. We have to prepare for when Overlord Kang Chul-In strikes. And not only that, but there are a lot of weird things behind Skadi Andevari’s disappearance. It's as if she had already known about our assassins…… It is definitely possible that she’s fled to another territory with the ownership of this territory, knowing that she would be unable to defend the territory with just her own power.”

  As expected, Lee Gong-Myung was able to read Skadi’s thoughts like a book.

  “If Skadi were alive, then the place that she would have chosen to go is……”

  “Overlord Kang Chul-In!”

  “Yes, that’s probably the reality. He’s the Lord who’s furthest away from this conflict, and is also the most powerful Overlord.”

  “Is that so. Skadi…… it seems like she’s gone to that bastard Kang Chul-In. That would be the worst-case possible.”

  “So, milord. We have to ally with other Lords. We need Lords that have the strength to fight against the Overlord that is Kang Chul-In; we need a person that’s of at least Overlord strength to ally with us. If not…… I’m afraid that they’ll be useless in the fight against Kang Chul-In.”

  “But……”

  “Yes, it’s going to be difficult.”

  Lee Gong-Myung cutoff Alex Rothschild’s words.

  “It’s true that milord isn’t trusted by the other Lords, so it’s hard to find an alliance partner. And not many people would dare to ally with milord, since they are afraid of Overlord Kang Chul-In.”

  As Lee Gong-Myung had said, Kang Chul-In didn’t like Alex Rothschild, so who would dare to ally with him?

  “Then who……”

  “Baruk Al Yusuf. We have him.”

  “.……!”

  Lee Gong-Myung’s eyes gleamed.

  “Ranked 2nd among the Overlords, he’s the only one that would dare to stand up against the feared Overlord Kang Chul-In. Milord, I, Lee Gong-Myung, will put my life on the line, and guarantee this alliance with Baruk Al Yusuf.”

  “.……!”

  Rothschild was astonished.

  Lee Gong-Myung had a calm and cautious personality, so he didn’t normally promise things.

  But he knew that when Lee Gong-Myung promised something, he would definitely get things done.

  And not only that, but he had used a fierce expression like 'I'd put my life on the line to get this alliance.' This meant that he was 100% sure that he could get this done.

  “Is that possible? The last time I met Baruk Al Yusuf, he was just a crazy psychopath…… Even though we did talk last time during the Lord meetings, I doubt he would want to ally with me, who’s a westerner……”

  “I can do it.”

  As Lee Gong-Myung answered once more with conviction, Alex Rothschild had nothing to say. He didn't have a choice but to believe in Lee Gong-Myung. ——

  After achieving victory, Kang Chul-In triumphantly returned to Fox Valley.

  “Husband!”

  The Ninetails quickly ran to greet Kang Chul-In, her tails swaying behind her.

  “As expected of Kang Chul-In. Victory after victory!”

  Dorian, who had been watching from the sidelines, came and also greeted Kang Chul-In with a smile.

  “Get out the way.”

  Kang Chul-In ignored Dorian.

  “M-Meanie……”

  “All you know how to do is hide. What else can you do other than cheer?”

  “W-What? Cheer?”

  “Whatever. Useless bastard.”

  “Hmph! And who was the one that told me to hide and watch from the sidelines?”

  Though Dorian argued,

  This is it for the plans of using Aleister.

  Kang Chul-In ignored Dorian, thinking of his future plans.

  “Dear husband, we’ve won the battle, so please get some rest and have some alcohol with me.”

  “Fine, not bad.”

  “.……Sorry?”

  Not thinking that Kang Chul-In was going to accept her request so readily, the Ninetail’s eyes widened. She had naturally thought she would be rejected.

  “I’ll go after washing up.”

  “R-Really?”

  “I also have something to talk to you about. Wait there.”

  “A-Alright!”

  Though the Ninetails was unaware of what Kang Chul-In would talk to her about, she was excited when Kang Chul-In said he would go after washing up.

  “You there.”

  Kang Chul-In pointed at Amur.

  “Yes, lord advisor.”

  Amur answered politely. He had experienced the rumors personally, so he had to act polite in front of Kang Chul-In. And not only that, but wasn’t Kang Chul-In an Ancient Gold Dragon? It wasn’t shameful to be polite to him.

  “Make sure you take care of all the rewards and everything else after the war. From now, I’ll take my hands off of controlling this place.”

  “Yes, lord advisor.”

  After saying that, Kang Chul-In walked away. ——

  Fox Valley’s famed wine, the ‘Charm of the Fox’, filled Kang Chul-In’s cup.

  “What is this made of?”

  Sitting in front of the Ninetails, Kang Chul-In looked into the cup and spoke.

  This wine that had almost a thousand years of history was pearly pink, making one entranced in its beauty. He was wondering what ingredients were put inside for this wine to appear like this.

  “Hmm…… this is wine made of a peach that comes out once every 10 years. It takes at least 50 years to brew. It’s difficult to find any wine like this, even if you look all over of Pangaea.”

  “Hooo……”

  Nodding, Kang Chul-In took a sip.

  “.……!”

  The wine was incredibly delicious.

  Although this was the case, Kang Chul-In also felt his head ringing, due to the intensity of the alcohol.

  “Wow, a normal person would be out after just one cup of this.”

  Kang Chul-In said, emptying his cup.

  “Listen while you drink.”

  Finally, Kang Chul-In talked about what he had called her for.

  “Hmm, I wonder what dear husband brought me here for~.”

  The Ninetail’s tails were swaying, after just drinking a single cup of the wine.

  “Political marriage.”

  Finally, the word ‘marriage’ came out of Kang Chul-In's mouth.

  If any of the officials were listening to this conversation, they might go crazy with joy, saying 'our lord is finally marrying! Hurrah for him!'

  “Ho? What about it?”

  Sipping the wine, the Ninetails asked.

  “What you want is a marriage with me, and what I want is the wealth that you have. To achieve both of our aims, there’s nothing better than a political marriage.”

  “So, you’re just thinking about the practical benefits.”

  “I won’t say no to that.”

  Kang Chul-In didn’t back off.

  What else would a Lord want, other than practical benefits?

  “So, will you do it or not? Answer me, Ninetails.”

  So, the Ninetails answered.

  “Though I don’t like the fact that it’s a political marriage…… Hmm……”

  The Ninetails spoke, pouting.

  “I cannot marry anyone except for you. I’m not in the position to argue. And, if it’s someone like you…… I want to say yes.”

  “So it's a yes?”

  “Of course.”

  The Ninetails nodded.

  “Very well. But I will say this in advance. Since this is a political marriage, don’t expect any emotional attachments from me. I don’t have the time to worry about things like that. If you’re dissatisfied, you can break off the marriage whenever you want. But, that has to be after we’ve traded what we wanted.”

  “Pft…… how long do you think you'll will be able to speak like that to me? It’s an unspoken law that some emotions will be borne after experiencing skin-to-skin. I also believe that a sweet spot will develop in your heart for this me.”

  Though she said that, the Ninetails had a plan.

  Huhu, husband. No matter how strong your tolerance for alcohol is, you cannot beat me! Tonight, husband will end up in my arms.

  In reality, the Ninetails had a plan of ‘eating' Kang Chul-In up.

  “Well, we’ll see about that shortly. I will send a message to talk about the……”

  Pzzt, Pzzt!

  Suddenly, powerful sparks started to fly up.

  A terrifying light filled the Palace of Promise.

  “H-Husband!”

  The surprised Ninetails shouted, and pointed at Kang Chul-In’s right pinky finger. On that finger was the Epic Item, the ‘Needle of the Empress’.

  [Penalty Option 1, 2, 3, and 4 has activated!]

  A strange message popped up.