The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Linde paused for a moment before realizing that the person on the other end was referring to Her Majesty the Queen of the capital.

After carefully reading the letter, Linde roughly guessed that the King of Anjou was hurt by the cannon fire and couldn't think of a way to counter it, so he started writing a letter to mock him.

After deciphering the intelligence from the capital, Linde became even more certain of his suspicions.

The letter, or rather "love letter," from Alberto, the King of Anjou, to Queen Lilith has spread throughout the capital. This letter is less a proposal to Lilith and more a blatant mockery.

Not only did the king of Anjou intend to mock Lilith, but he also probably wanted to incite infighting in the Capetian capital. In this disgusting letter to Lilith, he even left a short, sarcastic remark about the dukes of the Southwest, clearly implying their incompetence.

Let everyone know that your queen has been humiliated by my King of Anjou, and that because of the incompetence of the two southwestern territories, the Kingdom of Capet does not dare to retaliate against the Kingdom of Anjou.

The two dukes in the southwest will probably not have an easy time then.

The two dukes had to give the people of the capital an explanation, especially now that Lilith's prestige was rising.

But what Linde didn't expect was that the other party not only mocked Lilith, but also sent a letter specifically to mock him.

Aside from the fact that he was Lilith's sworn brother, it was probably because the cannons and muskets flowing out of the North were really giving this king a headache.

After Linde had roughly read through the intelligence, Lucanus said, "My king, this letter was sent through the bards' channels."

Upon hearing this, Linde understood what was going on and asked, "Are they your colleagues?"

“That’s right. Some of my colleagues from the Records faction are working for the King of Anjou. There are some copies of this letter that could have ended up in the North, but I was worried about the impact on the war, so I stopped them all.”

Linde nodded, acknowledging Lucanus's opinion, and then said, "There's no need to stop them. You can't stop these things. Even if you manage to stop them this time, the next time they'll start from Doug's territory and spread it to us, the effect will be the same."

"If you're determined, you can't stop something like this."

Lucanus bowed and asked, "My king, should we retaliate?"

"of course."

The letter was completely devoid of etiquette and showed utter contempt for Lind. If Lind did not retaliate, it would not have much impact on the current war, but it was still extremely disgusting.

It seems that this marriage proposal is not only intended to stir up trouble in the capital, but also to get involved in matters in the northern border.

Judging from the intelligence and letters sent from the capital this time, the other party has already achieved its first objective, because this time they sent not only Lilith's letter, but also Judith's letter.

Lind had corresponded with Judith, the Duchess of the Southern Territory, but that was only about artillery deals. Although she was very enthusiastic towards him, Lind always maintained a businesslike attitude.

This time, however, Judith wrote to him for help.

This letter was not sent through normal channels; it was a genuine secret letter, and even Lucanus was not authorized to view it.

The most important part of the letter was Judith's implication that Lind's background was questionable, and that he might really be a descendant of the old empire, but to be honest, Lind didn't care too much about it.

After all, it's entirely possible that this was something the other party made up to curry favor with her and get her to help the Southern Territory through this crisis. Otherwise, why would Judith seem to have never mentioned such an important matter to the royal family, or even given them a heads-up?

Neither Crane nor Lilith seemed to know anything about this, completely dismissing Lind's supposed identity as a descendant of the old empire as a rumor.

There are tons of people with black hair and black eyes these days. I heard that Lilith also has black hair and black eyes. Could she also be a descendant of the old empire?

Moreover, even if this identity is real, it won't make any difference now, unless Judith really wants to join forces with him to launch a pincer attack from the north and south to restore the old empire.

However, judging from the content of the letter sent by Judith, it seems that she is more on the side of the Kingdom of Capet, or rather Lilith, and hopes that I can provide assistance.

"Burn it."

Linde handed the letter to Lucanus, who, despite wearing an eye patch, turned his head away, snapped his fingers, and burned the secret letter to ashes.

Compared to Judith's secret letter, which Lind saw as clearly scheming and manipulative, Lilith's letter was much more straightforward.

She started by talking about her life and the current situation in the capital like a younger sister, then chatted about some unimportant things, and finally said he was being bullied.

This writing style reminded Lin De of his younger sister from his previous life. Just thinking about how his sister was being harassed by the blond guy made Lin De's blood pressure jump.

But since this wasn't his real sister, Linde quickly calmed down.

However, at the end of the letter, Lilith stated that she hoped the gray-collar workers could provide newer muskets, and that she would buy as many muskets and bullets as she could. She added that it would be even better if there were grenades and other weapons.

This is a huge order. After hesitating for a moment, Linde decided, "Okay, I'll just treat this queen as my own sister."

Moreover, the King of Anjou seemed a bit too impulsive, and Lind's rebuttal was not intended to remain merely verbal.

"Call Jefferson over... or... let Jefferson wait for us in Iron City."

Linde put down the intelligence and letters, then pulled out a piece of paper, wrote something on it, and handed it to Lucanus.

"Give this letter to your colleagues in the Records Department."

Lucanus took the letter and retreated into the shadows.

Although the inspection was already nearing its end, Linde did not end it early, but instead spent two days having fun with Rena before returning to Black Iron City.

Jefferson had been waiting here for quite some time.

"Are you encountering any difficulties with business in the capital?"

Aside from Doug's smuggling business, Jefferson was also ostensibly in charge of the legitimate arms sales in the capital.

After all, if you're going to put on a show, you have to go all the way. If Jefferson didn't get involved in the arms business, how could he smuggle weapons for Doug?

Knowing that Linde disliked beating around the bush, Jefferson didn't hide anything and said directly, "I was just about to report to you that the nobles in the southwest region hope that we can provide them with newer muskets and cannons, as well as more shells, and weapons including fragmentation grenades and landmines."

"Hmm... forget about landmines, we can sell some hand grenades, as for the newer muskets and cannons."

Jefferson originally thought that was the end of it. Although the so-called newer muskets and cannons were models that had long been phased out by the gray-collar workers, he estimated that they would not be sold, just like before.

“Just sell them the older model machine guns. Besides that, we can sell them newer models of handguns, and have the factory set up a new production line for these handguns.”

"Wha, what?"

Jefferson thought he was hallucinating. He could understand selling older models of machine guns to the other party, but setting up a new production line was not an option.

Jefferson knew what a weapons production line for gray-collar workers meant. The bullets they had produced were more than enough to sell to the capital. Now they wanted to set up another production line for the southwest border of the capital.

“Some people in the capital said they would buy as much as we sell. Such a good opportunity will not come again. If we can’t afford it, we can ask them to use raw materials instead. We can also buy on credit, as long as we have a written agreement.”

"My subordinate understands."

Recalling some recent rumors about the Kingdom of Anjou, Jefferson quickly figured it out and knew what to do.