The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Alberto had a very good impression of Lind, and after several exchanges of letters, he even felt that the other was the same kind of person as himself.

So, even knowing that the other party's plans for the future conflicted with his own, Alberto was still willing to communicate with Linde. The two had even divided up Capet in their letters.

If things don't go smoothly, as Linde said, they will still take over the central region of the capital and the eastern border. The variable here is actually Alberto.

However, in his latest reply, Lind mocked Alberto, ridiculing him for being a ruler who only attacked others' height and lacked any magnanimity.

However, after skipping this part, Lind returned to normal and continued negotiating with Alberto, engaging in a tug-of-war.

This left Alberto with no choice but to swallow his anger, having been inexplicably criticized but unable to find any reason to refute it.

Alberto realized he might have gone a bit too far, but an apology was out of the question. He touched his nose and decided to ignore it.

Along with the reply came a lot of intelligence from the Capetian capital. After the Capetian Queen met with the Governor of the North, everything seemed to have changed. The Capetian Queen had regained most of the power. Previously, the Capetian Queen had been walking with a limp, but now she was beginning to truly act like a queen.

In particular, the North's support for the capital of Capet is completely contrary to the plan that Lind had previously discussed with Alberto in his letters. It seems that the governor of the North no longer wants to balance the situation in the capital and has instead turned to support Queen Capet.

Alberto's first reaction was that Queen Capet had once again used her strange charm to bewitch the Governor of the North. But after thinking about it, Alberto shook his head. Putting aside the fact that the Governor of the North was already married and the couple was getting along well, Alberto felt that the attitude in that reply letter was more like an old father protecting his own.

Although Alberto was curious about the relationship between the two, he only asked Cassius to investigate it while he was investigating the North and the capital. He didn't take it to heart. After all, even if the other party's attitude towards the capital had not changed, they would still provide assistance to the southwestern border and would definitely not let Anjou take over Capet's southwestern border so easily.

Alberto and Linde chatted happily as pen pals, but their rivalry never stopped. Alberto knew that the other party's goal was the entire territory of Cape, and even more, so Alberto had long been prepared.

But Alberto underestimated those weapons and equipment. Rather than muskets, muskets were merely a manifestation of those weapons and equipment; in essence, they were magical launchers in the shape of muskets.

With the support of ray guns, melting and cutting weapons, and magic cannons, Anjou's advance was stalled again. It was clear that the Southwest Border Army was not very proficient in using these weapons and equipment. Alberto had even thought of more ways to use them, but the Southwest Border Army of Capet was as cowardly as a dog. Even with new weapons and equipment, they were unwilling to take the initiative to fight and instead just huddled in defense.

After Judith left, the morale of the southwestern border army had been completely worn down by Anjou, and they dared not engage in open battle.

But even with such a group of soldiers who had absolutely no morale, they were able to firmly hold onto those castles and fortresses with the weapons in their hands.

Finally, Alberto, driven by envy, gave the order to capture a southwestern border army equipped with new weapons at great cost.

Thinking of this, Alberto mustered his courage and glanced at the report on the table. The casualty figures were truly appalling, and many nobles had already written to oppose Alberto's reckless attack.

Alberto quickly covered the report again. The casualty figures were indeed extremely exaggerated, far exceeding Alberto's original estimates. So much so that Alberto had to mentally prepare himself before opening the report to take a look.

In any case, Anjou finally obtained a batch of new equipment for the Cape North.

Alberto looked at the confiscated ray gun on the table, closed his eyes to rest for a while.

After Cassius informed him, Alberto left the room with his ray gun and went to the main hall of the Anjou Palace.

Although Alberto had some disdain for the current Capet capital, he thought the Capet capital's system of summoning nobles for meetings every few days was quite good. It was just that the nobles of Anjou were too busy to gather them together like the Capet did.

Unlike Capet's main hall, Anjou's throne was placed very high. Although Capet had specially arranged a round table meeting to indicate that all nobles were at least equal at the meeting, Anjou did not follow this practice. The king's power was absolute, even if this power would bring bloodshed.

However, Alberto's attitude has softened considerably recently. After the scholars from the Anjou Magical Association bowed, Cassius thoughtfully offered the gray-haired old scholar a chair.

After the old scholar sat down, he looked up at Alberto and said, "Your Majesty, the Magic Tower has finished analyzing the new weapon in the Northern Cape."

Can it be copied?

Although he tried to appear calm, Alberto's tone was still full of anticipation.

But the old scholar said to himself, "It's incredible. The person who drew these magic arrays is a genius. No, they may not have been drawn. The arrangement is so ingenious that they are very likely calculated magic arrays."

"If magic circles can be calculated, does that mean magic circles and runes can be digitized? If magic circles and runes can be digitized..."

Then came a string of obscure and difficult-to-understand terms. Alberto only grasped the gist of it, and finally, with a helpless wave, he asked again, "So, can it be copied?"

The old scholar then realized what was happening and said, "Your Majesty, to be honest, it's not difficult to replicate these ray guns based on the magic arrays on them. Just like the muskets before, you can gather rune masters and alchemists to replicate them. Although there will be differences between the finished products of each person, you can still make a ray gun or melting sword with the same function based on the finished product."

"But the real difficulty lies in the principles behind these magic arrays. These magic arrays have their own set of logic, and it will take us some time to figure out these logical rules."

Alberto knew that reverse engineering was not an easy task, but as long as he could replicate the Anjou version, just like with the musket, it would be fine.

But the old scholar continued, "There's also the matter of charging these weapons..."

Sensing the hesitation in the old scholar's voice, Alberto comforted him, "Please feel free to ask any questions."

The old scholar nodded and said, "Your Majesty, the opponent's charging method is definitely not as simple as using magic stones, otherwise the efficiency would be far too high. If they were to use magic stones for charging entirely, the consumption would be unimaginable. Although these weapons have charging interfaces, trying to deduce the system they use from just one interface..."

Alberto understood that this request was far too much to ask.

Alberto also learned from Linde's letter that the charging relied on the so-called obelisk, but the obelisk was not cheap. Even though Alberto's current power in Anjou was considered to be absolute, he could not pay the full amount at once.

"I understand. I will find a way to handle this. We don't need to be bound by the other side's system. We can crack the charging system they use and charge these weapons and equipment using our own methods. We don't need to worry about funding."

Although Alberto said that funding was not a problem, the old scholar did not show much excitement on his face. Instead, he calmly said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Alberto then took out the letter from Lind that he always carried with him. Although it was a bit perverse to carry a letter written to him by a man, Alberto still carefully read the conditions Lind had given him.

What worries Alberto the most is that the obelisk in Capet's capital is already under preparation. Although he knows that even if it is eventually built, the obelisk will probably be controlled by the North, and Capet's capital will only have the right to use it, it is still a big step ahead of Anjou.

In this world, not progressing is a form of regression. Alberto had no way out; as the ruler, he had to start thinking of a solution.