The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Complete victory. After returning to his residence, the grey-robed man savored the word.

Historically, Castile had several victories and counterattacks, but ultimately failed to completely eliminate the Avars due to various compromises. Once the Avars recovered, they invaded Castile again.

After this repeated process, Avar had unknowingly acquired territory sufficient to rival the Alliance.

The young governor is right; if we're going to fight, we should fight until we're completely wiped out, so that it doesn't spring back. But Castile is well aware of this principle as well.

Every time there was an opportunity to drive Avar back into the sea, voices from within would begin to say that the country was weak and that it would be better to recuperate first. But after recuperating, they ended up back where they started.

At this moment, the gray-robed man suddenly understood why the governor had not taken any further steps and had allowed the mascot royal to sit there. It was because he was still young and had absolute control over the country, so there was no need for him to rush. Or rather, what the governor sought was definitely not as simple as a throne.

He needs a resounding victory, a decisive one that will wipe out all his enemies, to help him rightfully ascend to that supreme position, at which point the current king will have no right to crown him.

The grey-robed man suddenly felt immense pressure from above, because the governor was far too young. He couldn't imagine how much pressure Castile would feel once the governor achieved his goal and set his sights on Castile.

However, the gray-robed man quickly calmed down. Since he couldn't resist it, he might as well enjoy it.

With the ball approaching, this was Castile's first and most important opportunity to appear before the nobles of the Mu Continent. In the gray-robed man's mind, as long as he could win the help of these nobles, things would be better for His Highness and Castile no matter what.

But when the grey-robed man pushed open the door to Rosalind's residence, he found Rosalind slumped on the table, looking utterly exhausted.

"Your Highness?"

Today is a very important day. The little princess should rest well so that she can face those nobles in the best possible light.

But at this moment, Rosalyn was staring blankly at the exercises in front of her.

Upon seeing the gray-robed figure arrive, Rosalind got up from her chair. Only then did the gray-robed figure realize that Rosalind had changed into her formal dress, but Rosalind's energy was no longer sufficient to support the weight of the dress.

"Your Highness, what happened?"

The man in the grey robe approached Rosalind and looked at the things on her table.

A dazzling array of symbols and calculation formulas.

It looks like an applied mathematics exercise, but when did Your Highness become interested in this kind of thing? Shouldn't these be the things studied by the lowest of the apprentices?

"Grand Preceptor, I previously visited many noble ladies of this country and asked the governor's wife what she liked most."

Rosalyn recounted her experiences over the past few days with exhaustion.

"Then these things were stuffed into my mouth."

The gray-robed man's eyelids twitched.

"You mean, the governor's wife likes these things?"

Grey Robe had seen all sorts of strange hobbies among the nobles, but this was the first time he had ever seen someone who liked solving problems.

However, the more he looked at these exercises, the more sweaty he became.

As a scholar, Gray Robe keenly perceived from these exercises and materials that Capet's research on these physical and mechanical dynamics had formed a complete system, a system that did not rely on magic at all.

This made the gray-robed man realize that the cannons might have been made in this way.

Rosalyn nodded, somewhat exasperated, and said, "The standard afternoon tea for the ladies of this country is to sit together on a breezy afternoon, drinking desserts and discussing these topics."

"..."

The man in the grey robe was at a loss for words. Was something wrong with this world?

Leaving aside the fact that a group of noblewomen gathered to discuss abstract science and engineering problems, something so important was merely a hobby for the noblewomen of the capital in their spare time.

Just how much does this country revere knowledge? The grey-robed man even wanted to kneel down right now and pray to the god of arcane arts and wisdom.

The so-called city of knowledge built by those scholars in Castile is probably nothing more than this; this is the real city of knowledge.

In that instant, the gray-robed man even wondered if leaving His Highness here was the right choice.

"Your Highness, this is a very important opportunity. You must seize it. These exercises may contain the ultimate secret about the weapons that can be used even in lands without magic."

The man in the grey robe maintained a solemn expression, but Rosalyn burst into tears on the spot: "But Grand Tutor, these questions are too difficult! Am I even worse than a goose?"

It was only then that the grey-robed man noticed that the book the noblewomen had given Rosalyn had the title "An Introduction to Mechanical Principles That Even Geese Can Understand."

......

The ball finally began. Thanks to the makeup, Rosalyn showed no signs of fatigue or crying. This was mainly due to Grey Robe's long period of comfort. The book's content was indeed very easy to understand, but it was still a bit too difficult for a young girl like Rosalyn.

All the major nobles of the capital were present, which finally gave Grey Robe, who had been recruited by Linde, the opportunity to make friends with the nobles of the capital—this was Grey Robe's most important social event.

That's how it is in Castile; if you want to do anything, you have to maintain good relations with the nobles under the king.

However, the grey-robed man quickly realized something was amiss during his conversations with these nobles.

Not all the people present were nobles; some were simply commoners from the North, holding no titles other than their official positions, and their family trees all started from themselves.

During the conversation, the gray-robed man realized that the governor didn't seem to like nobles very much. Two-thirds of the nobles in a central city had been killed, yet the city was still able to function normally.

Thinking of the Castilian nobles who seemed busy but whose purpose was unclear, the grey-robed man suddenly felt that those nobles weren't so important after all.

Just as the grey-robed man was inquiring about the country's specific situation from these nobles and hoping they could help Castile, Rosalind had completely integrated into the circle of noblewomen.

Several ladies gently rubbed Rosalin's face, constantly admiring her dress and praising her dignified demeanor and magnificent gown.

Although Rosalyn's dress was not as well-made as those of the women present, it possessed an exotic splendor.

Even Lena was full of praise.

Although she was somewhat exhausted from dealing with it, Rosalind was still quite happy, because it was rare for a nobleman in Castile to be so enthusiastic towards her.

Moreover, this at least meant that Rosalind no longer had to discuss things she couldn't understand at all, like she usually did when attending afternoon tea with these ladies. These ladies finally acted like ladies again.

Just then, seeing that the atmosphere was right, Lena snapped her fingers and said, "I've been working on two big problems lately, and I thought we could solve them together today."

"?"

Looking at the ladies who were enthusiastically flattering Lena and looking eager to try it out, Rosalyn seemed to understand who was the source of those strange activities.