It wasn't just Belinda who had such thoughts. Gillian also chimed in to support her words.
"Even if not immediately, eventually, you'll have to take control of the entire North."
"What's this, Gillian, why are you suddenly on this too?"
"All the soldiers in the Northern Army already want to come to Fenris. Even after the war ends and the Northern Army is disbanded, they'll be dissatisfied with their own territories."
"Hmm..."
"The soldiers have been with us and seen how the people of Fenris live."
"That's true. They're probably making a lot of comparisons."
"Exactly. They're even eating better after joining the Northern Army. If they return, it's obvious they'll all escape their territories and come to us."
Ghislain nodded.
He wasn't unaware of the atmosphere among the Northern Army soldiers. The number of soldiers openly wanting to come to Fenris was increasing.
Gillian pointed out another issue.
"If they just escaped and came to us, it wouldn't be a problem, but after the war, if the Northern Army disbands, there will undoubtedly be many issues. It's not just the soldiers but also the knights and commanders leading them."
When Fenris administrators drafted troops, they excluded all commanders related to the lords by blood. This was to ensure firm control of command.
So those who were relatively pushed out of the center of power became commanders and joined the Northern Army. Naturally, most of them also wanted to come to Fenris.
An army where the wishes of the commanders and soldiers align is rare. And that army is deeply dissatisfied with their territories.
If the Northern Army were to be disbanded like this, they would turn into bandits or rebels.
Gillian continued speaking as he watched Ghislain ponder.
"It's the inevitable flow of the times. Everyone wants to follow you, my lord. If we don't take them in, they'll fall into even greater despair."
Kaor chimed in from the side.
"Right, the South has already been taken over by the Duchy anyway. Who's to say the North can't be the same? Honestly, everyone wants it, so why not just do it? Just sending the army around will have them all kneeling."
Alpoi butted in as well.
"Then will I get a territory? I also want to be a lord. I'd like the title of a Count."
He was immediately dragged away by Vanessa with his mouth shut.
Ghislain clicked his tongue and shook his head.
What started as simply protecting his territory and house had grown far too large in scale.
He had no such ambition. But he couldn't entirely ignore the massive flow of the times either.
After all, it was something he had created.
"Let's discuss that matter later. We're busy enough with other things right now."
The others smiled slightly. Just the fact that Ghislain didn't outright refuse was enough for them.
'They've all made up their minds.'
Ghislain clicked his tongue again and spread out the map.
"Let's deal with the urgent matters first. There's a plague spreading right now, but the lords aren't cooperating."
A messenger from the capital relayed the current situation. The lords were hoarding ingredients to sell medicines at high prices, hiding the resources.
Most of them were doing this, so medicine production wasn't going well. With medicine running short across the kingdom, the plague was spreading even faster.
Ghislain pointed to a few places on the map as he spoke.
"Sometimes there are those whose greed is excessive. And these kinds of people always make things worse."
Gillian carefully asked.
"Shall we move the army right away?"
"The rifts are urgent too, but people are dying right now, so we don't have a choice. We'll have to confiscate the ingredients and make the medicine by force. I honestly don't like doing things forcefully. I love freedom, you see."
Ghislain looked around at everyone and shrugged.
"But if people are being harmed by such wicked greed, we have no choice but to act forcefully, right?"
People smiled. It was clear that he was going to do whatever he wanted anyway, so why did he keep pretending otherwise?
Honestly, as Belinda had said, it seemed better to just quickly become the Grand Duke of the North or whatever.
Marquis Branford had already prohibited the trade of materials in the royal family's name, but that didn't mean the lords would hand them over easily.
The plague was sweeping across the continent. Whether by selling ingredients to other countries or by producing and selling medicine, the lords could make a fortune.
At first, even Ghislain struggled to figure out what to do.
'There are still too many rifts.'
The rifts were continuously expanding their territories. Even the strong lords couldn't hold back the Riftborn and were gradually being pushed back.
Small territories couldn't endure and kept retreating.
In the end, the Northern Army had to resolve it. If other lords tried to deal with Equidema, they would suffer too many losses.
If that happened, there would be no forces left to fight against the Duchy.
But he couldn't just watch people die from the plague either. If they eliminated the rifts but people were gone, it wasn't a victory.
"Move the army. I'll have to meet the lords who refuse to listen."
With Ghislain's decision, the Northern Army changed direction.
The kingdom's army and royal officials were moving too, but it would be difficult to quickly seize the medicinal ingredients from the lords. Conducting forced searches and fighting against lords would be tough.
Knowing this, Marquis Branford gave all the authority to Ghislain and relayed that intention.
'In short, they needed someone else to wield the sword.'
Ghislain smirked. As someone who also wanted to resolve this situation quickly, he had no intention of refusing such a role.
"Send word to Claude to deliver all the reserves. We'll eradicate the plague quickly."
The North hadn't been affected by the plague. All frontline troops, including those in Perdium, had already taken the medicine, and the rifts hadn't even appeared nearby.
Belinda, suddenly curious, asked,
"Is it true that the plague came from the rifts?"
"Yeah. You saw the faint blue mist spreading in the eroded regions, right? That's what causes the plague. You can call it the breath of Equidema."
"Ah, so that's why the soldiers got sick."
Belinda nodded as if she finally understood.
Before deploying, the entire Northern Army had taken the medicine produced in Fenris. They followed Ghislain's orders, but now they finally understood why the plague was spreading.
Ghislain nodded and continued.
"Exactly. That's why I ordered quarantines to minimize the damage. Sooner or later, people who can't manipulate mana will fall ill, and it'll spread naturally."
"And the lords ignored that even after hearing it?"
"Because of greed."
Even the lords who didn't believe Ghislain hoarded ingredients all the same.
Under Marquis Branford's leadership, once medicine production began, the price of the ingredients was bound to rise. The quick-witted lords had begun stockpiling the materials from that moment.
Each territory was clearly instructed to produce medicine and prepare for the plague if they had the capacity. However, even after producing medicine, they refused to distribute it properly.
Ghislain's gaze turned cold.
"Too many madmen are only thinking about making money with this."
And now, that behavior was posing a serious threat to the kingdom.
Even though the kingdom's main army and nobles were taking the medicine that had been produced, the supply was still critically low.
"Who's the one who bought the most medicinal ingredients nearby?"
"Just a moment."
At Ghislain's question, Belinda flipped through the documents received from the royal court. When Claude and Lowell were absent, Belinda also acted as Ghislain's strategist.
She was surprisingly skilled at gathering and organizing information, so much so that people often whispered, wondering how a head maid could handle such tasks.
While Lowell oversaw intelligence, few knew that Belinda was the one primarily educating the spies. She was a mysterious woman in many ways.
"It's Count Grafton. He's recently been purchasing enormous quantities."
"But the plague has spread all over his surroundings, right?"
"Yes. The medicine hasn't been distributed much, and support has been minimal. Only the lord's family, his close aides, and the troops near the castle are fine."
"That guy's sharp. Let's head there first."
The Northern Army immediately changed direction and marched toward Count Grafton's territory.
While traveling, Ghislain reviewed information about Count Grafton.
Count Grafton's territory was fairly large and, fortunately, had escaped the influence of the rift. Thus, except for a small portion sent out to provide support, his army remained intact.
The Count himself was quite skilled in commerce and had amassed significant wealth.
"Indeed, compared to the amount he bought, the medicine he distributed is far too little. It's obvious he doesn't want to share with others. I even told them they'd be compensated."
As soon as the royal family issued an official order, Count Grafton began hoarding medicinal ingredients. Yet, the medicine was only distributed in major cities and around the lord's castle.
The remaining ingredients were clearly being saved for trade.
"I'll have to take it from those profiting off human lives, even if it's by force."
Tenant, standing beside him, offered some advice.
"If the lords retaliate, it could become a problem in the future. They'll surely hold a grudge for a long time."
Tenant knew the nature of nobles better than anyone. After all, he had worked alongside such lords himself.
"It doesn't matter. If we don't cut out the rot now because we fear future repercussions, the disease will only spread further."
Ghislain had seen such scenarios countless times in his previous life—where someone blinded by immediate greed ultimately led to the destruction of everyone, himself included.
He couldn't control the entire continent to match his will. But at least within the Kingdom of Lutania, he had no intention of letting that happen.
This was the place where everything he wanted to protect existed.
As Ghislain predicted, Count Grafton was grinning ear to ear at the prospect of a massive profit.
"Hahaha! Who would've thought the plague would really spread? I wasn't sure, but it turns out Count Fenris and Marquis Branford were right!"
One of his vassals, looking uneasy, spoke cautiously.
"The royal family has banned all trade of medicinal ingredients. Are we really okay with this?"
"So what? They banned the trade of ingredients, not the medicine itself, didn't they?"
"That, that's true, but..."
The vassal wiped the sweat from his forehead. Technically, they were prohibited from selling ingredients, not the medicine.
Count Grafton had ramped up medicine production as soon as the rift appeared. Seeing the rift with his own eyes made him believe there was a high chance the plague would spread.
And his prediction had been precisely correct.
The vassal stammered nervously again.
"E-even if the medicine itself isn't banned, if we sell it, we could be criticized or have it confiscated. Things are in chaos everywhere because of the plague."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Why are you so timid? We can just wait for the right moment and sell it to foreign countries. Didn't you hear? It's even worse in other nations. They weren't as prepared as we were."
"T-that's true."
"Exactly. So why limit ourselves to the kingdom? Think bigger. The world is a vast place. Imagine how much money they'll throw at us."
"Even so... shouldn't we prioritize the kingdom's safety?"
"Tsk, money is made at times like these. Money has no blood or tears. Thanks to my quick thinking, we're in a position to profit."
The vassals couldn't say a word.
Indeed, Count Grafton was clever. He had quickly grasped the situation and prepared more medicinal ingredients than anyone else. That was thanks to his keen foresight.
The problem, however, was his heartless nature that allowed people to die because they couldn't obtain ingredients he had hoarded.
One of the vassals cautiously asked again.
"Then, at the very least, shouldn't we properly distribute the medicine in our own territory to cure the plague quickly?"
"Of course we should. My army and the areas around the castle have already been taken care of. Now distribute it selectively to the cities where taxes are collected well."
"Pardon? Selectively?"
"Yes. Just leave the cities and villages where taxes aren't collected well."
"But they're our people too. Ultimately, it's the citizens who'll keep paying taxes. Don't we need them alive?"
"Tsk, think about it. It's more profitable to sell that amount of medicine to foreign nations than to save those poor fools."
"What?"
"We're talking about money equivalent to decades' worth of taxes for this territory. Why waste that money? Those peasants will naturally repopulate over time, and if not, we can always buy more people."
The vassals swallowed nervously, unable to say anything further.
The lord had already done all his calculations. Greed had led him to abandon even his duties as a lord. He was truly a man without blood or tears.
'If only he used that sharp mind for the good of the territory...'
The vassals sighed. Since the lord had made his decision, they had no choice but to follow. After all, strengthening the territory's wealth was still a priority for them.
However, they soon received news that made them tense up.
"Th-the Northern Army's commander has arrived!"
Ghislain had come to the territory without any prior warning.
[T/L: Please support me and read 385 extra chapters: https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]