Chapter 63

"Damn it, what's going on!!"

Rigal Dever was furious.

At first, it was the resignation letters of three vassals and their applications to move to the As territory. According to the laws of the Rosais Kingdom, one could move to another territory by submitting an application and paying the relocation tax.

Then, both lords had to give their consent.

Rigal had no choice but to approve it.

There was no reason to obstruct it.

There was no justifiable reason to prevent the relocation of people who had not committed any crimes.

Moreover, if he complained about the mere relocation of three people, he would be labeled as a petty lord.

It would be disastrous if such a trivial matter brought him a bad reputation.

However, Rigal found it galling to just let it go.

So he formally protested to Almus As.

He wanted them to stop poaching his vassals.

But Almus As responded as follows:

"Poaching vassals? No, we haven't done that... Perhaps some of the new talents we've hired might be from the Dever territory."

Almus As apologized to Rigal in a humble manner.

Rigal was satisfied with this and put down his guard.

But the tragedy did not end there.

This time, ten more talents moved to the As territory.

Then, rumors began to spread that Raymond Rosais was trying to bring Almus As into his camp to become king.

It was said that in exchange for Almus As supporting Raymond Rosais' succession to the throne, they had made a secret agreement to degrade Rigal Dever and destroy the Dever family, with Almus As receiving the Dever territory.

And the non-relatives of the Dever family, including Vermot, were allegedly colluding with Almus As and Raymond Rosais to set up Dever.

In this situation, Rigal had no choice but to suspect his non-relatives.

All those who had been poached so far were non-relatives.

Rigal ordered his vassals (naturally, his relatives) to monitor the non-relatives who held relatively high positions and his relatives.

However, he only ordered them to monitor.

He had not confirmed whether the rumors were true. Moreover, Rigal still could not believe that Vermot would betray him.

---

"Things went well, didn't they, Ial?"

Ial's subordinate, who is now Ial's apprentice as a merchant, said happily.

"It was quite a struggle to spread the rumors. It also cost a lot in terms of expenses."

Ial had introduced thirty-two people to Almus' camp. Thirteen of them, especially three, were quite capable, so he directly poached them.

The remaining nineteen stayed in the Dever territory.

They were not particularly excellent, but they were useful.

In fact, they provided Ial with a lot of information and spread rumors.

In exchange for a large sum of money, of course.

They were content with their current status but were not satisfied.

Such people were not needed.

They were not worth treating well, but if they were not, they would betray him.

Moreover, once someone betrayed, they would develop a habit of betrayal.

He intended to dispose of them during the chaos after the civil war.

Of course, he had no intention of telling Almus.

Almus was a person who would be troubled by killing innocent people and would show disgust at breaking promises.

Ial had been given full authority by Almus.

Not reporting was also a right, he interpreted it forcefully.

It was better not to know what one did not need to know.

"By the way, wouldn't it have been better to spread the rumor that Almus himself would become king? Is that not possible?"

"Well, it wouldn't be bad that way either. But Almus is not generally considered a candidate for the throne. On the other hand, Raymond Rosais is the second in line. This way, it's more credible. Besides, their territories are adjacent. If attacked, it would be a problem. If the rumor is that Raymond will become king, then attacking Almus would only give an excuse."

Raymond's territory did not border the Dever territory, so Rigal could not destroy Raymond.

On the other hand, Almus' territory did border it, so he could destroy it if he wanted to.

If the rumor was that Almus would become king, there was a possibility of something happening.

If a war broke out at this stage, it would definitely turn into a quagmire. That had to be avoided at all costs.

Almus was also pretending to be humble to Rigal to show that he had no intention of being hostile.

Rigal should think that Almus was teaming up with Raymond because he lacked confidence.

The previous apology for the conflict was now taking effect.

If Rigal thought Almus was a negligible existence, that would be great.

In any case, he would become more vigilant against internal enemies rather than Almus.

"Anyway, the last stronghold is Vermot... We can't succeed without getting rid of this man."

The information that Vermot was a capable person was something Ial had heard repeatedly during his information gathering.

If the rumors were true, the old man must have realized by now that King Rosais had no intention of making Rigal Dever his successor.

Currently, the rumor that Raymond Rosais would become king was just a rumor, and it was not clear whether it was King Rosais' intention.

Just a few years ago, Rigal Dever was the top candidate for the throne.

If Rigal Dever became king, the Dever territory would become a new royal domain, increasing the king's power.

The size of the royal domain would exceed the total of the territories of the nobles, leading to centralization of power.

Rigal Dever being the top candidate for the throne was a major reason for this. His ability was irrelevant.

Raymond's territory was small, so even if he became king, the balance of power between the king and the nobles would not change.

For the centralization of power, which was the long-held wish of the Rosais royal family, Rigal needed to become king.

Therefore, the Dever family and the pro-Dever families did not doubt that Rigal would become king.

People do not believe what they do not want to believe and do not think that the situation can change so easily.

But if Vermot had realized King Rosais' intentions...

He would advise forming an alliance with King Dorgal and seizing the throne by force.

Since the 'royal path' of marrying Princess Yuria and receiving the entire Rosais kingdom had been cut off, the only option left was the 'evil path' of becoming a vassal of King Dorgal to obtain the throne.

Rigal Dever, who appeared brave, was actually a coward.

This was evident from his battle with King Verm.

He could not make a decision to betray his country on his own.

Moreover, he was proud.

He would not be able to endure becoming a vassal of King Dorgal's country.

However, he could not change his strategy or choose the evil path without someone pushing him.

Additionally, Vermot was the leader of the non-relatives. If Vermot were demoted or punished, discontent would explode.

In any case, to make Almus king, it was essential to eliminate Vermot.

For that...

"Shall we execute the plan?"

"Lord Rigal, there is actually something I need to report..."

"What is it?"

"There is a possibility that Lord Vermot is in league with Almus As. Recently, suspicious figures have been seen near Lord Vermot's residence at night."

Rigal frowned.

Honestly, he had no concrete evidence that Vermot was really betraying him.

Could a loyal vassal who had served him really betray him? Rigal still trusted Vermot.

However, the voices suggesting that Vermot should be monitored were growing louder.

At the very least, he should assign some surveillance, even if it was just for show.

"Understood. Assign surveillance. Two or three people. Have them monitor Vermot. If nothing happens in a week, Vermot is innocent."

Thus, three surveillance agents were assigned to Vermot's residence.

"Things went well, didn't they?"

Ial and his subordinate laughed.

They were the witnesses (Ial and his subordinate).

Of course, they did not directly report to Dever's vassals.

They had the information passed through several merchants, from the royal suppliers to the vassals.

Unless thoroughly investigated, there would be no trace.

It was a slightly risky method, but it seemed to have succeeded.

Rigal had fallen for it and assigned surveillance to Vermot.

But it was not enough yet.

One more push was needed.

"Shall we use this?"

In Ial's hand was a dead hawk. This hawk had been killed by another hawk on Ial's request.

A tube was tied to its leg.

Inside the tube was a forged letter addressed to Vermot.

It was designed to look as if the letter, sent from the As family to Vermot, had been dropped along the way after being attacked by a wild hawk.

If they could show this to Rigal, he would completely suspect Vermot.

The problem was how to show it to him.

If they delivered it directly to Rigal or his soldiers, Ial's identity would certainly be investigated.

The period when Ial was active as a merchant and the period when many vassals defected from Rigal's camp overlapped, even if slightly.

Moreover, it would be discovered that all the defectors knew Ial.

That would make all their efforts in vain.

The method was...

In the Dever territory, a market was held once a month.

Merchants gathered to do business.

There was a road that all merchants had to pass to get to the market.

"Let's just leave it here. A passing merchant will deliver it."

Early in the morning, before the sun had risen, Ial and his subordinate came to the road and placed the dead hawk.

All merchants could read at least basic characters and would understand what the tube tied to the hawk's leg meant.

They would realize it was important and deliver it immediately.

If it were at night, a cat might take it.

After sunrise, there would be too many merchants to place the dead hawk.

It was a tight schedule.

"Let's just wait and see. If it doesn't work, we'll have to rethink it."

"Right. Let's hope the cat doesn't take it."

The two left.

A few minutes later, a merchant passed by and picked up the dead hawk.

Normally, he would have ignored it, but the strange tube tied to it caught his attention.

Moreover, the tube looked expensive.

The hawk had marks indicating it had been attacked by a larger hawk.

It must have been attacked by a larger hawk while delivering a letter.

The merchant decided to deliver the tube.

He did not peek inside.

Such tubes were designed so that the contents could be seen if peeked at, and since it was a hawk delivery, it must contain important secrets.

He did not want to end up in a situation where someone who knew the secret had to be killed.

The tube was quickly delivered to Rigal.

Rigal read the letter inside the tube.

The letter was clearly addressed to "Lord Vermot."

The content was about what position Vermot would be given after betraying Rigal.

Unfortunately, the sender's name or crest was not written, but given the situation, it was undoubtedly from the As family or Raymond.

Rigal said quietly,

"Give a reward to the person who brought this letter. And increase the number of people monitoring Vermot to twenty."

Vermot, furious, visited Rigal.

With twenty more guards watching him, he knew he was being suspected.

If this continued, he would be killed.

But Rigal, a man who would not change his mind once he had made it, would not listen to his side of the story.

Vermot's heart was filled with anger at Almus As for setting up such a despicable scheme, at Rigal for believing it so easily, and at his own defeat.

"What's the matter, Vermot?"

"No, Lord Rigal. I am getting old. The path for you to become king is now clear. I will retire here."

Vermot said this and left the mansion without listening to Rigal's attempts to retain him.

He then secluded himself in his own residence.

Losing his loyalty to Rigal, Vermot lost the benefits of the "King's Blessing."

The disease that had been suppressed rapidly progressed, and Vermot soon passed away.

He was eighty-two years old.

But perhaps Vermot was happy.

His family would not be implicated in the rebellion and would be spared.

From the next chapter, the story will move to the battle against Dorgal.