A place was prepared in the city hall for the gathering of the leaders of each delegation. It was a sudden request from Maren’s governor. Only a few days ago, a large portion of the delegations would have felt somewhat offended by the request or even dismissed the request. But now, every delegation either sent their leader or one or two high-ranking nobles equivalent in status. Even though it was an unscheduled meeting, everyone seemed rather curious about the reason behind the gathering rather than feeling offended. The reason was simple. It wasn’t only the governor present in the sitting room, but King Eugene as well. His presence alone was reason enough for all the delegations to send representatives to the meeting. After all, it was common knowledge that Eugene had left all matters relating to the dukedom to the governor and the parliament, so his presence here had to be for something significant.

“First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has willingly responded to the sudden, unscheduled invitation,” the governor said.

The foreign nobles straightened their postures before responding.

“Not at all...”

“It must be an important issue, right?”

The nobles gathered in the seating room were people with high status and reputation in their own country. Each of the invited kingdoms had intended to crush Maren under the pretext of congratulating their founding, so they had sent nobles of sufficient status. In fact, most of the nobles had mistakenly assumed that they could take a superior position against the newly founded nation of Maren, even if they could not directly form a tributary relationship with Maren.

However, their attitudes changed significantly after they personally experienced Maren’s wealth and confirmed the strength of Maren’s king, as well as his knights. Their pride and arrogance were now replaced with a sense of fear and vigilance.

Of course, such wasn’t the case with everyone.

Some of the nobles came from powerful kingdoms with millions of citizens and tens of thousands of elite soldiers. They still possessed challenging, defiant looks in their eyes.

“I have taken the liberty of inviting all of you here, at the risk of overstepping my boundaries, because His Majesty the King has discovered a great danger that could possibly threaten the entire world,” the governor explained.

“Huh…?”

“What do you mean by that?”

The foreign nobles frowned with doubtful expressions. What kind of nonsense was the governor spewing after calling them all together? However, the governor would not have gathered the representatives of the delegations just to fool around.

“It is an issue of utmost seriousness and importance. As such, from now on, His Majesty will speak,” the governor said.

Everyone’s eyes turned to Eugene.

“It’s good to see you all,” Eugene began while looking around. He was armed in plate armor, and tension could be seen in the eyes of the nobles. They no longer regarded him as someone who simply got lucky or as the puppet of Maren’s merchants.

Everyone had seen or experienced his power in person. In fact, there was even a rumor circulating around that the Crown Prince of the Roman Empire had returned urgently because of the king. No one knew the exact details, but it could be said that the King of Maren was a figure who had directly confronted the next absolute ruler of the Roman Empire. None of the nobles present were capable of doing something like that.

Eugene continued, “I think there will be some among you who will not believe what I am about to say. However, I can promise you one thing…”

Eugene paused before looking around. His gaze was focused on the about 20 nobles staring at him with challenging eyes. He continued, “Neither I nor Maren will easily lend our help to the countries that reject my advice, or offer.”

“…!!!”

His remark was beyond firm and was very much arrogant. The expressions of the nobles distorted at once.

‘No! What is he thinking?’

Even the governor looked nervous.

However, Eugene did not care. After all, he had nothing to lose from this exchange.

“This is a letter I received from one of my retainers who had some business to do in the Roman Empire. Listen carefully,” Eugene said before unfurling Delmondo’s letter in front of the representatives. He started reading the letter.

As he continued, the faces of the nobles changed. They no longer looked as if they wanted to burst out of their seats and out the door. Some stared at Eugene with stiff faces, while others had pale expressions.

“And that is all. If you have any doubts, please see for yourselves,” Eugene said while placing down the letter on a table and pushing it toward the nobles.

A hot-tempered noble quickly picked up the letter, and five or six people surrounded them.

“Hmm!” Their expressions grew darker as they confirmed that Eugene’s words corresponded with the contents of the letter.

“B-but we don’t know if this has been confirmed as the truth yet, right?”

“That’s right! We can’t make a judgment with a single letter.”

“Even if there are more monsters, how much could their numbers have possibly increased by…?”

Some of the nobles expressed their doubts. All who raised questions were those who came from nations stronger than the former Kingdom of Caylor. Eugene gazed at them with cold eyes.

“2,274 of them.”

“…?”

“The number of monsters the Knights of Eland and I have killed while touring the territories of the dukedom for a month. There were more than 50 intermediate and high-ranking monsters alone,” Eugene explained.

“What?!”

“Hmm?”

Many of the nobles exclaimed with shock.

Eugene continued, “I’m not telling you this to brag about my achievements. And if any of you doubt my words, you can head to the Palin Association and confirm it with them. I have been dealing business with them for a long time. They can validate my words. Anyway, the important thing is—the duration of my travel, the number of monsters, and the size of the dukedom.”

“…!!!”

Silence filled the room as the nobles took on stupefied expressions. They already knew that Eugene had recently killed many monsters while patrolling the dukedom and visiting the various nobles and lords. However, no one had ever imagined that he had killed such an unbelievable number of monsters. More than 2,000—it was a mind-boggling number. Moreover, there had been more than 50 intermediate and high-ranking monsters. Three or four of such monsters were sufficient to create an absolute mess out of a territory, so how could fifty of them have been residing in the relatively smaller lands of Maren?

“In other words, our territory was no exception to the urgent situation mentioned in the letter. We were simply lucky, as the Knights of Eland and I managed to take care of the disaster before it even began,” Eugene said.

“…”

Eugene looked around at the quiet nobles, then continued, “All of you are capable of standing as representatives of your nations, so you should be able to realize what this represents. What will happen when roamers at the level of those who appeared in the dukedom start to make an appearance in the locations mentioned in the letter?”

“…!” Those who flinched were those belonging to countries with the mentioned territories. They would obviously have to mobilize troops equivalent to wartime.

“Isn’t that a problem for the local lords to worry about?” one of the nobles raised their voice while looking around for affirmation. A few nodded their heads, but most took on stupefied expressions instead.

“Do you really think roamers only stay in one area? Where do you think they will go after devastating the said territory?”

“Did you not just hear what His Majesty said? It’s not dozens, but thousands. And how broad is the area of activity for ogres and trolls? We also have to think about the monsters that get pushed out in battles for territory.”

“I can’t believe someone like him is a noble—”

“He has probably never managed any territory of his own before.”

“W-what?! How dare you?!” The reprimanded noble raised his voice with a red face.

“Ah, this is not the time to argue!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Eugene slammed the table to quench the disturbance, then spoke once more.

“If it had been something that the lords were capable of handling, I would have left it to the lords of our dukedom instead. But in reality, everyone was completely occupied trying to protect their castles and villages. Of course, I didn’t hold them accountable, as that was the reality of the situation.”

“…”

“And shall I tell you something even more important? It has already been more than ten days since my tour of the dukedom. This letter was probably sent around the same time as well,” Eugene said.

“What?!” Some nobles took on ghastly expressions. They realized that the number of monsters in their kingdoms was growing exponentially even at this moment.

“Let’s just disregard all variables and say that there are three thousand of them. There are seven locations alone that are mentioned in the letter. By simple calculations, 21,000 monsters had to have already appeared in your home countries or in nearby areas. And that’s excluding the monsters already there. 21,000 monsters,” Eugene explained.

“…”

He noticed that some of the nobles were even breaking out in cold sweat. Eugene spoke in a declarative manner, “Now, do you still think this isn’t a huge danger that could threaten the whole world?”

The nobles had expressions of disbelief and doubt when the governor first spoke, but now, they were all stiff like statues.

Over 20,000 monsters.

Of course, not all of them were gathered in a single place. However, even if there were three thousand monsters in each of the seven locations, as Eugene had mentioned, the nobles couldn’t imagine how many troops they would have to mobilize. Moreover, tactical strategies employed in territorial disputes and wars would not be effective against monsters. There was no negotiation, and there were no honorable duels between representatives. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the worst part of it all…

‘If there are thousands now… How many will there be in the future?’

‘Considering the rate at which monsters multiply, in a year, there will be five… No, there could well be ten times the number of monsters!’

The vague sense of fear capturing their hearts transformed into concrete concern. The backs of the nobles started to soak with cold sweat.

“I-I must return immediately and…”

“Your Majesty, honorable sirs, I apologize, but I-I should also get going.”

The nobles of countries whose territories were included in the areas mentioned in the letter rose in a hurry.

Eugene stopped them. “Sirs, I know exactly how you feel, but it will be better for you to listen to everything I say before you leave.”

“W-what…?”

Eugene turned his gaze away from the nobles standing awkwardly, then gestured toward Princess Lilisain before continuing, “I said I wasn’t bragging earlier, but now I must boast a little bit. As I have said, I have killed over 2,000 monsters with Princess Lilisain and the Knights of Eland.”

“Uh…”

“Do I need to say it again? I’m saying that I killed over 2,000 monsters with just these people alone.”

“…!”

The nobles appeared startled. Suddenly, the door to the sitting room opened, and elven knights of Eland entered behind two animals the size of a hound.

“What?!”

The nobles squealed when they saw the two griffon cubs. The two creatures had grown twofold in just a month.

Keeee! Kieeee!

The griffons even had a leash around their neck decorated with jewels, as if they were simple pets. As soon as the griffon cubs entered the room, they flew toward Princess Lilisain.

“N-no!”

“Be careful!”

Some people shouted and screamed with horror. Although they were cubs, even baby griffons were capable of facing off against dangerous beasts. However, their worst nightmare never came to fruition. The two cubs started to rub their beaks against Princess Lilisain as if they were puppies.

“Huh…”

The nobles were flabbergasted by the unexpected turn of events. Eugene spoke, “I brought them just in case some of you still don’t believe me. the Knights of Eland and I have captured them during our hunt.”

The nobles were quite surprised. There had been cases where monster cubs were caught and tamed, but there was almost no precedent of domesticating a monster as fierce as the griffon.

Bang!

Eugene struck the table once more, and the nobles were jolted awake. They turned their eyes toward Eugene once again. Princess Lilisain calmed the griffon cubs before lining up behind Eugene along with the other elven knights.

“As you can see, I think the Knights of Eland and myself will be of considerable help to the crisis of your respective countries. I wonder what you all think about this?” Eugene asked.

“…!!!”

The nobles realized what Eugene was trying to say. The King of Maren was bargaining with them.

‘How are you planning to respond to a crisis that might place a region or even your entire country in danger?’

‘Here, I have reliable, trustworthy fixers! You have also witnessed their skills with your own eyes up until this morning!’

The captain of the fixers parted his lips with a mysterious smile. “There’s only one me, so it will be first come, first served.”