Building a Kingdom and Conquering the World

63  The caged beast

In the castle's administrative room, established by Henry to handle financial matters and everything related to the kingdom's management, Luther had his head down, carefully writing on a parchment. Writing reports for the absent king had become a daily routine for him over the past week. After a full day of work, he would come to this room and summarize the progress of all ongoing projects in the capital, while also keeping tabs on every important information from other parts of the kingdom.

Beside Luther, Luke sat at a small table, his eyes carefully scanning a huge list of numbers as his hand rapidly recorded and organized them into a cash flow statement, which greatly helped in the reading of the financial health of the Royal Treasury, allowing Henry to take assertive actions. It was a must to keep track of every single expenditure, since the kingdom's wealth was rapidly being depleted due to the constant state investment in public schools, infrastructure projects, like the sewers and the walls, the Commanding Training Center, and the expansion of the army. Fortunately, the revenue coming from the Sun God Company was sufficient to subsidize everything and the taxes from the other institution enabled them to continue to expand the operation.

The old general lifted his gaze and wearily rubbed his eyes as he turned to the dwarf. He asked, "What is the final balance for the day?"

Luke didn't respond immediately. He kept writing for a few seconds before finally lowering down his feather pen. He looked at the balance on the table and expertly replied to Luther, saying - "We ended the day with a positive balance of three hundred and two gold coins in the treasury. Most of the money was spent in the construction projects and war preparations. Despite reducing taxes for the Hunter Association and the people, we managed to sustain our spending without harming our foundation. We still don't have enough working capital to sustain our operations for a year."

Luther silently nodded his head, lowering his head and writing down the number 300 in the front. The preparation for the war against the two kingdoms has been eating away at least a third of the whole revenue from the kingdom, which was increased further thanks to Luna's research and the search for Torch Tree's seeds. Henry predicted that when everything was finished, they would finally be able to start a few projects that had been placed on hold, like the universities, which would be responsible for developing secular knowledge, like herbalism and economy.

In fact, Henry had already begun transcribing his knowledge from Earth into books and placing them in the Royal Library. The library was divided into five levels, each one of them accessible upon meeting specific requirements. The First Floor contained information about laws, myths, history, and a few monsters found in the Frozen Forest, and it was open to everyone who could read. The other floors could be unlocked by holding a position in the castle or in the army or by earning sufficient contribution points.

These contribution points were a system created by Henry to stimulate the reconstruction of the base data of Stahl, which had been slowly sold old to other kingdoms. In this context, a person could earn them by contributing with different knowledge on any field of research, from farming, martial arts to topography.

The collected knowledge would then be written down and stored in the library for future generations to read, study and develop all kinds of research on it, allowing the kingdom to grow and prosper. Furthermore, if someone didn't desire contribution points, they had the option to sell the information, which would be generously rewarded by the Royal Treasure. This was Henry's strategy to quickly amass and control all knowledge and research in his own hands.

During the past week, Luther has visited the Royal Library every single day, overseeing the reconstruction of all its floors while carefully selecting suitable individuals to serve as its manager. He intended to present a great individual to the king upon his return from his campaign.

Luther finished his report and tiredly allowed his back to rest against the chair as he pondered – "When will we go to war?"

Throughout his long military career, this year and a half has been his longest period without witnessing a single drop of enemy's blood coloring the pure white snow. The barbarians has been subdued under the throne, eliminating the need for Luther to go out on campaigns and the bandits were exterminated within the span of a few months. Furthermore, Orsus, the barbarian village, has been hunting down beasts nonstop to supply the capital and the kingdom with food, keeping the beast's population in the Outer Layer of the Frozen Forest under control. A strange sense of peace reigned upon Henry's lands, leaving the old general feeling useless.

To his dismay, his king had also not included him in this mission, leaving him in the capital to take care of the business and keep everything under control. Luther felt preoccupied and filled with worry.

"My liege said that it would take at most three months until we can finally see their bloods streaming down our lands." – Luther muttered, closing his eyes and clenching the armrest. In his mind, he could feel the fervor of the battle and imagine his sword cutting down lines of enemies, until he finally met their generals. He would surely behead every single one of them.

"My liege is assured that within three months, the enemies' blood will be flowing through these lands again" – Luther muttered, closing his eyes while tightly gripping the armrest, not minding the busy dwarf beside him.

The administrative tasks were weighting heavily on Luther's heart, an old soldier accustomed to the fervor of a bloody battlefield. He felt like a caged beast, with its paws and wings tied by something heavy, blocking his way to happiness. Luther yearned to wield his sword and command his soldiers into that metallic air.

With his eyes closed, the old general took a deep breath, trying to calm down his restless spirit. But, in his fertile imagination, a battle was unfolding. He pictured himself brandishing his silver sword, cutting through hundreds of enemies while relentlessly advancing towards their generals. With each swing, his blade became drenched in their blood as he swiftly beheaded everyone in front of him. Those anguished cries filled the air and the metallic smell from the river of blood forming underneath his feet made him go crazier. The troops behind him were like hell's creatures, painted by the enemy's blood.

Luther was a calm man, but he couldn't run away from his nature. He was a soldier, and he would die as a soldier. He wasn't supposed to be stuck into a room. He had to be in the battlefield.

"Soon! Their bloods will soon color Stahl's snow. The king just needs to send a signal."

Luke could hear the old man muttering to himself. He couldn't help but shake his head as he thought – "Crazy old man." – Without minding, he kept writing his records.

-x-

Deep within the forest, Henry was in front of a hundred soldiers. His cold and sharp eyes carefully analyzing Luak's scouting team.

"Go!" – He ordered the massacre.

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