Knight: Becoming King of the World

Henry smiled. He could sense the officer’s discomfort.

"You’re too kind. We’ve already settled in. If there’s nothing else, you can go back and rest."

The officer cleared his throat, looking a little awkward.

"Actually, Lord Baron, I... I have something I’d like to discuss with you in private."

Henry raised an eyebrow, curious about the officer’s fidgeting.

"Alright, let’s talk in my tent then."

The two of them entered Henry’s tent. The interior was simple: a camp bed, a table, a few chairs, and a map of the entire empire, showing the names of all its cities and castles, spread out on the table.

Henry gestured for the officer to sit, then sat down himself.

"Now, can you tell me what this is all about?" Henry asked.

The officer took a deep breath. "Lord Baron, I know you are a generous nobleman and that your army is well-equipped, but I... I’d like to make a deal with you."

"A deal? What kind of deal?"

Henry’s curiosity was piqued. ’What kind of deal could a garrison officer possibly offer him? Real estate?’

The officer untied a package from his waist and placed it carefully on the table.

"I have some equipment. A merchant from Lukaron wanted to sell it to the army, but they couldn’t agree on a price. I thought perhaps you might be interested in it."

When Henry heard the word "Lukaron," his eyes lit up. He opened the package to find a list inside.

Ten full sets of man-and-horse armor for Elite Armored Cavalry, fifty full sets of man-and-horse armor for Armored Cavalry, two hundred full sets of armor for Imperial Legion infantry, two hundred full sets of armor for Imperial Crossbowman sergeants, one thousand sets of Chain Armor, three thousand sets of Armored Clothing, Cotton Armor, and Cloth Armor, plus steel One-Handed weapons... Two Hands... Long Pole...

The light in Henry’s eyes vanished. Looking at the fidgeting officer, his scalp tingled with unease.

"Where did this equipment come from?"

Henry’s tone was grave, which made the officer even more nervous.

This wasn’t Henry overreacting. This batch of equipment was simply terrifying. In theory, it was all standard weaponry available on the market. In reality, however, a bulk transaction of this scale—enough to arm half a Legion—was bound to cause problems.

Not to mention it included full kits for Armored Cavalry, Crossbowman sergeants, and Legion infantry.

Henry’s brow was tightly furrowed. His gaze darted back and forth between the officer and the list, clearly weighing his options.

Henry spoke slowly, "This equipment... are you clear on its origin?"

The officer swallowed nervously. He knew the gravity of the question and understood that he couldn’t lie.

"Lord Baron, I... I know the origin of this equipment is a bit complicated. That merchant from Lukaron... he quietly collects it through certain special channels, from various Legions, and even from the royal Workshops," the officer answered cautiously.

Henry knew how dangerous such a deal was. He pressed, "What do you mean by ’special channels’?"

The officer hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Some of it is decommissioned equipment. Some was lost in battle but hasn’t been officially recorded in the ledgers yet. The merchant uses his network to gather this equipment and then resells it."

Henry was silent for a moment. He knew such dealings weren’t unheard of between nobles and merchants, but an arms deal of this magnitude was extremely rare.

"Then why did you choose to come to me?"

The officer took a deep breath and mustered his courage. "Lord Baron, your reputation is widespread throughout the empire. I know you are not only wealthy but also decisive. This equipment would undoubtedly be a huge asset to you."

Henry pursed his lips. ’Worst case, I could sell everything I own, buy the Chain Armor and other gear, conscript a bunch of serfs, and then go slaughter John to recoup my losses. That’s not a bad plan.’

"How are you planning to sell it?"

"All of it!"

"Impossible!"

The word burst out of Henry, so loudly that it startled the officer.

Henry took a breath and asked seriously, "What do you mean, ’all of it’? I have to buy everything?"

The officer nodded. Henry’s hopes were completely dashed. He genuinely wanted to buy it, but the price was astronomical. Based on market standards, it would be at least... sixty million Dinars?

’Where am I supposed to get sixty million Dinars?! I’ve never even had five hundred thousand Dinars in my account at one time!’

’And this is through "special channels," so it won’t be any cheaper. It’ll only be more expensive! Who the hell could afford this?!’

’In the entire empire, besides a few Dukes of royal blood and the Emperor himself, who could come up with that kind of money? Besides, would the Dukes even need to buy it? And would you dare sell it to the Emperor?’

’Serves you right for not being able to sell it!’

Unaware of the situation and with no concept of such large numbers, the officer could barely conceal the greed in his eyes.

If this deal went through, he would get a commission. This was a huge business opportunity, enough to set his family up for three generations!

It might even be possible for him to become a Knight, a noble with his own manor and village!

"Officer, the equipment on this list adds up to sixty million Dinars! Sixty million! Dinars! Not Sus!"

The officer blinked and asked, "That shouldn’t be too difficult for you, my lord."

Henry’s eyes widened. He tilted his head unconsciously and pointed at himself, unable to comprehend why the officer would think that.

’Me? I have sixty million Dinars? News to me.’

"Do you have any idea how much sixty million Dinars is?"

The officer blinked again. "My lord, if you collect some tolls from the merchant caravans entering the city and raise taxes on the citizens and farmers, that should be enough, right?"

Henry sucked in a sharp breath, suddenly realizing a very serious problem.

"Have you ever been to school?"

"No."

Henry suddenly felt a sense of relief. ’Ah, that explains it. An uneducated officer’s frame of reference probably doesn’t go much higher than ten thousand.’

"Let me put it this way. Sixty million Dinars could pay a month’s salary for five million of the empire’s Elite Armored Cavalry!

Do you know how big a number that is? That’s five hundred groups of ten thousand!"

The officer’s brain shut down. He realized he’d made a fool of himself. Or rather, that the merchant from Lukaron had given him a deal for which he’d never find a buyer in his lifetime.

The Emperor’s Elite Armored Cavalry numbered fifty thousand at most? So five million...

"My apologies, Lord Baron. Just pretend I was never here today."

The officer stood up to leave, but Henry grabbed him.

"Did I say you could go?"

Henry’s grip on the officer’s wrist was so tight it felt like it was about to break.

"My lord, my lord..."

Henry shoved the officer back into the chair and asked with a playful tone, "Tell me, what’s the name of that merchant from Lukaron? What does he look like? What businesses does he own?"

The officer stammered, "My lord, I really don’t know. I’ve only seen him twice, and he was wearing a mask and cloak both times."

Henry stroked his chin, rubbing his beard. "So you don’t know anything about him at all?"

"My lord, I really don’t."

"Then why would you dare to help him sell armaments? What if he doesn’t actually have any of this equipment?"

The officer said with conviction, "My lord, this Lukaron merchant definitely has it. I’ve been inside his warehouse, blindfolded."

Henry thought for a moment, then asked, "You must have some impression of his build, right?"

"Yes, yes! He didn’t seem very tall, but he was very fat, very wide."

"And you’ve spoken with him, right? What kind of accent did he have?"

The officer shook his head. "I’m not sure. It sounded rather strange. I don’t know where he’s from, but he’s definitely not a Lukaron native."

Henry closed his eyes and thought hard. A super-wealthy merchant with a strange accent, not tall but very wide, and with an unfathomably vast network of connections...

Henry racked his brain, going over every person he had heard about or known of in Lukaron during his three years at the academy, but he couldn’t place this man.

"Can you tell him that I can buy the whole lot, but I need to see the goods first."

"I can’t. The merchant said you have to pay at least a ten percent deposit before you can even meet him."

Henry couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation. This BYD merchant had quite the high meeting fee—a six-million Dinar deposit just to see him.

Thinking about it, Henry felt this merchant had to be out of his mind. Most nobles equipped their armies either by developing their own armory Workshops, starting from scratch with blacksmiths, or by seizing spoils from the battlefield. Who could just pull out six million to buy equipment from him?

"You can go. If you get any new information about him, you can write to me. Just send the letter to Westwood Laine Castle."

"Yes, yes, my lord."

The officer rubbed his wrist and shakily left the camp.

Claude and Bain came in. Henry asked, "You heard all that, didn’t you? There are so many rich people in our Caladia Empire, asking sixty million Dinars for weapons and armor."

Claude found a chair and sat down, also looking confused.

The top-tier steel weapons and the best armor were expensive because the Emperor monopolized the technology. But since this stock was circulating and being offered as a bulk deal, why wasn’t the price lower?

"My lord, I suspect this merchant might not actually want to sell. He could be trying to attract someone’s attention."

Bain nodded in agreement with Claude’s idea.

"Attract someone? Who? Someone who wants to rebel? Don’t be ridiculous, who would dare..."

Henry abruptly shut his mouth. A bold idea had just appeared in his mind.

The rebellion in the western coastal region already had the shadow of foreign powers behind it. Since foreign powers could support nobles within the empire to rebel, could there also be a contact point for these foreign powers in the imperial capital?

’Could this person be from overseas?’

’But his security is terrible. At this rate, there must be quite a few nobles in the empire who know about this big-shot merchant. How could the Emperor not know?’

Henry shook his head. ’This is too complicated. It’s a headache. If this were 40k, it would definitely be a plot by Jianqi... but this is Caladia.’

"My lord, should you write a letter to the Emperor to inform him of this matter?"

Henry continued to stroke his increasingly thick and sexy beard, lost in thought.