Knight: Becoming King of the World

When the nobles and faction leaders whose spies and agents had been killed by Henry learned the news, they were all livid with rage, like cats whose tails had been stepped on.

They paced back and forth in their manors, cursing Henry’s name and accusing him of making a mountain out of a molehill and acting dishonorably.

They were convinced that Henry must have planted spies in their territories as well; his methods were just so sophisticated that they were simply hard to detect.

’That scoundrel Henry, how dare he treat us like this! Who does he think he is? He’s just a minor Count who’s barely gotten started, yet he dares to be so arrogant! He clearly doesn’t take us seriously at all!’

If Henry still held the rank of Baron, they would have considered him a powerful Baron. But as "Count Henry Bro," he was just a newborn, weak little pipsqueak!

Count John of Odoche slammed his hand on the table, his facial muscles contorting with rage.

Count Akakarat of Akakarat City also wore a grim expression.

’Hmph, this is a declaration of war against us! I refuse to believe he hasn’t planted spies in our domains. That so-called intelligence department of his is surely monitoring our every move in secret.’

Every last one of these people thought the same way.

Most of the other nobles shared this sentiment. They decided to teach Henry a lesson and show him that they weren’t pushovers to be trifled with.

’Those spies and agents were all cultivated over time, at great cost in Dinars! A trustworthy operative is a treasure, as valuable as a Personal Guard!’

’That son-of-a-bitch Henry! This is the last straw!’ A few individuals began to conspire, preparing to stir up a rebellion in Henry’s Earl’s Domain.

They believed Henry’s foundations were shallow and his populace consisted mostly of serfs. These serfs lived hard lives; as long as they were provided with a few scraps of metal for weapons, they would rise up in rebellion against Henry’s rule.

That’s just how serfs were. Unless they were fools, who wouldn’t rebel given the chance? As long as someone took the lead, more people would confusedly follow suit.

Why rebel? No idea. What’s the rebellion for? No idea. What do we do after we rebel? No idea. Anyway, I see other people rebelling, so I’ll rebel too.

And so, these nobles began sending agents to secretly contact certain malcontents within Henry’s domain, attempting to stir up their emotions and trigger a large-scale rebellion.

Once they had established contact with the rebel factions, they could secretly transport weapons and funds in small batches, preparing to launch the rebellion at the opportune moment.

However, just as they were meticulously laying their plans, they suddenly realized something was amiss.

The secret envoys they sent out reported back that, at some unknown time, many troops had appeared in the countryside around Westwood Laine and Ximira Castle. These troops were well-disciplined and well-trained, frequently patrolling the countryside, causing the serfs who originally intended to join the rebellion to shrink back in fear.

Moreover, according to their spies, the number of serfs in Henry’s fief who wanted to rebel was pitifully small. In fact, a good number of them had even been reported and arrested, causing the nobles’ plans to stumble.

Wha... What was going on? The plan they had been so confident about had suddenly become precarious.

Everyone was dumbfounded. ’When did Henry get so many elite troops? Didn’t he just fight a major battle against the Alien Race in the Northern Lands and suffer heavy casualties? Could that news have been fake?’

’Besides, his domain isn’t even that large. Where did he get the money and grain to support so many troops?’

’The Emperor’s reward? Don’t be ridiculous! He only just received that! Look at what the intelligence report says: strict discipline, orders followed without question, High Morale, and excellent equipment! These have to be elite troops! They must have been training for over a year, at least, right?’

’If he started training so many troops a year ago, where did the money and grain come from? Where were they hidden? How did he manage to keep them a secret all this time?’

Some speculated that perhaps these were the serfs Henry had mobilized into the Westwood Laine military camp for training a while back.

But this idea was quickly dismissed. ’Impossible, absolutely impossible! A bunch of serfs, trained into elite soldiers in just over a month?’

’I must still be dreaming!’

’Besides, there’s no way serfs trained for only a month would be given military equipment rated as "excellent." Isn’t Henry afraid they’d rebel?’

’So, this must be an army that Henry had kept hidden all along!’

The other nobles fell silent as well. They realized things were not as simple as they had imagined. ’How terrifying. This boy’s schemes run so deep.’

Henry’s domain was not as fragile as they had imagined; his strength far exceeded their expectations.

They had originally thought that the massive influx of supplies and wealth into Westwood Laine would, at the very least, cause a period of chaos.

’But, given the current situation, we won’t be able to stir up any trouble no matter how much money we throw at it. We’d be better off having our spies move about as merchants to gather intelligence.’

And so, these scheming nobles had no choice but to abandon their original plan and adopt a more cautious strategy.

They had their spies disguise themselves as merchants and infiltrate Henry’s domain, attempting to gather useful intelligence from the sidelines.

Any useful intelligence, at the very least.

Henry himself had no idea that a single, casual action on his part had both awed his rivals and averted a great deal of trouble.

Half a month passed in this manner before the illusion of peace was shattered. Armies from all across Count Bro’s domain suddenly began to assemble and move toward Ximira Castle, accompanied by vast quantities of grain, medicinal herbs, and other supplies.