Chapter Ninety-Five: Kaito's Loyalty

  I gazed at Nicholas, at this heroic commander who was even feared by his enemies, and suddenly all the joy of my victories vanished, not a single bit remained.

  Nicholas is a true hero, as far as I know, since he took command of the army against the beastmen, he has experienced no less than a thousand battles, and been wounded countless times. Although the physical differences between humans and beastmen are too obvious on the battlefield, one beastman can defeat five human soldiers, they don't have the fear of death like humans do, all they know is to fight. Even against such opponents, he has achieved countless victories through his wisdom, making the beastmen dare not offend the borders of Vana for years. It can be said that he himself has already created a miracle, but how many people know the price he paid?

  The poor devil was clearer about it: he originally had 9 sons and 5 sons-in-law, except for the two youngest sons captured by me, the rest were killed in battle. The so-called relatives only have a bunch of grandsons, granddaughters, and his wives. His widowed daughters and daughters-in-law were all forced to remarry, and it is said that several of them remarried twice, and their new husbands also sacrificed in the battle. As the commander-in-chief of the whole army, every suicidal mission was carried out by his sons, and this time's surprise attack on me was no exception.

  Nicholas is now only middle-aged, compared to his peers, my father and the king, he looks like an elder with his graying temples and wrinkles around his eyes showing signs of his hard work. It was this man who saved the kingdom of Vana, it was him who held off the beastmen's invasion of human nations for 30 years! And yet, such a hero, so loyal to his country, is about to fall prey to my schemes, and will soon be sold out by the very nation he has sworn allegiance to like a commodity.

  Good grief! How can I still have the face to be so smug? Suddenly, an overwhelming sense of shame surged up, and I didn't dare look directly at Nicholas's calm gaze. Hurriedly saying: "You have a friend visiting you, I'll leave first!" I quickly ran out.

  "Lord, what's this?" asked Koroku, a small dog waiting outside.

  As previously arranged, I was supposed to tease Nicholas for a while before calling in the little dog Chunlang. Now I didn't have that thought anymore, so I just said: "Let Nicholas's friend go by himself, we'll wait outside!"

  "Alright!" Xiaquan Chunlang saw that I looked unhappy and didn't dare to say more, so he hastily agreed. Then he instructed someone behind him a few words, and a person wearing a suit quickly walked into Nicholas' room.

  I feel guilty in my heart, but things have come to this point and can't be reversed. I can only continue on. Just like Xiaogou Chunlang waiting in the living room.

  "Your Excellency! Is Marshal Nicholas doing well?" Little Puppy Haru asked cautiously.

  "Good!" The poor Taoist replied absent-mindedly.

  Wait! I suddenly remembered, what Nicholas hates the most right now isn't me, but this little dog Chun Lang who made him lose everything. If he comes out and sees me being affectionate with Chun Lang? He'll hate me to death! No way, I need to win over Nicholas' favor now, can't let him be heartbroken. I want a loyal subordinate, not one who hates me to the bone!

  "Marshal Nicholas seems to be available soon, would you like to meet him together?" I asked. I knew that Xiaoyi Chunlang was afraid of meeting with Nicholas.

  It's no wonder that Shōrin Kaito was a bit unnatural, he should have met him in person, but Nicolas hated him to the bone and didn't want to see him. Seeing me ask this, he took the opportunity to say: "Ah, I'm also here to discuss the ceasefire between our two countries with your king, and later I'll be meeting with your foreign minister, sorry about that!"

  "It doesn't matter! State affairs are important! You'd better go and attend to your duties first, I will explain everything to Marshal Nicholas."

  After seeing him off, I waited for a long time before the person who had just gone in came out and said to me: "The Marshal invites you to go in!"

  Walking back into the room, Nicholas seemed to have aged a lot more, but his eyes were even sharper!

  "Congratulations!" Nicholas's words were flat, and I couldn't hear any joy or sorrow.

  "Uncle! You!" I was at a loss for words!

  "Hmph! I, Nicolas, never thought I'd be sold for 1000W! It's really worth a lot of money, isn't it? If I had known earlier, I would have sold myself off. At least that way is better than being sold by someone else, right?"

  "Haha! How can you say it's selling out? The king of your country is really blind and doesn't deserve to have a great general like you. You can only come to the Great Han to fully display your talents! Isn't this every general's dream?"

  "Hmph! You and I are both clear, I won't be reused here either. I'm familiar with Edward's temperament, he's just a conservative ruler, and his suspicious mind is even more vicious. What chance do I have to lead the army? Besides, your four major field armies are not weak at all, what's the point of adding me?! Nicholas sighed: "In comparison, it's still better in Vana!"

  "If you go back, can Wana still exist?" The poor Taoist's words were like a time bomb that fell on his heart.

  "Not bad! Without your support, Wana wouldn't have made it through this ordeal! It's all Nicolas' fault for being incompetent. He calls himself the Invincible Commander, but he's just wasting the country's resources and achieving nothing. Instead, he's causing the country to be in turmoil and on the verge of collapse. How shameful! I'd deserve to be sold out if I were him!"

  "Uncle, you don't have to blame yourself. This defeat is not your fault. If it weren't for Xiao Quan Chunlang's stupid idea, with the elite troops in your hands, you could have completely dominated the battlefield and forced the Great Han Empire to sign a treaty with us, obtaining war reparations! And thus alleviating the pressure at home! Isn't that right?"

  Nicholas's eyes suddenly lit up as he stared at me, saying: "I didn't expect you to have such insight at such a young age. It seems that Nicholas is going to have a good master!"

  "I'm not worthy! You're still you, I just want to ask you to be the commander of the army in my territory!"

  "Alright! As long as you hand over the gold coins completely, Nicholas is willing to serve you!" He then knelt down and swore: "Under the witness of the God of Light, Nicholas will from now on serve Lord Long Qingtian, never leaving or abandoning him. If I break this oath, I will not have a good end!"

  "Hurry up and get up!" The poor Taoist quickly helped him up and said: "Uncle, rest assured, I'll hand it over right away!"

  "Alright, that's Gatte!" Nicholas pointed at the guy who just came in and said: "You can now transfer the money to his magic crystal card!"

  "Wait! Let me calculate how much I should give you!" The poor Taoist said with a smile.

  "Isn't it 1000W? What are you even?" Nicholas's face sank.

  "It's 1000W, but I want to deduct the losses you caused me!" The poor Taoist said innocently.

  "What's your loss? I haven't even reached your territory yet?" Nicholas said discontentedly.

  "You've hijacked my caravan!" the poor monk said to Nicholas.

  "Oh! This!" Nicholas said with a flourish: "They are smugglers, and as a military man, I have the right to confiscate their goods!"

  "Hey! They're the ones who transported military supplies for you, helped you fight against the beastmen's caravan! How can you repay their kindness by robbing them? Isn't this too unrighteous?" The poor Taoist asked discontentedly.

  "This is it!" Nicholas said with a self-knowing tone, "What can we do? We can't just let them go and inform you, can we? You don't care about this small amount of money either! Forget it!"

  "Indeed! And yet you sell our supplies at five times the normal price, which seems to be somewhat distant from 'righteousness'!" Gatte sneered.

  "Hmm, first of all, I sell you goods with quality much better than normal ones, do you admit it?"

  "I admit it!" Gatte exclaimed

  "Secondly, I am the only one who is willing to sell you military supplies. Other countries have an embargo on you, and at most they would only sell you some grain, right?"

  "Right! I agree too!"

  "Finally, you know the danger of the Elf Forest. How many subordinates I lost to find this route, how much heart and blood I paid? Do you all know that? I paid so much cost, shouldn't I sell it at a higher price?"

  "This!" Gatte didn't dare say anymore.

  "If helping you in this way still results in hatred and robbery, I will refuse to help you again in the future! Can you bear the consequences?" The poor Taoist looked at him disdainfully.

  "Can't, all right! How much do you want us to pay?" Gatte said helplessly.

  They later made peace and still needed to buy a large amount of urgently needed supplies from me, so they didn't dare offend me too much.

  "Haha! Not much, just deduct 2 million then!" The poor monk Lion opens his mouth wide, the two merchant teams' goods worth tens of millions were robbed back, and they can still make a profit. It's really not bad, the poor monk hopes they will be robbed more often in the future!

  "Your Excellency! You're more like a robber than we are!" Garte said angrily.

  "It's too kind of you!" The poor Taoist smiled and accepted his compliment, "I will work even harder in the future!"