ARCHDEUS

PLENUM(3)

On a cloudy day with dark clouds covering the sky.

A man with a mysterious appearance is walking in a narrow and dark alley of a housing estate in the capital.

He covered the identity of his face and body with a dark-colored robe.

The man continued to walk carefully. He watches the streets around all the time.

He arrived in front of a wooden door that looked shabby.

The man knocked on him, and a large man with a bald head opened the door.

This was a simple bar with the bald man as the owner of this place.

The man rented a room on the second floor.  He was currently two waiting for someone.

Before long he waited, a person who had also hidden his identity entered the room.

They did not give any greeting at all.

The two sat quietly for a few minutes.

"It's a clear morning for deer hunting" said one of them.

"Maybe better to hunt rabbits."

The two people seemed to throw at each other passwords that only they understood.

"It looks like it's you."

One of them took off his hood. He was Philip, the count of Otilia.

Meanwhile the other party was still hiding his face.

"What do you want to say?"

That guy sounds pretty rude. Even when he spoke to a grand noble, he did not lower his head at all.

"I'll get to the point. I want you to tell them that this time Sandwealth will intervene."

"How is that possible?"

The man was surprised. How not, Sandwealth is currently a war zone. They won't have time to focus on anything else.

"This is beyond belief. But those guys from Fertiphile were ...."

Philip clenched his hands in anger. He did not believe it, all his ideas had to be ruined because of a young man from Fertiphile.

"Look, we have to change plans. This is hunting, Sandwealth will try to establish cooperation with Norchaster. Tell the marquess immediately. If they succeed, then the war in Otilia will be our defeat."

"Understand."

"And one more."

Philip handed a thick package to the man.

"Send this to them too."

The package contains secret documents of the county including secret agreements, lobbying results, to evidence of corruption committed by the countess. Philip secretly took it and initially he would only keep it but since everything had changed then the only way was to hand these documents over to someone else.

"Then, there is nothing more to discuss" Philip continued.

After the man picked up the item Philip had given him, he immediately kept it well. Then the man left first.

The interaction was not long, less than twenty minutes. But it may have a significant impact on Otilia.

Philip was secretly Peter's supporter. Peter is his only son. In addition, he also agreed with the view that it should be Peter who inherited the throne but under the domination of the matriarchal rights of Peter as a reigned count could not occur.

Philip finally left the room and also immediately walked out of the bar.

But when he returned through the narrow alley, someone with a large enough body was seen standing still in front of him.

At first Philip did not care much about the man but as he got closer the man spoke to him.

"Hey sir, may I ask why you're here?"

"What?"

Philip was puzzled but before he asked any further, the man resumed the question.

"Oh sorry, my question is not correct. I asked, why is a count in a place like this?"

"!!"

His identity suddenly shocked him.

At this moment, Philip thought of nothing but blurring, but before he did so the man had already locked his arm.

''Release! Who're you!" shouted Philip.

"Sir, you don't have to yell like that."

The man opens his disguise, it turns out he is Alex.

"Young Master Fertiphile, a-what are you doing?!"

Alex asked back. His tone did not show any emotion but his eye rays showed frightening intent.

"A-I ... Are you spying on me?!"

Philip raised his voice. He pretended to be strong but in reality in the presence of a teenager who had a body much larger than him made his guts actually shrink.

"Master, you should have realized it right? A mother told her son to send a parcel of food to his neighbor but almost a season passed and the neighbor still did not receive the goods. Do you think my master the child's mother wouldn't suspect that her child was doing something?"

This was just an excuse but Philip understood what Alex had meant.

He swallowed his saliva.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't panic, my lord. You should be worried about your friend because right now the Oldest Young Master of the Morhust Family is playing with him. You may not know, but the person sometimes can not control his emotions well, maybe your friend will be a little difficult."

Damnit damnit!

The Duke of Norchaster with his full name was Duke Louis Edouard Norchaster in addition to being one of the two dukes of the Kingdom of Artchania, he also held the position of Lord of the Grand Chamberlain for the kingdom. In addition, Duke Norchaster was famous as the strongest magician in the kingdom. Practically even though the coalition has the least amount but its position is still taken into account.

Currently the duke was in the mansion located in the capital. As a grand chamberlain, he did spend more time in the royal capital instead of arranging his own area.

It has a pretty well-maintained level. Despite being in her 40s, she still has healthy, white skin. Because he was a magician, he had a relatively weak body when compared to warriors.

Some time ago Duke Norchaster got a letter from the Morhust side requesting a meeting.

Although Morhust was a wealthy region, they had relatively weak defenses compared to their neighbors Fertiphile and Sandwealth. This means that there is likely to be a split in the Sandwealth coalition so that Morhust has to find a partner who has equal power with Sandwealth. Or at the most unlikely possibility is that Morhust is an extension of Sandwealth to speak to Norchaster.

If you look at the rivalry between Duke Sandwealth and Duke Norchaster, the request for a meeting from Morhust to Norchaster becomes interesting.

"My Royal Highness, Young Master Morhust has come" said the butler.

Duke Norchaster let them in.

Regis entered bravely and confidently.

"My Royal Highness, I'm Regis Evangelos Morhust, The eldest son and Interim Governor of the County of Morhust expressed his deep gratitude to My Royal Highness for allowing me to meet and see Your Majesty Your Majesty."

Regis lowered his gaze while greeting the noble to the duke.

After the duke answered and after a few pleasantries, Regis finally came to the core of the conversation.

"My Royal Highness, my arrival is to give a proposal on behalf of the Sandwealth House, Otilia, Yorksall, Sinteny, Granadia, Fertiphile, and my own family, Morhust, would like to submit a proposal to my Master. I hope my Master doesn't mind hearing it."

"Speak."

"My Royal Highness, at this time the country has been faced by various problems, the war between our kingdom and the Kingdom of Cephareae, now our kingdom is faced with a war with the Kingdom of Ibeltia, Ibeltia, and now we are also facing a fief war within our own country. I am sure my Lord and we share the same desire to create a safe and stable country. Isn't it with our same purpose that it can be an opportunity for us to forge closer cooperation?"

The Duke did not answer. He smiled, maybe like a mocking smile.

"So in essence you want me and Sandwealth to make a memorandum of understanding?"

"real Master.  We have both seen and felt the failure of the government under the coalition of marquesses. Even they blatantly let the fief war between nobles happen. Doesn't this prove their failure in holding the executive mandate."

"That may not be so bad but I don't think your good intentions are enough. I guess you guys haven't shown a serious enough commitment. I don't want to be on the side that's not serious about what they say."

Regis understands what the duke says. What is meant is not a promise or an act in carrying out their 'noble intentions' but rather a guarantee of what the duke will get if it helps them.

"My Royal Highness, please forgive my rudeness."

From his noble suit, Regis took out two thin envelopes with two different seals of noble families.

He wants to bribe me? thought Duke.

Duke didn't say anything. He simply took the two envelopes and then saw two seals there.

House of Fertiphile and House of Morhust.

Duke raised his eyebrows. He was quite interested when he saw two surnames that he could not have guessed. At first he predicted that this letter came from Sandwealth as the chairman of the coalition but here are only two noble families who are actually quite passive in terms of lobbying.

The House of Fertiphile was usually not particularly interested in the political maneuvering of the nobles. That was because the count of that region was an orthodox swordsman who had indeed devoted his life to swordsmanship and war. While the House of Morhust although not as passive as Fertiphile but quite rarely do this. That is because they are a rich region and also all neighboring areas are members of the coalition so that in terms of security they are also guaranteed.

Duke opened the two envelopes and read them one by one.

"!!"

The Duke could not hide his shock.

Regis who saw that did not give up the chance. He immediately made an offer.

"My Royal Highness, I have received the trust from the Fertiphile House which entrusted me to offer cooperation to my Master's area. Tuanku and Fertiphile have established a fairly good cooperation lately so they offer more sustainable business especially regarding the military industry and include technology transfer."

"!!"

Although the Norchaster Family is a family of magicians, they are arcane magicians who are not talented in alternative sciences such as magic engineering. So cooperation with Fertiphile in the defense sector is very important. He and Fertiphile have worked very well together. Even Fertiphile gave permission to purchase some of their weapons. Unfortunately Sandwealth intervened so Fertiphile is providing some tighter restrictions these days.

Duke was about to talk about this cooperation but Regis first spoke.

"Meanwhile, sir, my county is one of the largest producers of mana stones in the kingdom. I believe with extractive wealth it can provide benefits to areas not only my area. That's why I offered some cooperation regarding which stone business."

In addition to knowledge, there is one thing that is no less important and becomes an obsession for magicians, namely which stone is a source of energy that is very important to them. Now with the transfer of technology from Fertiphile and the business of which stone from Morhust, the duke thinks that the actions of this young man who wants to bribe him is not a naive person but a very cunning young man.