Now, I have done most of the things that I need to urgently address, so I’m basically free. Still, I need to head to my office just to check if there’s anything new I need to do.

After having a short breakfast alone, I went straight to my office and sat down. As if waiting for that exact moment, a knock echoed from the door before it swung open without waiting for my answer. As expected, it was Yu Na who walked in.

“President, there’s bad news.”

“…” 𝘪𝘳.𝒸𝑜𝑚

Bad news first thing in the morning. I could tell that I’d be having a “great” day ahead.

“Bad news? Tell me about it.”

Yu Na opened the folder in her hand, took out a couple of papers, and passed it to me. I quickly scanned its contents and frowned.

“This… is everything written here true?”

I couldn’t help but feel a little angry, so I couldn’t control my voice for a bit. Yu Na nodded her head firmly, not minding the tone I used.

“Yes. All other kingdoms that were in a trading treaty with the Cleaver Kingdom suddenly declared they would be backing off. All of them, simultaneously.”

I leaned back against my chair, thinking.

This, without a doubt, is the Empire’s preemptive attack. I guess they’re planning to push the Cleaver Kingdom to the edge until they have no other choice but to switch sides from us to them. After all, despite our country being quite wealthy in terms of resources, we don’t have everything that the Cleaver Kingdom needs.

“So this is how they’re planning to do things…”

I sighed before slamming the papers against my table.

“Alright, if that’s how you’ll play, I also have some ideas of my own. Let’s see who’ll come on top afterward.”

Yu Na stared at me dismissively as I started to chuckle.

After that, everything went fast.

I moved to the Cleaver Kingdom, checking the actual impact of the event and suggesting to them the plan I had in mind. Although I was almost forced to stay the night with Princess Hazel, I did my best to slip away.

Then, I went to Fatima and told her about my plans. After gaining her seal of approval, I then started to drag the other girls into the plan. They all agreed to help without much convincing on my part.

With that, all hands are on deck.

For the first step, Ember sent everyone to the neighboring kingdoms in pairs. The coordinates? We got it with the help of the satellite. It’s not that hard to do, after all.

The representatives of the kingdoms we visited were surprised by our sudden appearance but quickly went pale after they heard the girls’ words.

“If you don’t resume trading with Cleaver Kingdom, we will block your country from procuring bullets for your guns.”

It was a simple threat, but after they got enamored with the usefulness of the gun, it became a pretty severe one. On average, each country had to bulk-order bullets every other day. It was to the point that manufacturing was almost pushed to the limit just to catch up.

For the entire day, Ember kept sending the others to various kingdoms. Some instances almost led to fights, but with my girls being a little overpowered, enough to even hold back a mature 9th-stage tamer, nothing worth worrying over happened.

Just before evening, all the kingdoms that canceled their trading agreements begged for the Cleaver Kingdom to select them once more for trading. Queen Thalia, a part of the plan in the first place, didn’t waste the opportunity and took advantage of their weaknesses. She jacked up the prices, making the trade at least twice as favorable to them instead!

“Hah! How do you like that, Empire b*stards!” 𝘳𝘦.𝒸𝑜𝘮

With this, it’s obvious who won in this exchange. Still, due to threats and promises left and right, I have to increase production for a while… Well, it still works out in the end.

—

*BAM!*

A large fist slammed against the table, causing the documents filed on top of it to fly all over the office. The man who raised his fist was breathing heavily; his face was beet red from anger.

“How dare them…! They should’ve just obediently stayed indifferent to the Cleaver Kingdom!”

As if unable to find any outlet for his anger, he then cleared everything on top of his table, including an expensive-looking vase with beautiful white flowers on it.

*SHATTER!*

While the man was breaking anything and everything around him, someone entered the room without warning. It was a soldier, wearing the traditional blue uniform of the empire, standing in attention with a thin stack of documents gripped in one hand.

“Prince Damian, the detailed reports have arrived.”

The soldier announced this before passing the papers to the man. Although he was still setting with anger, he quickly took the papers from the guard and read through them.

“Will? So that’s the name of the man hindering my plans?”

His frown slowly turned upside down as he read further, making him feel that this “Will” was an idiot for picking a fight against him.

“Herman! Go with the Alpha Strike team and bring me this b*stard’s head, immediately!”

The soldier’s brow twitched slightly, but it wasn’t apparent enough that the prince would notice.

“As you wish, Your Highness.”

The guard simply bowed his head lightly before heading out of the room. After closing the door behind him and leaving the prince, who was still grinning to himself, the poor guard heaved a sigh of exasperation.

‘What an idiot! He thinks he could pick a fight against anyone just because the empire is powerful…’

Pride had something to do with it, but more than that, it was conceit.

‘They named themselves Heaven’s Republic for a reason, and you’re just going ahead and targeting their president? That’s a lunatic’s job!’

Still, an order from the prince is absolute, so he can’t dodge the assignment. At least, he could try to stay behind as part of the auxiliary team instead of as a fighter. That was the only way he thought he could survive.

“… Maybe I should really defect to them. The Empire is soon to be doomed.”

The guard sighed one last time before wearing his tall hat again and walking down the dark and quiet corridor of the palace.

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