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The end of the war didn’t mean that it was time to rest. In fact, there was more work than before now that it was over.

The Acreian army was made up of professional soldiers. Even if there were peace and no battles to be fought, these men needed to be paid and maintained. The military was their livelihood.

And keeping an army was a very expensive business, and it was necessary to find another use for the soldiers after the war.

Lucius the First already had a plan for this situation. The soldiers were to be sent to the colonies, however, the problem was that the men did not want to leave their home again. They have been away for the last 10 years, and the soldiers didn’t want to leave their families again to go work in strange kingdoms.

When the former emperor was alive, he gathered the men for his army by offering attractive contracts. At the time, no one believed in the emperor’s dream to unite the world, so it was difficult to get the men to join him. The noblemen wanted the emperor to fail because it meant that their power would rise. Only the poor and powerless men volunteered at the time. They needed the money for their family.

Thankfully, a few years of excellent training allowed the Acreian army to grow into one of the best on the continent.

Lucius the First offered the low ranking soldiers the contracts to be deployed to the other kingdoms, but he also didn’t stop anyone who wanted to stay home. But anyone who was willing to go was offered a significant promotion and a raise. Many did take the offer and set out to create new lives. The majority of these men were unmarried and came from families that had many sons. Those who were married with children mostly decided to remain in Acreia, but a few chose to take their entire family and move to the south.

Next was the higher-ranking soldiers and knights…

Lucius the First’s army was made up of unusually young men. And most of the high-ranking officers were second or third sons of their families, which meant that it wasn’t too difficult for these men to accept the positions down south, especially with the strong possibility of a huge promotion. Some of them dreamt of becoming the viceroy of the colonies.

It seemed that the emperor’s plan to repurpose his military force was working, but he found out soon enough that it wasn’t that simple.

The Acreian law stated that the nobles could not own a significant army of their own. And when Lucius the First was on the throne, this law was followed to a good degree. But during the last 10 years when he was away, things have changed. Duke Luzo still enforced the same law, but it wasn’t followed as strictly. Many powerful noblemen gathered young men to create their own private army.

And it was very easy to go around the law. As long as the noblemen didn’t call the men “soldiers” on official papers, they were ok. They were hired as “farmers,” “hunters,” and various other positions, and using this method, the nobles created significant armies of their own.

This was a problem for Lucius the First. He was trying to disperse the soldiers and find them new useful positions, but the other sneaky nobles such as Marquis Seeze was also offering his own soldiers to everyone.

Lucius the First murmured in annoyance, “That old bastard…”

‘Should I just kill him?’

The emperor gritted his teeth. It would have been so much easier and simpler to have this old marquis killed, but he knew this wasn’t the solution. Even if he somehow made his death look natural, there were bound to be rumors that the emperor secretly killed the marquis. This would cause even greater problems for Lucius the First.

It wasn’t worth it. The best and safest thing was to wait for Marquis Seeze to die of old age. Wasn’t a victory without any bloodshed the best kind of a win? Lucius the First knew he could be patient. These annoying old men would die one by one eventually and when they do, their places will be replaced by new men, and the emperor has to make sure that these new forces do not gain too much power too quickly. He had to always be wary of everyone and stomp on anyone who showed the potential to become problematic later.

Yes, the war was over, but this was only the beginning of a new kind of war.

Politics.

***

Despite still being a very young man, Duke Luzo suffered from chronic fatigue and stress. His receding hairline was still a great concern to the emperor.

Duke Luzo firmly believed that the return of his cousin, the emperor, was going to end his misery. He was believing that once he was free of stress, his hair would return.

But the reality was too cruel…

Duke Luzo said to Lucius the First, “Your highness, I think it is finally time for me to return to my home.”

“Luzo, my cousin.”

The emperor gave him a friendly smile. It was a beautiful smile, but Duke Luzo didn’t fall for it.

“You want something from me, don’t you?! I know you very well!”

“Luzo, I am so appreciative of your hard work.”

“I am aware of that fact, your highness. So I believe it is time for me to retire to my home.”

“Luzo, I want the same thing for you too! But only after all the work is done, of course. Hahaha!”

The emperor laughed loudly before grabbing his cousin. He grinned and said to Duke Luzo, “We will all get to rest when it’s done. So let’s get to work again! Hahaha! Together!”

“Nooo!!! You are too cruel!”

“Hahahaha!”

Duke Luzo screamed, but the emperor’s laughter was louder. Sir Jainno shook his head as he watched the emperor drag away the duke. Sir Jainno knew the hardship of having a cruel older brother. Just as Duke Luzo was bullied by an older cousin Lucius the First, Sir Jainno suffered the same fate by his older brother Sir Ainno, especially when they were younger.

Sir Jainno was busy himself as well. He had to study the new members of his division and train them. He also had to continue reinforcing the defense of the castle.

Only

There had been a significant increase in visitors to the Nanaba castle, and it was Sir Jainno’s job to screen them. He was short on men to do this job, and Sir Ainno was away for the business of the knight’s order.

Sir Jainno thought to himself, ‘I am going to have to get more men for the royal guard division.’

There were only two royal members to be protected, but there was more work now to protect the royal castle. This was a big job and he needed more men.

Sir Jainno was also concerned about the internal struggle between his own men and the guards from the emperor’s division. The two teams were combined together, and it seemed that something might be brewing.

‘Idiots.’

Sir Jainno touched his own hair and sighed. After watching what happened to Duke Luzo’s hair, Sir Jainno has developed a fear for his own hairline.

Stress was such a dangerous thing for men and their hair.