I Planned a Su*cide Mission and Got Kicked Out of the Party

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정재 received a visit request from Count Harker and couldn’t help but seriously contemplate this matter.

It was not an invitation but a request for a visit; Harker wanted to personally drive his carriage to Harriet’s Territory. Moreover, this was a very sensitive and significant diplomatic issue. It was about determining the specifics of command authority within the Southern Alliance and the essential mobilization forces for both families.

As he read the letter conveyed by the pigeon, Jeongjae was drenched in cold sweat.

Harker was not a person with ordinary guts. Of course, sending a pigeon for message delivery was much safer than dispatching a messenger during such times, but writing such important contents in a completely unencrypted letter to send—it was reckless.

If intercepted by enemies, the movements and timings of the Count and Duke could be entirely exposed, leading to unexpected attacks from foes.

In his anxious thoughts, Jeongjae wondered if a vampire had already intercepted the letter and released it, inspecting the pigeon that delivered the letter carefully.

However, aside from the ‘magic choker’ around the bird’s neck that “controls animals to follow human will,” there was nothing particularly unusual about it.

The handwriting in the letter matched Count Harker’s, and since there were no signs of tampering, Jeongjae decided to accept that the Count’s letter was real.

Thinking about it, it was not a very strange request. Jeongjae had never prepared to actively get involved in deciding the details of the alliance and had no related documents, but he could always lend a venue for the meeting.

And speaking of the location, it clearly held significance that Harriet’s Territory would be the meeting place for both Grand Lords. The very necessity of this alliance originated from the invasion incident of Harriet’s Territory by enemies, and it further represented Harker’s importance by bringing the matter to Duke Jeffrey, who was Jeongjae himself.

Also, Count Harker had a daughter who had recently left under Jeongjae’s command, so he would surely want to hear related stories directly.

Jeongjae felt an urge to ask Count Harker directly about the clues he had discovered in the cellar.

To be honest, Jeongjae had slowly started to form his own speculations about who exactly this ‘Arthur Harker’ really was. Whether it was true or not was secondary; he wouldn’t feel at ease until he confirmed it.

“But how is he planning to come here?”

Jeongjae muttered worriedly. This was not superstitious thinking. Count Harker had mentioned not long ago that he was attacked by vampires while transporting his carriage to attend a session of the Imperial Assembly.

Jeongjae didn’t doubt the truth of that statement. And there was no guarantee that an incident like that wouldn’t happen again. No, he thought it was very likely to repeat. It was certain that the Harker family had close ties with the ‘Earth-origin vampires’ faction, led by Dracula.

Thinking this way, even if he cast firm protective magic, he felt uneasy about sending Jenis away alone. But surely, it would be alright.

The protective magic placed on that carriage was powerful enough that Jeongjae himself had to remain bedridden for a day due to mana exhaustion from casting it. For any typical vampire, the counter-magic on the carriage alone would be enough to knock them out instantly, and even if it was Dracula of the Night, as long as Jenis could quietly hide inside the carriage, the defenses would be impenetrable throughout the night.

Unless a dragon directly flew south and breathed fire, that carriage would be safe. Moreover, since the person inside the carriage was Jenis Harker, Jeongjae had taken all possible precautions before sending her off.

Given that such a powerful mage even had to opt for such security measures, the current situation must really be dire; what kind of confidence did important figures like Harker or Jeffrey have to dare venture to Harriet’s Territory?

Jeongjae would have liked to go meet both of them personally, but if he did that and left the empty territory vulnerable like last time…

Without Jenis, he couldn’t feel safe even during the day. Even with someone of Jenis’s caliber, they could easily gain an advantage against Dracula in daylight, but no matter how high the sun was, the vampire lord had the power to massacre all the people in this territory.

“I hope nothing happens…”

In a situation where he absolutely had to write a reply, even if he wrote the letter in English, it was clear that Dracula from Earth would easily decipher it, so Jeongjae sent a simple reply in Caprice, the common language of the Audrich Empire, asking them to be careful.

If there was a short-range transmitter in Eramenia, it wouldn’t be necessary to worry so much about sending a message via pigeon.

With Jeongjae’s level of magic, it was certainly possible to send a short letter to Harker without that device, but because the mana consumption was significant for even such a minor spell, it wasn’t something he could use lightly like sending a letter or telegram.

It was like having an old-feature phone capable of LTE internet but being burdened by a plan that charged a ridiculous fee after just 10 minutes of usage—it felt too taxing to bear.

“Well, there wouldn’t be a huge problem even if that content were intercepted. After all, it doesn’t seem like they’re closely monitoring the pigeons…”

To minimize the information that might leak if intercepted, Jeongjae wrote in the letter, ‘Feel free to act as you wish, but given the circumstances, please stay as safe as possible.’

Having satisfactorily handled Count Harker’s request, Jeongjae sighed deeply while looking out the window.

The beach had gradually begun to reveal dirt, but there were still no signs of fishing resuming. The supplies that Violet had brought last time had provided enough resources for the villagers to continue their lives, and the beach restoration work had been completely halted due to the significant damages caused by last time’s invasion by Dracula.

In fact, most of that damage was due to Jeongjae’s ‘Van Fleet’ magic, but no one blamed him for it. Jeongjae himself wouldn’t feel too guilty over such a matter.

Well, at least no one had died. Jeongjae generally didn’t harshly blame anyone nor berate himself for mistakes that were ‘recoverable’—that is, significant damages wherein human lives were not lost. Material losses were something that did not warrant too much concern in this era.

Upon hearing the saying, ‘A world where money and wealth solve everything,’ the old Jeongjae might have thought, ‘What a world gone crazy.’

But to be honest, Jeongjae now really missed that world. A world where money equated to power and having possessions meant one could live comfortably while commanding others without a care.

With the Demon King’s Army eyeing the total annihilation of humanity and taking over 70% of the continent by force, what did it matter to have a lot of money and land? Aristocrats or nouveau riche who were solely focused on amassing their own wealth without considering contributing to the Empire’s fight had mostly been shattered or fallen within the last decade.

They either suffered major damages inflicted by the Demon King’s Army that led to their own decline or were deliberately cleaned out due to laws enacted by the Imperial Assembly, which consisted of enlightened nobles.

After reading various histories of the Empire, Jeongjae concluded that Anton Caprice was a more formidable figure than he appeared. Once the defense line of the noble members had been roughly established, the current Emperor began purging his political rivals with ferocious intent.

It was highly likely that the rise of the capable Harker family was a deliberate outcome facilitated by the Caprice royal family in that process. At the very least, during a time when the country faced the risk of ruin, the ‘pigs too busy trying to save their own skin’ were shown the Emperor’s iron hammer, and thereafter, Walter Hellhound and the Harker family faced joint sanctions and vanished into the annals of history.

While there were certainly uneasy elements, at least the political situation within the Empire was more stable than the internal intelligence of the Demon King’s Army, which was a small consolation.

Objectively, the Demon King’s forces were overwhelmingly superior to the Imperial Army, but they maintained an unstable system where it wouldn’t be surprising if it collapsed at any moment.

Even based on what Jeongjae had picked up from Walter, the number of uneasy elements he was aware of was considerable.

The Dragon Lord in the northwest had sworn loyalty immediately upon witnessing the Demon King’s swift coup and cunning, yet he refused to actively expose his sole power, the dragons, fearing that the Demon King might eliminate him at any time, thus secretly seeking to expand his influence.

While the Demon King tried to suppress the Dragon Lord with his intimidation, there were times when even the Demon King found it challenging when facing the Dragon Lord, who was able to issue commands without hesitation to other military commanders.

On the surface, it seemed like all the dragons swore absolute loyalty to the Demon King and were united, but the reality was that it concealed an underlying tension as perilous as the Second National and Public Alliance. Walter speculated that if humanity were to face total annihilation, a full-scale conflict between the Demon King’s Army and the dragons would likely erupt within a week.

If the Dragon Lord was terrified of losing its dragons in battle, then it was quite reasonable to assume that it was somehow preparing for a confrontation with the Demon King following the extinction of humanity.

The Succubus Queen Elioce swears absolute loyalty to the Demon King, and her clan of succubi feel no affection for any other lord apart from the Demon King.

However, compared to her high intelligence, the Succubus Queen’s military skills are somewhat lacking, and given that the succubus species is limited in combat beyond espionage, there are aspects in which they fall short as proper guard forces for the Demon King.

In terms of information gathering, the Succubus Queen is just as competent as Walter, but knowing well that the succubi are in conflict with the Dragon Lord, the Demon King has given strength to the succubi in a bid to suppress the political influence of the Dragon Lord, despite not wanting to resolve this conflict.

However, if this suppression is taken too far, it could trigger the dragons’ unease, leading them to seek a truce with humans or instigate a rebellion, making it a delicate matter to approach.

The Gargoyle Queen, being the sole survivor of her exterminated kin, has been selected as a close confidant of the Demon King solely for her talents, lacking any independent forces. However, the Gargoyle Queen is well aware of her precarious position among the high-ranking officials, relying heavily on the Demon King’s favor, fostering a strong inclination to cling to it.

In essence, competition with the other high-ranking official, the loyal Succubus Queen who also holds the Demon King’s favor, was unavoidable. This issue is undoubtedly a headache for the Demon King as well. Both queens stake their political lives on winning the favor of the Demon King, so he must tread carefully not to instill excessive unease or overconfidence in either side.

What Jeongjae is still unaware of is that the Demon King has recently undertaken a daring experiment by concentrating military authority within the Gargoyles while shifting political authority to the Succubus Queen, trying to find a balance in this tenuous game.

Of course, Walter had picked up on this experiment when he saw that the Succubus Queen remained in the rear while the Gargoyle Queen was brought to the frontlines as a chief of enemies.

In the meantime, Dracula has frequently acted independently of the Demon King’s orders, leading his own forces to attack humans. Walter often pointed out that the sporadic vampire incursions seemed at odds with the movements of the Demon King’s Army.

Sometimes, the path of the Demon King’s advance would be exposed due to the actions of the vampires, bringing about military disadvantages to the Demon King’s forces. While the Dracula faction and the Dragon Lord did not exhibit outright opposition or caution towards each other, there were numerous signs indicating the Demon King’s comparatively weak control over these vampires.

The undead lord, the Necromancer, kept sending liches into the battlefield while remaining hidden himself.

Rumors even circulated that when his most powerful confidant, the Lich Lord, was dispatched, the Necromancer underwent no noticeable movements.

Jeongjae found himself doubting whether even the Demon King knew how to contact the Necromancer, but Walter contemplated that perhaps the Demon King had a reason to keep the Necromancer hidden deep somewhere.

Either way, there were many problems within the Demon King’s Army that were difficult to approach even when considering just the high-ranking officials. If they proceeded to examine the middle and lower-ranking officials beneath those high-ranking ones, it was becoming increasingly clear that it would be a never-ending situation.

Previously, when Jeongjae had asked Walter how he thought the Demon King’s Army would go about resolving these issues, Walter had answered like this.

“It’s obvious. There are two things. They’ll push us indefinitely to achieve tactical successes. As long as they gain successes in battles, the Demon King’s Army can also unite. If not, they have no choice but to wait for us to advance. Regardless, when we advance, the enemy will unite. No matter how divided they seem, they aren’t a group so foolish that they can’t calculate to that extent.”

That was one of the reasons Walter was so reluctant about taking the northern expedition. “When blocking, we only have to face 100,000 enemy forces, but if we try to breach, 2 million will come to stop us,” was Walter’s perspective.

However, a strange rumor had recently emerged. There was news that Walter Hellhound had collected a massive army of 100,000 and was launching a full-scale northern expedition.

Moreover, Jeongjae himself, the most powerful mage the Empire could mobilize, was deliberately excluded from this endeavor.

“Are you wanting me to protect the south, Walter?”

Jeongjae muttered quietly as he gazed out the window. Rather, he would prefer that scenario. That way, he would then at least be recognized for being useful by Walter. If the 100,000-strong forces had crossed the borders with Walter having tasked Jeongjae to secure the rear, Jeongjae might find a sense of pride in that role.

But what if it was the opposite?

“Or do you simply not want to see me on the front lines?”

If it was just that Walter had seen the ‘Manhattan’ scroll and was merely worried about the situation in which it would be used, actively pushing Jeongjae out of the front lines, then Jeongjae would have lost an opportunity to play an active role on the battlefield, a chance to fight for countless lives.

If that speculation was true, Jeongjae would find it hard to escape the feeling of wasting his talent and the burden of guilt from unnecessarily acting up.

In any case, he wanted to understand Walter’s thoughts. He wanted to know the thoughts of everyone, including Walter. But in the end, this outsider, who could not understand or accept anyone’s thoughts, found himself sinking into deep powerlessness once again, staring out at the sea as the hours passed by.