Ultimate Gamer System: Factory Must Grow!-Chapter 71: The Capital’s Shadows

The halls of the imperial palace were as busy as ever.

With servants, ministers, and couriers running all around, one could feel just how much of a heavy task it was to keep a country running.

Those busy halls, however, would suddenly grow still and silent once a certain figure appeared, with everyone stopping whatever it was that they were doing to respectfully bow down, waiting for the man to pass.

"Prime Minister…"

Only the select few, men who climbed nearly as far as it was possible to in the political ranks of the kingdom, had the privilege of addressing the man as he passed by, only to receive a slight nod or a smile in return, an acknowledgment of their greeting.

’This really feels good,’ Julian thought, intentionally slowing down his stroll to bask in this air of respect and reverence for as long as he could, the consequences of being late to his meeting be damned.

He was the second most important figure in the entire kingdom, superseded only by the king himself, with even his many queens, consorts, concubines, heirs, and illegitimate children falling below his rank.

Or so would be the case if His Majesty had enough strength to ever wake up from the drug-induced sleep that Julian patiently and carefully maintained.

In the end, however, no matter how much Julian loved his morning commute away from the king’s chambers and to the council room where he did most of his work, it would always come to an end. And once the heavy doors of the chamber closed with a loud crack, all the atmosphere of mystical power that he wielded in his hands would drop, vanishing as if it was never there to begin with.

Julian was the second most important person in the kingdom.

But that was the story to all those who foolishly believed that the official ranks were all there was to the political structure of power in the capital.

And once within the confines of his work chambers, Julian could no longer count on anyone to give him the respect his role was supposed to provide.

After all, all those who could enter this room would be that man’s subordinates. And just like their master, they had no patience to bother with ceremony nor the time to tickle Julian’s ego.

"You surely took your time to get here."

Sitting smack-dab in Julian’s chair and with his feet barbarically laid down on his expensive desk, Dorio clicked his tongue with a look of disappointment mixing on his face with a look of displeasure and outright annoyance.

"I was…" Julian gulped his saliva down, "withheld at the royal chamber…"

Dorio, one of the generals under the kingdom’s Marshal employ, scanned Julian with his cold eyes, only to then reach out… and point at one of the chairs sitting on the other end of the desk, chairs designated not for Julian, but for those who were to visit him.

Obviously, however, with Dorio in the room, rather than in the seat of power, Julian could only sit down where petitioners and servants sat, ready to listen to his new orders as opposed to giving them out.

"That girl is making worrying moves," Dorio started as soon as Julian placed his skinny ass down on the simple, wooden chair. "She already made a mess in the judiciary district, pushing some of the nobles there to…" The man held his voice back while rustling his short, black beard, "to reconsider their loyalty towards the cause. And now, I’m hearing some worrying news of her going as far as to raising her clan’s banners."

Hearing this, Julian sat up straight, his face turning back to how it was all those years ago when he took his job, role, and position as the king’s right-hand man seriously and passionately.

"You mean… that Perell girl? But why would you care?"

After an initial moment of confusion, the sleazy look returned to Julian’s face as he internally dismissed the general’s worries.

"They might be rich, but they don’t amount to much outside of their coffins," he stated while opening his arms up only to then shake them. "I would be worried if she tried to pull some of our men onto her own payroll, but knowing her…" Julian shook his head only to then put a knowing smile on his lips, "she wouldn’t stoop so low as to dabble in corruption."

Rather than a word of praise, Julian’s voice made it clear he was making fun of the girl’s naivety.

’So much money at her disposal and yet, she will not use it to get the best potential leverage,’ he thought, shaking his head over the girl’s idiocy all the while feeling all the more superior for it.

"You say she wouldn’t dabble in the… darker side of the world, and yet," Dorio squinted his eyes a little, keeping his sights locked on Julian regardless of all the excessive antics of the corrupt minister, "and yet, I’m hearing she made contact with the Abyss Guild, though."

"That’s…" Struck by Dorio’s words, Julian finally came to his senses and calmed down before focusing on the topic. For once, his sleazy smile vanished from his mouth as he rubbed his perfectly shaved chin, his eyes focused on some unspecified speck of dust on the chamber’s floor.

Then, his eyes suddenly widened, only for the man to then look up with a relaxed, casual look on his face as he accepted Dorio’s stare and responded with one of his own.

"I guess it all makes sense now," Julian stated, standing up from his chair and then walking off to the chamber’s huge window overlooking the eastern side of the palace’s complex.

"Explain."

"As far as I’m aware, the Abyss Guild has some sort of a connection to the Perell family. Whether they sponsored them, used their influence to get to where they are now or whatever else, doesn’t matter. But while contacting them is not what I would expect from her, it’s also the key to figure out all her other moves."

Julian turned silent, staring at the busy streets of the palace’s compound below, only to then turn back and face Dorio with his hands locking behind his back.

"Callane comes and makes a mess in the judiciary district. Then, she raises what little banners she has before making contact with the Abyss Guild, a move we never expected her to make," he summed up all of the girl’s moves before shaking his head. "In other words, she’s going to take her elites and try to break that genius bastard out from exile," Julian stated only to then shrug his shoulders. "That, or maybe she wants to go there to help him stay alive?"

Dorio squinted his eyes even further.

"And by that genius bastard, you mean…"

"That Evilbane’s brat we got executed by exile," Julian quickly elaborated, "you know, after he sank our investment in the area."

For a moment, Dorio turned silent.

"And what are you going to do about it, then?" he finally asked, looking up to Julian with renewed interest.

For how much he abhorred dealing with this traitor, there was no denying how… creative his solutions could be at times, especially for problems that would otherwise require too much investment to be worth solving.

"Do about it?" Julian chuckled. "Why would you want to bother?" he asked while shaking his head in slight exasperation. "Judging from how she moved, she will likely get someone sentenced to exile and then use them to pass the gates. In other words," Julian’s smile grew, "she’s willingly removing herself from the equation."

Moving away from the window, Julian sat right back down in his chair. Now, however, his position was much more relaxed, indicative of his spirits now that he felt like he solved the problem Dorio came to bother him with.

"Just station some troops at the gate once she’s beyond it, and slaughter them all once they try to return. It’s way out of everyone’s sights anyway, so we can get rid of the heirs of the two most annoying houses and no one will be any wiser, allowing us to just… outlast them."

At this point, Dorio’s lips curved into a semblance of what likely was intended to be a smile.

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

A look that managed to pull Julian out of his satisfied state and put him back in the place of a mere servant that he was.

"I like that idea. But I’m not going to just station my men there," he stated as he finally removed his feet from Julian’s desk only to then stand up, ready to leave. "Prepare someone for sentencing," he ordered as his eyes took on a darker, heavier look, "I think I’m going to take a trip to the outlands myself."