Chapter 542, Section 541: Eleanor's Dilemma
With the large-scale war temporarily over, the attention of the dukes within the empire shifted from the great battle back to their respective territories.
Sigismund was busy replenishing his army and re-selecting Blood Knights, and once again rejected his mentally unstable roommate's proposed method of selecting them by raising venomous insects.
A large portion of the funds for rebuilding the army came from selling delicious "wine".
Of course, they were all LV1 or LV2 level delicacies, and the outflow was strictly controlled. Despite so many restrictions, it still brought him a huge fortune.
Even princes traveled a long way to visit him, hoping to squeeze more good stuff out of him.
Such staggering profits naturally attracted countless prying eyes.
Recently, overt and covert probes and investigations have been coming one after another.
Of all those who coveted it, none made Sigismund feel more threatened than Mofrey.
This emperor was directly under the head of the intelligence agency, and controlled the empire's most elite network of secret agents.
In the covert battle of intelligence, Sigismund knew he was completely at a disadvantage.
So far, he has only been certain that Mofrey's men are already operating in his territory. As for how far they have gone or how much key information they have obtained, he knows almost nothing.
But that's not the most difficult part.
The real problem is that Mövenpick represents, to some extent, the Emperor's will.
Although Sigismund was 90% certain that this was just Mofrey using her authority to cause him trouble on her own initiative to avenge the day he was in the council, he still dared not easily kill the emperor's direct spies.
If the matter escalates and reaches His Majesty, Mofrey will be punished, and the Emperor might even offer Sigismund some compensation as a gesture of appeasement.
However, the act of "killing the emperor's secret agent without authorization" will become an indelible stain on his record, with endless future troubles.
Therefore, the best solution is to make the other side return empty-handed and give up, but Sigismund guesses that his side is probably already thoroughly investigated.
"A spy? A spy? Don't worry, Xiao Xi, they can't find my way."
With his roommate saying that, Sigismund could only pray that he would be reliable this time.
...
Sigismund was annoyed by Mofrey, but compared to Eleanor's current predicament, his troubles were nothing.
Eleanor was utterly exhausted, her face showing signs of weariness, and she could barely drink any of the blood she needed each day.
The first blow came from Sigismund's so-called "delicious wine".
This thing dealt a heavy blow to her high-end blood donation business, which she had built up over many years.
In the past, the "top-quality drinks" she painstakingly created, with their rich and complex flavors, were simply insignificant compared to true deliciousness.
Her goods instantly plummeted from being top-tier luxury items to "high-quality goods that are slightly better than ordinary goods."
Nowadays, any vampire with some status and wealth would be scrambling to get their hands on a few jars of [Delicious] to try.
Only those who absolutely cannot secure a quota, or who are too broke to afford it, will reluctantly remember that Eleanor still has stock, and the price she offers is far lower than before.
She was ready to put past conflicts behind her after Sigismund saved her in a critical moment last time.
As a result, Sigismund's actions cut off half of her source of income, making her hate Sigismund even more than before.
Eleanor did send people to find Sigismund's source of goods.
However, whenever a spy manages to uncover even the slightest valuable clue, they always disappear without a trace.
She couldn't understand how Sigismund's counter-espionage methods had become so formidable.
Now, her only remaining advantage seems to be her large production volume and relatively stable supply.
And this so-called advantage is now facing a severe test.
The previous war of aggression against the United Kingdom ended in a lose-lose situation for both sides.
Those who retreated were all remnants of the defeated army. Eleanor's original plan to take advantage of the chaos to acquire a large number of high-quality prisoners to replenish her "raw materials" also fell through.
But this was not a fatal problem, as the kingdom's west coast continued to send prisoners to it.
However, this line has recently been broken.
The sea is in chaos!
Whether it was related to the dissipation of the fog and the increase in the concentration of magic, a swarm of monsters called Qis appeared in large numbers in the sea and frantically attacked all ships sailing by.
Eleanor has lost a total of seven slave ships!
She was completely helpless against Keith; her navy, which specialized in transporting slaves, was no match for these insects.
However, if they choose to transport the goods by land, there is a risk of human hijacking, the journey will be longer and the cost will increase dramatically, and there is even the possibility that Sigismund will hold them hostage, which is extremely risky.
The only way out Eleanor could think of was to ask His Majesty the Emperor for help.
However, this leads to a third thorny problem.
Previously, the emperor had ordered her to search for the sacred texts again and assigned Sigismund to assist her.
Sigismund was extremely perfunctory in his response, sending only a few insignificant subordinates to handle the matter.
Of course, that's not the key point.
The key issue is that the search operation was stuck in a stalemate from the very beginning.
In the past, they relied on a special material of the same origin as the book cover to locate the sacred texts, and used the slight sense of distance between the two to roughly determine their location.
But this time, the sensing method failed.
After the order was given, Eleanor quickly assembled a new search party, led by a trusted confidant, and set off south.
However, the team turned back within two days.
According to the sensor, the Holy Scripture has inexplicably reappeared in the north.
After that, the location of the Holy Scripture began to jump randomly between north and south, occasionally pointing towards the Dwarf Mountain or the Elf Forest, or even towards the sea.
Clearly, this method of locating the holy book has been cracked by its current unknown owner and has been interfered with in some way, rendering it ineffective.
The quest to find the sacred text failed before it even began.
With such an important task making no progress, if she were to focus her energy and demands on her slave business at this point, even Eleanor knew that His Majesty would not let her off easily.
As a result, none of the three problems could be solved.
Under the immense pressure of being torn between two options, Eleanor quickly became haggard.
Now, she weighs less than one-sixth of Sigismund's weight.
However, she didn't know that at least Keith's problem was easy to solve.
...
On the high seas, Kiro and Tanaka are navigating a medium-sized vessel through the dangerous waters where Eleanor lost seven slave ships.
However, unlike Eleanor's experience, despite the constant large waves on the sea, there was no sign of Keith.
Tanaka stood on the deck and looked around. He whispered to the fox-man beside him, "I understand hiring snake people. After all, they have a natural advantage when it comes to exploring underwater underground cities."
"But what's the point of bringing these puffy things along? Aren't these monsters that only spray spores a complete waste of magic potions?"
(End of this chapter)
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