LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 167 No One Can Judge Me, Not Even the King_2
They included this in the ceasefire agreement.
The Barbarian Tribes revered the young master for he had never killed a Barbarian Warrior on the battlefield; he merely knocked them out and set them aside for the soldiers to tie up.
Then they allowed the Barbarian Tribes to redeem their tribal warriors with valuable items.
The reason the Barbarian Tribes were willing to sign the ceasefire agreement with the Ande Kingdom was also because of the young master.
That day, the young master, alone, made his way to the Barbarian Tribes' main camp and found their leader, telling him he wanted to return to the Eternal City and asked the tribal leader to first sign a ceasefire agreement with the Northern Borders.
Upon hearing the young master's words, the tribal leader did not hesitate and immediately agreed.
If it had been any other general from the Ande Kingdom coming to him to sign a ceasefire agreement, it would have been wishful thinking.
The young master was different; he was too strong... skilled in both the pen and the sword, but most importantly... he had never killed a Barbarian Warrior on the battlefield.
The Barbarian Tribes were grateful and willing to sign a truce with the Northern Borders out of respect for the young master.
To put the young master's mind at ease, the Barbarian Tribes even went so far as to carve a nearly twenty-meter-tall statue of the young master and placed it on an open space on the Northern Borders' city walls.
They proclaimed that as long as the young master's statue remained unbroken, the Barbarian Tribes would not step beyond it.
Not long after the ceasefire agreement was sent to the Eternal City, the young master was recalled to the Eternal City.
This time, the young master was appointed to a position within the Finance Ministry.
That same year, the King of the Ande Kingdom appointed the young master as the tutor for the kingdom's first in line to the throne.
The young master officially entered the center of power in the Ande Kingdom and became a highly influential royal minister.
With the young master becoming the tutor for the heir apparent, many nobles and ministers began to visit the young master's residence frequently.
The young master's residence slowly transformed from a two-story building to a villa, and the villa gradually became a manor...
The members of the Bronze Guild who followed the young master watched with their own eyes as he embarked on a point of no return.
The young master was no longer stingy; as the tutor of the kingdom's heir apparent, he received gifts every day from ministers, merchants, and nobles.
He did not refuse anyone; as long as they were royal ministers, nobles, or merchants, he dared to accept their gifts. Your journey continues at My Virtual Library Empire
The young master did not forget them; he spent a great deal of money to have tailor-made exquisite sets crafted for them.
Prince Andre, the heir apparent, became a valued guest in the young master's manor, visiting daily and always bringing gifts for the young master.
And indeed, the young master took Prince Andre as his student.
On occasions, he took Prince Andre out for leisurely activities...
Since being reassigned to the Finance Ministry, the young master's wealth grew visibly fast, with chests of gold, silver, and jewels being moved into the manor.
It was as if a goose that passed by lost its feathers, and a beast that roamed left its skin.
Fortunately, the young master had not become so greedy as to completely lose his conscience.
Three years after the young master was transferred to the Finance Ministry, a flood disaster struck within the Ande Kingdom, leaving a large number of the population of an entire province homeless and hungry, without sufficient food or clothing.
Local officials requested the urgent allocation of supplies, food, and medicine.
On this matter, the young master did not reach out his hand; whatever funds, supplies, food, and medicine were allocated by the kingdom or collected were immediately sent to the disaster area.
He even voluntarily took out some money from his own coffers to purchase food and medicine...
In the fifth year of his tenure at the Finance Ministry, the young master was promoted and became the Finance Minister.
All financial requests from various departments of the kingdom had to go through his approval.
In September of the same year, the kingdom's second in line to the throne returned to the Eternal City.
The second in line to the throne was a princess.
Meredith discovered... the second-in-line princess was actually that girl who had been disguised as a boy in the Northern Borders.
The first thing she said upon meeting the young master was, "The Lance I know... did he die when he left the Northern Borders?"
The old man chuckled without a word.
On the day the second-in-line Princess returned to the Eternal City, the old King praised Princess Elusha in front of the kingdom's ministers. Between the lines, there seemed to be the implication that he intended for Elusha to succeed him to the throne.
Princess Elusha's arrival stirred up a storm in the otherwise tranquil Eternal City.
Many ministers supported Princess Elusha, believing she could purge the Eternal City of its parasites.
Furthermore, the old King's hints at wanting Elusha to inherit the throne made some ministers believe... that the King had lost confidence in Prince Andre and wanted to strip him of his right of succession.
Prince Andre detected this shift and often consulted with the young mentor, asking him to devise strategies for him.
Especially when Prince Andre learned that his teacher, Lance, had once saved the life of the second Princess Elusha in the Northern Borders... he became even more anxious and unsure.
He feared his teacher would abandon him in favor of supporting Elusha. If his own teacher, Lance, also chose to support Elusha, then he truly would have no right to ascend the throne.
Teacher Lance had become a minister of great importance to the kingdom; even dukes had to address him as Lord Lance upon meeting him.
Prince Andre asked the young mentor if he would abandon him to support his royal sister Elusha.
The young mentor smiled and assured him, "I will not."
He wouldn't abandon his student to support Princess Elusha, even if he had once saved her... he would not back Elusha for the throne.
[Although Prince Andre may not be capable of expanding the kingdom's territory, he certainly has enough to be a king who maintains the status quo.]
That was the young mentor's assessment of Prince Andre.
The competition between Prince Andre and Princess Elusha grew increasingly fierce; at first, Andre continually suppressed Elusha.
Until the old King increasingly favored Princess Elusha, and more and more ministers and nobles sided with her.
From suppression, to evenly matched, and then to disadvantage...
The situation for Prince Andre grew progressively worse.
What the Bronze Guild's members couldn't understand was, with the situation deteriorating so badly, why the young mentor still hadn't abandoned Andre to support Princess Elusha?
If things continued to develop in this way, the one who would definitely become the ruler of Ande Kingdom would be Princess Elusha.
Princess Elusha's attitude toward the young mentor had also shifted from initial admiration and attempts at winning him over to enmity and disgust.
Under these circumstances, once Elusha became the Queen of Ande Kingdom, she would certainly execute the now corrupt young mentor.
Fifteen years had passed.
The members of the Bronze Guild had already spent fifteen years in the "Historical Reproduction."
The key figures triggering the "Historical Reproduction" had increased from two to three, with the old King now out of the picture.
The three figures were Princess Elusha, Prince Andre, and the young mentor.
Fifteen years had gone by, and the young mentor had turned into a youth.
On this day, members of the Bronze Bounty Guild gathered together; even with the young mentor's support, Prince Andre's current situation wasn't looking good.
"Fifteen years have passed, and we thought we wouldn't age, but now it seems... I was too optimistic. If we can't find a breakthrough, we might indeed die of old age here."
"Die of old age? Stop dreaming; our Bronze Party has already been labeled as corrupt officials. With how things are going, even Lord Lance might not live to see his seventies or eighties. I'd wager in another year or two, the young mentor will be sent to the gallows by Princess Elusha."
And then... we might have to die with him. Do you think... the breakthrough... could be to change the fate of the young mentor from being executed?"
"From the looks of it, that's a very likely possibility. As long as we can persuade the young mentor to change his doomed fate of hanging, perhaps we could leave this 'Historical Reproduction.'"
"Meredith... should we talk to the young mentor?"
Creak—
The door to the Bronze Tavern was pushed open, and the young mentor, wearing a white gold robe, entered, closing the door behind him while smiling, "What is it you want to discuss with me?"
"Young mentor, it's time to turn back from the wrong path. It's not too late to start anew. Out of gratitude for saving her life, Princess Elusha won't put you on trial."
The young mentor asked Meredith for a glass of wine, took a sip, and then, spinning the glass in his hand, chuckled, "Put me on trial? No one here is qualified to judge me, not even the King."