System vs Rebirth

"What? They have been defeated?"

"How come they are defeated so quickly?"

The king, Duke Raymond, and several nobles held a private meeting, discussing the trade ban.

"It's not important. The most important problem will be their current condition." Duke Raymond bit his lips. "They are in dire need of support. It's going to be hard to help them because the nobles around them will take action."

"Shouldn't we use the royal army? They won't be able to act that way."

"The royal army can't be used in this case. People will just think the royal family is abusing their power."

"Then, are we going to abandon them? There will be a lot of nobles that will think we'll do the same to them in the future."

Duke Raymond bit his lips. "I could think of several plans, but we have to wait for the winter.

"There's no way they can last that long. Some citizens are even reported to have fled to Marquis Ardagan's territory."

"Does that mean we can't do anything?"

The people were concerned. Even the king didn't say anything as if he were waiting for an answer from his retainers.

Due to how swiftly Noel finished it, they didn't have enough time to react. To get enough money to support them, they would have to gather them for a long period of time so that there wouldn't be any inflation or deflation. That was why Duke Raymond was confident in helping them after the winter.

But in this situation, they simply had no choice.

…

Their atmosphere was similar to the one in President Matthew's office. After getting hit by Maxwell, Theressa, and Zephyr, he was doing his best to stop his company from going out of the top ten.

However, people had become a bit skeptical about trading with them, afraid that they would anger Marquis Ardagan.

In addition to the promotion that the three presidents had done, they became even more popular.

President Maxwell bit his lips, recalling how he threatened Noel. At this point, he might be the one to beg for forgiveness.

…

The four nobles had the most stress.

Earl Canmond coughed a few times while looking at the report. He looked exhausted as if he had aged a few years in just a week. "We are already losing three thousand people from this territory. And more will probably come. I need to station the soldiers near the border… but will I still have enough soldiers to stop any revolt that might occur after that?"

Count Caulbot was bedridden because of the stress. His son was screaming at him, "This is your fault! If you didn't provoke the Marquis, we wouldn't have to suffer like this. How am I supposed to take care of all this?!"

Count Yatcher was buried under all the documents. There were several letters on his desk as he planned to beg other people to save his territory.

Last but not least, Count Lesen was gathering his son and daughter in his office.

"The royal family has abandoned us. If we continue this useless fight, there won't be any Lesen family anymore. My son, you are going to take over my position."

"But Father… I don't know how to handle these problems. How am I even supposed to stop the Marquis's anger?"

Count Lesen glanced at his daughter. "You will go to him and serve him as his slave or maid. I will retire to atone for my mistake. If that's not enough, I will take my own life as long as it can remove his anger from this land."

"What?" The two children gasped for different reasons. His son was surprised that this might be the last time he met his father. His daughter never thought that her status would be reduced to that of a mere servant. She might even be treated less than a commoner in that place.

"I have never thought that the royal family would even abandon us. It just makes me angry because all this starts with their order." Count Lesen bit his lips. "My son, never point our sword at Marquis Ardagan anymore. After seeing what has happened to us, I believe that even the royal family will be defeated if they fight the Marquis in the north. If they want to defeat him, they have to take the fight elsewhere, but I don't know if it's even possible.

"My daughter. I'm sorry that your life will become hell after this. If there is indeed a next life, I hope that you find a better father than me."

His daughter bit her lips. While she had been educated in various things, she had never learned what a servant could do. In addition, she couldn't take her own life because it might cause the marquis to unleash his anger on their family again. In other words, from this point on, she would live in a harsh condition and would meet all kinds of humiliation every single day.

…

While they were stressed under the pressure of Noel, the latter was actually stretching lazily on his bed. "I'm exhausted."

"Is it because of me?" Anna, who was next to him, responded.

"Of course not. It's just… there is too much work in the office."

"But the preparation for the winter is going pretty smoothly, right?" Anna asked.

"Yes. All the necessities have been taken care of. But I'm trying to upgrade it a little bit more. Instead of surviving the winter, I'm also thinking about how we can be productive even during the winter."

"You're pretty greedy, you know that?"

"Yes and no. Right now, if people can be productive during the winter, they can actually get more money during a period where it's usually impossible to get money. With enough money, they can use it for other comforts. This way, their children won't have to help them anymore. Since their sons have some spare time, I can push education to everyone."

"Oh. That sounds good. If every single person in this city can read and write, it will be extremely good."

"Not just that, it'll make upholding laws much easier. We're going to make them learn and improve their logical thinking. This way, more and more people can contribute to future development. In addition, the future generation will be more civilized. That's when the family cars can be introduced."

"I see." Anna nodded in understanding. "By the way, I have been inspecting the progress of the farmland, the airship, and the battleship. The air has become chilly since we're only two weeks away from the winter month.

"The farmland has harvested everything and will gradually send the harvest to the city soon. The airship is progressing better than we expected. The chilling wind is not a concern anymore since the Atracaeca Kingdom sells us some glass now. They are only worried about the piling snow that will impact the landing area or even the airship operation.

"Last but not least, the battleship is 50% complete. Since they have built the hangar, they can continue working even if it's snowing. They should finish within 5 months."

"Excellent. The Runegard Company is also progressing well. Once the winter is over, they can begin their operation and begin spreading the rune technology. There are a lot of people who are asking them right now.

"They are making anything they can right now and will probably assemble it after the winter before transporting it to their destinations." Noel nodded, satisfied. "And two months after that, we will officially open the main city."

"Yep!" Anna smiled. "I'm looking forward to our opening."

"I'm more looking forward to reaching the Spirit Transcendence level. We have to hide that strength, but it's better to become one as quickly as possible."

"According to the scouts, they have found three Superior Demons in the north, a lot of demon nests, and numerous ruins." Anna explained.

"Is that so? I'm expecting more than that to be honest. I guess we've cleaned up a lot of them in the previous battle."

"Hahaha." Anna chuckled. "We can still find more while we're on site. You and I can find them, right?"

"That's true. We'll be going after it starts snowing."

"Sounds good enough. We will have plenty of time to gather enough demon crystals. Then, the last problem would be how to become a Spirit Transcendence."

"Yeah. I've been asking around. Even though a lot of people have quality above their ranks, they are stuck at the peak grandmaster. Most of the time, it's because of their lower absorption rate, which ends up forcing them to get Superior Demon Crystals or even Ancient Demon Crystals to level up.

"However, there is also another barrier that we need to cross. Commander Oscar has promised to send me the book about it. My grandfather and Duke Lorelei seem to have some advice as well. So, we wait until they arrive."

"Fair enough. And once we become a Spirit Transcendence, I'm afraid that the situation will change again."

"Yeah. The Supreme Devil Organization… If a Demon King is involved, I'm afraid they have a way to force those humans to become Spirit Transcendence. It also means that the Demon King has finally begun to take this matter seriously." Noel nodded with a serious expression.

"We need to prepare for it."

"Yeah. But rushing won't help, so I'll just do everything one step at a time." Noel shrugged. "Anyway, I'm going to the office now."

"Alright." Anna waved her hand.

When Noel just exited the room, Dimitri seemed to have been waiting for him. Even though he had asked that they didn't need anyone to wait for them outside, the fact that he was here meant there was an important matter.

Dimitri whispered to him about the news.

Noel looked surprised before nodding his head. "Alright. I'll take care of it."

Noel turned back and opened the door again while saying playfully, "Anna. Take care of the city today. I have to visit Laivaen City."

"Is there something wrong?"

"Well, one noble seems to be more rational than I originally thought." Noel chuckled.

"Alright. I'll take care of the work for today."

Noel nodded and walked away. "Time to meet Count Lesen, I guess."