Emperor of Steel

Vladimir, who had delivered the ultimatum to the Dark Moon, was waiting for a response to come from Johas.

However, the answer came back from an unexpected person.

“What did you say? Marquis Luke is in contact on the secret line?”

“Yes, Sire. It was said that he has to talk regarding the Dark Moon problem.”

At the words of Luke’s aides, the President frowned.

“How did he even know our secret line…?”

“Wouldn’t he have obtained it upon finding the treaty we had with the Milton Kingdom?”

As the aide pointed out, the treaty contained the secret line coordinates of the two nations in case there was anything urgent to discuss.

And the President wasn’t ignorant of it.

However, he never assumed that the treaty would fall into Luke’s hands.

‘Damn those Milton! Even if they did have to dedicate themselves to the nation, why didn’t they even try to get rid of such confidential documents?’

Although the President was angry, the people who knew about the secret of the two nations were King Mayers, who was deceased and Count Bazzo, and a few knights of Viscount Mager, all dead.

As a result, the treaty was unharmed.

“Anyway, shouldn’t we send an answer?”

“Huh, if he wants to have a talk, he needs to come here.”

There were several uncomfortable things between Marquis Luke and the Volga Republic.

It was Luke, the commander of the Torlot Fort who played the decisive role in stopping the Republic’s past invasion.

In addition, he was in love with Reina, the last royal member of the old Volga Kingdom, and gave settlements to the Volga refuges.

And what more?

The Dark Moon, he lured the Magic tower, which was the core power of the Volga Republic, and took them to his own estates.

And he kept it all hidden for years. It was only natural for the president to have such words in his mouth.

“But, it’s difficult for us to demand that of him, right?”

As the aide said, the distance between the Milton Kingdom and the Volga Republic was quite long. And there was quite a hostile environment in the Baroque.

In addition, the two sides were on inconvenient terms, even without the war.

Asking Luke to come to Volga was like telling a dragon to enter its altar.

“If he can’t accept such demands, we don’t have to talk. And as long as they are the ones asking for talks, their demands will be taken into careful consideration.”

Vladimir’s decision wasn’t just because of his emotions running wild.

He too actually wanted to solve the Dark Moon problem with dialogue rather than force.

However, he had no intention of putting his head down, so he wanted to negotiate under favorable conditions of being the most powerful person.

Shortly after the response, Luke sent a call saying that he accepted the demands of Volga.

In response, Vladimir announced the date and time along with the location for the talks.

The meeting point was in a secluded mountain fort on the southern border of Volga Republic.

The President deployed a special force prepared to attack the Dark Moon.

The task force, led by Duke Dimitry, included 30 knights and Expert knights in advanced and intermediate levels.

They had around 30 war mages and 5,000 elite cavalries, artillery, and the infantries led by Marquis Tyron.

On the day of the talks, the President visited the fort and smiled contently looking at the task force.

‘Marquis Luke surely is skilled, but he won’t have a chance if he sees this.’

It wasn’t just that, there was Duke Dimitry, who turned into a Sword Sage during the time.

Luke’s side might have skilled men, however, Dimitry was sure that he was unrivaled with the power he built.

“Marquis Luke has arrived.”

“Hmm, he is coming right on time.”

Vladimir got up at the report of his aide and went to greet Luke and his attendants, however, seeing the fort gates open, he couldn’t help but feel shocked.

‘What? Just five?’

From what the President saw, Luke was there with just 4 men.

Philip, Erwin, Sebastian, and Belfair disguised as humans.

Philip saw the task force lying in the fort and clicked his tongue.

“This is terrifying. Have they brought in all the knights and wizards from the Volga?”

“Without any mistake, this has to be their attempt to take down our hopes before going into talks.”

At the words of Erwin, Luke nodded his head.

However, he thought of the situation in a different manner.

‘I don’t think that I am powerful enough for them to want to kill me.’

Although unrevealed, they were trying to be vigilant and brave.

However, so were the other side.

It was because Marquis Rakan had won and defeated the Milton Kingdom in a full out battle.

In addition, the Grenada Navy, known to be proud of its navy force, had been defeated in their own sea.

Which meant the current power of the Rakan couldn’t be compared with the Volga Republic.

In any case, Luke passed through the knights and faced President Vladimir.

“Vladimir Rekov. Nice to meet you, the descendant of a prominent warrior.”

“I am Luke de Rakan. Thank you for the grand welcome.”

The two men shook their hands with smiles on their faces.

The words of the President included criticism of Rakan’s descendant for hanging out with warlocks, and Luke’s words were for guests who came a long way.

“For today, we can sit outside because of the nice sunny weather. If you don’t want it, we can move inside.”

“No, there is no such thing that I need. People only stay healthy when they are exposed to the sun.”

The place prepared by Vladimir was in the middle of a garden, surrounded by men of his task force.

It was like sitting on thorns because of the energy the kings were releasing, however, Luke just sat down without any distraction.

‘He surely is an annoying one. There was a reason why last night’s dream was so weird.’

Vladimir had the ability to foresee in his dreams, and he dreamed of a silver Gigant last night.

The dreams which he usually had were so ambiguous or misty, but the day before those ones were different.

The battle with the silver Gigant was so clear.

The Gigant, which held the sword of light, had darkness on the other side, but the Gigant didn’t falter nor retreat, even after getting hit by thunderbolts falling from the gray clouds.

Rather, he tore the clouds and flew into the sky wearing brilliant light which turned into the Gigant having the sun as its crown.

‘Did the Gigant represent the Marquis who won Milton…?’

For a moment, the man stared at Luke.

“You know the past work. We faced a lot of trouble because of us. But I decided to skip over all that.”

“You do realize that I wasn’t the first one to act, right?”

The troops which invaded the Baroque Empire and the Torlot Fort and elves who kidnapped Reina were all members of the Volga Republic.

And the President continued without falling for Luke’s words.

“But this time’s act is hard to get over.”

“Are you saying that you won’t give up on the Dark Moon?” Asked Luke.

“Yes. They are our comrades who have been with us since our revolution. And recently, with the bloody tax of the people of Volga, the Hero class Gigant got developed. But should we let a wrong person enjoy the fruits of our hard work?”

At the words of the President, Luke laughed.

If the man was an unfamiliar one to the situation, one would assume the President’s words as reasonable.

However, the truth was hidden from the words.

“Sire, do you know how the Orion had been developed?” Asked Luke.

“That was because of years and years of Dark Moon’s har…”

“Orion was made with the reference of the blueprints I provided. The blueprints of Atlas, the new Hero class Gigant of the Veritas Magic Tower.”

At the words of Luke, it wasn’t just Vladimir but also Marquis Tyron who was shocked.

They had never heard of such a story.

“That is ridiculous! It hasn’t been long since the Veritas Magic Tower has been destroyed, so how did you get a blueprint of the hero class?”

Even if the blueprint was leaked, it was likely for the Baroque Imperial to snatch it than let someone else have it.

“It was obtained long before the destruction of Veritas. Of course, I can’t tell you which way I chose for it to happen.”

“I can’t believe such words just because you say it.”

“Even if you don’t believe it, you will have to. Once you see the real Orion.”

According to Johas, the Volga Republic had captured the damaged Atlas during the last war.

Naturally, they would have studied it by tearing it back and forth.

In other words, if they see the Orion, they would realize that it was a Gigant similar to the Atlas’s design.

At Luke’s words, Vladimir’s eyes shone.

“Show Orion? So you are saying that you are going to hand over the new hero class Gigant to us?”

“If you pay for it, there is no reason for us not to sell it. It is clear that part of the development was from the tax of the Volga. However…”

Luke, who stopped talking midway, made his intentions clear with a strong tone while staring at the President.

“The Dark Moon will never be handed over.”