Emperor of Steel

“You have been through a lot, Lord.”

“I am very glad for you to have come back.”

When Luke made his return, the retainers had all gone to welcome him at once.

Moving to the office room, Luke had told them all the experience that he had obtained in the Holy Empire.

He did keep a few secrets to himself, but the retainers were astonished and admired Luke for the stories he told.

“Alas!”

“All that happened!”

“I am so glad that you got to see princess Reina again.”

Everyone was delighted to know that Luke had seen Reina, who turned into the Pope of the Holy Empire.

Their feelings were natural as they had seen Luke suffer miserably for the past two years after she had gone missing.

“But I find it hard to believe that the princess really became the Holy Empire’s Pope.”

“What is there not to believe? Isn’t it the perfect thing for our princess, she was always so faithful in her deeds?”

“However, no one can just sit in that place because of that.”

A while later, when the extreme mood subsided, Luke ordered for the fact of Reina becoming the Pope to be kept as a secret.

“The only reason why Reina didn’t come back is to stabilize the Holy Empire and add strength to me. The problem is that there are still rebel forces within the Holy Empire. And that is also the case with Constantine’s faction which has been dismissed.”

“Hmm…”

“Although Arch Duke Gregory is backing her, we shouldn’t just discard out information which turns into our strength.”

The problem was the Baroque Empire.

If the Empire knew that the Pope of the Holy Arthenia Empire is Luke’s lover, Reina, the emperor would surely try to place a check.

Everyone who understood the situation nodded their heads, all for Luke.

“By the way, is there anything else?”

Luke had already heard of the rough situation from their Argos.

However, he wasn’t aware of anything recent.

Butler, Hans answered.

“A few days ago, a man who called himself as the Prince, Aslan of Konrad Kingdom has asked for a meeting with the Lord.”

‘Prince Aslan?’

From what Luke knew, the family of Duke Ferrierd escaped from Alvera and disappeared.

He heard of them running away, but the Prince Aslan of that family, appeared in his Empire and asked for a meeting?

“And so what did you do?” Asked Luke.

“Because it seemed suspicious, we delayed the interview for one reason or another and he went away. Maybe a fake.”

“That so?”

That day, dozens of people had come to meet Luke.

Among them, there were many who claimed to be the heirs of the fallen kingdoms or the noble families.

“Ah, by the way, did everything start well for Dixon officer?”

“Yes, ten days ago, I secretly pulled out a few low ranking executives to help rule Albertville.”

“Nice. By the way, have you found out the motive of Shaikan’s?” Asked Luke.

When Luke was in the Holy Empire, the Orc Hero Shaikan had come to Rakan estate and managed to defeat the high ranking knights, including Rogers and Kaper.

He also attacked Belfair, who was practicing.

Perhaps he was the one behind the monsters who were making the fuss in the Baroque Empire, so Luke ordered the head of Argos, Hudson, to look into his whereabouts.

“We have deployed all the agents of Argos into it, but he still seems to be on the move.”

“Yeah? Then there is nothing we can do. Halt the search.” Said Luke.

Luke cared for Shaikan, but he wasn’t so impatient to meet either.

He thought to extend talks if he ever came back.

“What is the situation between the nobles and the Emperor? Is there any sign of Civil war?”

At Luke’s question, Hans thought for a moment and answered.

“In recent times, the Emperor’s movements have been very active. Because of that, there are constant conflicts, but it seems like either side is refraining for making any serious conflict.”

‘Should I enter?’

Luke had solid evidence that the Emperor intervened in the Civil War.

It was he handed it over to the nobles, they won’t standstill.

Most likely, it would turn into a civil war with just a little instigation.

“And princess Margareta?”

“She left a while after Sebastian’s message. Phew… if Sebastian wasn’t there, it would have turned very annoying for us.”

“I guess so, Sebastian is much better at dealing with women when compared to me.”

The Marquis of Rakan and his retainers knew that Sebastian was a very talented man, and knew that he displayed his talents in Navarre Duchy.

He was a flirt and had a temperament, but he was the only person who could replace Luke when he was absent.

“By the way, Baron Rogers and Kaper aren’t seen.”

Luke looked around the room and asked.

“They have been practicing all day long since the defeat with Shaikan. Should I call for them?”

“No, there are things to talk, I will go and see them later on.”

Luke shook his head and continued the meeting.

With about 30 minutes of receiving reports and taking actions related to the territory, the next topic went to ‘newly recruited talent in estates’.

“This time, we took about 300 lower executives after the tests. I heard that Lord too has caught some fish from the Holy Empire?”

“Even though I don’t want it, you’ll meet them later.”

When Luke clapped, the door of the office room opened and a man entered.

The stranger who looked were weird to everyone in the room and came inside with his fist clasped in the other hand.

“Is he…?”

“Yes! He is Sir Hwang Bo-sung, who has recruited Lady Scarlet from the Holy Empire.”

“Ah! This friend is a fist master!”

The retainers who were confused soon began to exclaim.

“I have become a retainer, I hope to get along with everyone.”

“Understood.”

Hans and the other retainers were always in the front when it came to recruiting new talents.

And what was more, it wasn’t just a normal talented person, but a master-class leader.

Everyone approached Hwang Bo-sung and asked for a handshake or welcomed him with a friendly conversation.

“You might still feel a little awkward since we have different cultures from different places, so don’t feel too cautious when trying to say something.”

“Haha. I will try.”

Luke smiled intently at the faces of his retainers.

There was a reason why he had brought in Hwang Bo-sung into the Rakan estate.

He was planning to change the thoughts of the old retainers of Rakan who were stuck in their old beliefs and using Hwang Bo-sung and his different culture from Rhodesia, Luke thought of bringing in a change.

‘Of course, the change won’t be coming any time soon.’

There was no way that the thoughts of a person could change that easily.

However, no matter how long it took, Luke wanted to continue his attempt to change.

Since there was no guarantee that he could always hide the secret related to his power.