“Hahaha! Pour the drinks! Let’s drink!”
“Handsome Ricardo! Look this way!”
“To the Baron! Long live the Baron!”
“For Ferdium’s victory!”

Everyone was in high spirits, drinking and shouting, celebrating their hard-fought victory. After the exhaustion of war, nothing soothed the soul like good food and drink.

As Ghislain smiled and watched the revelry, he quietly slipped away from the hall.

‘The joy of victory belongs to those who fought for it…’

But there were those who couldn’t celebrate. The families of the fallen, for example.

Though Ferdium’s losses had been smaller compared to the enemy, people still died. Their families were now overwhelmed with grief.

Ghislain made it his personal mission to visit each family, taking their hands and offering his condolences. He also promised substantial compensation to the grieving families.

Though this was technically Zvalter’s responsibility as the lord, Ghislain chose to handle it himself.

‘It’s partly my responsibility too,’ he thought.

He had no regrets. Without the decisions he made, Ferdium would have fallen, and the people would have either died or lived in suffering.

But Ghislain couldn’t deny that people had died because of him—because of the war he had instigated and escalated.

Since he had started this war to protect everyone, it was only right that those who had lost loved ones be properly consoled and compensated.

With Belinda and Gillian by his side, Ghislain visited the families of the fallen one by one.

Though he couldn’t do this forever, he wanted to comfort the people of his homeland and ensure they received their due compensation before he left Ferdium.

“Thank you, my lord. Thank you so much,” the people said, bowing their heads in gratitude as Ghislain visited each one.

They were grateful that the heir of Ferdium hadn’t forgotten them, coming in person to offer comfort. They knew things would have been much worse if they had lost the war, but the grief of losing family wasn’t something that could be easily soothed.

Gillian silently followed behind, observing everything.

‘I thought he only cared about efficiency.’

Gillian had known Ghislain looked after his own people, but he hadn’t expected him to go this far for the common folk.

Ghislain was leaving Ferdium soon, so there was no benefit in doing this. Yet here he was, meeting the bereaved and offering condolences.

“Hic.”

“What, are you crying, Belinda?”

“No! When did I ever say that?”

Belinda shot a tear-filled glare at Ghislain. The soldiers of Ferdium had been like family to her, and their loss hit her hard.

Ghislain chuckled and handed her a handkerchief.

“That’s enough for today. Let’s go back.”

After returning to the castle, Ghislain didn’t head back to the banquet right away. Instead, he went to check on the injured and then visited Vanessa last.

“Vanessa, how are you feeling?”

“Oh… My lord,” Vanessa said, trying to sit up in bed, but Ghislain stopped her and sat beside her.

“You did amazingly well. We won the war thanks to you.”

Her warm smile spread slowly as she gazed at him. It felt good to have been of help, to have repaid the debt she owed. But more than anything, she was happy to have finally been recognized as a mage.

As the two exchanged smiles, a weak voice interrupted them from nearby.

“Damn it… am I invisible or something…?”

Alpo, still recovering, glared at Ghislain from the corner of the room. Ghislain pretended to be surprised and widened his eyes.

“Alpo, I didn’t notice you there. You did well too. Good job.”

“Ugh, damn you…” Alpo gritted his teeth, glaring at Ghislain.

After having all his mana drained, Alpo had almost died, and now he had to deal with Ghislain’s casual attitude.

But despite his frustration, his curiosity outweighed his anger.

“How on earth did she do it? How did she cast such a high-level spell?”

The sight of the massive pillar of fire exploding was something even Alpo, with his experience in the Mage Tower, had never seen before.

He had gotten the truth from Vanessa that the explosion was caused by buried runestones, but he still couldn’t understand how she had cast the spell. Even with all six mages’ mana pooled together, Vanessa had barely been able to cast basic spells before.

“How did she manage to control mana when she couldn’t even sense it before?”

Vanessa had explained that Ghislain had somehow forced her to feel mana, but Alpo didn’t believe it. If even the Mage Tower couldn’t fix such an issue, how could some provincial troublemaker manage it?

There had to be another secret—a secret Alpo was determined to uncover, believing it would make him more powerful.

Seeing the hunger in Alpo’s eyes, Ghislain merely shrugged.

“I have my own methods. If you want to know, work hard for the territory. Maybe I’ll share one or two secrets with you.”

“W-What? You… ugh… just wait until I return to the Mage Tower…”

Ghislain chuckled, cutting Alpo off.

“Oh, the Mage Tower? Funny you mention that—I plan to visit there soon myself. I’ll make sure to pass on your regards. Who knows, it might even solidify your position as the tower master’s successor.”

Alpo couldn’t help but grin at the thought.

“Hmph, well, thanks for that… But why are you heading to the Mage Tower? Our contract still has time left.”

“I have a proposal to make. You’ll benefit from it too.”

“...What?”

Alpo blinked, confused, but Ghislain offered no further explanation.

Turning to Vanessa, Ghislain smiled.

“Rest well. When I return, I’ll have more to share.”

Vanessa nodded with a small smile.

“Wait! Explain yourself before you go! Hey!”

Alpo’s frustrated shout echoed behind him as Ghislain left without looking back.

The next day, as soon as the banquet ended, Ghislain took his mercenaries and headed back into the Forest of Beasts.

While he had been away, the palisades and roads had nearly been completed.

Ghislain gathered a large number of runestones and handed half over to Homern.

With the influx of funds, the territory of Ferdium would quickly stabilize.

‘Ferdium is in good shape for now.’

The enemy forces would be too busy recovering to focus on them for a while.

‘But I need to grow stronger and prepare for the next battle.’

Though he had bought himself time, he couldn’t afford to be complacent.

Now was the time to weaken the enemy forces further and seize opportunities.

‘Money, manpower, food, alliances…’

There was so much to prepare. Ghislain needed to make the most of his time. There was no time to rest.

Without even returning to the castle, Ghislain turned his horse.

“We’re heading to the Mage Tower.”

“To the Mage Tower? Are you selling more runestones?” Belinda asked, but Ghislain shook his head.

He still had runestones left, but selling them to the Mage Tower wasn’t part of his plan.

“There’s something I need to discuss with them.”

“When will you head to Fenris?”

“I’ll deal with this first.”

While he couldn’t leave the barony of Fenris unattended for too long, going to the Mage Tower was more urgent. He needed to strike a new deal with them to make things easier in the future.

After receiving the barony of Fenris, Ghislain had already sent Kaor and a few mercenaries there to keep things from falling into chaos.

Belinda frowned, worried about Fenris, but quietly followed Ghislain toward the Red Flame Mage Tower.

After several days of travel, they arrived at the city housing the Mage Tower.

Belinda looked around and gasped in admiration.

“Wow, it’s still so clean here. I hope our lands can become like this someday.”

Ghislain and the mercenaries nodded in agreement.

No matter how many times they saw it, the city was always impressively clean and well-maintained.

“Ah! You’ve arrived! Please, come in!”

The gatekeeper, who had once been stiff and formal, now hurriedly opened the doors as soon as he saw Ghislain.

Sylvain, who had been guarding the lobby, also bowed deeply when Ghislain entered.

“It is an honor to see you again! I will inform the master immediately.”

Sylvain rushed to lead Ghislain to the tower master, Hubert, who greeted him with exaggerated excitement.

“My, my! Welcome! Did you win the war? Of course, you must have, otherwise, you wouldn’t be here. So, how did it go?”

Though Hubert had mages stationed in Ferdium, the issue of runestones had kept him closely monitoring the situation. He had heard about the war through his information network, but the specifics were still unclear, so he had been anxiously awaiting news.

Seeing Ghislain in person had relieved some of his worries.

Amused by the overly enthusiastic welcome, Ghislain smiled mischievously.

“It seems you’ve been eagerly awaiting my return.”

“You have no idea how nervous we’ve been! Who could have guessed the war would break out so quickly?”

“Never underestimate the greed of lords.”

Hubert nodded in agreement.

He had thought it unlikely the situation would escalate into war, but the events had proven otherwise. Ghislain’s keen insight was something Hubert couldn’t help but admire.

“Well then, sit down. Have you come to sell more runestones? I didn’t see any wagons. No, before that—how did you win the war? Tell me all about it.”

Ghislain leisurely sipped his tea, taking his time, while Hubert fidgeted anxiously like a dog waiting for a treat.

After savoring the moment, Ghislain finally spoke.

“It’s nothing special. I simply buried all the runestones I had collected and blew them up.”

“…What?”

Hubert blinked, not immediately understanding the shocking statement.

When the realization hit him, Hubert shouted in disbelief.

“You’re insane! I knew you were reckless, but I didn’t think it was this bad!”

That many runestones… If only they had gone there themselves… Even if they couldn’t help directly, they would have found another way!

“You should have just sold them all to us! We would have sent our mages to assist!”

Hubert lamented, recalling the cartload of runestones from their previous deal.

Ghislain lowered his voice with a sly smile.

“Would you really have sent your mages?”

Hubert paused for a moment, then nodded enthusiastically.

“Of course! We would have helped! No doubt about it!”

Now that the war was over, there was no harm in making promises he didn’t have to keep. All he needed was to keep the runestones coming.

Seeing Hubert’s confident reply, Ghislain smiled cryptically.

With a smooth, almost serpentine voice, he said, “I’m truly touched by your generosity. I never imagined you cared for me so much. It’s truly reassuring.”

“Ahem, don’t mention it. After all, we’ve established a solid business relationship, haven’t we? It would be a shame to let it go to waste.”

“As expected of the great master of the Red Flame Mage Tower. I’ve misjudged you. I apologize for my previous behavior. It’s a relief to know we can continue our beneficial relationship.”

Ghislain’s words were slick, as though his mouth was coated in oil.

Hubert cleared his throat, feeling slightly embarrassed.

He had only been trying to appease Ghislain, but now it seemed like Ghislain was praising him for it.

Then, Ghislain smiled slyly and added, “Since you’re so understanding, I feel more comfortable speaking openly. I wasn’t sure how to bring it up, but I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

Hubert suddenly felt uneasy.

Come to think of it, why had Ghislain come in the first place? Their contract wasn’t set to expire for a while.

Could he have come all this way just to boast about his victory?

No, that didn’t seem right. Ghislain wasn’t the type to waste days just for idle chatter.

With a nervous voice, Hubert asked, “W-What is it? What do you need to say?”

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to sell you any more runestones. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Hubert’s face instantly contorted in frustration.