The Vastness of Magical Destiny
Chapter 405: Volume 8 Gathering of the Storms - 5 Alliance of the Talks_2

Chapter 405: Volume 8 Gathering of the Storms Chapter 5 Alliance of the Talks_2

"Your Highness, you overestimate Caucasus. What does Caucasus currently have that is worth insurgents taking such a huge risk to attack? At least, Leon locally is much wealthier than Caucasus. As for your concern about whether the insurgents will attack Caucasus for survival issues, I personally don’t think they will, at least not in the short term. I must admit, many of the half-beast soldiers in my guard were once slave miners for the nobles in the Leon Region. They could no longer tolerate the terrible working and living conditions there and were forced to flee. Only after settling in the Volt Mountain Range and receiving citizenship from me upon my arrival in Caucasus did they truly become members of Caucasus. I believe they can communicate well with their former peers without causing us much negative impact in Caucasus."

Komer spoke candidly in front of Hoffman, openly admitting to the practice of recruiting fleeing slaves as guards, which was a blatant violation of Kingdom Law. Hoffman didn’t agree with such behavior, but on second thought, who would care about such things in the wild lands of Caucasus? He felt relieved. Secretly, he hoped that Komer’s military power would become stronger to exert greater influence over Homer and Galle in the future. Of course, that future perspective was somewhat unrealistic given the current state of Caucasus.

However, Hoffman was more concerned about where the current situation in Leon would lead. Leon, indeed, was an important region in the Homer Province. Besides the Busen Plain and the Yafa Region to the northwest of Cyprus, and the Fucik Region to the west, Leon’s tax contribution to Cyprus ranked fourth among all the territories of the Homer Province. If Leon’s chaotic state could continue for a longer time without affecting the situation in Caucasus, it was something Hoffman and the whole kingdom would like to see. Count Boninski had never paid a penny to the kingdom’s treasury; all the finances here flowed into the coffers of Homer’s Philip. Therefore, the longer the chaos lasted here, the better it was for the kingdom, as it could also tie down Philip’s attention, forcing him to spend the army on defense or even suppression of the rebellion here.

"Baron, how long do you think the current situation in Leon will last? Can the private soldiers controlled by Count Boninski and those nobles and coal mine owners in the Leon Region keep the situation under control?" Hoffman finally brought the conversation to the issue of great concern to both Tez and Duke Mathew. Before coming to Homer, Tez and Mathew had both exchanged views with Hoffman separately, aside from the Caucasus trip, the most important task was to understand the changes in the situation in Leon for the kingdom to refer to.

Komer was undoubtedly the most concerned about the changes in the situation in Leon. Even during Vero’s visit, Komer never relaxed the espionage regarding the evolving situation in the Leon Region. Several guard soldiers who had lived in the Leon Region for a long time, after short-term training in Fran, were sent to enter Leon to understand the changes in the situation. The increasingly influential insurgent organization in Leon began to actively contact Komer, hoping he could provide them with more weapons and food. Of course, they were willing to exchange with the wealth and assets they had obtained from killing and confiscating the nobles’ and coal mine owners’ properties.

With Komer’s tacit approval, Puber didn’t hesitate to agree to this highly profitable deal. The treasures exchanged by the rebels were often valued at only 10 to 30 percent of their original value in exchange for food and weapons, and the vast difference in value became the risk cost for Caucasus. Darman Pass, newly named Muscat, immediately became a trading center between Leon and Caucasus. Due to the closure of Bruce Fortress, not only did the rebels have to stealthily bring the treasures looted from the coal mine owners and nobles to exchange for weapons and food, but also the mine owners that continued production unaffected had to come here to buy essential supplies for life and production. Within just two months, the population of Muscat skyrocketed from less than five hundred to over four thousand people. Apart from locally produced timber and stone, a large amount of food and essential supplies were also brought from Mattdam to sell here, with the number of merchants increasing sharply.

Komer also established an intelligence station here, with specially trained personnel from Fran stationed to collect intelligence from the Leon Region. They reported the intelligence collected to Ugru every three days.

"Your Highness, based on the information I have and my own deduction, if Homer continues this attitude of blockading without interfering, not only will the current chaos in Leon be unresolved, but it may also spread further. The private soldiers under Count Boninski’s control are merely a meager thousand, and their combat power is dubious. The private soldiers of those nobles and mine owners, even when combined, only amount to a few thousand, and they normally lack formal training. They are already struggling to handle the frequent uprisings. Count Boninski has stationed his soldiers in a small town less than twenty miles from Bruce Fortress, clearly ready to flee at the first sign of trouble. With this attitude, it’s simply impossible to suppress the slave uprisings. If among these slaves and insurgents, someone with slight leadership skills were to unite the insurgents across different areas, I estimate that Leon will quickly spiral completely out of control."