The Vastness of Magical Destiny
Chapter 408: Volume 8 Gathering of the Storms - 5 Alliance of the Talks_2

Chapter 408: Volume 8 Gathering of the Storms Chapter 5 Alliance of the Talks_2

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"Your Highness, you’re overestimating Caucasus. What does Caucasus currently have that’s worth the rabble risking so much to attack? At least Leon’s own land is much wealthier than Caucasus. As to whether you are worried that the mob will wage an attack on Caucasus due to survival issues, personally, I don’t think they will in the short term. I won’t hide the fact that many of the Half-beast soldiers in my Guard were once slave miners of the nobles in Leon Region and were forced to flee due to the unbearable work and living conditions there. Only after settling in the Volt Mountain Range and receiving citizenship from me upon my arrival in Caucasus did they truly become part of it. I believe they will be able to communicate well with their former companions and won’t cause much of a negative impact on our Caucasus," Komer said frankly in front of Hoffman, openly admitting to the act of absorbing runaway slaves as guards, which was a blatant violation of Kingdom Law. Although Hoffman did not agree with this practice, he let it go, thinking who would care about such things in a remote place like Caucasus. To speak his mind, he hoped that Komer’s military power would grow stronger so that it could exert more influence in the future over both Homer and Galle. Of course, this was more of a long-term strategic plan and wasn’t very realistic given the current state of Caucasus.

However, what Hoffman was more concerned about was the current situation in Leon and where it was headed. After all, Leon was indeed an important region in the entire Homer Province. Apart from the Busen Plain and the Yafa Region northwest of Cyprus, as well as the Fucik Region to the west, the taxes Leon paid to Cyprus accounted for the fourth largest share of all the territories in Homer Province. If the chaotic state in Leon could continue without affecting the situation in Caucasus for as long as possible, Hoffman and the entire kingdom would be pleased to see it. Count Boninski had never paid a penny to the kingdom, and all the taxes from there went straight into Philip of Homer’s treasury. The longer and more chaotic, the better for the kingdom, not to mention that it could tie down Philip’s attention even more, forcing him to spend military resources to defend or even suppress the rebellion there.

"Your Excellency, how long do you think this situation in Leon will last? Do you think the nobles and coal mine owners of Leon Region and their private soldiers can control the situation?" Hoffman finally brought the conversation around to the question that both Tez and Duke Mathew were most concerned about. Before coming to Homer, both Tez and Mathew had separately discussed this matter with Hoffman. Besides the Caucasus trip, the most important task was to understand the changes in Leon’s situation for the kingdom’s considerations.

Komer was perhaps the person most concerned with the developments in Leon, and even during Vero’s stay, he never relaxed his efforts to probe into the changing situation in the Leon Region. Several guard soldiers who had lived in Leon Region for a long time were sent to infiltrate and understand the developments after undergoing brief training in Fran. The growing rebel organizations in the Leon Region also began to proactively contact Komer, hoping he could provide them with more weapons and food. Of course, they were willing to trade using the wealth and assets they had acquired from killing and confiscating from the nobles and coal mine owners.

With Komer’s tacit approval, Puber did not hesitate to agree to this hugely profitable deal. The treasures brought by the rebel organizations for trading were often valued at only ten to thirty percent of their original worth in exchange for food and weapons, the huge price difference becoming the risk cost for Caucasus. The fair newly named Muscat in Darman Pass immediately became the trading hub between Leon and Caucasus. With the closure of Bruce Fortress, not only did the rebel groups have to sneakily bring the plundered treasures from the coal mine owners and nobles to trade for weapons and food, but also the mine owners, who were unaffected and continued production, had to come here to purchase essential goods for life and production. Within just two months, the population of Muscat skyrocketed from less than five hundred to over four thousand people. In addition to the locally produced timber and stone, a large amount of food and other necessities came from Mattdam for sale, and the number of merchants increased sharply.

Komer also established an intelligence station there, stationing personnel trained by Fran to gather information from the Leon Region. They reported the intelligence collected back to Ugru every three days.

"Your Highness, based on what I have learned and my own deductions, if Homer maintains this attitude of blockade but non-interference, then the current chaotic state in Leon will not only fail to subside but could continue to spread. Count Boninski has control of only about a thousand private soldiers of questionable combat ability, and the sum of the nobles’ and the mine owners’ private soldiers only amounts to a few thousand. Usually without any proper training and already overwhelmed by the ongoing widespread riots, Boninski has stationed his troops in a small town less than twenty miles from Bruce Fortress, clearly intending to flee at the first sign of trouble. In this condition, it’s impossible to suppress the slave riots. If among these slaves and rabble there comes someone with even a slight leadership ability to unite them, I fear Leon will very quickly spiral out of control."

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