Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 706: The Showdown

TL: Rui88

“Father, what… what did you say?”

Inside the study, apart from the king and his father, there was no third person present.

Rodney XVIII trembled all over. The matter his father, Prince Jassim, had reported to him had dealt him a deep blow.

Jassim Rodney, as his plenipotentiary representative, had actually ceded all the kingdom’s territory north of the Cordova River—encompassing almost the entire northern and northeastern regions of the kingdom—to the orcs in exchange for peace between the two sides.

It felt as if a sharp dagger had been plunged into his heart. His body swayed as he sat down.

“I had no other choice.”

His father, Prince Jassim, however, had a very calm tone.

“The kingdom’s army has been utterly defeated. Even if we refuse to yield on paper, those lands are already under the orcs’ de facto occupation.”

The king shot up, his eyes seeming to blaze with fire as he looked at the prince. “But if we don’t sign the agreement, we can still send armies to reclaim them.”

Jassim was taken aback by his son’s attitude. In his memory, his eldest son had never been so “disobedient” towards him, always showing respect even after becoming king.

“That good sister of yours failed to turn the tide. Who knows where she has taken Crystal Shine’s elite troops? The orc forces have swept across the north, and now the Bountiful Plains—the kingdom’s heartland—is on the verge of facing the full brunt of the orc army’s charge!”

Rodney XVIII held up the letter in his hand, arguing forcefully, “No, she is in the Northwest, and together with the army there, she has defeated the orcs!”

Jassim glanced disdainfully at the letter. When he had just come in, Rodney XVIII had excitedly shown him its contents.

“A trivial victory!”

The king became angry. “How can you say that!”

The prince did not even raise his eyelids. “You are still too young. The generals fighting on the front lines love to exaggerate their military achievements. Killing a hundred enemies can be blown up to a thousand, and a thousand to ten thousand! Besides, didn’t it say that the orc army retreated from the battlefield on its own? They did not achieve a victory significant enough to turn the tide of the entire war.”

The king’s body trembled violently.

“No matter what, as the King of Ordo, I cannot agree to such a truce agreement. If I agree, how can the Rodney name have any face to rule this country!” His tone was extremely resolute.

“Alas!” Jassim sighed sadly. His eldest son’s attitude towards the agreement was not unexpected.

“Listen to me, Gerd…” He called out his son’s name, then hesitated.

Rodney XVIII sat there fuming, not looking at him.

“Do you want us to bear the infamy of being usurpers?”

Rodney XVIII was stunned and finally looked at his father. “What did you say?”

Jassim said in a low voice, “In order to help your uncle relinquish that heavy burden sooner, I once made an agreement with certain people, or rather, an organization… Of course! I was merely planning to use their power on some future day and had not yet done anything substantive. I swear to the Lord of Light that it is so! But now, that agreement… has become leverage in the hands of others.”

Rodney XVIII’s brow furrowed tightly. A terrible premonition exploded in his heart.

But he still said, “What are you talking about? I don’t quite understand.”

The prince stared at him intently. “There is a vast organization—the Arcane Society. Its tentacles reach every corner of this continent we stand on. It possesses miraculous powers, incredible means… And I, in a moment of folly, was bewitched by them.”

He slowly recounted a piece of unknown history, and the more Rodney XVIII listened, the more shocked he became.

“Now, this bunch of damnable bastards has made contact with the orcs. They appeared while I was negotiating with Abal! They forced me to sign a treaty that is destined to bear shame.”

After the prince had finished his story, a long silence fell over the study.

Rodney XVIII sat numbly behind the desk, his body motionless, but a storm was raging in his heart.

He knew his father had always harbored ambitions for the throne, but that was nothing. Anyone with the blood of Rodney flowing through their veins had to be prepared to inherit the great responsibility.

Even he himself had originally been his father’s supporter.

But the so-called “helping his uncle relinquish that heavy burden sooner” was clearly a euphemism for some extremely improper act.

His father had just said that he had not done anything substantive. Was that true?

But why had his uncle’s health declined so rapidly in the last few years of his life?

Gerd Rodney had always trusted his father, but now, he felt he needed to re-evaluate this closest of kin.

Once the seed of doubt was planted, it began to take root and sprout, gradually growing.

After a long silence, the king finally asked in a low voice, “Do they have any conclusive proof? If it’s just some…”

But Prince Jassim nodded with a dark expression. “Unfortunately, they do. But… my child!”

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes burning as he looked at the king. “Everything I have done is for you, for your crown, for your glory! You can summon the ministers and push all the blame onto me. This way, your authority will not be diminished.”

Rodney XVIII looked at his father with a complex expression and let out a long breath.

If it really was the kind of leverage involving suspected treason, it seemed there was no good solution. If that so-called Arcane Society published the evidence, the four of them, father and sons, would be finished.

“Father!” he began, his tone very serious. “It is impossible for me to do that.”

A glimmer of light appeared in the prince’s eyes.

“But…” Rodney XVIII said in a resolute tone, “some things must change.”

The prince’s brow furrowed again.

“Many things I wanted to do in the past, so many things, were stopped by you for being untimely.”

The king waved his arms. He, who had always presented a calm demeanor, now appeared somewhat frantic.

“Yet we have already de facto lost the south, and now even a large part of the north is gone. The once prosperous and powerful Ordo, with its vast territory, is now left with only the Crownlands and a pile of fragmented territories that are loyal in name only.”

“I am now absolutely certain that Ordo is a pool of stagnant water, a pool reeking of rot. If we do not make some changes, what awaits her sooner or later is a shameful demise.”

“So!” He stared at the prince, his tone brookings no argument. “From now on, I will exist as a true king.”

Father and son both saw a side of each other they had never seen before.

“Very well! Your Majesty.” Prince Jassim slumped powerlessly into his chair. “Do as you wish. Go ahead and do it.”