Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 714: Arvis

TL: Rui88

The candlelight shone, casting a tall and slightly stooped silhouette onto the white wall.

The white-haired old man, with a trembling hand, tightly gripped a quill pen, writing rapidly on a piece of paper.

“Your Respected Highness, please forgive my unannounced departure…”

After pondering with a frown for a short while, he ultimately decided to be direct.

“You actually sold out Ordo, a nation whose inhabitants are fellow humans like us, just to collude with the orcs.”

“Before this, I truly could not have imagined that you would do something so unwise. I apologize for using such strong words to describe it, but with my shallow wisdom, it is truly difficult to see what profound strategy lies behind this matter.”

“Was the previous state of Ordo not satisfactory to you? We instigated Jars’s rebellion, which had already plunged that country into a state where it could not attend to its own affairs. In its weakened condition at that time, our initial objective—to make it unable to pay attention to events elsewhere on the continent—had long been achieved.”

“In that situation, what was the point of introducing a barbaric race like the orcs, to make the people of Ordo suffer yet another layer of hardship?”

“Now those savage fellows have already entered the fertile northern lands of Ordo. There, an inexhaustible population and resources exist, which will ultimately cause the already destructive power of the King’s Tent to swell into something uncontrollable. Perhaps…”

The old man’s hand trembled even more, and an uncontrollable worry appeared between his brows. He persisted and continued to write.

“Like most people, I once held this race from the plains in contempt. What I scorned was their culture. I believed that with their social tradition of only knowing how to plunder and having no fixed abode, even if they possessed great military power, it would merely be a superficial problem.”

“But ever since I heard about the latest situation of the orcs from Marshal MacDonald, I began to diligently study this race that has long been neglected by mainstream human scholars.”

“Finally, I discovered that the Marshal’s vigilance at that time was not the slightest bit exaggerated. The orcs have begun to learn from human social structures, gradually transitioning from their original scattered state to a centralized nation. But until recently, they had not yet become a real threat. The overly fragile ecosystem on the plains could not provide them with the sustained momentum for conquest. Therefore, the most crucial thing was to prevent the orcs from obtaining an agricultural key area that could continuously supply various resources.”

“But now they have one—because of your strategy. Although the north of Ordo cannot be called prosperous, it still has the potential to provide a backbone for a powerful force. Back then, Rodney’s ancestors set out from the north to conquer the western end of the continent…”

The old man wrote with a sense of helplessness, “Your Highness, I regret that I can no longer provide my services to you.”

“If left unchecked, it is possible that before humanity can stand to face the Great Destroyer prophesied, it will have already been trampled under the iron hooves of the orcs. I realize I must do something. This is actually a very desperate decision, as my own weak strength can hardly make a ripple, but I must still do it.”

“Here, I wish your cause every success, and I hope that our common ideal can ultimately be realized—all of humanity united under one banner to resist the enemies of humankind, whether it be the orcs in reality or the Destroyer in prophecy.”

Arvis picked up the letter and gently blew the ink dry. He sighed, carefully folded the letter, placed it in an envelope, and set it properly on his desk.

At that moment, there was a soft knock on the room’s door. He turned around warily.

“Master Arvis, the carriage is ready.”

It was his servant and guard, Marek. Arvis breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’re leaving right away!”

He strode outside without the slightest hesitation.

It was three days later when the people of the Scholars’ Tower discovered the departure of this renowned great scholar. After all, it was common for high-ranking scholars like him to lock themselves in their rooms for days and nights to ponder problems, so no one usually dared to enter Arvis’s room rashly.

In the end, it was when Aldridge came to see him on some matter that he found the room empty, along with two letters on the desk—one for him, his senior, and one for Prince Antonio.

Aldridge rushed to the palace at the fastest possible speed.

“Why would Arvis do this?”

After a brief moment of shock, Antonio was utterly perplexed. It was too sudden.

“It is written clearly in the letter!” Aldridge said silently in his heart.

He looked at Antonio with some concern. For a long time, the prince’s subordinates had been loyal to him, and he had grown accustomed to their loyalty, to the extent that after something like this happened, he was unable to accept the simple explanations in the letter.

Ever since he learned the details of the deal the prince made with the orcs in the north, Arvis had been fiercely opposed, but he had not succeeded.

Antonio still carried out his deal with the orcs—instructing the Arcane Society to cooperate with the orcs’ invasion of Ordo. If the orcs were bogged down in Ordo, even if only a part of their energy was tied up for a short time, it would be beneficial for him to consolidate Gabella.

“Ahem! Perhaps it is the other half of his Ordo blood acting up,” Aldridge explained. “It makes it emotionally unacceptable for him to accept your arrangements.”

“Bloodline?” Antonio was taken aback, his eyes dimming. “I understand.”

Perhaps that could explain it. The half-blood in himself, did it not also make him naturally stand on the side of the wizards?

“Your Highness!” Enoch Christopher, a member of the Council of Ten of the society, was also here. He reminded in a sharp voice, “Master Arvis knows too many secrets. Perhaps you should…” He made a gesture that anyone would understand.

“You…” Aldridge’s eyes widened, and he defended his junior. “I guarantee on my honour, Arvis will absolutely not leak any secrets that are detrimental to us.”

“Oh! Master Aldridge,” Enoch said in a strange tone. “I respect your virtue and knowledge, but you are not a god. I would not wish for the day when we lose both our secrets and your honour.”

Antonio frowned, pondering under the gaze of the two men.

“Teacher!” When the prince looked at Aldridge with a sorrowful expression, Aldridge sadly lowered his head. The number one scholar of the Scholars’ Tower also calmed down.

“I request that you let him go with dignity.” 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Antonio nodded slowly and turned his gaze to the other person in the room.

“Sigrid, you shall be the one to see Arvis off. Do as the teacher says.”

“Me?” The witch, who had been silent all along, frowned in displeasure. “Arvis has been gone for three days.”

That beautiful face always seemed to be covered in a layer of frost, and her frown made the temperature in the room drop even further.

For once, Antonio was somewhat pleading. “That is why I am asking you. In this matter, there is no one I can trust more than you.”

The corners of the witch’s mouth seemed to curl up slightly, and the temperature in the room recovered considerably.

“In that case, very well.”