Chapter 176. Gathering Storms
William glanced at the sky. The setting sun had already sunk behind the distant mountains, and the dusk was deepening.
Reining in his horse, William instructed Tos at his side, “Tos, tomorrow I’m going to the Noble Legion’s garrison. Tell them to make preparations in advance.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Tos replied. Then he added, “Your Highness, should I have them make extra arrangements and prepare some ceremonial display?”
William shook his head.
“No need. Don’t waste money on pomp and extravagance. Just have them clean up the camp properly and make sure the soldiers look sharp.”
“This subordinate understands.” Tos accepted the order and turned to make the arrangements.
William looked out at the distant sky, dyed indigo by the evening twilight, then turned his horse and slowly headed toward the Royal Capital.
The horse’s hooves struck the stone road with steady clops. No one spoke along the way.
After entering the royal palace, he first went to Queen Vivian’s Residence.
Mother and son chatted idly about household matters, from the newly planted flowers in the palace garden to the curious goods being sent from various regions. The atmosphere was peaceful and warm.
As Vivian looked at her son’s increasingly composed profile, her eyes were filled with relief and satisfaction. She only reminded him to take care of his health and not overwork himself.
After leaving the Queen’s Residence, William returned to his own Residence.
The constant rushing about and planning of the past several days had left him somewhat weary. Sitting in the cushioned chair by the window, he gazed out into the night, and his thoughts gradually settled.
After a long period of painstaking effort, nearly all of the princesses from the marriage alliances were now pregnant.
However, Selena was the only one who had been formally established as his Consort. The other princesses remained distant from him, neither truly close nor completely aloof. William knew their hearts were not here, and he had not forced the matter.
William rose and walked to the table, picking up a dossier concerning the wars between the various nations. His gaze turned sharp once more.
Romantic entanglements had never been his focus. What he wanted was power over a kingdom, or even an empire.
Moonlight streamed through the window lattice, casting mottled shadows across the floor.
William opened the dossier and began reviewing the divisions and developments of the various wars. In the Residence, only the faint rustle of turning pages remained.
The chaos in the Eastern Continent was like a stone thrown into the map of the world, and the ripples rapidly spread to the other continental landmasses.
Those forces that had lain dormant for a long time had keenly caught the scent of opportunity and quietly begun extending their reach.
Envoys, spies, merchants—people of every identity moved through the nations of the Eastern Continent. Whether Human Kingdoms or territories of Foreign Races, all had become targets for contact.
They offered resources, tempted others with alliances, and even hinted at future divisions of power...
The rulers of the Eastern Continent were all too familiar with these methods, since they themselves had once used similar tactics to expand and maneuver against one another.
They simply had not expected fortune to turn so completely that these same tactics would one day be used against them.
But circumstances were stronger than men.
The fighting within the Eastern Continent was in full swing, with forces such as the trolls, Dwarves, and lizardfolk throwing everything into turmoil.
Faced with the “olive branches” extended by other continental powers, even knowing full well that schemes lay hidden within them, they could only grit their teeth and compromise.
At the very least, they could temporarily obtain resources to catch their breath, or borrow outside strength to restrain their opponents.
And at the center of this great vortex, one name was faintly coming into focus: William Kroll.
As the leaders of the other continents gathered intelligence, they gradually pieced together the trajectory of this young man.
He had just left two kingdoms. It was said that by exchanging resources for troops, and troops for noble titles, he had brought the private armies of the nobility under his control.
Even more shocking was the rumored talent he possessed—the ability to accurately discern the potential of living beings.
“This kind of talent... was practically born for an age of chaos.”
A spy from the Western Continent wrote those words in his report, his wariness plain between the lines.
They understood all too well how terrifying such an ability was. In wartime, the power to efficiently unearth potential meant the ability to raise a strong army at the fastest possible speed. That was enough to alter the balance of power across an entire continent.
Almost at the same time, several encrypted messages were sent through Communication Crystals, crossing vast seas and mountain ranges before being transmitted back to the cores of their respective continents.
“Target: William Kroll, Crown Prince of Kroll.”
“Characteristics: exceptionally young, ruthless in method, possesses a special talent, capable of rapidly screening living beings.”
“Threat level: extremely high.”
“Recommendation: monitor closely, attempt contact. If he cannot be recruited, then...”
At the end of the messages, the words were left unfinished, yet cold calculation seeped through them all the same. The winds of the Eastern Continent were still blowing, but the gazes from the other continents had already fallen upon William like something tangible.
Inside the Council Hall of the Royal Capital, William was reading the latest intelligence reports that had been delivered, among them several scattered bits of news about “overseas visitors.”
His fingertip traced across the page, and his gaze darkened slightly. The appearance of these uninvited guests meant that the chaos in the Eastern Continent was about to usher in even more complicated variables.
As the name William Kroll appeared with growing frequency on the desks of rulers across the continents, the hidden movements in the shadows also became increasingly dense.
The spies infiltrated more deeply. The envoys raised their offers. Some forces had even already deployed covert armed power along the fringes of the Eastern Continent, waiting for the right moment to act.
However, just as their plans were beginning to unfold, a joint warning exploded like thunder, coming from the Elf race and the Dragon race.
There were no ornate words, only cold resolve.
“As for the affairs of the Eastern Continent, outside forces may interfere as they please. But under no circumstances are they to touch William Kroll. Whoever dares act rashly, the bows of the Elven Forest and the fury of Dragon Island will gladly let you have a taste of what it means when we join hands.”
The weight of that warning was enough to make any force think twice.
The Elves had guarded the continent’s source of magic for generations. Powerful figures emerged endlessly from their race, and their ancient magic arrays could easily tear apart massive armies.
The Dragon race stood even higher, at the very top of the food chain. The breath of a single adult Giant Dragon could level an entire city, not to mention the ancient dragons sleeping deep within Dragon Island.
Though these two great races rarely interfered in the continent’s disputes, they had always been acknowledged as apex powers.
There were even whispers in private that, if not for the Dragon race’s slow rate of reproduction and the Elves’ longstanding preference for solitude over expansion, the continent might already have belonged to them.
And now, these two great giants had jointly issued a rare warning. It was no different from erecting an impregnable barrier around William Kroll.
The outside forces that had originally been eager to make a move immediately restrained themselves. No one was willing to provoke these two enormous powers, each capable of crippling their foundations, all for the sake of one man.
After all, there were many ways for a person to die by accident. Dying through “coincidence” was hardly impossible.