Edwin spoke with a thin smile beneath his mask, "Let me give you a story. I am sure all your questions would be answered by the end."

Siluca cut apart the paper in her hand and coldly stared at him, "Speak then. I am curious."

​​

"Great… Now, where should I start. Alright, let's start from the very beginning." Edwin's voice turned serious.

"It started many years ago. Maybe before you became a duchess. Your predecessor handed over the Roscyagite Mine to the church for some sort of deal. I don't know why this deal was made but clearly, the church had a handle on you and you had to sell them this mine."

"Naturally, your predecessor didn't wish to give up on this mine. It brought her a hefty profit. Thus, she thought of a scheme to take it back."

"The first step for her was to plant someone within the Radiant Church. I am not sure who this person is. But he/ she should be near about bishop rank or maybe even an archbishop right now."

Edwin paused for some time and then observed Siluca's surprised expressions. Her emotions were extremely clear to him. So he was delighted to see that his guesses were correct.

As the duchess, Siluca definitely knew the detailed situation. Only she could verify his deductions.

"I haven't begun to investigate the bishops or the archbishops of the Radiant Church but it shouldn't be too difficult to find who the spy is."

"Anyway, the church remained active as well. They knew they couldn't just swallow this mine alone. They required the assistance of more forces to take complete advantage of this mine. Thus, they joined hands with the Roger Dukedom and a few more territories and established trade routes with them. Thus, the Broken Hill Industries was formed."

At this point, Edwin spoke with a sneer, "However, what the Roger Dukedom or anyone else didn't know was that even though they were the ones who created the Broken Hill Industries it was the Walsh Dukedom's people who had sneaked their way inside it. Assassinating the people working in the Broken Hill Industries, threatening them, or and even forcefully planting false evidence about an official and forced him to resign is how the Walsh Dukedom managed to sneak their men inside. Isn't that right, Duchess?"

Siluca's emotions remained completely calm as she replied, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"A criminal will not confess to a crime. However, I am not here to preach justice. In truth, the acts of the Walsh Dukedom pique my interest in collaborating with you. Something as insignificant as morality, at the very least, does not prevent you from pursuing your goals. That's excellent."

Edwin's voice revealed that he was genuinely impressed.

Those words actually scared Siluca. She wasn't all that happy with some of the decisions of her predecessor.

Siluca felt as if her predecessor was too ruthless and rigid. However, as she managed the dukedom, she understood that those actions were necessary.

Although she understood her predecessor's actions, she was still repulsive about most of them. This implanting her people within the Broken Hill Industries was one of them.

Edwin's voice then got serious and he returned to the story.

"And now, you are finalizing her plan. 2 months ago, you finally put the final bits of this plan into motion."

"This began by sending an Archbishop to the Roger Dukedom for some reason. You accomplished this by using that mole you set up within the Radiant Church since years ago. My guess is that in the past few months the Broken Hill Industries' Head made a secret deal with the Roger Dukedom to earn more. After all, the majority of the profit was hoarded by the Radiant Church which had definitely begun to make the Roger Dukedom itch in irritation. The Roger Dukedom wants to earn more income secretly and making a deal with the head of the trading company he had initially set up was the best way."

"Thus, the Broken Hills Industries began to lower the payments to the Radiant Church along with the Roger Dukedom on the surface. However, in reality, the Roger Dukedom was sent this income through another route which quite safe."

"Your spy in the Radiant Church informed the information to the other members of the Radiant Church that perhaps the Roger Dukedom had started to go beyond the limits of his deal."

"Then two months ago, you sent an Archbishop to the Roger Dukedom for diplomatic talks and to threaten them. But the Radiant Church never expected that only his body would return. When this occurred, your spy fanned by flames by adding that since this occurred in the Roger Dukedom, it must have been either by the Roger Dukedom's hand or through a tactical agreement by the Roger Dukedom."

"This is quite a natural argument and it made a lot of sense. The only way the Roger Dukedom could counter this argument was by admitting that they were incapable of protecting the Archbishop. However, if they did admit this, it would display their weakness, lawlessness and the Radiant Church could use this as an excuse to take a greater share of the profit while also punishing the Roger Dukedom. This is not something that the Roger Dukedom would allow if it doesn't want to be pushed into a dead-end from a trade and political outlook."

"Even if the Radiant Church knew that someone else was pulling the string, the fact remained that the Roger Dukedom made a secret deal with the Broken Hills Industries' Head. This fact already displeased them and destroyed their relationship."

"The final nail in the coffin was for you to use someone like Samuel to free the mine from the Broken Hills Industries' Control. This mine is under Astral Mining Company and the Mayor is personally managing it."

"Actually, the Astral Mining Company's record is quite impressive. Within the last 3 months, they hired nearly ten 5 Star Warriors. And if you exclude their last three months, then they had only hired seven 5 Star Warriors since their inception. It's quite a coincidence, isn't it? Just a month before the Astral Mining Company was made in charge of the Roscyagite Mine, they had already hired a lot of 5 Star Warriors."

Siluca was sweating nervously as she stared at Edwin with a shocked look. She had thought that even if he knew the information, he wouldn't atleast know it in detail.

But here Edwin was telling her as if he was the one who planned the whole thing out.

"Currently, the Radiant Church is completely infuriated with the Roger Dukedom. In their minds, the Astral Mining Company was set up by the Roger Dukedom. This is because the Roger Dukedom is receiving raw ores directly from the Astral Mining Company. Even though they know that the Radiant Church will completely misunderstand the situation, the Duke cares more about increasing his personal wealth and force so he has ignored the Radiant Church. This is your luck. But even if it didn't happen, you could use your spy to make the situation worse."

"The fact that the Radiant Church is now completely against the Roger Dukedom is known by the King. If the Radiant Church in your territory suddenly disappears. I wonder who they will point their fingers on. The Walsh Dukedom or the Roger Dukedom. Even if someone tried to investigate the truth, he would be more inclined to believe that the Roger Dukedom was behind it."

"What you want from an Array Master is to construct either a Killing Array or portable killing arrays and then destroy the Radiant Church before putting the blame on the Roger Dukedom. This won't just greatly expand your prestige but also allow you to firmly suppress the Roger Dukedom politically with none being the wiser. Thus, it completes the story."

"It's worthily a master plan. If your predecessor was still alive, I doubt I would have seen through it easily. A true strategic genius."

Edwin was sincere while praising Siluca's predecessor of Walsh Dukedom. She was probably near his level in terms of strategy and planning.

A bitter smile appeared on Siluca's face as she thought 'All strategies are useless in front of Absolute Power. Isn't that why she died on the battlefield 11 years ago?'

She spoke with the same bitter smile, "You told me this because you want me to understand that you know everything. That I am not in any position to make demands."

If Siluca could have seen his face, she would have seen a brilliant smile on Edwin's face as he spoke, "It's truly nice to talk to smart people."