All of the major troops in the North were tied to the Winter Mountains for two years due to the dimensional crack. A lot of things had changed in the Empire in those two years.

The empire began to tremble in fear once news of the dimensional crack had reached the Center. Of course, the Central Government announced that they had sent huge supplies as support to the Northeast. This was so the Northeast could buy them as much time as possible. The Center wanted to use them as a scapegoat so they could have enough time to prepare for the incoming monster wave.

The Imperial Family saw this as an opportunity and took advantage of the dimensional crack to rip off huge amounts of wealth from the noble families. Of course, the nobles were people who could only gain money and never lose it so they collected all kinds of taxes from the people to give to the Imperial Family under the guise of sending continuous supply to the Northeast.

But while they were in the midst of taking advantage of each other, news about the sealing of the dimensional crack began to spread in the capital. With the risk of the dimensional crack gone, the people began to wake up one by one.

“The Imperial Family should explain themselves!” 

“Where did all our money go!” 

“The nobles should explain themselves!” 

The people gathered together in groups and screamed for justice.

They tried to disperse them at first however this idea did not last long. So, they had no choice but to fix it immediately. They couldn’t dare to use the army to stop these people from gathering. After all, once they use force, the people from all over the Empire would use this as a sign to start a revolt. 

The thought of killing the leader to kill off the people’s desire to revolt passed through their heads but they immediately realized that doing so would result in the Imperial economy stagnating. If that happened, then they would suffer from a huge loss.

In the end, all they could do was hem and haw as they continued to hold meetings without truly doing anything.

Then, the newspapers began to publish articles about the Northeast, the dimensional crack and the embezzlement of supplies as if they did not care about anything anymore.

[ Where are all of the support supplies that were supposed to be sent to the Northeast? ]

[ Are the taxes that the noble families collect from us justified? ]

[ It’s unfair for the nobles too. They have been removed from the Center for the sole purpose of protecting themselves from the dimensional crack! ]

[ Empire, are you really alright with this? ]

As these articles began to pop out day after day, a huge amount of support supplies started getting sent to the Northeast. They used the excuse of their lack of logistics system as the reason for the delay and sent off twice the amount of the promised supplies that they did not give before. 

And it was not only the Northeast that benefited from this.

The Northern Army took this chance to resolve their chronic problem, the shortage of troops. They selected several support troops from different regions of the Empire. After all, the risk from the Northeast’s dimensional crack as well as the dark elves, which they had officially reported, were still yet to be resolved. These problems continued to terrorize them.

Because of the articles published about the Northeast, scholars from all over the continent, who were interested in the dimensional cracks, began to flock to the Northeast. Even the wizards, geologists, mana researchers, dimension researchers, historical scholars and intellectuals from various fields all over the continent also rushed over to the Northeast to study the dimensional crack. When the Northern Wizard Tower bragged about their great achievement in the Wizard Towers’ meeting, the representatives of the other Wizard Towers returned to their own Wizard Towers with twisted looks on their faces. 

The Center believed that no one would dare come to the North and the Northeast which had become the most dangerous area in the Empire. However, contrary to what they had expected, the people flocked to the North to study the dimensional crack. After all they were fully aware that they would be safe since the Northern Army had blocked and sealed the dimensional crack perfectly well. 

At the time when all of the people were busy flocking to the Northeast, the Northeast Commander threw a bomb that no one expected in a press conference.

“We have received little to no support from the Central Government.” 

The words of Northeast Commander Crimson Halo, who had served as the head of the Central Regional Army, operational staff and even as the Northern Commander before, were already very surprising. But the bomb that they received was much bigger when he showed solid evidence of his claims. 

The Central Government would have ignored their words in the past, but this was a time when all of the attention was focused on the Northeast. They could no longer cover it up and turn a blind eye to the Northeast’s plight. 

They desperately tried to control any information about the Northeast and stop the news from reaching the people’s ears and piquing their interests. They wanted to stop the information and only leak a few that they could take advantage of to put pressure on the Northern and Northeastern Armies. However, this feast was something that they could not achieve easily anymore.

They did not know what happened but the sleeping lion stretched its claws in support of the Northeast and asked that they reveal the information.

There were rumors that one of the Northeastern soldiers was from the Lion Family and the family had accepted the request for help from their descendant. However, those things remained as rumors.

Anyway, once the Leonhardts asked for an explanation of this matter, the Center could not cover it up anymore. 

Since attention was focused on all sorts of things related to the Northeast, trying to cut off the loose tail would not work at all. 

“We’ll have to give them a piece of our flesh.” 

“Ha… Do you think that’s easy? What if it comes all the way to us?” 

“Goddamnit! I told you to stop gobbling up money recklessly!” 

“Why do it at this time… I’m going nuts!” 

The nobles were divided into factions screaming that it was the fault of the other and vice versa. However, all of them just raised their voices while they trained their eyes on the Imperial Family. 

Their gazes meant that the Imperial Family should take responsibility since they were the ones that ate the most. Naturally, the Imperial Family drew a line saying that they could not do so. The nobles also tried to avoid responsibility which added more confusion to the Center. 

Unfortunately for them, stupidly clear evidence of the nobles who played tricks on the supplies that were supposed to be sent to the Northeast began to emerge one by one. There were so many dirty things that they had done that just a little investigation resulted in a lot of information about their corruption. 

This was one of the main reasons why they tried to control the information somehow. 

However, despite putting on a control on the information, once the scholars began to praise the entire Northern region for their excellent work in sealing the dimensional crack, the interest of the people were piqued once again. Eventually information about the Northeast spread like wildfire all throughout the Empire. 

Who said that newspapers were money ghosts?

Just as their nickname suggested, the newspaper companies smelled money from the information about the Northeast. So, they secretly gathered information about the Northeast and spread it in the capital, despite the capital imposing an Imperial Control on the information. 

As a result, various problems like supplies and military support for the Northeast began to burst out one after the other. 

The Center now had no choice but to extensively promote the Northeast’s success in stopping the dimensional crack. And for them to be able to properly break and hide the news about the Central nobles chain of corruption, it was necessary for them to promote the heroes who contributed a lot of meritorious deeds and push them to the forefront. They wrapped them up as heroes who saved the Empire. At the same time, they tried to soothe the anger of the masses by promising a huge amount of support from the Center to the Northeast while apologizing for not being able to do so before. 

However, these alone were not enough to soothe the public anger and their sympathy for the Northeast. The Imperial Family and the nobles all agreed that there should at least be a respectable person who needed to come forward.

And the person that they chose was none other than the Crown Prince. 

“Ha… Do I have to go to the Northeast just because of petty bugs like that?” 

“However, Your Highness… If Your Highness does not go then His Majesty will be in trouble.” 

The Crown Prince looked out of the window in annoyance when he heard the eunuch’s words.

The angry masses were pushing the soldiers away as he passed by on his carriage decorated with gold and gems while on his way to the warp gate.

However, instead of lifting their clubs and spears, the soldiers just used their shields to receive the anger of the people. After all, any excessive response would bring about the worst public opinion. 

“Tch! These pests are always a problem wherever you go!”

The Crown Prince, who was hidden behind a red curtain, frowned deeply as he lamented his situation. 

Why should I, someone from the noblest lineage of this Empire, apologize to the barbarians of the Northeast?

These were the thoughts that swirled in the Crown Prince’s head. However, there was no mistake in his outward appearance because he was someone who was well-versed in politics and social skills ever since he was young. 

Upon arriving at the warp gate, the Crown Prince descended from his carriage and looked at the people as if he was truly guilty. 

“All of this is our fault. I apologize on behalf of the Imperial Family.”

When the Crown Prince bowed and apologized, the people, who had been acting violently, became quiet. 

“We have neglected the North because of the various diplomatic issues that we have been dealing with but I know that these excuses won’t appease the Northerners’ anger. Even if I have to kneel down and apologize, I will make sure to quell the anger of the Northerners. So please give me a chance, dear people of the Capital.”

One of the people among the masses shed tears when they heard the Crown Prince’s words.

“I believe in Your Highness, the Crown Prince!”

“The soldiers and citizens of the North will also believe your sincerity!”

“Please take care of yourself and return safely!”

“Your Highness is the hope of our Empire!”

The Crown Prince smiled after hearing the people’s support before turning around and approaching the warp gate.

“Morons.”

The Crown Prince glanced at the people cheering for him before hurriedly heading towards the warp gate. He felt like just being with these disgusting pests for a bit longer would make his skin crawl and rot. 

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The Crown Prince hurriedly received the chauffeur’s offered handkerchief to wipe himself clean while standing on top of the warp gate’s magic circle. 

“Hoo… Am I going to go somewhere more disgusting now?”

“The trip this time will strengthen His Majesty’s faith in Your Highness.”

“Tch! Fine. I’ll put up with it for a few days and make sure to drop at least half of those arrogant bastards.”

“Yes. We have to take this opportunity to completely pressure the 4th Prince.”

The chauffeur hurriedly added to the Crown Prince’s words to give him strength and determination. The Crown Prince smiled as if he was satisfied with his words.

“It wouldn’t be bad to get the support of the dumb Northerners in the long run. After all, the Imperial Family is originally the group that reforms stupid and dumb things…”

The Crown Prince closed his eyes. The chauffeur hurriedly winked at the wizards. The wizards hurriedly got the hint and praised him as if he was unconditionally correct and he would always be great. 

Whiiiiiiiiir!

The mana in the warp gate rotated violently as flickering lights wrapped around the Crown Prince’s body. 

When the Crown Prince opened his eyes, he could see the Northern Command with numerous weapons tightly arranged together. 

“I have seen Your Highness, the Crown Prince. I’m Jayden Wicks, the person in charge of Northern Command.”

“Ooooh! Nice to meet you. Although I’m not good enough, I’m Alexar, the Crown Prince. It’s an honor to meet the hero who blocked the dimensional crack.”

Jayden Wicks just smiled at the Crown Prince’s fuss as he guided him inside. 

“Your Highness, it might be a bit lacking but I would still like to guide you to a room for some rest. Please take a short break before you depart for the Northeast.”

“Ho… Thank you for your hospitality. I thought I would be cursed as soon as I arrived here.”

“How dare we to Your Highness… The Northern Army is always filled with Loyalty to the Imperial Family.”

The Crown Prince admired Jayden Wicks’ words and praised the bravery of the Northern Army. However, both the Crown Prince and Jayden Wicks knew that they were talking nonsense. 

The Crown Prince was well aware of the Northern Army’s hatred for the Imperial Family. He was the one who knew this best. And Jayden Wicks, through reliable sources, knew that the Crown Prince was a sly fox who showed a different appearance on the outside. 

While the two were having an exhausting conversation that they did not even mean, they began to talk about the Northeast.

“I heard that it was not the two commanders nor the Leonhardt Family Head who made the most contribution?” 

“That’s right.” 

Jaiden Wicks nodded as he answered the Crown Prince’s question. Seeing Jayden Wicks react like that, the Crown Prince’s eyes glistened with interest. 

“I heard that this friend is not much older than me… Can I take this opportunity to meet with him?” 

***

Notes

[Money Ghost] 돈 귀신 – Literally money ghost. Someone who’s entirely obsessed with money. Money grubbers.