Jayden Wicks looked embarrassed when the Crown Prince asked him with shining eyes.

“It will be quite hard to see that friend right now.” 

“Hmm… I heard that he’s a Ghost. Is it because of that?” 

He knew that it was a hidden special force in the Northeast. Rumor has it that each member of the unit was an elite at the 5th Stage and that they only took on dangerous missions. This was a fact that the Imperial Family and the Central Region had understood to some extent. However, they did not know how many members or who the members were.

They were only able to clearly grasp this through the dimensional crack incident. 

There were only a dozen members at the 5th Stage with the sole exception of Iron. However their destructive power was strong enough that any general division or army would not be able to control them. 

“Yes. That’s right. I heard that he’s on a mission in a dangerous area.”

The Crown Prince looked in interest when he heard Jayden Wicks’ words. 

“That friend, isn’t he still 15 years old?” 

“That’s right.” 

Jayden Wicks replied dully to the Crown Prince. He had no choice but to do so even if it was disrespectful since he felt that the Crown Prince wanted to take Iron away to the Center with that shining eyes of his. His already bad impression of the Crown Prince worsened even further when he realized that he was trying to take their most talented people that could become one of the key figures in the North. 

‘This noble bastard is right next to us but he does not have any manners.’ 

This thought ran through Jayden Wicks’ head before he replied properly to the Crown Prince as they waited for the warp gate to be connected to the Northeast.

“It’s quite tidy.” 

The Crown Prince spoke while watching the North’s warp gate. 

The warp gate was just a huge mana stone inlaid in a device. Below it was a huge magic circle with several devices and instruments that protected both the stone and the circle. 

Compared to the old and antique buildings in the capital, this place had cool and unique buildings so they turned it around and made it into the Northern Command. However, Jayden Wicks just roughly accepted his words as if he did not care what the Crown Prince had said. 

‘Nitwit!’ 

The Crown Prince smirked at Jayden Wick’s foolishness as he climbed on top of the warp gate. 

“The Northeast… I’m quite excited.” 

“In fact, I have only visited the Northeast via the warp gate a few times.” 

“Oh! Is that so? Well… The Northeast is usually closed, right?” 

Jayden Wicks smiled bitterly at the words of the Crown Prince. 

The Northeast wouldn’t leave the warp gate open unless there was an emergency. They would only be operated for a number of complex reasons. It was usually closed to keep the dangerous atmosphere and the secrets of the Northeast from getting out. It would only be opened in case of a mana fog or other dangerous circumstances. Even then, it was only operated at a small scale, so that the people in the rear could retreat. Not even the Command would use it. 

However, recently, the Northeast began to change. 

‘I’ll have to check how much the Northeast has changed…’ 

The Crown Prince thought this to himself as the huge mana stone emitted a light that covered his entire body.

Whiiiiiiiiir!

Jayden Wicks climbed up on the magic circle as the mana circulated violently and produced a lot of flickering lights. Only the Crown Prince needed to go in but he thought that it would be too much of a spending for him to use alone. 

The two disappeared in a flash of light and appeared at a small warp gate in the Northeast.

“I have seen Your Highness, the Crown Prince. I’m Crimson Halo, the person in charge of the Northeast.” 

“Nice to meet you. Although I’m not good enough, I’m Alexar, the Crown Prince.” 

The Crown Prince greeted Crimson politely as they shook hands. 

“We’re a bit lacking, but would you like to have a meal inside?” 

“Haha! Even though you’re in the most dangerous area in the Empire, the architecture of this place is still superb.” 

Each building has cannons and large calibre guns mounted and ready to be used to keep the monsters in check if they ever tried to flock to this area. It was as if all of the structures in this place were designed to be able to fight at a moment’s notice. 

“You will be more surprised with the Command.” 

“Haha! There’s something more impressive than this?” 

The Crown Prince looked surprised when he heard Jayden Wicks’ comment. 

In fact, the Crown Prince could only see a bunch of weapons mounted on crude buildings but he still tried to act surprised as he climbed onto the drake. 

However, under the escort of the two commanders, the Crown Prince was surprised to see the area while sitting on top of the drake.

There were large amounts of cannons, large calibre firearms and artillery but there were even huge magic circles that were ready to fire off magic any time as well as magic bombs that were as huge as most of the buildings arranged all over the place. But the most impressive was the gigantic fortress cannon that was installed in the middle of Command. 

“Ho… I did hear about it but… this is really incredible.”

Crimson and Jayden Wicks smiled when they saw that the Crown Prince was truly surprised this time. 

“It’s going to be colder soon so we’ll bring you inside right away.”

The officers, who had heard that the Crown Prince would be coming, lined up and saluted the Crown Prince to give their respect while Crimson brought him to the Commander’s office. The soldiers, who were notorious for their strength, stood as they lowered their weapons in respect to the Crown Prince. 

When the Crown Prince saw them, he stopped for a moment. Even His Highness the Crown Prince, someone who felt like he was the greatest in the world, began to be greedy for these people who were remarkably disciplined and well-organized. 

‘They have quite a good strength here. It might be alright to use them a few times before throwing them away.’

The Crown Prince entered the commander’s office under the hospitality of the Northeastern officers while raising the value of the Northeast in his head. 

“Although Your Highness came here personally, I feel a bit apologetic that these are the only things that I can offer. There’s still much left to be desired.”

Crimson spoke as he looked at the old furniture in his office. The Crown Prince’s brows twitched for a moment.

“No, not at all. Antiquity has its own charm.”

An awkward smile grazed the sly Crown Prince’s face.

‘You sly old geezer!’

The Crown Prince’s expression stiffened when Crimson openly spoke about the Center’s lack of support for his troops. 

Jayden Wicks stifled a laugh when Crimson immediately spoke of the Center’s misdeeds as soon as they arrived at the commander’s office. 

“Ah. Come to think of it, I can see various merchants here in command. It’s completely unlike what I have heard.”

“They have recently increased in numbers thanks to the scholars that flocked here to study the dimensional crack.”

When the Crown Prince questioned him like this, Crimson just answered him as if this was nothing.

However, the Crown Prince’s expression couldn’t help but harden when he saw the various merchants flocking to this place. Originally, only the county merchants would come to this place to buy monster corpses at a low price. Since this place was extremely dangerous only the courageous of the merchants would visit this place. But recently, the Northeast began to change.

Even the newspapers began to collectively ask for information from them as they disseminated it in the capital. It was as if they were trying to say that the Northeast had truly changed.

[ What about the Northeast of the present? ]

[ The scholars that flocked to the Northeast for the dimensional crack. Amazed by the unique Northeastern view! ]

[ Are the Northeaster Soldiers really that strong? ]

Articles like these kept on popping up every day. Considering that the Center had imposed a control on the information that flowed to them, articles popping out like these meant that there was an influx of information that they couldn’t stop despite their control.

It was like the Northeast, who kept a tightly closed lid on their information, suddenly revolted against the throne, who tried to isolate them for their centralization plans, by opening their doors wide.

And as scholars went in the Northeast in droves, small numbers of merchants also began to venture in the Northeast. Since many scholars gathered together, research institutes were created. And the merchants, who could smell the money, visited the Northeast to sell them some supplies. 

If it was the Northeast from before, they would have rejected this. But this was not the case for the current Northeast.

Rather than throwing them away, they were even twisting the merchants in their fingers gently. They even created a merchant road that connected to the North making the Northeast’s rear stable and safe. Their movements were clearly telling the people that they were willing to accept them to their side.

And thanks to the recent arrival of support supplies, they have enough surplus of military supplies and weapons to keep everyone safe. 

The Northeastern Army, who was notorious for their strength, used this situation as they actively introduced the modern weapon tactics that was proposed by their young officer and used it to kill the monsters in their rear to continue to stabilize them. 

The Center, who was watching them closely, only recently found out that the area in the Northeast’s rear that they were intensely stabilizing was near the Badein River Valley. They also found out that the North was starting to develop the area near Cauns River while expanding to the West and developing Leins RIver. 

They realized that the entire North was moving as if they were developing a waterway. 

[ What will happen if the North completes the Merchant’s Road through their waterway? ]

There was an article written by a scholar that discussed the what-ifs of the situation. 

The North was a land that was not suitable for farming. In addition, it was a land that was not easily accessible to the merchants because of the monsters. However, their topography was much better compared to the center in terms of resources. 

What if the North deviates and separates from the Center’s grip by completing the trade route, the Merchant’s Road, despite people claiming that it’s nonsense and would never work?

The North would never forget what the Center had done to them. The Central Government was also aware of this fact. So, they wanted to pressure them with this issue slowly once the heat subsided. However, the situation changed for the worse when the Lion Family started to intervene. 

Although they considered the North as an uncivilized region, it was still a place where the Lion Family, a family that the Center could not hastily touch, resided in. This was because they were also precious swordmasters that represented the Empire along with the South’s Godly Sword Family. However, since they were well-known for being madmen, one wrong touch might trigger their craziness and some families might be destroyed as an example for them. 

In addition to their growing problems, they also recalled that the Lion Family, who had now made connections with the North, was geographically close to the Western Army.  

“If the West and the North join hands together, we’ll be in trouble. The current power that we have in the Center may not be maintained.”

“In addition to that, the Northeast is also developing their eastern region.”

“Your Highness, please personally check what kind of connection the Northeast and the East have.” 

Many eunuchs and ministers have asked the Crown Prince to do this countless times. 

I’m already going since you want me to go but why are you making me do something like this?

The Crown Prince cursed them in his head but he only said that he knew what to do while acting gently towards them.

Back then, he only felt annoyed. However, when he personally came to the Northeastern Command, he had no choice but to become serious. 

‘The atmosphere is unusual.’ 

This is not the Northeast that has absolute dependence on the Center.

This meant that this powerful military force was no longer in the hands of the Center. 

Cold sweat dripped on the Crown Prince’s back as his expression hardened. 

‘No matter what happens, I need to get at least one personal spy…’ 

Suddenly, he remembered the 15-year-old officer that he had mentioned to Jayden Wicks earlier. 

‘Since he’s still young, I think I can coax him just a few more times… If I can just take him to the Imperial Palace and get him to change his mind…’ 

This thought ran through the Crown Prince’s head as an evil smile grazed his face. He thought ‘This guy will do!’ while asking Crimson to meet with him. 

“I have a favor to ask of you.” 

“Did you mean to ask me? Your Highness?” 

“Yes. I heard about the hero who had made the most contribution in stopping the dimensional crack… I want to meet that friend.” 

“Ah… I apologize, he’s on a mission.” 

The Crown Prince nodded as if he knew that this would happen when Crimson spoke to him apologetically. 

Jayden Wicks had told this to him earlier, but when Crimson also spoke as if he wouldn’t show the boy to him, he couldn’t help but feel anxious. Perhaps that was the reason why he became more curious. 

Who the hell is that person to make these two commanders this stingy?

“I’ll wait.” 

“….Yes?” 

Crimson turned to look at Jayden Wicks when he couldn’t understand what the Crown Prince was saying. Then, he saw that Jayden’s eyes were also widened in surprise. 

Seeing their surprise, the Crown Prince smiled brightly.

“I didn't mean to make a clumsy apology when I came to the Northeast. I would like to travel around the Northeast while apologizing on behalf of the Center. I would also like to discuss with the commander about the further developments of the Northeast.” 

“To that point…” 

“I wasn’t aware of the situation since I was busy handling diplomatic issues with the other countries. Since I already know of it, I should help you. I know how disappointed the Northeast is. After all, you are blocking the frontline of the Empire but you have received insufficient support. I will help you.”

Crimson’s expression hardened when he realized what the Crown Prince was trying to do. It seemed like he really wanted to stay here and wait to have a meeting with the said hero. 

“But, how long will it take for me to meet with that friend?” 

The expressions of both commanders hardened when they heard the Crown Prince’s question.