After reading through all them, it only meant one simple thing. It was a contract that stated that Frankenstein had to support Oresfall throughout his entire life, and Oresfall would support him back. And during a crisis, they must both support each other.
Frankenstein looked up at Adrian, "Okay."
The previous evening, deep within a small, hidden chamber, Roderick sat in complete silence.
He wasn’t anywhere near the capital right now. He was currently hiding out in a territory far closer to the northern borders. This location was completely detached from the underground cave he uduslly frequented. This was one of his personal, private hideouts; a place meant exclusively for certain rituals.
Roderick slowly lifted his head and looked up at the stone statue standing in the center of the room.
It was carved to look like a human woman. The body was smooth, detailed, and completely naked, boasting incredibly curvaceous proportions. But the horrific part was the head.
It didn’t resemble a human in the slightest.
Instead, the neck merged directly into a massive cluster of thick, scaly serpents. They looked exactly like king cobras, their hoods fully flared out, ready to strike. If one were to count them, there were exactly ten distinct snake heads attached to the statue’s shoulders, curving outward to form a terrifying umbrella of snake heads.
The stone wasn’t clean either.
The entire statue was slick with thick, wet stains. The heavy scent of blood filled the room. At the foot of the snake-woman was a massive, fresh pool of pooling blood.
Roderick slowly brought his head down to the cold floor, placing his palms flat on the stone right beside his ears. He mumbled something quickly under his breath, repeating the raspy syllables over and over like a prayer.
Right at that moment, heavy footsteps echoed near the entrance.
A man wearing a dark hood stepped into the room. He didn’t interrupt Roderick and just stood there quietly by the door, his face hidden behind the hood, waiting as Roderick finished his work.
After a few minutes, Roderick finally raised his head. He turned around, still kneeling on the floor, and looked at the hooded man.
"What’s the news?" Roderick asked coldly.
The man bowed slightly. "My lord, Adrian Sterling arrived at the military campt a few hours ago."
Roderick nodded, a dark smirk pulling at his lips.
"Good," he said. "The preparations are already fully complete on our end. All we need to do now is wait for him to actively fight in the war. Give me more information. What is the current size of his army?"
The hooded man quickly explained everything his scouts had gathered.
As the report continued, Roderick’s smirk faded into a deep frown.
"Eight thousand soldiers," Roderick muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing. "And based on what you can tell, almost half of them are heavily armored knights? Did I hear that correctly?"
"Yes my lord," the man replied. "Four thousand knights if the reports are correct. It isn’t the armor that gave it away, but the way they walked. Even his regular soldiers wear top quality armor that the knights of some territories don’t get to put on."
Roderick sucked in a sharp breath.
He let out a low, shuddering chuckle that echoed off the stone walls.
"Well," Roderick grinned. "The stronger his army is, the better. This sacrificial ritual requires immense blood, and will give us a hero. It will give us a monster that none of the other kingdoms have ever been able to make, or will ever be able to make. With four thousand knights acting as fuel... even if only half of them die on that battlefield, we could summon something far stronger than the current heroes of the surrounding kingdoms."
His dark smirk returned, twisting his face into something ugly.
"I really wanted to invest in this man. But my foolish brother... even though the Emperor is a complete idiot, he does occasionally hand me opportunities that I could only dream of. With my cautious nature, and my ability to properly evaluate the value of people, it is incredibly hard for me to just throw away my valuable chess pieces. But this idiot does it for me."
Roderick slowly stood up, brushing the dirt off his knees.
"He forces my hand and leaves me to make the most out of his mess. And this time? This is the first time I’ve gotten a return on investment that I would have never expected."
Just as the hooded man by the entrance opened his mouth to reply, panicked footsteps echoed down the stone hallway.
A second man rushed into the room. He looked completely out of breath.
He immediately locked eyes with Roderick, then quickly glanced over at the hooded man standing by the entrance. The newcomer quickly bowed to the hooded man first.
"Greetings Teacher," he panted.
The hooded man just gave a slow nod.
The newcomer then turned to Roderick and fell to one knee.
"My lord, there is an emergency update. Lord Adrian—"
"Stop right there," Roderick snapped, his voice turning icy. "There are no lords other than me here. Call them by their names when we are alone."
The messenger visibly gulped and nodded. "Y-Yes my lord. Adrian Sterling has just declared that he will only be assisting the main army with logistics and raising their morale instead of fighting directly in the war. And... he has just started cooking."
Roderick’s face went completely blank.
"...What do you mean?"
"My lord, I do not know," the messenger stammered, sweat pouring down his face. "He made a public speech. We do not have all the specific details yet, but apparently he is sending back seven thousand of his men. He is only keeping one thousand soldiers at the front lines because he claims there is not enough food for the whole army."
The messenger swallowed hard.
"He stated that combining everyone’s forces pushed the resources too thin, and the food intake is much higher. Due to this, he made the choice to send his army back so the others could stay longer and fight a prolonged war because it is really hard to—"
"Enough."
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