125: Chapter 125 Your Emperor is Abandoning You

Levi did not go to see him off.

He simply sat back down in the armchair in front of the fireplace, picked up the cup of long-cooled black tea, and took a small sip.

The bitterness of the tea spread across the tip of his tongue, much like the taste currently being savored by the upper echelons of the Empire.

He knew that Tiberius did not need his persuasion; the contract itself was the most powerful argument.

The general was a smart and pragmatic man; he would make the right choice between the empty fame of loyalty and the tangible benefits for his soldiers.

Now, only a tiny bit of catalyst was needed to make this pot of already scalding water boil over completely.

The crackling of the hearth fire echoed in the silent study, reflecting on Levi's calm profile.

He set down his teacup and turned his gaze back to the massive map of the Terrarium continent on the wall. His eyes were deep, as if he could already see the future on that long northern defense line where countless goshawk war banners would quietly change their allegiance.

The night wind, carrying a chill, blew through the camp of the Imperial Second Legion.

General Tiberius's footsteps were as heavy as iron, crushing the thin frost on the ground with every step.

He did not return to his central command tent but walked straight toward the centurion council tent located at the heart of the camp.

The 'Blackstone Security Consulting Company Standard Employment Contract' in his hand was gripped tightly, its parchment edges nearly deformed by his squeeze. The sensation was more searing than any red-hot branding iron.

Inside the council tent, ten of his most core subordinates had been waiting for a long time.

These were brothers-in-arms who had crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood with him; they were the true backbone of the Imperial Second Legion.

Seeing the general walk in with a grim face, everyone instinctively stood tall, and the air in the tent instantly froze.

Tiberius wasted no words.

He walked to the head of the long table and slammed the heavy contract onto the surface with a loud 'thwack'.

The loud noise caused the hearts of all the centurions to tremble.

Next, he pulled another crumpled piece of parchment from his robe, stamped with the purple wax seal of the Imperial Logistics Department. It was an order that had arrived just last month, and he threw it down next to the contract.

"Take a look, all of you." His voice was as raspy as if it had been ground by sandpaper. "The one on the left is the 'offer' given to us by Lord Levi of Silvermoon City. The one on the right is the order from the nobles in the Imperial Capital, demanding that we 'locally procure half of our own provisions.'"

He sat down, crossing his hands, his sharp hawk-like eyes scanning the face of every subordinate.

"After reading them, tell me which boss you want to eat with."

The centurions looked at each other in confusion and gathered around.

The closest one, a burly one-eyed man with a scar on his left cheek, was the first to pick up the imperial order.

He wasn't very literate, but he recognized the four characters for 'locally procure' better than anyone.

To them, this was a synonym for 'go rob people yourselves'.

A look of undisguised contempt appeared on his face as he casually tossed the order to the next person.

Then, he carefully picked up the exquisite 'offer'.

He read it word by word. He was slow, but everyone in the tent heard him clearly.

When he read 'Base salary, three times the Imperial standard,' a suppressed gasp echoed in the tent.

When he read 'In the event of death in battle, a lump-sum pension equal to twenty years of total salary will be paid,' the heavy breathing of several men became clearly audible.

And when he finished the last line, 'Children will be included in the "Blackstone Orphan Care Program," with the company covering all education and living expenses,' a deathly silence fell over the entire council tent.

The one-eyed centurion looked up, something burning fiercely in his bloodshot eyes.

He remembered his deputy who died in Sunset Valley three years ago. His helpless widow and child had ultimately received a pension from the Imperial Quartermaster that was only enough to buy a thin wooden coffin.

"General!" He slammed his fist onto the table, his voice trembling slightly with emotion. "Is there even a choice? My brothers risk their lives so their wives and children can survive, not so those fat pigs in the Imperial Capital can have a few more gold coins in their wine cups!"

"Exactly!" another centurion, relatively thin but with shrewd eyes, said excitedly. "That bullshit order tells us to rob civilians. How are we any different from bandits then? But this... this contract treats us like human beings! We are warriors, not disposable consumables!"

"Damn, a pension worth twenty years of salary... I want to die a glorious death for this Lord Levi right now!"

"If this contract were shown to the old timers in the Third Legion, I guarantee they'd run over here faster than us! That old man, their commander, was just arguing with the quartermaster last month over winter cotton clothes!"

The atmosphere inside the tent was instantly ignited as everyone used the crudest yet most sincere language to express their most direct desires.

No one mentioned 'betrayal,' and no one spoke of 'loyalty'.

In the soldiers' simplest worldview, whoever provided food, whoever gave them dignity, and whoever ensured their families could live like human beings after they died was the one they would swing their blades for.

Tiberius listened quietly, watching the light shimmering in his subordinates' eyes.

He knew that from this moment on, this army no longer belonged spiritually to that distant and cold Imperial throne.

They had become the first batch of 'employees' for the 'Blackstone Security Consulting Company,' and the ones most eager to start their jobs.

At almost the same time, in the secret basement of the Silvermoon City Lord's Mansion, Ella Radiance stood in the center of a complex magic array constructed of mithril and moonstones.

This was a remote communication and information retrieval array exclusive to the royal family. Even outside the Imperial Capital, it could connect to a mirror of the Imperial Central Archives through specific passwords and bloodline verification.

To complete that damned 'feasibility report,' she had finally resorted to using her princess privileges.

She needed the most authentic data to refute Levi's seemingly absurd yet logically rigorous 'business theory'.

As the blood from her fingertip dripped into the core of the array, a pale blue halo soared upward, condensing into rows of translucent, constantly scrolling golden runes in the air before her.

She skillfully entered the query command—'Total Ledger of Military Expenditures for the Imperial Northern Defense Line over the Past Five Years'.

A massive torrent of data emerged, parsed by the array, and finally converged into a clear overview table.

When she saw the shocking total figure at the bottom of the table, Ella's breath couldn't help but hitch.

An enormous annual appropriation of nine million gold coins—this was enough to form an entirely new Royal Guard legion!

Her father had indeed spared no expense for the peace of the north.

However, as she delved deeper into the details of the specific fund flows, the color drained from her face until she was as pale as paper.

She saw that after the nine million gold coins left the Imperial Ministry of Finance, they passed through the Ministry of Military Affairs, the General Logistics Department, the Northern Theater Command, and then to various legions and military towns. At every stage, a large chunk would be devoured as if by an invisible beast.

All sorts of 'management fees,' 'transportation losses,' and 'clerical fees' appeared incessantly.

In the end, what actually reached the soldiers' hands to be converted into armor and food was less than three million gold coins!

A full seventy percent—over six million gold coins—had evaporated without a trace through layers of subcontracting and exploitation, turning into fountains and wine pools in the manors of officials and nobles at every level.

On the light screen of the array, a final expenditure report was clearly reflected. It was written in beautiful cursive script: 'Total Expenditure: 8.98 Million Gold Coins.' In the bottom right corner of the report was the lion seal representing imperial power and her father, the Radiant Emperor's personal signature, both of which were incredibly familiar to her.

Her Imperial Father, the most supreme monarch of the Terrarium continent, signed his name every year on a report so fake it was laughable.

Ella's body swayed, a sense of unprecedented coldness rising from her heart and instantly spreading through her entire being.

Levi was right; this wasn't an army at all, but a giant tumor devouring the flesh and blood of the Empire.

And the royal family she took pride in was merely sitting atop the tumor, knowing nothing about it, and even acting as fools who continued to supply it with nutrients.

The sense of humiliation from being completely abandoned and the madness of being pushed to the brink were fermenting inside Cassius's temporary residence.

He looked at the orderly Imperial military camp outside the window, finding it incredibly eyesore.

He knew he had no way back.

He stumbled into the inner room and pushed aside some clutter, revealing a stone slab engraved with complex runes beneath the floorboards.

This was a one-time emergency transmission array. It was costly to use, and the mana fluctuations upon activation were enough to be detected by any high-level mage in the city.

But it had an incomparable advantage—it could bypass all relay nodes and transmit information directly to the receiving array in the Emperor's bedchamber.

He didn't care anymore.

Cassius bit his fingertip and smeared blood in the center of the array.

He was practically roaring as he poured everything he had seen and heard these past few days, along with his most vicious conjectures, into the magic signal.

"Your Majesty! Silvermoon City has rebelled! The culprit, Levi Byron, in the name of commerce, is committing treason, deluding the masses and corrupting the army's morale! Tiberius, commander of the Imperial Second Legion, has been turned and is colluding with the rebels! I, Cassius, swear to defend the Empire's glory and implore Your Majesty to immediately dispatch the Royal Guards to annihilate the rebels and purge the world!"

A crimson light flashed and vanished, and the array subsequently turned into a pile of dust.

Cassius collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, a sickly, savage grin appearing on his face.

He had bet everything.

Levi, Tiberius, just wait to be turned into ashes in the Emperor's wrath!

However, at the very moment he activated the array, several inconspicuous crow feathers at the top of the Lord's Mansion tower flickered with a faint magical luster.

Evelyn stood in the shadows of the tower. Before her, inside a crystal ball, Cassius's roar—full of despair and malice—was completely reproduced, and every detail of the magical fluctuations was clearly recorded.

She didn't stop it, nor did her expression change in the slightest.

Monitoring an enemy pushed to the brink and predicting all their actions was just the most basic part of her job.

She picked up the crystal ball and turned to go downstairs, her steps light and silent.

Levi was reviewing the analysis report Evelyn had just submitted regarding the identity composition of the first batch of Silvermoon City bondholders.

He read it very carefully because these people were the first original shareholders of his future commercial empire.

Evelyn gently placed the crystal ball containing the intercepted magic signal onto his desk.

"My Lord, the fish has taken the bait."

Levi looked up, picked up the crystal ball, and sank his spiritual power into it.

Cassius's roars and accusations echoed clearly in his mind.

After listening, there was no anger or joy on his face, only the calmness of observing an established fact.

"He's even more cooperative than I imagined." Levi casually tossed the crystal ball back to Evelyn as if throwing away a useless piece of junk.

"Make a copy and send the original signal to the Imperial Second Legion's camp to be handed to General Tiberius."

Evelyn bowed slightly, receiving her orders to withdraw.

"Wait." Levi stopped her. "Attach a note. I'll dictate, you write."

Evelyn immediately took out paper and pen.

Levi leaned back in his chair, looking at the night outside the window. A cold arc curled at the corner of his mouth as he said word by word, "Your Emperor is considering the cost of eliminating you."

Half an hour later, inside General Tiberius's tent.

A messenger knelt on one knee, presenting a wooden box containing a crystal ball and a small note to Tiberius.

Tiberius opened the wooden box, saw the crystal ball still faintly glowing, and unfolded the note.

When he saw the phrase on the note, which had no beginning or end yet seemed to contain endless profound meaning, he frowned.

Skeptically, he picked up the crystal ball and injected a trace of Battle Qi.

The next moment, the hysterical voice of the Imperial Envoy, Cassius, exploded in his ears.

"...Tiberius has been turned, colluding with the rebels! ... I implore Your Majesty to immediately dispatch the Royal Guards to annihilate the rebels..."

Every word was like a red-hot hammer smashing ruthlessly into his nerves.

Veins bulged on his hand as he gripped the crystal ball.

The temperature of the air in the tent seemed to drop to freezing point instantly.

As the last syllable fell, a deathly silence filled the tent.

Tiberius slowly looked up, his face expressionless, but in those hawk-like eyes, the last trace of warmth and hesitation for the Empire had completely extinguished, leaving only cold, betrayed fury and killing intent.

He thought of his half-lifetime in the military, guarding the borders for the Empire and his illustrious military achievements.

He also thought of those nobles at the banquets in the Imperial Capital who were extremely sycophantic to his face but called him a 'crude soldier' behind his back.

Now, simply because he had considered seeking better treatment for his soldiers, the Emperor's envoy was already impatient to label him with the crime of treason and request the Emperor to send troops to 'annihilate' him.

"Cost of elimination..." He whispered those words, a bone-chilling cold making him shiver.

He finally understood the meaning of Levi's words.

In the eyes of the Emperor and those nobles, he, Tiberius, and the more than thirty thousand lives under his command were nothing more than an asset liability that could be 'eliminated' at any time.

*Crack!*

The wine cup in his hand was crushed into fragments by his raw strength.

Glass shards pierced deep into his palm, blood dripping from between his fingers, but he felt no pain.

Tiberius suddenly stood up and strode out of the tent. The cold night wind blew against his grey stubble as his sharp eyes looked toward the brightly lit Silvermoon City.

He took a deep breath of the cold air and then, with all his strength, issued the first command that did not belong to the Empire since he took command of the Imperial Second Legion.

"Pass down my command! All troops, change equipment! Organize your armaments! Prepare to receive our first order!"