I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 274 Violence Strikes, Peace Arrives, Undercurrents Rage, Banquet Approaches

After bestowing titles upon John in the inner palace, William went on to bestow titles upon Serbia and others. He also formally incorporated the Half-Dragon Special Operations Legion and the Drow Elf Legion into the Imperial Army, and granted Bob's Third Navy and Second Army Groups titles commensurate with their military achievements.

Finally, William even rewarded Dolan, who had just arrived at the imperial port the day before and had not yet come to the capital, during the court assembly. Dolan's father, Lord Arias, accepted the reward on his behalf.

After rewarding the heroes of the Battle of Fauken, William, eager to end the court assembly as soon as possible, instructed everyone to prepare for a victory banquet, while he himself went to have a discussion with his trusted general John, intending to further enhance John's loyalty.

The next second, a sudden voice interrupted his thoughts:

"Your Majesty, I have something to report."

Looking in the direction of the voice, William discovered that the speaker was none other than Prime Minister Wolf.

And unlike his usual calm and composed expression, the prime minister now wore a cryptic smile.

Upon witnessing this scene, William immediately narrowed his eyes, inwardly cursing the damned old fox for trying to cause trouble again.

Sooner or later, I will kill you!
William felt a surge of murderous intent, but outwardly maintained a calm expression, instead feigning surprise and asking:
"What is it, Prime Minister Wolf? Please speak freely."

"Speaking of which, this matter is somewhat related to the recently concluded Battle of Faoken."

Looking at William, who was smiling gently on the surface but whose eyes were filled with malice, Wolff paid no attention to the emperor's anger and calmly stroked his mustache.

He then smiled and uttered a piece of news that made everyone in the room's pupils shrink:

"In fact, just before today's morning assembly began, I received an update from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

"Due to the indiscriminate bombing attack launched by the 1st Air Force Division of the First Air Army Group against the Froststar Tribe of the Saga Kingdom and six other tribes sixteen days ago, under the leadership of Major General Ram, the attack was carried out by the Froststar Tribe of the Saga Kingdom."

"Our army has now successfully separated the Faoken Bay, which Governor John is about to govern, from the Otto continental plate."

"Under the imperial might displayed by the indiscriminate attacks of the 1st Division, the 16 Allied nations, after talks, proposed a ceasefire to us at 7:35 this morning and agreed to send a delegation to discuss the ceasefire in 10 days."

"!"

Upon hearing this news, William was both surprised and delighted.

What shocked him was that Wolf dared to so bluntly demonstrate his control over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was tantamount to trampling on the principle of separation of powers and responsibilities.

What was gratifying was that Wolf's explosive attack, intended to suppress the reformers, actually succeeded in intimidating the Allied forces. As a result, the Allied forces, under the indiscriminate explosions displayed by the magic soldiers and Faoken, actually relinquished their battlefield advantage and sent a delegation to sue for peace.

Of course, William, who had been constantly fighting the Allied forces since his ascension to the throne, understood this as well.

In this peace talks, the Allied forces will likely put forward various harsh conditions.

But if he succeeds in winning this peace negotiation, he will then have time to clean up the partisan strife.

"Although, that damned old geezer Wolf probably thinks the same way I do."

Looking at Wolf, who resembled a cunning old fox, a cold glint flashed in William's eyes.

He then glanced out of the corner of his eye at Irias, who was sitting in his seat and looked rather gloomy.

Judging from the expression on the other party's face, he immediately understood that this potential ally, who had somehow reached a cooperation agreement with John and vaguely hinted at leaving the Conservative Party to join his camp, seemed to have had his limited power stripped away by Wolff.

William couldn't help but sigh inwardly at the pity.

At the same time, after catching a glimpse of the Duke of Ostan's shifty gaze directed at him from his left, William realized that his secret, heart-to-heart talk with his trusted general John would likely have to be postponed due to this unexpected turn of events.

However, he did not feel too much regret. After all, under his current rewards, John, as an imperial hero, would have to wait until the 303rd Independent Division was fully formed before he could officially lead his troops to Faoken to assume the position of governor.

Before that, the other party would have stayed in Aereno for at least half a year.

During the time the other party stayed, he had plenty of time to cultivate his relationship with this beloved general who could be called an imperial miracle.

Suppressing his thoughts, William feigned surprise and spoke to Wolfe:

"Is this really true? In Prime Minister Wolf's opinion, how should the Empire handle this matter?"

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the years of war have plunged the Empire's finances into a situation of deficit. Moreover, our army's many campaigns have not shown the corresponding miraculous effects. On the contrary, the allied forces' counterattacks have made many of our battlefields mired in quagmire, and the citizens of the Empire are full of complaints about this."

"Although the western front has achieved a phased victory under Marshal Dormammu's command, the Empire has also successfully breached the eastern defenses of the Golden Rose Kingdom, occupied nearly one-fifth of the enemy's territory, and acquired the new Magic Lake, providing indispensable resources for the training of magic soldiers."

"However, training magical soldiers takes a long time. Even if the Caster family does its best to train a new batch of magical soldiers for the empire, it will still take at least a year for these soldiers to go from recruits to usable troops before they can engage in battle with the enemy." "Therefore, in my opinion, if we can successfully reach a peace agreement with the allies through this deterrent action and resume trade with them, it will be a good thing for the empire's finances, people's livelihood, and even the development of its national strength."

"...Prime Minister Wolf's words are indeed reasonable, and I wholeheartedly agree. The Allied forces, which should have been completely crushed by the might of our army, have not only not been defeated, but have instead used their bizarre intelligence advantage to repeatedly hinder the Empire's progress. This situation has truly become a burden for the Empire."

William glanced with a hint of mockery at the silent conservatives, but did not continue his attack. Instead, under Wolf's gaze, he looked at the ministers in the room and slowly began to speak:

"However, since we cannot win in war, there is no point in continuing to send troops to conquer. It would be better to sign a peace treaty, recuperate for a period of time, and wait for the empire's national strength to return to its peak and for the people to be of one mind. It will not be too late to send troops to conquer then. What do you think, my dear ministers?"

"Seconded!"

"Seconded!"

As William finished speaking, the conservatives and reformers in the court reached a rare consensus on this matter and raised their hands in support.

Seeing that the matter was settled, William didn't say anything more, but nodded, then turned his gaze to Irias, whose brows were furrowed, and said in a gentle tone:
"Then, Marquis of Ravage, you will be in charge of this peace talks with the Allied delegation. I hope you will not disappoint me."

"You will definitely live up to your destiny."

"Very well. Although some unexpected events have caused some changes to today's victory celebration, the overall situation has been resolved. If none of you ministers have important matters to report, then today's court session will be adjourned."

"In addition, to celebrate Lieutenant General John Maslow's unprecedented victory at Faoken with a force ten times weaker than the enemy, I have decided to hold a celebratory banquet for him. The venue is tentatively set at 'Sumner Manor', and the Royal Guard will escort you to the banquet."

"I do not wish to see any seats vacant at that time."

After uttering these words in a serious tone, William's azure eyes swept over the assembled officials, then he rose and waved his right hand, saying:

"Then, the court session is adjourned. May the glory of the empire be with all of you, my beloved ministers!"

"May the glory of the Empire be with you, Your Majesty William!"

"Tap, tap!"

……

As the court session ended, the nobles left the inner palace one after another, then crossed the bridge made of magical light screen in separate groups, and left by carriage.

John and his group were among them, and they received some friendly conversations from the reformist allies, as well as subtle overt gestures of goodwill or overt provocations from some members of the conservative party. After quickly becoming acquainted with the faces and silently noting down the idiots who took the initiative to provoke them in his mental notebook, John carried a mountain of banquet invitations and walked toward the parked black car.

In fact, most of these invitations came from nobles who had taken the initiative to befriend John and extend goodwill, and most of them held titles of viscount or below.

Although nobles of earl rank and above also sent him invitations, they did not come to John in person to show their goodwill. Instead, they sent their attendants to deliver the invitations to John, inviting him to a chat at his leisure time, and the number of attendees did not exceed ten.

Clearly, they have high hopes for John, a genius who, through his own talent, achieved a great victory in Faoken and rose from a low-ranking soldier to a high-ranking official in the empire in less than half a year.

John didn't feel particularly honored by these invitations, whether well-intentioned or with ulterior motives; instead, he felt a headache coming on like never before.

In the original owner's memories, during his studies at the First Military Academy of the Empire, he had interacted with a number of noble students due to his outstanding talent.

Knowing the complexity of the relationships among these nobles, John felt it best not to attend the banquet rashly before figuring out their specific family factions, allies, and powers.

Otherwise, attending one of their banquets might inadvertently offend other nobles in the same faction with whom they have previously engaged in corrupt dealings.

If you're unlucky, you might end up in the home of a nobleman who is ostensibly a reformer but is actually a spy secretly supported by the conservatives.

Then the situation will probably be even worse.

"That's why I hate complicated social interactions; they're like hell!"

John stuffed the mountain of invitations he was holding into the suitcase that the captain of the guard had thoughtfully handed him and placed it in the back seat.

Then, just as he was about to light a cigarette and walk over to ask Serbia, who had now been appointed as a general in the Half-Dragon Special Operations Legion, and Carrie, a lieutenant general in the Drow Elf Special Operations Legion, what was going on with these two people who had reached the pinnacle of their lives?

Just as John turned around, he saw a figure in his line of sight that caught him completely off guard.

"despair!"

……

(End of this chapter)