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

Chapter 286 [7K] Confidants can turn into mortal enemies; conservatism and radicalism are hard to coexist.
One hour before John left the interrogation room, at 1 a.m., in the Cabinet, in the Prime Minister's office.

"Clap!"

The slightly chilly autumn rain pattered against the window, making a series of sounds.

The chill of an early autumn night seeped into the room through the slightly ajar window, but it was forced to stop before the two figures sitting opposite each other on the sofa, under the heavy and oppressive atmosphere surrounding them.

"...Wolf, this farce should end."

On the left, after a long silence, Driss Ostan, dressed in casual clothes, stared at his old friend, who was also his political enemy, and slowly spoke.

His voice was very calm, but the authority it contained was irresistible.

"You and I both know very well that forcibly detaining John Maslow will only enrage His Majesty William and further erode the Empire's credibility. It will not bring any benefit to the Empire, will it?"

"It's just a normal interrogation based on the report. The prosecutor's office is following procedures and systems. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

Wolf took a leisurely sip of his tea and answered calmly.

A pair of hawk-like eyes scrutinized the ruddy complexion of Ostan in front of him.

Under his primordial demonic eye, he could see everything, from the listlessness emanating from the demonic power within the other's body to the faint breathing rate, and even the filth accumulating in the other's lungs.

All of this was laid bare before his eyes.

The information revealed by the other side has already pointed to one fact regarding their situation:
That is, the Imperial Navy Grand Admiral who made a name for himself at sea for the Empire decades ago, known by many as the Duke of the Sea Dragon, and with the title of "Wind of Annihilation"—Driss Ostan.

The other party will soon enter eternal death!

However, Wolf was not surprised at all by this analysis result; in fact, he had predicted this moment five years ago.

Although, in the game he had set up at that time, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this event should have occurred two years later.

But the fickleness of fate brought about a change in everything.

The series of unexpected events, coupled with the reformists' resurgence, made the son of his old friend, who was eager to seize power, unable to suppress his inner restlessness any longer, and he chose to bring forward his plans.

What surprised, and even puzzled, Wolff the most was...

The root cause of these changes in the situation was actually a small mistake he made back then.

It's simply unbelievable!
If I had been more careful in disposing of that discarded experimental subject, perhaps everything would have gone as I had hoped.
And thus, he wouldn't have to so quickly turn against his old friend and nemesis, Ostan.

"..."

Wolf's eyes flickered, but he quickly dismissed the pointless thought and calmly met Ostan's scrutinizing gaze, saying:

"Putting aside the prosecutor's office's interrogation, Duke Ostann, I am quite surprised by your long-awaited visit to the cabinet, and of course, I am even more puzzled."

"Given that John Maslow has been judging nobles, developing his personal power within the military, and engaging in numerous suspected acts of treason, and with witnesses reporting him, you actually chose to try to protect him as the Grand Admiral of the Imperial Navy."

"To be honest, this makes me wonder if you still maintain the same loyalty you had when you joined the army."

"You should be asking yourself that question, shouldn't you?"

Faced with Wolf's malicious attacks, Ostan did not get angry. Instead, he calmly examined this man who seemed to have lost his original heart since he succeeded as the head of the Caster family. He had gone from being a close friend with whom he could talk about anything to someone who would sacrifice everything to protect the interests of the family.

A real monster!

"The Empire's defeat at the border of the Kingdom of Loran turned the Winter Wolf Legion into a disorganized and ineffective force, left the West family without a successor, and forced the Morton Magic Stone Mine, which had been continuously supplying the Empire with high-quality magic stone resources, to be returned to the Allied forces."

"And the real reason why the Empire suffered an unprecedented defeat on the northern front, I think you should know better than anyone else!"

"Oh!"

"Crack!"

Ostan slammed his hand on the coffee table. Fueled by his emotions, the terrifying power of this dying Grand Rank warrior instantly shattered the solid wood coffee table into pieces.

His eyes flashed with an unprecedented rage, his pale eyebrows stood up, and the muscles in his face twitched, forming a "川" (river) shape between his brows. The terrifying killing intent emanating from his body made his already dragon-like face even more ferocious at this moment.

"Snapped!"

However, Wolf simply snapped his fingers calmly in response to the enraged Ostan.

Immediately, an immense magical power, no less powerful than his opponent's, was released from his body and quickly transformed into visible red magical threads.

With such magical manipulation skills that could almost be described as art, these red magical threads, like swimming tentacles, quickly connected to the broken pieces of the coffee table and gathered them together.

In the blink of an eye, the broken coffee table was restored to its original state, without even a single seam showing.

It was as if the scene of the coffee table being smashed to pieces by Ostan was not a fact, but an illusion.

"The empire does not need to add new nobles, nor does it need to continue to add to the flames of war that will only lead the empire to destruction."

Faced with Ostan's questioning, Wolf's usually calm face turned exceptionally cold. The chandelier shone on his thin face, but the magic threads blocked the light, instead adding a lot of shadows, as if countless twisted and complex lines had been drawn on a white sheet of paper.

Combined with his eyes that shimmered with deep red magic, he appeared exceptionally bizarre and eerie at that moment.

But this feeling was immediately shattered by his icy voice:

"Whether it's you, William, or the reformists you've formed who advocate constant external conquest for so-called glory, you've all overlooked one point."

"That is, war never ends, nor will it stop after reaching some so-called glory."

"It will continue indefinitely!"

Wolf slowly put down his teacup and stood up. His tall figure appeared exceptionally thin under the lamplight, but his voice, like thunder, echoed throughout the conference room:

"Just as human desires are inexhaustible, a monarch who has conquered neighboring countries through war and initially gained glory and greatness will, under the stimulation of this glory, unleash an even more terrifying ambition!"

"As time goes on, His Majesty William, who will have successfully completed the initial expansion with the concerted efforts of us nobles, will develop desires that are even more terrifying than before."

"His goal will no longer be limited to one continent, but the whole world!"

"But under his highly centralized national policy, he, being just a mortal rather than a god, could not perfectly control everything, and would inevitably make oversights and mistakes!"

Wolf stared coldly at his political rival before stating his judgment:

"First of all, this mistake will cause the emerging nobles, who are growing and expanding like a plague, to gradually lose their awe and loyalty to the empire over time due to the remoteness of their fiefdoms, and may even launch rebellions."

"Secondly, in order to acquire land and resources, the power of the magic soldiers cannot be fully utilized. Without the impact of this world-class power, our war cannot continue to be victorious, but will instead end in defeat. This means that the losses of the war cannot be replenished."

"As this gap continues to widen, in just ten years, or even less, local nobles or forces will launch a rebellion due to massive and continuous depletion of resources, leading to an unprecedented collapse of the empire!"

"Furthermore, even if the Empire deploys a large number of magic soldiers to use explosive magic to launch a self-destruct attack on strategic targets like the Imperial Capital, such a decision may annihilate the target, but the Empire will only gain meaningless wasteland and will not be able to obtain compensation for the resources lost."

"Furthermore, as the magic soldiers continue to use explosive magic, the explosive magic circuits in these soldiers' bodies will break down and weaken more rapidly, which will affect their lifespan and make them true consumables."

"If we fail to find a new Lake of Magic in the course of this ongoing war, then under this continuous depletion, the Magic Soldiers will only become dust of history and disappear from the world completely."

"At that time, without its greatest reliance and military strength, the empire will no longer be able to maintain its existing territory, and will eventually perish under the combined attack of the various countries on the continent of Amaka across the ocean!"

"Finally, and this is what I'm most worried about."

"That is, even if I set aside partisan strife and choose to unite with the reformist parties to help His Majesty William successfully unify the continent of Otto."

"At that time, in order to completely eliminate all of the above possibilities, His Majesty William will surely be unable to tolerate that damned lifespan limit, just like his predecessor, Henry Perus."

"Instead, they will try every means to ascend to godhood, thereby achieving that eternal goal that can never be reached!"

"And thus, it completely degenerated into a truly insane beast, willing to do anything to achieve its goals!"

"At that time, the empire will either repeat the coup of eight years ago due to the actions of the heirs of the thirteen heroic families, thus starting a new cycle of imperial power."

"Or, William's tyranny and ideological divisions will lead to the destruction of most of the thirteen hero families in the future, and in this situation of internal division, tyranny, and external enemies."

"Let the Empire, in that new wave of allies united by fear and greed, seize the opportunity to attack and utterly destroy the Empire in this damned infighting!"

"This is the ultimate fate that you, who advocate using war and military merit to achieve the goal of the empire's revival, will receive!"

"Crack!"

As Wolf's last words rang out, the dark clouds that had gathered in the distance suddenly unleashed a bolt of purple lightning, which then struck down hard onto a mountaintop.

The echoes continued to travel and vibrate in the air, but when they reached this room, they were completely erased by the coronal domain that had appeared out of nowhere.

"So, is this the outcome that inevitably leads to the empire's downfall, the one you wanted to see, Dries?"

Meeting his old friend's complicated gaze, Wolf asked in a calm tone.

“Wolf, His Majesty William is different from His Majesty Henry. Everything he experienced in his early years made him wiser than anyone else, and he understood better what it meant to be measured and patient. You personally taught him these things, don’t you understand?”

Ostan found Wolf's assessment hard to believe.

He never imagined that the real reason the other side formed the Conservative Party was because they were afraid that His Majesty William would become the cruel and ruthless King Henry in the future.

This is utter nonsense!
"You're just... "

Just as Duke Ostan was about to rebuke the other party's ignorance, Wolf interrupted him the next second:

"It is precisely because I know him so well, because I am so aware of his wisdom and abilities, that I understand that I absolutely cannot let things continue to escalate like this."

Wolf's tone was remarkably calm, yet it contained an undeniable firmness:

"He was too intelligent and too patient, and a person with these two qualities is destined to be extremely arrogant and ambitious." "For a small country that has been bullied and has always lived under the threat and invasion of neighboring countries, such ambition is a blessing from heaven, and he is a wise ruler who is destined to lead this small country to glory."

"But for the Norman Empire, which has risen through a thousand years of wars and now annexed thirty-four countries, possessing a total of three hundred and fifty-five provinces, its territory is undoubtedly the largest in the world."

"Such a monarch is not a blessing from the gods, but rather a calamity that will lead the empire to its complete demise!"

"A war started by desire will not end when desire is satisfied, but will never end."

"The continuous warfare will only breed hatred and division, and even under the deterrence of absolute military force and temporary prosperity, this hatred and division will be slightly diluted."

"But the complexity of human desires also determines that this desire for hatred and division will not disappear, but will lie dormant and buried deep, waiting for a suitable opportunity to erupt completely."

"As the heir of the Caster family, one of the thirteen heroic families, I will not allow the empire for which I have given all my loyalty and even the lives of my children to meet that end, nor will I allow my own misjudgment to push the empire into the abyss of destruction!"

As he said this, Wolff's eyes were filled with an unprecedented determination.

Just as he had told himself more than once, the decision to concentrate power in one person would only lead to the complete demise of the empire's millennia-long prosperity and glory.

So even if it meant breaking with his former best friend and monarch, even if it meant being misunderstood by the outside world, even if it meant committing a real act of treason for this goal.

But as long as the prosperity of the empire can be stabilized, as long as the empire can be ensured not to collapse after a brief period of prosperity, as long as the empire can continue to exist, instead of ending with the thirteen heroic families that should have gone on to become eternal under the decision of a monarch with an insatiable desire for expansion!
Therefore, all the efforts and decisions mentioned above were worthwhile!
"..."

Looking at Wolf in front of him, Ostan fell silent, but his eyes revealed an unprecedented disappointment.

After a long silence, he slowly spoke, his voice unusually hoarse:
"Your loyalty and love for the empire once made me think we were the same kind of people, but now it seems I was wrong, very wrong."

"You claim to have foreseen the empire's destruction and, in order to prevent that future, you choose to abandon all bottom lines."

"But Wolf, have you ever thought about questioning the monarch you personally trained, questioning the citizens who have devoted their entire loyalty to the empire, and hindering the empire's progress in the name of stability and succession?"

"And what will ultimately be the reason for the empire's true destruction?"

"!"

Upon hearing this, Wolf's breath hitched, but he quickly regained his composure, transforming into the usually shrewd and calculating Prime Minister of the Empire, his tone as calm as a still pond:

"I will not let that happen."

"..."

Driss Ostan fell silent, simply watching his old friend who was so close yet felt as if an entire world separated them.

At this moment, his eyes couldn't help but become somewhat unfocused, and the image of how he and the other person first met decades ago at the military academy, discussing all night how to change the tyrannical rule of the empire, still feeling unsatisfied until dawn, subconsciously surfaced in his mind.

And the trust they shared—a bond stronger than blood ties—that stemmed from their shared experience of life and death trials, where they joined the army under false identities, supported and helped each other on the battlefield, and were able to survive numerous life-or-death crises together.

They had even mentioned more than once in casual conversations the idea of ​​introducing their future children to each other's offspring, thus becoming relatives, even though they both knew that one family controlled the Imperial Navy and the other the Imperial Air Force.

Given this environment and the monarch's apprehension, the alliance between the two nobles that they had agreed upon was simply impossible to realize.

But this brotherhood and shared hardships led Dries to consider the other a close friend.

Until decades ago, when the other party's father chose to die in protest against Henry XII's reformation experiment plan, but ultimately failed to achieve any results, Wolff was forced to inherit the title of patriarch of the Castor family and Duke of Castor upon hearing the news of his father's death.

And under the arrangement of his family, he left the military and entered the political arena.

It was from that time on that he and the other party began to drift apart, going from being inseparable brothers.

Although they maintained correspondence, and at first Wolf would criticize the corruption of the great nobles in his letters, and express his intention to reform the government in the future, and then join forces with Dries to bring the empire unprecedented glory.

However, as time went on, the frequency of correspondence between the two sides gradually decreased, eventually evolving into the hypocritical small talk common among nobles.

In July 956, during the Norman Empire, he had just been promoted to captain of the Imperial Navy, while Wolf was the Chief of Staff of the Air Force of the Imperial Ministry of Defense and a court tutor.

At that time, Driss had already vaguely sensed Wolf's change, but he believed that it was due to the infighting among the nobles that had gradually exhausted him. He thought that all he needed to do was have a conversation with Wolf when he was promoted to general and went to Eleno to receive his reward, and he would be able to return to the state of being able to talk about anything.

But despite his achievements and victory in the Battle of the North, Driss did not experience the joy he expected during their reunion after many years. Instead, he felt an unprecedented sense of estrangement.

In the ensuing conversation, the two men had a heated argument over the results of His Majesty Henry's experimental reforms.

It was from that moment that he realized that the confidant Wolf he remembered was gone forever, replaced by Wolf Caster, a member of the Imperial Upper House and Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

That day was November 23, 962, in the winter of the Norman Empire.

It was after that unpleasant argument that the two sides, who should have been walking together, went their separate ways.

And with the subsequent ascension of His Majesty William, the situation evolved into what it is today...

Recalling the past in his mind, and looking at Wolf standing in front of him, Ostan couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

At that moment, he suddenly truly understood the meaning of the word "despair".

Unlike the helplessness that comes when a loved one is forced to pass away due to lifespan limitations.

It is also different from the fear of being attacked and dragged into the abyss of death.

True despair is being able to watch helplessly as someone of vital importance goes down the wrong path, unable to pull them out of this dark abyss.

As a close friend, or rather, a former close friend.

Dries knew very well that he could not change the current situation.

His remaining lifespan did not allow him to waste his time on things that were unplanned and destined to be unchangeable.

The opposing stances between him and Wolff, and the beliefs represented by their respective political parties.

This decision meant that the political struggle between them, which had been brewing for decades, was bound to erupt.

And only one person can go all the way to the end!
Although, this person was destined to have nothing to do with him.

Your Majesty William, after my death, how will you, alone against Wolff, reach the very end...?

Ostan sighed softly, but quickly suppressed his worries about the future monarch's situation. He silently sat back down in his chair and then slowly began to speak:

"I don't want to continue this topic. Let's change the subject. Let's talk about Viscount John Maslow. What do I need to do for you to release him?"

"Duke Ostan, don't you think the Imperial Winter Wolf Legion has been making a bit too much noise lately?"

Seeing that Ostan had stopped trying to undermine him by changing his stance and was instead talking about a deal with him.

Realizing that the other party had backed down, Wolff didn't continue. Instead, he sat back down in his chair, staring at the near-death admiral, and then expressionlessly stated his conditions:

"Given the West family's disastrous defeat in the North, the death of Earl West, and the incompetence of the new Earl, for the sake of the security of the North garrison, I need to reclaim the command of the Winter Wolf family and incorporate the Winter Wolf Legion into the joint land and air special operations force."

Seemingly anticipating that Ostann wouldn't agree, Wolf added before the other party could even refuse:
"In exchange for my condition, I can establish a dual-commander system and appoint the new Earl of the West family as the commander of the newly formed army, while retaining the West family faction's influence. However, I must arrange the selection of the air force personnel and the chief of staff."

"Furthermore, considering that the Earl, the new head of the West family, seems to harbor considerable resentment towards me personally, I'm afraid it will be necessary for you, as the leader of the reformists, to persuade him."

"Wolf, I can tell you definitively, that's impossible!"

Upon hearing Wolf's terms, Ostan rejected them without hesitation. Before the frowning Wolf could speak, he coldly said:
"The Winter Wolf family has independent military authority and is responsible for the defense of the North. This right was established when the ancestors of the thirteen heroic families made the oath at the Round Table."

"Breaking the oath of the Round Table is a betrayal of the Empire. You understand this better than I do, don't you?"

"Besides, what kind of skill is it for a dying man, with half his body buried in the yellow earth, to bully a child who has just come of age? You may not care about your old face, but I certainly do!"

"So, let's not talk about taking back command of the Winter Wolf Legion anymore. You should change your terms!"

“Oaths cannot be broken, but if the head of the West family proposes this condition, then it doesn’t count as breaking the oath, does it? Besides…”

Wolf paused slightly, then looked at Ostan, who was struggling to maintain his composure while negotiating, and then told the truth without hesitation:
"If my detection is correct, the corrosion you're currently experiencing shouldn't allow you to live much longer, right? Even with the use of secret medicine to prolong your life, you can probably only last for about five months?"

Wolf ignored Ostan's cold gaze and instead smiled, extending his finger as if he were a humanoid machine that could instantly calculate the concentration of air elements and classify and list them according to the different concentrations of the five elements simply by using data provided by his senses.

At this point, due to increasing age, it became difficult to operate, requiring him to count on his fingers like a child to perform calculations, and he would then speak up to add to it:

"That's not right either. After all, you were on the battlefield all those years ago, and you must have suffered a lot of internal injuries during the battles. In addition, there were mental aftereffects from your confrontation with that monster known as the 'Mind Flayer' fifteen years ago. With so many internal injuries left on the battlefield, taking a lot of stimulant drugs to forcefully prolong your life would not only fail to extend your life, but would actually hasten your death."

"So, based on these intelligence calculations, and considering the extent of your lung erosion, your remaining lifespan is probably only... well, two months and twenty-five days. How about that? I think I've calculated it correctly, right?"

Looking at Ostan's icy face, which resembled a volcano about to erupt, Wolf showed no fear despite the madness that Ostan, driven by his impending death, had become utterly reckless.

Instead, a cruel and chilling smile appeared on his face, his eyes flashed with a chilling light, and his voice was extremely cold:
"Does a dying person need to worry about so-called face?"

“Driss Ostan, I think you’re getting worse as you get older.”

"And this makes me wonder if the reformist faction you belong to will collapse and disband after your death, even before I actually take action, because they have lost their leader!"

"But this is fine too. It saves me a lot of trouble, doesn't it?"

"Wolf, you're looking for..."

"Squeak!"

Just as Ostan was about to warn the other party, the next second, accompanied by the sound of a door being pushed open, a dignified voice suddenly entered their ears:

"Stop it all!"

……

(End of this chapter)