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

Chapter 296 Reviewing the Alliance and Expanding the Allies

After finalizing the alliance in the study, John did not linger at the Frostach Estate. After briefly discussing the follow-up business cooperation with Olivia, he directly called Bruno, who was waiting outside, and returned to the Imperial Hotel.

"Wow!"

In the back seat, watching the scenery rushing past the window, John's eyes were somewhat vacant, his mind replaying the scene of the alliance negotiations he had just had with Olivia in the study.

In fact, John was not as optimistic as Olivia was about her claim that she could succeed William as the leader of the Reformation after the death of the Duke of Ostan.

After all, as a player, he possessed far too much secret information that the other party was unaware of.

It is naturally understood that the downfall of this reformist leader due to illness is not as simple as it is currently known to the public.

Rather, it stemmed from the power struggle within the Ostan family.

In the original storyline, after Driss Ostan died two years later, his son Iver Ostan succeeded him as duke. Ostan then led most of the original reformist members to defect to the conservative party, which brought the conservative party to its largest size ever and successfully seized nearly four-fifths of the empire's military power, essentially achieving party unification.

Left with no other choice, William then nominated another member of the thirteen heroic families in the reformist faction, Marquis Berthold Grimm, the 'Heir of Rune Magic,' to be the leader of the reformist faction in an attempt to reverse the situation.

However, as someone who has mastered rune spells and has an extremely thorough understanding of the 24 rune runes, Marquis Grimm, who is only one step away from becoming a Grand Master, is among the best in the entire empire in terms of magical knowledge, but he is completely ignorant of political matters.

Therefore, after this Marquis became the new leader of the reformists, the reformists failed to rival the conservatives as William had expected, and instead their power was further diminished.

Even though he recognized this, William never chose a new leader of the reformists before the outbreak of the World War.

To be precise, his proposed solutions for changing the leader were blocked and rejected by members of both the reformist and conservative factions through various means.

Early on, when William realized the party's disadvantage and planned to appoint Dormammu as the leader of the reformists to reverse the tide of the war, he received a reply from the conservatives in Parliament that Dormammu was too old and frail to take on the responsibility.

When William intended to appoint Admiral Omba Ostan, whom Ostan had personally trained and who was then in good health, he not only received protests from the conservatives but also betrayal from the reformists.

The proposal was rejected outright because Omamba did not possess the sacred bloodline of the imperial nobility and was therefore ineligible to become an imperial councilor.

The people William subsequently selected were largely similar.

Two years later, the Allied forces' magical technology entered the third stage and they officially launched a full-scale attack on the Empire.

At this point, after discovering that the empire's reliance on magic soldiers had become utterly useless, the conservatives temporarily set aside their factional strife and began to join William in resisting the Allied offensive.

Afterwards, the empire was completely destroyed due to the corrective force of the plot.

Therefore, based on the intelligence gathered above regarding future events, John does not believe that after Ostan's death, he himself will be able to become the new leader of the reformists through marriage, as Olivia suggested.

No matter how much William believed in his abilities, this was destined to fail.

If he chooses to fully align himself with the reformists, the best outcome would be for him to serve as an advisor, assisting the party leader in dealing with the attacks launched by the conservatives.

But this also means that he will go from being a player to a pawn, and completely lose the initiative. He will only be able to deal with the attacks of the conservatives and will be unable to completely change the future direction of the empire, which is a destruction he absolutely does not want to see.

"Therefore, I must not remain in the reformist faction, nor can I allow myself to fall into this inevitable trap of disillusionment by hoping to become the new party leader through a so-called marriage."

"Instead, we must follow our previous thinking, break free from this passive vortex, and become one of the hands that stir it up!"

Of course, the West family members, including Olivia, were unaware of this information gap.

Therefore, the other party's investment in me based on their optimism about future reformist leaders is destined to end in a way that does not meet their expectations.

Even so, he had no reason to turn away such a promising ally who had come to him for development.

After all, it was only after Faoken and Winter Territory reached a deep commercial and political cooperation, and were tacitly accepted by everyone in the Empire as having an internal alliance between the two sides, that things became clear.

Even if he gives up his right to run for the new leader of the reformists and establishes his own party at that time.

By then, even if the West family wanted to withdraw, it would be too late.

Instead, they could only suppress all their resentment and follow their own path to the bitter end.

"Of course, all of this is on the premise that I need to show the West family the potential of this new party."

After all, the nature of a businessman is to pursue profit. If he forcibly binds the West family to his ship through such a trap, but fails to give them any hope of profit, then...

Given Olivia's personality, even if she has already invested too much sunk cost in the early stages, the other party will inevitably choose to cut their losses.

In other words, he must expand his party to a certain size before withdrawing from the election for the new leader of the reformists.

Even if it's just creating a false impression, you still have to present the other side with the scenario that your party can survive to the end in this vortex of two-party struggle.

"And this means that I must gain more allies, and their power must not be weaker than that of the West family!"

John narrowed his eyes, tapping the armrest of his chair lightly with his right index finger. His brain was racing, constantly filtering suitable members based on the information he had gathered.

Soon, a figure that seemed somewhat familiar to him appeared in his mind.

But when John thought about the other person's complicated life experience and his unpredictable personality, even he couldn't help but hesitate for a moment.

However, after careful consideration, it was found that apart from winning the other party over to join their own party, which could reassure the West family, the other candidates were slightly inferior in comparison.

Furthermore, due to an unexpected event that did not occur in the storyline, the other party's legion-building plan has failed, and they are now in need of someone's help.

After a moment's thought, the hesitation in John's eyes slowly faded, replaced by an unprecedented determination.

Although John also knew that, given the other party's legendary agent status in the original work, it was already clear that the other party was an extremely difficult person to win over.

And if one is not careful, one could fall into an unprecedented crisis due to the other party's betrayal.

But since the other side is willing to risk their own life and reputation for the empire, now that they have witnessed the damage that factional strife has brought to the empire, as well as the limitations of the respective ideologies of the conservatives and reformers, it is clear that they are willing to sacrifice their lives for the empire.

When you present the blueprint that will lead the empire to true glory, you should no longer betray it as you did in the original work, right?

"So, Conrad Slevin, will you let me down?"

Watching the autumn rain pattering against the car window and listening to the unusual sounds of raindrops splashing, John's eyes became more profound than ever before.

"Clatter!" ...

The next day, early in the morning.

Outside the empire, at the Ort Estate owned by Conrad.

Just as Conrad stood in the courtyard, gazing intently at the blooming flowers before him, a sound of footsteps suddenly interrupted his thoughts. His deputy, who had rushed over, brought news that instantly lifted his spirits:

"Sir, Lieutenant General John Maslow has come to visit you. He said he has an appointment with you."

"Quickly invite him... no, take me there, I want to see him in person."

Combining the recent news he had received, as if a certain possibility had occurred to him, a sharp glint flashed in Conrad's eyes, and his tone became exceptionally serious.

"But my lord..."

Before the hesitant deputy could reveal the truth, a voice slowly rang out:

"No need, I'm already here."

"!"

Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw that John had somehow entered the courtyard.

At this moment, he was not wearing the daily air force uniform of the Third Army Group, but had changed into his usual clothes for the first time in a long time. He wore a black jacket over a white shirt, loose trousers, and black leather boots.

They weren't wearing gloves, leaving their hands exposed.

However, he was neither wearing the completed Maslow family medal on his chest nor any medals symbolizing his military achievements.

Instead, he wore the Iron Wreath Medal, which Principal Trolovsky had awarded him when he graduated first in his class from the First Military Academy of the Reich.

The cold wreath, made of gray metal, did not reflect any color in the sunlight. Instead, it resembled a bottomless black hole, swallowing all the light and appearing exceptionally cold and austere.

At that moment, as if he understood something, Conrad's gaze lingered briefly on the silver-white Z-shaped brand on the back of John's right hand before he waved to the guards who were rushing back with trepidation, indicating that everyone could leave.

After the guards had all left, he first had his deputy set up a silencing barrier. Only after the barrier was fully in place did he turn his gaze back to John in front of him.

Instead of being angry that John had forcibly broken through the guards and entered his manor without permission, she smiled and said to John:

"I must say, John, your visit this time has made me both delighted and quite surprised."

"After all, to be honest, this is the first time I've ever encountered such a unique greeting gift."

"However, what you did saved us both a lot of trouble. I should thank you instead."

"After all, compared to the angry newly promoted lieutenant general storming into Alter Manor to settle scores with me, the instigator, because of personal grudges, it was obviously easier for the reformist John Maslow to have a private conversation with the conservative Conrad Sleifer to touch on some sensitive nerves and bring unnecessary disaster."

Conrad looked at John with admiration, then abandoned the pretense of aristocratic etiquette and directly invited John into the drawing room.

"Squeak!"

"I heard from Marquis Beatrice about the failed attempt to build the Phantom Legion. What are the details?"

After his deputy finished serving tea and snacks and left, John, who had just taken his seat, immediately asked Conrad across from him.

"Some unexpected problems arose during the experiment. It may be due to component failure caused by equipment aging, or it may be due to the instability of the magic coefficient during the modification."

Conrad calmly gave this explanation without elaborating on the reasons behind it, seemingly unwilling to discuss the truth behind the matter with John, and immediately changed the subject:

“Speaking of which, John, you’ve been making quite a splash in the capital these past few days. Even I, living far away in the suburbs, have heard a lot about you.”

"It's clear that His Majesty values ​​you highly. Otherwise, after you were detained by the prosecutor's office, His Majesty William wouldn't have gone to the Cabinet immediately to negotiate with the Prime Minister and get you released that very night."

"I have to say, I am quite envious of this undisguised favoritism and appreciation."

Conrad spoke with a sigh, but only he himself knew how much of it was genuine.

"If you choose to serve the Empire rather than willingly become that Prime Minister's henchman, His Majesty, given his character, would also bestow upon you the same favor and appreciation, wouldn't he?"

Upon hearing this, Conrad did not refute it, but remained silent for a long time before sighing softly:
"……maybe."

"However, none of that matters. After all, the Sleifer family has survived to this day because of the unchanging family precept of balance that has remained unchanged for thousands of years. If we were to abandon this precept, I, as the second son, might gain His Majesty William's favor, but it would be detrimental to the future of the Sleifer family..."

"Conrad, do you think the Slevin family has any future if things continue to develop as they are now?"

"!"

Conrad's pupils contracted sharply, then he stared at John in front of him, as if he understood something, and was about to speak to stop him.

But the next second, John's voice slowly entered his ears.

Although the voice was perfectly calm, it was as if a thunderbolt had struck Conrad's heart, leaving him unable to calm down for a long time:

My answer is no.

"If we continue to let the factional strife develop, if we continue to sit idly by and watch the conservatives drain the empire's strength day after day."

"Then within ten years, not only the Slayford family, but the entire empire will likely be completely destroyed because of this foolish infighting!"

"This is my reply to you!"

"Boom!"

John slammed his hand on the table, and before Conrad could react, he stared at him and spoke slowly, his voice low and serious:
"So let's have a good talk, Conrad."

"Let's discuss how to rid the empire of its current state of decay, beset by internal and external troubles, and lead it to true greatness!"

……

(End of this chapter)