2204  Strategic Revelation

"…Is probably what the Sekigahara Confederate is thinking at the moment."

A wide smile appeared on the face of the Prime Minister of the Britannian Empire.

He was pleased.

Things had been going according to plan.

As he had anticipated, the Republic of Gorteau and the Sekigahara Confederate eventually reached their limits and headed down the path of war. What he didn't expect was for it to happen so soon.

He had thought it would take a year.

"Rael…" His gaze sharpened ever so slightly. "To think you had accumulated so many treasures. No wonder you are so confident walking into war."

He didn't expect there to be more to his rival's arsenal of treasures than just the mass breakthroughs and the massive successes with the Beast Domain.

He certainly didn't expect the Kandrian Empire to demonstrate hyper-accelerated growth for its Martial Artists, or for them to be able to heal formerly crippled Martial Sages.

He closed his eyes as his mind processed all the information he had at his disposal. The recovery of Sage Kole was what drew his attention the most.

There were two possibilities that he was able to think of.

"The legendary Elixir of Heaven and Earth, or…" His eyes narrowed. "The fabled Divine Doctor."

"The former would make more sense if they got their hands on the Transcendent-grade esoteric substances needed to make it," he reasoned. "It would make sense that they managed to get their hands on the latter due to all their successes in the Beast Domain. But…"

The air grew heavier as he came to a deep realization.

"How did Emperor Rael recover from the Eternal Dream Disease more than three years ago?" he wondered to himself. "If the cause of his recovery is connected to the recovery of Sage Kole, then…"

His eyes wandered around as he fell into deep thought.

"Did their exploits in the Beast Domain allow them to stumble on the ingredients needed to concoct the Elixir of Heaven and Earth three years ago?" His eyes sharpened.

"No. Considering that extensive operations into the Beast Domain from the Kandrian Empire have only been going on for a few months, it can't serve as a sound explanation. Which means… He must have somehow gotten his hands on the Divine Doctor?"

He found it difficult to believe even if he was confident that these were the only two possible explanations to how both Emperor Rael and Sage Kole could have been cured from terminal conditions.

Of course, it was possible that the cause behind both their recoveries was entirely different.

However, he didn't think so.

It was just far too much of a coincidence for him to bring himself to believe it. "But how could Rael have found the Divine Doctor when he was ill, unless…" His eyes widened as he made another realization. "It was the Void Prince."

He had previously chosen to research the Final Prince of the Kandrian Empire rather than his father as he had substantial reason to suspect that the odd timing of the breakthrough to the Master Realm was connected to the recovery of the Emperor of Harmony.

"The Void Prince had once conducted research on the Immortal Sages to try and find and recruit them," he continued as the pieces of the puzzle began slowly fitting together. "What if he was looking for only one Immortal Sage out of them? What if the rest were merely red herrings to obscure his true intentions?"

If that were the case, that would imply that the Void Prince had never truly intended to become Emperor. Perhaps his father had given him the mission to find the Divine Doctor from the very beginning. If that were the case…

"It would be the biggest political scandal in the history of the Age of Martial Art."

A smile cracked at the edge of Prime Minister Edward's mouth as an immense amount of glee flashed in his eyes. Just the mere thought of exposing both the Emperor of Harmony and his son brought him deep satisfaction.

After all, if he could convince the world of this truth, then it would deeply harm the Kandrian Empire. Countless foreign powers in East Panama who were allied with the Kandrian Empire would instantly become hostile against Prince Rui and the Kandrian Empire due to the fraud and deceit that he had been complicit with.

It could potentially deprive them of support when they needed it the most.

It could potentially be the decisive factor in the war.

"But," his smile deepened, "not yet."

Perhaps a lesser ruler would have immediately rushed to inform the entire world of the revelations he had learned to hurt the Kandrian Empire as much and as early as possible since war had already begun. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

But not Prime Minister Edward.

He knew that there would come a day in the war when this extraordinarily shocking revelation would hurt the Kandrian Empire deeply. After all, countless people had suffered due to the recovery of the Emperor of Harmony. The man would suddenly gain so many more enemies.

"I'll need to tread carefully." Prime Minister Edward narrowed his eyes. "Perhaps I should write it down and then have a mind-oriented Martial Artist wipe my memories of this revelation entirely. Hmm, but I would deduce the exact same thing all over again, knowing my propensity to decipher the truth. Thus, I should wipe my memories of the results of the investigation of the Dawnbringer. That way, even I won't be able to come to this conclusion once again after my memories of this revelation are wiped."

The reason he wanted to go to such degrees was because he feared the power of the Matriarch of the Silas Clan.

"Would she not have a much harder time detecting this future if I don't remember this information myself?"

Based on what he understood about prophecy, she most likely would have a harder time if he enacted this measure.

"All I need to do is present all the evidence in a highly convincing manner, then set up a system to ensure that it gets published when the time is right without any intervention on my part, and then wipe out my memories to ensure that the Silas Matriarch doesn't see it coming." The certainty in his voice grew. "It will take an extreme amount of insight with a high amount of accuracy and precision to pull off, but…"

He could do it.

If anybody could secretly plan ahead of time to have a trump card activated at exactly the right moment by accurately predicting precisely how the war would unfold ahead of time, it was him.

Prime Minister Edward Del Germont.

The sole man who could rival the Emperor of Harmony.

"I won't lose this time, Rael." His smile widened as excitement flashed in his eyes.