Many people think that the Empire’s army guards the Emperor in the capital, but that’s just a misconception of those who aren’t nobles.

Of course, the defense units of the capital and the Emperor’s direct imperial guard were naturally stationed in the capital.

But their numbers amounted to only a few thousand at most, even if you scraped together security forces that could barely be called soldiers.

That made sense because the capital was originally a city built for people to live in, not to accommodate an army.

An intimidating army of tens of thousands, in other words, meant tens of thousands of mouths to feed.

How could the capital, with almost no farmland, possibly handle the supplies for soldiers who were useless in peacetime?

Unless flour fell from the sky and pigs sprouted from the ground, it was impossible.

And they didn’t just eat. They needed clothes, weap*ns, and places to sleep.

Considering the daily consumables required, even if all the mages from the magic tower were ground up to cause a logistics revolution, the capital would still be hopeless.

So the Empire created military cities within the imperial direct territories to accommodate the army.

And they were divided into several cities.

This made it easier to supply them than concentrating them in one place, and above all, it was convenient for intervening in conflicts arising in various parts of the Empire.

When people learn about the Empire’s military situation, they often wonder:

Wait, doesn’t that make the capital too vulnerable?

…But logically, if foreign enemies reached the capital in the heart of the Empire, wouldn’t the country already be lost?

It would mean all the military cities in between had been destroyed.

Of course, one could argue that civil war is different…

“The imperial family isn’t stupid. Most areas around the capital are imperial direct territories, and the exceptional territories are originally divided into small pieces with almost no military force. Plus, the leaders of military cities are unconditionally members of the imperial family.”

Nathan continued after Luka’s words.

“Of course, those imperial family members must leave their families in the capital as hostages. To prevent them from harboring other intentions with their military forces.”

Luka pulled out a map from the mountain of documents and hung it on the wall.

The eyes of those gathered in the room turned to the wall. Well, precisely speaking, only Leticia, Aina, and Nathan’s eyes.

The Basilinte people’s gazes were directed at Leticia.

Luka sighed, and Leticia, feeling the now-familiar embarrassment, corrected their gazes.

“Look at the wall. Not at me.”

Only then did the Basilinte people’s gazes slowly turn to the wall.

Luka continued as if nothing had happened, marking the map in red.

“Here, here, here… There are eight military cities in total. Near five of them are large territories. Territories of families that possess more troops than the military cities themselves. If our victory seems certain, they will mobilize their forces.”

“And if it’s not certain?”

To Astrid’s question, Luka shrugged.

“They won’t budge. They’ll declare themselves on the winning side—our side. Why would they commit their forces on our word? Honestly, even now, many of them probably don’t take our negotiations very seriously.”

The reason Leticia’s negotiations with the high nobles were successful was that the nobles truly didn’t need to do anything.

Leticia didn’t demand anything from them.

She only asked for their cooperation after successfully bringing down the imperial family.

In other words, the high nobles didn’t need to move until Leticia brought down the imperial family.

“They will absolutely not move unless our chances of winning are certain, but if victory is assured, they won’t hesitate. So we just need to make it clear to them that we are the winning side.”

“That’s not difficult, brother.”

Leticia said calmly.

“No matter how many soldiers are in the capital, I can immobilize all of them.”

Her tone was not arrogant at all. Rather, it was matter-of-fact, as if confirming a simple truth.

On behalf of her modest disciple, Astrid patted Leticia’s head and proudly said.

“These days, she’s practicing not just subduing, but doing it spectacularly. Subduing a mere few thousand isn’t even difficult for our baby. As expected of our child with an acting background, she has such excellent artistic sense—”

“Teacher, stop.”

“Leti had that sense since she was young. That tiny thing would chatter about where and how to move prettily on stage and follow me around—”

“Brother, you stop too.”

Leticia quickly cut off their attempts to change the subject and deliberately ignored Chamuka’s stinging gaze on her cheek as she spoke.

“So, I understand that for the five military cities, once we occupy the capital, other families will step in to resolve the situation. What about the remaining three?”

Nathan, who had been trying to take advantage of the moment when Astrid and Luka were chattering to grab Aina’s hand but failed, belatedly raised his head.

“…Hmm?”

Leticia’s eyes met Aina’s, who had her arms crossed to block Nathan’s advances, and she thought that the meeting was really going well.

The solemnity of revenge was nowhere to be found.

Revenge had just become work. Everyone’s personal interests were elsewhere.

Leticia could bet her entire fortune that in Nathan’s mind, this revenge had become the “work” in “I need to finish work quickly and ask for a date.”

And probably in the mind of the overworked Luka, it had become the “work” in “I need to sleep well after work is done.”

It was good that daily life was bigger than revenge, certainly good, but…

‘If someday I ever make a play called “The Fall of the Herta Imperial Family,” I should absolutely never include a scene like this.’

Burning desire for revenge. Solemn determination. It would be unfair to the audience to imagine such things.

“Well, the remaining three places have leaders who are imperial family members but harbor great resentment toward the imperial family.”

Nathan began to report.

“As they are large military cities, capable individuals were selected from the imperial family. They also chose those who cherish their families a lot, for better control. All three are distant branches, and they harbor nothing but ill feelings toward the Emperor because their families are held hostage.”

Nathan glanced at Aina, then looked around again as he spoke.

“Being forcibly prevented from seeing one’s family could drive anyone mad. If they could just get their hostages back, they would readily betray the Emperor.”

“But if they sent people with such resentment to be in charge of military cities, the management of the hostages must be extremely thorough…”

At Leticia’s words, Nathan nodded.

“Yes. The location was a secret even to people like us. Until yesterday.”

Looking at Luka, he also echoed Nathan’s words with clear agreement.

“That’s right. I didn’t know either, Leti. Until yesterday.”

Tan, who had been slowly approaching Leticia’s feet, sat down on the floor and pushed his head onto Leticia’s lap.

Then, like a dog seeking praise, he said.

“I found it yesterday. I did well, right?”

As Leticia instinctively placed her hand on Tan’s fluffy hair, he rubbed his head against her hand and smiled.

There was a sound of something breaking from behind, but Leticia’s instinct warned her not to look back.

At that moment, Astrid unnecessarily added:

“I sent Chamuka and Tan, and isn’t it strange that Tan found it before Chamuka, who was searching a wider area? Chamuka, he’s surprisingly unlucky. I told him it was a chance to get your affection, but he missed it.”

“Haha…”

Please stop, teacher. Something keeps breaking behind us.