Lord: My Shop Connects to Modern Times

The capital of the Dawn Empire, inside the king's bedroom.

At this moment, King George VII sat on his bed, coldly watching the figure standing below the steps.

Maurice stood beside him, his arms crossed.

Standing below the stage was Duke Ivan's confidant, who was trembling slightly, his head bowed, not daring to look at the new king before him.

"Tell me, what's the situation in the South?" George asked, his tone devoid of emotion.

He was holding a court assembly when the king changed, and he had just taken over many complicated matters, so he was already extremely busy.

But less than halfway through the court session, someone rushed in to report that an urgent message had arrived from the southern border.

The messenger who brought the urgent report said as soon as he entered the hall, "The operation to annihilate Lynn Cole in the South has run into trouble."

This forced him to interrupt the court session. If it were good news, that would be fine, but he didn't want to discuss this urgent report, which was clearly not good news, with his noble officials.

Ultimately, none of these people are truly "one of us".

Especially regarding news about Lynn Cole, George, or rather... the Order of the End, didn't want too many people involved...

"In the southern border, the Duke, following His Majesty's orders, has assembled all the forces in the southern border, um... about ten thousand men, to attack Lynn's territory."

Ivan's confidant carefully chose his words, sounding somewhat guilty, since His Majesty had requested "all" of the troops, while the Southern Allied Forces only numbered around eight thousand.

He deliberately overstated the number by two thousand to make it sound closer to His Majesty's request.

"As a result, when they tried to capture Ironstone Fortress, a crucial point on the way to Grayrock Town, well... they failed..."

Upon hearing this, a glint of light flashed in George's eyes.

When he heard the other party say "ten thousand people," he already knew that things in the southern region were not entirely done according to his requirements, but he had somewhat expected it.

Such is the nature of nobles: bullying the weak and fearing the strong, greedy by nature, and especially adept at scheming.

It's inevitable to have a negative attitude towards such a thankless task, and the reasons are nothing more than a few—the territory needs to be defended to maintain basic security and deal with monster attacks...

George had heard similar claims many times when his father was still in power, let alone how many his father had heard.

However, even if only 10,000 men were mobilized, taking Ironstone Fortress should have been a piece of cake, a sure thing.

With that number of people, let alone Ironstone Fortress, even Ivan's own Rock Fortress could put up a fight.

But now, the other side is telling me that they didn't take it down?

Even George, a man who had seen much of the world and was usually calm under Lord Morris's tutelage, felt a surge of anger.

"Tell me in detail what happened."

Ivan's confidants recounted in detail what had happened in the South, including the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Raven Pass, the complete annihilation of the army on the Eastern Front, and Ivan's suspicion that Earl Lehman had betrayed them...

The more George listened, the uglier his face became.

He considered various reasons why they hadn't been able to capture the city: the terrain, the lack of unity among the Southern Allied Forces, the rumored fire-breathing weapon...

But he never expected that Lynn would defeat the Southern Allied Forces with zero casualties, causing them to flee in disarray.

What does it mean when the ground spews fire? And what does it mean when a dark shadow flies down from the hillside?!

Has Lynn's weapon acquired a new design?

Unlike others, he and Morris, as members of the Order of the End, and even members of relatively high status, were aware of Lynn's special status.

None of the members of the Anchor families of the five major races are simple. When the Order of the End was besieging the Anchor families of the Dwarves, it took them a lot of effort at Bronzebeard Pass to capture the core bloodline members of the Hearth family.

Because every family is connected to the god of its corresponding race! Their bloodline heirs can draw upon a portion of the god's power!

They call this "divine revelation".

However, the foundation of these families from a thousand years ago has been almost completely depleted by now. For example, Lynn's family, the Cole family, is now completely impoverished, and Lynn himself has been demoted to that godforsaken place in the Southern Territory.

On the dwarf side, Bolton of the Hearthheart family was also driven to the border of the dwarf kingdom—Bronzebeard Pass—by his own people for stealing the dwarfs' core forging secrets.

George was unaware of the situation of the other anchor families, as his position in the cult was not high enough to access many core secrets.

He only learned this information from Lord Maurice after he ascended the throne.

However, George suspected that the descendants of the other anchor families wouldn't fare much better, because the church had been plotting behind the scenes for a long time, and only now, when the anchor families' foundations had been weakened considerably, did they dare to take action.

But Lynn, or rather the bloodline heir of the Cole family, is perhaps a bit "too fierce".

Unlike the dwarves' divine revelation, Lynn's power did not come directly from strengthening himself and greatly increasing his combat strength. Instead, his power seemed to come from gaining various kinds of... knowledge?

This was completely different from what the cult had anticipated...

George remained silent for a long time.

All previous actions and decisions were ultimately made by Maurice, and he was unsure what to do after this unexpected situation arose.

After a moment's hesitation, he said, "I understand the situation. You may leave now."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

……

The palace was so quiet that only the faint crackling of the candlelight could be heard.

George sat on the bed, watching the door slowly close behind his confidant. The man's gait was still somewhat stiff, clearly not fully recovered from the tension of the moment.

But George couldn't care less about him anymore.

"Lord Maurice," he spoke, his voice lower than before, "what do you think?"

Maurice emerged from the shadows and stood before George. His face was half-lit and half-shadowed by the candlelight, making his expression indistinct.

"Lynn Cole..." he began slowly, "more troublesome than we anticipated, no, he's beyond troublesome..."

George nodded.

Yes, this is more than just troublesome.

Even if the nobles in the south were perfunctory and the actual number of troops deployed was reduced, the Southern Allied Army of 10,000 men would still have at least 7,000 to 8,000 men.

Seven or eight thousand people, attacking a small territory with a population of a few thousand.

The results of it?

Fiasco.

It wasn't just a regular defeat; it was the kind of defeat where someone was beaten so badly by methods they'd never seen before that they were forced to flee in terror.

George recalled a legend he had heard after joining the Order of the End—about the war between the gods in ancient times.

It is said that back then, the gods could summon fire and thunder with a mere wave of their hands, capable of destroying an army in an instant.

Lynn's methods, and the descriptions in the legends...

so similar.

This is almost a miracle, whereas just six months ago he was just an ordinary, unremarkable nobleman who was just waiting to die.

“Lord Maurice,” George looked up, “you said that the bloodline heirs of the Anchor family can draw upon the power of the gods. They call themselves divine revelation.”

Morris nodded.

"So, what about Lynn's situation...? Was it also a divine revelation that occurred after successfully communicating with Goddess Sovia?"

Morris remained silent for a moment, then shook his head.

"No, under normal circumstances, there's a very high probability that Lynn won't have the chance of divine revelation..."

He looked out the window; the direction was towards the Holy Light Church Cathedral.

"Gray Rock Town has no Church of Holy Light, not even a church. Lynn himself, under our subtle influence, has never stepped into a church or had any opportunity to come into contact with the statue of the goddess Sovia since he was a child."

Morris had been in the capital for a long time and had been observing Lynn for a long time; one could even say he had watched her grow up.

Due to the deliberate interference of the religious order, the other party absolutely did not visit the cathedral in the capital.

The other party should not have communicated with the Goddess of Holy Light.

If the Order of the End hadn't been insufficiently infiltrated into the Dawn Empire, making it difficult to act in the imperial capital and with its focus distributed among other anchor families, they would have captured Lynn long ago.

In retrospect, they should have acquired the Cole family bloodline back then, regardless of the cost. Even with a low success rate, Morris felt the situation couldn't have been worse than it is now.

Morris turned his gaze from the window back to George: "Moreover, the Holy Light Goddess Sovia represents protection and purification, not the strange 'knowledge' Lynn is currently displaying."

George frowned upon hearing this.

"So what do we do now?" George asked. "Send more troops? Although the southern border still has sufficient troops, they've all been terrified. And that old fox Ivan certainly won't go all out again."

Morris did not answer immediately.

The capture of the Cole family bloodline is now proving more difficult than he expected; the other party seems to possess extraordinary knowledge, causing his plans to falter at every turn.

Extraordinary knowledge... extraordinary power...

Morris's eyes lit up slightly.

"George," he said, "do you remember the rules of the Mage's Guild?"

George paused for a moment.

"The Mage Association?"

“Yes.” Morris walked back to his side. “According to the Imperial Code, the King has the right to request assistance from the Mage Guild in emergency situations.”

George's eyes lit up.

"You mean...?"

"Mobilize the mages to join the battle."

"But right now, it's not an emergency."

George didn't think those mages would behave themselves.

"So this is an 'emergency situation'?" Morris chuckled. "Isn't the emergence of a cult leader in the South an emergency situation?"

George paused for a moment, then understood.

Yes, this reason is not only useful for the church, but also quite persuasive for these monks.

Although this group of people are indifferent to everything except magical research, they will still give you some face when it comes to such important matters, even if it's not because of the king himself.

"Furthermore," Morris continued, "we can offer them a condition they can't refuse."

"What are the conditions?"

"Lynn's weapons," Morris said. "The mages are more curious about those things than anyone else. Tell them that after taking Grayrock Town, all of Lynn's research findings will be handed over to the Mage Guild for study."

George paused, taken aback. He had only ever heard that alchemists were interested in those things.

Would you also be interested in a monk?

"Wow... would mages really be interested in those things?"

“Yes,” Morris affirmed. “Imagine a group of ordinary people, using those weapons, being able to create a spectacle comparable to magic.”

"Let's repackage it and describe it as—a special magical artifact; the sparks emitted by the weapon are special magical fluctuations..."

He paused.

"Then mobilize troops from the western border. As for Duke Solo, send as many as you can. Gather three to five thousand, and with the remaining troops from the southern border, that should be enough for another battle."

George remained silent for a few seconds.

"Will Solo listen to us in the West?"

"Yes, he will," Maurice said with certainty. "You are the king. No matter how vast his territory may be, it is still the territory of the empire. Disobeying orders is tantamount to rebellion. Solo is not a fool."

George thought for a moment and nodded.

"Then it's settled."