A short time earlier, in the Kingdom of Ukel, an Augustus Merchant selling timber was stopped just as he was about to leave the city. His hands were bound, and he was immediately dragged to a secluded, dark cell.
A burly soldier with a menacing expression barked, "Speak! Are you part of the group that attacked the prisoner camp?!"
The merchant was initially stunned. How had they discovered his identity?
However, as one of the original 200,000 citizens of the Grand Duchy of Augustus, his loyalty was unquestionable. He immediately adopted an indignant expression and retorted, "Release me at once! I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Though he spoke defiantly, the merchant had already steeled himself for torture. No matter what they did to him, he would never break!
Then, in the next instant, the burly soldier shouted outside, "He confessed! He admits he's part of the group that attacked the prisoner camp!"
The merchant's face froze in utter bewilderment. "???"
He was genuinely starting to panic. Could these people read minds?
The merchant was quickly dragged away. As he frantically pondered what to do, he heard the same shout from another direction: "He's confessed! He's one of the guys who attacked the prisoner camp!"
Another man was hauled out next. The Augustus Merchant squinted at him... Hmm, never seen him before. He's definitely not from the Grand Duchy of Augustus!
Soon, the two merchants were locked up together. The local merchant ranted incessantly: "Damn it, what kind of mess is this?! A year ago, a bunch of Timber Merchants suddenly appeared, stole my market share, and nearly drove me bankrupt! I finally managed to switch to selling fish, and just as things were starting to look up, now they're confiscating my whole catch! Damn it! My salted fish!"
The Augustus Merchant remained silent, realizing the soldiers were clearly rounding up people indiscriminately.
This scene was playing out across major cities in the Kingdom of Ukel. As a premeditated surprise operation, most merchants were caught red-handed within the city walls.
Jay's situation was similar. He was preparing for his second high-end art auction. An event of this caliber couldn't be held too frequently; once a year seemed about right.
As Jay pondered what special effects to apply to this year's "artwork," squads of soldiers had already surrounded the Auction House. However, deterred by Tide, who stood at the entrance like a statue, the soldiers didn't dare launch a rash attack. Instead, they shouted, "You are surrounded! Abandon all resistance and surrender immediately!"
Hearing the commotion outside, Jay swiftly moved to the Auction House entrance. His expression turned grim as he surveyed the scene. "I'm a legitimate merchant!" he protested. "You have no right to arrest me!"
The soldiers outside replied, "By order of Duke Phat! You are under arrest for conspiring to attack the prisoner camp! Cease your futile struggles and avoid further trouble!"
Jay's brow furrowed even deeper. He and Tide had deliberately avoided participating in the prisoner camp raid to avoid suspicion. Theoretically, the Kingdom of Ukel shouldn't have been able to connect them to the attackers.
Just then, the soldiers outside parted to form a path. A corpulent figure slowly emerged—Duke Phat himself, the notorious "Fat Duke."
The Fat Duke chuckled. "I advise you to abandon resistance and cooperate with the investigation. If I'm in a good mood after the investigation concludes, I might consider leniency—sparing your life. As a merchant, you should understand the principle of 'where there's life, there's hope,' wouldn't you?"
Hearing this, Jay instantly understood. These men hadn't discovered his connection to the attackers at all; they were simply here to seize the merchandise!
The Fat Duke's message was clear: surrender everything obediently, and your life will be spared. Resist, and you'll confirm your status as a suspect, likely resulting in summary execution and the looting of your assets.
Jay muttered to himself, What is this? A blind cat stumbling upon a dead rat?
Just as Jay was pondering his next move, a golden Century Gate slowly materialized behind him. Tribios and Olivia strode swiftly through it.
Upon learning that the Auction House was under siege, Tribios had immediately chosen to come to the rescue. However, upon arriving at the scene, she sensed that the atmosphere was... off.
The Fat Duke opposite them wore an expression of utter shock, while Jay, hand pressed to his forehead, sighed in exasperation.
Olivia, longsword in hand, blinked and asked, "Um... what's the situation here? Are we fighting or not?"
Jay glanced at the dumbfounded Fat Duke across the way, shrugged, and said, "Alright, since you've found out, I'll come clean. I was the one who attacked the prisoner camp. So what? What can you do about it?"
The Fat Duke stammered, "A-ah... huh?"
Dude, I was just joking! You're serious?!
The Fat Duke felt like a petty thug who had stumbled upon a seemingly weak-looking passerby and tried to extort some pocket money by saying, "I know what you did yesterday. Pay up if you don't want me to expose you!"
But the man he'd threatened immediately wore an anguished expression. "Damn it! How did you find out I killed ten people yesterday?" he muttered, drawing a bloody weapon as he spoke.
This situation had gone beyond absurd. The Fat Duke immediately began backing away. He'd only come to extort money and hadn't brought many soldiers. Who knew how many enemies might be lurking behind that Teleportation Magic gate? Fighting was out of the question! His only thought now was to escape as quickly as possible!
Seeing this, Jay barked, "He's trying to run! He's a high-ranking official! Olivia, seize him now!"
"Alright!" Olivia wasted no time, immediately launching forward like a spring, heading straight for the Fat Duke.
The soldiers around the Fat Duke tried to block her path, but Olivia moved as swiftly and elusively as a mudfish, darting through the crowd without any of them even managing to brush against her sleeve.
However, the Fat Duke was equally swift. He immediately produced a scroll and tore it open, enveloping himself in a blue magical glow.
Just as Olivia reached the Fat Duke and reached out to grab him, he vanished into thin air.
"It's Teleportation Magic," Jay said, frowning. "The spell's Magic Power isn't strong. He's likely still nearby, no more than a kilometer away."
Even so, finding him would be extremely difficult. Who knew where the Fat Duke had teleported to? And once he landed, he'd undoubtedly continue fleeing without pause.
Yet Tribios wore a look of astonishment. As the Fat Duke teleported away, she clearly sensed a 'channel' forming, and naturally, she could also sense what lay on the other side of that channel.
Tribios extended her right hand and beckoned with a curled finger. In the next moment, a brand-new Century Gate materialized out of thin air. Then... the Fat Duke, looking utterly bewildered, was yanked through and crashed at Tribios's feet.
His excessive layers of fat caused him to bounce quite noticeably upon impact.
The sight left everyone stunned—not just the Fat Duke himself, but even Jay, who stood nearby, stared blankly and muttered, "Huh?"
The Fat Duke wore an even more bewildered expression, as if wondering, Who am I? Where am I? He immediately pulled a scroll from his robe and tore it apart!
The absurdity of the situation caught Jay completely off guard, leaving him no time to intervene. As for Tribios, she deliberately held back, waiting for the Fat Duke's Teleportation Magic to activate before opening another Century Gate.
Exactly as before, the Fat Duke was yanked through the gate, looking utterly bewildered. This time, Jay snapped out of his stupor and rushed forward, grappling with the duke.
The Fat Duke retaliated with a brutal punch to Jay's eye socket, sending him flying backward.
Tide stepped forward, grabbed the Fat Duke's head with one hand, and pinned the man down. The Fat Duke froze, not daring to move. "Ouch! Easy! Easy on my head!"
Jay scrambled to his feet, his right eye socket already turning purple. He pointed at the Fat Duke and snarled, "Run now! I want to see where you think you can run to now!"
Tribios sighed beside them. "You're a wizard. Stop trying to brawl like a fighter."
Seeing their teammate had successfully captured the Fat Duke, Olivia quickly retreated from the encirclement. The soldiers, restrained by the Fat Duke's presence, didn't dare pursue.
"Let's move first," Tribios said. "We'll deal with the rest later."
The group filed through the Century Gate, returning to the Grand Duchy of Augustus. The Fat Duke, of course, was brought along as a hostage.
With a Grand Duke as their hostage, they now had significantly more leverage against the Kingdom of Ukel. However, Tribios remained puzzled about how these people had discovered the Grand Duchy of Augustus in the first place.
When she asked, the Fat Duke shook his head blankly. "Discovered what? What discovery?"
Tribios blinked in confusion. "?"
Jay, a former noble, stepped in to explain. Having witnessed the nobles' insatiable greed firsthand, and with the Fat Duke's direct testimony, he quickly pieced together their plan: to exploit the prisoner camp attack as an excuse to extort money from merchants.
After hearing this, Tribios froze for a few seconds, her cheeks and the tips of her ears flushing visibly red with both shame and anger.
"Ugh~" she let out a cute groan of frustration. So, the Kingdom of Ukel wasn't specifically targeting Augustus Merchants after all? They were simply rounding up all merchants, and naturally, that included our people too?
Damn it! I've been wasting my energy outsmarting thin air?
It was understandable, though. Like playing chess, when your opponent makes an unexpected and seemingly inexplicable move, your first reaction isn't to assume they've blundered, but to suspect some hidden strategy.
However, with the Fat Duke's information, Tribios now knew that the Kingdom of Ukel was completely unaware of the Grand Duchy of Augustus' existence, let alone its location. And to top it off, she had just captured one of their Grand Dukes.
Now, the possibilities for action were practically limitless!
The Grand Duchy of Augustus currently maintained a standing army of only two thousand men, recently trained. However, interrogation of the Fat Duke revealed that the Kingdom of Ukel boasted a publicly declared standing army of one hundred thousand men, not even counting the private armies of various nobles. Moreover, in times of war, the Kingdom of Ukel would raise massive "conscript armies."
This meant arming peasants from villages and towns with farm tools and sending them directly to the battlefield as cannon fodder to exhaust the enemy's strength.
The regular army would then serve as overseers in the rear, executing deserters. Only after the conscript armies had been decimated would the regular army advance to engage the enemy.
This brutal combat strategy was common across most nations in this era, not just Ukel.
Given the overwhelming numerical disparity in military strength and the fact that the enemy was completely unaware of the Grand Duchy of Augustus's location, the first option—direct confrontation—could be immediately dismissed.
As for the second option—rescuing all Augustus citizens within the Kingdom of Ukel, withdrawing all their interests, and fleeing far away—Tribios found herself reluctant to abandon their hard-earned gains.
Thus, the third option, initially considered the least promising, now seemed to be the best course of action.
The Fat Duke was such a coward that they didn't even need to torture him. He spilled everything the moment they asked, even volunteering, "Now that I've been captured, His Majesty the King and the other three Grand Dukes will definitely convene a meeting. I know the exact location where they'll gather. Don't you have those Golden Teleportation Gates? You could teleport right there and capture them all at once!"
Tribios stared blankly at the Fat Duke. Cowards who spill everything under questioning were common enough, but someone who immediately turns traitor and starts advising the enemy on how to attack their own allies? That was truly rare.
The Fat Duke even urged, "I recommend you act quickly and ambush the meeting location in advance. That's the safest approach. If you launch a surprise attack during the meeting, what if one of them manages to escape in the chaos?"
Jay couldn't help but remark, "You...sure are something huh?"
In truth, seeing the Fat Duke's eagerness, Tribios's first reaction was to suspect a trap. Could his capture be part of a larger plan to lure them somewhere?
But Tribios quickly slapped her cheeks with both hands. "Ugh~ Don't overthink it! Don't overthink it!"