Strum, twang... A melodious guitar tune drifted out from the study.
Inside the study, Lucas had his eyes closed, listening to Catherine play the guitar. He was the one who had given her the sheet music.
Twang~ With a flawless finish, Lucas slowly opened his eyes, his pupils filled with amazement. Catherine's musical talent was simply too good. How long had she even been practicing? Yet she could already play the guitar with such proficiency, not to mention she was also learning the erhu and the suona.
"Lucas, how was my playing?" Catherine's eyes brimmed with anticipation.
"Very good." It was the only praise Lucas could offer. He didn't actually know how to play the guitar himself; he had merely learned how to read sheet music and then taught it to Catherine.
"That's good." A delightful smile graced the corners of Catherine's mouth. She had practiced so hard just to earn Lucas's approval.
"I'll set up a stage for you so you can perform live," Lucas said, picking up his teacup.
"Okay," Catherine agreed without hesitation.
"I'll make you a world-renowned genius. I'll make sure everyone knows your music," Lucas said softly.
He wanted to create a superstar. It would be a massive boost to his propaganda efforts. With Catherine's beauty combined with her musical talent, she was guaranteed to become a massive hit. The celebrity effect was sometimes far more effective than dry, boring propaganda. She could serve as a role model for many people, essentially acting as an ambassador for his city.
"Ah?" Catherine froze for a moment, then muttered under her breath, "I just want your acknowledgement, that's all..."
"Hm? What did you say?" Lucas raised an eyebrow, looking at Catherine strangely.
"N-Nothing." Blushing, Catherine shot Lucas a glance, hugged her guitar, and ran off.
Creak... "Weird." Lucas stared blankly at the swinging study door. Why did she just run away?
"Master, what happened to Catherine?" Mina strode in; she had nearly been bowled over by Catherine just now.
"No idea." Lucas shook his head, completely baffled himself.
"Master, here is the latest intelligence report." Mina pulled a letter from her clothes.
"Oh? Did something happen again?" Lucas took the letter, tore it open, and began to read.
After reading it, Lucas's expression turned bizarre. He scoffed, "What is this? Do they think I'm some soft persimmon they can just squish?"
"Master, did something happen?" Mina asked curiously, her cat ears perking up.
"See for yourself." Lucas handed the letter over and frowned in thought.
"Huh?" Upon taking the letter, Mina's blue eyes shrank slightly. She said in exasperation, "Catherine's father, Grand Duke Kerrac, is actually coming to the Western Lands!"
"Yeah. This First Prince actually has some brains to pull off a fiefdom grant just to transfer someone out of the Royal Capital. But this Kerrac..." Lucas said, shaking his head. He was being thoroughly underestimated.
He knew it was only a matter of time before the First Prince unified the Royal Capital. With one of the three Grand Dukes removed, the remaining two wouldn't be a match for him.
"Master, what do we do now?" Mina asked in a deep voice. This concerned Catherine, after all.
"They are traveling by land. Liberty City will be their first major obstacle." Lucas pulled a map from his drawer, spread it out on the desk, and began to study it.
"So we are going to defeat them at Liberty City?" Mina narrowed her eyes. She didn't like this Grand Duke Kerrac very much; the man had actually treated his own daughter like a piece of merchandise to be traded.
"Yes. From now on, Liberty City is the outpost of the Western Lands. Any future land battles will be resolved there." Lucas nodded. With Liberty City's current troop strength, it was a bit lacking.
After defeating the Fourth Prince, Liam, he had only left a portion of his forces stationed in Liberty City. If they faced off against Kerrac's order of knights, it would be difficult for them to secure a decisive victory; they could only be used to defend the city.
But passively defending a city wasn't Lucas's style. That meant they had to take the fight to the enemy. Besides, he was still desperately short on laborers to build his roads.
"You won't need to lead the expedition yourself this time, will you, Master?" Mina asked softly. Kerrac's knight order was even smaller than Liam's.
"No. Send an order for Aiden to take five hundred soldiers and go," Lucas said casually.
"Understood," Mina replied.
"Right now, our main focus is developing this region." Lucas looked at the area on the map between Liberty City and Sedona City. This region contained many small cities, and some areas were perfectly suited for massive grain cultivation.
Amassing a vast surplus of grain was one of his core strategic points. He needed a massive workforce to clear wastelands and farm the land, planting high-yield staple grains as well as high-value cash crops like sugarcane.
Currently, Sedona City was safe—unless some nobles within the Western Lands rebelled, or the three principalities over in the Chaotic Lands launched a surprise attack from the north.
Thinking of this, Lucas looked down at the map and muttered to himself, "It seems I need to give Ayesha's sister some assistance. Those three principalities in the Chaotic Lands are a ticking time bomb. Someone needs to keep them occupied."
"Master, should we tell Catherine about this?" Mina asked quietly.
"Not for now. Let's wait until we capture him first," Lucas shook his head. He didn't mind feeding a few more idle prisoners.
For example, the Fourth Prince, Liam, was currently locked up doing manual labor, trading his handcrafted goods for basic living supplies. Some of the captured nobles had even been thrown straight into the mines to dig ore.
As time passed, some people would simply vanish without a trace.
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You can read advance chapters and view R-18 images of the characters on pat reon page.
pat reon.com/GreenBlue17
200 power stones.
Top 100. All time.