Chapter 1155: Chapter 1155

“The situation is stabilizing, sir,” said Besley.

The Master of the Round Table slowly nodded in silence.

Although this development didn't exactly qualify as excellent, it was still undeniably favorable news.

Even though this stability was achieved through violence and intimidation, not mutual cooperation, it didn't matter as long as the end result was the same.

‘I’ve changed a lot, haven’t I?’

The Master smiled bitterly.

His old self would never have viewed this situation that way. After all, one of his beliefs was that, although the outcome was important, achieving it through illegitimate means would make it undeserving of an equal evaluation as the outcome achieved via the correct way.

Unfortunately, he had come too far to worry about the legitimacy or righteousness of his methods now.

“How are the Knights reacting?”

Besley rubbed his chin. “Most of them aren’t doing anything notable.”

“Most of them?” The Master quietly asked, his brow subtly arching up.

“It's not what you think, sir,” said Besley while shaking his head. “They wish to quit their role as the representative Knight, sir. They have expressed their desire to find successors and retire.”

In the past, the Round Table didn't have a say in whether a Knight could retire or not. After all, this organization was a coalition of various nations.

The representative Knight was decided by their respective nation. The Round Table only exercised a little bit of authority over those Knights selected by their countries.

It was the same principle as the EU having no control over each European nation's elections to vote for new prime ministers.

However, the recent series of events incomparably strengthened the Round Table's authority. Which meant the Knights were now forced to get permission from the organization even on things like retirement!

“No, it's impossible right now,” said the Master flatly. Of course he wanted to exploit this situation to his advantage.

Besley frowned slightly. “But, sir...”

“As I've said before, now isn't the right time. The Round Table still has not stabilized yet. Tell the Knights to remain in their posts until this organization has finished stabilizing.”

“However, when will that be, sir?”

“That, nobody knows.”

Besley stared at the Master in silence before groaning deeply. “Master...”

The Master didn’t verbally respond, other than to raise his brows a little.

“Is there a need to go this far, sir?”

“You already control most of the Round Table, sir. Since that’s the case, why go this far to intimidate and pressure the Knights?”

The Master leaned back in his chair. “Sir Besley?”

“Let’s not delude ourselves, shall we? Does it look like the Knights have truly submitted to the will of the Round Table?”

“...?” Besley failed to understand what the Master was saying and tilted his head. “Are you saying they have not?”

“They might, but they might not be.”

“...Forgive me, but I do not understand what you’re trying to get at, sir.”

“Look, Besley. The Knights have not submitted to the Round Table or to me. No, it’s the fear of the Korean Martial Assembly’s Assembly Master that keeps them in line.”

“Yes, that is true, but...”

What was the problem with that?

What did the means matter as long as the Master got to exercise absolute authority over the Knights? The Master shouldn't care whether it was done through sweet words or a deadly dagger thrust under their chins as long as he got what he wanted in the end.

“Ruling through fear has its limits, Sir Besley. The situation would have been different had the Assembly Master chosen to live here forever, but that’s not our case, now is it?”

The Master pensively explained himself. “You should not build your empire on the foundation of fear or goodwill, Besley. Think about how a military is managed.”

“Mm...!” Besley furrowed his brow slightly.

“The fact that people are questioning and second-guessing the orders coming from above signifies that the Round Table's rule over its members is failing, Sir Besley. However, soldiers do not question their orders. They don't second-guess whether the order they received is just or not. No, they unquestioningly obey.”

“Does that mean you didn’t permit the Knights’ retirement as a part of your drive to strengthen the Round Table’s control?”

“Do you remember Lee Hyeon-Su, Sir Besley?”

“Yes. He’s not... someone you can easily forget, after all.”

The Master slowly nodded. “Indeed, indeed. That man said something to me.”

“May I ask what that was?”

“He said that power can be measured by how much unreasonableness you can get away with. Brazenly accomplish something that’s obviously outrageous and illogical, and you’ll finally get to taste how powerful you’ve become.”

Besley stared dumbfoundedly at the Master. However, he... didn't raise any objections in the end. Even though what Lee Hyeon-Su said sounded insane, he wasn't wrong, now was he?

Most rulers marked as tyrants by history had this eccentric streak of boasting about all the outrageous things they had done to other people, after all!

The Master continued to explain. “Besides, I'm not asking for something unreasonable, anyway. Now isn't the right time to switch up the line-up of the Knights. That is all.”

“Is it because of the Assembly Master?”

Kang Jin-Ho utterly crushed the Round Table’s representative Knights. In other words, his strength and cruelty had... completely traumatized the folks currently occupying the Knight positions!

No matter how well the current Knights conveyed the terrifying danger Kang Jin-Ho posed, the successors would not have the same level of fear since they had not personally experienced the horrors.

To transform the Round Table into something the Master wanted to see, Knights under Kang Jin-Ho's control must remain in their representative roles.

Besley grimly nodded. “For now, I’ll do as you say, sir. We’ll reject their requests.”

“My apologies for making you handle all these unsavory matters, Sir Besley.”

“If that's how you genuinely feel, I urge you to let the countries select their replacement Knights as soon as possible. Britain finding its representative Knight will appreciably decrease my workload, after all.”

“Unfortunately, that’s not as easy as it sounds,” the Master replied while smiling bitterly.

Britain had not looked for Wiggins' potential replacement ahead of time because everyone thought his ascension to the Master's position would take a while. Who would have imagined that he'd suddenly give up the Knight's position and throw his lot in with another country!

To make matters even worse, the hastily selected replacement ‘vanished’ during Knight Leveaux’s rebellion. All these things conspired to make the selection of the new Knight difficult for Britain.

The Master sighed. “I’m also urging them to hurry up. Be a little more patient, Sir Besley.”

“It's not just Britain, sir. Several nations still don't have their representative Knights. Before our operations grind to a halt due to the lack of manpower, please hurry with the new Knight selection.”

“I will,” the Master smiled affably at Besley.

Although Besley might sound like a whiner and a nagger right now, his assistance also had greatly decreased the Master's workload. Not only that but he was keeping the Master honest as well.

‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely, after all!’

Obtaining absolute power didn’t necessarily mean you wanted to do whatever the hell you felt like.

The Master desired complete and absolute authority over the Round Table, but the organization rotting away from the core because of his actions was the last thing he wanted to see.

That was why someone like Besley, who unhesitantly offered his honest opinion, was an invaluable existence to the Master.

“And also... How is Sir Wellinger?”

“...I’m not sure how to explain the situation with him,” said Besley while furrowing his brow. “He’s being very cooperative. So much so that I can’t quite understand why. If I was in his shoes, I wouldn’t have been able to get over my hostility toward you and the Assembly Master.”

The Master raised an eyebrow. “Did you say he’s very cooperative?”

“Yes, sir. He might be scheming something behind the scenes. How about monitoring him to...”

“No, let him be, Sir Besley.”

The Master slowly shook his head. “He shouldn’t be doing anything untoward behind the scenes. I’m guessing he was one of the Knights expressing his desire to step down. Am I correct?”

“A man with no motivation to go on usually isn't interested in mutiny. Current Sir Wellinger is most likely not the same person as you remember.”

The Master smiled wryly after recalling something.

After his eyes were opened to the limitation of his reality from the meeting with Kang Jin-Ho, the Master got 'purged' by Knight Leveaux and thrown inside the prison. His mental state after experiencing this was fairly similar to what Wellinger must be like right now.

Of course, the Master did regain his drive, his motivation, after Kang Jin-Ho showed up to forcibly drag him out of the darkness. However, for Wellinger...

‘A man who got devoured by the beast called reality will find it impossible to dream again.’

The Master wasn’t naive or lackadaisical enough to solely rely on Knight Besley’s reports. Even at this very moment, the Master’s agents were carefully monitoring the situation within Europe. Thankfully, they had not detected any suspicious actions.

It remained to be seen whether this was a good thing or not. Still, this period of quietness helped with the Round Table regaining its stability.

Many of the Master's unreasonable demands and reforms were getting approved one by one. Meaning, it shouldn't be too long before the Round Table's system which had existed for a thousand-plus years was completely overhauled.

‘Even though nobody knows if it’ll be a good thing or not.’

From the Master’s perspective, his authority getting stronger was a good thing. On the other hand, his grip on the Round Table getting stronger signified Kang Jin-Ho’s control over this organization getting stronger, too.

The Master’s heart ached at that knowledge, but what could he do? He was basically Kang Jin-Ho’s puppet, after all.

‘Indeed, there isn’t much I can do.’

The Round Table’s reform required Kang Jin-Ho’s strength, his iron-fisted rule. Besides, this trade wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for the Round Table, anyway.

It wasn’t as if Kang Jin-Ho would live forever, after all!

As long as he was alive, the Round Table would not surpass him. The Master would also dare not challenge Kang Jin-Ho’s authority.

When nicely put, the Round Table was a junior organization to the Martial Assembly. Or, when not-so-nicely put, it was a colony!

That might all be true, but...!

‘A victory doesn’t happen overnight.’

It didn’t matter just how prosperous you were in the past. No, what truly mattered was how prosperous you were in the present day. If that notion was flipped around...

‘It means today’s humiliation is nothing when looking at the future.’

What everyone should focus on wasn’t the fact that the Round Table had to humble itself before the Martial Assembly. No, it was the fact that it finally gained an opportunity to reform itself.

If the Round Table could build a forward-thinking system of governance for itself and use the resources of this fertile land called Europe, the Martial Assembly calling that small peninsula its home wouldn’t even stand a chance anymore.

In fact, in that situation, the Round Table should be able to completely overwhelm the Assembly if Kang Jin-Ho was no longer in the picture for some reason.

‘For that purpose, I will gladly act as the Assembly’s puppet!’

Even if the future generations remembered him as the worst Master in history and spat on his grave, he’d gladly take on this duty. All this was for the glory of the Round Table!

Just as his thoughts reached that far...

The Master broke out of his thoughts after noticing the urgency of the knock on his door. “Come in.”

The door flung open, and an assistant rushed inside before smartly bowing his head. "Master! I bring you an urgent report!”

“We’ve received word from our intelligence department. It seems the Japanese have finally made their move. Please confirm for yourself, sir!”

“The Japanese, you say?”

The Master shot up to his feet. Out of all the requests Wiggins made, the most important one happened to be monitoring the movements of the Japanese martial society.

“Contact the Assembly right away. Inform them of the situation. Also, tell them additional information will be provided after we confirm their veracity.”

“No, no. Wait! Tell the Assembly to send someone over as I'll open the portal.”

“Sir! We’ll get to it right away!”

The Master weightily nodded, his expression stiff.

‘Yet another war, is it?’

The stench of blood hadn’t abated yet, but for another war to break out so soon...!

The Master’s face grew even stiffer and colder.