Chapter 2436

2436 - Meeting of the Weary

*Knock* *Knock*

Someone began knocking on the door of Emily's office.

Emily, in the same position, opened her mouth weakly: "Come—"

*Knock again*

Before she could finish her words, the door had opened and someone entered, then closed the door behind him, "Hello."

"....." Emily began looking toward the newcomer, then sighed and closed her eyes again, "What do you want, Kristan? I'm not in the mood to fight with you."

"What kind of idea have you gotten about me?" Kristan, the Prime Minister and Robin's nephew, entered casually with a pitcher releasing hot steam in his right hand and two cups in his left, "I came to take a break. No one among humans appreciates my exhaustion more than you."

Then he sat in front of her and *gulp* poured a hot brown liquid into the two cups and began drinking from both cups at once.

"......" This movement made the veins in Emily's neck twitch and she raised her head toward him again, "Did you come here just to drink alone?"

"....." Kristan moved one of the cups away from his mouth, his mustache full of that brown liquid, then looked at the cup with regret and afterward offered it to Emily, "Want a sip?"

"No thanks!" Emily waved, "Drink and go bully someone." Then she went back to resting her head on her hands.

As usual.. Kristan is a strange, nerve-wracking creature, but indispensable.

Kristan was installed in his position after Richard saw his use in suppressing all internal problems and revolutions. That was all that was required of him: keeping internal public opinion balanced and strangling any problem before it emerged, all for the sake of focusing solely on external wars.

And public opinion was never balanced.

The True Beginning Empire in the Young Belt expanded into Sectors 99, 100, 101, and 102 to the west, and into 98, 97, and 96 to the east… that is, seven sectors.

Even setting aside the other sectors, Middle Sector 99 alone contained more than 15,000 planets belonging to them.

15,000 cultures, religions, races, and histories, and most of them had not yet begun to reap the fruits of the Tomorrow Empire's plan with them…

And these people had received information, one way or another, about Qarun's words… that they were following an empire that wanted to destroy the universe.

Kristan's days were never calm… If Emily was worried in the office about securing money and resources, Kristan was jumping from planet to planet daily himself.

Some of the elites of those planets he negotiates with, deploying Shadow Swords among them to gather certain information and plant other information, finding those who leak that information and preventing more, calming the revolutions already underway… this is for the planets that have hope, the planets that have elites who can be spoken to and reasoned with.

As for the planets with no elite, the planets where there is no one to reason with, Kristan simply drives his monsters against the rebels, making an example of them for the rest.

Currently, the planets of the Young Belt are either fully subjugated — this is represented only by the planets of Nihari…

Or planets with internal problems but controllable, and these are somewhat old planets…

And other planets drowning in blood, maintaining their stability and the Empire's presence in them by force… and these are the majority.

"Have you heard the new news…" Kristan poured himself another glass, "…that attack on Middle Sector 90."

"…I heard." Emily was almost crying — of course she had heard. The news had broken her back!

"This could be the beginning of the end, you know…" Kristan took a sip, "…the loss of Sector 90 and our retreat from there… tsk tsk~ everything else will collapse like dominoes."

"…?" Emily stole a glance at him. "Did you come to drink your strange beverage or to add to my worries?"

"Rather, rest your mind." Kristan waved, "What we do here helps, we do what we are tasked with and what we are paid for, but there in Middle Sector 90 lies the real danger. Our fate is in the hands of the men there—either they hold firm, or we all die."

"…." Emily slowly moved her hand away from her head, "What are you trying to say?"

Kristan's actions may be strange, but he is undoubtedly a genius. It suffices to look at the brilliant array of Nihari's planets to know this truth.

"I'm saying your problems are easy." Kristan waved, "Your job is to help keep Sector 90 from falling for as long as possible. Everything else is trivial and can be set aside."

"……" Emily stared long at Kristan's hairy face, "I have always waited for the day you would return to your true self and stab The Empire, Kristan… you will not find a better opportunity than this to do it, as you know."

Then she narrowed her eyes slightly, "If we survive this ordeal, we will establish our footing in the universe forever. We will become invincible… then no plans for stabbing or coup will work, as you know."

Everyone in the upper elite of The Empire knows about Kristan's origins by now… In fact, the number of Shadow Swords monitoring Kristan is greater than those deployed in Nihari Galaxy, and their operational system is more complex!

"Ahh~" Kristan looked up, "Stop tempting me, girl, I have enough whispering devils." Then he stood up and took the pitcher under his arm, "Do what I told you and stop this womanly hesitation."

"Until when?" Emily called out, "If you pour all of the Empire's resources into this losing war, we won't last more than five years. After that, what?!"

"After that, my uncle will find a solution." Kristan put the cups in his pocket and walked, "If he doesn't find one, we'll find ourselves a small transport vehicle from the ones you produce daily and just escape, ahihi."

"……"