I Became a Level -99 Vicious Lord

The following afternoon.

Having trained until sunrise, Otto slept in.

In his heart, he wanted to get up earlier and work on his fitness, but his body wouldn’t listen to him, especially when he was already practicing on a subject that was already overwhelming.

He’d even taken another vial of the potion just before he hit the sack, and now he was completely out cold.

“Ugh.”

Otto stumbled out of bed, half-dazed.

“Your Highness, here you go.”

A servant brought him a basin filled with warm water.

“I’m fine. You don’t need to bring me warm water in the future.”

“Yes?”

“I can’t have my first day’s victories like that.”

“Um, I don’t know what you mean.”

“Anyway, I’ll take care of it.”

With that, Otto personally went to the bathroom, opened the faucet, and filled the sink with water.

Then he hummed a tune and washed his face with the water he’d gotten.

“Do your own thing♬ Do your own thing♪ Do your own thing♪ Do your own thing… Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

Otto curiously dipped his face into the sink, then screamed in pain.

It was winter.

As soon as he woke up, he plunged his face into the cold water, and was surprised to find it so cold.

“…….”

The servant shook his head in disbelief at Otto’s pathetic state.

He hadn’t prepared warm water for nothing.

“Ugh! Ugh! Ufufufufufu! “Uuuuuuu!”

Despite the assault of the cold water, Otto managed to finish washing his face, shivering with pride.

“Phew, I feel refreshed!”

He smiled as he finished, feeling refreshed.

“Huh? Wait!”

“Eh?”

“Stop!”

Otto snapped at the servants who were preparing to make the bed.

“From now on, I will make the bed myself.”

“Your Highness….”

“That’s fine, I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

*Sweeep!* *Plop!* *Plop!*

He smoothed out the quilt and fluffed the pillows.

‘This is nice.’

There was a sense of satisfaction.

It’s really no big deal….

‘Waking up early in the morning, straightening the blankets and making the bed is a triumphant start to the day. So even if it takes a while, do it anyway.’

He could see why Elise would say that.

‘Since I woke up late, I’ll go to bed early today.’

With that thought in mind, Otto smiled wryly and began his late start of the day.

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“Huh? She left? Already?”

Otto was surprised to hear that Elise had left without saying goodbye.

“She said she couldn’t be gone long because of the urgency of the battle beyond the Wall.”

“I see.”

Otto nodded, knowing all too well what was going on beyond the Wall.

The Great Wall.

The 100-meter-high, 1,200-kilometer-long wall that Kairos began building when he claimed a third of the continent.

The Wall was both Kairos’ greatest achievement and his greatest mistake.

At the time, it was seen as an obvious mistake, as the forced construction of the wall weakened the country’s power and crippled its economy.

Today, however, its social and security functions were immense, as a giant shield protecting the continent from the fierce and rugged barbarian tribes of the north and the Northern Empire.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Kairos’s excessive construction was a blessing in disguise for the entire continent.

‘Beyond the Wall, things are tense. There’s a battle every day. Espionage is fierce, and the Northern Empire is eager to push south.’

As such, Elise is considered the guardian of the continent, operating on the front lines, fighting battles every day.

That’s why it was impossible for her to be away for long.

“Oh, and…”

Camille handed Otto something.

“The lady asked me to give this to you.”

“It’s a mirror, isn’t it?”

Elise’s gift to Otto was a crude, small, circular hand mirror.

The metal was worn and frayed around the edges, and he couldn’t guess how long it had been in use.

It was also scratched, slightly dented, and somewhat chipped.

Maybe it was because Elise was rolling around on the harsh battlefields 365 days a year, but it was even more odd to see the mirror still intact….

“What is it? It’s not a special item, it’s just an ordinary hand mirror. I think Elise used to use it.”

“It’s not just an ordinary item.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve seen female knights use it when I was at the academy. It’s enchanted with reinforcement magic, so it won’t even leave a small scratch if you hit it.”

“You mean it’s a military mirror, for female soldiers or knights?”

“That’s right.”

“But a mirror is still a mirror. It doesn’t do anything special.”

“That’s true, too.”

“Hmm.”

Otto had no idea why Elise had given him her old military hand mirror as a gift.

“It is special, though.”

“What?”

“It belonged to Lady Elise, so it’s special.”

With that thought, Otto tucked the hand mirror into his back pocket.

There’s no way Elise would have left behind such a meaningless gift.

It must have meant something to her, so he decided to keep it.

‘Maybe I should bring a gift next time. I’ve been taking so much, and I’m also being trained.’

Otto thought long and hard about what he could give to repay his teacher.

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That evening.

“Do you mean to say that you intend to advance to the continent next spring?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Otto sat down with Archduke Wazir to discuss future state affairs.

To anyone else, Wazir would be the man in charge of administration.

Though it might not be obvious from the outside, he was actually one of the key players at the heart of the Lota Kingdom.

Even for the most secretive Otto, important matters deserved to be discussed with Wazir.

“Going to the continent… how do you propose to do that, a blind invasion?”

Archduke Wazir’s expression turned slightly grim.

If the peripheral Lota Kingdom wanted to advance to the continent, it would have to invade some country.

It was a war without a cause, an ambition for conquest.

“Ah.”

Otto shrugged, as if he’d seen it coming.

“What good does it do to invade a country that’s living in peace and doing well, anyway? Even if we win that kind of war, it’s pointless.”

“Hmm.”

“And if we did, we’d be internationally criticized, we’d be singled out by other powers, we’d be seen as part of an axis of evil, it’d be diplomatic suicide.”

“If you know that, that means you have a plan….”

“If you look at the map, there’s probably three or four countries we could go after with good reason.”

Otto gestured to the map, pointing to the countries closest to the Kingdom of Lota.

“For example… a country where the king is a tyrant and the people are suffering. Or a famine because they had a bad harvest last year, or a huge natural disaster that suddenly devastated the country.”

“Oh.”

Archduke Wazir smiled, his face relaxing slightly.

“I take it you have an idea?”

“You know what I mean, and don’t make a fool of yourself.”

Otto frowned.

“I’m not some kind of warmonger. Don’t you realize that unprovoked invasions do more harm than good, and besides, we haven’t even started a world war yet.”

“Hahaha!”

“Anyway, that’s why we’ll focus on stockpiling war supplies, provisions, and food for the time being.”

Otto held out the papers to Archduke Wazir.

“Your Majesty, the Ego of the Merchant Troupe Ego requests to see you.”

“Eh? Please tell him to wait a moment.”

Otto bowed curtly to Archduke Wazir and immediately went to see Ego.

As soon as Ego saw Otto, he spoke with a sullen expression.

“Your Highness, the situation is not favorable.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Overhauser merchants are running around looking to buy antiques.”

“Oh.”

The reason was obvious.

It was a ploy to track down the antiques in the tomb that had been released on the market and find out who was involved.

‘Well, yeah. He’s going to be pissed, and he’s going to track down whoever’s behind it to get revenge.’

Otto saw right through the thoughts of Argonne, and turned to Ego.

“Is there any way around that?”

“If we’re going to turn to maritime trade, it’s safest to make a deal with the Caliphate.”

“Hmm. The Caliphate.”

The Caliphate was a country in the southern part of the continent, which was actually a separate country from the continent.

Much of the country was desert or mountainous under the scorching sun, so it was more like the Middle East in reality.

Its geography and distance from the center of the continent meant that it had its own culture and ideas.

“The Caliphate is a pretty good trade partner.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And maritime trade is hard to track, so whether we’re selling antiques or buying war supplies and food, it’ll be hard to track us off by the Oberhauser Merchants, right?”

“As expected, you are wise.”

Ego replied excitedly.

Ego, the goblin merchant, was a tycoon whose activities spanned the entire continent.

Otto is a man who understands Ego’s every word and knows exactly what he is referring to.

From Ego’s perspective, there are few people as pleasant to talk to as Otto.

“The problem is that it’s difficult to trade with the Caliphate from here, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Let’s see….”

Otto looked at the map.

“The shortest distance between our kingdom and the western sea is 150 kilometers. The problem is that the terrain is mountainous and there are many monsters, making it difficult to develop trade routes.”

“That’s right.”

“Even if we were to develop a trade route, the distance is so great that we’d need an intermediate base, and there’s a good chance we’d be robbed by pirates along the way.”

“Well, we can’t afford to dispose of our goods right now.”

“We still have to do it.”

“What?”

Ego narrowed those big eyes.

“Are you sure you want to go into sea trade?”

“Because eventually, the whole continental logistics will be fucked up anyway.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Something like that.”

Otto didn’t bother to explain the coming world war.

It would only prolong the conversation and tire them both out, and at this point, there was room for it to be dismissed as a delusion.

“Anyway, there’s a lot of room for sea trade once we’ve opened it up, so let’s develop the seas south of the continent as our new trade route.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Sure. We need to get something done before spring.”

Otto decided to hurry up with the sea route while he could.

With the way things are starting to diverge between his knowledge of history and reality, he doesn’t know when, where, or how things will change.

That’s why he decided to make a bold move to prepare for the future.

“Mr. Ego, we need to find a boat. We don’t have any boat builders. We don’t have a shipyard, so we’ll have to buy one.”

“Yes, Your Majesty, I shall do so.”

And so Otto’s next move was decided.

Develop trade routes, start a shipping business, build a navy.

And trade with the Caliphate.

It was Otto’s last act of state before heading to the continent.