Chapter 868: Forever the Crown Prince

Almost every day, hundreds of soldiers come to Warmflow City with money to spend, sometimes as many as a thousand.

To keep an eye on them, group headquarters has set up a special Military Police Unit in the city.

The concern isn't that anyone will bully the group's soldiers. Everyone here knows how formidable the Mobile Strike Group is.

No one can afford to provoke a force like that. The local nobles are especially careful to behave themselves.

The Military Police Unit is there to watch the soldiers on leave and keep them out of trouble.

Visiting prostitutes and gambling are strictly forbidden.

Their home countries may have no laws against it, but the group has rules of its own.

Anyone who breaks them or starts a fight faces severe punishment.

Being stripped, strung up, and whipped counts as getting off lightly.

Worse, an offender loses his eligibility for enhancement nomination for two years, no matter how much merit he earns.

The city's people are very welcoming to the group's soldiers.

Disciplined men with money to spend make welcome customers.

Still, strict rules can only do so much with young, hot-blooded men.

Quite a few find a way around them. Unmarried soldiers, in particular, find local women to marry.

Many of the brides are commoners' daughters from outside the city, which leaves the men throughout the region disgruntled.

Pabos strolls through Warmflow City, marveling at how prosperous it has become.

"By the time the war ends, I expect this place will overtake Ironwood Fort as the center of the whole region."

Harry smiles. "Your father wrote a book about the importance of keeping wealth in circulation."

"The nobles hold too much of the wealth, and ordinary people have few ways to earn any of it from them."

"Even the people's own wealth keeps flowing into the nobles' hands."

"Wealth then circulates so slowly within a region that economic development almost comes to a halt."

"Your father believes the state should hold the largest share of the wealth."

"It can put that wealth into the people's hands through infrastructure and public-welfare projects."

"The improved conditions let the people keep that wealth circulating until it eventually returns to the state."

"As conditions improve, people live better and can make full use of their labor."

"By the end of the cycle, the people are better off, the country is more developed, and their labor has made it stronger."

"Your father sums it up precisely at the end: money is just a common means of exchange, a way to measure the value of labor."

"Gold coins don't make a country stronger or improve people's lives by themselves. They are only a medium of exchange backed by trust."

"The noble system gets in the way of that healthy cycle. Sometimes it stops it altogether."

"That hurts the people and makes the country harder to run."

Pabos laughs. "You understand it, sir, but most people can't make any sense of it!"

"All they see is my father gathering power into his own hands. They think he wants to be a dictator."

Harry shrugs. "Great people are great because they do what others cannot, think of problems others miss, and see a future others cannot imagine."

"Those people may not like it, but they will never openly oppose your father."

"They know they owe everything they have to his achievements."

"They can grumble, but they won't go any further."

"Especially with you, his heir, standing on his side."

"They have no illusions left. All they can do is try little schemes to improve their position."

"Sir, if I were in power," Pabos asks, "how would I keep my subordinates' ambitions in check and stay in control?"

Harry grins. "You won't get the chance! Not for a long time, anyway."

"Your father isn't going to die. He can live so long that you'll remain an extension of his will."

"You would only take power if something happened to him, or if greater pressure forced him to hand it over."

"In that case, my advice would be to enjoy yourself and do whatever you like."

"Anything capable of bringing your father down would be far beyond your ability to fight."

Pabos purses his lips. "Sir, do you really think I'll never surpass him?"

Harry sighs. "In all this continent's history, there has only been one Henwell."

"You are an excellent heir."

"You would be one of the best even on the Abundant Continent, never mind the Abandoned Continent."

"Heirs as capable as you are rare, but there have been others."

"Your father is different!"

"Consider both continents and all their history."

"Only your father started as an ordinary man with no backing and fought his way this far, out of one desperate situation after another."

"And in the foreseeable future, he will build a country strong enough to stand alongside the Groias Empire."

"There has never been anyone like him. It will be a long time before there is another!"

Pabos jokes, "Then Father was right. I'll be a prince for a hundred years!"

"Would that be so bad?" Harry asks. "To campaign under a ruler like him, to grow up with a father like him... Count yourself lucky."

Their conversation turns to the coming counteroffensive.

"Sir, do you think the plan will succeed?"

"That depends on how you define success," Harry says calmly.

"Whatever happens, the coalition will tell the world it was a complete success."

"It has poured resources into this plan. The empire and the church, especially."

"Two expeditionary legions and two Western Federation legions are being transferred from Riverwest City and Holy Lake City."

"There are also three Glory Rank professionals, and more than ten at the Iron Rank."

"They mean to make certain of a great victory. Nothing else is acceptable."

"Do you know why they haven't invited your father to take part?"

"Because he is too strong," Pabos says helplessly.

"A Lord Iron Guards combat battalion and three Peace Haven warbands are already taking part in the counteroffensive."

"If Father goes, he'll get most of the credit, whatever the outcome and however much he actually contributes!"

Harry nods. "Exactly. Operation Dried Fish was a great success. It took place in Lumir, of course."

"Most of the participating forces were Lumir's own, with help from the other nations."

"But Peace Haven helped plan it, propose it, and carry it out. Half the legions involved even came from Peace Haven."

"The whole continent knows Peace Haven was the driving force behind that success."

"The other alliance members need a chance to achieve something. Otherwise, Peace Haven really will become the alliance's leader."

"So whatever happens, they cannot let your father take part in this counteroffensive."

"He hasn't lost a battle since he first rose to prominence!"

"If he is there, even if he spends the whole campaign watching and drinking tea, everyone on the continent will still think he was in command."

"His prestige is already too high. They can't let it rise any further!"