Having made his presence felt along the way, Hudson was now in his element. The nobles present were no ordinary people, and each of them was a pleasure to talk to.

  There was none of the condescension, provocation, or disdain that often fueled dramatic conflicts. Such clichéd tropes were nowhere to be seen.

  As the youngest person in the room, Hudson was quite popur. If the occasion had been different, he might have been bombarded with offers to marry someone’s daughter.

  The only regret was that the banquet was attended solely by men. The expected noblewomen and young dies were conspicuously absent.

  This was unavoidable. Who would bring their family along when traveling? Since the outsiders hadn’t brought their families, the local nobles naturally didn’t bring their female companions either.

  Everyone was here to build connections and band together for mutual support. In the face of survival pressures, all romantic notions and love affairs had to take a backseat.

  As he ate the questionable food, Hudson’s disdain for Chelse’s inventions grew. The magic dining table might be impressive for show, but the taste was truly disappointing.

  This wasn’t surprising. It was like the automatic cooking machines from his previous life. Even with all the ingredients and proportions scientifically measured, the resulting dishes were barely edible and utterly devoid of soul.

  Seeing Chelse drinking alone, Hudson seized the opportunity. He picked up a gss of wine and walked over, smiling as he said, “Uncle Chelse, are you pnning to switch careers and become a bard?”

  Chelse, already in a bad mood, grew even more sullen at these words. His gaze toward Hudson lost its previous friendliness.

  “Bards” might seem gmorous, but in reality, they weren’t a respected profession. In the eyes of nobles, they were just idle folks with too much time on their hands.

  While it was fine to listen to their stories occasionally, any noble offspring who became bards would be mocked for decades.

  Realizing he had gone too far with the joke, Hudson remained calm and continued, “Uncle Chelse, there’s a money-making opportunity. Are you interested?”

  Seeing that Hudson wasn’t joking, Chelse’s anger subsided.

  Recently, a magic experiment had gone wrong, pushing his territory’s finances to the brink of colpse. If he didn’t find a solution soon, the thousands of people under his rule would go hungry.

  In his desperation to raise funds, Chelse’s beard had nearly turned white. To make matters worse, Count Piers’ conscription order had made it impossible for him to borrow money.

  War was expensive, and this obligatory conscription required nobles to bring their own supplies, with all expenses borne by the lords themselves.

  Given the scale of the mobilization, everyone would have to tighten their belts. Even those with resources to spare would need to save for emergencies.

  Borrowing money was out of the question, and Chelse’s stress was palpable.

  If his territory went bankrupt, his time as a lord would be over. Nobles enjoyed privileges, but they also had responsibilities.

  No matter how effective the indoctrination of the commoners was, they still needed to be fed—at least to the minimum survival level. Otherwise, hunger would drive them to rebellion.

  Chelse had a family to support, and losing his estate was unthinkable. Desperate, he had organized tonight’s banquet.

  From the looks of it, this was already a huge loss. He hadn’t sold anything and had even lost money on hosting the banquet.

  Even a small loss was significant for Chelse, who was on the verge of bankruptcy.

  Hearing about a money-making opportunity, Chelse didn’t hesitate. He immediately asked, “Hudson, my dear nephew, what’s this opportunity you speak of?”

  Taking a sip of wine, Hudson replied calmly, “War profits, of course!

  This rebellion is on a rge scale, and many nobles and wealthy merchants have had their fortunes fall into the hands of the rebels. Those guys are now rolling in wealth.

  If we crush them, we’ll all stand to gain. If we’re lucky and catch a few big fish, it’ll be a huge win.”

  Hearing this, Chelse’s enthusiasm waned. He said irritably, “Hudson, you’re still too young.

  Everyone knows about war profits. But how many people actually get rich from war?

  Even if there’s a lot of loot, it’s the big shots who get the lion’s share. We’ll be lucky to get the scraps, which won’t even cover the cost of sending troops. How can we make a profit?”

  This was the truth. Throughout history, few had grown rich from war. It wasn’t that war cked wealth—it was just that the wealth was always monopolized by the powerful.

  Minor nobles might get some leftovers if the higher-ups were generous, but if the leaders were greedy, they wouldn’t even get the scraps.

  “Uncle Chelse, don’t worry!

  This world ultimately respects strength. Individually, we have no say on the battlefield, but if we unite, it’s a different story.

  There are over thirty nobles here today. If we combine our forces, we’ll have several thousand troops.

  If you, Uncle Chelse, take the lead and unite everyone, we’ll have a pce on the battlefield.

  If we’re lucky, we might even be assigned our own sector. Then, how we divide the spoils will be up to us.”

  Hudson worked hard to persuade him.

  Originally, he hadn’t pnned to stir things up, but when opportunity knocked, only a fool would ignore it.

  Though Chelse’s title wasn’t high and he was poor, his strength and influence among the nobles were considerable.

  If he took the lead in forming an alliance, few of the nobles present would refuse. After all, no one wanted to be cannon fodder on the battlefield.

  With an alliance, they could at least send representatives to military meetings and avoid being left in the dark.

  As for whether the alliance would upset the higher-ups, that wasn’t Hudson’s concern.

  If the sky fell, the tall would bear the brunt. He wasn’t going to be the leader, and as a minor figure, who would bother paying attention to him?

  “Would everyone really join?”

  Chelse asked uncertainly.

  Fighting was one thing, and research was manageable, but politics? That was truly beyond him.

  The fact that after all these years, he hadn’t expanded his family’s fortunes but instead brought them to the brink of bankruptcy spoke volumes.

  “Why would anyone refuse something beneficial?”

  Hudson smiled and tossed the question back. His earlier conversations hadn’t been in vain. He had a good grasp of the nobles’ thoughts.

  If he hadn’t been confident, Hudson wouldn’t have approached Chelse. After all, offending a great knight was no small matter.

  After a moment of hesitation, Chelse suddenly exhaled, as if making a major decision.

  “Alright, I’ll do it!”