Chapter 454: Extort
"You want to enter our treasure vaults?"
Arthur's lip twitched as he looked toward Leonel.
What kind of King would allow someone not even of their Kingdom to randomly enter their vaults and choose as they please? Even if one was a loyal citizen, it might only be possible to enter once every several years to pick out one or two things… Yet, not only was Leonel asking for free reign to do as he pleased, he wasn't even a person of Camelot.
Despite this, Arthur felt like he couldn't say no.
Maybe aside from him and a few founding members of Camelot, Leonel had done more for the Kingdom than anyone else. And, beyond that, Leonel was the reason he felt happier now than he had in a very long time. He had even managed to have dinner with his daughter just last night.
Of course, Arthur didn't say these things aloud. After all, he had just lost a fifth of his Kingdom and was in line to lose much more of it before all of this was over. Plus, many of his citizens were in danger.
But, after making his decision, he had already been ready to lose everything. So, how much of a need was there for him to care about such a loss?
"Yes." Leonel smiled and nodded as though it wasn't a big deal.
"Are you trying to extort me, kid?"
"Exactly."
"Pft."
King Arthur's head snapped in a particular direction. But, by the time he locked eyes on his son, Lionus was already looking off into the distance as though nothing had happened.
"Nice weather we're having, huh?" Lionus rubbed his nose, scanning the room.
Unfortunately for his act, the only window in the throne room was exceptionally high up and was angle such that it only shone a small light on the throne itself. So, how could he possibly know with any sort of detail the kind of weather they were having?
King Arthur shook his head. Lionus had always been so obedient. He couldn't help but feel that Leonel was having a bad influence on his son.
At this point, Leonel's smile faded somewhat and he became more serious.
"Arthur, I've told Em this already but you should be aware as well. If you don't want to lose too much of your power after submitting to The Empire, what's important is to show your worth. Repelling this invasion is a great opportunity for you.
"Since Terrain dares to do this, they're confident. I'm certain that they've scouted out Earth and understand more about our world than even maybe we do. The Empire will definitely be in trouble and Terrain definitely won't stop until they claim the world for themselves. The greatest variable in this war is you all, Camelot and the Demon Empire."
"Terrain?" King Arthur raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know a lot about these enemies?"
"Not a lot, just more than most."
"And you believe that by opening up the vaults to you our likelihood of winning will be greater?"
"Exponentially so."
"And how am I supposed to make certain that you aren't embezzling anything?"
Leonel blinked and smiled once more. "You don't. Just take it as my worker's fee."
"… Shameless."
**
"These are your vaults?" Leonel raised his brows in surprised.
Lionus smiled. "Yes, this should be the greatest treasure store on Camelot. The only rival to us might be big sister's Empire."
The area was much larger than anything he expected.
The vaults were located on the basement floor of the castle. And, despite the size of the castle itself, it took up several floors, a whole three levels to be exact. The amount of space totaled up to more than a square kilometer, it was absolutely inconceivable that there would actually be enough treasure to fill it all up with.
The first floor was filled with stacks of gold coins. Leonel felt as though he had walked into a dragon's den. He was certain that just the existence of this place was a huge hazard. If one of these gold piles slipped, it could easily bury someone alive.
Still, Leonel wasn't very interested in these piles of gold. On Earth, gold had lost its value a long time ago. Other than being a good conductor, it wasn't very useful otherwise. It was too soft of a metal and not very good for weapons or armors.
It was unfortunate for Camelot, but it seemed that in any places other than their Kingdom, this first floor of 'treasures' was quite useless.
However… there were two more floors below this one.
"This…"
Leonel didn't know what to say for a long time. The store of Ores seemed endless. They piled up into what seemed like perpetuity.
Though most were Pseudo Fourth Dimensional Ores, their value was so much greater than the gold on the first level that they couldn't even be properly compared. It felt like blasphemy to do so.
And here Leonel thought he was somewhat of a tycoon after mining the hive, only to find out that he was still very much a poor man if he was comparing himself to a true Kingdom.
But this made sense. Camelot had 'existed' as a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional world for a very long time. Over the years, it only made sense that they would gather so many precious Ores.
Even if there was nothing else, Leonel felt that he could create so much with just what was before him.
He saw several mountainous piles of Urbe Ore, countless types of Vein and Elemental Ores, he even saw some true Fourth Dimensional Ores hidden within that might have slipped through the cracks.
Yet… there was still one more floor.
As shocked as Leonel was on the second, the third floored him. He finally bowed down. He was indeed a poor man, he apologized for ever believing that he was wealthy.
No matter where he looked, there were endless mountainous piles of Fourth Dimensional Ores. If the gold piles could have buried a normal human, these could bury even Lancelot and King Arthur.
Seeing such a sight, Leonel thought that King Arthur was too stingy for even hesitating to say yes to him. Even if he wanted to take and use it all, would he even be able to?
But, at the same time, Leonel was shocked.
Just how did a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional world like this produce so many Fourth Dimensional metals? There even seemed to be more of them than there was on the second level? How did that even make any sense?
It was safe to say that any guilt Leonel would have felt taking advantage of Camelot like this flew out the window.