At first, the other Kingdoms were hesitant to acknowledge the new rising bank organization, Rothschild Bank. Several merchants and small-town governors had nothing but good words to say about the bank organization.
But that hesitation soon faded when the rumor that the Lioncrest Empire had taken out a loan of 1 million gold coins began to spread.
Everyone could obviously tell that it was for the Great War that was spreading like a plague. At first, they were just rumors, easily dismissed by a few but the next move of Lioncrest that followed was mass mobilization of armies to enforce the Central Lands' borders.
It ranged from 50,000 to 100,000 armed strong men, with polished armor and sharpened weapons. Rallying such a massive well-fed and well-equipped army made several strategic minds scratch the back of their heads.
Wouldn't mobilizing 100,000 men risk leaving Lioncrest Empire defenseless? Not to mention, it takes a high amount of gold to maintain such an army for something as trivial as 'reinforcing' the borders.
That was when it surfaced in their minds—the rumor of the Lioncrest Empire taking a loan of a million gold coins from the Rothschild Bank.
'Could such a start-up business loan a million gold coins after 3 months of establishment?' Everyone with a sane mind could immediately tell something was wrong with the Rothschilds' banking business.
But not everyone shares the same suspicion as several Kingdoms have now started to acknowledge the importance of such business especially with the upcoming Great War.
Rothschild Bank now started to see several loan requests from high-profile figures, ranging from Dukes to even the Royal Families.
Initially, these Kingdoms were cautious about borrowing large amounts of coins, starting with small loans around 50,000 gold coins but when the flames of war intensified as the Northern Vikings sent yet another massive army to breach the borders, everyone immediately abandoned all caution and started borrowing coins several times in succession, all to reinforce their own territories.
But not everyone abides by the rules of paying the bank back for what they borrowed. One particular Prince from a small Kingdom immediately banned and blacklisted the Bank as soon as they borrowed 500,000 gold coins, intending to hoard them for free.
It was also the same day that everyone learned not to mess with an upcoming Bank Dynasty.
The next morning, news of the Prince and his entire family's death spread throughout the continent like wildfire. It was also stated that the royal prince's treasure was robbed clean without leaving an ounce of gold or valuables behind.
One day, all it takes is one day for the retaliation to come. No one knows how they pulled it off nor who pulled it off but from then on, the customers learned not to mess with the Rothschild Bank and pay their loans on time along with the agreed interest.
While the bank was booming around the Central Lands, Henry was once again in the war room with the generals and advisors.
"We managed to repel the Vikings in the north, now they're stalking around northern borders for any holes they can exploit."
Henry nodded and raised a question, "What of those Western bastards?"
This time, General Darius grinned, "Truly, the work of our future Queen is flawless. Their attempts met nothing but failure. I bet their King is throwing a tantrum. From the reports, they lost eleven ships, and hundreds of men thanks to our catapults and foiling their siege attempts. They're on standby for now, probably trying to see where the Great Wall ends."
"If so, they would be met with disappointment. The Great Wall stretches beyond the Central Lands. If they try to find the end, they will see themselves in the North or South territories." One of his advisors sneered mockingly.
"Good. And the others?"
General Liam stepped forward, his appearance looked rugged—unkept hair, stubble had grown on his face, and yet his eyes were filled with unwavering determination.
These past few weeks, he's been doing nothing but leading grand armies to repel invasions from both the North and West Kingdoms.
From land to naval battles. Sooner or later, he might even start aerial battles with their enemies. And General Liam never once lost a single skirmish. All orders were executed beautifully.
"The South is still quiet. Our spies just told us that their Sultan doesn't seem to have any interest in joining this war."
"Sounds good. And the Xingdu Dynasty?"
"The Easterners are still in the middle of internal strife. The Han Army is proving to be a great enemy that is keeping much of their attention divided. But still, they managed to send a few thousand to probe our borders."
Henry rubbed his chin, he's familiar with the events happening in the east, 'Han Army? So the Eastern Lands should be the setting where Mulan happens. She'd be a great commander and soldier.'
"And what of the spies we sent for their…Fire Medicine?" He was referring to the gunpowder that is being used as fireworks by the Easterners.
"We already pinpointed some of their suppliers, and we finally got hold of the recipe along with a few samples our spies have stolen. They're on their way back here as we speak."
Henry mentally sighed in relief. It seems like everything is going according to plan.
"If there are no questions left, you're all dismissed."
As each of them slowly left the room one by one, Henry stayed behind to stare at the large map on the table.
The Central Lands were slowly being united under a single banner at last. Aside from a few large Kingdoms that refused to either join the Federation or submit as a Vassal Kingdom, the rest are now under the thumb of the Lioncrest Empire.
Also, being called an Empire is finally being accepted by the other Kingdoms who were initially furious, assuming that Lioncrest is declaring itself a higher entity than the others.
"Thankfully, the bank is getting loans from these big shots. Sooner or later, the situation will get worse for them and when they do, they'll start taking more loans, until they'll find it hard to pay."
Henry sat on the chair and played with a King's chess piece that he grabbed from his office earlier, "If they can't pay, they'll have to pay with favours, favours that I'll use to control them."
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, and then he sighed, "Goddammit, since when did I become a manipulative bastard? It's not like they're innocent or something. As a matter of fact, I'm doing this entire world a favour, keeping check on those in power."
———
While Henry was scheming in his war room, the ocean between the Western and Central Lands was churning. Balls of flame from catapults were being thrown towards the enormous wall of ice, colliding violently, yet producing no valid results.
Atop the walls, Arendellian soldiers, wearing thin clothing instead of thick, nocked their bows, dipped the tips of their arrows to a barrel of flame, before launching them towards the wooden ships.
They've been at a stalemate for the past few days, the ice wall stood as tall and thick as before, not even getting a chip from the constant barrage of attacks from the Umberrians.
Behind hundreds of warships, a bigger and sturdier warship stood out, inside were the captains and generals who were assigned to besiege the ice wall that rose out of nowhere.
"Still nothing? Dammit! Whoever constructed that wall, I swear I'll strangle the life out of them!" The General smashed his fist on the table, letting the objects on the surface fly out and clatter on the ground.
While the men around him struggled to pick up each piece, a commander pointed at the map below, "Our scouts have tried to sneak past the small gap between but it turned out to be the spot with the tightest security throughout the wall. We tried sneaking in disguised merchants but they managed to thwart every attempt."
"We also tried to get close to set up siege ladders, but we can't even get close before getting smashed with a snow boulder by one of those snow golems."
"This can only be the work of a wizard! What happened to our remaining spies in the Central Lands? Any luck?"
Facing the General's question, almost everyone looked away in shame while one was left to reply, "…We've lost contact with our spies, General. The last message we got from them was that they were being uprooted one by one with extreme precision. I think Lioncrest Kingdom, or Empire, has found a means to discern our spies."
Facing several pieces of bad news in consecutive succession almost made the General faint on the spot. They haven't even set foot inside the Central Lands and they've already lost nearly half of their army, including their scouts and spies.
Their Kingdom just burned through several hundred thousand gold coins for nothing.
"The King is going to kill me." The General whispered to himself. If only the Umber Kingdom possessed a capable wizard, then perhaps all of this wouldn't happen.
A few months ago, Master Cilius, the Court Wizard of the Umber Kingdom was found dead in his study, the entire room looked like a typhoon had come by. A few of his prized magic artifacts and totems were missing from the scene, indicating that the Master wasn't just killed for no reason.
Despite investigating and finding no evidence, they could only point the blame towards Lioncrest. Perhaps the King of the Umber Kingdom found it more convenient to do so.
Back on the icy Great Wall of Lioncrest, Elsa stood inside one of the tower-like structures embedded along the ice wall, staring outside the window with a soft expression on her face.
She was already declared Queen of Arendelle, although no celebration was held due to the Great War. So they skipped the ceremony and went straight to naming her as the new Queen.
Even though she missed out on celebrating such an important event throughout her life, she didn't mind. She had already received the perfect gift from Henry after getting the crown.
Thanks to his Teleportation circles, she can now venture between Arendelle and Lioncrest back and forth, all within the blink of an eye.
The use behind the teleportation circles didn't just serve as fast transportation from her Kingdom to Henry's bedroom. It was also used to transport armies to deploy or deliver supplies to bring support to all of their borders.
Now that the Central Lands were slowly being united under the single banner of Lioncrest, Elsa recalled the next step of Henry's grand plan.
"It's almost time to take the offensive. I'm not sure if I'm ready to use my powers to hurt other people…" She nervously paced around the room. She had read all about wars and battles from history books.
And in those books, one word dominates every sentence and paragraph, Death!
Death here, death there, killing people is inevitable in times of war. As a ruler, she should know this best.
"It's normal to get your hands bloodied, Elsa. Every ruler, even your father, has to kill someone to protect the interests of their kingdom. Sooner or later, you'll face the same dilemma. During that time, I hope you'll make the decision that will serve you the best outcome."
Those were his words to her when she approached him for advice.
She subconsciously tapped her forehead, then her chest, and finally her left and right shoulders respectively before clasping her hands together in a praying position.
"Dear Father from above, please forgive me for the sins I'm about to commit and guide me through what's about to come. Amen."