Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Written on the screen was a few words.

[You have been appointed the Custodian of the Shadowed Tower. Floor Zero now covers the whole town. You are now able to control the entire area]…

"Custodian of the Shadowed Tower" Cynthia muttered reading the notification that popped up in front of her as soon as the phenomenon outside occurred.

"Congratulations, Your Highness. Now you are a part of the dungeon and lord Simon's entourage"

Before she could think further, Annette from the sides congratulated her. At that instant, she understood that it was the doing of 'that' guy.

"Did Si… Lord Simon did this?"…

"That is correct. Now that the dungeon has increased in rank, the tower town has now become a part of the tower or otherwise known as Floor Zero. Master appointed you as the Custodian of this floor, a rank that is only one tier lower than us Administrators"

"With this authority, you can control everything and anything on this floor, set up any rules, and installations from the [Shop], change the topography or even teleport the whole town inside the tower. In short, you have become the person in charge of the tower. As long as you are inside the field zero, you are able to access the [Main Menu]"

Annette explained. As one of the Administrators of the dungeon, she also got the notification of Cynthia's appointment as the Custodian. She had long figured out that the latter would play a larger role in her master's plan than just being a figurehead who governed the tower town on their behalf.

Now with her appointed as the Custodian, she was clear.

'Could it be that the objective of her master isn't just to bring the tower town under his influence, but the entire…' Annette couldn't help but give Cynthia another look over.

A well known figure, a princess and a royal with multiple connections and influence over the masses. Thanks to the recent event, she even became the Mayor of the town and now commands an army of adventurers, merchants and other people of various professions who would do anything on her behalf for freeing them.

With such a huge force at her disposal, it was clear what Cynthia's objective was. Reclaiming her kingdom back which has been forcefully occupied by the Kingdom of Blackthorn.

The princess who had once lost everything and had to take refuge under their master, was now the leader of all these strong men and women. Even though she was right next to her and witnessed all of this happening, Annette still couldn't believe her eyes.

In just a little over a week, she gained a force that wasn't inferior to the army of any kingdom and is now preparing to take her kingdom back.

'Did Master foresee this development?' She couldn't help but wonder. If her master had planned all of this from the start, then didn't it mean that he was an expert strategist?

At this moment, Simon's image inside Annette's heart, became even more reverential.

Though all of it was her own misconception. It was true that Simon had a much bigger plan for Cynthia than just to become a figurehead for the tower town. For this purpose, he sent Annette and the others to support her.

In fact, he didn't think that his plan would go as smoothly as it did. Making her the leader of Tower Town that everybody recognised and letting her take control of the floor zero was the extent of his plan.

Gaining a force that followed her every will was something that even he hadn't predicted and was something that was the result of the consequences of Mars' intervention and Cynthia's own efforts.

In short, Simon hadn't foreseen any of this, it was all a big misconception on Annette's part.

The spectacle outside went on for one full day and after people realised that nothing unusual was happening and it was simply a sign of the dungeon ranking up, they went on with their activities.

The next day around noon, Cynthia gathered all the adventurer leaders and influential people of the tower town in the Serene Palace Merchant Guild building to discuss her next set of actions.

When she finally confessed what she was after and looked at the casual expression of the people around her, she couldn't help but ask.

"Aren't you guys surprised? Everything that I did, all my actions up until now was just to regain my kingdom back".

She expected the people to be surprised or dismayed even after hearing her objective. However, to her confusion, they showed none of those expressions and kept a straight face as if everything she was saying was all a common knowledge and nothing too unexpected.

"Haha, what are you even saying Your Highness? We already knew what you were after since the beginning. You are the sole princess of the kingdom of Ellesmere and one of the royal bloodline. Of course you would want to regain your kingdom; no, our kingdom back"

The first one to speak was Wyot who had become one of her most loyal subordinates after the recent events. Although he was not from the kingdom, he still called it as our, showing that he would absolutely support Cynthia no matter what decision she made.

"That's right princess, you are the princess of the kingdom. As one of its royal, it is only natural for you to fight the enemies of your kingdom. I don't like Blackthorn anyways, it is because of them that the tower town became the way it was"

Another supported. Following him, more and more people started showing their willingness to fight for her.

"Your Highness, although I'm not much use in a war, but my merchant crew will support you with all our strength. You can use our resources and networks as you wish"…

"You Highness, it is thanks to the heroes you sent that my wife and children are alive. I will fight for you. I run a weapon store chain in the Kingdom of Peria. Leave the supply of weapons and other materials to us".

Seeing all the people support her without asking any questions, Cynthia realised that she had underestimated her efforts and how much influence it had on the people of the tower town.

She had not only saved them, but she arrived at the time when they were at their lowest and needed her the most. She boosted their morals and showed them hope. Not only that, but the heroes that followed her made them believe that she could defeat any opponent.

The whole town had witnessed that epic battle where her heroes repelled the catastrophe back inside the dungeon. The figure of their valiant fight had already burned themself in their consciousness and cannot be changed easily.

Because of this misconception, none of the people here had any fear of going to a war against a nation.

People like them constituted the majority, the rest were of course, profit seekers and money grubbers. They were supporting her only for the sake of benefits. After all, where there was war, there was tons of money rolling in.

Not to mention if they supported her and she became the queen later on, they would be obtaining much more benefit for supporting her.

And just like that, the worst fear Cynthia had, disappeared just like that.

"Well even if it wasn't your objective we would have to go to war with Blackthorn sooner or later anyway. With the spread of the news of the dungeon in the tower town becoming a [B] rank, it is just a matter of time before the other kingdoms come attacking us to occupy the dungeon. The political significance of a [B] rank dungeon is unimaginable. Nations would do anything to take control and harness the dungeon's resources"

Blake rationally reasoned putting another reason there for them to fight for Cynthia. And thus, the topic shifted from why they needed to go to a war to when should they take this war.

Going on a large scale battle with a nation as powerful as Blackthorn required a lot of preparations and time. They not only needed multiple discussion sessions to set up plans and tactics they also needed to control the flow of information so that none of the plan leaked to the enemy.

Naturally, discussing all that, ate up a lot of time. After the session of discussion for today was over, Cynthia dismissed everyone and leaned back in her seat.

"Good work Your Highness" The only one who was allowed to stay back, was Annette. Even Alvara had to excuse herself. She came to Cynthia's side and gently offered her a glass of cold water.

"Thank you, it's because of all of your aid that I was able to make it this far"…

"You are wrong in that thinking, Your Highness" Annette shook her head "Although we did aid you, this development is because of your efforts and life's work. We had nothing to do with it".

"Is that so? Anyways, what did lord Simon say? Are there any new orders?" Cynthia asked.

"There are none. He only told us to aid you in every way to reclaim the kingdom back".

As a royal and as the mistress of the Serene Palace Merchant Guild, she had seen many people and instances in her life where they said things they did not mean. As a result, she had to learn reading between the lines and guess their objective through their body language and the subtle hints they dropped subconsciously.

However, no matter how she looked at Annette, she couldn't tell what the other party was thinking at all.