Beast Slayer Online: Initialization
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 109: Smoke Above Northern Skies
Count Prinslav Stessa.
How should one describe such a distinguished nobleman?
He was King Foltest of Temeria’s cousin.
Blessed with the handsome features that noble blood so often purchased.
But the truth was, among all the reasons why ninety-nine percent of Temerian women wished to climb into his bed and bear his children, his face accounted for less than one percent.
Beauty could not compete with power and wealth.
Not even close.
And in those two regards, the count stood at the very center of the storm.
Part of that came from his blood ties to Foltest, though not as much as outsiders imagined.
Within the royal administration, there existed an open secret.
Count Stessa was an unmistakable representative of the Nilfgaardian faction.
And in that regard, he stood in direct opposition to King Foltest’s policy of vigilance toward the southern empire.
No one knew whether it stemmed from his youthful travels or from the books he brought back from the south.
But whenever the count spoke of the great empire beyond the continent’s southern reaches, he sounded like a man reminiscing about a homeland he dearly missed.
“Advanced institutions.”
“The inventive spirit of the populace.”
“The admirable virtues of the people.”
“The empire’s limitless potential.”
Such phrases flowed endlessly from his lips.
According to those familiar with the truth, however, his travels in the south had lasted less than half a year.
But politics had never required genuine understanding.
One did not need to spend half a year there.
One did not even need to visit at all.
Simply uttering those phrases was enough to become a banner.
No nation could ever truly think as one.
Foltest gathered supporters around himself.
Naturally, Count Stessa’s repeated rhetoric gathered together Temeria’s merchants, estate lords, and officials who favored closer ties with Nilfgaard.
And over recent years, with the Nilfgaardian Empire displaying overwhelming dominance in trade, economics, and military conquest, especially after annexing the coastal kingdom of Aedirn into a province, the number of pro-Nilfgaard sympathizers within Temeria had swollen dramatically.
So much so that they had become a political force impossible to ignore.
And just how impossible were they to ignore?
At the very least, after hearing the count’s name, Temeria’s royal advisor, the immensely powerful Triss, drew in a sharp breath and remained speechless for a very long time.
A sorceress who should have stood among the players of power suddenly looked less like a player and more like a piece on the board.
“ ... Go back to Aretuza for a while, Lannor.”
Back in the tavern at Darkwater, Lannor sat with a mug of Kaedweni black beer while speaking with Triss through the conical crystal.
Though they had not known each other long, Triss already understood Lannor’s temperament and stubbornness far too well.
Yet even so, she still tried to persuade him to stop.
“I’m still shocked by the scale of influence and information control our enemy demonstrated during the investigation. But if all of it leads back to Prinslav Stessa, then Keira and I no longer have the slightest doubt about why we kept hitting walls.”
“Lannor ... his power is enormous.”
Triss emphasized the point again, her tone unusually grave.
“He’s the sort of man who could mobilize Vizima’s city garrison as long as he doesn’t point them directly at the palace, and afterward the king would merely reprimand him. Do you understand what that means?!”
“Kings are the most suspicious and ruthless humans alive. If Foltest only ‘reprimands’ a cousin capable of influencing the city guard, it absolutely is not because of familial affection. It’s because he knows that if he truly moved against Stessa, the resulting damage to Temeria would be catastrophic.”