The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 458



Only Noblemtl

Episode 458

#458. This isn’t it?

Kang Moo-hyuk recalled what Edoardo had said about the Royal Guard of Morocco before leaving Venice after hearing the Eagles’ words.

‘This is an organization that the Alawi royal family, including the king, has cultivated with great care, with many of the royal family members awakening as hunters. Although it is directly under the royal family, it is run like a normal guild. The only difference is that the guild leader is called the captain of the guard and is loyal to the royal family, but it is most similar to the characteristics of the African guild.’

African guilds were particularly warlords and sensitive to land conquest, in stark contrast to the more common guilds, who were keen to seize gates and profit from them.

This is why we have dictators like Emerson Mugabe of the Central African Republic.

The same was true of the Moroccan Royal Guard. They followed Mugabe.

‘In Europe and North America, Mugabe is denigrated as a power-hungry dictator, but in Africa, he is seen as a hero.’

Why Mugabe is a hero.

It was precisely ‘Afrocentrism’.

The argument that Africa, with its long history of exploitation, could emerge as the center of the gate era.

The idea was to unite Africa into one and establish a great empire to stand against the white nations, a once-in-a-millennium opportunity to do so.

This argument was not just Mugabe’s. Many African hunters and power holders agreed with him. Some wanted to be the main players in unification themselves.

The current chaos is eating away at Africa because various ideologies, religions, and political systems have been mixed and distorted within the centralism.

Morocco was one such ambitious country.

‘It should be said that the establishment of an absolute monarchy and the establishment of a royal guard in Morocco began with Mugabe. They are waiting for an opportunity under the protection of Europe. The current democratic system is nothing more than a show.’

In that case, the movements of 60 high-ranking hunters could be seen as a threat to the absolute monarchy.

Kang Moo-hyuk realized what the Eagles were worried about.

“There will be a guard within the protesters’ radius of action. A clash with the guard could be perceived as a challenge to the Alawite royal family.”

“That’s right. There have actually been a few similar cases.”

“What was the outcome of that case?”

“No matter how successful a guild is, it cannot compete with the power of the nation unless it has an S-rank.”

As the Eagles were about to sum up the results in one word, Kang Moo-hyuk chose a route that completely went around the capital Rabat.

Kang Moo-hyuk relayed this decision to Alex, who was riding in another vehicle. Alex looked displeased, but did not express any particular complaints.

Rather than considering the commander’s authority, it was simply a matter of choosing a method to arrive at the destination early.

If fighting the guards had been more efficient, he would have entered the capital without hesitation.

Kang Moo-hyuk opened a communication channel to the entire raid force and spoke.

-Hunters with long-range sensing or scope skills should always be on the lookout and report back. The lead vehicle should be guided in a way that avoids collisions as much as possible. That’s it.

* * *

Moroccan King Sharif al-Rashid listened to the report of Captain Abbas and asked in a serious tone:

“Gloria Guild in Casablanca?”

“yes.”

“How many people?”

“Johanna Ceretti is the only one in the guild.”

“One person?”

“yes.”

“You reported to me that only one person found his way back to his home country? There must be a reason.”

“Edoardo has placed a request for the Eagles mercenary unit.”

“!!”

Al Rashid’s eyes twitched.

“Eagles… Is Grand Duke Edoardo’s request certain?”

“Yes. I checked several times through the mercenary contact center.”

“Hahahaha! I thought I was just wasting money like water. Now I’m finally getting my money’s worth.”

Al-Rashid burst into laughter. Abbas nodded in admiration.

“Your Majesty, your foresight is truly amazing. You sponsored the Eagles mercenary corps in order to foresee Edoardo’s intervention in Africa.”

“There’s no such thing as wisdom. It’s an answer that comes to mind if you think about it a little. It would be difficult for a European-tier guild like Gloria Guild to send troops to Africa without a request, and since it would be difficult for an S-rank to come over directly, it’s natural that an organization other than that would be needed.”

“It’s amazing that you knew in advance that the organization was the Eagles mercenary group and prepared for it.”

“Just because we knew about Edoardo’s movements in advance doesn’t mean the job is done. What’s important is what comes next. What did the Archduke request?”

The smile disappeared from Al Rashid’s face in an instant. Abbas also hardened his face and answered.

“It is said that the job is to protect the leader of a small guild from the East.”

“Orient?”

“Do you remember what I reported about the three-nation negotiation team from Korea, China, and Japan that came to Venice this time?”

“Yeah, I heard. You were trying to import Flying Seahorses because of the Naga problem?”

“As far as I know, the Grand Duke has approved the export.”

“What? Seahorse?!”

It was such shocking news that Al Rashid jumped from his seat.

Gloria’s proud amphibious riding monster, the Flying Seahorse.

It was quite shocking that a vehicle that had rarely traveled outside of Europe, tied to the EU’s strong sanctions and Edoardo’s pride, was released in Asia.

‘Flying Seahorses are strategic materials that are only available in limited numbers even in North Africa, which is called the breakwater of Europe. And they must be purchased at a very high price.’

It is incredible that such an item was sold so soon after the three-nation negotiating team set foot on Venetian soil.

I couldn’t even imagine how great it would have been to overcome something like that.

“Do you know anything about the negotiation process?”

“Nothing has been confirmed yet. This information is only the result of negotiations through the Venetian Mafia. The rest is kept confidential, making it difficult to access the information.”

“Let’s find out separately first.”

“Yes. I will do as you command. But what is really urgent is not the negotiations, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, that’s right. I was so surprised that I forgot for a moment. So? Why did the Archduke ask that Oriental to be his escort?”

Abbas hesitated for a moment. Only after Al-Rashid urged him did he finally open his mouth.

“I don’t know anything right now.”

“Hasn’t there been any news from the contact center? How much money did you give to those guys?”

“It’s a request related to the Grand Duke. No matter how much money they might have, it would be difficult for them to risk their lives to dig up the information. Even if they find out, they’ll pretend not to know and keep quiet.”

“Huh! At least you’re going to make a way out. You weaklings. But you’re not going to be tourists, right?”

Al-Rashid was furious, but Abbas was not fazed this time and said:

“So I tried approaching it from a different angle.”

“You seem so confident, I guess you’ve caught something.”

“Before that Oriental leader entered the country, there was evidence that the Gloria Guild’s information network had swept through North and West Africa. It seemed that information sources and related materials from each country had been exchanged. After that, the Eagles mercenary force moved.”

“What is the content of the data?”

“Terrain, monster trends. They seem to be concentrated particularly on the coastal area.”

Al Rashid’s face became more serious than ever.

“If it’s the coast… let’s go out!”

“Yes, probably.”

There was silence for a moment.

“Did the Archduke find out something?”

“Well, I don’t think we can be sure about that. Of course, the Archduke wasn’t sure either, so he sent in the mercenaries, right?”

“Then I guess you came here to find out.”

“That is very likely.”

The issue of the protesters had already been erased from Al Rashid’s mind.

He was concerned about Edoardo’s actions. He also did not like the Gloria Guild, which was secretly interfering in internal affairs due to its past assistance to Morocco.

A burdensome opponent for Al Rashid, who harbors ambitions to become the leader of North Africa.

I couldn’t help but be nervous because there was someone who could make all my efforts go down the drain.

“If the Archduke finds out about ‘that’, things will get worse. No, not just worse. The royal family will be in danger.”

“How should we respond?”

“Of course we should focus on that.”

“We have to deal with the protesters first.”

“The protesters aren’t the problem right now.”

“However, we cannot focus on the front lines while the rear is in disarray. If we are to send out troops, we must prevent power from leaking out from other areas.”

“Well, that might be true. Okay. I’ll take care of that.”

“Are you thinking of giving in to the protesters?”

“You need to know how to get back when necessary. Anyway, once the plan is complete, there’s no need to worry about Europe. You can just wipe out all the people who talk about human rights and democracy. So don’t worry about that side of things and quickly dispatch your elite troops to find out where the Eagles mercenary unit is.”

“Yes. Let’s proceed right away.”

“We must not let our plan be discovered at any cost. We must absolutely stop them from going ‘there’!”

Life energy emanated from both Al Rashid and Abbas at the same time.

That evening.

News was leaked from Moroccan and domestic media outlets that the dramatic agreement between the Alawite royal family and the protesters had led to a rapid stabilization of the situation in Morocco.

So it seemed that Morocco was regaining peace.

* * *

It’s time for the Moroccan Royal Guard to move.

Gary Dee’s Scarecrow mercenary unit also moved to follow Kang Mu-hyeok’s trail.

CCTV footage from the Casablanca Traffic Control Office shows that, as Gary Dee predicted, Kang Moo-hyuk left the city via the northern road.

“There’s probably nothing between Casablanca and Rabat. The original destination was Rabat, so they were probably planning to move north of there.”

“What could be north of Rabat that made you go there?”

The subordinate asked out of curiosity, but it was impossible for Gary Dee to know everything.

He shook his head, but his voice was confident.

“I don’t know why, but whatever it is, I won’t pass through Rabat or the surrounding areas. The Moroccan Guard is a burden. If they catch a foreigner moving around, they’ll just arrest him and see what happens. So it’s better to avoid this place.”

Gary Dee spread out the map and tried to guess Kang Moo-hyuk’s route.

‘There are not many ways to get around Rabat. The question is where to end up.’

It can be broadly divided into two: the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Sea.

Here Gary Dee had to make a decision.

‘First of all, it’s not the Mediterranean. Most of the safe roads across the Atlas Mountains are in northeastern Morocco. If you want to go to the Mediterranean, it’s much better to take the Mediterranean sea route from Spain or cross the border in northwestern Algeria than to go to Rabat and take the land route.’

Gary Dee hiked the Atlas Mountains north of Rabat.

“Then it’s somewhere on the Atlantic side… … .”

Where?

As he was pondering, a place name that was notorious for being a rough terrain even in Africa suddenly caught his eye.

Medusa’s head.

“Surely not… this isn’t it?”