AWDC Chapter 102

Chapter 102: Hoffa’s Ambition

Hoffa had been paying attention to Toma for a long time. He suspected that Toma, like King Gregory, was a reincarnated person with special powers.

The most famous reincarnated person in this country was King Gregory the Founder. It happened over 100 years ago, and it’s hard to know how much of it is true, but he is said to have possessed superhuman strength and skills.

“Even when surrounded by ten enemy soldiers on the battlefield, he crushed them without a scratch. He trapped an enemy army three times his size and destroyed it.” There were many such legends.

Moreover, he was also a capable ruler, encouraging the use of potatoes, which were hardly utilized at the time, to solve the people’s food shortage problems, and is still praised as the greatest wise ruler.

The fact that King Gregory himself revealed that he was a reincarnated person was true. That’s why in this country, a reincarnated person is equated with a person with superpowers. Self-proclaimed reincarnated people also appeared, but their lies were quickly exposed, and it was thought that King Gregory was the only reincarnated person.

When he first learned of Toma’s achievements, he suspected that he might be a reincarnated person. He sent a pastor under his command to Toriholi Village to investigate his movements, but Toma didn’t seem to be displaying any particularly special powers in his daily life.

“Perhaps Toma possesses special knowledge as a reincarnated person, and uses that knowledge to create things that have never been seen before, and increase crop yields,” he thought.

The most prominent of these inventions was the magical weapon that defeated the Bawa Roma followers.

“It was a terrifying thing. Suddenly, something like stones rained down, and when they hit the ground, they exploded. A large crater was created in the ground, and the soldiers who were there were blown away. None of those who were blown away were in their right mind. Some had their limbs and even their heads blown off, leaving only their torsos on the ground,” said a soldier who had joined the Bawa Roma army and became a straggler in Toriholi, but luckily escaped without being captured. Hoffa was convinced that the weapon possessed more destructive power than he had imagined.

What was most eerie was that all the stragglers used the word “magic weapon” in unison, narrating its terror. An army of 20,000 should have been spread out over a wide area. The fact that the scattered soldiers were instantly plunged into terror was nothing short of eerie.

Furthermore, Toma’s administrative abilities were also remarkable.

“He is too capable. Even if a politician is capable, no one has ever achieved such accomplishments.” He highly praised Toma’s administrative abilities in the capital.

In the Raphael administration, Toma provided agricultural guidance and land reform, and worked to increase food production. In fact, thanks to this, the food situation in the capital has improved, almost no one starves to death, and the sight of beggars has disappeared.

Furthermore, it was also a fact that the laying of the rail carriage improved transportation and developed commerce. Tax revenues increased, and there was room in the strained finances.

“But a person who is too capable is troublesome.”

That’s why Hoffa tried to make contact with Toma by creating various pretexts. He used acquaintances of merchants and government officials to invite Toma to drinking parties, trying to win him over with money, women, and alcohol, but Toma never joined the parties.

“Is that blockhead not interested in women?” Toma’s wife is said to be a beauty, but it’s hard to imagine a man loving only one woman for the rest of his life. Hoffa searched around Toma, thinking that he must be keeping a woman somewhere. But Toma’s only woman was really his wife.

Even clergymen kept women as a matter of course, and Hoffa himself had many women. From that point of view, Toma was outside the common sense of this world.

He had been aiming for an opportunity to be alone with Toma to use his specialty, hypnotism, but it never came.

The only remaining option was assassination.

“I tried to kill him, but I failed.” The assassination also failed.

As a result, Toma had become a complete enemy, and his knowledge and wisdom could no longer be obtained.

The reason Hoffa banished Toma from the capital was to seize power. Even after that, he paid attention to Toma’s movements. He built four more churches in Toriholi and had them investigate the magic weapon. However, none of the pastors reported that Toma was using magic or secret weapons.

“Absolutely useless,” he said, spitting out the words as he looked at the report from the pastor in Toriholi.

Hoffa had expected that if Toma returned to Toriholi, he would definitely start strengthening the military. However, Toma began working on coal development and never made any moves to patrol the soldiers.

(He should know that the Sorbeni administration is moving to expand the Royal Army, but it’s strange that he’s not taking any action to counter it.)

The fact that Toma was not making any military reinforcements was eerie.

(Does he have a weapon hidden that even the Royal Army can’t beat?) He had to avoid repeating the Bawa Roma’s mistakes. Attempting to conquer Toriholi carelessly with incomplete information was out of the question.

On the other hand, he had also gained something, even though he had failed to get close to Toma. He had become close to Margarita and was able to control her after Toma asked him to mediate between them.

He didn’t approach her with ambition from the beginning. If anything, she was the one who approached him, but she was very helpful. It was fortunate that she was able to enter the harem.

He was able to brainwash the people in the harem, and through his connection with her, he was also able to bring influential nobles under his influence.

As a result, he was able to seize one of the political powers that he could not have done with his own power alone. The only thing left was how to relate to the Raphael administration, but their bond was unexpectedly strong, and he could not break into it.

That’s why Hoffa decided to take his time to overthrow the Raphael administration.

Now, he is gradually trying to corner the forces of the old administration.

His strategy was to confine the old administration to the frontier areas, isolate them, and gradually reduce their power to corner the old administration.

The military power has already greatly surpassed that of the old administration. The population in the frontier areas is small, and there is a limit to the number of soldiers that can be conscripted. He will crush the old administration with this overwhelming military force. And eventually, he will invade the neighboring country of Belgar and expand the territory.

Hoffa, who calmly considered and boldly carried out this plan, was in a sense a monster.

Hoffa also began to have another ambition. He began to think about an heir.

He also had several illegitimate children. Two of them were already adults, one of whom had become a clergyman and was promoted to a high position at a young age, and the other was also pushed into an important position as a government official. However, they could not become Hoffa’s heirs. Not only Hoffa, but the backing of the mother was absolutely necessary. If the mother’s family did not have power, the child’s abilities were secondary.

“I will have Margarita bear my child. And eventually, I will put that child on the throne.”

He had begun to think about that.

(Margarita is old, and I don’t know if she can have children, but if a boy is born, I will have Taleem abdicate.)

King Taleem was the only person in the current administration who could not be brainwashed.

(There’s nothing I can do with that numbskull.)

Hoffa tried to hypnotize the king, but the king was inattentive and could not be hypnotized.

“There’s nothing you can do with a real idiot.” Hoffa had no choice but to leave the king alone.

However, if King Taleem was allowed to freely enter the harem, there was a risk that his affair with the Queen Mother would be exposed. So he assigned a woman to the king and kept him in a corner of the harem.

Although he was mentally retarded, the king’s sexual desire was strong, and he particularly liked one woman.

After that, all he had to do was brainwash a few of the king’s aides and prevent them from letting the king hear rumors that were inconvenient to Hoffa.

The current King Taleem is mostly engrossed in fox hunting and shows no interest in politics, making him a very convenient figure.