Chapter 2: A Story of Using Shrimp as Bait to Catch Sea Bream, but Instead Catching a Shark (part 4)

In the process, anyone who was attached to maintaining Amidonia's

independence (which was pretty much all people who had launched rebellions to

usurp Julius's position) was eliminated by the annexationists.

Herman Neumann, the old general who had stopped the Turgish advance at

Nelva, along with the former Minister of Finance, Gatsby Colbert, who was staying

with him, both lent their names to support the annexationist faction, which was a

major factor in that. It seems Colbert was well-trusted by the people for his

reputation as a great minister who supported the country through financial

difficulty.

And so, a request for the annexation of the entire Principality was delivered to

me.

...

...Yeah. It makes you go, How did this even happen?

If I weighed the pros and cons of annexing all of the Principality of Amidonia,

there were more negatives than positives. The positive was that it would raise our

population, which would increase the power of our nation in the long term.

Furthermore, the Principality of Amidonia was rich with rare mineral resources,

such as gold, and this would provide a steady supply of those mineral resources that

we couldn't mine inside the kingdom.

The negatives, on the other hand, were that even though we had finally resolved

the issue of the food crisis inside the kingdom, we would now need to deal with

Amidonia's food shortages, too.

In addition, it was a nation that had been our enemy until mere days ago, so it

would likely be difficult to rule.

Also, until now our country had only shared borders with the Union of Eastern

States, the Principality of Amidonia, and part of the Turgis Republic. With the change

in borders, in exchange for the disappearance of Amidonia, we would now border

the Mercenary State Zem and the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria, which was

another downside. The more nations we bordered, the more difficult our diplomacy

would be, after all.

Another thing was that, though I hadn't ever been counting on them, the war

reparations would stop being paid, too. Since the citizens of Amidonia would

become part of our country, the border between those paying the reparations and

those receiving them would be gone.

When I looked at it this way, it seemed like there were more negatives than

positives to annexing Amidonia.

However, we didn't have the option of refusing. That was because the negatives of

choosing not to annex Amidonia were even bigger.

First, it would shake our just cause in claiming, "We incorporated Van into the

kingdom at the request of the residents." If we took in just Van, but not the rest,

then: "Oh, so, in the end, the kingdom just invaded the land they wanted," people

would point out.

Furthermore, if we left Turgis and Lunaria to invade the country, ultimately, we

would still end up bordering more countries.

Also, ruling Amidonia while it was facing food shortages would be difficult. If the

two countries failed to rule properly, and famine and civil war were to break out in

the former territory of Amidonia, we would see a fresh influx of refugees. That being

the case, it would be better if we took responsibility for caring for all of it from the

very beginning. It would be difficult now, but in the long run, our investment would

pay itself off.

In the end, I accepted the integration of all of Amidonia with the kingdom, and

notified various foreign countries. As I did that, I also moved a naval unit under the

command of Excel that was standing by in the southwest of the Elfrieden Kingdom

to the border with Turgis, putting myself in a position to invade at any time.

From the Republic's perspective, they wouldn't want an attack on their mainland

while their primary force was laying siege to Nelva. They immediately withdrew

from Nelva, and the forces of the Republic pulled back from Amidonia like the

receding tide.

Also, seeing that the chaos in Amidonia had subsided, the forces of the Orthodox

Papal State of Lunaria that were deployed along the border stopped preparing for

war.

Unlike Turgis, they hadn't made any major moves. Because of that, it was hard to

gauge what they had been thinking, and it felt creepy.

Anyway, that was the sequence of events that led to my annexation of Amidonia.

Sometime after the Turgis Republic withdrew...

I was back at the castle in Van to handle the post-annexation paperwork, and on

this day, I was seated on the throne in the audience chamber to present awards to

those who had contributed to defending against the Turgis Republic. It had come up

suddenly, so I hadn't brought many of my followers with me, but, as per usual, Liscia

and Aisha stood on either side of me, while Hakuya carried out the ceremony.

There were two people receiving commendations on this occasion. The old

general who had defended Nelva, and by extension Amidonia, Herman Neumann;

and the former Minister of Finance Gatsby Colbert (his first name was Gatsby, but

because he was a former minister, I felt like I should call him Colbert) who had

worked with him to unite the fractured Amidonia. Herman was a battle-hardened

old general, like Georg or Owen, while Colbert was a more delicate intellectual type

in his mid-twenties.

Behind them were two piles of something, but I couldn't tell exactly what because

they were covered. Whatever it was, it was apparently a gift to our country.

When they bowed before me on the carpet, I told them, "Raise your heads."

Once they had, I first addressed Colbert.

"Sir Colbert. I thank you for bringing the people of Amidonia together. Without

your hard work, the chaos would have been drawn out, and the people of Amidonia

would have suffered much misery for it."

"You are too kind." Colbert bowed his head deeply.

I had tried speaking of the people of Amidonia as if they were my own people, but

he showed no real response. Well... he did plan to push all of the responsibility off

onto me, so that was only natural, I suppose.

Colbert raised his head and said, "In any event, Your Majesty, I have something

here which I would like to give you."

"What is that?" I asked.

Colbert removed the cover from one of the two piles. What appeared from

beneath it was a mountain of documents. Hakuya, who was standing beside him,

said, "I see," with a strained smile.

I wasn't sure what it was that he saw, but I asked Colbert, "What are those?"

"These documents are statements of income and expenditures as well as

materials regarding rights and ownership within the Principality of Amidonia,"

Colbert explained. "They were originally stored in the archives at Van, but we

carried them away before the outbreak of hostilities in order to prevent them being

lost in the fires of war. The war is over now, so we have brought them back to Van,

where they belong."

Oh, now that he mentioned it, when we had taken custody of Van's archives as

collateral against the war reparations, I might have received a report saying that

none of those documents were there. That must have been the reason for Hakuya's

strained smile. Because, for Hakuya, things hadn't worked out the way he had

planned there.

"I see," I said. "That makes a wonderful gift. It will make ruling easier."

"I'm honored to hear you say that."

"However, I think it would be best if you returned them there with your own

hands," I said, refusing to accept them.

"Huh?" Colbert looked dumbstruck.

Hm, I think that evens the score.

I grinned as I said, "Former Amidonian Minister of Finance, Colbert! Do you wish

to serve me?!"

"Y-Yes, sire!" Colbert responded almost reflexively. Good, I had a commitment

from him now.

"Very well," I said. "In that case, I will prepare a position for you equivalent to the

one you held in Amidonia. Henceforth, as the Minister of Finance of both the

Elfrieden Kingdom and the Principality of Amidonia, I ask you to support the

finances of this new nation."

"I-I am an Amidonian, you realize... Is that all right?" he stuttered.

"It doesn't matter to me. I'll use anyone I think I can use. If I obsess over race and

nationality, I'll never get this country rebuilt."

"Y-Yes, sire..."

No, seriously; I had been wanting someone like him. I had been studying the

humanities, so mathematical calculations and decisions involving the economy were

always difficult for me. If this guy had the skill to keep this less-than-prosperous

country from going bankrupt when the military was eating up its budget, I wanted

him working for me, no matter what. If there were a capable Minister of Finance

trimming unneeded expenses, I might be able to find room in the budget for a policy

or two I hadn't been able to before.

Heh heh heh... oh, the possibilities.

"Minister of Finance Colbert," I said. "Those documents will surely be the tools of

your trade. Take them back, and work to rebuild the Amidonia region."

"Ye... Yes, sire! I understand!" Colbert prostrated himself before me again.

I nodded, then looked to General Herman. "Sir Herman, you did well to defend

against the forces of the Turgis Republic. Without the fierce struggle you put up, I am

sure the Republic would have made it past Nelva and into the heartlands of

Amidonia. If that had happened, our aid wouldn't have arrived in time, and the

situation would be even more chaotic than it is now."

I had thanked him, but Herman's stern expression didn't soften.

"Warriors are the defenders of the people," he said. "Even without a master, that

remains the same. I merely did what is my duty."

H-He's pretty strict and formal, huh... I thought. He was probably the sort that was

dedicated to his profession. If Owen was a laughing old man, this guy was a stubborn

old man.

Yeah, he was like a tsundere old man from Japan, and I liked that. His earlier

words had been the equivalent of: "I-It's not like I did it for you, okay? I didn't have

any choice after losing my ruler, so I just defended it!" or something like that, I guess.

Herman stood up and walked over in front of the other covered pile. "I, too, have

come bearing gifts, Your Majesty. I hope you will not make me take mine back after

receiving them."

With those words, Herman pulled back the cover. Beneath it was a pile of many

colorful textiles, all rolled up like roll cakes.

"The south of Amidonia has a successful industry that produces high quality

wool," he said. "These textiles were made with that wool. Please, accept them."

"Hm... May I come take a closer look?" I asked.

"As you wish."

I rose from my seat, approached the pile of textiles and put my hand on one.

Yeah, it felt good. Was this one a carpet? I didn't know how to judge the quality of

these sorts of things very well, but I could still tell somehow that this was a good

one.

"Hm? A carpet?" I murmured.

A carpet as a gift... huh. I dunno... I feel like I've heard of this scenario somewhere

before. If I recall, there was a scene like this in Earth's history... Huh?!

"...Sir Herman," I said.

"What is it?"

"There wouldn't happen to be a woman hidden in that carpet, would there?"

The moment I said that, Herman's face stiffened.

Wait, seriously?!

One of the textiles in the pile began wriggling. Had an assassin slipped in? The

soldiers and Aisha were on edge, when...

"No fair, no fair! It was gonna be the surprise of a lifetime! Why'd ya have to go

and figure it out?!" a girl's voice exclaimed.

The moving textile slowly came unfurled, and out popped a girl who was

somewhere between middle school and high school age. Her long hair was tied at

the nape of her neck into ponytail-style twintails, and she had lovely, regular

features and beady little eyes. That was the kind of girl she was.

The young girl put her right hand on the back of her neck, and her left hand on

her hip, shaking back and forth a bit while she posed like a model. "Welcome or not,

here she is, dun-da-da-dun! It's Roroa!" Then she gave a coquettish giggle and tried

to act sexy.

She was slightly shorter than Liscia, and her body had a distinct lack of curves, so

she just looked like a little girl trying too hard to seem like an adult. But, well, it was

cute in its own way, like a small animal, and... Wait, wasn't Roroa the name of Julius's

little sister?!