Chapter 2: A Story of Using Shrimp as Bait to Catch Sea Bream, but Instead Catching a Shark (part 3)

It wasn't an issue when the country was being managed well, but if things went

downhill, people would start thinking about partition and independence. Even if

things were going well today, they might not be tomorrow. Like Machiavelli had

said, one had to be prepared for the vicissitudes of fortune.

"It hurts to hear that," said Maria. "Our Empire is a multi-racial state, too, after

all."

I'd figured it would be, yeah. The Empire had the wind at its back right now,

though, so it would be fine.

In the current situation, with the Demon Lord's Domain slowly encroaching from

the north, there was no place safer than the strongest of all mankind's nations. No

race in the Empire was going to want to change the nation they belonged to.

However, if the country were mismanaged, or if the threat of the Demon Lord's

Domain were to go away, what would become of the Empire which had championed

the Mankind Declaration?

"Madam Maria..." I began.

"I know what you want to say. However, I can't lower the flag now." Maria smiled

with a strong will in her eyes. "Thorny though the path may be, I want the Empire to

be a light of hope unto all people living today. It's clear as day that mankind needs to

unite to face the Demon Lord's Domain. Even if it's only for a time, the Empire will

lift up the flag to unite the hearts of people."

"...I feel like I can see why they call you a saint," I said at last. I found her ideals

naïve, but she spoke in a way that drew people to her.

Though she might have a head-on collision with reality someday, she still held up

her ideals, fully accepting that. It was hard to watch her, but I wanted to,

nonetheless. That was the sort of charm that she had.

I'm sure Jeanne has no end of worries... I thought, recalling the younger sister and

general who took a more realistic view of things. If Hakuya could have read my mind

at that moment, he might have said, "You're one to talk," with a vein pulsing on his

temple.

Maria shook her head as if to clear her mind. "I understand what happened

regarding your reoccupation of Van. I think, technically, it happened in a way that

leaves you without fault. Even if you were moving around behind the scenes."

It seemed that Maria was aware that the Black Cats had been involved in Van's

uprising. The reason she wasn't pressing me on it here was likely because her own

nation engaged in similar clandestine activities. I mean, Amidonia had been, too,

after all.

Maria sighed. "However, Souma, I don't understand."

"Don't understand what?" I asked.

"Why did the kingdom absorb all of Amidonia?" Maria looked straight at me with

probing eyes.

...Well, obviously, I had expected she'd want to follow up on that point. Because,

right now, Elfrieden had not just Van, but all of Amidonia under its rule. However,

this was nothing I had ever wished for.

"I do, of course, intend to offer a full explanation, but let me say one thing first," I

said. "We were not the driving force behind this. If anything, we're a reluctant

participant."

"...What in the world happened?" Maria asked.

I sighed. "At the very end, we were outwitted by one little girl."

◇ ◇ ◇

If you asked what had let her outwit us, I would have to admit that it was because

we'd been looking at things too narrowly. The eyes of the Elfrieden Kingdom had

been focused solely on Van.

With the call for assistance from the citizens of Van and the area around it to

provide a just cause, we had planned to reoccupy Van in a way that didn't infringe on

the Mankind Declaration. That was the planned course of events.

For starters, though we were supposed to receive heavy reparations as a result of

the earlier fighting, I couldn't imagine that a Principality of Amidonia being ruled by

Julius was going to have the financial power to pay them.

The bureaucrats who had managed Amidonia's finances had apparently up and

vanished before the outbreak of hostilities, and they hadn't reappeared even after

Julius's return to power, after all. I didn't think people who put the military first, like

Julius and those he surrounded himself with, were going to be able to get Amidonia

back on its feet.

Furthermore, with Gaius's sudden death, the transfer of power hadn't gone well.

Even if we hadn't meddled, it was clear that the country would have been heading

for turbulent times.

The various lords hadn't taken Julius seriously and kept acting rebelliously, and if

he'd raised taxes to pay the reparations, the people's discontent would have been

bound to explode. If a civil war had broken out, he wouldn't have been able to pay

the reparations.

That was why I had moved to make it so I could reoccupy Van.

Now, even if he had failed to pay the reparations, it might not have been that

profitable, but I could still keep up appearances as the victor. I had abolished the

Carmine and Vargas duchies, after all, and had secured enough rewards for the

domestic audience. Now, as for the request from the people of Van, it was actually a

method that was open to me when the Empire came to demand its return. I could

have installed an interim Lord of Van, then had them request integration with the

Kingdom of Elfrieden.

Even so, I chose to return the city for a time before making a move like that, in

order to let the Empire take the position that they had mediated.

If I had taken advantage of the hole in the Mankind Declaration at that point in

time, forcing them to recognize our sovereignty over Van, it would have been

throwing mud in the Empire's face. That was why I had agreed to return it, to let the

Empire look good. Doing it this way, even if we took possession of the city again, it

wouldn't do anything to shake the Empire's authority.

So, in that way, while the kingdom's eyes had been only on Van, something

unexpected had happened outside of it.

The reoccupation force from the kingdom began forming themselves up to

defend the city from the forces of the principality, which would no doubt be coming

straight back with Julius leading them, but... in the end, Julius never returned to Van.

When the forces under Julius finished putting down the riots and had tried to return

to the newly-reoccupied Van, a new report came in. Multiple reports, in fact.

At the same time as the Elfrieden Kingdom had dispatched its troops,

disturbances had broken out in many places, all across Van, and all at the same time.

Each of them was different.

One said that people who had been oppressed by their lord had rioted, wiping

out the lord's family and occupying their city.

One said that a major noble who looked down on Julius's abilities had launched a

rebellion to replace him.

One said that a noble who was pained by Julius's suppression of the people in the

northwest had taken it upon himself to shelter those who had escaped and was

taking a stance against Julius.

One said that Roroa's supporters, upset that Julius had ignored the existence of

his younger sister when he'd taken the throne, had raised troops to resist him...

The list went on, and there were as many reasons as there were uprisings.

Among the uprisings, there were even cities that had seen the Jewel Voice

Broadcasts that came from the Elfrieden Kingdom and requested that they be

annexed like Van. Strangely, though their reasons varied, they all did it at the same

time, as though they had been conspiring to do it in advance.

Before we knew what had happened, the Go board that was the Principality of

Amidonia was overflowing with black stones of rebellion, and the white stones that

were the forces of the principality under Julius had been put in a state of

"damezumari," a shortage of liberties.

With no way to tell friend from foe, the forces of the principality under Julius,

despite being inside their own country, were surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Once they found themselves in that situation, fighting the forces of the kingdom

while also quelling the rebellion became impossible.

The forces of the principality under Julius saw a rash of desertions, and the

footsteps of the rebel forces drew ever nearer.

Ultimately, the forces of the principality scattered, and Julius fled with a meager

retinue to seek asylum in the Empire. Thus, for a time, Amidonia became fractured

and leaderless.

From the kingdom's perspective, we were able to reoccupy Van, and an enemy

state had fallen apart. It was an unexpected turn of events, but we couldn't have

asked for a better outcome.

...Up until this point, at least.

However, that fracturing didn't last for long. No, it couldn't last.

Because a foreign enemy invaded Amidonia.

The ones to move were the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria in the north, and the

Turgis Republic in the south. The Mercenary State Zem to the west had its policy of

eternal neutrality, so it showed no signs of invading, but it was probably selling its

mercenaries to both of the invaders.

The Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria was the center of Lunarian Orthodoxy which

worshiped the moon goddess Lunaria. It was a theocracy with their pope serving as

a religious and temporal ruler. Lunarian Orthodoxy stood next to Mother Dragon

worship as one of the two largest faiths on this continent. The latter revered the

Mother Dragon who lived in the Star Dragon Mountain Range.

Lunarian Orthodoxy doctrine preached love for all mankind, mutual cooperation,

and tolerance, but some zealous believers held ideologies that were hostile to other

religions. In that way, it was similar to Judaism, Christianity, or Islam on Earth.

Incidentally, the Elfrieden Kingdom, as a multiracial state, placed no laws on

what faith its people should follow, and everyone followed whatever religions they

pleased. It positioned itself as a polytheistic state.

Let's get back to the topic.

In response to the rioting, the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria deployed its

troops along the border, justifying it in the name of protecting their coreligionists

within the Principality of Amidonia.

They gave shelter to the faithful who fled Amidonia, and showed that they were

prepared to advance into Amidonian territory should that become necessary.

However, they moved slowly.

They were likely aware of the forces of the kingdom deployed near Van, and were

taking a "wait and see" approach in order to avoid clashing with us.

The ones who actually crossed the border were the Turgis Republic in the south.

This continent got colder the further south you went. As the southernmost

nation, Turgis was a land of frigid cold. Their southern peninsula in particular was

locked in snow and ice for most of the year, and the air currents were wild enough to

make flying wyverns drop from the air. In the face of that harshness of nature, it's

said that even the Empire at the height of its power had been unable to touch this

country.

This country's soldiers rode on giant yak-like creatures that only lived in their

country, and they were said to be invincible when it came to battles on cold terrain.

The news that the forces of the Turgis Republic had invaded quickly spread

throughout the principality. As it stood, the principality was disorganized and would

be easily carved up. If Turgis was invading from the south, Lunaria would no doubt

invade from the north before all of the spoils were taken. If that happened, Amidonia

would collapse and would be ruled by two separate powers.

Fortunately, forces of the Turgis Republic had their advance impeded by a fierce

resistance put up by the lord of the fortress city Nelva, the battle-hardened old

commander Herman. If they were going to be divided and ruled separately, weren't

they better off having a single person who they could trust rule over their entire

country instead? When the people of the principality thought that, what came to

mind was the cheerful face of the king of the neighboring country which they had

seen over the Jewel Voice Broadcast. That young king who had ruled the princely

capital Van without issue, and who had even hired General Wonder, the woman who

had tried to demonstrate her loyalty to the principality.

...Well, basically, it was me.

The next thing I knew, it had become mainstream opinion in Amidonia that they

should seek annexation by the Elfrieden Kingdom and resist Turgis and Lunaria that

way.