Audience

The duke who had been leading the way forward suddenly knelt and lowered his head… was that how envoys from other countries bowed? Wasn’t a duke supposed to be the second-most important after the king? In Lumoria Kingdom terms, was this okay?

No, that wasn’t it.

I wasn’t the only one surprised that the duke knelt. If anything, the people in the delegation walking behind him looked even more shocked.

For an instant, every last one of them—without exception—rounded their eyes and stared down at the back of the duke’s head, so there was no doubt.

And when they all hurriedly dropped to their knees afterward, it was clear they hadn’t planned to kneel.

So… what should I do…? For now, I’d speak to him.

“You had come a long way… I welcome you.”

Yep. A huge problem occurred right here.

I couldn’t remember the duke’s name!?

Did anyone even tell me in the first place!?

…No, I felt like Karmos told me… I think… the Lumoria Kingdom’s… Duke Oppore?

No, that was probably wrong… just introduce yourself already…!

“I thank you for granting my foolish request. I am Viktor-Era-Ruars, serving as the representative of this delegation. I have called myself a duke in the Lumoria Kingdom, but that title is now meaningless. Please, call me Viktor.”

He introduced himself! Thank you very much!

Wait—no, wasn’t that line kind of a bigger deal than that?

“Viktor. What you said sounded as though the Lumoria Kingdom already no longer existed.”

“That is correct. My dukedom would be of use only as a head offered at the closing of the curtain.”

That was bleak—or resigned—or… wasn’t he putting himself down a bit too much?

I didn’t need your head, you know?

“You speak strangely. You… no, you all—what did the Lumoria Kingdom mean to you?”

“It was the name of a single framework. It was a somewhat distorted framework to call a nation, but…”

You often saw stories go on about how a nation was a nation because it had a king and nobles, or because it had the people… but calling it “just a framework” so bluntly was pretty rare.

“And you have no objection to that framework breaking?”

“It was a framework we had lived with for many years. I would not say I had no feelings… but there was something more important.”

“Let me hear it.”

“The people who lived there. If you can bring them peace, there is no need to cling to an old framework.”

“…So you see us as merely a new framework?”

Don’t look down on us, okay? Mostly because my people wouldn’t forgive it.

Of course I’d get angry too.

“No, every nation takes its own form. The form called the Lumoria Kingdom was merely a framework, but I do not possess the arrogance to apply that to your country as well.”

“The Lumoria Kingdom I knew acted with nothing but arrogance.”

Well, we barged in with gangster logic too, but still!

“Whoever speaks wins” was scary…

“I truly apologize that hostilities opened between our countries. If possible, might you grant your pardon in exchange for my head…”

And there it was: victors were justice, losers were villains… the whole ‘justice wins’ thing.

“We have not exchanged any formal terms, but we consider the war already ended. Taking a single duke’s head now would change nothing.”

“…”

He was kneeling with his head lowered, so I couldn’t see his expression at all, but… I could feel the resolve of “I’ll disembowel myself anytime.”

Not seeing his expression made things harder in some ways… but honestly, it helped a bit that he wasn’t looking at me, because it made it harder for him to see through me.

He wasn’t seeing through me, right…?

“Enough of the past. Let’s speak of what comes next. Viktor, what did you seek when you came to my castle?”

“The people’s peace. Nothing else.”

“You all speak in unison of the people’s peace… but you should understand well that it is not such a simple thing. You mean to shove that onto us?”

“If there was anything we could do, we would stake our lives to do it. But shamefully, we no longer have the strength to accomplish it by ourselves.”

Viktor’s voice sounded as though he was not mocking himself, but merely stating facts flatly—yet with his face hidden, I couldn’t be sure.

“Calling it irresponsible would be easy… but fine. We have no intention whatsoever of harming the people. You have seen the territorial capital, yes? At minimum, we would promise them a life like theirs. And as for your… the Lumoria Kingdom’s villages beyond your reach, we would protect them with our own hands. To us, a castle town and a village near the border were no different.”

“I thanked you.”

“That was too soon. Viktor, raise your face.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Einheria and the Lumoria Kingdom were both monarchies… but their realities differed greatly. The Lumoria Kingdom was quite unusual in its own way, but… Einheria is also hard to call ordinary.”

“…”

“The greatest difference is the existence of nobles. Einheria has no nobles. You nobles will become commoners from now on—could you accept that?”

“There is no problem. We, the old nobles, admonish ourselves not to think of ourselves as noble-blooded. We have no pride in being nobles.”

Old nobles were way too ready to cut things off, weren’t they…?

Wasn’t this supposed to be an old house that had lasted like two hundred years? You’d think they’d cling a little more…

“I have heard as much from those who already submitted… but to think it was the same even for a former duke. I do not believe all nobles thought so uniformly, but fine. Next, what concerned me was your military.”

“By ‘military’… you mean the national army?”

“All of it: territorial forces, the national army, everyone involved in war… we of Einheria cannot place them in the same standing as before.”

“…What did you mean? That you will dismantle the entire military?”

“I would not go so far as to say dismantle it. But we cannot accept soldiers, squires, full knights, royal guards, generals… as they are. As you know, our army is elite. Even a full knight or royal guard—could they stand alongside our common soldier…”

“…”

Viktor’s expression—now that he was looking at me—hardened, if only a little.

He didn’t care about noble status, but he probably had feelings about knights and soldiers being looked down on—those who fought for the nation… no, for the people.

“All responses toward other nations will be handled by Einheria’s soldiers, my limbs. As for the former Lumoria soldiers, I want them to serve as guards—meaning, I want them to maintain public order in towns and villages.”

“Defense and public order against bandits and monsters?”

“Even for bandits and monsters, evacuation guidance and minimal delay will be enough, you know? As you know, if we receive word, it only takes an instant to arrive.”

“So it is enough if they can hold out until the regular army arrives?”

“You all have the pride of having protected the people until now; I do not intend to trample it. But realistically, the gap in capability between us is immense. Once you submit to Einheria, even those in the military are people we must protect. We have no intention of permitting them to be harmed when we have the power to protect them.”

Whether military or not, they still produced mana stones.

I wanted them to spend their days peacefully in towns and villages. Though—road security might be needed?

“…Those in the military are people who offered their lives to protect the people. Strength is important, certainly, but is not their resolve even more important than that?”

Viktor spoke without letting any bitterness show, and I nodded.

“Resolve is important, certainly. But calm yourself and think. Is what is needed to protect the people’s peace only battlefield deeds?”

“…”

“I think not. It is in peaceful daily life that the peace worth protecting exists. It is not only monsters and bandits—everywhere in the city, threats to the people’s peace spread. If you call it ‘public order,’ it may sound like dull, everyday work. But criminal acts that occur where guards’ eyes do not easily reach… what prevents those is not a single excellent commander, but a hundred guards.”

“…”

“We of Einheria’s regular army will protect you from external enemies. So the inside, Viktor—I want to entrust to you all. Only the battlefield you stake your lives on will change; the act of fighting for the people will not change.”

Well, going from “royal guard” or “general” to “captain of the city watch” was a huge change… but it couldn’t be helped.

Normally, you’d incorporate the defeated side’s military strength… but it would be very difficult for them to ride alongside our army.

So long as the commander was safe, even if the Einheria army were annihilated, it could be restored the next week as if nothing happened.

Tactically, information transfer was insanely fast thanks to my Hawk Voice and Hawk Ear, and Hawk Eye—being able to look down over the battlefield—made it easy to read the enemy’s tactics.

I couldn’t use these abilities except with my people, and without them I couldn’t command in the first place.

Even if we added extra bodies to the Einheria army, they’d only be in the way.

“I understand Your Majesty’s noble ideals. However, will you assign all military personnel of the former Lumoria Kingdom to guard duty? Though the Einheria army holds tremendous power, there will not be only one nation that moves to claim Einheria’s territory. The odds are very high that neighboring nations seeking expansion will move all at once in this period of chaos. Surely you will lack soldiers…”

“Hm… our standing forces number no fewer than five hundred thousand. Is that not enough?”

For the first time, Viktor’s expression showed a clearly defined emotion.

If I had to put it into one word, it would be: “Huh?”

“…My apologies, Your Majesty. I must have missed your words—Einheria’s current forces are…”

“I said no fewer than five hundred thousand. If we put our minds to it, we could increase it by several hundred thousand more, but those still lack training.”

If we included the civil-official types and maids who weren’t raised as war units, we could add that many… I’d never do it because it was dangerous, though.

“…A nation that held such numbers… there are only a handful on the continent…”

Murmuring that, Viktor suddenly made a startled face as if he realized something.

Maybe because “five hundred thousand” hit so hard, Viktor’s expression got more animated.

“…In the face of such events, I completely forgot there was something I should have asked first. My apologies, Your Majesty… I am deeply ashamed of my ignorance, and I know this is the height of rudeness, but… where on the continent does the nation of Einheria exist? By our investigation, we could not find this Einheria Castle, and even today you invited us by means of transfer, so…”

…Yeah, I should’ve explained that first.