Volume 7 - Chapter 2 – Depopulation (1/2)
07-02 Depopulation
“Now then, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
This was after they finished bathing and had had dinner.
Reinhardt had gathered the whole group, that is Jin and Reiko, Elsa, her nanny Mine, butler Adberg and guard Herman. In addition, in the same room were Reinhardt’s own butler and two maids.
He was in his serious mode.
“Have you noticed anything strange?”
He asked. Jin thought a bit and said,
“Well, I thought it was a little unenergetic for a village.”
Reinhardt nodded and,
“Oh, that’s no wonder. After all this is a village where only elderly people live.”
He said. Jin frowned while listening and muttered,
“Depopulation advances in this place too, huh…”
“Depopulation?”
Elsa caught that and asked Jin. She looked puzzled.
“Ah, umm. People gradually disappearing, I guess.”
“That’s right.”
Reinhardt took it from there.
“To maintain population, each married couple needs to have no less than two children. You know that, right Elsa?”
“Mm.”
“Considering the mortality rate of infants and conscription, infectious diseases and such things, three would be preferred, is my opinion as a statesman.”
Jin came to realize that Reinhardt wanted to say something.
“To speak plainly, this village has become unable to maintain its population.
After that, Reinhardt began talking with a rather severe look on his face.
“To begin with, around twenty years ago, the neighboring Celuroa Kingdom was meddling with the surrounding countries.”
Maybe he wanted to soften the serious talk a bit, as he mixed in some light words.
“The motive behind it, well, most likely no one but the previous King of Celuroa himself knew it, and you can’t ask someone who’s buried underground so this is only conjecture.”
He said and threw a glance at Elsa, then Mine,
“You could say that basically it was to widen his territory, however, it wasn’t anything small.”
Reinhardt paused to take a breath and,
“He wanted to annex every country on the continent.”
He told it bluntly.
“That’s the Unifilers’…”
Jin began to talk, and Reinhardt nodded.
“That’s right. At that time the Unifilers already had that ideal. The current King of Celuroa doesn’t appear to be as ambitious as his predecessor. But in truth, he’s a person with ambitions no less weaker than his predecessor, from my perspective. The predecessor was easy to understand but the current King… To tell you the truth, I can’t see through him. But there’s no way he doesn’t aspire to rule the other countries. Most likely he’s just gathering power for now.”
He then looked at Elsa a second time,
“Anyway, during the three-year period between precisely 21 years ago to 18 years ago the previous King of Celuroa assailed Egelia Kingdom and Frantz Kingdom. Maybe because our Shouro Empire doesn’t trace its roots back to Dinar Kingdom, they didn’t really attack us. However, there was a period when for the sake of self-defense we couldn’t avoid dispatching troops to Celuroa Kingdom.”
Then Jin also understood it.
“I see, and so that time was the cause of the depopulation of this village.”
“Well, that’s how it is. Also, Elsa, I’ve heard that it was in those days that your father rose to the top with his merits.”
When Reinhardt said that, Mine’s expression contorted for a moment, but there was no one who noticed it.
“Father, did.”
“Yeah. The story I heard from your uncle was that when he was in Egelia Kingdom as the commanding officer of a battallion stationed there, he kept back the Celuroan army over three times the size of his, and that he kept the damage to friendly troops and the surronding inhabitants to a minimum.
“Eh, Elsa’s father’s an amazing person, isn’t he.”
That was Jin’s honest opinion, but when Mine heard it her she once more grimaced. But, as she was hanging her head down no one noticed as always.
“During the war with Celuroa Kingdom’s army a great many military personnel and soldiers died, and apparently among them was Louis’s… Earl Kuzuma’s father.”
Jin understood with just that explanation.
“Oh, so it’s because of that that Earl Kuzuma inherited the house so young.”