Volume 3 Chapter 3 Part7 (1/2)
The afternoon the day after we establishe a secret alliance with the Grand Chaos Empire, Jeanne, Julius, and I were once again gathered in the audience chamber. Everyone was standing (only I was sitting on the throne), and Hakuya who stood diagonally in front of me stepped up to Julius’ party, carrying a doc.u.ment containing what we had decided the night before.
“The Royal Army will leave Vannes and return to the Kingdom of Elfrieden”
The moment Hakuya made the declaration, Julius had a victorious look on his face, but then Hakuya continued.
“In return for that, The Princ.i.p.ality of Amidonia will pay indemnities to the Kingdom of Elfrieden. This will be considered separately from the exchange of prisoners of war”
Hearing the sentence, Julius turned pale. He then approached Jeanne.
“Lady Jeanne! What is the meaning of this!?”
“It means what it means … the Empire has returned the territory as promised”
Jeanne shrugged. Julius could not accept it.
“Do you take me for a fool! To pay indemnities, it’s as if we were defeated!”
“You were defeated. Have you no realization of it?”
“We were not! We have not been defeated. We have lost but merely a single city!”
“… Then do as you like. The Empire will no longer involve ourselves in this fight. Have a ceasefire or keep fighting as you want”
Hearing that from Jeanne, Julius groaned. Seeing him do so, Jeanne sighed.
“To begin with, that single city … well, I doubt the propriety of calling the capital a mere city, but you came crying to us because you were unable to take back the capital you lost, didn’t you? Then you have lost this war. As the head of the Humanity Declaration, the Empire will restore the borders that had been changed to its original state. We can not do anything more than that”
“But, indemnities …”
“Lord Julius. My Elder Sister Maria is terribly distressed with regards to the current situation”
Jeanne turned a cold look of rejection at Julius.
“You have committed an act of agression, making use of a loophole in the Humanity Declaration meant to unify all of humanity under the looming threat of the Demon King Territory. As its head, we cannot let this matter be”
“That is … the previous King Gaius …”
“Even so, you did nothing to stop it, and you also have a responsibility to the citizens of the Princ.i.p.ality. Either way, in order to prevent any other agressors from among the signatories of the Humanity Declaration, we have decided that harsh punishment is necessary. We will have the matter of your country set as a precedent”
Uwaah … she was polite but she was actually saying “we’re making an example of you to tighten the noose around the necks of the Humanity Declaration signatories”. Julius made an angry, or maybe distressed face. He tightened his fist and said.
“… what if we don’t want to”
“Then like I said before, you may do as you like. The Empire will stay our hand from this fight, and we shall have the Princ.i.p.ality of Amidonia leave the Humanity Declaration”
“P, please wait a moment! If you do that then our country …”
“Yes, if you’re not a member country, then an attack on you will not be in violation of the Declaration. You … excuse me, your Lord Father also had the same opinion on the matter, did he not?”
The Princ.i.p.ality of Amidonia was surrounded by other countries on all sides. On the west side, there’s the permanently neutral “Mercenary Nation of Zem” who seeks the best situation for itself. On the south, there’s the “Republic of Torgis” who also didn’t sign the Humanity Declaration and had northernly expansionist policies. On the north, there’s the “Lunaria Orthodox Empire”, that was signatory to the declaration, but had different sense of values compared to other countries. And lastly, there’s the Kingdom of Elfrieden on the east. Now, if they lost the protection of the Humanity Declaration, they were going to be eaten up by those tigers (ah, but not us, though).
The previous Prince Gaius VIII maintained his country by allying with the Empire, contracting the Zemish, outpowering Elfrieden under the weak rule of the previous King, and a display of military strength against the south, achieving a balanced diplomacy. Does Julius have the capability for that? Even if he did, does the young Julius have enough influence to wield for it? Influence is normally gained gradually while under the previous ruler, but Gaius was no longer here.
Julius would henceforth have to handle the difficult problems of external threats and internal leaders.h.i.+p of his subordinates. If during that crucial time he were to leave the Humanity Declaration, he would be unable to borrow the Empire’s influence and quickly fall into a ‘checkmate’. Julius understood that, too, and thus he bitterly bowed his head to Jeanne.
“… we will, comply to your wishes”
“That is a good decision, Lord Julius”
Since the discussion had come to a canclusion, we proceeded with the essential payment amount. We presented an amount that equaled to three years of Amidonia’s national income, to be paid in yearly installments over ten years. Also, we requested that it be paid in Imperial gold coins. In other words, we were asking to almost a third of their national income for the next ten years. Julius naturally objected, but Jeanne persuaded (coerced?) him to agree. For Amidonia, who spends half its national income on military, this had the implication of robbing them of this military power. They would be able to pay the amount by downsizing the military, but I’m not sure if Amidonia would be able to do that.
“Lady Jeanne. What if the payment is delayed”
“Very well. Then the Empire will authorize Vannes’ transfer to Elfrieden”
“Kuh …”
Julius was mortified, but said no more. Having concluded that, I made Jeanne a proposal.
“But Lady Jeanne. It’s possible that they would delay the payments while hardening the defense of Vannes. Even if the Empire is involved, it would be a lot of trouble to take a capital that had been released. Therefore, we would like to have a collateral for the payments”
“A collateral?”
“Something for us to hold on to until the payments are made. If they become unable to pay, the collateral will become ours. We will of course return it once the payments are made”
“I see … so what do you want?”
“Their Royal Broadcast orb”
“What! Our country only has one of those!”
Julius was indignant. Well, the Royal Broadcast was a treasure that could not be made with current technology. It would likely be worth about two years of Aminodia’s annual income.
“You’re not using it anyway, are you? Is there any problem with giving it to us?”
“Foolishness! Are you trying to solicit our citizens!”
“You can simply change the frequencies on the receivers, right? That way you won’t be receiving any broadcast from Elfrieden”
“Ugh … but still …”
Julius’ face was anguished, but unexpectedly, complied without resistance. He only used it for scheduled broadcasts at the start of each year, even though it’s so useful. Julius who adopted a military first doctrine wouldn’t understand its value. I think he might even only be considering it as a huge ornament.
As I was thinking that, Hakuya whispered, “Your highness, if I may?”
I raised my eyebrow.
“Uh … isn’t that just your hobby?”
“What are you saying? … it’s the crystallization of wisdom”
“Humm … well, listen up, Lord Julius”
“… what is it?”
“To make up for the deficit in collateral 1, we would like custody of all the books in this castle”
This was what Hakuya proposed. The custody of the books gathering dust in the Amidonian archives. Paper is still precious in this world and books aren’t widely circulated. It’s very possible that Amidonia had books that Elfrieden didn’t have. Also, when it comes to books, there’s the possibility of copying them while they’re under our supervision. Julius snorted.
“Fine, I suppose. But don’t you touch anything else. Especially the weapons and armor. I won’t forgive you if you took them”
“We sold some out for raising funds”
“Gh, then don’t touch anything more!”
“… alright”
So weapons are more important than books? Considering the era, that might’ve been the dominant line of thinking, but he didn’t understand the gravity of letting such a crystallization of the country’s knowledge outside. Looking at Jeanne, she seemed to be thinking the same thing and wryly smiled. Now that the discussion on indemnities is done, we could start on discussing everything else.
“We want Elfrieden to return the soldiers taken prisoner by the Elfrieden Army”
“Alright, but anyone ranked n.o.ble or knight or higher will have to be ransomed”
“… fine”
“However, we have conducted investigations on war criminals who attacked villages and plundered towns while in our countries, and drew up a list of them. Those among the prisoners who are on the list will be judged by our country and could not be returned. Also, there are names on the list who are in your country, we would like you to hand them over. The return of prisoners won’t begin until that happens”
“Guh … very well. … by the way”
While receiving the list of criminals from Hakuya, Julius said:
“Is Roroa among the prisoners you will be returning?”
Roroa? who’s that?
“I don’t know. Who is that?”
“Roroa Amidonia. My younger sister who had gone missing. She should’ve been in Vannes during the battle”