Vol 2 Chapter 2 (1/2)
“Marriage….. you say?”
“Yes, I only found out about it myself the other day, and it seems as if I have a marriage partner.”
Princess Mirena would become sixteen years old that year, it wasn’t weird if there were discussions about marriage.
But, royal marriage is a matter of diplomacy. Even more so, if the one getting married is the next Queen. The upcoming King will greatly affect the whole country itself.
Whether to choose a King Consort from within the country, or marry someone from outside the country, that by itself is already a subject of great discussion, and when decided, it would become a big rumor.
But she is saying that they have already made the decision.
“Errr……. is it alright for us to hear who the marriage partner is?”
“Yes, it is His Highness the Third Prince of the Gargan empire, Maiza Rengu Gargan.”
TL note: Romanji: Maizā Rengu Garugan
“Gargan empire!?”
Not only Kail, but also Seran and the others became surprised, hearing who the marriage partner was.
The current Gargan empire, is the country that boasts of having humanity’s greatest power. They were busy spreading their borders, and truth to be told, the Gargan Empire and the Jirgs Kingdom had a clear hostility between them.
A ‘young’ empire, that aims to progress as quick as possible, and the Kingdom of Jirgs, with its old traditions and principles, two years ago, both countries aimed for a land between their countries, and they almost began a war over it.
Located there was a city-state called Karan.
“The story dates back to the territorial dispute over Karan from two years ago.”
Princess Mirena began to explain.
Karan was an independent city-state located to the south of the mountains of the Jirgs kingdom.
It was a commercial city controlled by dwarfs. From the mines of Karan, high quality metal was produced, also, it’s the only place on the continent that knows how to process the Magic Metal Mithril.
A lot of people were aiming on this place, because even if the city was small, both its economical and military strength were on a big scale. Karan, which was located within the mountains, was hard to attack with a large army, but easy to protect, it can also be called a citadel with its defensive strength, since they were able to protect their independence for a long time.
However, two years ago, Karan became adjacent to the Gargan Empire, who was expanding its borders.The Empire began to have them capitulate, as if it was a natural thing to do, Karan in turn, rejected their approach.
At first, the empire tried to negotiate and find a concession, but the negotiations broke off and thus an aggressive war was about to begin.
Karan had a difficult to attack environment, and had skilled dwarven fighters and mercenaries ready, because they knew that the empire would come to expand its roots here one day.
However, the empire had its powerful knights platoons and powerful magic weapons, furthermore, they sent great mages (Archmages) over to attack, thus, they experienced aerial attacks for the first time, and Karan was overwhelmed by attacks that were stronger than they ever expected.
Having been completely wrong, Karan, who was about to get occupied, turned to Jirgs: in order to request their help. In return, they would become a va.s.sal city-state of Jirgs.
If they had agreed to capitulate to the empire without resistance, then they would be squeezed for all they were worth and had to obey them.
Even if they did surrender to the empire, they wouldn’t be able to live as freely as they had been, so they decided to ask their neighbor Jirgs, with whom they were trading, for help.
Even if they became a va.s.sal city-state, it wouldn’t be much different, and they would be independent like before. Jirgs also didn’t want the Gargan empire to totally control Karan, since it would be as if they were holding a knife under their throat, that’s why they agreed to Karan’s request.
Because of Karan, the Gargan empire and the Jirgs kingdom had gone into a cold war-like state.
Although the Gargan empire boasts about its strength as the most powerful country of the human race, the Jirgs kingdom was also a powerful country in the continent. If they were to attack from the front, then there would be the possibility that the surrounding countries would throw themselves into the mix.
Because an all out war would have been unavoidable, the Gargan empire retreated.
The empire signed a nonaggression pact with Karan, furthermore, The Empire had to pay up for trying to start a war. It was totally their loss.
“However, at that time, in a secret agreement, they had decided on His Highness Maiza’s and mine, engagement.”
This is something King Remnas had only told a select few, but he did not tell princess Mirena herself about it.
As if there wasn’t any need to mention it.
Hearing that, Kail whispered in his heart, ‘so its like that’.
In relation to Karan, it looks like the empire had conceded, but in return they had to accept a King Consort of the Gargan Empire royal bloodline.
Because of this, the Gargan Empire would be able to influence the Jirgs kingdom from within, or maybe they wanted the royal family’s bloodline to be mixed with theirs, so that invading it later would make it easier.
It isn’t fair like this, even if they had made the city-like state of Karan their va.s.sal, it was clearly Jirgs that had conceded.
However, what if Princess Mirena were to die before the engagement got announced? Of course, the agreement would be cancelled.
Of course, the Empire would go to the next in line, Prince Kalnas, but since they don’t have a princess prepared, it would take some time.
And above all, Prince Kalnas already had a fiance, so even if they cancelled it and the marriage went well, King Remnas would’ve probably thought up some excuses to prolong it.
(He was thinking some pretty indecent things, to think he would make use of the Princess’s death) — I wonder if that is what it takes to be the King of a single country.
“So I’m thinking about officially refusing this proposal for engagement. Because it’s planned for a messenger of the empire to come in a few days…….”
“Are you refusing? If that happens, what will become of Karan?”
“Of course, Karan will still be a va.s.sal city-like state of Jirgs. On the surface, the marriage hasn’t even been planned, because there have been no official doc.u.ments exchanged about the engagement. The situation has also changed, so there will be no problem in cancelling it whatsoever.”
In other words, it was all decided by the late king, pus.h.i.+ng the blame on him and playing dumb is what she means.
Of course, the Empire wouldn’t agree to that.
“Because we want to inform Karan about this decision, I want all of you to go there as messengers.”
Princess Mirena’s request was for us to deliver the letter she had prepared.
“I have something I wish to ask…….. Why is it that it has to be us?”
Kail asked the obvious question.
If it’s a messenger, then anyone would be good, furthermore so, if it’s just for delivering a letter.
“First of all, currently Jirgs is in a state of confusion. And there are only a few that I personally trust.”
In other words, a lack of personnel, says Princess Mirena.
Probably because the inheritance of the throne, which would take place in a few years, got pushed forward, furthermore, they were in a situation where they hadn’t prepared yet.
The matter concerning Karan is also important, but this was still even more important, because the country’s stability hadn’t recovered and because they hadn’t gotten complete control yet. They were lacking personnel because of that.
“And what we should be on guard for, is the Gargan Empire’s att.i.tude.”
If their plan to directly grasp the country of Jirgs from the center had completely failed, then they will certainly use their next plan, is what Princess Mirena thinks.
“At present, the possibility for Jirgs to interfere directly, is low. Also the Empire has written a non-aggression pact with Jirgs for now, so they probably won’t attack directly….. However, they will certainly interfere with brute force.”
It probably implies that there is the possibility that someone may die.