“What are you saying?!” one of the nobles exclaimed. “Subjects are those who have no choice but to obey the victor! Even if they’re discontented for a time, so long as you win in the end, they will yield to you on their own!”
“Indeed! Platitudes are only worth something if we live! First, we must think of a way to survive!” another cried.
As he listened to the nobles who, even now, were only concerned with their own well-being, Georg let out a sigh.
“In the end, the only ones you fear for are yourselves. Ah, but now I recall, you people were like that from the beginning. Honestly… in the short time since we last fought a foreign enemy, I never would have expected our roots to rot so badly. As I thought, in order for the new buds to flourish, first the rotting leaves and branches must be cleared away.”
“Duke Carmine? What are you saying…?”
The nobles were bewildered by the sudden change in Georg’s demeanor.
Georg paid them no heed, ordering his lieutenant, “Beowulf. Do it as we planned.”
“…Yes, sir,” Beowulf said.
When Beowulf raised his right hand, suddenly soldiers rushed into the room, swords drawn, and surrounded the nobles. With twenty to thirty soldiers holding them at sword point, the nobles who were unable to move finally realized they’d been deceived by Georg. They were stripped of their weapons and forced into slave collars one after another.
“What is the meaning of this, Duke Carmine?!” one of them exclaimed.
“You wouldn’t, Duke Carmine! Do you mean to turn over our heads to beg the king to spare your own?!” another one screamed.
“Th-This isn’t fair!” a third one shouted.
“Curse you! This is dirty, Georg Carmine!”
When he heard the nobles still talking like that, Georg sighed once more in disappointment. “I take offense at the suggestion that I am anything like you people…Take them away.”
The bound nobles were led out of the room by the soldiers.
Some tried to resist, but having already been forced into slave collars, their master Beowulf merely willed for the collars to constrict, knocking them unconscious.
Even once the door was closed and they were out of sight, they could still be heard cursing Georg foully from the corridor. After a little while, those voices faded and at last Georg returned to his seat. Then, exhaling deeply, he asked Beowulf a question.
“What has become of their personal troops and the Zemish mercenaries?”
“Sir, they are being detained by our forces as we speak.”
Hearing Beowulf’s response, Georg nodded in satisfaction. Then, as if casting off the stern mask he had worn all this time, a gentle smile came to his face.
“I have done as I sought to. Now, I have no regrets in this world.”
In contrast to Georg, who looked bright and cheerful, Beowulf bore a look of agony.
When he thought of what he had to do now, it must have weighed on him heavily. Georg understood how Beowulf felt, so he gave the order as calmly as he could.
“Now then, Beowulf. Could I ask that you do the same for me?”
“…Yes, sir.” He showed a moment’s hesitation, but Beowulf wrapped a slave collar around Georg’s neck, as well.
Even though he was receiving a death collar that would force him into absolute subservience to his new master, Georg wore a calm expression, like he might when asking his wife to adjust the fancy bow-tie he intended to wear to a wedding reception. With the slave collar wrapped around his neck, Georg now gave his final order as General of the Army.
“Dispatch a messenger to deliver our surrender to the Forbidden Army and place yourself at His Majesty’s command. All of the men and officers, with the exception of the corrupt nobles and their troops, acted only under my orders. I bear responsibility for all their crimes. From here on… I leave things to you and Glaive. Do I make myself understood?”
“…Yes, sir. I will do so at once.” Beowulf saluted him and left the room.
After watching him go, Georg opened the bottom drawer of the office desk.
Inside was a bottle of wine from the year Princess Liscia had been born. It had been given to him by the former king, Albert, with the request, “No matter what should happen, I want you to protect my daughter.” He had held onto it dearly ever since that day.
After Liscia’s graduation from the officers’ academy, during the time when he had kept her at his side, he had often told her, “On the day of your wedding, I intend to drink myself into a stupor with this wine” with a laugh.
Her marriage… huh, he thought. Not being able to see the princess on her wedding day is my one regret, but if I think of this as the greatest wedding gift anyone could offer, it doesn’t feel so bad. As for this wine… I will have to ask someone to see that it makes its way to that young king. Though, as he is the man who stole the princess from me, I am somewhat loath to do it.
With a self-mocking laugh, he imagined Souma and Liscia standing next to each other on their wedding day.
Will the king himself enter this castle, I wonder? I would dearly like to meet him in person and to talk just once.
That was Georg’s wish, but what came instead was a messenger.
“Reporting! King Souma did not enter Randel and has already departed leading the Forbidden Army to the west!”
…was what his report said.
Then, right after that, he also reported that orders had arrived saying, “Once the army is reorganized under Beowulf and Glaive Magna, they are to follow after the Forbidden Army at once.”
When he received that report, Georg’s eyes went wide for a moment.
“If you are to be a great tree blocking my path, I will step over you.”
He recalled Souma’s face when the young king had said those words. And so, Georg understood at once. “Gya ha ha! I see, so that was it! The king was looking to land a big fish of his own!”
Suddenly understanding everything, he let out a hearty laugh.
“I see! I’ve been used as a stepping stone! Was this the king’s plan? Or was it the Black-robed Prime Minister? Regardless, it was brilliant, young ones! This is the dawn of a new generation! My time has now ended. Now, my king, my princess! Hand in hand, step over this old tree and be on your way! Glory to the new buds, and glory to Elfrieden!”
As he witnessed the end of his own era, Georg blessed it with all his heart.
“Sacrifice the Plum Tree to Preserve the Peach Tree.”
That was the stratagem that Georg had followed, achieving the greater victory by sacrificing himself.
Let’s sort out the details of the battle up until this point.
First, this series of battles began when the three dukes opposed the former king’s abdication, choosing not to swear loyalty to me. Ever since I had been given the throne, the three dukes had been secluding themselves in their duchies along with the armies they controlled.
The three dukes had been uncooperative during the period when I was gathering personnel and desperately trying to get this country back on its feet. Then, a number of nobles that I was having investigated for corruption as part of my reconstruction of the economy fled. When they took refuge in Carmine’s Duchy, that was one event that pushed us into a more definite state of opposition.
Then, when I had issued an ultimatum the other day, things had finally developed to the point where the king and the three dukes were in open conflict.
However, one of the three dukes, Admiral of the Navy, Excel Walter, swore her loyalty to me when issued the ultimatum. This prevented the Forbidden Army and the Navy from coming into conflict.