The various lords hadn’t taken Julius seriously and kept acting rebelliously, and if he’d raised taxes to pay the reparations, the people’s discontent would have been bound to explode. If a civil war had broken out, he wouldn’t have been able to pay the reparations.
That was why I had moved to make it so I could reoccupy Van.
Now, even if he had failed to pay the reparations, it might not have been that profitable, but I could still keep up appearances as the victor. I had abolished the Carmine and Vargas duchies, after all, and had secured enough rewards for the domestic audience. Now, as for the request from the people of Van, it was actually a method that was open to me when the Empire came to demand its return. I could have installed an interim Lord of Van, then had them request integration with the Kingdom of Elfrieden.
Even so, I chose to return the city for a time before making a move like that, in order to let the Empire take the position that they had mediated.
If I had taken advantage of the hole in the Mankind Declaration at that point in time, forcing them to recognize our sovereignty over Van, it would have been throwing mud in the Empire’s face. That was why I had agreed to return it, to let the Empire look good. Doing it this way, even if we took possession of the city again, it wouldn’t do anything to shake the Empire’s authority.
So, in that way, while the kingdom’s eyes had been only on Van, something unexpected had happened outside of it.
The reoccupation force from the kingdom began forming themselves up to defend the city from the forces of the principality, which would no doubt be coming straight back with Julius leading them, but… in the end, Julius never returned to Van. When the forces under Julius finished putting down the riots and had tried to return to the newly-reoccupied Van, a new report came in. Multiple reports, in fact.
At the same time as the Elfrieden Kingdom had dispatched its troops, disturbances had broken out in many places, all across Van, and all at the same time. Each of them was different.
One said that people who had been oppressed by their lord had rioted, wiping out the lord’s family and occupying their city.
One said that a major noble who looked down on Julius’s abilities had launched a rebellion to replace him.
One said that a noble who was pained by Julius’s suppression of the people in the northwest had taken it upon himself to shelter those who had escaped and was taking a stance against Julius.
One said that Roroa’s supporters, upset that Julius had ignored the existence of his younger sister when he’d taken the throne, had raised troops to resist him…
The list went on, and there were as many reasons as there were uprisings.
Among the uprisings, there were even cities that had seen the Jewel Voice Broadcasts that came from the Elfrieden Kingdom and requested that they be annexed like Van. Strangely, though their reasons varied, they all did it at the same time, as though they had been conspiring to do it in advance.
Before we knew what had happened, the Go board that was the Principality of Amidonia was overflowing with black stones of rebellion, and the white stones that were the forces of the principality under Julius had been put in a state of “damezumari,” a shortage of liberties.
With no way to tell friend from foe, the forces of the principality under Julius, despite being inside their own country, were surrounded by enemies on all sides. Once they found themselves in that situation, fighting the forces of the kingdom while also quelling the rebellion became impossible.
The forces of the principality under Julius saw a rash of desertions, and the footsteps of the rebel forces drew ever nearer.
Ultimately, the forces of the principality scattered, and Julius fled with a meager retinue to seek asylum in the Empire. Thus, for a time, Amidonia became fractured and leaderless.
From the kingdom’s perspective, we were able to reoccupy Van, and an enemy state had fallen apart. It was an unexpected turn of events, but we couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
…Up until this point, at least.
However, that fracturing didn’t last for long. No, it couldn’t last.
Because a foreign enemy invaded Amidonia.
The ones to move were the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria in the north, and the Turgis Republic in the south. The Mercenary State Zem to the west had its policy of eternal neutrality, so it showed no signs of invading, but it was probably selling its mercenaries to both of the invaders.
The Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria was the center of Lunarian Orthodoxy which worshiped the moon goddess Lunaria. It was a theocracy with their pope serving as a religious and temporal ruler. Lunarian Orthodoxy stood next to Mother Dragon worship as one of the two largest faiths on this continent. The latter revered the Mother Dragon who lived in the Star Dragon Mountain Range.
Lunarian Orthodoxy doctrine preached love for all mankind, mutual cooperation, and tolerance, but some zealous believers held ideologies that were hostile to other religions. In that way, it was similar to Judaism, Christianity, or Islam on Earth.
Incidentally, the Elfrieden Kingdom, as a multiracial state, placed no laws on what faith its people should follow, and everyone followed whatever religions they pleased. It positioned itself as a polytheistic state.
Let’s get back to the topic.
In response to the rioting, the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria deployed its troops along the border, justifying it in the name of protecting their coreligionists within the Principality of Amidonia.
They gave shelter to the faithful who fled Amidonia, and showed that they were prepared to advance into Amidonian territory should that become necessary. However, they moved slowly.
They were likely aware of the forces of the kingdom deployed near Van, and were taking a “wait and see” approach in order to avoid clashing with us.
The ones who actually crossed the border were the Turgis Republic in the south.
This continent got colder the further south you went. As the southernmost nation, Turgis was a land of frigid cold. Their southern peninsula in particular was locked in snow and ice for most of the year, and the air currents were wild enough to make flying wyverns drop from the air. In the face of that harshness of nature, it’s said that even the Empire at the height of its power had been unable to touch this country.
This country’s soldiers rode on giant yak-like creatures that only lived in their country, and they were said to be invincible when it came to battles on cold terrain.
The news that the forces of the Turgis Republic had invaded quickly spread throughout the principality. As it stood, the principality was disorganized and would be easily carved up. If Turgis was invading from the south, Lunaria would no doubt invade from the north before all of the spoils were taken. If that happened, Amidonia would collapse and would be ruled by two separate powers.
Fortunately, forces of the Turgis Republic had their advance impeded by a fierce resistance put up by the lord of the fortress city Nelva, the battle-hardened old commander Herman. If they were going to be divided and ruled separately, weren’t they better off having a single person who they could trust rule over their entire country instead? When the people of the principality thought that, what came to mind was the cheerful face of the king of the neighboring country which they had seen over the Jewel Voice Broadcast. That young king who had ruled the princely capital Van without issue, and who had even hired General Wonder, the woman who had tried to demonstrate her loyalty to the principality.
…Well, basically, it was me.
The next thing I knew, it had become mainstream opinion in Amidonia that they should seek annexation by the Elfrieden Kingdom and resist Turgis and Lunaria that way.