novelraw Chapter 118: Revolution Defense War - Kaiserin
Chapter 118: Revolution Defense War - Kaiserin
Before Marquis Lafayette, nearly 20,000 Imperial soldiers knelt.
Ten thousand were captured or surrendered to the Revolutionary Army's Chasseurs while fleeing, and countless soldiers deserted during the disorderly retreat.
The Empire's Hussars, who would normally crack down on and apprehend deserters, had long since been crushed by Francia's cavalry.
The Imperial Army barely managed to retreat to the Rhineland, but the forces that arrived numbered less than 10,000.
An Imperial Army of 50,000 had vanished in an instant, and even the Empire's hero and renowned general, Grand Duke Johann Leopold, had fallen.
With the Revolutionary Army advancing into the Rhineland under such circumstances, Duke Heinrich and Count Wittelsbach could only gather the remaining troops and retreat.
*
Germanburg, capital of the Germania Empire.
“Johann, Johann……!”
The Kaiser of the Empire, Otto II, roared Grand Duke Leopold’s name as he hurled his glass against the wall.“Return Our army, Our army to Us!”
“Your Majesty……”
Cecilia bit her lip, unable to bring herself to stop her husband.
“100,000! Where has Our army of 100,000 gone!”
Otto II, breathing heavily, whirled around and approached Cecilia.
“What has happened, Cecilia! Did you not tell Us to trust that man! And yet Johann, that man repays Our benevolence with such ingratitude!”
“Yo-Your Majesty. Please calm yourse-”
“An army of 50,000 vanishing without even a fight? Do you think that makes sense? It was strange from the start that the Imperial Army suffered defeat after defeat against the likes of Francia, which was exhausted by civil war! Johann, that man must have colluded with Francia!”
Before the wailing Emperor, Cecilia closed her eyes tightly and opened her mouth.
“Your Majesty, Grand Duke Leopold is……”
However, before Cecilia could finish her sentence, Otto II reached out and grasped her shoulders.
“Cecilia, my beloved Cecilia. Surely you are not about to defend that incompetent loser before Us?”
“Your Majesty, I……”
“You must not do so. When those lawless ones always ignored Us and denied Us, did you not tell Us they simply failed to recognize Our true intentions? When everyone turned their backs on Us, were you not always on Our side?”
While Cecilia stood speechless, Otto II, with half-mad eyes, began to ramble.
“It was you who defended that man We intended to cast out……. Surely not you too, no, no. It cannot be……”
“Your Majesty, you must compose yourself. Right now, the Feudal Lords are-”
Cecilia reached out to take Otto II’s hands, trying to calm him, but he shook her off.
“Silence! Are you telling Us to suffer the humiliation of being torn apart by that pack of wolves again?”
“Your Majesty!”
“This, this war was not started at your request. Cecilia, you must step forward. Is not Our will your will? Have you not always worked for Us?”
As he spoke, Otto II looked as haggard as when he had been defeated by the Great King of Krafte.
Feeling everything she had painstakingly built by coddling, soothing, and comforting him for all those long years collapsing, Cecilia almost staggered.
“Help Us this time as well. This war must continue. We must win! We cannot end it like this! If it ends like this, We, We will once again be like that time……”
Otto II, tearing at his hair, muttered with bloodshot eyes.
“We cannot live like that. Whatever the Feudal Lords say, even if it means burning down everything in the Empire, this war must be won. No matter what, use any means necessary to end this war in victory!”
*
Cecilia, Kaiserin of the Germania Empire, walked down the palace corridor, gazing at the scenery below the window.
The garden, filled with lush vegetation in the height of summer, was in full bloom, but to Cecilia, it all appeared merely in monochrome.
Cecilia let out a sneer at the sight, which looked strikingly similar to what she had seen when she first came to the Empire as a young child bride.
–"Continue the war? Isn't the Empire being trampled under their jackboots right now? Are you mad to make a decision to continue the war here?"
–"Do you think the Kaiser's will is everything? Who doesn't know that the Kaiser is wrapped around your little finger? Ah, perhaps it's because you share the blood of those Francia bastards? Are you trying to drive the Empire to ruin?"
–"The Duchy of Stras will withdraw from this war. Ha, the armies that were to withdraw were all ground down by your 'great' Imperial hero, so we just need to cut off financial support!"
–"While we must endure humiliation and repatriate the families of those damned rebels, the Empire that started the war can do nothing and won't even agree to a ceasefire? What value is there in an Empire that cannot protect its feudal states?"
–"We will never let this pass, Kaiserin. If the Kaiser does not compensate for the losses and humiliation we have suffered, we will make him do so."
Without the Kaiser, Cecilia had to endure the sharp criticism and denunciation of the Feudal Lords by herself.
In the end, without a single exception, every feudal state not only withdrew its support for the war but also demanded compensation from the Empire for all previously provided military expenses, plus damages for the families of the surrendered soldiers they decided to repatriate to Francia.
It wasn't as if the Empire had ordered them to repatriate anyone, but the Feudal Lords, terrified that the Revolutionary Army would attack their own territories, had colluded amongst themselves, made arbitrary decisions, and then unilaterally informed her.
They have no armies or funds to offer the Empire or to fight the Revolutionary Army, but it seems they can prepare an army to intimidate the Empire whose main forces have all collapsed, by colluding amongst themselves.
However, what awaited the exhausted Cecilia was not rest.
“Your Highness. You have a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
“The CEOs of Abyss Corporation’s ‘Pride’ Company and ‘Wrath’ Company are requesting an audience. What are your orders?”
“Hoo-”
Cecilia let out a deflated, mirthless laugh.
Should I call them devils indeed.
To arrive at the most desperate moment, so precisely.
“Let them in. I suppose I must greet them.”
*
At this rate, the Empire would be ruined.
Nevertheless, her husband wanted the war to continue. He refused to accept defeat.
–If you truly feel a sense of responsibility as royalty to care for the people of your homeland, if you wish to make them happy, Your Highness must step down.
If she had listened to her impertinent half-sister and stepped down, would things not have turned out this way?
No.
–That was my right from the beginning.
Cecilia had never doubted it.
Her father, who sold his young, unknowing daughter to an enemy nation and let his own kingdom fall behind the times.
Her brothers, who, indifferent to her hardships in a distant foreign land, craved power and drove the kingdom into civil war.
She, rather than them, was more suited for the throne of Francia. Cecilia believed so, even at this moment.
However.
–If you only yearn for what is lost, and lose even what remains, only greater suffering will be left.
A puppet queen of a bastard line, propped up by the Francia mob's regime and aristocratic traitors.
–I truly wish to avoid such a thing, but if it is unavoidable, my place is not on the throne, but beside them. On the battlefield where they will bleed, under their flag, I will protect them until the moment my body breaks.
Her impertinent half-sister had indeed kept the words she had uttered.
To the extent that even the enemy army, and even Cecilia who merely received reports, dared not deny the praise of ‘Saintess-Queen’.
She started a war because there was no other way for her to be compensated for what was taken from her.
She led those to the battlefield who had once despised her as a young foreigner but had come to praise her as the Kaiserin of the Empire.
Because she didn't believe she would lose.
Because she believed it was the natural order of things to achieve victory and grasp the rights that were hers.
However, if one invades, it is natural to be prepared to be invaded.
If one tries to take, it is reasonable that one might also be taken from.
She should have known.
To Cecilia, Kaiserin of the Empire, the Princess Cecilia who coveted the throne of Francia.
–Does Your Highness possess such resolve? Will you stand on the same battlefield as the soldiers you send to war? Have you ever thought about the families who will grieve their deaths?
Did she have such resolve?
Cecilia, who had been lost in thought while sitting on the Kaiserin's throne in the Audience Chamber in the Kaiser's absence, raised her head and looked at the two demons striding in.
A giant with white hair, clad in jet-black armor adorned with a shattered demon king's crown.
A red-haired demon, dressed in an admiral's uniform and cap.
“CEO Baal of Abyss Corporation’s ‘Pride’ Company, pays his respects, Kaiserin Cecilia of the Germania Empire.”
“CEO Barbatos of Abyss Corporation’s ‘Wrath’ Company, greets you!”
Cecilia twisted her lips into a sneer and replied.
“In place of the great Kaiser of the Germania Empire, We welcome you. So, your business?”
“On behalf of Abyss Corporation, We have come to discuss the matter of repayment for the loan Our company provided.”
“Yes, I see.”
The demons' money, borrowed in the belief she could easily repay it by achieving victory alongside the Feudal Lords and seizing Francia.
The army obtained with that money had all either surrendered to the enemy, been annihilated, or withdrawn by the Feudal Lords to be used to intimidate the Empire.
“It is regrettable to inform you thus, but judging by the recent war situation, Our company feels the need to somewhat adjust the credit rating of the Empire and the Kaiserin.”
As Baal said this, his face remained utterly solemn and expressionless, conveying no sense of regret at all.
“Ha, I see. So, you've come to collect your money, is that it?”
“But that would be realistically impossible. We hear your Kaiser wishes for the war to continue.”
“……And so?”
Baal replied with a smile that mirrored Cecilia’s, a mere twisting of the lips.
“Repayment of the loan may be difficult, but are there not other substitutes?”
“‘Substitutes’, you say.”
“Indeed. We hear the Imperial citizens are agitated due to the seditious ideas spread from Francia. If you make an example of those ‘impure’ individuals, would the Empire not become more stable?”
“Ha, hahaha……”
Cecilia let out a mirthless laugh.
The Kaiser wanted the war to continue.
But with all the Feudal Lords having withdrawn, the Empire had no money for it.
It was overwhelming enough just to repay the demons' loans; there was no way they could afford to wage war.
“So, you want Us to sell Imperial citizens to you to repay the debt?”
“Correct. The Empire has humans in abundance. If Your Highness makes the decision, Our company is willing to significantly upgrade the Empire’s credit rating. If so, additional financing to continue the war would also be possible. ……Is it not needed?”
They presented an alternative that would solve everything at once.
As if they had been waiting, they appeared at the most desperate moment and offered the sweetest temptation.
“To my worthless brothers, you must have done this in the same way.”
Baal did not answer, and Cecilia smiled.
–Your Highness. How is such an act any different from our father, the King, who ignored Your Highness’s sorrow and hardship and sent you away to the Empire?
Because she hated those who had only taken from her and then selfishly disappeared.
Because she wanted compensation for it somehow, she could not fall to the same place as them.
Cecilia rose from the throne and replied.
“I refuse.”
“……We cannot understand. If Your Highness refuses Our company's proposal, We will proceed with the seizure of Imperial assets to recover the loan.”
There was no place untouched by Abyss Corporation’s capital.
Even if they weren't Imperial family assets, if they seized the assets of feudal states claiming they belonged to the Empire, the feudal states, powerless against Abyss Corporation, would hold the Imperial family responsible instead.
“Then it would become impossible for Your Highness to wage war at all?”
Cecilia sneered and raised her hand.
“Are there not other ways?”
Simultaneously, the doors of the Audience Chamber opened, and heavily armed knights and soldiers swarmed in.
“For two CEOs of Abyss Corporation, would the Holy Theocracy not offer an even greater reward, and then some?”
A moment of silence passed.
She had confirmed they were unarmed before they entered the Audience Chamber. Even if they were Great Demons, this should be manageable.
The moment Cecilia, having made that judgment, swallowed dryly.
“Kuk, kuhahahahaha!”
Baal, who had maintained a solemn expression until then, suddenly burst into laughter.
While everyone froze for a moment at the laughter erupting from just two demons surrounded by hundreds of knights and soldiers, Barbatos spoke.
“Baal, permission requested. Can I fight?”
“Permission granted, Barbatos.”
“Hahahat!”
“Attack!”
As Barbatos's laughter and Cecilia's voice erupted simultaneously, the knights charged.
When Barbatos spread her arms, pistols were already in her hands.
“Wh-Where from?”
While Cecilia was bewildered, the blood-red gems embedded in the two pistols cast an eerie light—and gunshots rang out.
“Keoheok!”
“Aaargh!”
There was no reloading as gunshots rang out in rapid succession.
Her hands, moving too fast for the eyes to follow, danced, and in time with them, the knights' screams erupted.
When Barbatos, having spun around the Audience Chamber, extending, thrusting, and crossing her arms, blew on the pistols that were hot from excessive mana projection.
All the knights who had charged at Baal and Barbatos lay fallen.
“Ugh, uwaaaah……”
“Monster……!”
“Eeh, performance of this new product is excellent. However, overheating is excessive. Improvement needed.”
As Barbatos, repeatedly blowing on her pistols, uttered a word, the hesitating knights charged again.
“N-Now! Attack!”
Barbatos parried the charging knight's sword with a pistol, then smoothly deflected and pulled.
“Huh-huh?”
The knight, unbalanced by the fluid movement as if wielding the pistol like a dagger, lost his sword as Barbatos pulled it with her pistol—he dropped it immediately.
“Regrettable. This CEO is also proficient in melee combat.”
Barbatos tucked one pistol into her belt and snatched the sword, then swung it, severing the helmeted knight’s head as if it were a turnip.
Barbatos, a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other, smiled and spoke.
“Assessment of your forces: extremely inferior, lacking tension. Please come at me all at once."
From the next moment on, it was nothing but a one-sided slaughter.
Amidst the screams and bloodshed of the Imperial Army, Cecilia suppressed her trembling body and faced Baal.
The demon, who, right before her nose, hadn't even drawn a weapon, stood looking at her with his arms crossed.
“This should suffice to prove Our company has sufficient ability to recover the debt owed by the Empire. We ask again, Kaiserin Cecilia. Are you willing to provide the Empire’s ‘humans’ for loan repayment?”
Cecilia glanced sideways and saw her royal guards utterly massacred and the few remaining soldiers finally fleeing.
“No.”
“I see. In that case, Kaiserin. Your actions constitute an act of hostility, forsaking all credit with Abyss Corporation. Therefore, there is no reason for us not to ‘dispose’ of you. We ask one last time. Will you not reconsider?”
Cecilia bit her lip.
Her half-sister had asked if she had the resolve.
The moment she came to this land, Princess Cecilia of Francia had died; the position of Kaiserin of the Empire was everything to her.
Even if those who had praised her as the most fitting Empress for Germania when she raised the Empire's prestige and was lauded for her competence, now flipped their hands and cursed the Empress from Francia for ruining the country.
If the war she started out of a yearning for recompense would ultimately bring her ruin, she would remain the Kaiserin of the Empire until that moment of ruin, not a puppet of demons.
“If you can, then try to kill me, demon. Whatever I have done, if you kill me, the Kaiserin, in the heart of the Empire, the sense of crisis you fiends have painstakingly diluted for hundreds of years will instantly consume humanity.”
“Hoo-”
Baal’s lips twisted upwards, and he extended a hand towards Cecilia.
As Cecilia forcibly straightened her body, which was about to flinch reflexively, Baal patted her shoulder and chuckled.
“Indeed, better than King Louis. Barbatos, we are leaving.”
“Eh, no war?”
“No war, Barbatos. Our company profits from asset seizure alone.”
“Boo- Boo- ‘Wrath’ Company expresses its regret. Too boring.”
Leaving Cecilia, who had collapsed onto her seat, her strength gone, the two demons strode confidently out of the Audience Chamber.
To Cecilia, who was staring at the blood-soaked Audience Chamber with a dumbfounded face, a lady-in-waiting rushed over, panting.
“K-K-Kaiserin. Are you alright?”
After a long silence.
“To the Krafte Kingdom, convey this to their king.”
Cecilia said, tears streaming down her face.
“That the Kaiserin of the Empire will seek an audience with the Great King.”