novelraw Chapter 122: Revolution Defense War - Krafte (4)
Chapter 122: Revolution Defense War - Krafte (4)
Descending from the Carriage, the building I entered was more like a military headquarters than a palace, with its simple and efficient interior.
Guided by Chancellor Wittenfeld, the Great King’s Room I entered also lacked any decoration, of course, and even a throne.
In the very center of the rather spacious room was a long table reminiscent of a strategy meeting room, and chairs lined up neatly.
And beyond that long table, a man leaning on a cane with both hands, looking towards the balcony, was visible.
Presumably, that man is the Great King of Krafte.
“Your Majesty the Great King, I have brought him as commanded.”
Chancellor Wittenfeld, as if his role ended with guiding me this far, looked at me, and said.
“Then, may you have a pleasant conversation.”
……It doesn’t seem like it will be very pleasant.
Regardless of my thoughts, Wittenfeld withdrew without any lingering attachment.Then, the Great King slowly turned his back and faced me.
“Welcome, Marquis Lafayette. Karl II, the Great King of Krafte, welcomes you.”
“Pierre de Lafayette, Commander-in-Chief of the Francia Revolutionary Army, greets Your Majesty the Great King of Krafte.”
As far as I know, the Great King is an old man of 60, and indeed his hair is white, but perhaps due to his posture or demeanor, he looks much younger.
The Great King smiled faintly, nodded at me, then extended his hand and offered a seat.
“Sit. Do you enjoy coffee?”
“Yes, I am rather fond of it.”
Christine drinks coffee so often that I've come to enjoy it too, by association.
Though it seems she drinks coffee more for work than for pleasure.
“Well, that’s good then.”
The Great King nodded satisfactorily, sat in the seat of honor, and began to brew coffee in a rather unique way, personally boiling water with a magic tool.
……It’s coffee alright, but there’s alcohol, and other unidentifiable things in it.
Though I was quite skeptical, the Great King, after calmly savoring the scent of the variously blended coffee, offered it to me with a confident demeanor.
“It seems to have turned out well. Would you care for a taste?”
“……It is an honor, Your Majesty.”
I couldn’t very well refuse coffee personally brewed and offered by the Great King of a nation.
“Hmm.”
The scent is very, very strong.
Steeling myself and taking a sip, the Great King’s coffee had a very unique and deep flavor, a mixture of coffee’s inherent bitterness, the scent of alcohol, and a tingling sensation on the tongue.
“This is…….”
Incredible.
Honestly, I was suspicious, but it’s the most intense coffee I’ve ever tasted.
“You seem to have done considerable research. It is truly excellent.”
The Great King, looking quite pleased, had a very satisfied expression on his face.
“Haha, I’m glad you recognize it. I am a man who cannot attend to state affairs without this.”
Well now.
Still, the start isn’t bad.
The atmosphere is good, so from now on it’s up to me-
“Wouldn’t it be truly gratifying for an enemy one faces on the Battlefield to appreciate one’s tastes?”
At the Great King’s words as he leisurely savored his coffee, I nearly spat out the coffee in my Mouth.
“Your Majesty……? Forgive my impertinence, but I must have misheard……”
“I intend to wage War with Francia.”
The Great King spoke as if he were merely inviting me for dinner.
……Is he mad?
As a storm raged in my head, it was a long time before I could barely open my Mouth.
“……I thought Your Majesty summoned me to discuss diplomacy between our two nations.”
“Is not War the fundamental and core issue in diplomacy between nations?”
No, did he call me after already deciding to go to War?
Damn it, should I have known when he refused Talleyrand's request and summoned me, a military commander?
No wonder that Talleyrand fellow, after bothering to come all this way, skipped this place and went straight to the Eastern Empire.
I swallowed dryly and looked at the Great King, who was leisurely savoring his coffee with a smile.
No matter how I look at him, he’s suspiciously calm for a King who has just declared War.
Is he serious?
Or is it a threat?
Should I have forcibly dragged that damn Talleyrand here?
After some thought, I took a deep breath and opened my mouth.
“Forgive my impertinence, but I cannot understand Your Majesty the Great King's decision.”
“Ho-oh, and why is that?”
“The Krafte Kingdom's main Enemy is not Francia. It is the Germania Empire, or more precisely, the current Emperor, the Grand Duchy of Sudenreich.”
From the outset, the Great King of Krafte was famous as a Figurehead of the anti-Emperor Faction within the Germania Empire.
Although the position of Emperor of the Germania Empire has been held by the Feudal Lords of the Grand Duchy of Sudenreich for the past few hundred years, making it seem almost hereditary, it is strictly an elected position by the Prince-electors.
“The authority of the Emperor, the Grand Duke of Sudenreich, has already waned, and the Empire has lost the capacity to sustain further War.”
Due to the unreasonable War waged against us, the current Emperor's national Power is in a state of collapse, and the Krafte Kingdom, if it merely maintains its current state, it can aim for the next emperorship.
“Your Majesty the Great King need only wait for the Empire's authority to further decline and fall into chaos. Then, it would not be a dream for an Emperor of the Empire to be elected from the Krafte Kingdom. Is there any reason to go to War at this point and thereby help the Empire?”
“Hoo-”
The Great King smiled and opened his mouth.
“The Kaiserin might have offered me sufficient concessions.”
The Empress of the Empire, Cecilia, visited him personally, she said.
“If this War ends in the Empire's complete defeat, the Kaiserin will not be able to protect the Power she currently holds. Will the concessions promised by someone who cannot even protect her own Power be properly guaranteed?”
Ordinarily, concessions promised by an empress should be guaranteed by the emperor who transferred that authority.
However, this is not an ordinary situation.
The Emperor seems half out of his Mind, and concessions that would satisfy the Great King of Krafte, the leader of the anti-Emperor Faction, would have exceeded what an empress about to lose Power could guarantee.
The Great King, smiling, looked at me and then spoke.
“Indeed, you are not merely one who excels on the Battlefield.”
The Great King smiled leisurely.
‘This old man declares War, and he can smile in such a situation?’
The moment I thought that.
I heard some noise.
Rhythmically, from a distance,
It was gradually approaching.
Thump-
Thump-
Only when it got somewhat closer did I realize it was a sound familiar to me.
The Footsteps of an army marching in unison.
It was approaching the palace.
The Great King slowly rose from his seat, picked up the cane he had been leaning against the Chair, and gestured to me.
“Since you are a valued guest who has come from afar, I shall let you hear my music.”
Music, he says.
As I rose from my seat, the Great King led me to the balcony.
Until that moment, the rhythmic thump-thump- sound of Footsteps had been audible, and now it seemed to shake the entire palace – as I stepped out onto the balcony with the Great King, Krafte soldiers, goose-stepping, their Legs raised to their Waists, marched thump-thump- and lined up in the parade ground below the balcony.
When their formation was complete, the Great King spoke.
“The Emperor of the Empire.”
The ruler of all Germanians, elected by the most prominent Prince-electors in the Empire.
A position that any Feudal Lords of the Germania Empire would dream of.
However, the Great King’s Face showed no Emotion whatsoever as he uttered those words.
“What Glory and value is there in seizing the imperial throne from an Empire already ruined by an utterly incompetent Emperor?”
The Great King raised his cane and readjusted his grip.
In response, the officers below the balcony raised their swords-
“The imperial throne of an Empire whose authority has already crumbled holds no value, Marquis. What is important to me is not such a trivial thing, but a Stage on which to prove my music, its worth.”
The Great King swung his cane.
Like a conductor of an orchestra waving his baton.
And in response, the Krafte officers simultaneously signaled with their swords and Flags.
Without any shouted commands or even calls in response, the Krafte army began to move in perfect unison.
As if determined not to introduce any discordant noise into the Great King’s music, as if they were merely instruments used in his music.
“They call me the leader of the anti-Emperor Faction.”
Under the Great King’s command.
Thump-
Footsteps echoed with nary an error-
“Because they are beings who cannot even begin to comprehend my Essence / Core, I have let them chatter as they please.”
Bang-
Without even a preparatory command, the Muskets raised in unison fired, the sound shaking the palace not like the volley of an army, but like a single cannon shot.
“Is it not beautiful?”
At the Great King’s forceful downward signal, the cannons fired in unison, unleashing a roar that shook the very foundations of the earth.
“It is a discipline that can only be maintained by Training soldiers as if carving them down during 10 years of service.”
Each one less a Human Being and more a component of a vast war machine.
Commanding an army that seemed to embody the very word ‘discipline,’ the Great King declared.
“I am a challenger.”
Those countless soldiers are the String instruments conducted by the Great King.
“I challenged the Empire because it was mighty. Though we achieved Victory after a seven-year War, due to the limits of Krafte’s national Power, a complete Victory could not be achieved.”
Their guns are the wind instruments.
“I could not be satisfied with that, so I prepared for a long time after that War ended. However, the Empire is crumbling before you.”
Matching the Great King’s words, his hand wields the cane, and the Melody produced by the moving army resounds endlessly.
“Thus, they are no longer a worthy Enemy for me. Therefore, my soldiers and I require another Stage on which to perform a concert befitting our preparations and efforts.”
The Great King, like a conductor finishing a performance, swung his cane and clenched his other hand into a fist.
In response, the Krafte army fired their Muskets in unison, then turned them and slammed them onto the ground, coming to a simultaneous halt.
The gunshots and Footsteps shake the palace, bringing a pressure like that felt on a Battlefield.
The Great King, turning to me as I thrilled at the sound, struck the floor with his cane and leaned on it with both hands.
“Therefore, you have surpassed the Empire I aimed for and prepared a Stage worthy of me and my soldiers. I request a War from you, with gratitude and respect.”
The Great King, having finished the orchestral performance, which was more intense with the heat of War than any Battlefield, smiled radiantly.
This is truly insane.
I had expected the Great King to be unpredictable, but this is beyond Ideal.
He had already decided to go to War, so why bother calling me and putting on such an extravagant Performance as a request for War?
Would anything I say here even have any meaning?
However.
The Faces of the soldiers who had just barely found hope by winning the War against the Empire came to mind.
The Queen, who had spared no effort and worked herself to exhaustion, hoping only for them to enjoy peace and happiness.
And above all, the future that Christine and my people would want.
I took a moment to compose myself and then opened my Mouth.
“……I have heard that Your Majesty, as a great and wise King who cares for his Common People, was offered the title of ‘Great King’ by the Common People themselves.”
The Great King is watching me with an amused Face.
“And so?”
“Yet Your Majesty is now about to decide on a War that offers no Profit whatsoever to the national interest.”
I looked at him as defiantly as possible and added,
“In that case, does Your Majesty truly deserve to be called ‘Great King’?”
“Did I ask the Common People to call me Great King?”
“…….”
“I have led this country for my own sake. Enlightening the Common People and bestowing prosperity upon them was because it was expedient for my goals.”
The legend of an era, who had not sought it himself but had come to be called Great King by the Common People, answered with a lofty Smile.
“As a Result, since they call me an enlightened absolute monarch and Great King, I have sufficiently dedicated myself to the nation. In that case, do I not also have the right to command the Common People to dedicate themselves to me?”
This is hopeless.
To the Great King, the Common People and the nation are merely means to an end.
What is important to him is only the Stage on which to display his Power, the Glory he will seize with his own hands.
This is like
……The blue knight.
The feeling of confronting a ghost I had sent away long ago made me bite my Lip.
Even at this very moment, below the balcony, the Krafte army stands, maintaining Overwhelming discipline without even a twitch, ready to obey any command from the Great King.
Can the Revolutionary Army fight them and win?
Against what is less a Human army and more a giant war machine moving according to the Great King’s Will?
Yet the Great King himself stands loftily, leaning on his cane with both hands, watching me with an amused Face.
“……As Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Army, neither Her Majesty the Queen nor Francia desires War with your esteemed country.”
“Regrettable, Marquis. As a member of the Empire, I will willingly go to War at the Kaiserin’s request to prevent the complete collapse of the Empire. If the Empire maintains its form, will not the imperial throne that my successor will inherit also remain?”
He talks a good game, a warmonger who cares nothing for such things, merely wandering in search of a Battlefield worthy of him.
I sighed and opened my Mouth.
“Let’s make a deal, Your Majesty the Great King.”
“Ho-oh, a deal, a deal. Marquis, do You have a card You can play against me?”
“We will Retreat from the Rhineland.”
Karl II tilted his head slightly.
“What value does that hold for me?”
“We will sign a truce with the Empire. Give us two years.”
“I cannot understand what You mean.”
To the Great King’s puzzled Face, I twisted my Lips into a Smile and replied.
“Your Majesty said the Empire was no longer a worthy Enemy because it had already collapsed.”
The Queen’s request is merely a pretext; ultimately, this War has nothing to do with Krafte’s national interest.
Only the Great King’s personal Will.
Not satisfied with having subjugated the Emperor through seven years of War and elevating Krafte to the hegemon of the northern Empire, for the Great King, it is a challenge to seize even greater Glory.
“If the Great King and Krafte achieve Victory against Francia, which has been impoverished by continuous civil War, Revolution, and War with the Germania Empire, will future historians truly praise it as a Victory seized by the Great King’s greatness?”
For the first time, the Great King’s eyes widened-
“Keuk…….”
And then he burst into Laughter.
“Khahahaha!”
A foolish, ridiculous demand to give the Enemy time to recover.
However, if it’s this man.
“If You grant it, I too will make the utmost preparations to challenge a living legend, for the sake of a Stage that will never again be offered to Your Majesty the Great King.”
The Great King, who had been roaring with Laughter, spoke with a Face that looked like he was dying of amusement.
“I trust You are not praying for me to die of old age, Marquis.”
Ah, I think I’d be happy if You did.
No matter how I look at it, this old man in front of me, who is not just healthy but practically radiating vitality, doesn’t seem like he will.
“……Your Majesty seems as though You would kick open Your coffin and emerge, should the War You have longed for arise.”
“Keuk, khahahaha!”
The Great King burst into Laughter again, and after laughing for a long time, he spoke.
“You, I quite like You. Very well. I shall grant You two years, Marquis Lafayette.”
His eyes flashing with Expectation and elation, the Great King declared.
“Do not disappoint me.”