novelraw Chapter 126: Iberica - Prelude to the Peninsular War
Chapter 126: Iberica - Prelude to the Peninsular War
As a result of the truce brokered by Krafte, our army began to withdraw from the Rhineland and return to the capital, Lumiere.
Although it was widely known that war with Krafte would come in two years, and even the demobilized regular soldiers were notified of regular training, the atmosphere in the Revolutionary Army was not bad.
This was because in every village the Revolutionary Army passed through, the residents came out to welcome us grandly, offering what little they had.
Perhaps the front-line soldiers and residents were happy just to have found peace, however brief.
They could set aside their worries and rejoice that Francia had won against a powerful empire, rather than fret about the great threat looming in the future.
As someone with the responsibility to prepare for that future, I find that rather enviable.
And as soon as we arrived in the capital, Damien De Millbeau came to me, holding a bundle of all sorts of proposal papers submitted by Giselle Davie.
But in reality, I was dealing with Damien without even getting a look at those proposals.
“Your Excellency Marquis. How, how about we just….”
“No. Go back. I have no intention of changing it.”At my firm words, Count Damien De Millbeau’s face twisted beautifully.
“Y-Your Excellency. The war has only just ended, and I have to manage my long-neglected assets….”
“What assets does a Count who has handed over his domain and property to the Republic have to manage? And with the next war waiting, what do you mean the war is over?”
Damien looked absolutely on the verge of tears.
“Your Excellency Marquis. Please, don’t be like this….”
Growing annoyed, I dropped the polite pretense with this frustrating Count.
“Why, are you planning to flee in the middle of the night?”
Damien hiccuped.
“We barely defeated the Empire, so now you’re too scared to bear the thought of fighting Krafte, isn’t that it?”
“N-no. That’s not it….”
What do you mean, no? It is.
I glared at the utterly pathetic ‘master of defense,’ Damien De Millbeau.
What the hell kind of master of defense is he.
He’s just a cockroach who only cares about surviving comfortably.
If it weren’t for his ability, I wouldn’t want to use a guy like this either.
“Whatever the case, the personnel assignment is unchanged. You are going to the Iberian Peninsula.”
A look of despair washed over Damien’s face.
“Or what, should I entrust the capital to someone like you and take Commander Desaix instead?”
Leaving behind Desaix, who has proven his capability in both diligence and administration and can be trusted with war preparations, to entrust the capital to this man?
To a man who is currently plotting to run away in the middle of the night? What could I possibly trust him with?
“If you are confident you can handle the new soldier training plan and curriculum I’ve drafted as competently as Desaix, and flawlessly manage the stockpiling of military supplies and logistics planning, then I see no reason why you couldn't stay.”
The man who slacked off while I was briefly away in Iberica and then hastily threw together a report at the last minute, would never have such an ability.
“Besides, you seem to be misunderstanding something, Count Milbeau. Surely you don't believe you can live well just by leaving Francia, do you? I think you’re underestimating Countess Aquitaine.”
“Th-that, no, it’s absolutely not that….”
Looking at the pale and trembling Damien, I declared.
“From the moment you shouted for me to save you and surrendered, you were in the same boat as us. But this boat doesn't dock until it reaches its destination. So getting on might have been your choice, but getting off is not.”
“Th-that can’t be….”
Seeing Damien, who looked as if his soul was leaving his body, I grinned.
“Even I, a man with a fiancée, am going. So stop making useless excuses and get your departure preparations in order. We're going to have a great time. Hmm?”
This is the path you chose. Grit your teeth and bear it.
If you didn’t like it, you should have gone to the guillotine.
*
After dealing with Damien so mercilessly, I broke out in a cold sweat.
“……Christine?”
“Yes, Pierre.”
“……Are you comfortable?”
“Yes.”
That was the end of the conversation.
Christine had me sit on the sofa and was now lying with her head on my lap, her eyes closed in silence.
This is much scarier than being openly rebuked or protested against…….
I looked down at the quietly lying Christine with a sense of unease.
To think that after the war with the Empire had just ended, I wouldn't be able to spend even a moment with her and would have to head straight for the Iberian Peninsula. And, of course, Christine would have to manage the capital's political factions and conduct the information war against Krafte in my absence.
Truly, I do nothing but burden her, without properly doing anything for her.
…To be thinking that her distinct features are beautiful even in the midst of this fills me with self-loathing…
I tried to endure it, but in the end, I gave in to the impulse and reached out, cautiously stroking Christine’s face.
At that, Christine slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me.
“I’m currently sulking, you know.”
……I didn’t expect Christine to say it so frankly like this.
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t think it’s your fault, but I don’t feel good about it.”
I gave a bitter smile.
If I were to say she looks cute for expressing her feelings so honestly right now, I might genuinely earn her resentment.
In the end, I said something else.
“……We’ve come quite a long way, haven’t we?”
Christine blinked, then closed her eyes again as she replied.
“We have, Pierre.”
“Taking over the Aquitaine family, fighting King Louis. Joining the Republic, defeating the Storm Witch…….”
As if picking up my words, Christine opened her mouth, her eyes still closed.
“You brought down Valliant, went to the Iberian Peninsula, and then enthroned a queen to fight against the Empire. Now it’s Iberica again, and after that, Krafte…….”
Christine slowly opened her eyes and looked at me.
“Truly, you’re busy, far too busy.”
I smiled and replied.
“You are too.”
It wasn’t as if I fought alone in all that; Christine was always behind me, helping me.
I looked into Christine’s dark eyes and opened my mouth.
When the new year comes, we will turn 25.
“When the war with Krafte is over.”
The war with Krafte is in two years.
I reached out and took Christine’s hand.
“By then, Louis will probably be an adult too.”
Christine smiled faintly.
“That’s a bit cowardly of you to say.”
“Is it?”
I smiled too.
It’s been a long engagement, one that has taken us both well past the typical age for marriage.
“But I was the one who chose to wait.”
Christine pulled our clasped hands toward her and replied, lightly rubbing her cheek against my hand.
“That’s why I say it’s cowardly. Because, knowing you said you’d wait until then, getting upset about having to wait again makes me seem so petty.”
“Isn’t it always the one who falls in love first who loses?”
Hearing my words, Christine finally laughed out loud.
I waited until her laughter subsided, then confessed in a whisper.
“So that you don’t have to wait too long, I will finish as quickly as possible and come back.”
Unlike before, when I went only as an emissary, this time I’m going with a proper contingent of the Revolutionary Army.
Since we are officially in a truce, a significant number of the conscripted forces will be demobilized for regular training only, but the elite standing army, including the Revolutionary Guard, cannot afford to waste this time.
I am heading to Iberica to give the Revolutionary Army the experience it will need to face Krafte's mighty army, and to completely achieve Kroxx's unification of the Iberian Peninsula.
Christine looked up at me and smiled.
“Alright. Then I’ll trust you and wait, doing my part as well.”
Justin von Wittenfeld.
The chancellor who assisted Krafte's Great King and, focused only on war, made Krafte into a powerhouse, the hegemon of the northern Germania Empire.
At the same time, a man with another side, who moves in the shadows just like Christine.
He will probably plant daggers in Francia even before the war with Krafte begins.
To use when the war breaks out.
“Then, I too will trust you and make a quick trip of it, Christine.”
But even so, he should be nervous too.
“Leave it to me. To be honest, my pride was a little hurt.”
Christine said so and smiled coldly.
“Since they issued such a bold declaration of war, if we don’t respond in kind.”
They truly managed to wound Christine’s pride, and my beloved fiancée is by no means a good-natured person.
I looked down at Christine, then opened my mouth.
“When the war with Krafte is over, I’ll propo-”
But before I could finish, Christine placed a finger on my lips.
Wondering why she did that, I looked down questioningly, and she gave a deep smile, her eyes crinkling.
“I’ll wait. So, show me with actions, not words. Pierre.”
I let out a soft laugh.
Then I bent down and pressed my lips to Christine’s lips, and she naturally closed her eyes.
With our shared breaths, we momentarily fill the emptiness the other will leave.
Our resolve was filled with a seemingly craving affection.
*
Iberian Peninsula, port city of Porto.
Paimon, the CEO of Abyss Corporation’s Sloth Corp, was rolling around in bed.
Fiery red hair fanned out on the bed, and his body, clad only in a dress with his white gown cast aside, was full of a precarious charm.
…Though he was a man.
“Aah, I’m bored to death.”
Paimon was on the verge of dying from boredom.
Marquis Lafayette had only stayed in the Iberian Peninsula for a short while, but during that time, he had used the weapons that Abyss Corporation had prepared to obliterate the forces of the Porto Federation.
As a result, in the Iberian Peninsula, the city-state of Porto and the pro-Abyss tribes had been consistently on the defensive.
More accurately, while they were reorganizing, they remained idle as Kroxx subjugated the pro-Abyss tribes one by one.
Paimon rolled over in bed once more.
It was a meaningless wriggle, as if a direct embodiment of sloth.
Paradoxically, it was also the waste of time that Paimon, the CEO of Sloth, hated the most.
It might be a virtue for the CEO of Sloth Corp to enjoy sloth, but a demon who had been forced into sloth for hundreds of years, compelled to be satisfied only with his assigned domain, desired only to rebel against it.
His diligent research into technology that generated productivity by draining energy instead of working, hailing it as the true realization of sloth, was ultimately a paradoxical act of rebellion, turning a blind eye and pretending it did not violate the values of Sloth Corp.
But that was that, and in the Iberian Peninsula, with none of the research equipment from his homeland, there was nothing he could do.
“Ooh, this is truly sloth itself! It is a rare sight to see Paimon behave like such an exemplary demon.”
Paimon’s brow furrowed at the voice coming from above his head.
“Gremory, I’m not in the mood to play right now.”
The CEO of Lust Corp, a seductive blonde succubus in a nun’s habit, giggled, spread her wings, spun once in the air, and replied.
“As far as Gremory can recall, there has never been a time Paimon was in the mood to play with Gremory.”
“I get it, so I’d appreciate it if you’d get lost.”
Regardless of Paimon's curtness, Gremory was all smiles.
“Ehh, your thoughts are certain to change once you hear the news Gremory has brought.”
“What is it.”
“With nothing in return?”
Gremory asked with a sly smile, but when Paimon began to reach out his hand instead of answering, she quickly threw both her hands up.
“Aah, how barbaric! Truly demonic!”
“So, what is it.”
Gremory flapped her wings to sit cross-legged in the air, then licked her finger and said.
“Marquis Lafayette.”
Paimon’s demeanor changed.
“He is coming to Iberica.”
“Aah, finally.”
Paimon shot up from his seat and put on the white gown hanging in the corner.
“I must prepare a welcome.”
The blood-red demon, his sloth completely blown away, muttered, filled with glee.