I Don’t Need a Guillotine for My Revolution

Chapter 183: Krafte War - The Victor and the Vanquished (1)

Episode 183. The Krafte War - Victor and Vanquished (1)

This is a war that has already been decided.

The Empire managed to control the feudal lords' backlash and confusion, but its internal affairs must be a mess, so it needs time to stabilize itself properly.

Krafte, having lost most of its core force, the standing army, also has no capacity to face Francia while dealing with the rebellion of the Dukes of Saxe and Warsaw and the offensive from the Northern Allied Kingdom.

As we expected, it wasn't long before a proposal arrived from the Empire to hold peace negotiations.

In the National Assembly, which actually received the proposal for peace negotiations, quite a few opinions were voiced to teach the Empire and Krafte a proper lesson this time.

Especially from Count Anjou, who still possesses the old-era sense of honor, and the central party, which has many nobles.

The gist of the argument from those who insisted on continuing the war to teach them a lesson was that the nations that threatened the revolution should pay a proper price to serve as an example, and that we must receive compensation for the lives of the soldiers who died.

The party line from Talleyrand's Revolutionary Party was about half-and-half, but President Nicolas Brisseau's Liberal Party was completely united in its opinion to end the war.

Opinions were divided, but when Eris officially expressed her desire to support the peace negotiations, and Christine and I supported them as well, a portion of the central party changed its stance.When Talleyrand, who had been reserving judgment until then, declared his support for the peace negotiations as if he couldn't help it, the peace negotiation bill finally passed in the National Assembly.

As soon as Francia's internal opinions were sorted out, a date for the peace negotiations was quickly set.

*

The conclusion of the peace negotiations held in Alsace was reached ridiculously quickly.

In the first place, it wasn't us who were in a hurry, but the Empire and Krafte, and since they knew well that they would be the ones to suffer if they haggled over trivial conditions and the talks broke down, they didn't want to drag out the negotiations either.

What was a bit surprising was that the Great King himself barely took the lead in the peace negotiations.

The peace negotiations were, in fact, led by Kaiserin Cecilia, and the Great King mostly just watched and expressed his agreement.

Naturally, the Emperor of the Germania Empire was also absent. The official reason was that he was not attending due to ill health, but...

Peace negotiations of an Empire without its Emperor, I wondered what this was all about, but seeing that no one questioned or protested it was truly bizarre.

Anyway.

Eris, Erisliste Lilianne De Francia, is formally enthroned as the Queen of Francia, and Kaiserin Cecilia and her descendants permanently renounce their claim to the Francia throne.

Simultaneously, the Germania Empire and the Krafte Kingdom recognize Revolutionary Francia as the legitimate state succeeding the former Kingdom of Francia.

In addition, we were to receive reparations from the Empire and Krafte, equivalent to Francia's war expenses, over a period of 20 years.

Neither side agreed to the terms with any particular complaint.

To be precise, there was one person who did express dissatisfaction.

"Is this all? Is there truly no compensation for my nation's participation in the war?"

King Gustav XII of the Northern Allied Kingdom roared, but the response I could give him was cold.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty the King. Francia has abided by the terms of its deal with the Northern Allied Kingdom, proceeding with not only the lifting of the maritime blockade but also the purchase of vast amounts of minerals. However, the performance your army showed on the battlefield unfortunately did not live up to expectations."

Honestly, considering the money Christine spent to win them over, their defeat was so futile it was absurd.

Thanks to that, Crown Prince Heinrich and 20,000 standing troops were pulled away, allowing us to achieve a great victory in the urban warfare, so her money wasn't wasted, but isn't it a bit too shameless to claim interests in this situation?

On the contrary, if we hadn't invited them here to sign the peace treaty together, they would have been in a position to be crushed by Krafte, which had just ended its war with Francia.

"I apologize, but we have already spent too much on war expenses and shed too much blood to continue the war just to hand over territory you failed to occupy to the Northern Allied Kingdom. I trust Your Majesty will understand Francia's situation."

Gustav XII's face seethed with anger, but why blame us for his own lack of ability in a war started out of his own ambition?

In the end, he couldn't protest any further and signed the treaty.

At least he was able to attend this conference as a party to formally sign the peace treaty; the Duke of Saxe and the Duke of Warsaw were not even invited.

They are scheduled to be trampled by the Krafte Army as rebels, and Krafte will probably squeeze them dry to raise the reparations to pay us.

Funnily enough, the Empire, having secured the surrender of the rebellious feudal lords, will likely do the same, squeezing them to make up the reparations for us.

From their perspective, the burden is relatively lighter. Honestly, from our perspective, as long as we get the money we're owed, there's no loyalty or reason to stop it.

"...The long war of Francia, which began with the civil war, has finally come to a complete end."

President Nicolas Brisseau, attending as the representative of the National Assembly thanks to his leading role in passing the bill, murmured softly as he watched Kaiserin Cecilia, Great King Karl II of Krafte, and Queen Eris of Francia sign the treaty.

"Yes. Revolutionary Francia has now been recognized as a proud, official nation, and no one will dare to question it."

In a true sense, it was the end of the old era, and a recognition from the Central Continent that the new Francia had succeeded it.

The National Assembly was finally recognized as the legitimate government of Francia after the long years of war following the revolution.

Brisseau said with a smile.

"Thank you for supporting the peace treaty, Marquis. The central party felt the same, but I thought that you, as the army's commander, might want to continue the war for merit and honor."

Yes, he's right. If I had simply wanted to strengthen my power, honestly, forcing the war to continue would have been the right move.

If I had crushed the Krafte Army, said to be the strongest in humanity, and planted Francia's flag in Mittelmark and Germanburg, I would have remained a legendary general incomparable to the likes of the Blue Knight.

But, who cares?

I don't know how many more would die during that long war, and above all, Christine would be waiting endlessly.

I smiled back at him and asked.

"You don't regret it, do you?"

-This foolish old man's arbitrary decision. ...Will you make it so that I do not regret this choice?

To my question, which reminded him of President Brisseau's request, Brisseau answered with a comfortable smile.

*

After the treaty was signed, as is customary, a banquet was held to celebrate the conclusion of the peace negotiations.

Gustav XII of the Northern Allied Kingdom did not attend, returning to his country as if fleeing.

The leaders of the nations that fought tooth and nail gather and enjoy a banquet as if nothing ever happened, strengthening their friendship to prevent a recurrence of unfortunate incidents.

This kind of thing is necessary in its own way.

I glanced over and saw Eris and Kaiserin Cecilia heading to a guest room together.

The Empress who was sold from Francia to the Empire but seized control of it, and the Queen, born of a concubine but became a Saintess, who was acclaimed by the populace in a country where a revolution broke out.

Although they were enemies from their first meeting, it seems there is some kind of unknowable relationship between the two half-sisters.

After going through all the trouble of signing a peace treaty, it's not like the Empress would go crazy and harm Eris here, and Eris herself is a powerful Saintess, plus Lord Beaumont is following a little behind.

There won't be any problems.

Having made that judgment, I leisurely savored my wine.

As I was doing so, an unexpected person approached and spoke to me.

"Congratulations on your victory, Marquis Lafayette."

"Your Highness, Crown Prince Heinrich."

He and I had no particular connection, so I didn't expect him to come and greet me.

If I had to say, I'm closer to an enemy who thoroughly blocked the path of the once-successful Krafte.

"Thank you. I, too, was impressed by Your Highness the Crown Prince's performance on the battlefield. The decisiveness and leadership you showed in quickly rallying the routed cavalry, which sent a chill down my spine, seem to have been effective against the Northern Allied Kingdom and the rebel army as well."

Honestly, back then, I almost lost because of the Crown Prince, so I had to take a risk and rush to the vanguard myself.

Heinrich was looking at me with a rather peculiar expression, so I added with a bitter smile.

"I mean it. I honestly thought the Krafte Kingdom would be in danger from the invasion of the Northern Allied Kingdom and the rebellion. The fact that you fended it off and were not forced into disadvantageous terms in the peace negotiations is entirely due to Your Highness's capabilities. ...Ah, and congratulations on being officially recognized as the Crown Prince."

Heinrich stared at me intently, then nodded.

"Thank you."

"However, this is unexpected."

"What is?"

"That you so readily accepted the clause promised by His Majesty the Great King."

The rather unreasonable demand made by the Great King...

Crown Prince Heinrich approved the clause stating that Krafte would join the war if Francia entered into conflict with Abyss Corporation, without any opposition.

At the time, they probably didn't think they would lose, and the Great King's authority was absolute, so he couldn't openly object, but it was a condition that even we found absurd, and Crown Prince Heinrich didn't seem pleased with it either.

Did he tolerate that much because we signed a relatively lenient treaty that only burdened them with war expenses, or was there some kind of change of heart?

Looking at Heinrich's expression, it seemed there had been some change of heart.

His expression didn't look very good, so I quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, Chancellor Wittenfeld is nowhere to be seen?"

Strange. I thought that guy would definitely be here, smiling shamelessly.

However, Heinrich's expression worsened.

Huh? What's going on?

"He is... presumed to have died in an unfortunate accident."

"Ah..."

The man who so confidently declared war on Christine, a man who was so capable in military intelligence that Christine declared she couldn't find any opening, died so futilely?

It's unexpected, but it can't be helped.

"...My condolences."

Crown Prince Heinrich was silent for a moment, then opened his mouth again.

"My Krafte Kingdom will change, Marquis."

I looked at the Crown Prince, paused for a moment, and then replied.

"I hope it's in a positive direction."

Heinrich gave a slight smile, gave me a light nod, and withdrew.

And as soon as he left, a familiar sound was heard.

The sound of a cane tapping the floor, which I had heard several times before.

But it lacked that usual spirit and strength, and when I turned, a near-unrecognizably old Karl II was looking at me with a smile.

"Was your chat with the future of Krafte enjoyable?"

"Hmm, well..."

I thought for a moment, but as for whether it was enjoyable, I'm not so sure.

It was short, to begin with...

"It wasn't bad, Your Majesty the Great King."

Hearing my words, Karl II smiled brightly, took off his hat, and leaning on his cane, gave a slight bow.

"Humanity's oldest great commander pays his respects to humanity's greatest commander. It was truly an honor to be able to vie with you on the battlefield."

The leader of a nation, called the Great King, bows to a mere Marquis and general, showing his utmost respect.

I stared at him silently before replying.

"Thank you, Your Majesty the Great King. However, unfortunately, I cannot pay my respects to Your Majesty."

At my reply, which could be considered quite disrespectful, Karl II smiled with satisfaction.

"Is it because the me you saw was a tyrant?"

Tyrant.

Yes.

I remember the desperation of the Krafte Army in the burning city of Barua.

A man who builds up his glory by consuming those who follow him without hesitation, believing in his great achievements, as mere pawns.

An act no different from that of the Blue Knight, whom I so hated and despised.

Karl II, the man praised as the Great King of Krafte, was surprisingly similar to the Blue Knight.

As if he were an enemy prepared in his stead for me, who could not catch up to the Blue Knight in his lifetime.

I nodded and replied.

"That is correct, Your Majesty the Great King. I can pay my utmost respects to Her Majesty the Queen, whom I serve, time and again, but I cannot do so to Your Majesty."

Karl II, still not erasing his smile, asked shamelessly.

"I see. But even if you cannot pay respects, you can surely show the magnanimity of a victor and grant an audience to the vanquished, can't you?"

My, he's quite a remarkable fellow in many ways.

I replied, the corner of my mouth twisting up.

"Are you speaking of the kind of magnanimity you showed when you went out of your way to take me to Grand Duke Leopold?"

"Hahahaha!"

Karl II burst into laughter.

Well, fine.

Eris is dealing with the Kaiserin, isn't she?

Should I consider this an extension of the war?

The talk with the great adversary, I'll make sure to finish it properly.