episode_0067

At a time when the financial sector was screaming like that.

Debian, the mastermind behind all of this, frowns as he looks at the documents Carol gave him.

“It’s a big deal.”

I thought everything would be solved if I won the war, but a big problem arose.

The problem that makes my head hurt is that I made too much through market manipulation.

I earned too much.

Most small and medium-sized financial companies have to go bankrupt…

Now, the Grand Duchy’s bonds are floating around at more than three times the price.

The reason would be a side effect of me sweeping up the Grand Duchy’s call options.

Actually, the rise in bond prices is not that big of a problem.

As for the biggest problem…

Small and medium-sized financial companies are unable to fulfill their contracts, resulting in mass bankruptcy, and it is the large financial companies and investors who will be affected.

Although this place is very old-fashioned compared to modern times, stock trading, bond trading, and commodity trading are active in their own way.

As a result, there are quite a few large individual investors.

If they spit out a large amount of money to me, it is inevitable that it will have a huge side effect on the empire’s economy.

“What should I do… I told them to buy it randomly, but I never thought they would buy this much.”

Just before the war broke out, investment companies thought that the Grand Duchy would lose and sold a huge amount of call options at random.

And Carol bribed it all, and this scandal happened.

If all of these contracts are fulfilled, the price of gold coins will skyrocket.

And the biggest problem is that investment companies that have suffered huge losses will not release their money and will actually shrink.

The behavior of the surviving large financial companies will also change significantly.

They will probably try to recover as much of the loans they have taken out in the market as possible.

It is obvious that the flow of money will be blocked by suppressing loan extension as much as possible or reducing investment.

“I guess… I have to compromise.”

We must somehow prevent the financial sector from collapsing.

“Phew… I thought there would be a happy ending if we won the war. What is this?”

I sigh and write this letter.

The opposing principality forces have not yet surrendered, and the financial sector is on the verge of bankruptcy due to the war that will soon end.

These two facts are confusing my head.

Ah…except for the former, they won’t last long anyway.

I’m panicking by now… so if I wait a bit, they’ll come to negotiate on their own.

In fact, the strategy planned with Agrippa is to recapture the fortress after this battle and head straight to Fort Huntington.

They might try to hold out until Fort Huntington is breached and a stable supply line is established.

But it’s just a meaningless support.

Even if they squeezed it out right away, it would be less than 10,000 troops. There will be no mercenaries left to side with the opposing principality, which has already been heavily defeated.

As a side note, I heard that the Halberd mercenaries on their side also surrendered immediately upon seeing the Golden Knights.

“Ah… the council is going to give me a lot of trouble.”

I will not remain silent since I have used the Golden Knights, which were meant to attack the enemies of the Empire, in my personal area.

Well, right now they don’t have an answer.

If Ioannes tries to attack me for no reason, he will now fall into a civil war between the imperialists.

There will be moderate internal crackdown.

Honestly, if the Emperor faction wants to attack me with that, I just have to reveal my secret pact with Ioannes.

If that happens, there will either be a conflict between the Emperor faction and Ioannis, or there will be a huge internal conflict within the Emperor faction.

In the meantime, all I have to do is absorb the anti-Ioannines faction into the anti-Emperor faction.

“The composition is not bad.”

***

-This is treason!

-The emperor’s army cannot recognize the archduke who used for personal purposes the army maintained by the taxes of imperial citizens who came to fight against rebels or enemies!

-That’s right! We must declare the Archduke an enemy of the state!

Charles sighs as he looks at the boiling room of the Imperial Council.

“Whoa… Everyone, calm down…”

-What is the chairman doing?! Start voting immediately to define the Archduke as an enemy of the state!

The imperial faction, the neutral faction, and the opposing principality faction raise their voices.

Charles thinks that statement is absurd.

Enemy of the state.

Anyone declared by the Reichstag to be an enemy of the state is deprived of all legally recognized rights and will not be punished by law even if someone kills him.

Rather, one gains the honor of being someone who protects the country.

The authority to proclaim it is a unique authority held only by the Imperial Diet…

‘Are they stupid? ‘Do you think the Archduke will not exercise his veto if the vote passes?’

The emperor’s inherent power, the veto, is currently vested in the archduke.

If he exercises his veto, it will inevitably return to nothing.

“Quiet… everyone please be quiet.”

Charles sighs and says.

-right now! Let’s vote to declare them enemies of the state!

-exactly! Chairman, please vote quickly!

Charles answers those words.

“Since all my fellow lawmakers say so, we will proceed with a vote to define Archduke Debian as an enemy of the nation.”

He says this and strikes the hammer.

-Bang!, Bang!, Bang!

After he finished speaking, congressional staff handed out ballots to members.

“If you are in favor, stamp O. If you are against, stamp X and come to the voting box one by one.”

After making that declaration, the lawmakers each mark a piece of paper, stand in a line, and head to the voting booth.

‘Isn’t this just for show…’

Chairman Charles also doesn’t like Debian’s actions.

Devian controls the sacred empire and acts as he pleases.

He is a tyrant.

A tyrant who brings chaos to this empire.

But there is no way to beat him now.

Legally, he is the emperor’s husband and can exercise the emperor’s inherent authority.

And putting aside such political issues, what do you do with the army of the Grand Duchy that occupied Roman?

‘It’s a problem even if the imperial faction unites and comes to Roman.’

Emperor Theodora is an emperor of an empire with great legitimacy.

Even if the imperial faction’s army fights against Debian and occupies Roman, Debian’s wife, the current emperor, has no choice but to be dethroned.

‘That’s not possible, it would create new confusion.’

In the early years of the empire, there were several instances where emperors were dethroned by armies outside the Roman Empire.

However, when the first empress, the great gold dragon El Dra Shamhat, suffered frequent tragedies among her descendants.

There has been no such thing since elves, dark elves, dwarves, and orcs were gathered together to build a triple wall.

It is impossible to overcome the impregnable triple wall.

“The voting is over, Chairman!”

Chairman Charles comes to his senses after hearing the words of the council staff.

“Then we will start counting the votes.”

Charles says that and starts counting the votes in front of everyone.

An employee shouts approval while holding a folded ballot paper. Occasionally, there are ballots that vote for rejection, but the majority is overwhelmingly positive.

‘To later vote to condemn Devian and His Majesty the Emperor as tyrants… disgusting.’

Their intentions are very clear.

It is impossible to declare Debian an enemy of the state from the beginning because of the veto power.

‘Then, this is probably to inform the people of the Empire that something like this happened in the Assembly and Devian ignored the Assembly by exercising its veto… Are there really no loyalists here?’

Charles, who was having such bitter thoughts, announces the results.

“The final result is that with 243 votes in favor and 57 votes against, I will transmit to His Majesty the Emperor and the Archduke in the name of the National Assembly the proposal to declare Archduke Francesco an enemy of the state.”

‘It’s so funny… What kind of expression will they make if His Majesty, the late Emperor, finds out about this situation?’

Charles mechanically signs the letter written by the employee.

***

[Someone from His Majesty’s Council has arrived.]

At those words, the hand that was processing the documents stops.

“Ask them to come.”

At my words, the door opens and a delegation from the Council enters.

Pompey, whom I haven’t seen in a long time, and members of the National Assembly whom I have seen several times before, visit together and feel strange.

I greet you with a bright smile.

“You’re busy. What are you doing here?”

Pompey answers what I say.

“A declaration has been announced by the National Assembly and I am here to deliver it to you. I will deliver it to His Majesty the Emperor when he comes.”

I nod my head at those words.

“Your Majesty is in the next room, so I will send someone. Lucius! Tell His Majesty that someone from Parliament has arrived.”

At my words, Lucius’ voice comes through the door.

[yes!]

After that, I offer them a seat.

“Then sit over there, His Majesty will be coming soon.”

I cried out loud as I saw them sitting on the sofa I recommended.

“Okay, what kind of declaration is this?”

Pompey answers my words.

“I will deliver it to you when your Majesty comes.”

I nod my head at those words.

And after some time.

[His Majesty the Grand Duke has arrived.]

“Take them inside.”

As the door opens at my words and Theodora comes in, the council members stand up and bow.

“Your Majesty, how have you been?”

“How are you?”

Theodora answers them with a bright smile.

“Yes, I am at peace because you worked hard for the empire. Raise your head.”

Then, after seeing the lawmakers raise their heads, Theodora sits down next to me and says.

“So, why did you come here?”

Pompey opens his mouth at her words.

“There was a declaration announced by the National Assembly today, so I came here to get approval.”

He takes out two letters from his pocket and hands them to me and Theodora.

Theodora looks at me with a puzzled face, but I don’t know what it is, so she shrugs and opens the envelope with the council’s seal in her arms.

-Flutter.

I go down while briefly looking at the greetings.

uh? Looking at the declaration declaring me an enemy of the state, I couldn’t help but laugh.

-Pisik.

It’s not even funny.

How can these old people miss my expectations?

I had expected in the past that I would send the Emperor’s Knights into the territory to protest against me.

But Theodora must not have expected this situation…

-shaking.

My body begins to tremble.

“How dare you!”

Theodora stands up, grabs the council’s declaration…

-Ik! Take a picture

It starts to tear roughly.

“How dare you send me this ridiculous declaration now?!”

I was a little moved to see Theodora angry on my behalf.

Hehe… I guess you don’t hate me so much anymore?

Things haven’t been that bad lately.

Although she annoys me when I look at my documents at night, I think it’s an expression of Theodora’s affection.

I have a bit of a cat eye look.

for a moment…

What if this is a staged act?

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

Recently, I feel a chill run down my spine when I see people wearing revealing clothes at night.

By any chance… is this a deception?

He acts as if he has no intention of harming me, but if I fall for it, he will be poisoned…?

When I imagine myself collapsing while eating and Theodora glaring at me meanly, I shake my head and wake up from my imagination.

I worry about the current situation.

There are laws, such as bills of parliament, declarations, etc., that must be promulgated by the emperor in order to have legal effect.

Therefore, the declaration must be delivered to the emperor or me first.

In other words, it is safe to say that I will not be declared an enemy of the state.

I’m sure you knew this wouldn’t go over… It must be for the purpose of slandering me.

With that in mind, I speak calmly.

“Hmm… I respect the declaration of Congress, but I will veto this.”