Ch.118Groundwork (2)

“So, is His Grace the Duke of Aquitaine saying that he will remain neutral?”

“There’s a misunderstanding in your words. My territory has been greatly devastated by two wars that brought us no benefit. If I were to commit to anything further, I fear our family line might end with my generation, which is why I cannot respond to our lord’s summons.”

The envoy felt the words “Isn’t that the same thing?” rise to his throat, but he tensed his neck muscles and barely managed to swallow them back.

Two wars that brought no benefit.

What could this possibly mean?

‘Is he saying… don’t demand loyalty when you can’t offer anything in return?’

Honestly speaking, even if the king himself had come instead of sending an envoy, he would have had little to say in response to such words.

The feudal system isn’t one where loyalty is rewarded with benefits, but rather where benefits are exchanged for loyalty.

The nobles who rule each territory receive protection from external threats from the king, and in return, they pay a certain amount of taxes and lend their armies for 40 days each year.

This means that, aside from taxes, the 40-day military service, and the prohibition against rebellion, the king cannot force anything else upon his vassals.

When war was declared against the Duchy of Burgundy and when they participated in the Holy Empire’s civil war, King Caroling used up all his rights to summon his vassals’ armies. When those rights expired, he poured in funds to buy the vassals’ armies, and when the funds ran out, he even sold future military service rights to desperately maintain his forces.

In short, King Caroling now has no means left to control his vassals. He has already used up future military service rights, and his funds have long been depleted.

“The future military service rights—”

“Hahaha… You’ve already been exempted from military service for five years, and that’s not enough?”

“…”

The royal envoy’s words, which he had barely managed to squeeze out, were cut off by the Duke.

Normally, treating a royal envoy this way would be unthinkable, but for the current Caroling dynasty, the word “normally” had seriously faded in meaning.

“Besides, didn’t I just tell you that my territory is devastated and further military mobilization would be impossible? Have you forgotten already?”

The envoy had an impulse to say not to play word games about “devastation,” but he quickly suppressed it.

Weren’t both wars fought entirely abroad, and weren’t the armies sent there primarily composed of mercenaries and standing troops? Of course, peasants participated as conscripts, but surely the Duke would have adjusted the conscription numbers to avoid harming his own territory.

In fact, on the way here, the envoy had seen peasants peacefully farming everywhere.

It was impossible for the territory to be devastated. The current Duke of Aquitaine was trying to maintain neutrality in the civil war with minimal losses.

“…I apologize.”

However, the envoy couldn’t point this out.

It was clear that some farmers couldn’t tend to their fields due to excessive participation in the war, and despite complaints about the two previous wars, the Duke had faithfully participated, fulfilling his duty.

The royal envoy simply bowed his head with a gloomy expression, apologizing to the Duke, who was the king’s vassal.

“You may go now. I pray for His Majesty’s divine protection.”

“Yes, thank you for your valuable time, Your Grace, Duke of Aquitaine.”

After paying his respects, the dejected envoy left, while the Duke watched him depart with furrowed brows.

“…What shall we do?”

“Leave it be. They’ll collapse soon enough without my intervention.”

Once the envoy had completely left the room, the attendant who had been accompanying the Duke cautiously spoke up, and the Duke stopped him with a slight smile.

“What about Lotharing’s proposal?”

“He says it’s not time yet. It seems he plans to intervene when the civil war has fully ripened and everyone is exhausted.”

“As expected. The war will likely continue for at least another year, so let’s just farm and watch until then.”

“A truly wise decision.”

The Duke of Aquitaine’s territory, located in the southwest of Caroling, is far from both the rebel claimants’ forces in the north, west, and southeast, and from Lutetia where the king resides.

If they had been caught between these forces, the Duke of Aquitaine would have seriously considered abandoning neutrality and siding with someone.

Well, even if he had considered it, having heard Lotharing’s proposal, he would have chosen to participate in the civil war—or rather, to participate later.

……….

“Damn it!! What are my vassals doing?!”

“Your Majesty, please calm yourself. Your loyal vassals are gathering in Lutetia to protect you.”

“Really…? No, no… Those bastards would never work for me… Never! You liar!!”

The King of Caroling had half lost his mind.

Following the devastating and humiliating defeat against the Duchy of Burgundy and the signing of a degrading treaty, he had participated in a holy war with what little funds he could squeeze out, only to be betrayed by the Holy See and gain nothing.

As a result, the king’s authority had plummeted, as evidenced by the behavior of the attendants sent by the noble families from each territory.

Subtly mocking the king was commonplace, and all manner of incidents occurred, from openly pointing out the king’s incompetence to deliberate work slowdowns.

“Drag this man out immediately!!”

The pre-modern King of Caroling, who valued honor and face above all, could no longer endure mentally. The higher one stands, the greater the impact when falling.

Suffering from paranoia, he became unable to distinguish between those truly loyal to him and those who were not, which only worsened the kingdom’s condition day by day.

The rebellion was the same.

Had he been of sound mind, he could have noticed the ominous atmosphere and planned accordingly, but for King Charles of Caroling, who couldn’t even trust proper reports, this was impossible.

“…Let’s go. It would be better to talk later.”

“Your Majesty…”

The soldiers, who had been replaced dozens of times due to the king’s fear of assassination, sighed deeply as if this were a regular occurrence and helped the attendant outside.

The crown prince was doing his best to manage state affairs and overcome the civil war, but his efforts were repeatedly undone by the king’s fits of madness. The prince could imprison his father and take the throne himself, but this was impossible since Reims, where coronations had traditionally been held, had fallen to the rebels.

Above all, the royal family had nothing left to offer its vassals.

The envoys that the crown prince had desperately sent to seek support from vassals who hadn’t joined the rebellion were mostly rejected—some nobles were genuinely unwilling to cooperate with the king, some refused because there was nothing to gain, and others because they were cooperating with Lotharing.

All that remained for the Caroling royal family was to wait and see who would win and hold a blade to their necks.

……….

“Hmm… Leclerc.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Is this all I need to handle?”

“That’s correct.”

No, why are you looking at me with that perplexed expression? You should know well enough.

Lately, there’s been too little work.

With the outbreak of civil war in the Caroling Kingdom, my workload should have clearly increased, yet it remains largely unchanged from before.

Reports about the Caroling Kingdom do come in regularly, but something feels missing.

A quick glance shows perfectly compiled reports without any flaws to criticize, and all kinds of intelligence gathered from Caroling is properly organized.

“Is something the matter?”

“I’m not complaining, but lately there seems to be too little work. Even with the civil war raging in Caroling, there’s no difference in workload compared to before.”

“Hmm… Yes, the workload is light, but isn’t that natural? Thanks to the system Your Majesty personally established, all practical matters are handled by the bureaucracy, and reports are filtered to include only the essentials, with trivial matters discarded.”

Is that so…?

Now that I think about it, that does make sense.

It wasn’t for nothing that I hired Luca, an administrative official from abroad, to completely overhaul what had been a haphazard administrative system.

After ascending to the duchy, I realized I had too many tasks to handle and would die at this rate, so I took preemptive measures.

“You’re right. I apologize for the strange question.”

“There’s no need to apologize. As king, you shouldn’t say such things to me.”

“Come on, just accept it when I say things like this.”

Leclerc waves his hands to stop me, but judging by his expression, he seems quite pleased.

“Well, since the work is done, I should be going now. Ah, if anything urgent comes up, come to me anytime.”

“Yes, I’ll handle the duties in your absence. Was today Lady Chloe’s turn? She’ll be delighted that you can spend more time with her since work finished early.”

“Haha, indeed she will.”

Claude rises from his seat, opens the office door, and walks out, while Leclerc smiles as he sees him off.

*Thud*

“…Hmm.”

And as the door closes, the smile on Leclerc’s face instantly vanishes.

Leclerc lets out a small sigh and then resumes his work of manipulating or hiding all sorts of documents to ensure that Claude doesn’t notice the efforts to secure the Caroling throne for his lord, just as he always does.