Ch.218Threat (2)

“Why on earth now…”

Meanwhile, the King of Albion feels greatly perplexed after hearing the will of the Holy Empire’s Emperor.

The reason the King of Albion has maintained the defense treaty until now was solely to prevent King Lotharing’s ambitious invasions. Attack? Why would anyone commit the madness of attacking across the sea?

Above all, the conditions under which that defense treaty takes effect explicitly specify only defensive wars. If any of the monarchs participating in the defense treaty declares war on the King of Lotharing, the other monarchs have no obligation to join that war.

“What will you do, Your Majesty?”

“Obviously refuse… No, wait a moment.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The King of Albion falls into deep thought.

Thanks to Albion merchants who actively trade with the Kingdom of Lotharing, the King of Albion knows much more about Lotharing’s political situation than the Holy Empire’s Emperor does.

And this information has made the King of Albion realize one thing.

Whether he participates in this war or not, he stands to gain either way.

‘…It seems worth trying, but those Lotharing fellows have no interest in the sea.’

If there were only losses in participating in this war, he wouldn’t join, but the current situation is remarkably opportune.

First, the Kingdom of Lotharing could never cross the sea, even if they were to die and be reborn.

Shipbuilding technology and navigation skills are not something that can be resolved quickly, no matter how strong a nation’s power is.

Perhaps if more time had passed since they became the continental hegemon, but it’s impossible to imagine that the nouveau riche Kingdom of Lotharing already possesses such advanced shipbuilding and navigation skills.

“Has the King of Lotharing ever shown interest in the sea? As far as I know, he hasn’t.”

“Your Majesty’s assumption is correct.”

“Hmm…”

The King of Lotharing established a university specializing in military science, but it only teaches land tactics.

The same goes for shipbuilding. Because he left it to the private sector to develop and build as they pleased, shipbuilding technology has focused solely on civilian vessels like fishing boats and merchant ships. Consequently, the ports are extremely underdeveloped compared to the Kingdom of Lotharing’s prosperity.

In contrast, the Kingdom of Albion has been an island nation from its inception and has lived intertwined with maritime peoples for hundreds of years, making them familiar with military shipbuilding, navigation, and naval warfare.

This means that if the Kingdom of Albion were to wage war against the Kingdom of Lotharing, they could maximize these advantages by conducting hit-and-run raids, essentially skimming the cream off the war.

There would be pressure from the Holy Empire to come ashore and fight together… but well, they could just ignore that by saying raids are combat actions too. The Holy Empire wouldn’t be able to do anything about it anyway.

‘But the problem is what happens after the war.’

By patrolling Lotharing’s coasts, capturing all merchant ships, and occasionally going ashore for raids, they could reap enormous profits… but doing so would clearly lead to severe aftereffects when reestablishing relations with the Kingdom of Lotharing after the war.

It’s not difficult to predict what would happen if the Kingdom of Albion, which has poor resources and relies on foreign trade, were to create friction with the closest continental powers, the Lotharing-Caroling Kingdom.

However, if they don’t raid because they fear post-war Lotharing, it would be better not to participate in the war at all.

To recover Neustria, they would need to overwhelmingly defeat the Kingdom of Lotharing, but honestly speaking, that’s impossible with just the power of the Holy Empire and the Kingdom of Albion.

Even if they win, it would be a minor victory with only a small compensation, which is obviously less profitable than the benefits of trading with Lotharing.

Unless they raid… Wait.

‘…No, why am I worrying about this?’

There’s no need to think so complicatedly.

“I’ve decided. I’ll send a letter accepting the Holy Emperor’s request.”

“Are you sure, Your Majesty?”

“Yes, if things go wrong, we can just make a separate peace treaty with the Kingdom of Lotharing. We may start the war together, but is there a condition that we must end it together?”

“…Pardon?”

The king’s radical statement makes his retainer wonder if he heard correctly.

That’s only natural. The feudal system is a great castle built upon the promise of contracts between monarchs and vassals.

For a monarch to break a promise is, from that perspective, an extremely outrageous act that could destroy the feudal system. Moreover, isn’t this a promise made with another country’s monarch?

“Think about it. The King of Lotharing will clearly invade the Holy Empire once his war preparations are complete, whenever that may be. In contrast, the Holy Empire seems ready for war now, given their desire for immediate conflict.”

“That’s… true.”

“But considering they’re seeking Albion’s cooperation, if I don’t express my intention to participate here, the Emperor might not declare war on the Kingdom of Lotharing. That shouldn’t happen. The Holy Empire needs to inflict maximum damage on the Kingdom of Lotharing’s growth.”

Noticing his retainer’s doubt, the King of Albion confidently lays out his strategy, causing the retainer’s expression to become even more troubled.

This is hardly behavior befitting a monarch.

Perhaps in the modern era, where a ruler’s promises can be considered mere trifles for national gain, but in the current age where feudal characteristics remain strong, such behavior is extremely difficult to justify.

“First, we’ll instigate a fight between the Empire and the Kingdom, making them bleed each other, while Albion conducts raids to take Lotharing’s wealth… Yes, that’s a good plan.”

“But if the war ends with Lotharing’s victory, the damage would be…”

“It’s fine. As I said earlier, if things go wrong, we can make a separate peace treaty. The Kingdom of Lotharing, preoccupied with fighting the Holy Empire, will have no choice but to make a peace treaty with Albion on generous terms. If things go well, we might even gain something.”

“…Ah!”

If the plan fits together this perfectly, even as a minister carrying out national affairs, one can’t help but focus more on national interests than the displeasure of breaking promises.

Edward, the King of Albion, looks with satisfaction at his trembling retainer and begins to write a reply to the Holy Empire’s letter.

……….

“…The Holy Empire is mobilizing troops?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It seemed urgent, so I had to come personally.”

Ines, who should be recovering after giving birth just a few weeks ago, suddenly rushed over. According to her family, the Lorel Duchy, several vassal states of the Holy Empire have received the Emperor’s order to mobilize troops.

That much is understandable, but…

“Recovery of the Kisalpina Peninsula?”

“Yes, the Emperor is claiming that while mobilizing his vassals’ armies.”

The Kisalpina Peninsula is located to the southeast of the Kingdom of Lotharing and south of the Holy Empire, a region that was once territory of the Holy Empire.

Due to various events, including defeat to my grandfather, the Brave Duke, the Kisalpina Peninsula eventually split into various small states and broke away from the Holy Empire. Now it’s returning to the Holy Empire…

“What does Lord Leclerc think? I’m torn between ignoring it or intervening, as both have pros and cons.”

“Shouldn’t we stop it? A neighboring country growing stronger is never good from any perspective.”

“That’s true… Tsk, I’ll have to approach this diplomatically first.”

The Holy Empire must be approached differently from other countries.

The aftermath of the Holy War is now almost ancient history.

The Holy Empire has completely changed since my coronation—tolerating the existence of heretics to somewhat resolve religious conflicts, completely eliminating the political influence of nobles who participated in the Holy War, and taking advantage of the Pope’s kidnapping to strangle church territories and bishop-dukes into living corpses.

It truly lives up to its name as an Empire, though perhaps not so “Holy.”

Of course, the Kingdom of Lotharing that I rule is comparable… but the very fact that it’s comparable means we need a different approach from other countries. We can’t act rashly.

“Your Majesty, the fact that they’ve already mobilized troops reveals the Holy Empire’s intentions. Isn’t it too late for diplomatic solutions?”

“Ines is right, but we have no other option. We could fight the Holy Empire, but as you know, the timing is terrible because we’re building reservoirs.”

Stop the reservoir construction, mobilize troops, and send an army to the peninsula to confront the Holy Empire just like them? Such an act would greatly delay the reservoir construction and could lead to meaningless losses.

Of course, mobilizing troops would put pressure on the Holy Empire and help stop the Emperor’s ambitions… but the problem is that the Emperor has already revealed his ambitions.

There’s no guarantee he won’t do this again later. Are we going to mobilize troops every time?

“…What about trying a different method?”

“A different method?”

“Well, this situation is caused by the Emperor, right? So if the Emperor were to disappear…”

“…That’s certainly a good method, but if I did such a thing, everyone would think I was responsible, so let’s not.”

“What if we left false evidence suggesting someone else did it?”

“Hmm…”

Truly, Ines is usually lovely, but sometimes she can be chilling.

Normally, I would have dissuaded her from such frightening talk, but given the situation, Ines’s suggestion seems too appealing.

If only the Emperor dies, all problems would disappear, right?

They would have to elect a new Emperor, so military action would be forgotten, and the centralized empire focused around the Emperor could collapse.

“…Alright, let’s do as Ines suggests. However, if we can’t leave evidence that someone else did it, or if I might be suspected as the mastermind, we must never attempt assassination.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

If it’s revealed that I killed the Emperor, we would have to engage in a life-or-death struggle with the Holy Empire that very day. I absolutely cannot allow such a situation where there’s nothing to gain whether we win or lose.

…Look at me now, I’ve become a murderer who kills solely for profit.