Ch.232232. The Frankish Kingdom (1)

In the Western Continent where the Dawn Empire is located, particularly in the far west.

A vast plain stretches out, perfectly suited for human habitation, making it the Western Continent’s greatest breadbasket region that has reclaimed its former glory.

This land, once contaminated by plague, was thoroughly purified by the elder gods, and the humans who settled on this newly fertile and beautiful land…

“WAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

“Kill them!!”

“Leave none alive!!”

“For our lord!!”

Needless to say, the nations of the western continent, having gained material prosperity, began civil wars, pointing spears and swords at each other instead of fighting the monsters that threatened humanity, all for greater wealth and power.

The political situation in the west, particularly chaotic even during the Age of War, was beyond what could simply be described as a mess.

However, in this age of chaos, a hero suddenly appeared—

Her name was Charlotte Magus. An apostle of the God of Justice and the greatest hero of the western region of the Western Continent, eternally praised.

Born as the illegitimate daughter (child of a concubine) of the King of the Frankish Kingdom in the Elandia region, she broke through the hellish environment of having four legitimate sons and three legitimate daughters above her to ascend to the throne.

In this barbaric age, the most valued quality was powerful strength, and Charlotte, born with natural talent, awakened her Aura at the mere age of seven, securing her promise to the throne.

Of course, the king’s queen and legitimate children fiercely opposed this decision, but “awakening Aura at age seven” was enough to overturn all their resistance.

And so, when Charlotte turned exactly sixteen, the king who had passed the throne to her died suddenly just three days after becoming the former king.

This was Charlotte’s greatest trial.

At that time, at least half of the court was hostile to her. In this utterly desperate situation, the dissatisfied factions naturally rebelled against Charlotte—

“Get out of my way!!!”

—Slash!!!

As a result, this rebellion became a showcase for Charlotte’s abilities.

Leading only a meager force of about 100 soldiers, Charlotte swept away all the rebellious forces within her domain.

Even amidst this chaos, she proclaimed honor and refused to take innocent lives, maintaining strict discipline and justice without engaging in indiscriminate killing and plundering.

Displaying the perfect image of a virtuous ruler, Charlotte suppressed the rebellion, and in the process, the internal dissidents were swept away at once, unifying the Frankish Kingdom completely—

《You are honorable justice.》

Observing Charlotte’s actions with interest, “Justice” of the new pantheon, “Jephtal of the Golden Hand,” made her his apostle and bestowed upon her the holy sword, a “divine artifact.”

With the overwhelming authority of being God’s apostle and the transcendent power derived from the holy sword, Charlotte now turned her gaze beyond the kingdom.

Unlike the Frankish Kingdom, which had become truly unified after suppressing all opposition, the surrounding lands presented a horrific sight where countries appeared and disappeared multiple times a day due to warlords.

Unable to stand by and watch this, Charlotte led the army of the Frankish Kingdom and declared a holy war. Thus, the legend began.

In just three weeks, Charlotte conquered a power three times larger than the Frankish Kingdom, and subsequently conquered the largest power in the western part of the Western Continent in five months.

Wherever she went, warlords were eliminated, borders expanded, and evil monsters threatening humanity were pushed back by her and her army.

She eradicated plague worshippers attempting to raise the “Army of Plague” again and uprooted demon followers trying to summon the great demon of “Gluttony.”

It was a conquest comparable to Alexander the Great from that other world… Perhaps that’s why her end was also quite similar to his.

Charlotte Magus contracted some disease during her conquest, and this painful plague that consumed her soul eventually drove her to death.

She was only 21 years old.

Just before stabilizing the unified western region of the Western Continent as a single power, Charlotte Magus died suddenly at a young age, unmarried.

Of course, her loyal followers attempted to resurrect her through priests, but the problem was that opposition to Charlotte was far from insignificant.

Before she could integrate the conquered territories, her death spawned numerous dissidents, and naturally, these traitors did not want Charlotte’s resurrection in the slightest.

In the ensuing chaos, Charlotte’s body disappeared somewhere, and afterward, the few surviving factions agreed to maintain the Frankish Kingdom.

They placed Charlotte Magus’s younger brother on the throne to manage the situation. They would rule their territories as lords and form feudal contracts to maintain the power structure.

Thus, the Frankish Kingdom continued to exist in what could be called the pinnacle of the feudal system.

A country where each territory was virtually an independent state, with little changed from before except for the formalities observed in territorial wars.

Nevertheless, it was the birth of the Frankish Kingdom, consisting of 87 official territories and thousands of manors, which could not be denied as a single country.

Each territory acted as if its lord were a king ruling a region, moving independently in a patchwork nation that could hardly be defined as a unified power.

The Frankish Kingdom, defined as such, was simply like a copy of medieval Europe.

If someone became too powerful or tried to break away from the kingdom, they would be beaten down by the combined forces, and wars were more like business ventures than true struggles for national existence.

And recently, an event occurred that greatly influenced the political situation of the Frankish Kingdom—

“…What?!!”

“That madman!”

“No. Why attack there of all places?”

A shocking incident that horrified the great lords and sent the literate class into a frenzy.

Some deranged lord from the southern Frankish Kingdom had attacked the territory of the Dawn Empire.

※ ※ ※

‘…Is he an idiot?’

When I hurriedly turned my attention to the news of the Empire being attacked and confirmed the details of the incident, I was astonished that such a pathetic human could exist.

Even I, who had become insensitive to most stimuli after becoming a god, felt frustrated by this lunatic—treating him as an intelligent being seemed like an insult to intelligence itself.

For good reason—from the motives behind this lord’s attack on the Empire to the reasons for his confidence, everything seemed like nothing short of comedy.

The perpetrator who attacked the Empire was a baron who held a moderate-sized territory in the southern region of the Frankish Kingdom in the western continent.

Due to the mountainous nature of the southern Frankish Kingdom, agriculture was somewhat limited, but instead, there were many mines extracting iron ore, marble, and other resources.

Being close to mountains also meant more monster appearances, and consequently, the southern soldiers were known for being of slightly higher quality than those from other regions…

And here is where all the problems began.

The baron, like most lords of this era, was a knight who had awakened his Aura and reached the intermediate level. In particular, he was a genius who had awakened to the intermediate level at the age of 16.

Perhaps as a trade-off for his overwhelming talent in martial arts, before becoming a baron, he had absolutely no interest in governance—a pure warrior through and through.

Moreover, he completely lacked talent in tactics and strategy—the type of person who should have lived his life simply swinging a sword without thinking.

And the biggest problem was that this man was the baron’s only son and heir.

If he had been born in some rural area, he might have lived comfortably as an adventurer, but as a ruler, he was completely worthless—yet he inherited the title and territory nonetheless…

“Alright, shall we start a war?”

“Pardon?”

At a vigorous age and having only recently awakened his Aura, the man’s confidence had skyrocketed, and he immediately started wars.

Even though his military system was mediocre, he himself was so strong that he was practically invincible in territorial wars involving hundreds of soldiers. As a result, he gained enormous wealth and overestimated his military power and system until finally—

“No! Not the Empire!”

“Shut up! Do you not believe in me?! As my vassal, you should obey!”

In the end, the man, with his inflated pride and ego reaching its peak, committed the atrocity of declaring war on the Dawn Empire and marching his army forward.