Ch.287Side Story) The Rag-like Territory (1)

“Haaa…”

Eric, a man known as the Prince of Lotharing, sits on a bench in the Dijon garden and heaves a deep sigh. The reason for that sigh is none other than his mother.

[“What does it matter if I’m not called Bourgogne? Isn’t His Majesty still my unchanging father? Above all, I have the excellent Medici name that His Majesty bestowed upon me and that mother passed down—”]

[“No, you are a Bourgogne. You must reclaim the Bourgogne name.”]

‘Mother, really… why are you being like this?’

I understand mother’s feelings well enough. Unlike my other half-siblings who all inherited the Bourgogne surname, my full siblings and I were unable to do so.

But that doesn’t mean I can just rush to His Majesty and beg him to let me inherit the Bourgogne name, does it?

From the beginning, mother and His Majesty made an agreement. In exchange for appointing mother as a noble and bestowing her a surname, he would grant the privilege of allowing her children to inherit their surname from the maternal line.

[“How exactly am I supposed to do that? Should I run to His Majesty, bow my head, and beg him to revoke the privilege?”]

[“Achieve great deeds and petition His Majesty, or bring down all your competitors.”]

[“…Competitors?”]

Up until that point, I had merely been nodding along with mother’s thoughts. After all, there’s nothing more humiliating than a child being unable to inherit their father’s surname.

But… what followed was the problem.

[“Emperor His Majesty was not originally a member of the Bourgogne family. Even after being adopted, that remained true. But thanks to a terrible accident that left His Majesty as the only remaining heir, he was able to receive the name Bourgogne from the previous Duke Bourgogne.”]

[“What… what do you…”]

The moment I heard those words spill from mother’s lips, the sounds of the world instantly vanished.

Connecting her earlier words about eliminating competitors with what followed, it wasn’t difficult to understand what mother was saying.

And that understanding soon led to shock.

I should have confronted mother about what she was saying, but I was so stunned that I couldn’t utter a word.

[“You don’t want to do that, right? Then achieve great deeds.”]

[“Great… deeds…”]

[“Yes, great deeds. Wouldn’t that be easier than eliminating competitors? Above all, it wouldn’t go against His Majesty’s will.”]

At the time, mother brushed it off as if she had merely made a joke and quickly changed the subject, but I could clearly tell.

Mother was serious.

She truly believed that it would be easier for me to achieve great deeds and receive the Bourgogne name than to eliminate all competitors, so she changed her approach.

Damn it, mother is so kind and good-natured, but she becomes strange whenever His Majesty is involved.

[“…Yes, Mother.”]

[“Good, that’s my boy.”]

In the end, I could only agree with mother’s demand to achieve great deeds. When the alternative was to kill all the succession rights holders starting with the Crown Prince, who in the world would accept such a thing?

…No, come to think of it, there might be quite a few people who would.

Anyway, I’m not that kind of person. I absolutely cannot kill my half-siblings to become the successor or the Emperor.

And… achieving great deeds.

“Great deeds, easy to say.”

I have no idea what to do or how to do it.

A great deed must be something that anyone would nod and acknowledge as such. For example, greatly expanding the nation’s territory, making the people’s lives prosperous, establishing a legend of invincibility—like His Majesty, like my father.

Of course, since I’ve inherited the blood of such a great father, I think I must have some talent… but still, not knowing what to do is unavoidable.

Above all, I wonder if I really need to achieve great deeds to receive the Bourgogne name.

Isn’t Medici the surname that His Majesty, the great His Majesty, uniquely bestowed only upon mother?

Though it may not be as majestic as Bourgogne, it could be considered just as impressive in its own way, but mother doesn’t seem to think so at all.

Haaa…

‘…I should get something to eat first.’

Sitting here thinking won’t suddenly produce ideas that haven’t occurred to me before, and I’m getting a headache from worrying too much. Besides, I’ll soon become an Imperial lord, so I should enjoy Dijon’s specialties as much as possible before then. I decided to stop thinking for now. I need to eat first.

……….

Many hours passed, but I still couldn’t think of what great deed to achieve, and in the end, I was appointed as an Imperial lord without accomplishing anything. No, the appointment was already made when I was a baby, so it’s more accurate to say I’m moving rather than being appointed.

Anyway, the fact that I left Dijon and came to the Empire remains unchanged.

[“Eric, remember. You must reclaim the Bourgogne name.”]

Mother seems to have been thinking about that matter continuously until I left Dijon.

Not “stay healthy,” or “become a good person,” or “I’ll send my regards,” or “I’ll visit occasionally”—but “reclaim the Bourgogne name.”

Ugh… mother is usually always gentle and affectionate, but she becomes strange whenever His Majesty is involved.

‘…Could there be something about His Majesty?’

It’s not just mother. The Empress and my two stepmothers—they all become strange when involved with His Majesty.

For four people with such rare personalities to be attached to one person—it’s more likely that the problem lies with that one person rather than the four.

Well… even if that’s true, it doesn’t help solve my current situation.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Duke Bruns. I am the administrator who has been governing Bruns on behalf of its lord.”

Normally, I should have been sent as far away from Lotharing as possible, just like my half-siblings, but my domain, Bruns, is not like that.

It’s very close to Lotharing, within half a day’s journey by boat. From the Holy Empire’s perspective, preventing Bruns from being swallowed by the House of Lotharing should have been essential.

Yet the Holy Empire gave me Bruns despite knowing this, and the reason can be stated in a single sentence:

Bruns is a useless rag that cannot function properly.

“Now that Lord Eric, the rightful ruler of Bruns, has arrived, I will transfer all my duties to you.”

Because of its proximity to Lotharing, Bruns took a direct hit from the Duke of Lotharing who was checking the Holy Empire, and as a result, all prices have skyrocketed, leaving society and the economy in complete ruins. Cheap Lotharing grain and manufactured goods are flooding the domain.

But that’s not the only problem.

Half the population here consists of heretics, the so-called reformists, who intensely dislike the Canaan faith that once waged a major war.

Likewise, the Canaan believers in Bruns despise the reformists as heretics. Without physical separation and forceful suppression, there would literally be hundreds of murders daily.

“Thank you for faithfully fulfilling your role all this time. May God’s blessing be upon you.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

My praise for the administrator is by no means empty words. I’m so impressed with how he managed to temporarily normalize Bruns, which had been completely shattered, that I want to throw dignity aside and interrogate him about his methods.

Seeing the smile that doesn’t leave the administrator’s face, he seems extremely happy to escape from this cursed domain.

…I want to escape too. I could have lived a much more comfortable life if I had just stayed in Dijon.

But I can’t do that.

‘I am a ruler now.’

When His Majesty—no, when father became the Duke of Bourgogne, why did he work so hard to reform Bourgogne?

Just to live well and eat well?

No, a ruler’s prosperity doesn’t directly correlate with the domain’s wealth. Even if the vast majority of the people are poor, the ruler governing them isn’t necessarily poor.

Father did those things simply out of the responsibility and duty that comes with the position of ruler.

One cannot ignore the lives of the many people carried on one’s back.

‘It’s rather obvious now, but father truly is amazing.’

Though I speak of responsibility and duty, knowing about them and actually implementing them are completely different matters.

Would all the numerous rulers throughout history not have known this?

The vast majority of those rulers didn’t care at all about the lives of their people and managed their domains solely to ensure their own prosperity.

Of course, there were rulers who made their people’s lives affluent, but few made that their primary goal. It was merely a byproduct of policies aimed at strengthening national power.

‘…I must not be like that.’

I will follow in the footsteps of my father, the great Emperor of Lotharing.

I will resolve religious conflicts, solve the economic and social dependence on Lotharing, and make the lives of Bruns’ people prosperous.

Because that is my duty as a ruler.

…Come to think of it, if I solve all that, wouldn’t that also be considered a great deed? Though I’m not sure if it would please mother.

Here’s the current map…! Truly a hegemonic power that spans the era…!

The gray areas represent territories taken from the Holy Empire combined with the Laurel Duchy that surrendered with its nobles, while the lavender color indicates the nations of the Kisalpina Peninsula that became Lotharing’s vassals out of fear…!

What they have in common is that, unlike Lotharing’s original territories, the indigenous powers haven’t been sorted out, so the lords and nobles are very powerful…!