Ch.40Final Ultimatum

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“Mmm…”

I woke up to the sound of chirping birds.

Has it already become time for the spring birds to return? Since I don’t age, I feel increasingly indifferent to the passage of time.

My morning routine consisted of stretching as I got up, finishing the breakfast Michaela had prepared, bathing, changing clothes, and beginning work by meeting with my aide.

“Did you sleep well, Aide?”

“Yes. It seems Your Highness retired comfortably last night.”

“Well, that’s right. By the way, it’s already gotten quite warm. I heard the spring birds.”

“The snow has started to melt now. The farmers are beginning to sow their seeds.”

“Is that so…”

This is the sixth spring. Considering what I’ve accomplished over the past six years, I could probably take it easy now, but isn’t complacency what eats away at a nation?

At least until we exceed one million, we needed to keep accelerating our growth.

“By the way, it’s about time we moved the farmlands outward.”

“Ah… indeed. We can’t keep agricultural land and urban areas coexisting forever.”

People talk about urban-rural integration, but while farmers might not mind, city dwellers hate the smell of manure. Honestly, so do I.

Above all, our population will continue to grow. Considering the ongoing expansion of urban areas, it’s about time for the city and countryside to be separated.

“Let’s leave things as they are for this year, and create separate villages. We can select suitable locations and form villages centered around immigrants.”

“Yes. I will look into those ‘suitable locations’ separately.”

“Good.”

A city is a city, and a village is a village. The fact that these two words are separate means that the two categories cannot mix by nature.

I deliberately made the city walls wide enough for a population of one million to live comfortably, where “comfortably” means having enough space for residential areas, markets, and public facilities, with room left over to build libraries, plazas, cemeteries, and other amenities.

In truth, it’s because we have Fahrenheit with its 10 million residents right next to us. A city of one million is no small matter; once the walls are completed, the name of Amurtat will be prominently engraved on this northern city.

“By the way, how much of the wall has been completed?”

“Now that the farmers have left, our workforce has drastically decreased. It will probably be completed in about two years.”

“Hmm… I wanted it completed by winter.”

“Still, we’ve built a gate in the western forest. We can proceed step by step. War will begin soon, but it won’t be happening on our land.”

“Well, that’s true.”

There’s still plenty of time until the end of spring.

During that time, if Elisia shows no response, it will surely develop into war, and if that happens, Francesca will die.

Her corpse will be cremated and buried in the ground, and the dormant earth core will seep into her remains, being reborn as a fragment of the core. Through her death, she will bestow mercy upon her people for the first time.

*

“Aim!”

Whoosh!

“Fire!”

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Following the commander’s order, the archers released their arrows in unison.

Of the 200 arrows shot from 200 bows, half traveled beyond 100 meters, while only 30 went beyond 200 meters. The remaining 70 archers couldn’t even send their arrows 100 meters.

“More training is needed, it seems.”

“Indeed.”

Ignatz bowed his head as if embarrassed, but I thought it was quite decent.

From the beginning, bows were very difficult to master, and it wasn’t so much that the weapons themselves were expensive, but rather that finding skilled soldiers who could properly use a bow was challenging.

Gunpowder did exist in this world, but just as it was difficult to make in the real world, obtaining gunpowder here required all sorts of hardships.

For example, fighting giants from lava volcanoes to obtain sulfur.

In contrast, in this world where the ecosystem itself is incredibly strong, human strength is surprisingly formidable, and a sufficiently powerful bow can deliver effective blows even against plate armor.

Of course, wooden bows are useless for this; you need metal bows reinforced with iron or steel and arrows made specifically of metal, but the fact that human strength can pierce plate armor is remarkable in itself.

Well, I suppose that’s why people can slice through golems or dragons with just a sword.

“It wasn’t bad at all, Ignatz. This is quite sufficient. These aren’t selected marksmen, but randomly chosen archers showing this level of accuracy.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. But with war approaching so soon…”

“Don’t worry. If our forces are lacking, we can simply increase them.”

“What do you mean?”

Ignatz looked at me with wide eyes.

“I mean we’ll use mercenaries.”

“Ah… mercenaries…”

Of course, Ignatz knows about mercenaries.

Being a knight, however, his thinking isn’t flexible enough to consider waging war with mercenaries.

“If you’re hiring mercenaries, exactly how many will you employ? It will cost quite a bit.”

“I plan to hire about 20,000. It will cost a fair amount, but I’m thinking of contracting them with slightly lower pay in exchange for us handling all the supplies.”

“20,000… That seems like a number we can sufficiently control.”

Ignatz spoke with confidence.

A mercenary company that doesn’t receive proper payment is, frankly speaking, just a band of skilled thieves. As long as they’re paid well, earning their trust isn’t particularly difficult.

After all, mercenary companies that take money and run away or betray their employers are expelled from the mercenary guild and become priority targets for execution, so unless they’re completely insane, they wouldn’t do something so stupid.

“But there’s no mercenary guild in Amurtat, is there? How will you gather so many mercenaries?”

“I’ve given word to the adventurers’ guild.”

“Ah.”

Adventurers are essentially transcontinental armed groups. It’s not unusual for adventurers to participate in conflicts between nations.

After all, they are citizens of a country too, and they pay income and head taxes like any other subject.

“But won’t Elisia also hire adventurers?”

“They won’t have the money for that.”

“I see.”

Ignatz, who had been saying “I see” repeatedly, nodded his head.

If Elisia, burdened with all sorts of corruption, were to hire adventurers, it would probably go like this:

For example, if they claimed to hire 10,000 adventurers, they would first request money for this purpose.

Then, after skimming off a portion, they would give what remained to subcontractors.

Naturally, skimming would occur there too, and as it continued through layers of subcontracting, they would end up hiring only about 100 ruffians—people who couldn’t be used as normal troops.

But since Francesca would never leave the palace, if they claimed to have hired 10,000, she would simply accept it, and the nobles would pack up whatever they had embezzled and flee to survive.

“Well, we still have plenty of time. Continue to focus on training.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

*

“The time has come.”

The sunlight was becoming quite hot now.

Spring had passed, and early summer was approaching.

Yet, Elisia showed no response, which was a complete disregard for our Amurtat, who had given them an opportunity.

“Aide, begin hiring the adventurers. As discussed previously, cut the pay in half, but we’ll take full responsibility for supplies here in Amurtat.”

“Understood.”

“Ignatz, gather the troops and load the wagons with provisions and weapons. We will march toward Elisia.”

“By your command.”

I issued orders to my subordinates and used an artifact provided by the adventurers’ guild to broadcast my voice throughout Amurtat.

“I am Tiberius von Adler, lord of Amurtat.

To all the people living in this land, you surely remember Elisia’s outrageous actions last summer.

I gave Francesca of Elisia a chance, but she insolently rejected my proposal, looked down upon us, and now sits arrogantly on her throne cutting off the limbs of innocent people as the summer heat approaches.

As the ruler of Amurtat, I hereby declare war against Elisia for violating our national sovereignty, effective immediately.

Thirty thousand soldiers will follow my orders and march south to topple Elisia’s crumbling walls.

Let those who hear my words know that justice under heaven lies with me!”

I finished my brief speech in the most solemn voice I could muster, and soon the western gate of Amurtat opened.

From that gate emerged 30,000 soldiers, followed by 4,000 wagons, along with 600 cavalry and knights.

Now, we march to overthrow Elisia.