色两性网欧美

Day 62: Noon, Murimuri Castle, Conference Room.

The assumed worst case scenario was destroyed by an even worse development. All our well-thought through estimations of the worst were overturned with a single word from a messenger.

「A rebellion in the Capital! The second prince declared that he will be succeeding the throne, and shut the gates!」

The frontier’s army is the fewest in numbers. The fighting force is so minor that even comparing it to other factions seems like a mistake. Even if attacked by only one army, they hardly have numbers to split forces and still be able to fight. From the very beginning the frontier army’s only route for victory is taking the head of the enemy commander in a forceful assault.

And if that is not possible, we can’t move from the frontier. That is the weakness of the frontier army.

But now that small Frontier Army is capable of fighting defensively. With the combination of the Fake Dungeon, Murimuri Castle and the domain’s self-sustainability, the frontier, for the first time, gained a defensive option aside from all out offense. However, we can’t fight on two fronts. The frontier does not possess such manpower.

About one third of the kingdom’s military forces are heading towards the frontier with the First Prince. The troops that secluded themselves in the capital with the Second Prince make up another third, if the neighboring troops are included in their numbers as well. What remains are the troops stationed on the kingdom’s borders, and personal troops of various nobles, and lastly, the frontier army.

Diorer Kingdom boasts of having a 100,000-strong army, but the real number of regular troops is closer to 50,000. The rest are civil officials, who can hardly be counted as soldiers, city guards, and palace guards, counting them all together they would make 20,000 at best. Then there are conscripted villagers, and mercenary bands that they managed to gather up. Of the regular troops, only 30,000 are the actual royal army, the remaining 20,000 belong to various nobles, and now even that royal army is split up.

Meanwhile, the frontier army has only 2,500 regular troops, the number is off by orders of magnitude. But if we fought, there would be no defeat. As long as we can force a battle, we can crush them.

However, we can’t afford to split our forces. That very act would mean defeat. If the overwhelmingly smaller force doesn’t huddle together and instead splits, they will be crushed by an overwhelming difference in military force and that would be the end of it.

The only saving grace is that the elite royal guard is yet to make it back to the capital, because they were involved in the assault on the Fake Dungeon with Princess Shariceres. And also that the first division, the strongest combat force, is currently stationed on the border. The third division is part of the nobles and the First Prince’s army, the second division, charged with protecting the capital, must have taken the Second Prince’s side. The fourth division is specializing in engineering and logistics and seems to have linked up with the first division, without taking any sides.

The royal palace troops that the Royal Prince brought plus the palace guards that remained for security number two thousand, the elites that princess Shariceres brought make another thousand, the frontier army is 2,500, even adding everything together, it’s nowhere near even 10,000.

The opponents have gathered numerous mercenaries too, if in addition to that the Theocracy provided troops as well then the total numbers of『Frontier Subjugation Force』, the allied forces of nobles, the First Prince supporters, and the royal army’s third division should be easily over 30,000.

『Rebel Army』should have some mere 20,000, but the Second Prince should have the second division on his side, experts in defense, responsible for the capital and the royal castle.

Lastly there is a question of how the other nobles will act if they will act at all, and the first division is stuck on the border. A three-way stalemate, but as the army of the First Prince has no stronghold, they should be getting anxious. We can’t make light of the power of the great noble houses and the church backing him, but the larger the military force is the harder it becomes to supply and sustain it. Is he going to the frontier as planned, or will he waver and head to the capital?

「Just what is the Second Prince thinking! The King, what happened to my brother! This is an usurpation, treason!」

The Royal Prince seems to be in confusion, but his very presence here must’ve been orchestrated by the Second Prince’s faction. With the army of the First Prince and nobles away from the Capital, and then even the regent leaving it, that must’ve been the only chance for him. It seems highly probable that he created this situation on purpose.

If the First Prince with the church and nobles loyal to it were to manage to capture the frontier then the First Prince will rule the kingdom, if so, the Second Prince will lose his life. Not sure if he was waiting for a chance to act, or if he had no other choice but to act, but he must’ve been waiting for such a miraculous situation. This is too much for a mere coincidence.

Negotiations with the Second Prince are needed, but I don’t think we will be able to reach an agreement. After all, we have the Royal Prince and the Princess here, two people holding a right to the throne. And we also have the smallest military force, we are the ones in the most vulnerable position.

「Your Excellency, we have to wait for new information. Acting under these conditions will only create an opportunity for others to exploit. If so, taking the first move will lose its meaning. Let’s wait, the King is almost certainly safe.」

This is a fine approach for internal enemies, in a way, time is on our side. But if external forces took action, there is no situation more critical than now. It’s truly fortunate for the kingdom that the first division, which was such an eyesore for the princes and the nobles, was ordered off to the border. But they won’t be able to hold off enemies for a long period of time. Wars without reinforcements are eventually lost.

When the conference ended, I stumbled upon Haruka-kun outside. As I relayed the urgent reports and the information we have at the moment he only muttered『Here we go』without any sign of surprise. In other words, he was expecting this. He anticipated that the third force, that no one was aware of, would emerge. That’s why 『Here we go』, as if this is what he thought will happen.

And as he continued muttering, I definitely heard『I wonder which one is next?』, so there is more?! Looks like there was no point to the discussion on which we spent so much time. If there is more to come, then there is nothing we can do at the moment.

And after discussing this and that with Haruka-kun, it became evident that the only thing we can do is await information.

「The question is who is supporting the Second Prince? If the first one has the church and the Theocracy, then what about the second? If he has no backing then fine, but without understanding that, the root of the problem will remain even after we deal with him. Well, there is only one possibility I can think of? If so, it makes sense they can’t act openly.」

The trade union. A state that is not a state. A special economic zone that was formed by a gathering of several guilds. But having an army and a territory that’s already a country.

While antagonistic towards the church, they cooperate when it comes to the slave trade procuring enormous interest. A country that is a gigantic trade association. A country that is not a country, The Merchants Confederation.

In slave trade they side with the Theocracy, raiding the beastmen country to enslave and traffic those that were caught, however, they also openly challenge the church’s monopoly on magic stones and magic tools.

In other words, it’s a country that doesn’t like the idea of the frontier’s magic stones supply and the church magic tool knowledge merging into one. Are they propping up the Second Prince so he can usurp the kingdom to subvert the Theocracy’s interests? But the Kingdom is also against slavery. While slavery does exist in the kingdom too, it’s only as a temporary service on monetary basis. A barbaric system in which one can be caught and forced to labor endlessly, or where killing the slave isn’t even recognized as a crime is not accepted here, much less, supporting discrimination of beastmen that belong to a friendly nation. But if they allied with the Second Prince, doesn’t that mean that the Second Prince made a secret agreement and is intending to discard the royal family’s pledges? Or is the Second Prince himself just disposable fodder?

And the boy, Haruka-kun, just how much does he know, how far has he read the situation, and how extensive are his plans?

If the boy and others remained in the frontier we could launch an attack, but if they leave the Frontiers Army won’t be able to act. Is that why he’s trying to go? All the way to the first prince’s camp… We can’t allow him to go that far. This is the kingdom and the kingdom’s nobles problem. The situation is a dirty mess, allowing that boy to traverse this bog would be unforgivable.

But he seems eager to go.

Telling this to His Excellency, Musjiks, is useless. All he sees in him is a rude youngster. He doesn’t understand that the boy is not simple enough to allow making judgements based on appearances only. Strength is potential. And that boy, as weak as he might possibly be, destroyed the great dungeon that is said to have had potential to destroy the continent. He doesn’t comprehend that the potential that the boy possesses can destroy the continent. Even though the existence of that potential itself is both a terror and a strength.

Well, in a way, it certainly can’t be helped. Making mountains bow is way easier than understanding that boy.