Chapter 242: True Responsibility (3)

“Huu… I will accept the request for a meeting. However, tell the Grand Duke Forrest of the Lester Kingdom that I have two conditions that he must meet.”

“Please tell me, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“First, the Andrews Empire will continue to exist. Second, the Lester Kingdom will immediately stop the Republican Army and the three allied kingdoms that are currently disrupting the Empire’s domestic affairs.”

The Emperor spoke flatly.

“As long as these two conditions are met, I’ll surrender.”

“I will convey your message to the Grand Duke, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“Marquis Gotham bowed his head as he calmly responded.

***

Marquis Gotham went back and conveyed the Emperor’s words. Milton nodded as he spoke.

“If we were to forcefully destroy a nation of this size, then it will only lead to chaos. Of course I’ll allow them to keep the Empire intact. And if the Emperor surrenders, we’ll have the Republican Army and the three allied kingdoms come to the table to sign a truce, so neither condition will be a problem.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Thus, Milton agreed to all the conditions and a meeting with the Emperor was arranged. The Lester Kingdom entered the capital and began to set up a meeting place in the Square of Glory. And Milton and Emperor Gilbert met in front of all the citizens of the Empire’s capital.

“So you’re Grand Duke Forrest. You’re younger than I thought.”

“You’re also quite young to be an emperor of the great Empire. Aren’t we both the same?”

At Milton’s words, Emperor Gilbert gave a short laugh.

“Ha, we’re different. You’re a hero and I’m… I’m just a fallen emperor.”

“......”

“And soon, I won’t even be an emperor.” 

Then, Emperor Gilbert approached Milton and slowly got down on his knees. 

“Keugh…”

“Your Imperial Majesty! How…”

“No, you mustn't, Your Imperial Majesty! Your Imperial Majesty!”

The emperor of the Empire knelt down to a monarch of another country. This was the first time in the history of the Andres Empire, and the loyal subjects watching this horrifying sight broke down in tears. 

However, the emperor continued to calmly carry out his role.

“I, Gilbert Terre Andrews, as the current emperor of the Empire, surrender to Grand Duke Milton Forrest of the Lester Kingdom.”

“The last emperor of the Empire, I accept your surrender.”

Then, Milton took off the crown on the emperor’s head. This was the moment when the Andrews Empire was left behind in history and disappeared.

“Wahhh!!”

“Hooray for the Lester Kingdom!”

“Long live Grand Duke Forrest!”

At the heart of the Empire, the Lester Kingdom’s roar of victory rang out loudly.

***

Milton kept his promise to the Emperor, no, he was now King Gilbert. The Andrews Empire was no longer an empire, but was now a kingdom, and Milton had promised to protect it. 

To that end, Milton quickly sent an envoy to the Republic and the three kingdoms. 

-As of this moment, the Andrews Kingdom surrendered to the Lester Kingdom and is now a protectorate. Therefore, any continued invasion of the Andrews Kingdom will be regarded as an act of provocation against my home country and we will take military action in response. You will immediately stop invading and send a representative to the capital to participate in the meeting. If you ignore this warning and continue the war, then you will pay a price for it.

This letter was sent to both the Republic and the three allied kingdoms. 

The effect was immediate. The Republican Army and the three kingdoms’ armies immediately stopped any war activities and informed their home countries of the situation. The Empire was no longer frightening, but they couldn’t help but be afraid of the Lester Kingdom that was currently emerging as a powerhouse and was trying to gain hegemony over the continent. 

Compared to the Republic, the three kingdoms especially felt frightened since they could clearly see the difference in national power between themselves and the Lester Kingdom. In the end, they decided to agree to the meeting.

Milton hadn’t only threatened them, he had also offered them enough carrots to entice them. He had offered to recognize the Andrew Kingdom’s territories they occupied as theirs if they agreed to the talk.

If he didn’t want the Andrews Kingdom to think foolish thoughts, then he had to take away some of its power. That was why he was planning to give the vassal countries the territories they had occupied while downsizing the Andrews Kingdom at the same time to a size more fitting for a kingdom.

Of course, this angered the Andrews Kingdom, but what could they do? They were the losers of this war, and losers have no right to insist on anything.

Now that the three allied kingdoms had been settled, Milton stayed in the Andrews Kingdom’s capital and signed a peace treaty with them.

“You’ve worked hard, Your Highness.”

“Hu… Leila is much better at things like this.”

Having managed to find time in his busy schedule, Milton was drinking tea with Count Sabian. 

“Are there any problems in the Imper… are there any problems in the capital and the occupied territories?”

“There are no problems, sir. Because we’re thoroughly managing our soldiers and our country is sending supplies, there is no resistance, sir.”

“Alright, so that’s the common folks. But what about the nobles?”

“They are still a bit rebellious, but currently, there aren’t any who are plotting or conspiring, sir. Instead, there are people who are committing suicie…”

“Well, they do say all conquerors are villains. Guess I’m no different.”

Milton laughed bitterly.

Many of the Empire’s nobles and knights had either lamented over the Empire’s fall and committed suicide or stepped down and left the country. Some of them had even left a letter criticizing the Emperor for failing to fulfill his duties and blaming the aggressor, Milton Forrest, before committing suicide. From their point of view, Milton was just an invader, nothing more, nothing less.

“Your Highness, you can’t hold yourself responsible for their deaths. You have to be satisfied with saving countless citizens’ lives in the Andrews Kingdom.”

“I know. I know that I’m not an omnipotent God and that it couldn’t be helped.”

Milton thought the tea tasted more bitter, but he drank it calmly before continuing. 

“How did the Republic respond?”

“They haven’t responded yet, sir.”

“If only that bastard, Siegfried, let go of his ambition, then I’d have done everything that needs to be done in my generation.”

Now that the Empire had fallen, the Republic seemed to be the Lester Kingdom’s last opponent. But, because Milton had gotten to the Imperial capital and captured Emperor Gilbert first, the situation had greatly changed.

Now that they had stabilized the Andrews Kingdom and cooperated with the formal Imperial vassal countries, the Lester Kingdom was in reality an empire. Even if the Lester Kingdom and the Republic’s strength was equal, the gap between the two countries would increase if the Lester Kingdom were to bring in the Andrews Kingdom from the south and pressure the Republic. 

In the end, as time went on, the Republic would have to let go of their ambition. 

‘Maybe my future generations will have to deal with something similar to a Cold War, but at least we won’t have any more large-scale wars now.’

Milton finally felt like the chaos of this era was abating a bit. Milton judged that even if it was Siegfried, it was impossible for him to try anything else at this point.

***

The eastern border of the Lester Kingdom.

Originally, a strong fortress had been built because the kingdom had been wary of a war breaking out with the Republic, but these days, the number of men guarding the fortress had decreased. This had been inevitable since they were at war with the Empire, and since there was a military alliance with the Republic, it hadn’t been necessary.

Perhaps that was the reason, but the soldiers who were on guard gradually lost their discipline. 

Yawn.

“...I’m so sleepy.”

“Hang in there. Your shift is almost over, isn’t it?”

“I know. But hey, what about after work? There’s a bar that’s open until dawn.”

“Really? Then, let’s go after wor…”

“Hey? Why’d you stop talkin… Who’s there?”

SMACK!

“Keugh…”

The guard was flustered by the sudden appearance of a figure in front of him, but a blade had pierced his stomach before he could finish talking.

The men who dealt with the guards were wearing nocturnal clothes that could only be worn by assassins. But looking at their movements, they were much better than a regular assassin. That was only natural since they were members of Siegfried’s most treasured force - the Ghost Force. 

They quietly disposed of the guards on top of the walls and quickly seized control of the gate’s windlass and opened the gate. Under the cover of darkness, the Republican Army entered and began to take control of the fortress.

“Keugh!”

“These bastards! How dare they! We’re still in the middle of a truce… guh…”

“Aack!”

The Lester Kingdom’s guards stationed in the fortress figured out what was going on too late. By the time they started fighting, there were too few men remaining, but more importantly, there was no way for them to respond to the perfect ambush. The Ghosts completely surrounded the gates and prevented messengers from escaping. And so, before the night was over, the Ghosts had taken over a fortress perfectly.

Jake reported this situation to Siegfried.

“Fuhrer, we’ve got full control of the castle.”

“What about prisoners?”

“Just as you’ve ordered, there are none, sir.”

“Eliza?”

“You called me?”

“What about the messenger pigeons that were sent out?”

“There were five, but I stopped all of them with my magic.”

“Good. Just like this, we’re moving covertly to the next fortress.”

After silently capturing the fortress, Siegfried moved his army.

“Have the follow-up force take their time following us.”

“Yes, sir!”

Including Jake, Eliza, and the Ghosts, Siegfried led 20,000 men. 

“This is my last chance.”

Contrary to Milton’s expectations, Siegfried hadn’t given up his ambition yet.

While Milton was taking over the Imperial capital and capturing the emperor, Siegfried had been preparing to capture the Lester Kingdom’s capital and Milton’s wives and children. Even if he was written in history as a villain who ignored the peace treaty, that had been his plan…

‘It’s better to leave my name behind as a villain than to give up my ambition.’

So far, no one knew of Siegfried’s covert movements.

***The Lester Kingdom’s capital.

Queen Leila was so busy, even if there were two of her, she would still be busy.

“Does my husband think I’m a money making goddess?”

Queen Leila sighed as she looked at the documents Milton had sent requesting supplies. She might have said that, but in all honesty, she also knew that all of these were necessary.

Since they’ve taken over the Empire, supplies were essential to control the public opinion of the people living on the occupied territory. If the basic supplies consumed by the war were added to it, a frightening amount of supplies were needed. 

Despite the huge amount of wealth amassed by the Lester Kingdom’s maritime trade, the supplies budget was staggering.

‘It’s not smart to spend any more of the royal budget. I need to issue bonds to the nobles and raise more funds.’

Although war bonds were a gamble, it was different if they were winning the war. Thinking she could sell them at a high price to the nobles, she immediately began to write up documents, however...

“Your Majesty, Grand Duchess Sophia is here.”

She briefly looked away from the papers when she heard the servant speaking from outside her office.

“Send her in.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The door opened and Sophia entered the office. 

“I greet the monarch of the Lester Kingdom.”

“That’s enough etiquette between family members. More important than that, what brings you here? Are the kids causing trouble again?”

Elizabeth and William were now seven and five years old. Their father was at war, but the children continued to grow and were at the stage where they were the prettiest, cutest, loveliest, and the most disobedient. Unless it was Leila exuding a menacing vibe, they didn’t listen to anyone else and were constantly giving Sophia a hard time.

But today, Sophia brought her unexpected news.

“I’m here to report something that I’ve found strange.”

“Something strange?”

“Yes. I lost contact with the building materials manufacturers that I’ve personally ordered from.”

“Are you saying they took the money and raw? They’ve got some guts to do that.”

Leila thought it was oddly impressive if they had the guts to cheat the Grand Duke Forrest.

But Sophia shook her head. 

“No, they’re not like that. And it’s not just one person I can’t get in contact with. It’s quite a few people. It’s way past time since they were supposed to contact me…”

“......”

Leila had an ominous feeling.

“You lost contact with multiple people at the same time?”

“Yes, but just the people in the eastern region who get the timber for me.”

“Alright. I’ll look into it.”

Having told Sophia that, Leila sent the fastest messenger pigeon to the eastern region to have them report back with the situation.

‘I hope nothing is wrong…’

But she already knew that her ominous predictions were probably true.