Chapter 99

―――Today is the 12th day of the winter month.

In the reception room of the palace in Yuritania, the capital of the Yuri Empire. Yuri is meeting with a guest from the Principality.

“It is a great honor for me to meet you today. I am Cadain Theodore, heir to the Duchy of Selsia.”

“It’s been a long time, Duke Theodore. Sofia has been very good to me.”

As Duke Theodore bowed, Yuri urged him to take a seat on the sofa.

Today, Duke Theodore is visiting to negotiate a peace agreement between the Duchy of Selsia and the Yuri Empire.

When Yuri visited Duke Theodore’s residence the other day, she already negotiated a certain amount of peace. They hadn’t concluded a peace treaty on the spot, so they came to Yuritania just to conclude and sign the treaty.

The reason why she didn’t make peace at that time was very simple and clear: Duke Theodore was not in a position to make any agreements with other countries, since he was not the Lord of the Nation.

But today, Duke Theodore is visiting the Yuri Empire to make peace.

You can probably guess what that means.

“What happened to Duke Drapon?”

“I’ve taken care of my own. I am now the monarch of the Duchy of Selsia.”

“Well, that’s quite radical.”

“Strangely enough・・・・・・the events at the evening party where his folly was exposed were widely known, not only by the nobles present but also by the people of the principality.”

“Well, there are some strange things・・・・・・.”

Yuri chuckled as he said this.

As expected, Duke Theodore had a rather complicated expression on his face. Even so, he didn’t complain about Yuri, the main culprit who had broadcasted the scene at the evening party.

“Having someone who has lost the hearts of the people as a monarch is the source of the country’s disorder. Duke Drapon had been excommunicated by the Holy King Altorius himself, so there was no time or hesitation to remove him.

I, along with the Duke of Augrot, urged the Duke of Drapon to abdicate, but he refused to do so. ―――Then we have no choice but to create our own. Fortunately, no one in the palace wanted to side with the Duke, and the process was swift.”

“… Hmm, so?”

“I would like to ask you to make peace with the Principality on the same terms I mentioned the other day. I also ask for your generous forgiveness of my excommunication to the Principality.”

“I don’t think I should be the one to tell you about excommunication. It was done at the sole discretion of Altorius, and I never received single advance notice in the first place.”

“I see… Then I will negotiate with the Holy Land for the excommunication.”

“Please do so.”

The terms of the reconciliation had been worked out beforehand, and we were able to agree easily.

The Duchy of Selsia will cede the entirety of the mountainous region at the western edge of the country. The control of one mining city and two villages there would also be handed over to the Yuri Empire.

As for Yuri, she only received a single letter of insult from the duchy, and no particular military action has been taken, so he is fine with lighter peace terms.

It is more convenient for Theodore officially to accept this condition.

―――This is because all of the cities and villages within Yuri’s receiving range are in the Duke Drapon domain.

If we can reach a peace agreement on these terms, there will be no conflict over which nobleman in the duchy will take over the domain of Duke Drapon.

“But as I said the other day, the amount of silver produced in the mining cities is decreasing every year, so please understand that.”

“Yes, I understand that.”

Instead, it is said that iron can still be extracted in abundance in the mining city, so that alone is valuable enough.

In addition, if Yuri uses [Spatial Grasp], it will be possible to find the exact location of the vein.

Finding the undiscovered silver vein, there may be other veins of highly valuable metals in the area.

In addition, the mountainous region to be ceded to the Yuri Empire as part of a peace treaty contains a large forest with several elven settlements.

However, the forest is inhabited by many demons that disguise themselves as trees, making it too dangerous to dispatch troops from the Principality, and the elven settlements were not under the control of the Principality, despite being within the country.

However, from Yuri’s point of view, who can use Transfer Magic, there is no reason to conquer a village, no matter how steep it is.

If you want, you can let the children of the Yuri Empire uproot the demons that disguise themselves as trees and ‘exterminate’ them.

“By the way, I would like to confirm one thing with you, Yuri-sama.”

“What is it?”

“The reason why so many slaves have disappeared from the duchy is because of your handiwork, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it was. I took them.”

Smiling, Yuri replied immediately, without a hint of guilt.

“I’m not going to give it back, just so you know.”

“That’s all right. Both Duke Augrot and I originally expressed our opposition to the importation of slaves from the Empire. However, since the sovereign has the right to decide, there was no way to stop it if Duke Drapon forcefully approved it.”

“So from now on, under Duke Theodore’s administration, there will be no more slavery.

Hmm? Did you just say that the destination of the slaves is the Empire?”

“I wasn’t referring to the Yuri Empire.”

“I’m aware of that.”

Yuri couldn’t help but chuckle at Duke Theodore’s words.

There is no such thing as a ‘slave’ in the Yuri Empire.

If there is only one ‘slave’ in the Yuri Empire, it would be Sofia, who is not afraid to call herself Yuri’s ‘slave’.

… Well, there are still some 3,000 people imprisoned in the basement of Yuritania, the capital of the Yuri Empire, who are treated like slaves.

They were soldiers of the Kingdom’s army who turned on the Yuri Empire, so Yuri was free to deal with them however she wanted.

If those who took the initiative to kill others and invaded were defeated. It is only natural that suitable retribution awaits them at the end.

“Come to think of it, if you give up your land from the duchy, you will be connected to the border between the Yuri Empire and the Volmician Empire…”

Yuri spilled out her words as she pictured the map in his mind.

In the Mekia continent, where Yuri and her team are currently located, there is a nation called the Volmician Empire.

It’s a nation with a vast landmass and a powerful army, and it’s said to be intimidating the nations that border it, demanding that they open up their markets, provide funds, and all sorts of other things.

I have yet to have any contact with this country, though. ―――It’s not hard to imagine that country is not happy with the Yuri Empire, which also calls itself an empire.

It is not surprising that they would immediately declare war―――saying that there should only be one empire on the continent. The cities and villages that will be ceded from the Principality will need to be prepared to protect their inhabitants to a certain extent.

“The Volmician Empire has a large number of secret reconnaissance units in its army and is known to be constantly searching for information on neighboring countries. I’m sure they’ll come to the Yuri Empire soon enough.”

“Oh, that’s very convenient.”

Yuri smiled at Duke Theodore’s words.

Yuri, who has been monitoring the condition of her country’s cities and villages with [Spatial Grasp] would have no trouble detecting a secret agent sent from an enemy country.

The more secret agents they send to us, the more human resources the Yuri Empire will be able to secure.

Considering the fact that the former secret agents of the Kingdom are very useful to the Yuri Empire. I would like to see the Volmician Empire’s secret agents absorbed into the Yuri Empire as a useful resource.