CH 375

When Alvaland’s territory was caught up in the ravages of war, the Devil of Angheland’s Hand reached over to Welez in the western part of the Blish Isles.

The Welez region is a hump-like land on the west side of Blish Isles. Of course, it’s not as round as a bump, but no one has a perfectly accurate geography, since there are no accurate maps.

The Welez region has more small countries and powers than Alvaland, and there is no completely unified system. However, there are powerful nations that boast relatively large influence among them.

The King of Gweneded, Llywelyn Grufhyd, ruled over half of Welez, mostly in the north. And he often invaded the south with the aim of unifying Welez, calling himself the Grand Duke of Welez. And from beneath Llywelyn came a flurry of disturbing reports.

“It seems that almost all of the southern lords have been conquered by the Kingdom of Angheland…”

“Hmm…”

Welez, which is closer to the southern part of the Kingdom of Angheland compared to the Kingdom of Alvaland in the north, received information about the Kingdom of Wessek and the Kingdom of Angheland relatively quickly. The Kingdom of Essek, which had reunified Wessek in no time at all, immediately announced the founding of the Kingdom of Angheland, and information had been received from early on that they were embarking on unifying all of the Blish Isles.

However, it was unexpectedly good that the war with Wessek and Frasia had ended soon after, or at this time you could say the war with the Kingdom of Frasia had not even ended, and they would invade with full force as soon as possible.

However, what was a relief for the Welez region was that, unlike the Kingdom of Alvaland, they did not directly go to war with Wessek. The Kingdom of Gweneded made a secret pact with the Count of Reicester and formed an alliance, but it had not openly launched a war against Wessek.

Therefore, neither Essek nor Wessek’s successor state, Angheland, is in a state of war, when compared to Alvaland, relatively peaceful measures are still being taken.

Nonetheless, the conditions are harsh, and terms such as the complete dismantling of the current ruling system and the deprivation of the rights of privileged classes such as nobles and royalty are put forward, unacceptable in normal times. Even so, there are countries that have no choice but to obey and give up, while others insist on total resistance and are totally destroyed in response.

From Welez’ point of view, the only land border is to the east. The rest are surrounded by the sea. However, the southern part was also invaded from the coast by ships that seemed to have sailed south, and those who had not originally followed Llywelyn, King of Gweneded and Grand Duke of Welez, surrendered in an instant.

Until now, in the war against Wessek, the Welezian lords have fought together. Welez had not been unified, but they still recognize Wessek as a common external enemy and cooperated against them as a result.

However, most areas other than the Kingdom of Gweneded have already surrendered to the Kingdom of Angheland and have been incorporated under its control. Originally, there was a large difference in national power and population between Wessek and Welez, but half of the southern part has already become an enemy. No matter how you look at it, the Kingdom of Gweneded has no chance of winning.

“Grand Duke of Welez, a messenger has arrived from the Kingdom of Angheland.”

“Already…?”

And finally, a messenger from Angheland came to the Kingdom of Gweneded. Needless to say, the story would be a recommendation to surrender. There is no chance of winning in a war. However, the demands of Angheland do not recognize the rights of the current royal family and nobility, it’s too harsh. There aren’t many nobles who obediently obey, knowing that they will lose their status and property.

Caelnarlfon, the royal capital of the Kingdom of Gweneded, is located at the northwestern edge of Welez. Invading from the southern sea would have to pass through the coast of Gweneded, which would buy some time before the enemy fleet arrived.

However, by land, if you come straight from the eastern border, it will not be much to cross. The Welez region, which is long in the north-south direction and thin in the east-west direction, will not last long if it is attacked from the eastern border.

They don’t think there is any chance of winning in a war. However, they don’t think they would listen to someone telling the nobles to give up all their rights. Up until now, Wessek could have fought a war to a certain extent, sometimes they obeyed it, sometimes they rebelled against it, and made their own claims.

But this Kingdom of Angheland is too unforgiving. It’s a complete denial of the current system… few will follow. Knowing that they don’t understand why they’re pushing it so hard. If you accept the current ruling system and make them obey you, you will be able to govern easily… While Llywelyn was thinking about such things, he headed to the room where the messenger of Angheland was waiting.

“I want to ask one question to the Kingdom of Angheland.”

Those were the words Llywelyn uttered after meeting the messenger and exchanging names. The messenger of the Kingdom of Angheland tilts his head a little and gestures for him to proceed.

“Go on.”

The messenger’s costume is clearly more luxurious than that of Llywelyn, the Grand Duke of Welez. This is probably because the messengers are purposely dressed gorgeously to show the difference in national power. However, it is difficult to do anything about the difference in national power that is objectively true. It’s not bluffing, but it’s really because there’s that much of a difference in their country’s strengths…

“Why is the Kingdom of Angheland making such harsh demands? Many countries will not comply with such terms. Although you call it a request for surrender, it seems that you’re actually urging us to go to war from the outrage.”

The messenger of Angheland was wide-eyed at Llywelyn’s words. Then he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. It’s not the attitude of a messenger to the king of a country, but you can’t blame him for that.

“I don’t know what kind of information you have gathered from where…but perhaps you are misunderstanding something? King Karruzer of Angheland has not made any unreasonable demands?”

At that, Llywelyn stood up and raised his voice.

“Even though you are calling for surrender, you are in truth asking us to surrender the country! Abolishing the current system, and telling the king and the nobles to surrender their territories! There is no country that can accept such conditions! That’s why there are wars all over these lands! I can only think that this is a way to provoke a war by giving a condition that we can’t swallow!”

After hearing Llywelyn’s words, the messenger opened his mouth and spoke quietly.

“I don’t know from where that comes or who roused you… but that sounds like the words of a fool who doesn’t understand the intentions of our king. If you will give me a moment? Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. Then I will pass on the words of our King.”

So what the messenger said… still seemed to match the information that was coming to Llywelyn. In a country that surrendered and entered under the Kingdom of Angheland, the royal family and nobility were deprived of their territory, deprived of their right to rule, and were, so to speak, told to become commoners.

“What part of that is different from what I just said!?” Llywelyn finally exclaimed.

But the messenger shook his head again and shrugged his shoulders.

“You’ve got it totally wrong. Certainly, the current ruling system will be dismantled and ruled under King Karruzer. However, we are not saying that the current rulers will be completely eliminated. If they are capable and willing, they can be tested for a promotion, and if they pass and are hired, they’ll be entrusted with governing or becoming a governor, is that not what we said?”

“That would effectively eliminate the old system!”

Certainly, the subsequent ruling system was also explained. Regardless of whether they are nobles or commoners, those who have talent, ability, and will take a recruitment exam, and if they pass it, they will be appointed as government officials of the Kingdom of Angheland. There are various types of jobs, and it is explained that they are given a position that matches their talents and abilities, from just a civil servant in a town hall to a territory manager, or even an executive position of some kind.

However, even if there is such a system, it seems to be nothing more than a system for arbitrarily rejecting those who do not like it. In that case, it would be easy to prevent the people of the current ruling class from being incorporated into the next system.

“That’s not true. Our king does not wish for territory and rights to be inherited from parents just because you are born well off, and he said that he didn’t want an incompetent person to rule a vast territory without any ability to do so. If the person himself has talent and ability, he will be treated much better than he is now. What you’re claiming now sounds like incompetent people trying to cling to their current positions and power.”

“What!?”

Everyone is at a loss for words as to what a mere messenger would say to a king.

“What our king is saying is that he will only eliminate the incompetent people who are living under the current regime. But the king’s conditions can easily be fulfilled. Isn’t it because you know that you lack the ability, you have awareness of your incompetence?”

“Gugugu!”

There is so much to say. Llywelyn has so far risen by his efforts. He certainly inherited his territory from his parents and grandfather. However, Llywelyn has built up many territories, and the Kingdom of Gweneded is expanding its territory like never before. It’s all his talent. His ability. He is proud of that.

“And also, although they had made a secret pact with Count Reicester behind the scenes and formed an alliance, the Kingdom of Gweneded had not yet declared war on or invaded the Kingdom of Angheland.”

“””――!?”””

At the messenger’s words, not only Llywelyn, but even the chief retainers of the Kingdom of Gweneded opened their eyes wide in amazement. Why have their dealings with Count Reicester been exposed?

From the Angheland side, Count Reicester has been secured and various investigations have been conducted, so they have almost grasped what was behind it. He’s been working here and there, making secret pacts with the Kingdom of Gwened, and threatening the nobles.

However, from the Kingdom of Gweneded’s side, they never dreamed that the secret agreement with Count Reicester was leaking to Angheland. Depending on the situation, it wouldn’t be strange for a war to be launched because of this secret pact. It’s coming out of the messenger’s mouth now and they can’t hide their turmoil.

“However, our king is relatively tolerant of Welez. Let’s wait three days. Give us an answer during that time. Either refuse King Karruzer’s request or give no reply within three days, we will declare war as if you had made clear your hostilities.”

“Wha… that’s…”

They can’t answer properly because there’s too much to think about everything that has been said. It’s a very one-sided statement. Where do you think this is a tolerant response? None of the demands have been relaxed, and the conditions are the same as for other small countries. You can’t think of it as a response to the Kingdom of Gwened, which is a large country of Welez.

“Ah, that’s right,” the messenger said. “Please understand that the more time passes, the more disadvantageous a place your country will find itself. The more time you give us, the more of our country’s troops will gather here. And according to the information we’ve obtained, the Kingdom of Alvaland has already totally surrendered the other day. Our troops have also pacified southern Welez and will establish our rule one after another. Even if you take your time, there will be no reinforcements in the Kingdom of Gweneded, and our army will gather more instead.”

“–!–!”

They can’t say anything anymore. There is no way to know whether Alvaland really surrendered or not. But would this messenger tell such a petty lie? What does that mean?

There is absolutely no need to threaten the Kingdom of Gweneded just by dropping Alvaland now. Whether Alvaland remains or is destroyed, it is the same for the Kingdom of Gweneded. Even the enemy forces that have already gathered around them are no match. The answer was decided from the beginning.

Will the people be collateral damage and the country will be reduced to ashes to protect the rights of the ruling class? Will they withdraw gracefully and completely follow the Kingdom of Angheland?

And, as expected, the upper management of Gweneded refused the request of Angheland and advocated a thorough resistance. Two days after that day, Gwened had completely surrendered to Angheland, and its name disappeared from the map.

In this way, in less than a week after the founding of the Kingdom of Angheland, Alvaland, and Welez were completely under the control of Angheland. The Kingdom of Angheland, which unified the Blish Isles, changed its name to the Kingdom of Blish in just one week.