Volume 2 - CH 4

The Translator: 

Conquest Arc

4, The One who Cannot Move, the One who Begins to Move.

(Author’s explanation about the previous title)

『Fish in troubled waters / disturb the waters and catch a fish』…… The 20th of the 36 Stratagems of the Arts of War. It’s a stratagem where you use the opportunity during the confusion amongst the enemies to gain an advantage to achieve victory.

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Valgas Duchy’s Capital City 『Red Dragon Castle-Town』[1]

It was a city constructed on a rampart in a clearing on the side of a slightly tall mountain.

As a capital city, its location on the mountainside made it inconvenient to transport goods. As for why they built a capital city in such a place, it’s because the Valgas Duchy not only has Wyverns for war purposes but also for transportation purposes. Since the number of Wyverns was limited, they couldn’t function as mass transportation, but one Wyvern could pull a gondola on the ropeway. There are also bus-like gondolas that connect each castle-city and are pulled by four Wyverns each. Since they could fly, places that are hard to reach by foot are not a big problem.

The Air Force’s General, Castor Valgas castle, just like the city, was quite boorish. Even though its location already made it a mountain castle, it was also concealed behind a high rampart, so its defensive ability was frighteningly high. The mountain slope made battering ram carriages (a siege engine with large stakes to strike and smash the gates) and siege towers (a siege engine similar to a plank-like firefighting truck so it was possible to cross over to the wall) useless, while the high walls stopped the attacks of the infantry and cavalry. The only effective means of attack was an aerial strike conducted by Wyverns; however, this was the specialty of the Valgas House, so it could be said that this city was surely an impregnable fortress.

Moreover, Castor Valgas, who ruled this city, is an excellent general.

Even though Castor was bad in political discussions and the likes, he had already showed unequalled strength in the battlefield. At the great battle that had affected Elfrieden for the last hundred years, with the Wyvern Corps as the vanguard and he as the commander, they always led the attacks and mowed down the foreign enemies. And although his ineffectual intellect also caused many mistakes, his broadminded hot-blooded personality and his excellent strength were extremely appealing and fascinated his subordinates. To make it easier to understand his personality, it could be said that he resembled Zhang Fei[2] from Chinese history or Fukushima Masanori[3] from Japanese history.

Because he was such a person, the day-to-day governing of the city was left to his capable subordinates. Since it was obvious that if a person who was weak in administration tried to get in the way of the government, the results wouldn’t be satisfactory. It might even be able to be considered as good in itself. Actually, the administration of the city was stable, and so, as long as their livelihoods were stable, the citizens would respect the ruler. That’s why the citizens also supported Castor Valgas.

Yes…… Until the day the failure of Souma’s Last Warning happened, that is…

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Several hours after the failure of Souma’s Last Warning:

『Duke Valgas! Come out!』(Angry Mob)

『Answer us, Duke Valgas! Do you want to Rebel!?』(Angry Mob)

『Why did you reject the aid from the King…… even though my children are starving……』(Angry Mob)

『I even had to sell my daughter as a slave to reduce the number of mouths to support……Uuuuu*cry*……』(Angry Mob)

『Damn you!!! Come out, Castor Valgas!!!』(Angry Mob)

The mobs yelled out various types of pent up resentment.

High up in the castle in his room, Castor Valgas watched the state of the mobs from a window.

「Shittt! Why in the world did it become like this!?」(Castor)

Castor kicked a chair near him and yelled. The wooden chair crashed into the wall and broke into pieces, but Castor’s anger didn’t calm down.

「Why?! Why do the citizens know about the discussion with the King!? Were there any spies mixed in!?」(Castor)

「Castor-sama……That is……」(Tolman)

A white haired man who looked like a butler, who had been standing earlier in the room for some time, timidly began to speak. His name is Tolman Bech.[5] As a matter of fact, he was the Chamberlain of the Valgas House and had been entrusted with the domestic affairs of the Valgas Duchy. The chamberlain was quite muscular because he had quite a unique job history: originally a former vice commander of the Wyvern Knight Corps, because of his high administration skills, he was turned into a chamberlain instead.

Curiously, Tolman was hesitant to inform Castor.

「It looks like the new King had…… broadcasted the negotiation process even to the Three Dukes’ territories.」(Tolman)

「What did you say!」(Castor)

Castor couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He couldn’t believe what Souma had just done. It was common sense in this world that the citizens had no need to know the process of the negotiations. It will be alright to only inform them about the results of the negotiations. After all, the powerless citizens had no other choice but to accept those results.

『I only want you to please remember, that before you are a general, you also carry many things on your back.』

He remembered the words that Souma had spoken at that time.

(Did he mean this!? That bastard, what he really meant was about this!) (Castor)

Castor had fallen into what was a seemingly simple plan. It couldn’t be helped. This world didn’t have any concepts of “Mass Media” after all. Despite the presence of the similar overtechnology[6] Royal Broadcast, the previous Kings only used it to dispatch the minimum information to the citizens. If the citizens are ignorant, then it would be easier to rule them. Also, since it would be hard to guess where the public opinion would move after receiving the information, there was no need to deliberately use it. Therefore, many people, including Castor, didn’t know about the media’s power in influencing public opinion.

On the other hand, Souma was a person who came from an age that is inundated by the media. He had already personally witnessed both the merits and demerits of the media’s influence. “A certain nation has a Weapon of Mass Destruction!” By saying this, the Media became the trigger of the war. There were also incomprehensible media that for several decades continued to condemn their own local governments and championed their own prefered ideology.[7] Souma had already completely understood how the media could induce wars and caused citizens to look down at their country’s government.

Souma was using the difference of this knowledge against Castor.

However, there were parts that Castor couldn’t understand.

「Still, but why? Why are the citizens enraged? Even though I had rejected the King’s aid, they had already received the food aid from the Air Force’s emergency food supply, right? The situation wasn’t that bad compared to the King’s territory!」(Castor)

Certainly the armies at the Three Dukes’ territories held a huge amount of food reserves, and since the army had opened their storage and given food aid to the citizens, their condition wasn’t that bad compared to the King’s territory. This so-so condition was also the same in the Valgas Duchy.

However, the chamberlain Tolman sadly shook his head.

「The citizens wouldn’t be able to understand that. Because of the peaceful rule up until now, they were worried that perhaps they would be swallowed up by the danger that would happen from now on. Thus, they resented you who had invited that danger.」(Tolman)

「No way…… The hearts of the citizens that had lived alongside me for so many years had drifted away so easily!?」(Castor)

Castor dropped his shoulders, crestfallen.

If Souma was here right now, he would answer Castor with a quote from 『De Principatibus』:

『If someone needed to choose one over the other, then it would be better to be feared than to be loved, correct? Men are covetous creatures that think that as long they could obtain a profit for themselves, then they could even cut down their beloved. Conversely, that fear would never fade as there is no one who is not afraid of being killed.』

Although these are blunt words, this was also the reality. If you were forced to hit someone and you had to choose between your friend and an uncle with a scary tattoo on his body, who would you choose? The majority of people would hit their friends. Everyone treasures their life, and if they hit their friend, then perhaps they would only need to frantically placate them to become friendly again. This was the calculation that that people had in their minds.

The citizens of the Valgas Duchy also had the same calculation. No matter how much they loved Castor, the Lord of the place where they lived, if he suddenly declared himself as a rebel to His Majesty, the King, they would immediately turn on him. Would their home now become a battlefield? Would they be considered as enemies of the Elfrieden Kingdom? Many speculations fluttered amongst the citizens. They became anxious when their lives and property were in danger, and of course the ones who received all their anxiety were the officials that became the object of their hatred.

「The number of protesters keeps increasing. It seems that they had also gathered in every city in our territory. Perhaps the Carmine Territory also has the same situation……」(Tolman)

「Shit! Won’t it be difficult to assemble the Wyvern Corps like this!?」(Castor)

Although the Wyvern Corps were hailed as the Kingdom’s strongest unit, it doesn’t mean that they were always gathered at a single place constantly. The high ranked ones were given territory for themselves, and the others rented rooms at these territories. So, the actual condition of the corps was that they were dispersed throughout many different cities in the territory. Although, the subordinates would gather if there was a proclamation, 『Emergency!』, just like in Japan’s Kamakura period[8], it would be impossible to gather them in these currently chaotic conditions. In this way, even if the Air Force became hostile, they couldn’t mobilize like they used to. Souma’s Information Warfare had herded them into a position where they could not move.

The appearance of the dejected Castor was seen by his daughter Carla from the shadow of the door. Castor’s wife and Carla’s mother, Axela, received the advice from her own mother. She divorced herself from the Valgas House and had taken Carla’s baby brother with her when she returned to the Walter Duchy. However, Carla remained behind. Not only did Carla inherit some of her father’s rough personality, but her pride wouldn’t let her forgive herself if she escaped and abandoned him.

(The new King Souma…… Despite looking for a fight, he tried to decide the match outside the battlefield, truly the most detestable opponent for a warrior. An opponent that Liecia trusted so much that she can even cut her hair for him.) (Carla)

Carla also saw the scene where Liecia cut off her platinum blonde ponytail. Liecia was her friend, so she knew about Liecia’s serious personality. Her actions gave off an impression that she wouldn’t hesitate even for a bit. She had already resolved herself to such an extent. Thus, Liecia who showed such resolution wouldn’t be a half-heartened opponent.

(Currently there are 500 Wyvern Knights in Red Dragon Castle. The opponent is someone acknowledged by Liecia, so he certainly has already planned something. And the key to whether or not we can bite and tear that plan to shreds are the 500 Wyvern Knights.) (Carla)

Actually, at this point, Carla’s leadership abilities as a general had exceeded Castor’s, and she was trembling with excitement at the hunch that a strong enemy will come soon.

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On the other hand, when the 50,000 soldiers stationed in the southern part of the Amidonia Dukedom heard the news that the Elfrieden Kingdom Royal Army had already marched to subjugate Duke Carmine, they immediately commenced their invasion of the Elfrieden Kingdom.

The large highway that entered Elfrieden from Amidonia split into two routes.

One route leads to Duke Carmine’s Territory. Even if the road was open and easy for marching, Carmine’s territory stood in the way of this road. It can be said that the Carmine Territory served as the Guardian Shield of this route. Since they had already communicated with its lord, Georg Carmine, they could brazenly walk down that route. However, the Amidonia Army didn’t use it.

The reason was that the Amidonia Army told both the Royal Army’s side and the Three Dukes’ side (although the Navy had already separated) that they were the reinforcements for their respective sides. Because of this, they could not take the direct route to the Carmine Territory, lest they would be thought of as supporting Duke Carmine. The other reason was because it was to their national interest if the war between the Royal Army and the Kingdom’s Army could be prolonged as long as possible. Later, Amidonia’s military intervention might be needed to achieve this condition. If, for example, they supported the numerically superior Kingdom’s Army, when they achieved victory, the Kingdom would be immediately consolidated under Georg, and Amidonia would only receive limited rewards.

For that reason, the Amidonia Army chose the other route that passed through the southern mountainous region. It was a route that passed through the Goldoa Valley halfway amongst the Ursula Mountains at the southern Amidonian-Elfriedenian border. The road in this direction is rugged, but after the crossing the valley, they would arrive at the outskirts of Altomura City. The melt water that flowed from the Ursula Mountains made this region the number one breadbasket of Elfrieden. It was a region that was formerly a part of the Amidonia Dukedom in the past.

Amongst the marching Amidonia Army, the Duke of Amidonia, Gaius VIII, and the Ducal Prince, Julius, rode horseback while showing off wicked smiles.

「Kukuku, it would be better if the King and the Three Dukes clashed as hard as possible while we recover our lost territory.」(Gaius)

「Fufufu, that is so true」(Julius)

The sun darkened as they crossed the valley. Both of them couldn’t stop believing in the bright future awaiting them ahead.

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Okay! Since Larvyde-san already finished the chapters after this expect release from him soon!

[1] A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to/surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include Caernavon

[2] One of the Three Peach Brothers in the Three Kingdoms. Characterized as bold, fierce, resolute, impulsive, crude, somewhat unruly; careless in small matters but became smart about larger issues and strategies; brash and rough most times, but sometimes capable of great subtlety.

[3] A Daimyo under Toyotomi Hideyoshi and famous as one of the Seven Spears of Shizugatake. Often times said to have a simplistic personality.

[4] Good Lord… Souma just indirectly caused an Arab Spring?

[5] トルマン=ベッハToruman Behha

[6] Overtechnology = a general term to refer for a technology or device that is beyond the natives technology or cultural level. Just play some Civ games…

[7] Souma refer to many opposition medias that circulated in Western-style Democracy. (EN: Think: John Oliver’s show on HBO, the Daily Show and the Colbert Report for the TV counterparts.)

[8] For the European and American reader, just imagine French or England feudalism in Middle Ages, or for Paradox players, imagine Crusader Kings 2