Volume 7 - CH 4

Chapter 4 – History of War

The Carmine Kingdom and the Erven Empire were founded at the same time, about 200 years ago. However at the time of its founding, the Erven Empire seemed to be called Wastitus Empire, which meant desert.

At that time, it was an era of rivalry between many small countries. And such a crazy era where countries were invaded many times ended twenty years later, leading to the birth of two great powers. The Carmine Kingdom in the east and the Wastitus Empire in the west.

Although the two big countries had skirmishes on each other’s border, they established themselves as continental leaders and began to adopt policies that would contribute to the stability of the region. Looking at the map about 100 years ago, Eto can see that the two countries were lined up as regional powers.

“Huh? Kamaran-san, can I ask something? Looking at the map 100 years ago, it seems the current Margrave of Eeven used to be the territory of the Empire.”

At first Eto thought it was a mistake in his vision, but no matter how much he looked at the map, it seems that the territory of Margrave of Eeven did indeed belong to the Empire.

“Ee, that’s right. About 100 years ago, there was a country called the Principality of Eeven in the area where the current Margrave was located. As a result of the warring states, the Principality of Eeven, which was a pretty weak country, tried to survive by merging with the Empire.”

“Can a country survive if it’s merged with another country?”

“It seems that the Principality of Eeven was very prosperous as a center of the Goddess Religion. From that time on, Goddess religion became widespread in the Kingdom and the Empire. For that reason, I think that the influences of the Principality of Eeven were never small. However, in terms of military and economic power, it was definitely not comparable to that of great countries.”

“I see. To put it simply, the Empire wanted to take the influences of the Principality of Eeven for themselves. Which means, they decided to negotiate as long as there is a mutual benefit, huh.”

“Yes, that’s right. It is said that the influence of the Goddess Religion was strong especially in the Empire. The royalty and nobles of the Empire are made up of tribes from the desert, and it seems the only way for them to survive was to overcome the harsh natural environment and invasions from neighboring countries. And the Empire, which eventually became a great power, deeply worshiped the Goddess Religion as their state religion, with an image of precious water in the desert, and preached the reconciliation and unity of their people.”

“I kinda understood why. When a country becomes a great power, they need to take measures against domestic skirmishes. By making the Goddess religion their state religion, the upper brass of the Empire likely wanted to tell the small countries in the empire that they are seeking reconciliation and unity.”

And then, emphasizing the influence of the Goddess Religion, the Empire changed its name to the Erven Empire after adding the Principality of Eeven as part of the Empire. It is said that ‘Erven’ is how they pronounced “Eeven” in the Empire.

“So the origin of the word “Erven” Empire is Eeven? Hee, I didn’t know that. The Empire at that time sure made an outrageous decision. I mean, a country with the larger national influence abandoned their name and took the name of a country with smaller influence. I’ve never heard of such a story even when small villages merged.”

“Fufufu, that’s true. At that time, the Empire had already become a regional power, so it may not have been necessary for them to emphasize the influence of the Goddess Religion to the extent of changing their name. Even so, it is said that the biggest reason they decided to do that was because of the intention of the Emperor at that time. It is said that the Emperor had extreme faith toward the Goddess Religion.”

“The territory of Eeven is said to be the land where the Goddess descended to the earth and preached, after all, so the Emperor may have had the joy of adding such a sanctuary to his territory.”

The remains of the Principality of Eeven still remain here and there even today, when it already became the territory of the Carmine Kingdom. This territory is called the Margrave of Eeven, and even the family name of its lord, Margrave, is also Eeven. The Margrave’s household is said to be a descendant of the Principality of Eeven.

Although for a short time Eeven region once became the territory of the Empire, it was the Carmine Kingdom that didn’t acknowledge it at that time. It is natural for the Kingdom to feel threatened when the Empire, which was as powerful as them, took the sanctuary of the Goddess Religion, which is also widely worshiped in the Kingdom, as their territory.

In addition, the Principality of Eeven was located between the Kingdom and the Empire, which means it was also a buffer zone for both countries. It was obvious even for Eto that if the area were to be incorporated into the Empire territory as it was, there would be friction along the border.

Refused to allow the Principality of Eeven to join the Empire, the Carmine Kingdom declared war on the Empire with countering invasion of friendly nations as the reason.

For 107 years’ history of the Kingdom, the history book described a lot of the conflict between the two countries that occurred about 100 years ago. The war between the two countries that is written in the first to fifth chapters in the book is called Eeven Recapture War in the Kingdom.

The war broke out with the Carmine Kingdom as the superior one. In the Eeven area, because of the existence of Yuxed River and its tributaries, the roads and flatlands are often divided. Therefore, the Kingdom took advantage of that and sent numerous ships into the Eeven area, sending more and more soldiers, horses, and supplies for the war. From the beginning, the Carmine Kingdom had large coastal territory on its territory, and had superior shipbuilding technology than that of the Empire, which had a long history as an inland country.

On the other hand, the strength of the Empire was focused on its cavalry, however, the river and the poorly drained wetlands tightly restricted the movement of their horses. Without being able to fully demonstrate the true value of their army, the Empire, in the end, got their bases taken away one after another by the saturation attack strategy of the Kingdom army.

Although the Eeven recapture war was often interrupted due to the flooding of the Yuxeed River, the Kingdom came out victorious and successfully took the territory of Eeven, which is called Veil right now.

Since then, the Empire has always sought to recapture the Eeven region. The Empire was also the one who declared war first for that reason.

For the Empire, it was like the region where the name of their empire derived from remains stolen from them. It is said that the nobles of the former Principality of Eeven are also living in the Empire even now. That is probably the reason just because they were defeated in the war, they couldn’t recognize that region as the territory of the Kingdom. Regaining what was robbed from them was always the reason for the Empire to wage war against the Kingdom.

After reading the books, Eto understood why the Kingdom and the Empire were always in conflict. Since the Eeven region became the Kingdom’s territory, there have been many large-scale military clashes between the two countries. It is written in the history books that there were many casualties every time it happened.

In the end, the Goddess Religion, whose basic philosophy was reconciliation and the unity of people, became the cause of the conflict between the two great powers. And the Eeven region stood in the center of that contradiction.

Eto wondered what kind of existences the Hero, Sword Saint, Master Magician, and Sage chose by the Goddess in the eye of the Empire. He didn’t know whether the Empire thought they’re just fakes the Kingdom created on its own, or whether they respected them as people chosen by their Goddess.