Chapter 92 - Chapter 92: At the End of Boyhood
The strategy to hike up cedar futures prices failed, and the Empire's operations originating from the Eastern floods were all concluded. From the time the allied army of the Kingdom of Cryptomeria and the Yellow Empire was captured, the Kingdom of Cascade had been seeking armistice negotiations with the Yellow Empire, but Steve destroyed the Eastern Military District before the envoy could arrive, and the Eastern Empire fell into great chaos, so the armistice negotiations were delayed.
Strictly speaking, when the Eastern Military District was destroyed, Aurora incited the independence faction of the conquered people conquered by the Empire, the independence movement became active, and it fell into great chaos.
This is what Steve told Ino. The independence movement should not be quiet, and persecution of settlers from the Empire occurred in various places.
The place where the Eastern Military District headquarters was located was the Kingdom of Beach until 15 years ago. It was destroyed and annexed by the Empire. The oppression against the people of the Kingdom of Beach, who were the conquered people, was severe, and dissatisfaction was on the verge of exploding. Repeated rebellions occurred, and the Eastern Military District including the Sword Knights Order suppressed them. That was also why the headquarters was placed there.
With that weight removed, revenge began.
Whether it was the Empire or the Kingdom of Beach, the vast majority of victims were common people. Steve acknowledged that such operations were effective, but disgust came first.
Rebellions frequently occurred in areas other than the old Kingdom of Beach, and the Empire was having trouble suppressing them. Due to this influence, armistice negotiations with the Kingdom of Cascade did not progress.
The Empire proposed paying reparations as a condition for the armistice. The Kingdom of Cascade accepted this. Regarding territory, it would become enclaves, so cession was not realistic. Also, the Empire could not swallow excessive demands, and the option of continuing the war remained, so they called it off here.
And another condition was forgiving all participants' crimes in the operation. Therefore, all prisoners of the Empire army would not be punished even if they returned home, and they returned to the Empire. The same applied to General Garrett.
Regarding Ino and Joseph, Steve strongly argued that it was a consideration so they would not be punished after returning home, so it was presented by the Kingdom of Cascade side.
The Empire agreed as there was no disadvantage.
For this, Steve reported that he beat Ace and King thanks to Queen, and he would have been killed alone, so the Kingdom of Cascade judged that continuing to fight the Empire was not a good idea.
This time, the signing ceremony for the content of this agreement is being held in the neutral Kingdom of Forest. The location is not the Royal Capital but a port town. Since the suppression of the rebellion in the Eastern Empire is not finished, the land route cannot be used and travel was by ship, and the Royal Capital was refused by the Kingdom of Forest because they could not lend the place due to countermeasures against teleportation magic, so it was decided here.
The Crown Prince from the Kingdom of Cascade and the Crown Prince from the Empire participated in the signing ceremony, and the armistice was concluded here.
On the other hand, unlike the Empire, the Kingdom of Cryptomeria was required to cede territory. Since all the country's leadership was captured, they could not oppose and had to give 1/3 of the territory to the Kingdom of Cascade. Large reparations were also demanded, and they suffered huge losses combined with the goods taken by Steve.
Normally, the Royal Castle of the Kingdom of Cascade should have been boiling with great victory, but as usual, they were troubled by the great victory.
King William confided his troubles to the Chancellor.
"Another great victory thanks to Lord Archibalt?"
"Now great nobles in all directions are under Lord Archibalt's influence."
"Indeed. Territory expanded, people happy, but the throne has become more precarious."
"If Lord Archibalt raises a rebel flag against Your Majesty, the border lords, marquises, Dragon Wing Medal holders of the four sides, and the Kingdom of Merda and Kingdom of Pinebay will follow. We cannot defend the Royal Capital."
Among the great nobles guarding the four sides, the Dragon Wing Medal is Evelyn. The formal announcement will be the victory ceremony, but Margrave Cleiman will be demoted to Viscount taking responsibility for this time. And, part of the newly obtained territory will be the domain, and the previous domain will be ruled by Evelyn who received the Dragon Wing Medal.
Furthermore, Evelyn is said to adopt her brother Albert's young biological child and provide education as a lord. The nobles of the East admire Evelyn due to this incident, and the King judged this to be the best.
"This time, all the nobles of the East said the new land is for children. Emulating Archibalt, they are determined to rebuild the current land. They say they will develop it more than before the flood."
"A model lord. People must admire him."
"People admire Archibalt. They will worship him more than me. Regarding the cedar price hike, against the Empire merchants' futures buying, commoners happily donated cedar for Archibalt. If I did the same, would they truly agree?"
Viscount Griffith and other nobles who suffered from the disaster all refused the new land. They said they would rebuild and develop the current land Steve helped them. However, since they have multiple children, they aimed to expand territory by bloodline by ruling the new land for second or third sons who normally cannot inherit the house, or in some cases, the eldest son.
The nobles had feelings close to worship towards Steve who helped with reconstruction and developed from a place where his own land was not rich. And the commoners too.
The King feared that.
"Also, there is division. Lord Archibalt uses people based on merit regardless of gender, noble, or commoner. And, with Lord Sowell in the West, the Queen of Merda in the South, and the Dragon Wing Medal in the East, traditional male nobles will find it hard to live. Also, the next Duchess Stuart?"
The Chancellor spoke of the dissatisfaction of nobles with strong male superiority and elitist thoughts.
The reason Western Margrave Sowell transferred his actual power to Aurora while he was alive is also to consider the male superiority thought, make achievements before his eyes are black, and exclude those who oppose. No one knows if he is truly in poor health.
Eastern Evelyn and Sherry of the Kingdom of Merda have personal charisma, so such voices are not heard locally, but in the Royal Capital of the Kingdom of Cascade, voices against women in politics are strong.
The worst is Daphne. Voices of opposition erupted as it seemed a woman would become the Royal Guard Knights Order Commander. Most of all, those opposing are only those with less ability than Daphne.
In addition to such male superiority thoughts, there was dissatisfaction due to elitist thoughts. Land nobles think commoner employment is natural due to labor shortage, but nobles without land in the Royal Capital opposed employing commoners as officials due to their children losing job opportunities and the pure thought that nobles are superior.
The King wanted excellent talent, so he wanted to ignore such voices, but if he ignored them completely, he didn't know where they would explode, so it gave him a headache.
"It seems politics were easier before Archibalt was active."
"Indeed."
The King and Chancellor sighed.
Afterwards, the victory ceremony took place. Finally, the Eastern nobles got their turn, so the atmosphere was very good. Reparations would be used for Eastern reconstruction, and nobles without land increase also received large funds.
However, only Margrave Cleiman received harsh punishment. Demoted to Viscount, middle name also stripped. Only Evelyn was allowed to use the middle name 'Miss'. On this continent, middle names are status, gifted only to those with special achievements besides the royal family.
Furthermore, Steve has enough merit to be gifted, but the final decision had not been reached yet.
And, this time, for Steve who had the most merit, there was no land increase, but for products made in Archibalt Territory, one sold = nation gives Eastern reconstruction funds. It was promised that a campaign to buy Archibalt Territory products to support Eastern reconstruction would be held domestically.
The money flow is declaring sales amount to the nation, the nation gives reconstruction funds according to sales amount, Archibalt family gives reconstruction funds to the East, and profit and fame go to Archibalt Territory, a delicious system.
Still, the King agreed thinking the Archibalt family would not gain excessive power.
Some time after the victory ceremony, Steve was visiting Evelyn's domain. The location was the battlefield where he fought Ace and King. A monument recording the battle was built there, and the names of the three Suit Knights who died there were engraved.
Many flowers were offered before the monument, and Steve added lily flowers there.
All the flowers were for Queen of Sword, Nancy, who helped Steve. She became a tragic heroine showing loyalty to the Empire while helping Steve.
"It feels strange seeing my own grave."
Nancy spoke to Steve.
"Well, Nancy is officially dead."
"Everyone there saw the illusion of me dying."
Steve killing Nancy was an illusion created by magic. Before fighting, Steve heard Ace's magic from Nancy, and Steve considered the possibility that Charm Magic would break during battle. If the magic breaks and turns enemy, it was better not to bring her along, so beforehand he broke Charm Magic and confirmed Nancy's feelings.
As a result, Nancy said she had no intention to return to the Empire and would fight with Steve. So Steve thought of making Nancy appear dead.
Forgiving all participants' crimes in the armistice agreement was ostensibly about Ino and Joseph, but it was also to prevent pursuit for Nancy leaking spy network information or fighting with Steve. Of course, the Kingdom of Cascade side also could not pursue anything about Nancy.
Combined with the official death record, it was to free Nancy. Today, with the armistice agreement formally concluded, she finally came out.
Bella showed a dissatisfied expression to Steve and Nancy.
"Return my tears."
That day, Bella cried because Nancy died. Steve used Illusion Magic on Bella too to show an illusion. Bella knowing Nancy was alive was very recently.
"See, they say to deceive enemies start with allies."
"Never heard that."
Steve excused himself, but Bella's tone remained sharp.
And another dissatisfied one was Christina.
"The play of the Hero and Female Knight story is very popular in the Capital and East, but I think it's odd that the Hero of Saving the Country has no fiancée. The story of the play being performed in the East is even worse, I think it's a bad work where a tragic hero marries a female lord."
"Christina appears as the Marquess daughter being mean to the female lord."
Bella's retort made Christina's dissatisfaction turn to anger.
"It's worse than not appearing. That woman definitely tampered the script."
She spoke heavily breathing.
The story of Steve and Nancy was scripted as a tragedy and performed. The Capital script is based almost on facts, the hero fights invaders, and struggles with the female knight lover while fighting. The climax is where the hero's sword pierces the female knight and they exchange farewell words. Because it is thought to be a true story, it induces tears and is very popular.
The script being performed in the East was that after the female knight dies, the female lord who admires the hero comforts the tragic hero, and eventually they marry and live happily.
The Marquess daughter obstructs the female lord's marriage, and the model is of course Christina.
It is Evelyn's revenge for being dumped by Steve, but in the East, Steve and Evelyn's popularity is high, and voices wanting the two to marry are strong, so this script is accepted.
Steve whose story became a play said he didn't want to watch because it was embarrassing, but Nancy wanted to see how she was depicted, so they watched both plays in disguise.
There Christina knew her depiction.
A voice called from behind Christina.
"Who is that woman? Marquess Mackintosh daughter."
Evelyn came.
She brought Scarlett and another young woman.
Sudden appearance, everyone was surprised.
"We had an appointment, but I was surprised by the sudden appearance. Is that woman's magic?"
"Yes, Lord Archibalt. She was a mage employed in the Kingdom of Cryptomeria, but she transferred to me. I saw your magic and thought it was convenient."
I had notified Evelyn that I would visit here today. Nobles need permission to go to others' land, so I followed that and notified, and Evelyn said she wanted to meet, so we agreed at the monument.
"Finally free, congratulations Nancy."
"Thank you. Margrave Cleiman."
"I only spread the rumor of your death though. All thanks to Lord Archibalt."
Said smiling at Steve.
"I finished returning cedar, shoulders lighter. Some cashed out ones, ordered from Christina's family to match numbers."
"Northern cedar quality is good, envious. Plants seem to grow well."
Steve had repaid all the cedar he borrowed. For some cashed out ones, he received from Marquess Mackintosh as planned and matched numbers.
Evelyn emphasized "plants" and looked at Christina.
Christina, a noble daughter, did not show emotion in this situation, but her smile was twitching.
Looking at such Christina, Steve scratched his cheek with his index finger. Then he took a deep breath.
"Chris, weird to say here, let's marry. I come of age next month. Kept you waiting long."
Told to marry by Steve, Christina's face turned red and panicked. Surprised, even her education as a noble daughter was erased.
"Yes."
Only answering was barely possible.
"And, Nancy too."
"Happily."
Nancy answered smiling.
Evelyn sighed. Then looked at Steve with a bitter smile.
"Hope you understand my feelings a bit."
"You bully fiancée too much. Wanted to be mean a bit."
"I wait too, tell me when turn comes."
"That's a bit heavy."
"It's revenge too."
Evelyn said that and chuckled.
Next month, Steve and Christina held a grand wedding. Afterwards, they held a wedding with Nancy with only related people.
Originally, Nancy was scheduled to die, but I thought a dark development was not good, so I reconsidered all future plans and decided she would survive. So, there might be some inconsistencies, please forgive me. But, I wanted to kill Nancy.