Chapter 47
The fact that the Providence Marquisate had formally declared war on the kingdom spread throughout the entire kingdom.
The royal family could not hide its dismay at the Providence Marquis's declaration.
“A mere domain has declared hostility toward the entire kingdom? Could the report be mistaken?”
“No, Your Majesty. The marquis seems serious. He has already distributed proclamations throughout the kingdom.”
“What is he thinking? Could it be that the Doctor completed his research into mass-producing superhumans?”
In a world where wars were decided by the hierarchy of superhumans, there was no other way to explain Rex's actions.
The atmosphere in the conference room grew even heavier.
A minister cautiously raised his hand in an attempt to break the tension.
“Could it be that he's merely acting recklessly because he's been driven into a corner···”
“Then how do you explain this?”
The Minister of Military Affairs spread a map across the desk.
The red area representing the marquis's territory stood out conspicuously.
“The marquis's domain was occupied just one week after he switched to the offensive. He even broke through an imperial fortress in a single day!”
They had never believed in the baron's combat ability.
They had merely pushed him forward as a sacrificial piece to create a pretext for war, without ever expecting him to hold out.
But regardless of the baron's combat ability, the fact that an imperial fortress had been breached was shocking.
It had not been an ordinary fortress, either. It was a fortress built with technology lost since the imperial era.
“The baron was Tier 5. Do you know how many superhumans would be needed to break through a fortress defended by a baron like that?”
“Wouldn't one Tier 6 knight commander be enough?”
“That would be true for an ordinary fortress. But a fortress from the imperial era requires someone at Tier 7.”
Or ten Tier 6 superhumans capable of replacing one Tier 7 superhuman.
“And yet the fortress was breached. The baron's domain was conquered in a week.”
That meant one of two things.
“The Providence Marquis possesses technology for creating superhumans. Perhaps he can create a single Tier 7 superhuman or mass-produce numerous Tier 5s. He probably took it from the Doctor.”
Tension spread among the ministers at the Minister of Military Affairs's conjecture.
“Wasn't it said that the person defending the baron was also at company-commander level?”
In other words, Tier 5 superhumans in the marquisate were only as strong as company commanders.
No one could imagine how strong the commanders and the lord himself would be.
“How many superhumans of Tier 5 or higher are currently in the royal capital?”
“Excluding His Majesty, around ten if we include the knight commanders.”
“Including the Heroes?”
“Around thirty.”
That was enough power to casually crush an ordinary domain.
Though that assumed all the Heroes wandering throughout the kingdom would obediently follow orders.
In reality, only about fifteen people could be deployed whenever they were wanted.
In other words···
“If it is true that the imperial fortress was conquered by superhumans mass-produced using the Doctor's technology···”
Put simply, that meant the royal family alone could not stop the marquis's advance.
However, that was only true if one thought about it simply.
“Time is not on our side.”
“It can't be··· Were we robbed just when the Doctor developed the technology?”
“Perhaps that was the Providence Marquis's plan. He waited until the Doctor completed it, then stole it.”
Rex's academy record as its top student supported that claim.
“You mean he spent thirty years designing it?”
“What a monster···”
“No wonder that so-called top student was captured by the Doctor without putting up a fight···”
They had sent him to the Doctor's laboratory because he had arrogantly taken the top spot despite being a commoner, yet this was how things had turned out.
Yet no one present thought they had done anything wrong.
To them, punishing a commoner with no powerful backer for daring to rise above his station had been perfectly natural.
What they regretted was not having done wrong in the past, but falling into Rex's scheme.
“What about the man called Duke?”
“He was probably the first prototype created using that technology. They say he was strong even when he was a wandering knight, but not this strong.”
It was a misunderstanding.
Back then, he had been wandering while restraining his strength because he did not know how his actions would affect the original story,
but now that the original story had begun, he no longer held back.
But there was no one here to correct their misunderstanding.
“Even now, time is slipping away. If we leave things as they are, the marquis will end up creating an army of superhumans.”
Having the technology meant that, given enough time, the number of superhumans in the Providence Marquis's forces would continue to grow.
An army of superhumans.
Not an ordinary army in which a single superhuman was followed by a few lesser superhumans and ordinary soldiers, but an army composed entirely of superhumans.
It meant that the terrifying army that had conquered the plains alongside the first emperor, Khan, during the imperial era would rise again.
The ministers' faces grew pale.
Though they occasionally pretended to long for the imperial era while claiming to have inherited its culture, no one present genuinely missed those days.
To those in power, the most important thing had always been protecting their own positions.
In that sense, the revival of the empire meant their downfall, so they desperately began devising countermeasures.
“We need to join forces with the other lords before it is too late. Quickly, before the marquis grows any stronger!”
“But will the other lords cooperate with us?”
“Hmm···”
But reality was not so simple.
The royal family was not particularly familiar with the concept of centralization.
The royal family and lords of the present kingdom were the ones who had seized land like foxes during the power vacuum that arose immediately after the empire fell.
The royal family had merely been the strongest among them, binding together a cultural sphere to create a kingdom; it had never truly forced the lords to kneel.
Even if it was the strongest, the royal family could not be certain of victory if the lords united even slightly.
The lords knew that perfectly well, which was why they offered the royal family only lip-service loyalty.
Thus, even if the royal family wanted to crush the Providence Marquisate alongside the other lords before it grew, it was obvious that the lords, steeped in limitless selfishness, would refuse its commands.
“At this rate, we will be defeated one by one.”
The alliance of lords would never truly cooperate.
To minimize their own losses, they would push lords weaker than themselves to the front and hope that the enemy's strength would be spent by the time their own turn came.
When one minister pointed this out, the oldest-looking minister in the conference room spoke.
“For now, we should try persuading the lords. If we explain the greater cause, won't they have no choice but to unite?”
The greater cause meant preventing the empire from being revived.
The lords would not want to surrender their power either, so the idea was that if they united around this cause, they might set aside some of their selfishness and cooperate.
Of course, although they said that, the royal family understood perfectly well in their hearts.
They wanted the other lords to step forward and sacrifice themselves, so why would those lords willingly follow the greater cause?
But for now, this was the best option available.
To preserve each of their own positions of power, they had no choice but to trust that their greed would prevail over their selfishness.
Sacrifice born from selfishness.
It was a truly contradictory phrase.
Thus, the royal council seemed poised to ally with the other lords.
But just before the chair announced the decision, the silent Minister of Internal Affairs opened his mouth.
“Rumor has it that the Providence Marquis is a pacifist. So why not make peace with him even now···”
The Minister of Internal Affairs's opinion was highly reasonable, rational, and close to the right answer.
Since there had been almost no casualties during this war, Rex would likely have preferred making peace to shedding a great deal of blood in a prolonged war.
Rex was also somewhat worldly and self-interested, so for now, he was still at the point where he could reconcile with the royal family if the price was small enough.
“A peace treaty? In exchange for what?”
“Grant him a dukedom and turn a blind eye to his occupying a few surrounding domains.”
This opinion was also highly reasonable.
That way, the royal family could put on a show of generosity without suffering any real loss.
Several other ministers admired the Minister of Internal Affairs's proposal.
“We have been too narrow-minded.”
“Yes. What is war, anyway? Peace is the best.”
But at the same time, some pointed out the flaws in that logic.
“That would be giving him time. Once the marquis becomes a duke and time passes, what guarantee is there that he won't resume his conquests?”
“It is far too risky to rely solely on the Providence Marquis's goodwill.”
Those who wanted peace were relatively young ministers, while those who wanted war were relatively old ministers.
A major reason for the difference in their perspectives was whether they had experienced the imperial era.
Before long, voices were raised among the ministers.
Those who feared the empire because they had experienced it, and those who had only read about it in books and therefore did not fear it much.
“Do you not understand how enormous a man's power can become once he develops ambition?!”
“The empire fell, did it not? The times have changed. This is an age in which wars of conquest are meaningless. Any rational person would think so.”
“Human desire has a way of clouding one's eyes.”
“Isn't it your vision that's clouded? Rather than needlessly provoking a sleeping dragon, peace for the time being may be better.”
“That's why I'm saying we should deal with the dragon while it is still young!”
Their arguments remained evenly matched.
Still, both sides acknowledged to some extent that the other side had a point.
If not for the problem of being unable to predict the marquis's future actions, their discussion might have found some sort of compromise.
While their debate continued along parallel lines, the silent king finally opened his mouth.
“I have heard your opinions.”
The ministers fell silent in unison.
It meant that they were to shut up because they were being noisy.
Ministers who failed to notice this meaning had been reduced to handfuls of blood by tyrants, so everyone present understood what those words meant.
Pleased by the ministers' silence, the king spoke.
“What are you afraid of? You have me.”
Only then did the hawkish ministers' faces brighten.
Conversely, the dovish ministers became pigeons that had swallowed beans and fell silent.
In the end, the king made the decision.
“Inform the lords. Tell them to execute the traitor immediately.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Thus, the meeting ended, and the policy toward the Providence Marquisate was decided.
Crush it before it grows.
Because the empire must never be revived.
*
After the meeting ended, the king headed to the detached palace.
The royal castle built by squeezing the people dry was pointlessly enormous.
The main palace was extravagant enough, but even the detached palace easily surpassed the mansions of fairly lavish lords.
King Esirik crossed the enormous royal castle and stopped in front of a room in the detached palace.
“I am coming in.”
The king opened the door without waiting for the room's occupant to grant permission.
When he opened the door, a young-looking woman greeted the king with a bright smile.
“Father!”
“Arabella. Have you been well?”
“Yes, Father. I'm fine today because there was no training.”
The king smiled fondly at the woman with white hair streaked with black.
Princess Arabella.
The king's most beloved daughter.
While his other children were frantic to surpass their father, she was content with her life and remained satisfied with training only moderately.
Thanks to that, she remained at Tier 3, but the king was pleased by the fact.
It meant he could love her sincerely, unlike his other children.
As the saying went, a rice cake that looked good tasted good too, and he liked her even more because she was beautiful as well.
Of course, it was unclear whether this sort of affection could really be called parental love.
But that fact mattered little to the king and princess.
The father and daughter shared the details of their daily lives in a warm atmosphere.
It was the one moment when the king received comfort from his political life, which had recently felt like walking across thin ice.
Then, when the king told her about what had happened that day, the princess cautiously asked a question.
“Father. What about Isabella···”
“That impostor has become the Providence Marquis's mistress.”
“Father···”
“Don't worry. I will erase that bitch from this world.”
What wouldn't a father do for this adorable daughter?
Although Rex and Duke seemed to be variables, King Esirik thought there was no way he could lose to them.
“Just trust your father.”
Princess Arabella trembled faintly.
The king looked down at the crown of the princess's head with a sorrowful gaze.
‘Tsk, tsk. How much pain the poor child must be in.’
The one and only princess born to the third queen he had loved.
The princess had led a troubled life from the moment she was born.
That was because the princess had nearly been switched by a midwife immediately after birth.
By Demon King worshippers made up of filthy beastkin and demons.
Fortunately, the knight commander noticed their sorcery, and the princess was recovered.
Even now, the king shuddered whenever he thought of that moment.
The moment the royal mage dispelled the spell attached to the baby's ear and her white tiger ears twitched.
‘Animal ears on my daughter···’
The queen had certainly been human.
But there was no way her daughter could be a filthy beastkin, was there?
The Demon King worshippers had clearly intended to mix their filthy blood with the pure royal bloodline.
Unfortunately, they had been unable to kill the beastkin baby.
The knight who had been close to the queen seemed to have been a Demon King worshipper, and had fled while carrying the fake baby.
Whether that could be called fortunate or not, they had succeeded in killing the Demon King worshippers and recovering the real baby from them.
However, the fact that she had nearly been switched left a severe trauma in the young princess, and perhaps because of it, Princess Arabella rarely showed herself in public.
The only people she spoke with were the king and a select group of servants.
Afterward, the royal family concealed the incident and spent several decades tracking down the fake baby.
‘I found her at last. That filthy bloodline.’
Finding her had not been difficult.
White tiger beastkin were rare to begin with, and her face was an exact copy of Princess Arabella's.
He did not know what the Demon King worshippers had done, but if the royal family had failed to notice the spell concealing her ears, they would have raised her believing she was their real daughter.
That escaped fake baby shamelessly used the name Arabella and was said to be living in the Providence Marquisate.
The world took her name to be a mere coincidence of names, but the members of the royal family who knew the truth called her Isabella instead of Arabella.
The worst villainess in history, the doppelgänger Isabella.
That was where her name came from.
‘I will certainly eliminate that villainess.’
Of course, the woman named Isabella might be innocent.
Perhaps she had merely been born that way, with her fate decided by the evil Demon King worshippers.
But reality was cruel.
The crime of impersonating the royal family did not cease to be a crime merely because she was unaware of it.
The Providence Marquis who had taken Isabella in could not be considered guiltless, either.
Rex had also happened to kill the Doctor, who had provided the royal family with various services,
and they had even heard that Rex was in contact with a former imperial duke in the mountains of his domain.
For that reason, the king had ordered the ministers to purge Rex, citing the reasons mentioned above.
But the king's closest aides knew the truth.
The real purpose was to eliminate the evil woman, Isabella.
The king stopped thinking and looked at his daughter.
It pained him deeply to see his daughter tremble whenever she heard the name Isabella.
The king stepped away so that his beloved daughter could have some time to herself.
“See you tomorrow, Princess.”
“I'm sorry, Father. You took the time to come here for me.”
“No. If you need anything, tell me directly at any time.”
Thus, the king left the princess's room.
With the resolve that he could do anything for his daughter.