Chapter 109
Sancho went into seclusion immediately after finishing the handover.
As he thought the fall of the capital was only a matter of time.
He was waiting for either an official punishment for the defeat or the sound of enemy bombardment.
"A letter has arrived from the royal palace."
A maid approached him as he was quietly fiddling with a teacup, delivering the king's letter.
Thinking that the king's letter would probably contain his punishment, he carefully opened the envelope and calmly read it.
Although he wasn't greatly shaken at first, having some idea of what kind of punishment might be imposed,
"...The terms have already been decided."
He felt something strange while reading the first part explaining the contents of the agreement with the empire,
"..."
He was left speechless at the part about handing over the main culprits of the war to the empire,
"Ha. Haha..."
He let out a dry laugh at the final instruction to immediately enter the palace for this discussion.
Although the king didn't mention it directly, it wasn't difficult to predict what would happen the moment he entered the palace.
"So I'm a tail too, is that it?"
As removing competitors under the pretext of hostages was a means used by nobles for generations, he was familiar with this kind of situation as a noble of the Esperian Kingdom.
"...Hah."
Of course, being familiar didn't mean it wasn't bad.
Although he had tended to neglect domestic politics relatively due to focusing on his assigned duties, he hadn't not thought that such a situation would come someday.
The instruction to become a negotiation tool by taking responsibility for the war, not even for the defeat, was not at all welcome.
"..."
However, once the discussion was over and this letter arrived at his house.
Knowing the strange atmosphere in the royal palace from before and his own clear responsibility, he also understood that there was now no way to refuse this instruction.
Although he tried to console himself that this was better than hearing cannon fire and the castle crumbling,
"Sigh... Alright."
His heavy footsteps moving to the royal palace were unavoidable.
---
The next day.
Led by Emilio, eight nobles approached our camp.
As there was no reason to reveal to them that we wanted negotiation, I waited for them in a tent specially prepared for negotiation.
I instructed them to guide them through a route where they could clearly see the siege cannons we had deployed.
"The Esperian Kingdom's negotiation team has arrived."
"Let them in."
"Hello."
"Hmm."
Emilio, who entered with a greeting, had excellent control over his expression, but a few of the nobles who followed behind couldn't completely smooth out their pale impressions.
Of course, the expressions of nobles who weren't even responsible weren't very important, but it wasn't bad in the sense that they collectively formed the atmosphere.
"Let's start now."
"...Yes."
Emilio sat in the prepared seat, and the other nobles stood behind him as if on standby.
"You said you would pay 13% of the kingdom's annual revenue for 5 years as war reparations, and recognize Al Cante, the Vitabeya Plains, and La Tredo as territory of our Dragonian Empire."
"That's correct."
"If you're talking about war reparations, shouldn't you be able to compensate for the losses we suffered due to the war? Did you bring the documents?"
"Yes. Here they are."
After reading the documents handed over by one of the nobles standing behind,
"For a conventional army, this level of compensation might have been sufficient, but the military expenses of the Red Dragon Corps, which has introduced various new technologies, are not just this much. Adjutant."
"Yes, General."
I tossed the received documents and provided our military expense documents with appropriately censored confidential parts.
"...Isn't this figure too exaggerated?"
"There's no exaggeration. It's just inevitable consumption due to using gunpowder made by synthesizing various precious substances and precisely casting bullets and shells. The expensiveness of dwarf weapons needs no explanation, right?"
"..."
Emilio fell into thought while rolling his pen, but,
"Choose. Either provide 20% of annual revenue for 5 years, or pay the originally proposed amount at once. I prefer the latter slightly."
I had no intention of giving time to ponder.
Although the Esperian Kingdom's proposal wasn't bad, since they readily proposed it first, there was a high possibility that it wasn't really their best offer.
"That..."
"We can light the fuse right away. For us, the option of spending a bit more money isn't bad either. What do you think?"
Whether this current proposal was a sincere request made out of desperation, or if they still hadn't come to their senses and were trying to 'negotiate'.
I needed to stimulate them a bit more to check their bottom line.
"..."
"What should we do?"
"His Majesty said a little more... Huh."
Unlike Emilio, who kept his mouth shut, the other nobles who came together seemed relatively unfamiliar with being under pressure.
Just listening to their conversation was enough to roughly grasp the kingdom's internal circumstances, so,
"...Our situation isn't easy either. How about paying 16% for 5 years?"
"Well. Deputy Corps Commander. Are the preparations going well?"
"Yes. If you just say the word, immediately..."
I adopted a madman strategy and continuously pressured them.
"We don't have much money left! If you want a lump sum payment, please give us a year!"
"...Baron Ega."
One of the nobles behind, who had been sweating, urgently opened his mouth.
Emilio grabbed his forehead, but,
"A year? If we fire the cannons right now, it seems we could earn enough in a month. Why should I wait?"
"If you continue to attack, we will..."
"We, we'll compensate one-third at once, and send the rest to the empire divided quarterly!"
"Hah..."
As I continued to pressure the noble who had opened his mouth, he kept spitting out better conditions.
They even glared at each other.
I don't know what internal problems they had, but having such people mixed into the negotiation team was certainly a good thing for us.
"You said you'd completely withdraw from La Tredo too."
"...That's right. We'll ensure there won't be any demands for that land again in the future."
"Hmm..."
The negotiation proceeded steadily in a favorable direction, and,
"...Is the list of main culprits ready?"
"Yes. Here..."
It was time to discuss the list of main culprits to be sent to us, which I was personally looking forward to.
Wanting to eliminate promising nobles in advance with this opportunity, I carefully examined the list.
"Hmm... This is a bit different from the list I had in mind."
"What do you mean..."
Although high-ranking nobles like counts were included in the list, the most important person in my opinion was missing.
"Sancho Gonzales. He's not here."
"...!"
As he was the root cause who had dragged out the Esperian expedition that I thought would be smooth, and was like the hope of the Esperian Kingdom's military.
Since we would have to completely push out the Esperian Kingdom someday, removing him from the kingdom would make it easier to end the next expedition.
"Wasn't he the one who commanded the battles?"
"That..."
"I don't understand why he's not on the list. Was all that talk about responsibility just an excuse?"
I think there's a high probability they'll accept.
Although I'm not sure exactly what the internal situation of the kingdom is, in my memory, the western kingdoms were places where fierce competition between nobles went back and forth.
Considering that someone else briefly led the forces before, it would be difficult for Sancho to maintain an absolute position after suffering such a major defeat.
"He has been against the war from before..."
"I wonder if that reason is really true. Are these nobles written here really the ones who should take responsibility for instigating the war?"
"..."
"If you just add Sancho Gonzales, I won't need to modify the other lists."
Seeing Emilio leading the negotiation team like this, the possibility that they're of the same faction as those who lost power due to the defeat seems small.
"...Then if we pay the price, we'd like some prisoners to be returned."
"If the payment is made appropriately, it shouldn't be difficult."
As expected, Emilio, who had been pondering, expressed his willingness to accept.
It seems like there had been talk about accepting it right away internally.
Or maybe they noticed my reaction from yesterday.
What's regrettable is that it will be difficult for me to use Sancho.
If I could manage loyalty with gifts and promotions, I could have hoped to supplement the lacking staff, but it seems realistically difficult.
I should try talking to him, but…
As it's difficult to readily trust someone who was a noble and officer of an enemy country, I think he might end up similar to Antoine who is receiving good treatment in the capital.
Still, apart from it being ambiguous to properly use him,
"Tomorrow, we'll bring the agreement document written according to what we discussed today."
"Hmm, hmm."
As I'm not unaware of the feeling of being sold out by the country one had diligently devoted oneself to.
Even when I, who had thought about defection before, experienced it, it didn't feel good, so I wonder how Sancho, who was described as having strong loyalty, would feel.
Just imagining what Sancho would think when he hears this news was quite satisfying.
Who knows.
He might accept defection, becoming disillusioned with the kingdom's nobles.