Chapter 141: Siegfrieds Ambition (3)

Fuhrer Schheimer spoke to Siegfried once he had finished offering flowers to Fuhrer Bahasten.

What is the Hildes Republic planning to do in the future?

Now that Fuhrer Bahasten was dead, Siegfried was the person in charge. In fact, if youarguedit, based on rank and position, the Republic had three generals directly under the Fuhrer. However, due to old age, none of the three generals had been able to join this war. It was unclear whether those who had been left behind in the capital were still alive and the whereabouts of the other people who were in charge was uncertain as well. Truth be told, currently, Siegfried was the one who held the reins in the Hildes Republic. Thats why Fuhrer Schheimer was formally asking about Siegfrieds intent.

Siegfried responded like so:

Im not sure. Personally Im not sure what to do witha country.

Tsktsk werent you the one who led the trilateral alliance till now? How can you be so weak-willed now?

His Excellency the Fuhrer has just passed away. He supported me from behind and led me from the front he was like a father to me.

Extreme grief and anger could be heard in his voice.

He just died, how can I do anything? I cant

Seeing Siegfried unable to continue talking, Fuhrer Painheim spoke up.

Then, what do you expect to do? Currently, the Hildes Republics army is moving based on your commands. How can you show such a pathetic appearance? Are you saying youre going to run away from your responsibility?

Siegfried sighed deeply at Fuhrer Painheims words.

Im thinking of entrusting the army to my second-in-command. And I will

You cant be thinking of?

Im thinking of returning as just an ordinary citizen.

Fuhrer Schheimer jumped out of his seat at those words.

Whatre you saying? If you leave here, what about the Hildes Republic?

Leaving the army to your second-in-command? Who is your second-in-command? Does he have the ability to replace you?

Hes a fellow named David. When I wasnt with the main army, he

David? You cant possibly mean that good-for-nothing?!

While David had been staying with the main army, his incompetence had also reached the ears of Fuhrer Schheimer. He had heard that among the Republican officers, there was a good-for-nothing that was of no use or help. How could they bring in such a dull-witted person to replace Siegfried once he retired? This would be the entire Republics loss.

The Republic was currently in a very precarious position. Although they had toppled down the Strabus Kingdom, that didnt mean they had all their occupied territories under control. They had to deal with their occupied territories, stabilize the Hildes Republic, and rewrite the Republican alliance

Anyway, there were a lot of things that had to be done. But most of all, Fuhrer Schheimer wanted Siegfried. When the Hildes Republic was stable, it was a dangerous country, but currently, the Hildes Republic was on the brink of collapse. That meant that Siegfried was a free man without obligations to a country. Fuhrer Schheimer believed that if Siegfried was to come to the Kobrook Republic, it wouldnt be a waste to make him his successor.

I cant let him go. For the sake of our Republics future, I can never let him go.

Having come to a conclusion, Fuhrer Schheimer spoke to Siegfried in a grave voice.

I understand your sadness. Since you considered Fuhrer Bahasten as your father, it must feel like the world is ending.

Siegfried stayed silent, but Fuhrer Schheimer continued to talk without noticing his silence.

But how could a man of your caliber just stop here? Is that really what Fuhrer Bahasten would have wanted?

Please dont talk as if you know what His Excellency the Fuhrer might have wanted. How could you possibly know what he was thinking?

As if he had been waiting for it, Fuhrer Schheimer pounced on Siegfrieds anger.

I dont know. I didnt know him personally, so theres not much I know about Fuhrer Bahasten. However, theres one thing I do know with certainty.

And what is that?

As much as you followed and respected Fuhrer Bahasten as a father, he loved and cherished you like a son.

Siegfried had a greatly shocked expression on his face.

Fuhrer Schheimer continued to talk without hesitation.

There is no parent in this world that would want their children to give up and fall to pieces after their death. Would the Fuhrer Bahasten that you knew want that from you?

No, but

Every parent must eventually leave this world. It doesnt matter whether they leave earlier or later, they must all leave. Only by dying can the parents teach their children one last thing.

Would Fuhrer Bahasten want you to give up and waste everything because of his death? Is that all youre capable of? Answer me.

Im Im

Seeing Siegfrieds conflicted face, Fuhrer Schheimer felt that he had almost convinced Siegfried. Now that he had pushed Siegfried this far, Fuhrer Schheimer felt he had to let Siegfried come to the conclusion on his own.

Ill give you a day. Let me know whether youve changed your mind then.

With that, Fuhrer Schheimer got up from his seat and left the room.

Before following FuhrerSchheimerout, Fuhrer Painheim patted Siegfrieds shoulder and spoke to him.

Dont worry about it too much. Its fine if you just do what you can.

Do you really think so?

What more can you expect than that?

Once Fuhrer Painheim left, the corners of Siegfrieds mouth rose as he was left alone in the room.

How easy.

***

At the same time Fuhrer Bahastens death was officially announced, something else was announced. The Hildes Republic had lowered their flag. Seeing how more than two-thirds of the Hildes Republics mainland had been invaded, it was inevitable. But it wasnt as simple as just lowering their flag. The Hildes Republic was in a voluntary amalgamate with the Kobrook Republic and the Hanovirtue Republic. Their justification for merging together was that even though they were different countries, they were going to come together and fight until the day that their ideal world was built

Siegfried had been the one to start this merger process. Most of the Hildes Republics high-ranking personnel had been wiped out and so, after the death of Fuhrer Bahasten, as the last leader of the country, Siegfried set the direction the country would go.

Siegfried was instated as the General Commander of the Republicans. As long as the war continued, Siegfried held authority over all the military in the Republic. Truthfully, from the moment the three Republican countries had created an alliance, this had been Siegfrieds role from the beginning. The only difference was that this was now an official title and would clarify his authority and give justification for his actions. But the ambiguous thing was that Siegfried now belonged to the Republic.

Currently, the Republic had formed an alliance, but this wasnt a permanent merger between countries. They had just combined their strength in order to defeat the Strabus Kingdom, their most powerful enemy. Even though the Hildes Republic was the most active, they had also fallen because of the Lester Kingdoms counterattack. The three country alliance naturally became a two country alliance and Siegfried became the Republics General Commander while keeping control of the Hildes Republics forces.

But which country did he belong to exactly? It wasnt the Hanovirtue Republic or the Hanovirtue Republic; he was just the Republics General Commander. Siegfrieds position was very ambiguous and delicate. As the General Commander, he had the authority to exercise supreme command over all the Republic Army. However, it wasnt specified how long this authority would last. Would this authority cease to exist once the war ended or would it continue even after the war? Nothing was specified. In a way, Siegfried seemed like he held all the Republican military forces in his hand.

Of course, the two Fuhrers had no intention of putting Siegfried in this ambiguous position. Fuhrer Schheimer of the Kobrook Republic was trying to headhunt Siegfried and have him join the Kobrook Republic. However, Fuhrer Painheim had the same idea. Fuhrer Schheimer proposed to make Siegfried his immediate chief-of-staff while Fuhrer Painheim offered to make him a general.

However, Siegfried rejected both of them. He said that he couldnt abandon his country and accept an important position when his country, the Hildes Republic, was struggling. He also justified his decision by saying that if he was to join one country, it would upset the balance. And so, within his neutral position, Siegfried was able to grasp in his hands an immense amount of power. Both of the Fuhrers knew that they had given him a lot of authority but they didnt have the time to sit down and negotiate with Siegfried in order to control the distribution of power.

Now that Strabus Kingdom was destroyed, the other countries in the South, especially Andrews Empire, might begin to come out of the woodworks. They needed to quickly deal with the war and the fastest way to do that was Siegfried.

Ten days. All of this had happened within just ten days of the two Fuhrers meeting with Siegfried. By the time they realized it, Siegfried was already in the most convenient position and was able to move the entire Republicanarmiesas he pleased.

Now, we have to stabilize the occupied territories first.

After all the preparations were completed, Siegfried planned to completely take over the Strabus Kingdom. But at that moment

An urgent message, sir.

A messenger ran in urgently.

Whats wrong?

The the western estates are all surrendering to the Lester Kingdom.

What?!

Siegfrieds eyes grew wide.

Explain it to me in detail.

Yes, sir. Thats The western region of the Strabus Kingdom is surrendering to the Lester Kingdom and the Lester Kingdom is already declaring that region as their territory, sir.

damn it.

How dare they intrude and help themselves first?

Siegfried bit his lips.

He had moved as fast as possible and thought that everything was in the palm of his hands now. But the Lester Kingdom was being bothersome once again

Milton Forrest is it you again?

***

It rarely happens, but Siegfrieds expectation was wrong this time. What did that mean? It meant that it wasnt Miltons idea for the Strabus Kingdoms western region estates to surrender; it was the Queen.

Queen Leila had made her moves the moment she heard that Siegfried had captured the Strabus Kingdoms capital. She had a gut feeling that she had the move that very second and so, she had immediately taken her escort guards and personally went out.

When Queen Leila first left, she only had 50 guards with her. Even if a country had sent most of their soldiers as reinforcement for war, how could a Queen move with only 50 guards? It was too little, however, she knew very well that the most important thing right now was speed.

I have to move before Siegfried whips the Republic back into shape.

Instead of taking a carriage, Queen Leila rode forward on a horse. By running her horse as fast as she could, she was able to meet up with Milton on the Eastern border.

Your Majesty, what are you doing here?

Milton was surprised to see Queen Leila in front of him without any notice. The first thing she said to him was

Give me some water.

She breathlessly asked Milton for water, and he gave her his personal water canteen.

Thank you.

She immediately gulped down all the water in the canteen. Although she lacked the dignity and elegance of a queen, she didnt care. Perhaps its because she rushed over with minimal rest. She seemed quite exhausted.

But why are you here?

Once Queen Leila drank her fill and got her breathing under control, she spoke to Milton.

You finally see your fiance after a long while, and all you have to say is why are you here? Is that really all you have to say?

Huh? No, thats because it was so

Thats enough. I have something more urgent than that, so Ill deal with you later.

Youre gonna deal with me later?

Milton grimaced but Queen Leila just continued to talk.

Whats the current situation?

The Strabus Kingdom has been completely conquered.

As I thought

Although she hadnt been able to gather information in her rush, the situation was going as she expected.

Did King Bauchen surrender?

Yes, Your Majesty. I guess he had no choice once the Capital was invaded and all the royal family members were captured.