Chapter 79

Third Person/Treia POV

Treia Kingdom, Capital Trisnea

The conference being held in the palace was in disarray . The conflict that happened this time was limited to just the citizens in the eastern area; it was reported to be a meaningless clash and besides the self-proclaimed experts endlessly blabbering about their extensive knowledge on the subject on the street corners, there was nothing else worth talking about . However, the conclusion of the conflict dealt a large blow to the military officials and those in the palace .

The royal army got defeated by a single remote region feudal lord . Twice .

This fact greatly caused the dignity of the army to fall . For the rebels to gather strength, the surrounding nations may misunderstand it . In addition, more than anything, it will invite the civil official nobles to intervene with the military organizations .

It cant just be told to them, but the actual casualties that occurred cant be hidden either . The form Treias standing army currently takes, as well as the personnel will be grasped by the palace . Its impossible to hide or get the number of deaths and the equipment lost past them .

Thats why the army decided to deceive them with the numbers of the enemys army . With the testimony of the ones involved, it was known that Valeora fell due to what looked like 2000 cavalry, but the report was made to look like the invasion was performed by an army of 6000, composed of 2000 cavalry and 4000 infantry . If they didnt make the army which defeated them to be of at least the same size, they couldnt make any excuses . This led to the oversight of the fact that the enemy was allowed to invade all the way to the central area and the fact that they had a phenomenal marching speed was lost .

Goldonia is our enemy! We must invade them back!!

No, we should deal with the unfaithful farmers first!

For that reason, shouldnt we prioritize avoiding the confrontation and let the army recover first?

The nobles raised their voices to assert their opinions .

With nobles, who only possess high standings, barking at each other about the government army that they knew nothing about, the conference is thrown into chaos . However, there are also reasonable and logical nobles, who held their heads in their hands, matching the kings actions .

Quiet down! This is a place to discuss the policies of the future for this country, not some bar on the squalid outskirts!

The one who shouted is the prime minister of the kingdom of Treia, Marquess Dunois . He isnt a military scholar with extensive knowledge, but his reliable ruling ability has brought stability to the country . He was also the one who opposed the kingdoms participation in the earlier Arkland war . Everything was currently going well, so there was no need to purposely jump into a vortex of chaos . The end result was that his opinion was dismissed due to the king acting with the focus on military officials and the pressure of their influence, but the disorder that occurred this time proved the source of his premonition in a sense .

Marquess Dunois! Then what ideas do you have?!!

Thats right, I would like to hear your excellent thoughts .

The KingTrisnea III looks on with a worried face as he nods, acknowledging the prime minister has permission to step forward . In the first place, he is the highest ranked person excluding the king; once he stepped forward, he calmed down the tumult .

First of all, it is obvious that Goldonia has ambitions to claim our territory, and although there was the incident involving the clash with the one feudal lord, they are probing our forces and there is also the line of thinking that the Goldonian king plans to throw us into chaos; I dont doubt he has some backing .

That is right!

We should defeat Goldonia!

The prime minister ignores the hooting .

But to attack Goldonia is a fools errand, and exactly what they are hoping for . Since were inferior in military force, we will instantly be pushed back and the surrounding nations that saw us taking preemptive action will not come to our aid .

The nobles who were hooting look down, and eventually quiet down .

And now that we are in agreement in observing this ceasefire, it is important that we clean up the rebellion army first . Count Verdot, please tell us once more of the ceasefire conditions which you have won through intense negotiations with Goldonia .

The prime minister jerks his chin with scornful eyes . Verdot, who has been hiding in the corner of the room up until this point, responded with a flinch of his shoulder, as he timidly stepped forward . When he walks past the nobles, they started to speak ill of him softly .

First, Goldonia will immediately withdraw their forces from our territory . This has already been completed .

Verdot speaks about the only condition which could be called an achievement in a hushed voice . However, none of the nobles give him any praise, much less open their mouths to say anything .

That has been confirmed . Tell us about the other conditions .

In order to prevent accidental conflicts in the future, a buffer zone will be created on the eastern border line, where neither armies can enter

A buffer zone even after they attacked us?!

Isnt it essentially the same as having a part of our territory shaved off?!

That isnt so! There are no villages or cities in the buffer zone, so it doesnt particularly impede us!!

Verdot tries to give an excuse but one of the military officials quietly puts a stop to it .

In other words, when the rebellion army escapes into the buffer zone, there is nothing we can do?

Silence encompasses the entire room . But the prime minister is merciless .

Thats not all there is, right?

Yesin order to not create a breeding ground for problems in the future, the casualties during the war will be mutually ignored .

As soon as Verdot said that in a fearful voice, bellows fly at him .

This traitor!!

This incompetent fool, youve said enough!

You should be ashamed of yourself!

The conditions of the ceasefire are already common knowledge and there is no meaning to dispute them now . The prime minister just made Verdot into a sacrificial lamb and only brought it up to hang him . With that done, the anger will be directed to him and the emotional opposition to his own policies will be weakened .

That should be enough . Count Verdot should also be happy .

The prime minister steps down as if to drive Verdot away, and once again opens his mouth .

In this way, we are at a considerable disadvantage in the ceasefire, but there is nothing we can do even if we lament about the past . Firstly, we should use our current forces to thoroughly sweep up the rebellion and then eliminate their resistance . After that, in order to deal with Goldonia, we will enforce conscription in our home country .

Voices of confusion and doubt can be heard . Excluding the private armies of each feudal lord, Treia basically has just the standing army to recruit from . There were many times in the past during the Arkland war where the state of battle deteriorated after conscripting the citizens .

With the addition of hiring mercenaries, the troop count will instantly be collected .

One noble raised his hand .

I dont have any objections to the gathering of soldiers, but I heard that Goldonias central army or whatever already has over 40,000 troops, and is close to reaching 50,000 after reinforcement . No matter how many citizens we gather, we can probably only get 30,000 . We cant really stand up against them independently, can we?

Those around him are secretly whispering how weak and coward, but that noble is absolutely not worked up . Treia can only gather a maximum of 30,000 and, financially speaking, they couldnt hire mercenaries for a long time . On the contrary, Goldonia can easily gather 10,000 considering their population . It wouldnt even be a contest .

I am not familiar with military affairs, but even if we fight decently, even I can tell that we only have a slight chance of winning due to the difference in military strength . But I also know that there is a way to close that gap .

A castle?

The prime minister nods greatly .

Indeed, let us build a group of fortresses between the northern part of our country and the occupied territory . Fortunately, there is already an existing fortress that has been our line of defense against Arkland for such long years . We will extend that even further and reinforce it .

I seethat fortress has been a shield which safeguarded our country and kept Arkland away from us for many years, so if we strengthen it even more, then Goldonia will be unable to breakthrough .

The occupied territory is pretty much nothing but baggage anyway, and even if it has been taken from us, it doesnt have much influence on our national power .

In addition, we must also take measures against the eastern feudal lord, Hardlett, who has dealt us a serious blow . The strength of his army looks to be a powerful cavalry squad . We should also construct a defensive encampment in the eastbut it would be enough just to dig a moat and prop up some fences . If we can at least stop the cavalry, they wont be that big of a threat to us .

I seeas expected of the prime minister .

Umu, if its a fortress battle, then we have the advantage .

If we can hold down Goldonia, restrain their military power and claim that they are doing something unjust, then Magrado and Yurest will also be on our side . That way, Goldonia will have no choice but to pull back their troops .

Goldonias abundant territory is considered mouthwatering to every nation . There exists a common just cause and due to their gathering of forces to the south, the surrounding countries will definitely jump at this opportunity .

I see, the prime ministers suggestion is indeed brilliant . But if we want to strengthen the fortress army and also construct a defensive encampment on the eastern side, we need a tremendous amount of labor . I dont think it is compatible with conscription .

What is needed the most for both public construction works and conscription are young men . The Treian kingdom doesnt have enough youngsters to distribute between the two options .

Dont worry . We have labor force we can use, not only that, but they can be used till they break On the occasion that the suppression of the rebellion is finished and we acknowledge their surrender, we will order for their execution to be cancelled . Then, well use those guys as labor .

Those who have conspired or supported the rebellion cant be included in the army in the first place . This way, there are no doubts on how to use them .

But wont the punishment be too light on the rebels if we abandon the execution?

The prime minister points out that he doesnt understand the reason and chuckles .

Youre wrong . Whichever the case, everyone will die after they work . I think its more effective than hanging them .

The Treian King didnt object to his opinion; the strengthening of the fortress north of Roleil, the construction of the defensive encampment on the eastern area, and the conscription of the regular citizens have been decided . The kingdom of Treia starts to act with the assumption of a full-scale war with the kingdom of Goldonia .

Aegir POV

Rafen

Quite a few has been gathered .

There are soldiers lined up, many wearing mismatched pieces of armor, in front of us . . although its ironic how most of them are from the Treian kingdom . Since I intervened partway into the cause of the conflict the farmers rebellion many of them survived and I accepted them into my territory . Amongst those survivors, many of them were single and chose to become soldiers rather than farmers .

This number is enough to overwhelm our population . Are there any concerns with security?

Celia frowns as she speaks worriedly . I didnt look at all of the names Adolph added to his citizens record, but just from this incident, there should be close to 4000 who have been added . The original residents of the territory were 2000, but considering the acceptance of the immigrants to be more than the same amount of people migrated in, it caused the number to instantly balloon . It might be better to accept them this way, rather than assimilating them .

A large amount of personnel flowed into a closed environment in the remote regions . Even though they are technically from the same country, there is friction between them, albeit only a little . Ill leave resolving that to Adolph .

The mountain nation, the original residents and now the migrated farmers things have finally gotten chaotic .

But they are a force which is able to act regardless of their inclination towards the ruling family . We should think about using them together with the bow cavalry as our main force .

It seems like Leopolt is looking to form an original army as the main army . By the way, the new members who entered the private army are split up into branches within the army with their personal aptitudes in mind and are separated as much as possible from people of the same village when being placed in their squads . Until they are able to become familiar with the land, separating them from familiar faces will help to prevent rebellions . The threshold to cause a rebellion is lower for those who have caused rebellions once already after all .

If possible, we want them to create families and if we put families into the towns and villages, we wont have to worry so much .

There are many unmarried people among the immigrants . Men and women will eventually get together . Apart from that, how is the skill level?

There are no problems . Rather, they are more skilled than the private army we had up until now .

I guess its because there are many who have come from the former Arkland, but although their equipments are all different, their movements are harmonious . If Im careless, they will have more order than the eastern independent army, which is the legitimate army .

This is the result after a blank of one year . If Arkland was in perfect condition when they fought in the earlier war, it would be hard to determine the victor .

Things look like theyre progressing steadily . If the army gets bigger, Irijina may also have more responsibility on her shoulders . Watch over her proactively .

Irijina isnt an idiot when it comes to military affairs, but she has no experience commanding a squad close to 1000 in size, so her abilities wont reach the level of a commander on the front lines . Without Leopolt, she probably cant hold it together .

Have the citizens who arent soldiers gotten familiar with each other?

Adolph calls out on the opposite side .

It will be impossible to blend in