“Count Naias Beck has advanced fifteen thousand troops to an area adjacent to Count Theseus Haren’s territory. This is treason and a clear act of provocation.”
Count Artio Belgram, one of the central nobles constituting the imperial council, raised his voice forcefully.
Though not obese, his large build naturally made his voice loud, and as he amplified it in anger at Count Beck’s outrage, the audience chamber resonated with a booming echo.
“Count Belgram. Your loyalty is truly commendable, but at this point, labeling the five dukes’ forces as treason holds little meaning. After all, they’ve been insulting the imperial family and suppressing imperial authority with force for a very long time. Calling it treason now won’t change much. What’s more important is how I respond to Count Beck’s provocation.”
Cain responded at length to Count Belgram’s opinion while using the Wanderer’s perk to open his setting book.
[Using the ‘Wanderer’s’ first-stage perk to partially view ‘Count Artio Belgram’s’ setting book.]
<Artio Belgram (Count)>
Possessed Traits: Long-Time Loyalist (B) Noble (D) Commerce Specialist (D) Court Etiquette (E)—Additional traits unavailable for viewing.
Overview: The head of the Belgram County family, one of the long-standing loyalist houses in the Felberg Empire.
He operates several small to medium-sized merchant groups under his command and is a loyalist who refuses to fall under the influence of Duke Kosak Tiberian, one of the empire’s five dukes, remaining faithful to the imperial family.
As a noble from a merchant background with little left to his name, he excels in mercantile qualities but is incompetent in other areas. However, his loyalty to the imperial family is beyond doubt.
According to the setting book, he wasn’t a capable individual, but his loyalty was unquestionable.
As the confrontation and tension with the five dukes’ faction had recently intensified, it had become Cain’s habit to use the Wanderer’s perk on everyone he encountered in the imperial castle to view their setting books.
Not long ago, there had been an incident in the audience chamber where Baron Hog Melros had turned into a demon right before his eyes and was slain by Viscount Valerian, so Cain’s recent behavior couldn’t be dismissed as mere overreaction.
“Your Imperial Majesty! You must personally raise an army and show the dignity of the rightful emperor of the Felberg Empire to those traitorous hordes! Immediately summon the imperial central army to protect Count Haren and annihilate the traitors’ forces!”
The Imperial Church had quietly offered loyalty in their own way from the shadows during the long decline of the Felberg Empire and imperial family over recent decades.
As a descendant of that church now serving the current emperor Cain, the paladin Viscount Aaron Valerian shouted forcefully, almost like a battlefield roar.
Then, the audience chamber shook up and down as if an earthquake had occurred.
Generally, paladins of the Imperial Church didn’t have the authority to attend the central meetings of the imperial council, but Aaron Valerian had not only been recognized for his deep loyalty and merits in protecting Cain recently but had also officially announced reaching the ‘Meister’ realm, earning him the title of viscount.
Thus, his presence here was due to his status as a noble of the Felberg Empire, not as a paladin of the Imperial Church.
“We must show an example immediately!”
“Death to the insidious and treacherous five dukes!”
“Long live the imperial authority!”
“The central army must march!”
Most of the central nobles constituting the imperial council echoed Viscount Valerian’s opinion and raised their voices.
The ‘five dukes’ referred to the empire’s five dukes, including Caynes Hyperion who called himself ‘archduke,’ and the nobles gathered in the audience chamber all cried out “Death to the five dukes!” while advocating for war.
Are they fools?
There were more than a few nobles who had suddenly become arrogant with the mass influx from the neutral faction.
He didn’t doubt their loyalty, but the problem was that most of them were loud-voiced incompetents.
In the midst of this, they were openly displaying blatant hostility toward the five dukes’ faction, as if seeking compensation for the years of humiliation.
The one fortunate aspect was that the ‘imperial council,’ composed of many central nobles and a few local ones from the Felberg Empire, held considerably narrower authority compared to imperial prerogative.
Therefore, even if the imperial council vehemently expressed opposition, once the emperor decided, the ’empire’ would ultimately move—that was at least fortunate.
Cain believed that leadership by a single superhuman was far more efficient than governance by a foolish majority.
If the Felberg Empire were a country with weak imperial authority, a full-scale civil war would have erupted by launching an unreasonable attack on the five dukes’ faction, swept up in the claims of incompetent nobles.
Of course… the choices available to me right now aren’t that many.
No matter how much he pondered, the ‘best’ choices in the current situation were extremely limited.
“Count Randerk. What do you think of the current situation?”
Amid the nobles’ clamor that the central empire’s power must be shown immediately, Cain calmly threw a meaningful question at Count Randerk.
Count Steiner Randerk.
Essentially representing the loyalists, he had previously been the commander of the Third Imperial Knight Order, but with the power vacuum caused by the deaths of imperial heroes like Count Roysch Horizon and Marquis Herman Melstapo during the founding festival catastrophe, Cain’s appointments had placed him not only as imperial army commander but also in several key military positions.
As a Meister-level sword saint and a talent who could confidently be called the most capable among the long-time loyalists, Count Randerk would surely offer a better perspective on the current situation than the incompetent loyalists.
In response, Count Randerk spoke.
“Your Imperial Majesty. May I offer my humble opinion on the current situation first?”
“You may.”
“Count Haren’s house had been continuously reducing the scale of its territorial army to declare neutrality and avoid provoking the five dukes’ forces. That policy was maintained until very recently. Therefore, the forces currently available to defend Count Haren’s territory are two thousand standing troops, and even gathering first-wave conscripts would barely reach six thousand. In contrast, Count Beck’s army is fifteen thousand, with most being standing troops or reserves falling under the category of regulars. This is not only a numerical difference but also qualitatively beyond what Count Haren’s army can handle.”
From the start, the four thousand troops Count Haren had hastily conscripted were mostly farmers or hunters by origin, not those who had received continuous training.
On the other hand, Count Beck himself was a Meister-level sword saint, his subordinate forces included a powerful knight order he had personally trained in swordsmanship, many elites armed with high-quality equipment who had undergone intense military drills repeatedly, and even the reserves who usually pursued livelihoods had received sporadic training.
The moment one compared the forces of both sides, the overwhelming gap was plainly visible.
“If we respond to Count Beck’s military provocation and dispatch the imperial central army to support Count Haren, it will ultimately provoke Duke Deneve. This has a high likelihood of escalating into clashes between armies, and eventually, the five dukes’ forces might move en masse. That would be civil war.”
Instead of flattery and obvious sycophancy, Count Randerk calmly explained the harsh reality so that Cain could quickly grasp the empire’s current circumstances.
Even though he had shown successive feats unbelievable for a wastrel origin, in Count Randerk’s eyes, Cain still appeared young.
Therefore, he spared no realistic advice to help Cain make sound judgments.
“However, Count Haren is a lord who has once again proven his loyalty to the imperial family. If the central army does not protect him in this moment of crisis, there is a high possibility that other nobles who declared neutrality but recently converted to loyalists will waver.”
It was sound reasoning.
The reason the nobles who had declared neutrality swore loyalty to Cain and the imperial family again was simple.
Unlike the previous emperors who had shown much weakness and incompetence, their expectations for Cain were high.
Before ascending to the throne, Cain had been infamous as a wastrel, but once the fact that he had awakened the ‘stigmata’ became known, his wastrel past no longer mattered.
As a result, countless noble houses that had declared neutrality for survival once again swore loyalty to the emperor, so now Cain had to protect them with imperial authority.
“Mobilize the imperial central army to support Count Haren.”
There was no reason to hesitate.
The choices were limited anyway, so he had no option but to pick the best among them.
Considering the main story of ‘Legend of the Imperial Heroes,’ the Felberg Empire ultimately couldn’t avoid a decisive battle with the five dukes.
Though the protagonist character had exited early and many things had changed, from Cain’s current position, coexistence with the five dukes was impossible. Thus, he had no choice but to confront them.
“Draw ten thousand troops from the southern legion to support Count Haren.”
Beyond the territorial armies of lords governing each region and the private soldiers of nobles, the Felberg Empire maintained a central army.
They were slightly different in nature from the imperial army but were central forces loyal to the emperor; though not always at full strength, they kept separate reserves, allowing for mobilization orders to replenish with trained soldiers when needed.
Fortunately, a large number of central army troops were stationed in the ‘south,’ which could be called the stronghold of the five dukes’ forces, to protect loyalist nobles, and Cain intended to have them support Count Haren.
“I receive Your Majesty’s command.”
The imperial order Cain issued was transmitted to the southern legion via telegram magic, and an army of about ten thousand headed south to support House Haren.
Since the forces Count Haren had mobilized even with additional conscription were about six thousand, sending ten thousand southward was judged to block their rampage without excessively provoking Duke Deneve or Count Beck.
Though a decisive battle with the five dukes couldn’t be avoided, not all nobles still in the neutral faction had returned to the loyalists yet, and with the holy war army fizzling out, the Inquisitors separately promised support from the Sixth Diocese hadn’t all arrived, so immediate clashes needed to be avoided.
Though Cain had sent a provocative letter not long ago, drawing on his wastrel memories, that was something to send at that time, and he hadn’t expected Duke Deneve’s forces to impulsively charge like this.
Cain also instructed the commander of the southward-moving southern legion to avoid unnecessary armed conflicts.
However.
As soon as they joined Count Haren’s territory, Count Beck also additionally conscripted his domain’s residents to secure an army of thirty thousand, throwing down a massive challenge to imperial authority.
The situation began deteriorating rapidly.
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