Chapter 94 – Balkan Civil War (6)
Balkan Civil War (6)
While Yuno was enjoying a happy life in Ellust, and Diane and the others were fighting Baron Mayer and Kimberly to further secure and develop Yuno’s territory budget, the time for the decisive battle between Prinz and Heinrich was getting closer.
Prinz’s villa.
“How are the armament preparations of our troops going?”
Since most of his troops were private soldiers of nobles, many of them were slightly less well-armed than the regular army, so Prinz gave orders to give priority to the provision of weapons to them.
“Currently, the classification by type has been completed, and we are preparing with the cooperation of the Blacksmith Guild through the Alchemist Guild! It can be completed within the next week.”
“A week is too late! There are 10 days left until the decisive battle with Heinrich. Shouldn’t we give the soldiers some time to get used to the new weapons? Let’s somehow finish it within 5 days!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
As the subordinate in charge of armament left, Viscount Toys approached holding a piece of paper containing the information he had received.
“Your Majesty. I think our troops will be slightly lacking compared to Prince Lee’s side.”
“What do you mean? Didn’t you say that we have a lot more private soldiers sent by the nobles? Isn’t it reality that if you combine the private armies of 20 nobles of the rank of baron, it would be the size of a private army of only one count? Also, isn’t it true that the number of private soldiers under the count’s command? The viscounts and barons will have no choice but to take our side…”
It seems that the high-ranking nobles who made up the core of the State Council often did not think well of Heinrich’s attitude. There were more cases where it was attached to Prinz.
“Yes. That is correct… But it turns out that there are quite a few small noble families who even withdrew their vassalship contracts with marquis and counts and attached only their private troops to Prince Lee’s side.”
“Huh… You mean it’s a gamble where you risk even your own territory… If Heinrich wins, you’ll think that the territory isn’t that big of a deal.”
“Yes. Moreover, it appears that there are more mercenaries sent from the Kingdom of Alto than we thought. We also tried to contact them, but they had already concluded a contract with Prince Lee, so the only mercenaries we were able to successfully contract with were a few mercenary groups from Mexico.”
Although Toys was not in charge of the mercenary contract, he was in charge of Prinz’s staff, so he bowed his head in apology.
“No. Still, the number of troops is not very different, is it?”
“That is correct. According to intelligence, Prince Lee’s side has approximately 60,000 troops, and we have 52,000 troops, so it is not a difference that cannot be overcome.”
“And we will have the upper hand in terms of the knights’ strength, right?”
“That is certain. It is a quantity, but the level of knighthood of high-ranking nobles and mid-sized nobles is on a completely different level. Unfortunately, the master, Count Liechtenauer, has retired, and Viscount Speyer is unable to intervene as he is a knight of the Royal Guard, and other masters It’s unfortunate that they expressed neutrality in this battle, but since they also don’t have a master, we clearly have the upper hand in terms of the knights’ power.”
“It’s such a pity that Yuno got injured in the elf territory at a time like this. If she were Yuno, she would definitely have stood by my side.”
Prinz was very disappointed that if Juno had been on his side, Eliza and Catherine Aragorn would have been on his side as well.
Haha, if you think about it that way, the territory boasting the greatest power in Balkan right now is the Teshidanikina territory. Isn’t it a territory with three masters?”
“Huh? Is that so? No, Lord Liechtenauer retired and said he would remain loyal to Yuno, so there must be four. Hehe, it’s a territory that holds half of the Empire’s masters… If I lose this battle, I guess I’ll have to run away from Yuno? Haha,”
When Toys was startled by Prinz’s words and asked if he was already thinking about losing, Prinz grumbled that he couldn’t even joke and continued the strategy meeting with Toys.
In front of the Adriatic Plain after Ahre.
Finally, Prinz’s army and Henry’s army began to face off.
Prinz’s army boasted shiny new weapons and built a five-layer straight square, a typical imperial army position, with archers and knights waiting inside to dig into the center of the Emperor Lee’s army and charge at the moment an opening appeared. The formation was formed.
“By the way, Viscount Toys. Isn’t the enemy’s position a bit strange? No matter how ignorant Prince Lee is of military affairs, if he were to camp with the Spirit Lake behind him and be defeated, he would be fully aware that his entire army would have been annihilated…? “
Among the nobles who support the crown prince, Count Zeon, a key warlord in the southwestern part of the empire, expressed his curiosity about Prince Lee’s position.
“If you lose this battle, you’ll lose your head, so doesn’t that mean that troops aren’t that important?”
“Well, Prince Lee can do that! Considering what he did to my daughter… I will definitely rip off his head this time!!”
Count Zion gritted his teeth as he thought of Heinrich.
Three years ago, Count Zion’s daughter, who had just turned 12 and had just made her social debut, was holding a party at a mansion in the capital. She fell for Heinrich, who approached her and said she was going on a date with him, so she went out at night. Count Zion also turned a blind eye to their date because it brought him into contact with the imperial family, but his daughter did not return.
He went to Heinrich’s palace to look for her daughter, but Heinrich only repeated that he had let her in a carriage last night, so he had to search all over the capital to find her daughter. Two days later, Count Zion’s daughter returned to her mansion with her clothes in disarray, disappeared into her room in a daze, and ended her short life by suicide a year later.
Given the circumstances at the time, Count Zion had an intuition that his daughter had been humiliated by Heinrich, but since there was no evidence or witnesses to challenge the second prince, Heinrich, and his daughter was also suffering from autism and could not say anything, he held his daughter’s cold body in his arms. I had no choice but to shed tears of blood while holding him.
Because he was Count Zeon, he supported Prinz as soon as this incident occurred and led all the troops in his territory to the capital. Even now, he stood up and went on a rampage.
And the crown prince made Count Zion sit down and calmed him down, saying that if he won the round tomorrow, he would let him cut off Heinrich’s head.
The door of the tent where the place was being calmed down again and the positions were being organized opened, and a messenger came running in.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince! This is an urgent letter from the Alchemist Guild!”
“What? Can’t you see that they are planning a military strategy? Get back!”
“Huh~ Isn’t this really urgent? Give it to me!”
The messenger handed over the letter to the crown prince, expressed his respect, and withdrew, and the crown prince broke the seal on the letter from the Alchemist Guild sent to him.
“Hmm? Diane?”
“Did Her Highness the Emperor send you? Well, the Alchemist Guild follows Her Highness Diane. I can’t tell you how fortunate I am that thanks to Her Highness Diane, I no longer have to worry about weapons and supplies. Anyway, what did you send me for? It would be great if at least a new weapon was released.”〈 Br〉
When the Crown Prince did not answer when Viscount Toys praised Diane and asked what was going on, all the nobles looked at the Crown Prince.
Gritting his teeth, Prinz dropped the letter on the floor, his whole body trembling and his handsome face twisting, making all the nobles curious about the contents of the letter.
“What on earth is going on? Your Highness! Why are you suddenly acting like this… Wow!!”
Viscount Toys, who was next to the Crown Prince, carefully picked up the letter and froze in shock as soon as he saw the contents. The nobles became even more curious about the contents of the letter, and finally the Crown Prince spoke.
“Count Zion! It seems difficult to give up Heinrich’s head.”
“Huh? What is that…?”
The Crown Prince instructed Viscount Toys to read the letter, and Viscount Toys read Diane’s letter in a trembling voice.
“Results of the blood test of His Majesty Karl III. The cause of death is determined to be caused by parasites. Since it is not poisonous, it is thought to have not reacted to the reagent. The parasite does not grow naturally near Adria, but is a species that grows near Polygal Island and is not normally used. It is not harmful to humans, but when it reacts with certain drugs, it goes crazy and melts the stomach.”
Kwaang!!
“If it’s near Polygal Island, isn’t it near Count Dietrich?”
“It is clear that Prince Lee poisoned His Majesty! Now you must subdue the weightlifter, not the civil war!!”
Viscount Toys calmed down Prinz’s entourage who were causing an uproar.
“Calm down!! That’s just circumstantial evidence! There’s no direct evidence!”
“Proof? The proof is that Haanrich is alive! Your Majesty! You must mobilize the imperial army immediately!!”
Prinz was also shaking with anger, but realistically he thought that Viscount Toys was right.
“Let’s win this battle first. After we win the battle, I will punish Heinrich for treason and punish him with all his senses!”
“Yes, Your Majesty! The gods will do their best!!”
Diane’s letter served as an opportunity for Prinz’s associates to unite once again, and a civil war that would determine the fate of the empire was about to begin.
