Chapter 92: The Two Counts
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 92: The Two Counts
“Problems. Problems. Nothing but problems. The world is full of them.”
Bronx II sighed before his day had even begun.
Rolled parchments were piled like a mountain on his office desk. They were reports from his demesnes across the land.
As the ruler of the largest territory on the continent, he had a proportional number of problems. It was the kind of work where solving one day's issues only meant new ones would arise the next.
“At times like this, I resent knowing how to read.”
If only I were half-illiterate like the previous king, I could have shared this suffering with a reader. Not that it would change the nature of the problems, of course.
Faced with a seemingly endless workload, Bronx II couldn't help but feel exhausted.
And what about the disputes that arose between nobles, all tangled up directly and indirectly? Each time, he had to review contracts, weigh their interests, and mediate.
The problem was, even after all the effort he put into mediating, there was no guarantee the parties would be satisfied.
When he ended up being resented by both sides, he truly felt like throwing it all away.
“But doing so would be a death sentence.”
It was an age of survival of the fittest.
The very kinsmen who seemed most trustworthy in normal times would stab him in the back the moment he showed any weakness.
Nobles with grievances against the king would seize the opportunity to join a rebellion, plundering his family's lands and wealth.
To give up was to die.
From the moment he ascended the throne, there could be no regrets.
That was why Bronx II longed for the past. It hadn't been this difficult when he first became king.
Back then, every problem seemed to solve itself as if the world revolved around him.
Thanks to that, he had been able to establish strong royal authority, doubling his family's lands and wealth after his coronation.
At the time, Bronx II had believed he would become like one of the great kings from myths and legends.
Until he learned that such glory came at a tremendous price...
“Eleanor…”
The name of his sister felt like thorns in his mouth.
Behind all the glory he had achieved was his sister's ability. He only realized this after those who were close to her began to meet tragic ends, one by one.
When misfortune's touch finally reached for him, the king had no choice but to send his sister into exile.
“Eleanor. That choice was for your sake as well…”
The king was the only one who knew of Eleanor's ability, but many were suspicious. Before long, rumors that his sister was a witch spread like wildfire.
If he had kept her at court, the Pope, who disapproved of him, and his bishop minions would have surely used it as a pretext to attack.
Eleanor understood the king's choice, yet she was still disappointed and felt betrayed.
That was why she hadn't contacted him once since being exiled to Quaran.
Misfortune's touch had ceased, but Bronx II could not rejoice.
Because the one person he could trust in a court where everyone carried a small dagger in their heart was gone.
“It would have been better if she never had such a damned ability...”
He knew just how powerful his sister's ability was, having benefited from it handsomely, but Bronx II meant it with all his heart.
That was why he couldn't help but be genuinely happy when he received a message from his sister after a year.
Even though its contents were enough to make him frown...
“Who is this punk named Allen?”
Bronx II was, after all, an ordinary older brother with a younger sister.
He should have been happy to be in contact with his sister again, but he was quite displeased that the name of some punk he'd never heard of kept appearing in her first letter in a long time.
Nevertheless, he acted on the letter's request solely for his sister's sake. The result was the envoy sent to Count Broua.
“The king's will is clear. He wishes for you, Count Broua, to aid Sir Allen.”
#
While the king's sudden envoy was causing great turmoil in Count Broua's political circle, I was continuing my tea time with Adeleade.
‘Allen, how much longer do I have to wait…?’
In my lap was a certain cat, acting cute and urging me on.
Adeleade looked at her daughter, who seemed glued to my lap, with a displeased expression before sighing.
“Why would Count Broua help you? The rumors that you and Eusebia are to be married must have reached his ears.”
No parent would be happy to see their daughter embroiled in a scandal before her marriage.
And yet, Adeleade hadn't ordered her inferiors to keep their mouths shut.
‘In fact, she encouraged it to spread, didn't she?’
That's what Zaenbold told me when I met him a little while ago.
Her intentions were obvious. Since things had come to this, she intended to nail down the marriage.
Since Eusebia didn't seem likely to give up on me, she must have had no choice but to accept me as her son-in-law for her daughter's sake.
As for me, I felt like I could bow in gratitude.
‘A mother-in-law's love for her son-in-law is truly something else.’
In any case, Count Broua was the one who had been in marriage talks with Eusebia just a few months ago.
The count, a lecher who coveted women despite his graying hair, had moved quickly with the marriage proposal the moment he received Eusebia's portrait.
Moreover, it was a chance to gain a powerful vassal in Baron Rasino.
If the baron hadn't been assassinated, the marriage would have gone through.
When I subtly asked why the grand plan had been carried out sooner than I expected, Eusebia had explained it with this excuse.
“To those who don't know the details, it looks as though Count Broua had his bride-to-be stolen by a mere knight, doesn't it?”
It was the kind of material gossipmongers would love. The impossible love between a knight of humble birth and the lady of an ancient family—wasn't that the kind of story that was wildly popular among high-born ladies these days?
Just as Adeleade worried, if Count Broua were to help me, who knew what kind of bizarre rumors might arise.
He wouldn't help, as it would mean a loss of face. That was Adeleade's argument.
Of course, I thought differently.
“Even so, he won't be able to simply ignore the king's request.”
“The king, you say…?”
Adeleade stared at me with a puzzled expression. She couldn't understand why the king was suddenly being brought up.
“My sister is close with the princess, who is the Castellan of Quaran. Close enough that she would grant a request to ask the king to help me.”
Bronx II was a powerful king who had doubled his family's lands and wealth after his coronation.
It was all thanks to Eleanor's ability, so while he hadn't been able to wield much power recently after exiling her to Quaran, his authority and strength remained.
“The distance between here and the capital is too great for the king to project his influence directly. However, the king has the power and authority to make things difficult for Count Broua.”
The king could support nobles who are on bad terms with Count Broua.
The worst-case scenario would be for him to elevate Count Broua's vassal barons to the rank of count.
Since a count cannot have another count as a vassal, they would have to become independent, and Count Broua's territory would naturally be torn to pieces.
Of course, Count Broua wouldn't just stand by and let it happen, so it would be a last resort...
“So... you're saying that the great king would ask Count Broua to endure a loss of face for the sake of his sister's friend? And Count Broua would accept? Does that make any sense to you?”
Adeleade's reaction was perfectly logical. Unaware of the hidden circumstances, she suspected something else.
“It would be more realistic to think you've gotten your claws into the princess.”
Was this a woman's intuition? I had deliberately used my sister to hide my relationship with Eleanor, yet Adeleade had immediately neared the truth.
Though she quickly shook her head and denied it herself, as if it couldn't possibly be true.
A connection between the son of a mere knight from a humble family and a princess? That was even more nonsensical than everything else I'd said.
I managed my expression and said.
“Of course, an appropriate price would have been offered.”
The relationship between a lord and a vassal was built on a somewhat ambiguous contract.
Therefore, a vassal didn't have to obey every command from the king. As long as they upheld the terms of their contract, they were free to do as they pleased.
That's why, at the end of Eleanor's letter to the king, I included a piece of bait that Count Broua couldn't refuse.
“What kind of price would be great enough for him to accept such a ridiculous proposition?”
“He would have offered to recognize his title and territory.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The House of Broua was a court count appointed by the king. Originally, upon the death of the grandfather count, the title and lands should have been returned to the king.”
But Broua was still a count, and he still possessed vast territories.
This was because the grandfather count had taken advantage of the chaos of the time to quietly pass down the title and hold onto the land.
It had been two generations now. They were, in effect, the true rulers of the land and title.
The problem was that, nominally, it was still the king's land.
“This is an excellent justification for war.”
Bronx II, a powerful monarch, had the strength to restore everything to its original state. In a future that would now never come, he had even put that plan into action.
In other words, this bait meant the king himself was offering to relinquish a justification that could become a problem in the future.
“That alone isn't enough. We forcibly occupied the Barony of Debussy, whose lord was close to him. We killed the baron and installed his grandson as a puppet. That gave him a reason to intervene. The king's recognition is important, but it's weak compared to the immediate gains he could make.”
“What if helping me offered an even greater immediate gain?”
“What…”
“Imagine it. Dresden. Quaran. Rasino. Debussy. And... Broua. Doesn't it look as if the others are surrounding Dresden?”
“…No way. Is this what you were aiming for?”
Adeleade stared at me, her face filled with disbelief.
She couldn't believe that a mere knight's son could devise and execute such a grand design.
But my plan was already past its midpoint and racing toward its finale.
“Count Broua will have pictured the same thing you have. And he won't believe it either. The picture is too grand to have been painted by a mere knight. That's why... he will suspect the king.”
“The king…?”
“The son of a knight single-handedly seized two baronies right after his investiture. In the process, he displayed a prowess that was hard to accept from a young knight of humble birth. Anyone with common sense would suspect a mastermind lurking in the background. The king's timely appearance will give Count Broua certainty. That all of this is the king's conspiracy.”
My true purpose in using Eleanor to move the king was to make Count Broua suspect that the king was behind me.
Eleanor's existence would also serve as evidence to support that suspicion.
Count Broua would never be able to guess the reason for sending a princess with no ties to Quaran there.
“The fact that Count Dresden inherited the maternal bloodline of the previous dynasty will also provide ample grounds for such speculation.”
The snow-white skin of Eleanor and Eusebia was also proof that Count Dresden had inherited the blood of the previous dynasty, which came from the northern continent.
In other words, if he had the power to back it up, Count Dresden had the justification to claim the throne at any time.
It wasn't for nothing that Bronx II's ancestor gave the title of court count to Broua's ancestor, tasking him with monitoring and checking Dresden.
“Furthermore, if he determines that siding with us is advantageous, he won't refuse. It will be an opportunity to plunder the territory of his arch-enemy.”
Because of their family history, Count Broua had clashed with Count Dresden on every occasion.
As long as I could give him the confidence that he could win, he would not miss this chance. And I had already given him that confidence.
“Ah... so our family was the key…?”
Adeleade was a wise woman. I nodded.
“The Rasino family is powerful, even among Count Dresden's vassals. For a knight with the king's backing to swallow up such a family means Count Dresden has suffered a great loss.”
It meant Count Dresden was starting at a huge disadvantage even before the war truly began.
In short, the king was one step ahead, even though his existing power was already far greater.
“It's a chance to eliminate a future source of conflict, put the king in his debt, and plunder his rival, Count Dresden. With the king backing him and already a step ahead, he'll think his chances of winning are high.”
“Sir Allen... you seem to know more about the nature of nobility and politics than I do. As if you truly have the king behind you.”
If even Adeleade was this suspicious, Count Broua would surely be convinced that the king was my backer.
In truth, I only knew what Aenya had experienced in a future that would now never come.
“How could that be possible?”
“Well... it's quite plausible. But from start to finish, it's all just your assertion, Sir Allen. The evidence is too flimsy, isn't it?”
Adeleade didn't believe it. That's why her reaction was so subdued, even when I spoke of using the most powerful grand lord on the continent like a chess piece.
“Whether it's true or not, you'll know if you wait and see.”
There was no need to wait long. A knock sounded, and a servant entered with news.
“Count Broua has sent a messenger. He plans to hold a jousting tournament soon and would like to invite Sir Allen, whose fame has been growing recently.”
Speak of the devil. A messenger from Count Broua had arrived almost as soon as we spoke of him.
Although I couldn't be sure if things were going exactly as I'd said, the timing was quite a coincidence, wasn't it? Adeleade's head snapped toward me.
“No way, really…?”
“As you said, my lady, it's all just speculation. He must intend to see for himself.”
If I could show him a performance befitting his suspicions at the tournament, he would surely step forward to help me. I was confident of it.
Meanwhile, at that very moment, a knight heading for the Rasino Barony under Count Dresden's orders also heard the news that Count Broua was holding a jousting tournament.
Along with the news that Allen the Giant Slayer, who had recently made a name for himself, would be participating.
“Change of direction.”
The knight turned his horse, which had been headed for Polton. His new destination was Roxwood, the capital of Count Broua's domain.