Northern Grand Count (Not Grand Duke) - 3
Half the empire is ruled directly by the great imperial family; the other half is governed by nobles who enjoy the imperial family's grace. That saying makes the rounds often enough, and with good reason—the imperial domains within the empire are vast beyond measure. How vast? Vast enough that people joke you could raise an entire army corps from the local administrators who manage them alone.
I lived as one of those countless local administrators myself. I received the surname Gelbein from the imperial family and the name Alfred from my parents, and I lived as nothing more than an ordinary bureaucrat.
Bureaucrat. That was my identity. A man so far removed from any title that calling myself a noble felt embarrassing, yet a man who lived with pride in being a bureaucrat rather than a noble. That was me—Alfred Gelbein.
It was a decent life.
I had not lived as a glittering noble but as a quietly devoted civil servant, and I regretted not a single day of it. Through the grace of His Majesty the Retired Emperor, who saw something worthwhile even in someone like me, I rose as high as chief local administrator of an entire region.
True, the Wiridia region I had managed was granted to a noble, and I stepped down from the post of chief local administrator. I felt regret, but no bitterness. If I had become chief local administrator, I had done everything I could and climbed as high as I was able. I had reached the peak of my field and was withdrawing with honor.
Of course, since this was an honorable retirement and not a dismissal for any fault of mine, I might have received a new post if I simply waited. But no one could say how long that wait would last. There were no vacancies for chief local administrators. So I decided to step away completely this time. A man who had already enjoyed more than enough had no business lingering without a post and blocking the path for those coming after him.
Yes, I had meant to step down.
What on earth is this?
What is going on?
I am confused. I cannot make sense of the situation I am in right now—kneeling before the Count of Wiridia, Minister of the Inspectorate Ministry.
"Alfred Gelbein. You received the trust of the imperial family and managed the Wiridia region with excellence, to a degree that even His Majesty the Retired Emperor found most satisfying."
I stared blankly at the floor as the Count of Wiridia held a sword above my head. When he had summoned me out of nowhere and drawn the blade, I had nearly jumped out of my skin, but now pure bewilderment filled my chest.
"Wiridia was once a frontier sharing a border with hostile forces. Because of that, it suffered no small amount of damage during the Great Subjugation War five years ago. Yet through your ability, those wounds were able to heal."
The praise was embarrassing, yet I did not deny it. Just as the Count of Wiridia said, Wiridia had been a northern fringe that endured many hardships, and five years ago, during the Great Subjugation War, despair had hovered right before our eyes. Overcoming that suffering and restoring Wiridia to normalcy was my pride, the achievement of my life.
"Therefore, as the rightful great lord permitted to rule over Wiridia, I hereby declare:"
With those words, the Count of Wiridia lightly tapped my head and shoulders with the sword that had been hovering over me.
"I, Karl Crassius of Wiridia, elevate Alfred Gelbein to Viscount Kisele. At the same time, I appoint Viscount Kisele as Chief Butler. You shall devote your full abilities to Wiridia."
As the calm declaration continued, my bewilderment only grew.
Viscount? Chief Butler? Words I could not begin to understand. Honors far too great for a mere bureaucrat who barely qualified as a noble to begin with. I had only met the Count of Wiridia for the first time today.
"Y-Your Excellency, this is far too generous a command. Me, a viscount?"
Without realizing it, my hands and feet were trembling and I was even stammering.
But I had no leisure to worry about such minor irregularities. Right now, grasping the Count of Wiridia's true intentions came first.
What in the world is this?
No matter how hard I thought, I could not grasp his intent. Surely the Count of Wiridia was not merely toying with a local administrator who only wanted to retire—and he had no reason to toy with me in the first place.
The problem was that if this was not a joke, then there truly was no reason for it at all. For the first time in my life, I found myself wishing this were simply the twisted prank of some eccentric noble.
"Considering all you have devoted to Wiridia, it is by no means excessive. Who in this empire is more thoroughly versed in Wiridia's affairs than you?"
While I scrambled to order my thoughts, the Count of Wiridia patted my shoulder and spoke gently.
"When the Great Emperor Eimanka received the Mandate of Heaven and founded the empire, he dealt with others solely on the basis of ability and merit, never origin or personal connection. As a noble of the empire, I too follow the beautiful will of the Great Emperor."
Then he personally placed something into the hands of me, who still had my head bowed.
A seal?
It was a seal. And not the plain one I had used as a local administrator, but a rather ornate seal.
"What I bestow upon you is by no means excessive. You are simply receiving the reward for all you have devoted to the imperial family and to Wiridia. His Majesty the Emperor himself considers it only proper."
At those words, my hands began to tremble for an entirely different reason.
I had thought I had done enough. I had thought I had climbed as high as I could. I had thought it was time to retire with honor and watch my children rise in the world.
But the noble before me denied all of that. He said I still had work left to do, that there were still heights left for me to reach, that the life I had run so hard should not stop here.
Devotion… reward…
Something surged up inside me, hot and choking. My life had been recognized by a man I was meeting for the first time. His Majesty the Emperor had recognized it as well.
Slowly I turned my head and looked at the seal in my hand. If I accepted this seal, I would become a titled noble. My children would no longer be the children of a bureaucrat, but the children of a titled noble.
And the price of it all was nothing other than my life itself.
"…I will serve Your Excellency until the day my life ends."
From this moment on, the life I must pursue would no longer be that of a quietly devoted bureaucrat, but that of a noble who burns his very life.
"Do not speak such ominous words. When one grows old, one ought to retire and rest, should one not?"
At the Count's laughing remark I bowed my head even lower.
Having received such grace, I could not possibly dare to rest.
His Excellency told me there was nothing urgent and that I should go home for the day, so I returned to my house—a place that looked splendid next to the homes of ordinary commoners, yet one that could never be compared to a noble's mansion.
I built this house at no small expense.
A dry laugh escaped me. I had poured most of the fortune I had accumulated as a local administrator into building it. It had been meant for my comfortable old age.
Yet astonishingly, overnight I had obtained things far greater than this house. The viscountcy that came with the title, the castle at the center of the viscountcy, the mansion prepared so that the Chief Butler could work smoothly—things I could never have obtained even if I owned hundreds or thousands of houses like this one.
I suppose I'll have to treat this place as a villa.
With that thought I strolled leisurely into the house. Even if it had become the least of my properties, the affection I held for it was still the greatest.
"Hm? Father, you're home already?"
The moment I stepped inside, Lana came to greet me.
The brightest of my children—and the one who, for that very reason, had resolved to walk the path of a local administrator just as I had. My proud daughter.
…
"Lana."
"Yes? What is it?"
"Do not go to the Imperial Capital. Work here in Wiridia."
"Pardon?"
At my words Lana blinked blankly, her expression asking what on earth I was talking about.
I understood. When Lana had decided to follow the same path as me, I had insisted she must go to the Imperial Capital and take the examinations. It was true that starting in the capital made later appointments more advantageous. One also widened one's network of connections as a side benefit.
But appointments and connections were, in the end, for the sake of advancement. If one was going to become a local administrator anyway, was it not more rewarding to climb as high as possible?
If one wants to advance, Wiridia is more advantageous.
Yet His Excellency the Count had appointed me—a man he had never met—as a viscount. He had not weighed any other conditions. He simply employed someone he judged useful.
In that case there was no need to go all the way to the distant capital full of competitors. Demonstrating ability at His Excellency the Count's side was far better for advancement.
"F-Father? I mean, Wiridia is familiar and I have plenty of friends here, so I wouldn't mind, but why all of a sudden…?"
After blinking for a long while, Lana asked carefully. Fortunately she seemed to hold no resentment at being told to stay in Wiridia.
"There is no longer any reason to go to the Imperial Capital."
"Pardon?"
"Look at this first."
I drew the viscount's seal from my breast and showed it to Lana.
The reactions Lana and the rest of the family showed that day are ones I will never forget for the rest of my life.
Once I had successfully captured—no, recruited—a Chief Butler, my mind felt considerably lighter.
A Chief Butler was, in name and reality, the second-in-command of a territory. When the lord was present, he served as the foremost advisor and staff officer; when the lord was absent, he thrived as the proxy who handled affairs in his place. An invaluable existence.
And I was the sort of man who would overwhelmingly spend more days in the Imperial Capital than in my own territory. That made the presence of a capable and diligent Chief Butler all the more desperately needed.
I'm lucky there happened to be the perfect person for the job.
In that sense, the Chief Butler I had just appointed was a man heaven itself had sent down for my sake. He possessed abundant knowledge of Wiridia, rich experience, and would probably feel a reasonable amount of loyalty toward the man who had tossed him a title.
Most decisive of all, his original job had been managing Wiridia, so he would not complain even if I left my post empty. He would simply be doing the work he had always done, only now with a title and an official position. If anything, he ought to be grateful, shouldn't he?
Now I just need to fill the other posts.
I quietly lowered my gaze to the documents in my hand. I had appointed a Chief Butler, but that was as far as it went. Beyond the Chief Butler, the posts necessary for running a territory were many and then some.
Just off the top of my head: steward, head lady-in-waiting, finance officer, secretary, captain of the guard, master of the horse… Dig any deeper and the list would easily double.
…That's a lot.
Damn it, when am I supposed to fill all of these?
Should I just recruit every ordinary local administrator who was about to be reassigned elsewhere? Of course, if I pulled a stunt like that the Emperor would say "That's enough of your nonsense" and punch me square in the solar plexus. I could probably get away with taking the chief local administrators who were about to become unemployed, but ordinary local administrators were labor that needed to be working right now.
"Your Excellency."
While I was wondering whether I should just kidnap the families of the retainers still in Tailglehen if I truly ran out of people, the Chief Butler's voice came from outside the door.
"What is it?"
"Count Kaitana has arrived."
At those words I rose from my seat. As expected, Count Kaitana was the first of the thirteen to arrive.
He got here fast.
I let out a small sigh. Starting with Count Kaitana, every great lord of the North would soon gather in the County of Wiridia. Once that happened, things would advance to a point of no return.
No—truthfully, we were already past the point of no return.
The northern faction.
My head throbbed. The reason the great lords of the North were coming all the way to Wiridia was to form a faction. There was no more certain way to found a faction than for its members to gather in one place and swear friendship and cooperation.
And once the great lords assembled in Wiridia finished founding their faction, they had no intention of saying "Thanks for the hospitality" and heading home. The banquet celebrating the Emperor's enthronement would be held soon, so even if they returned to their territories they would only have to set out for the Imperial Capital again.
In other words, until the banquet was held, Wiridia would have to play host to no fewer than thirteen great lords.
At the same time, at the enthronement banquet where the empire's nobles would gather—I would have to lead those thirteen great lords into the banquet hall.
Wow.
My mind went hazy. Leading a faction into a banquet hall… anyone looking at that would call it a pure show of force, wouldn't they?
I was starting to dread the looks the other nobles would give me.