There were also special cases like if the crown prince was a blistering idiot, and his younger brother happened to be intelligent and wise. That might be cause for a succession dispute. It’d be better to have the more talented person reigning, after all.
Though, in the king’s case, it would be rough since they’d both be his children... But that also begged the question of whether or not a good king would let personal feelings and connections sway him.
Either way, a civil war sounded rough. I didn’t know if we needed to intervene, since I doubted it would cause international issues.
“It’s irritating that we don’t have any ties to Horn... What are their neighbors doing?”
“Felsen is simply watching without making any moves. It seems as if they have ties to both the younger brother and the prime minister, so it is an awkward situation for them...”
Tsubaki hesitated for a moment, before continuing.
“...Yulong may be behind this.”
“Excuse me?”
...Yulong? What? Ever since all that stuff with their heavenly emperor and the Phrase invasion, the country’s basically been reduced to nothing.
As far as I understood it, the region only had a group of independent cities in it. There were even small in-fights between those cities every now and then.
“Yulong is to the north of Horn. Ever since the Phrase invasion, there has been a large influx of refugees out of Yulong into Horn, which has caused trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“The citizens of Horn cannot easily accept the refugees from Yulong, which has resulted in many of the Yulongese refugees turning to crime. A lot of them have even gone so far as becoming roving gangs, laying waste to the fertile farmland.”
That was definitely trouble. I wondered why Horn couldn’t take in the people from Yulong, though... A fertile nation like that shouldn’t have had any issues.
“Yulong had planned to invade Horn, just like it had planned to invade Hannock. The people of Yulong also had a lot of national propaganda, belittling the Horn citizens as inferior and uncivilized. Given the national image, it is no surprise to me that the people of Horn would be reluctant to allow a group of people that so clearly hated them to join their society.”
Hm... I listened to what Kousaka said and sighed. He was certainly right, though. If the Yulongese people had looked down on Horn and then suddenly counted on them for help, it was only natural that the original victimized party would be hesitant to let them integrate.
“As you know, there was that spy division in Yulong, yes? They specialized in sabotage and assassination. From what my intelligence suggests, they all drifted to Horn when the country collapsed. The rumors go that these individuals may be behind the current unrest in that nation.”
Yulong’s spies... If I remember right, that organization was called Qulau or something. They targeted me in the past. I remember they wore those traditional Chinese masks and were the kinds of guys who’d kill themselves if they failed. They were pretty intense...
“Don’t tell me the deaths of the king and his son...”
“Yes. It could have been the work of Qulau. Either Prime Minister Schwein or the king’s brother, Ganossa, may have hired them. It might be neither of them, some random third party that sought to drive Horn into chaos...”
If the prime minister hired them, then... It went without saying that the prime minister would want his grandson to have the throne someday. If the king’s younger brother’s claims were true, then him succeeding the throne would become an obstacle to that eventuality. That would be reason enough to kill the prince and king... especially if the prime minister disagreed with the prince’s new-age thinking as well. But I wondered if he’d really be able to kill his own son-in-law for an agenda like that.
On the other side of the argument, if the king’s brother was the culprit... No, that didn’t make sense. If his story was true, then neither the king nor his son would need to die. He’d get the throne eventually anyway.
But if he was actually lying about that, and the prime minister was telling the truth about the king and his son having a mutual understanding... then yeah, he’d have cause to kill both parties.
Still, it was confusing... If the king’s brother wanted to succeed, I would have expected him to kill the grandson as well to eliminate all potential competition... This case was a perplexing one.
“This is annoying.”
“Agreed.”
“I also agree.” It wasn’t like we could act without knowing the truth.
Though with all we had right now, I was more inclined to believe the prime minister. His faction had less of a reason to kill the crown prince.
“I guess we shouldn’t interfere anyway, huh?”
“There is no reason for us to get involved, yes. The country has no formal contact with Brunhild. You could surely end the conflict with the power that you hold, but it would likely be an unnecessary move... Or would you prefer it if we crushed Horn and claimed it as one of our territories amidst all this chaos?”
Gimme a break, old man... Why didn’t that sound like the joke it should’ve been...?
It wasn’t like I was incapable of conquering Horn, or even the world! I just had no desire to handle the clerical duties of owning that much territory. Brunhild was tiny and it was already a pain in my ass a lot of the time.
“Jokes aside, the development of our nation comes before interfering with the outside. The castle town has increased in size lately, and we have had another influx of citizens. Crime rates have been rising proportionally to that influx. The knight order and Mr. Mittens have been doing a fine job keeping the peace in town, but I am concerned that if our knights were to be dispatched, we would not have enough personnel to handle these issues.”
I could understand what Kousaka was worried about. The town guards were made up of our knights, so the town became less secure during training missions or Frame Gear operations. Ideally, there wouldn’t be any more large battles in the near future, but the mutants were so unpredictable that I couldn’t say that with any certainty.
“Guess so. We’ll create a town guard unit separate from the main knights.”
“Wonderful. We can have Yamagata and Baba-dono command it, and make it an official government branch instead of something that serves you directly. With that in place, they will be able to operate autonomously even when you are not around.”
I was pretty confident in the two old men to run the guards well. They didn’t exactly enjoy Frame Gear combat anyway, so I figured it’d be the best job for them.
“The fishery we established on the dungeon islands is also going quite well. Merchants from Belfast and Regulus have come by to purchase our fresh wares.”
“Tell the fishermen not to go out too far from the coastline, alright? Don’t want any monster attacks.”
“Of course, we are aware.”
I’d summoned a Kraken to patrol the waters around the dungeon islands and keep strong monsters at bay, but if the fishermen went too far out to sea then there’d be trouble.
I received a few more reports from Kousaka and Tsubaki, and then my duties were over. After that, I ate lunch with everyone and decided to head to the Reverse World in the afternoon. I still had a few things I needed to prepare before the multi-world summit.
First up was the Triharan Holy empire. I needed to schedule a meeting with the leader of that place... Linze and Hilde seemed to have some free time, so they decided they’d tag along too.
I used my divinity to warp us through to the Triharan imperial palace. We were greeted there by a familiar face.
“Long time no see, Prince Listin... Or should that be Princess Listis? How are you?”
“Ah, well... There has been much going on in the country since it reformed. I’m certainly glad for it, though.”
She was now wearing a jacket and some loose pants, instead of the straight-laced masculine clothing that I’d seen last time. It had been
a while since I’d seen Tristan Le Triharan, imperial princess of the Holy Empire, but it was nice to see her.
I introduced Linze and Hilde to her as my fiancees, and she seemed briefly taken aback. Either way, she leaned in and shook their hands with a smile.
“My father and brother are waiting for you. They have a matter they wanted to discuss with you, actually.”
Listis spoke casually as she took us into the castle. I wondered what they wanted with me. We reached an inner room in the castle and were greeted by Emperor Harold La Triharan, along with his son, Prince Lupheus La Triharan. Listis’ mentor, Zerorick, was also in attendance.
The emperor and his son both wore glasses, giving them kind of a nerdy and studious look. Zerorick, on the other hand, looked like a battle-scarred combat veteran.
Back when the senate still ran things in the Holy Empire, the emperor and his son looked a lot more sickly... I was happy to see that their health had noticeably improved.
“Aha. It’s nice to see you again, Touya.” The Triharan emperor stood up and went to shake my hand.
“Glad you’re looking well, Emperor.”
“It’s all thanks to you, my boy. I feel like I’ve been aging backward lately!”
I smiled at the emperor’s joke. Recently, he’d only really been a puppet leader, held back by the senate. It only made sense he’d be more lively once he could actually do what he wanted to do.
Same with his son. All the misery he had about him because of that woman he’d been engaged to had been completely wiped from his face.
I heard that, much like her father, that fiancee of his was using her position for exploitative purposes. After her father was dealt with, she’d been imprisoned for good. Anyone would feel invigorated after being freed by a beastly fiancee like that.
I’d briefed them on it over the phone, but I decided to once again explain the whole multi-world summit concept to the emperor and his son. I asked if they had any ideas for countries that might like to join, as well.
“Sadly, the senate controlled most of our international relationships in the past. There isn’t really a country out there that’s friendly with us... We have a non-combat treaty with the Lassei Military Kingdom to the south, but that’s about it... The senate was also putting pressure on the Gem Kingdom to the east, so that’s a no-go either. Currently, only the Kingdom of Primula is willing to co-operate with us, and that’s only thanks to your efforts.”
Oh yeah, there was that thing where Primula nearly got invaded, huh...? I guess you can’t fix international relations by saying ‘these guys did it, blame them!’
“That’s why we intend to show a new and reborn Triharan at the upcoming summit. Putting that aside for a moment, we actually had something we wanted to discuss with you...”
“Oh yeah, Princess Listis said something like that earlier. What’s up? Do you need my help with something?”
The emperor glanced at his son for a moment before clearing his throat. His bespectacled son suddenly looked uncomfortable for a moment, but I couldn’t discern why.
“Well... I heard that you met Queen Margarita of the Strain Kingdom recently?”
“I did. She’ll be participating in the summit as well. She plans on bringing the Lassei Military Kingdom and the Allent Theocracy with her... Is there an issue?”
“Well, you see... Queen Margarita has a son and a daughter, and that daughter of hers... She’s twenty years old, her name is Berlietta... She’s said to be a great beauty, highly intelligent... So, well... You know...”
As I stared at the emperor in confusion, hoping that he’d spit out what he meant already, Linze suddenly spoke up.
“...D-Do you perhaps wish for her to be engaged to your son?”
Linze’s words caused the emperor to nod enthusiastically.
“Precisely! Exactly! Don’t you think such a union could bring Strain and Triharan closer together?! Touya, my boy, I’d very much like you to convey our intentions to Queen Margarita, and...”
“Wouldn’t this be better coming from you? I can just give you her phone number.”
“Ah, well... That’s not ideal, honestly. You know how our image is to outsiders right now... I don’t want her to think I or my son are useless people who get pushed around... I fear she may reject us on the grounds of being incompetent.”
Yeah, she might... I thought to myself, taking care not to say anything mean to the dejected emperor in front of me.
“What about your son’s feelings on the matter?”
“I agree with my father’s opinion. Though I must confess, I have mixed feelings about wedding someone I have little personal knowledge of... It could be trouble for her, as well. I do not wish for her to be unhappy with me as her husband, after all... She may dislike me...”
The bespectacled prince shrugged slightly as he pushed his glasses up his nose. I thought his assumptions were a little bit negative.
“My brother isn’t what one might call an optimist. He hasn’t considered that they’d likely grow to love each other after getting married.”
The crown prince heaved a sigh at his sister’s words. She’d been living as a man for most of her life, so it only stood to reason that she’d be a bit more assertive than most girls, and her relatively reserved brother.
Even if it was a political marriage, it would be better if all parties were in love. That was the case for my brides-to-be.
“Is she not engaged yet?”
I raised a brow at Hilde’s sudden comment. That was definitely a fair point. If she was already engaged, then we might as well just call this off.
That actually reminded me of Hilde being surprised to learn about my other fiancees before she joined their ranks.
“Nothing to worry about there. According to our reports, Princess Berlietta is not betrothed, nor does she have any suitors. We don’t know if she has a crush on anyone, though.”
Ah, fair enough... That’s kind of weird though, isn’t it? A princess that old not having a single suitor? Does she have unreasonable standards or something?
“Well, whatever. I guess I’ll contact Queen Margarita for you.”
“I’m sorry for the trouble, but please do take care. The future of our country may be at stake!”
I grumbled slightly as the emperor bowed his head.
He wasn’t wrong in that it was a good way to forge bonds between nations. I just hoped that things wouldn’t end awkwardly.
I wondered if I should just bring appropriately-aged nobles to the multi-world conference and host a big old mixer or something. Well, even if it wasn’t specifically a mixer, it’d be a chance for highborn people to get to know each other.
The only thing I’d provide would be the venue, then they could figure the rest out themselves... The idea was definitely worth thinking about, at least. Plus, my Duchy happened to have a pro in the matter of love... Or rather, a goddess... I sighed, took my phone out, and began calling Queen Margarita of Strain.
◇ ◇ ◇
I managed to gain an audience with Queen Margarita, so I decided to talk to Prince Lupheus before going to meet her.
After all, if a salesman didn’t know anything about the product he was selling, he probably wouldn’t be doing a great job. I took a picture of him, then asked the imperial secretary to locate a family history and personal notes on the guy.
“Hm...”
“Hmhm... It looks mostly good... There’s just one issue.”
“Please neglect to point it out...” Crown Prince Lupheus grumbled to himself.
The issue was the fact that Prince Lupheus had been engaged, and then that engagement had been broken off. Obviously, that wasn’t his fault, since it was caused entirely by issues on the part of the other person, but it still made him look like a weak judge of character.
Though, of course, the truth of the matter was that the senate had forced the engagement on him, so it wasn’t like he’d judged her poorly at first glance or anything.
Princess Listis flicked through the papers and muttered something.
“The hobby section hasn’t been filled out.”
“I mean... You know...”
“Come now, if you’re getting married, she’ll find out about it eventually. You should just write it down.”
Prince Lupheus resigned himself, sighed, and wrote down “magitechnology alteration/Gollem maintenance” on the sheet of paper.
“Oho... You’re into magitech?”
“He’s not just into it, he’s super into it. He’s been tinkering around with that smoffo... smart...phone thing that you gave us a while ago. He also enjoys tinkering with the Gollem carriages we keep in the courtyard. I’m sure that if he tried hard enough, he’d even be able to create a Gollem of his own!”
“I’m not so sure about that... The G-Cube and Q-Crystals are still a bit beyond my expertise. Only geniuses like Elluka have a comprehensive understanding of those elements.”
The prince smiled wryly in his sister’s direction. Personally, I had trouble imagining Elluka as a genius, given her awful personality... But she was definitely worthy of working on nonsensical stuff with Doctor Babylon.
Either way, this guy certainly seemed more and more like a geek.
“I don’t think it’s a hobby you need to hide, is it?”
“That’s right. It doesn’t seem all that strange to me.”
Linze and Hilde voiced their support for his interests. Lupheus simply let out a miserable sigh in response.
“I was once told by my ex-fiancee that I was pathetic, that playing around with commoner stuff was unbecoming of the emperor-to-be... She told me that the oil and grime from my tinkering smelled horrible and that I should just give up...”
Ah... The old hag instilled some kind of trauma in you, huh...? I wonder if your lack of confidence is because she was always keeping you down...
I didn’t really think it was a bad hobby to have, even if he was to be a world leader. The witch-king of Isengard sure enjoyed it... Although he was kind of a horrible monster.
The prince looked down and sniffed slightly, he was probably recalling all the times he’d been verbally abused. His glasses slipped down to the edge of his nose.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 17 Page 8
