Chapter 96: Means of Obtaining an Army (5)

“All you have to do is reward him personally, such as returning the favor…….Alliances are a matter of state, Your Majesty!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The meeting was held again but the nobles of Estren strongly rejected the alliance. Well, that was to be expected.

An alliance between countries is not a game. In other words, they are formed only when the relationship is equal to some extent, unless it is an agreement of paying tribute and military vassalage.

It’s like the relationship that Lunan and Roserun had, but I didn’t have the slightest intention of serving Estren.

“What do we have to gain by allying ourselves with Aintorian? Explain it to me.”

In the meantime, Count Dofle asked me. He was very friendly to me. It was Count Dofle who had arranged for me to meet the king and queen. His words must have meant that I should try to persuade the nobles who were gathered here.

“First, according to our intelligence, there should be an invasion of the nearby Ramie Kingdom. If that happens, Aintorian’s army can lend a hand. It is a strong army that has dealt with Narja and Brigitte day in and day out.”

In fact, this was not a lie, of course, the time frame was still a long way off.

As soon as they heard my words, the nobles gave me a look of disapproval.

“The Ramie Kingdom is our ally. And even if such a thing were to happen, the navy of Estren is the strongest on the continent. We don’t need your help!”

One of them shouted, looking confident about the navy. But that was only when there was a competent commander. Thanks to Chesedin’s death, the navy would soon be in the hands of a foolish man.

“I can’t let that go unheard. The king of Ramie is an old friend of mine. I don’t think they will attack us.”

“But that is not all. The Narja Kingdom is in a position to attack Estren at any time. Just because you don’t share a border with them now doesn’t mean that you are safe.”

The Kingdom of Narja is not a country with a well-developed navy. That’s why the Kingdom of Estren was completely relieved, but that’s a ridiculous assumption. There is no country that the king of Narja would not target.

“That’s enough. You’re just causing confusion with your baseless arguments. Well, it’s also true that you prevented a rebellion. Therefore, I will give you one last chance. Serve this Estren. If you are willing to offer tribute and form a military-vassal relationship, I will let you off the hook.”

The Duke of Zeta, the chief of the nobles, spoke such nonsense.

“That’s not good. Alliances should be based on equality.”

“Then you can go home now!”

When the Duke of Zeta came to that conclusion, even the nobles began to call for me to leave, there was nothing more to say here. My purpose in coming here was not only to prevent a coup and return home. There were still some things to be gained. Of course, it was not an alliance.

That hadn’t even been in my mind from the beginning, because there was a more reliable way than that. The promise of an alliance is like a relationship on ice that can always be broken by betrayal.

“If that is what they say, then you must go back…….I’m sorry, envoy, but you must return to your country. I will repay you with gold for your kindness in saving my life…….!”

In the end, the king gave way to the nobles.

***

“My brother is dead?”

“Yes…….It’s too heartbreaking. Master Lushak!”

“Kukkuk, I see. My brother is dead?”

Kashak’s territory.

The vassals knelt down to avenge their enemy with a look of regret on their faces, but Luciak started laughing. He tried to laugh in his heart, but it was a normal laugh.

“Master Lushak?”

The reaction of the vassals made Lushak change his expression in panic.

“I will avenge him. I will never forgive the royal family and the nobles of Estren!”

He said that, but inwardly he was shouting with joy at the fact that he would inherit the entire power that Kashak had built up.

“You said the allies that my brother has infiltrated in the capital and the royal court are still alive and well?”

“Yes. If it weren’t for the intervention of the Aintorian emissary……they would have stood up and protected the lord all at once!”

Thud! Lushak kicked his vassal with his foot in the middle of his story then he shouted under his breath.

“Shut up, I’m your lord from now on! Can we please get that straight?”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

When the retainer raised himself to apologize, Lushak snickered.

“Oh well. Count Lexemann, a friend of my brother’s, is willing to lend a hand, and then it’ll be easy. The palace guards would be no problem once the people that my brother had infiltrated open the gates!”

It was a plan that Kashak had meticulously prepared for ten years. It was not going to all fall apart overnight.

“We will launch a bloody vendetta against the royal family of Estren, who are trying to destroy our family.”

The brother of the ringleader of the coup, although he should have been arrested for his role in the coup, Lushak had no intention of giving up the Cossack throne he had finally obtained, and led his entire army to march on the capital.

This was done swiftly under the cover of night. The soldiers in the territory were also elite soldiers that Kashak had poured his heart and soul into raising and they were quite fast.

***

[Lushak rebels]

[Soldiers: 22,000]

[Morale: 90 + 10 (rage)]

[Training level: 88]

Lushak rebels march on the royal capital of Estren.

The gates of the royal capital are easily opened by the conspirators that Kashak has infiltrated.

“For Master Kashak!”

What Kashak had done for the past ten years was considerable. Otherwise, Lushak rebels, or originally the Kashak Territorial Army, would not have had a +10 rage gauge on their morale.

It was only natural that the family would be destroyed since they had been caught staging a coup d’etat. His younger brother, Lushak, wasn’t going to be beaten quietly, and the army quickly took over the royal palace.

The military power was a good indication that if I hadn’t killed Kashak, they might have been a dangerous element that could have invaded Aintorian at any time during the war with Narja.

“Kill them all! Kill all of the king’s army!”

Lushak began to ravage the royal city while uttering the typical lines.

[Estren Royal City Guards]

[Soldiers: 30,000]

[Morale: 70]

[Training level: 80]

At first, the King’s City Guard was 30,000 strong, but the number of soldiers who turned to the Lushak rebels reached 10,000. These are the soldiers who adored Kashak among the royal city guards. It can be said that they are the legacy of Kashak.

Thanks to them, the number of the rebels quickly reached 30,000. The royal capital is a port city. The main force of the defenders is the navy, so it was also significant that the rebels attacked on land.

The gap widened in the blink of an eye and the royal capital was set on fire. Well, it was only natural. The commander of the fleet, the capable warlord Shaq, was assassinated by Kashak. Kashak had also killed Chesedin, the veteran warlord who had defended the country and was its spiritual support.

How can they stop the rebels in such a situation?

Killing Kashak prevented the coup for a while, but in the end, the rebellion was destined to succeed. Retin Lushak, this guy is no big deal. He’s really a violent man who makes a mistake and gets executed after Kashak comes to power.

Estren would be a mess if such a man came to power. I had hoped that the incompetent Lushak would be in power instead of a competent and capable warlord, and that’s what happened. What I have to do now is to overthrow the government held by such an incompetent Lushak.

Even in the midst of this chaos, there was one thing I had to get. In any case, my troops were useless. Right now, I needed stability and training, and I had my hands full just keeping Narja in check. Of course, Narja was in a situation where they couldn’t move right away.

***

“Your Majesty, this way, please!”

When the king received the news that Lushak had broken into the palace, he began to evacuate through an old hidden passage. The queen, Serena, and Dofle, who was worried about his daughter, were with him.

The other leading nobles did not enter the palace, which was on fire, but fled out of the capital, because in a situation like this, the best way was to go back to their own territory. All they could think of was that if they headed for the royal palace, they would be surrounded by Lushak’s army, isolated, and then die. However, there was no way that Lushak would stand by and watch them flee outside the capital.

The king was the only one who knew about the hidden passage so only Dofle, who rushed to the palace because he was worried about his daughter, was given the chance to escape to safety.

The king entered the hidden passageway with the SS, attendants, maidservants, Serena and Dofle to protect him.

“Your Majesty, what is that gate?”

Serena asked when she saw the huge iron door at the end of the hidden passage.

“I don’t know about that, either. I’ve heard that it’s a facility from the time of the Ancient Kingdom, but I don’t know how to open it.”

“I see. The one in the middle is called the Mana Formation, by any chance?”

A mana formation was painted in the center of the gate. Serena had seen it in a book, and when she asked, Dofle nodded.

“So it seems. Your Highness now is not the time to be worrying about gates that won’t open.”

“Yes, Serena. The hidden passageway built by the previous king of Estren is next to it. Let’s hurry up.”

By the king’s order, the existence of the giant iron door was erased from their minds and the group started walking again.

“Father, are you alright?”

Serena squeezed Dofle’s hand and he nodded at her. There was no way he was going to be weak when Serena was fine.

“I’m fine.”

The King and Serena’s party spent a considerable amount of time trying to get out of the hidden passage. The king was old and unsteady on his feet, and the hidden passage was quite steep, so it was not easy to escape. However, since it was a hidden passage that was difficult to find, he had not been tracked down yet.

After that long struggle, they were finally able to get out of the hidden passage. The hidden passageway led to the outside of the royal capital, which meant that they were now outside the citadel that surrounded the city.

“Your Majesty, I will take you to Dofle territory for now. It would be better to evacuate to a safer place first, and then reclaim the capital in union with the other territories.”

“Yes, that’s right. I’ll do that. I don’t care what it takes, I just need to rest for now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

They started their journey again, but the old king was in no condition to ride a horse and he could not get a carriage as soon as he left the hidden passage, so his speed was quite slow.

Dofle knew they couldn’t go on like this. Lushak rebels, who had noticed the king’s absence from the palace, were searching everywhere outside the capital.

The faces of the SS turned pale when they saw the rebels. They were not going to be able to compete with them in terms of numbers.