Chapter 55 – Worries II

Translator: Isekai Shousetsu

Just like that, time passed and it became the eleventh month.

The fort I entrusted to Ismere got finished and we managed to train the soldiers up to a useable level.

The ruined agricultural lands have finished recovering and about a third of the villages have begun using crop rotation system.

The remaining two-thirds were a little difficult to persuade but…once the results come out then they’ll probably assent.

The paper mass production system and the salt mine equipment are both in order. We’ve begun mass production.

The Cretian merchants, including Ains-san, have been buying paper and salt in large amounts so the Ars’ Territory’s coffers are flush with money.

We won’t seem to be having hardships even with the debt payments.

……although I do regret about the salt mines.

So then, the problem is……there’s only three days remaining until the deadline.

“What do you think I should do?” (Almis)

“You’re asking me that?” (Bartolo)

Bartolo makes a dubious face.

“Wouldn’t it be better to ask your own subordinates?” (Bartolo)

“If there was a possibility that I’d become king, those guys would, without fail, completely support it so……I can’t use them as reference, you know.” (Almis)

In any case, I know without asking.

Besides, those guys completely don’t understand why I’m worried about you guys getting hurt, don’t you agree.

Also, I have some reservations in consulting them.

That’s were Bartolo comes in.

I heard he seems to be a retainer knows a few information when I asked King Rosyth.

He seems to have abundant life experiences so I thought I might try asking him.

“I heard a lot about you from King Rosyth so I know some, okay? I’m in the Rosyth faction so support the Ars faction…however, well…I think you should decide according to your intentions.” (Bartolo)

I can’t decide with that, huh…

“If I recall correctly, you were worried that a war might break out, was it? Well, certainly the possibility of that is high but……it’s not like it’s certain that war would break out, am I right. If you do it skillfully, then war just might not break out.” (Bartolo)

Certainly.

It’s not like I had revelation that a war would break out.

In the end, it’s still a question of possibility.

Whether I could make Regal DeBell agree depends on if I could skillfully make them powerless.

However, that is exceedingly hard to do, right?

Right now, the Ars Faction is made up of a third of the powerful clans.

In other words, the remaining two thirds will turn into enemies.

Furthermore, it’s quite doubtful that those one third would reliably support me as an ally.

Moreover, the De Morgal Kingdom is not hiding their ambition to head south. That country would certainly take advantage of the chaos and come to invade.

“It’s no good…I can’t decide.”

I hold my head.

“Well, it’s something you wouldn’t want to regret after all.”

Bartolo stands up as if saying that there’s nothing left to say anymore.

Deep within a huge forest.

In a place called the Forbidden Forest in the deepest parts of the Romano forest.

The fabled Griffon’s territory.

There in the Griffon’s den……inside that which the Griffon calls castle, I am((talking with the Griffon)).

“I see…In other words, you want to copulate with the b*tch with the lavender colored breed called Julia. However, Julia is the daughter of the pack’s alpha so to copulate you need to become the alpha. However, a lot of them wouldn’t be able to stomach the newcomer becoming the alpha so there’s a high possibility that conflict would arise from that. That’s why you’re worrying, right?” (Griffon)

“That’s somewhat correct but………could you please sugarcoat it just a little? What’s up with copulate?……at the very least use something like marry or something. Also, the way you said it made it sound like I’m worrying over falling in love with a female dog or monkey…” (Almis)

Something like b*tch, copulate, pack, and alpha…there are better ways to say them, right?

Something like woman, or hair color, or country, or king. See?

“This is the fault of ‘Divine Protection of the Divine Word” ‘s translations. From the very beginning, both you humans and other animals are made from the same matter and carry a soul so I couldn’t understand the necessity to expressly make distinction with words. Also, for me, dogs, monkeys, humans, all of them are just the same.”

Well, from the point of view of a half-falcon half-lion beast treated as a god, it’s probably all the same.

“You want to copulate with the b*tch called Julia, right?” (Griffon)

“Well, although I’m bothered with how you said it……yes, that is correct.” (Almis)

When I answer, the Griffon snorts from the nose.

“Then just do it. What’s the problem with that?” (Griffon)

“I just said that a war might break out with that, right? There’s a possibility that Ron and the others could die, too.” (Almis)

The Griffon’s eyes opens wider. Somehow, it seems displeased.

“Ron and the others can decide for themselves whether they want to help you. You don’t need to take part in that. I can’t understand the reason why you’re worrying about the internal discords of your fellow pack animals. You should just fight and win, right? Or does it seem that you will lose?” (Griffon)

“No……I think I probably could have won from the very beginning but……” (Almis)

The Ars Territory’s population is 30,000. The Crown Territories are around 70,000. Combined, they are 100,000. The other clans’ territories’ population are around 70,000.

From the very start, I could have won.

However, a lot of people would have died.

“A long time ago, didn’t you say to me that humans who could kill a member of the same species without feeling anything about it was a deviant, right?” (Almis)

“Yes. I said that. Creatures called humans are creatures that live in packs. There would be a problem if a member of a pack kills one of his comrades and not bear feelings of guilt. In that case, it would become difficult to protect the laws in that pack. The deviant cannot live in the pack. Living after that would be fatal for a human. However, you are different.” (Griffon)

“……What is different?” (Almis)

The Griffon speaks.

“You are a leader. You impose the law. You are not a member of a pack, rather you are an existence that moves it. You are an existence exempted from the rules of the pack. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you are a deviance. Rather, you should be a deviant. If not, you would not be able to protect the pack from outside enemies. You have become a leader so should leave behind the biggest effect on the pack. To do that, you must not be worried about any kind of sacrifice. Do you understand?” (Griffon)

“………”

The Griffon continues to add:

“Casualty? What’s the problem there? They are just other people with no relation to you. Besides, you have killed to stay alive and protect the children up to know, am I right? After such a long time, hasn’t that become irrelevant?”

“I think we cannot talk of my desires and the problem of taking away life at the same level…”

“They’re just the same. The same as killing people.”

The Griffon laughs scornfully. He looks at me straight in the eye.

“Listen. Suppose, you have something that you must not do, then it should be something you can’t do in the first place. However, God has given us the choice to kill another of the same species for the sake of our own desires. Thus, it’s fine if you do so. After taking over a pack, lions kill the child of the old leader. Fish and the like forget about their children and end up eating the very child they have given birth to. And because of those, has heaven given them punishment? Isn’t there none? Thus, it’s fine if you do so.” (Griffon)

The Griffon speaks indifferently.

“We have the privilege to do whatever we want………We are given freedom. We have the freedom to rebel against irrationality before our eyes. We also have the freedom to accept it. This world (plaything) exists for your sake. That’s why you should just do as you like. It’s fine to play humbly. It’s also fine to play gaudily. You also have the choice to destroy it with your own hands.” (Griffon)

The Griffon looks at me persuasively.

“Don’t be afraid. Be prepared. Nobody has the right to admonish you. The only things this world has are winners and losers. You can just keep on winning. You can just do as you like. I did as I like. A very long time ago, I did things like pushing off a cow over the cliffs just for fun, blowing off a mountain, and killing and eating humans. What’s wrong with that? Listen, there’s no duty in strength. What’s there is only privilege. Pierce your own ego. If you want a woman, just take her away. If you want territory just take it. If you want money get it. If you want peace, seize it. What’s wrong is not being able to choose a strong person as a patron and not being able to protect your own things with your own power.” (Griffon)

The Griffon’s sermon won’t end.

“A human’s life is much shorter than mine. There’s no time to start over. That’s why you should do things you won’t regret. You would regret dragging unrelated people with you for just a moment but you would regret letting go of the b*tch until you die.” (Griffon)

“That’s…” (Almis)

Certainly, I don’t want that.

Just thinking about Julia getting taken away by Regal DeBell makes me want to vomit.

“Let’s put the alpha’s social status and copulating with the b*tch on the left side of the balance scale. What you should put on the left side of the weighing scale are not the lives of un-related humans. You shall choose between the regret of letting the b*tch get taken away or the regret getting unrelated people dragged into the matter and killed. Now, which side do you lean on? Well, it would seem that you have finally arrived at your answer.” (Griffon)

“………”

I close my eyes and think.

I remember Julia’s figure.

Her smile, her body. Our fun times together. All of them are things I don’t want to part with.

And then, I open my eyes.

“Thank you very much, Griffon-sama. I’ve come to a conclusion. I’ll be off.” (Almis)

“Yes. Go forth. Make sure you won’t regret it.” (Griffon)

I ran.

It will take about a day to leave the Griffon’s territory.

I’ll barely make it to King Rosyth’s palace if I rode a horse after coming out of the forest.

I must make haste.

“You barely made it, huh. So, have you made your decision?” (Rosyth)

King Rosyth hosts me even though it’s midnight. He probably wants to hear my response already.

On his left side is Raymond, and on his right side is Julia.

“First. I apologize for making you wait five months for my answer. I humbly apologize. And, thank you very much for giving me the honor of your time. In addition to that, I understand that this might be a shameless request but…”

I bow deeply to King Rosyth.

“Please give me Princess Julia.”

Then I immediately face Julia.

Julia widens her eyes. She puts her hands over her mouth in surprise.

“Julia, I’ll make you mine. You won’t mind, right?” (Almis)

“Yes!!” (Julia)

Julia jumps to embrace me.

I receive her and the force takes me down.

This girl, she’s quite heavy, huh.

“Almis!!!” (Julia)

Julia tries to kiss me with her rosy lips but I hold her back with my hand.

“Oi, let’s leave that for later……”

We’re being watched by King Rosyth and Sir Raymond, see.

Julia finally realizes the situation and separates from me immediately. She’s completely red in the face.

“It’s fine to continue, you know?”

“We’ll watch over you, see.”

The two say while grinning.

These two really are brothers. Both have a bad personality.

I get up and sit on the bed.

King Rosyth gets serious after seeing me make a serious face.

“Let me hear your second conclusion. If I refuse, what will you do?”

“I’ll kidnap Julia by force. After that, I’ll ally with King De Morgal to take down this country.” (Almis)

King Rosyth’s face twitches to my serious reply while Julia blushes further.

“That was a joke but it was good that I didn’t say I refuse. Then the next item, Can you tell me the reason why you suddenly changed your mind?” (Rosyth)

“The reason is…No, I wanted Julia from the start. That’s why it’s fine even if I become king. Also regarding kingship…I started to think becoming one might not be such a bad idea after all. If I had the authority called kingship then I’ll be able to save a lot of people. I’ll also be able to reward Ron and the others. However, …I didn’t have the resolve.”

I put together various reasons. Like people will die and my companions would get hurt.

However, that was wrong. I was just scared. Of the excessively huge power.

Since I became a great clansman, the way I saw people around me changed. The me right now can kill a people with just a stroke of my hand. Just like that Regal DeBell.

If I become king, I’ll get power even greater than that. I became scared that because of that I’ll change.

I was just scared.

In a word, I was just an indecisive coward lacking resolve. Honestly, Regal DeBell might have been less objectionable than me.

Furthermore, I was afraid of the Divine Protection of the Great King.

I couldn’t help but worry that that thing might change something inside of me and repaint me.

But I can’t keep on running away forever right?

If I kept this up, then I would surely regret it. That’s why I’ll have to face this power, and this divine protection and make my decision.

I’ll take the step to achieve that and get Julia. I’ll use that power for my sake only.

To get Julia, I’ll massacre everyone that stands with the DeBell Clan.

This is where I draw the line.

I’ll stop being scared anymore and wield that power.

At this rate, my comrades, including Tetra, might all be taken away by that piece of crap.

That’s why I’ll get him before he gets me.

Then I’ll show him how to manage power.

“Well, you’ve really thought this through huh. So, who was the person who pushed you to make this final step?”

“It’s not a person.”

“It’s the Griffon, huh. Well, fine. I’m happy you’ve decided to become king. I’ll take this opportunity to ask but……what do you want to do when you’ve become king?”

What I want to do.

It’s not like I hate luxury but it’s not like a love it too. For women, I’m happy with just Tetra and Julia.

Power, however……

“How about unifying the Adernia Peninsula?” (Almis)

You have to take peace by force. You told me that, right Griffon-sama?

“Alright. The problem is the timing of the announcement, wedding, and the enthronement. Do you have a date in mind?” (Regal)

“It’s convenient to finish everything at once, yes? Let’s end this in two days.” (Almis)

Usually, the wedding ceremony is done several months after the announcement. The great clansmen too would need some time to prepare for their presents, after all.

Well, Tetra and I got it over with immediately after the inheritance battle with King Ferrum, however.

“Regal DeBell would probably have no time to mobilize his troops in two days. After the enthronement, we should just immediately assemble the army and go after and destroy all the great clansmen who didn’t attent the enthronement ceremony. How about it?”

“Well, that’s pretty much it. If I had to change anything, it would be that we should mobilize the soldiers right before the announcement.”

It’ll probably be a bloody wedding.

“The time period is as soon as possible, yes? As for me, I want to hand over the throne to you while I’m still alive. I won’t be able to die without peace of mind after all. That will also give you peace of mind, yes?” (Rosyth)

“I agree King Rosyth. It’s more convenient when father-in-law is still alive. However, regarding the time period……” (Almis)

“It’ll be hard without having achievements? Is that what you want to say?” (Rosyth)

I nod.

I haven’t made any visible achievements since I became a lord.

There’s a problem in succeeding to the throne at this stage. If possible, I want to become king after I obtain a great achievement.

“Also, I want to quickly put the country back in order after immediately suppressing the rebellion. In order to do that……I think it’s necessary to remove all the members of the DeBell Faction in one clean sweep. That’s why I think we should do it after some maneuvering.” (Almis)

I don’t have the courtesy to give them battle after succeeding the throne. It’s fine to just grab victory from the start.

“I see. I too am also worrying a little about your achievements……I actually have a suggestion, would you like to hear it?” (Rosyth)

“What would that be?” (Almis)

“The De Morgal Kingdomwill attack this country before long. I’ll grant you the right to command of the whole army so beat them.” (Rosyth)

That’s a great idea……Well, that’s the best approach when speaking of creating achievements but…

Isn’t the difficulty level a little high?

“We anticipate their army would number around 15,000 front and back. Our country can mobilize 4,000 to 5,000.” (Rosyth)

“I don’t remember seeing that number mobilized during the time of King Ferrums so……will we be alright?” (Almis)

At that time, the diplomatic maneuvering was horrible.

There’s a significant chance that we’ll get diplomatically maneuvered this time too. The DeBell Faction would probably not lend their military power, am I right? All the more, if I become supreme commander of the army.

“There won’t be problems. If our country gets invaded by the De Morgal Kingdom, then next in line would be the Eville Kingdom and the Belvedere Kingdom. We secured promises that we won’t get attacked by both countries. Furthermore, this time, we know that the enemy is coming so the we could mobilize easily. I can gather about 5,000 in the territories I directly control. You have an 800 strong standing army, yes? We have to conscript the another 1200.” (Rosyth)

1200, huh……

If you ask whether we could, then yes, we can.

Besides, there’s no reason we couldn’t put together military recruits and conscripts and we haven’t said so either.

We would probably be able to gather provisions and equipment without much opposition if we declared the they be arranged here.

“With this, it’s become 7,000. We can expect around 500 from the great clansmen. In other words, we’ll have 7,500. It might be tough but……we’ll have to make do. Are you confident we can do this?” (Rosyth)

“……That depends upon the tactics, yes? By the way, how much cavalry does father-in-law have? I have a hundred.” (Almis)

“There was a time when we wanted to organize one. However, we weren’t able to train that much numbers. It was easier to make 300 hoplites than 100 cavalry after all since the costs would pile up. For now, we have around 50 cavalry for patrolling the territory.” (Rosyth)

Hmmm… That’s too little. This is hard, huh. Although this would depend on whether the enemy would have cavalry.

“The De Morgal Kingdom borders the Rozel Kingdom. The Rozel Kingdom is a Gallic kingdom. They have cavalry in a considerable scale. So in order to oppose that, King De Morgal will probably leave behind his cavalry within his territory.” (Rosyth)

In other words, he’ll only bring along a few of them and if we’re lucky maybe none at all.

I wonder if the plan could now stand with that.

“For the meantime, let’s postpone this talk.” (Almis)

“I agree. The problem now is maneuvering. What do you intend to do?” (Rosyth)

I explain the maneuvering against Regal DeBell.

A smile floats on the face of King Rosyth.

“I see. You’re quite the devil yourself, huh.” (Rosyth)

“I haven’t decided on a specific method, okay? It’s absolutely necessary for my faction to grow. As for that……” (Almis)

“Naturally, I’ll cooperate with you. We’ll have to limit the people who knows this operation to make you king. The only people who shall know this would be our Rosyth Clansmen, that shall play a central part in this operation, the clansmen that we could fully trust like Bartolo. Don’t tell operation this to anyone. Be careful even of your subordinates.” (Rosyth)

We’ll be at a disadvantage if information leaks out after all……

It can’t be helped.

“Uhm……I know where talking about the maneuvers but……there’s one thing I absolutely need to tell you.”

Julia raises her hands.

Naturally, I concentrate my gaze to Julia who’s sticking to my arm right now.”

Somehow it kind of feels like I’m being watched too.

“Um……it’s about the divine protection but……for the meantime, why don’t you tell us yours Almis?” (Julia)

“That’s fine. Or should I say I shall speak of it.” (Almis)

I explain my divine protection to Rosyth and Raymond.

The two show a surprised expression.

“Divine protection huh……the ones I’ve seen, including Julia’s have become 5 cases, huh.” (Rosyth)

“At any rate, you hold quite the useful divine protection.” (Raymond)

I feel awkward when you tell me that.

In any case, it’s efficacy have been horribly dissed by Griffon-sama, after all.

“Then, this is what I wanted to say, see…actually……”

Julia shows a little troubled expression.

“Regal DeBell also holds the Divine Protection of the Great King, you see……” (Julia)

Eh?

Really?

Author’s Notes:

When Griffon-sama was young, he was quite naughty. Or perhaps I should say he still is.

It all begins here.

I apologize for all the hate that’s been accumulating up until now.

I’m seriously reflecting on how to make my writing come out just a little bit better.

Honestly speaking, I never thought everyone would lose their temper to this extent.

When I thought about it clearly, it wasn’t good that I hesitated for as long as I wanted on the development everyone was anticipating to refresh their minds.

Having said that, you can’t bring back what has been spit up.

It’s the point of no return.

I’ve cut away several stories from the chapters I’m preparing so I’ll conclude it at once.

The last would be around chapter 73.