Isekai Nonbiri Nouka-Chapter 914: The Conquering King
I am a man of the human race.
When my father, the king, fell on the battlefield, I inherited the throne of our small kingdom at the age of eighteen.
That was ten years ago.
It has been a decade filled with constant warfare.
Though our country is small, most of its land is farmland, which makes it a tempting target for neighboring nations.
Even when I say that now is not the time for humans to fight among ourselves, that we must prepare for war with the Demon King’s Kingdom, no one listens.
They only start saying such things after they’ve lost a battle against us.
It’s infuriating.
However, I was fortunate—or perhaps it was simply my talent.
Not to boast, but I possessed great skill not only in personal combat but also in commanding armies.
I can’t say I am unbeatable… but I won most of the time.
I crushed the nations that attacked us, one after another, expanding our territory until we became a moderately sized kingdom.
A moderately sized kingdom.
Not large enough to be called a great power.
The true great powers are indeed massive in scale.
To avoid having to accept unreasonable demands from them, I must gain even more strength.
Today, I destroyed yet another country.
-0-
「As expected of our King! A splendid victory!」
「Even the formidable Gozlan Kingdom was no match. In our King’s hands, they were like babies.」
「Such valor is truly worthy of the title Conquering King! We must strive harder ourselves!」
At the banquet held in our royal castle to celebrate the victory, the generals of our kingdom praised me with smiles.
They may appear to be mere flatterers clinging to my favor, but they are not small-minded men.
On the battlefield, they are fierce warriors known across neighboring lands, cutting down enemies like demons of war.
「It was fortunate that we captured not only the enemy king but also the princes and princesses on the battlefield. It made the transfer of their territory much smoother.」
Indeed.
We captured them.
「So then, how shall we dispose of them?」
Dispose of them?
「Yes. How shall we grant them an honorable death?」
「Now, now. This is not the time for such talk. We are at a joyous celebration.」
「Indeed, indeed. There’s no need to bring up such matters now, is there, my King?」
…Heh. They may have lost, but those royals challenged me head-on.
That alone deserves some acknowledgment.
「Then, what is your will?」
If they can serve our kingdom, then I shall let them live and make use of them.
「Oh! As expected of our King. Such magnanimity.」
「Indeed, indeed.」
「But in that case, that third princess… She may be regretting her escape now. She missed the chance to serve our King.」
「The one who fled the country without even stepping onto the battlefield?」
「Such a person is of no use to our King. Wouldn’t it be easier if she died somewhere on her own?」
「Hahaha. Oh, our King’s cup is empty. Someone, bring more wine.」
「My apologies. Please, take this. It has already been tested for poison.」
When I accepted the new cup, one of the generals called for a toast.
I raised my cup lightly in response, and the banquet roared with cheers for our victory.
「A toast to our King!」
「Haha! Our kingdom is invincible!」
「Indeed, as long as our King stands, our nation shall never fall!」
Their words nearly made me lower my guard.
But I must not relax.
No, I must remain vigilant.
Though the situation surrounding our kingdom is improving, it is not yet secure.
Even if I intend to rule with good governance, the fact remains that I expanded our lands through force.
I know I am resented.
And though they were not many, the third princess did flee with a fair number of followers.
She may not be someone who seeks my head, but I cannot afford to be careless.
I will allow celebration tonight, but from tomorrow, we must be ever more alert.
「Yes, for the glory of our kingdom!」
-0-
That night.
No, it was already deep into the night.
I stepped into a large chamber lit with more lamps than one could count.
Without hesitation, I bowed my head.
I dropped to my knees and pressed my forehead against the floor.
Then, I offered my most sincere apology.
I am deeply sorry!
I didn’t move a muscle and waited for the other party to speak.
But no voice came.
Should I apologize again?
Just as I was about to open my mouth, a voice called out.
「Your Majesty」
Yes, it is I, the king.
「Do you remember what I told you before this campaign began?」
N-no, I haven’t forgotten.
That’s exactly why I’m bowing like this…
「And what was the purpose of this campaign?」
To secure the civil officials led by the third princess of the Gozlan Kingdom.
「That’s right. Exactly right. So, where is the third princess of Gozlan?」
She… fled.
「And the civil officials?」
They escaped with her.
「Yet you went ahead and destroyed the Gozlan Kingdom?」
I did.
「Why?」
Ah—well, um, things just… went that way…
「Why did you take over another country?! How many times—how many times have I told you we can’t handle more than this?!」
The man I was bowing to was a middle-aged man.
His title was Baron.
His job was civil official.
And this was the place of the department in charge of our nation’s domestic matters.
The office of internal affairs minister.
He was one of the officials working there.
Most of the vast chamber was buried under stacks of documents and wooden tablets detailing unresolved matters.
In the limited space available, his colleagues were frantically working.
Their eyes looked dead, but their hands moved with terrifying speed.
「We were a small kingdom from the start. We can only manage small territories! And yet in the past ten years, our land has grown more than fourfold… There’s no way we can keep up! It’s already collapsing!」
It’s not a weak kingdom… just a small one…
「Don’t cling to meaningless pride! Pride won’t help us run this country!」
I’m sorry.
「How did it come to this?!」
Because you said you needed capable civil officials…
「Yes, we did!」
And when we looked for them, we found out the third princess of Gozlan and the officials she led were highly capable, right?
You were the ones who said you wanted them.
「So you’re saying the war broke out because of that? I told you to handle it peacefully, didn’t I?」
No, no, I really did try to keep it peaceful.
But our kingdom has its pride too.
I couldn’t just go and say we need help because our domestic affairs are falling apart.
「You should’ve said it. Forget about pride」
There are some kinds of pride that can’t be thrown away.
Anyway, all I needed was for the third princess to come to our kingdom, so I made a request to the Gozlan Kingdom to take her as my wife.
Not as a concubine.
As my official queen.
I sent an envoy with that message, and for some reason, the Gozlan Kingdom responded with preparations for full-scale war.
I did try to avoid conflict, but all negotiations were rejected and they attacked us, so I had no choice…
「……」
What?
「Your Majesty. One question. Please answer honestly」
Very well, ask away.
「How old are you?」
I’ll be twenty-eight this year.
「And the third princess of the Gozlan Kingdom?」
…Huh?
How old is she?
The first prince of Gozlan is one year younger than me…. so that makes him twenty-seven, right?
The second princess was twenty-five, I think.
So the third princess should be around twenty…?
「She’s seven」
Eh?
「She’s seven! And you wanted to marry her? That’s no different than demanding they hand over a hostage! Of course they would go to war!」
Eh?
Seven?
But she was managing domestic affairs…
「Exactly why we wanted her! She’s that kind of prodigy!」
Ah…
「Even if we ended up with more territory, we thought we could make it work if we got the third princess and her civil officials… But you only expanded the territory」
I-I’m sorry.
I truly regret it.
I should have paid more attention to her age.
「You didn’t kill the royal family of Gozlan, right?」
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Of course not.
If I had, negotiations would’ve been impossible if the third princess ever returned.
「Then let them escape」
Eh?
「Let them go. Release the royal family of Gozlan. Then restore the Gozlan Kingdom. Yes. That’s the only way. Let’s pretend the war never happened」
Ah—well, about that…
「What is it?」
I was feeling guilty about expanding the territory without managing to capture the third princess…
So, on their way back here, I intentionally loosened the watch several times to give the royal family a chance to escape.
「And then what happened?」
They didn’t even try to run. They all stayed.
「Then go throw them out somewhere! If you do that, they’ll have no choice but to return to their kingdom!」
I did throw them out. Twice. But they came back both times.
It’s not my fault!
「It is your fault! Aside from the third princess, the rest of the royal family are just dimwits who never gave a thought to domestic affairs! What do you plan to do with that kind of dead weight!?」
W-Well, they’re still useful in war.
They put up quite a fight, you know.
The first prince’s sword could even crush boulders.
「Then fix our domestic policy using that sword! I dare you! Seriously, what’s your plan!? If we just leave the newly acquired lands unattended, the great powers are going to come down on us!」
I-I don’t care if it’s a great power—we’ll crush them too!
「Too bad. If we get on a great power’s bad side, our economy will collapse before it ever becomes an actual war」
Uhh…
R-Right!
How about this: I’ll reward the new lands to my vassals!
「Even if you do that, who’s going to manage them? Us, right? None of them have any experience running land.」
Well, we were a small country. We didn’t have enough land to hand out before.
Only the royal family governed anything.
「Fine. We’ll go with the last resort」
Oh? You’ve got an idea?
「We’ll imitate the Gozlan Kingdom」
?
「We’ll start a war, lose it, and get absorbed by a bigger nation. Let’s aim for a country strong in domestic affairs」
W-Wait!
If we lose and get absorbed… what happens to me?
「Don’t worry. I’ll personally request they give you a painless execution」
I’ll die!
That’s just gonna mek dying in fancies way!
「Your Majesty, your regional dialect is slipping out」
Now’s not the time to be pointing that out!
No way.
I don’t want to die.
I haven’t even gotten married yet.
「Then we’ll just all resign」
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!
Please forgive me!
I’ll give you a noble title too!
「No thank you!」
-0-
I am a man of the human race.
Utterly hopeless at domestic affairs—
But feared across the land as the Conquering King.
-0-
Competent Bureaucrat: 「Come on now, head back to your kingdom」
Captured Royal: 「No. I’m staying. Take care of us.」
-0-
Competent Bureaucrat: 「We don’t need more land, just secure the personnel…」
Generals: 「Yeah, but kidnapping people feels a little wrong…」
-0-
Conquering King: 「What the hell do you mean by a peaceful method? How was I supposed to get the third princess then!?」
Competent Bureaucrat: 「Lend them some generals and borrow the third princess in return!」
Conquering King: 「You make it sound like people are rental items…」
Competent Bureaucrat: 「You’ll return her in about ten years. Probably」
