Chapter 15
Two hundred years ago, the Allanquez Empire was founded. It wasn’t a homeland with an incredibly long history, nor was it a newly formed country – it was rather maintained with moderate governance and moderate tax revenue.
The Allanquez Emperor was a decent ruler towards his subjects. The territories around the Imperial Territory were guaranteed moderate freedoms with moderate issued taxes.
However, Mikhail Allanquez was greedy.
The reason he used Bill Corona to conquer barbarians and expand his territory in her previous life was because he couldn’t stand what was acceptable. He wanted to have everything to be free; it was the same with Princess Canaria.
‘I thought it would be easier for him to kick me off my position as the Crown Princess and put Princess Canaria on it than to make a cake frosting.’
Reinhardt grunted as she bit her nails.
The Empire usually issues conscription edicts to the lords of every territory when winter comes. It was natural as northern barbarians came down in the spring to seize the Imperial Territory. But it didn’t matter because the estates were well prepared before winter came.
(T/N: Conscription order is a law that says if you are able to fight, you have to fight. It legally requires people to join the army, with penalties if they don’t. [Source: vocabulary.com] )
The problem was the transition of winter to spring. People in these territories were starving with low stamina during the harsh winter. Even the barbarians wouldn’t come there to starve themselves.
Thus, the Allanquez Empire conscripted soldiers and lent them to the northern territories. A feudal lord has two choices – either send soldiers or send money. Most choose the latter because it was more convenient and less expensive than sending multiple people. However,
“Our estate has no money.”
“Yes.”
Mrs. Sarah shook her head.
“How many conscripts were originally issued in Luden?” Reinhardt then asked.
“Considering the size of the estate, there were about ten people.”
Ten people. So, the empire issued an order to recruit three times the usual number of soldiers in the Luden Territory. There was also one knight.
Reinhardt chuckled again as she bit on her thumb.
“Dietrich, you came here because …….”
“It must’ve been known throughout the Empire – that I bought this territory from my family.”
Dietrich Ernst was a poor-looking man, but he was nonetheless a servant and knight of Hu Linke. Rumors that he had gone to Luden quickly spread and must have reached Mikhail’s ears.
Thirty soldiers and one knight. The latter was aimed towards Dietrich, while the former means screwing him throughout the winter. The number of security personnel of each estate was reported fairly faithfully to prevent excessive training of private forces.
“That f***ing bastard. So they expected us to be destroyed in the spring.”
Wild beasts give birth in the spring. These wild beasts who give birth don’t hesitate to come down to private estates that they wouldn’t normally approach to attack people. Of course, there were expenses. But if there were 30 people, it was unnecessary to conscript all of them without leaving the minimum number of guards to protect the estate.
Wild beast’s attacks were unknown so it meant they were all going to die.
Reinhardt looked towards the old lady. Even so, Mrs. Sarah, who was terrified of the former feudal lord, was now blatantly looking at Reinhardt with displeasure. From her perspective, it was natural that the safety of the estate itself was threatened because of the lord that took over the title one day.
“Madam, who is in charge of the conscripts in this area?”
Usually, there is a stage where the territories send conscripts up. Each of the small estates would usually send conscripts to a slightly larger estate, and conscripts from the larger estate were collected and sent to the central estate.
Occasionally, if the number of conscripts doesn’t match the actual conditions of the territory, then the lords of the land who act as the merger of the individual estates will reduce the numbers of conscripts themselves. Because the Allanquez Empire was so large, it was impossible to take care of each of the estates one by one.
Reinhardt was considering asking the lord in charge of the merger to reduce the number of conscription for her estates. As if noticing her thoughts, Sarah bowed her head and answered.
“This is Baron Nathantine.”
“… … Nathantine?”
Reinhardt raised her eyebrows at the familiar name. Sarah nodded her head.
“Baron Nathanine is only right next door, but there will be no use even if we send an official request for mediation.”
“Why?”
“Because of us, the surrounding estates were all set on fire.”
Dietrich crossed his arms and disrespectfully scolded her. Reinhardt’s face turned white. Mrs. Sarah continued.
“Nathantine’s guards are about a hundred men, but it is said that there were usually fifty men and two knights who were conscripted there, but this time there are only fifty men and two knights in total for his guards.”
“This motherf***er…….”
“Oy, right words, words.”
Dietrich pretended to cover her mouth. Reinhardt slapped him on the forehead, then pushed him away and sighed.
“That son of a b*tch Mikhail is determined to kill me…..”
“I just told you.”
“I can say more.”
“I can, too.”
Dietrich clicked his tongue. It was a difficult situation no matter what.
Mikhail blatantly gave an unreasonable conscription order only to the territories near the Luden Territory. It showed how much he hated her and was even willing to screw all the surrounding lands she was in.
A wealthy manor such as Helka, which she ruled in her previous life, was a place where people could live well without the help of other estates, as well as a place where wealth always came in. But Luden is different. These poor and impoverished territories perish in an instant if there is no exchange or trade with neighboring territories. The villagers will run away and the lord will starve to death.
“Shall I kill him?”
Reinhardt muttered grimly. Mrs. Sarah opened her mouth.
“One more thing, Baron Nathantine will never reduce the staff here. There are only two knights in that estate, and one of them is his second son.”
“We’re doomed…….”
“Nathantine’s first son died of an illness a while ago.”
Reinhardt looked at Mrs. Sarah, who spoke bluntly, in amazement.
“Can you say something like that so calmly?”
“If we will panic again, I don’t think we can come up with any great countermeasures.”
Mrs. Sarah sighed.
The first son died and the second son would have to take over the estate.
But the second son was called up to be a knight. Reinhardt could bet a million Allanquez that Nathantine would never reduce Luden’s conscription. Of course, if she had the said amount of money.
“I’m glad you didn’t come to assassinate me.”
“There’s no other way out,” Dietrich intervened.
“How? Assassinate Mikhail?” Reinhardt tilted her head.
“Ah, that was a very enticing offer. I’m not good at assassination so if you say you’re gonna do it, I’ll just give the Viscount a sword….”
Reinhardt and Dietrich chuckled at the same time. Mrs. Sarah rolled her eyes at the two frivolous people.
Dietrich opened his mouth.
“We could send a knight from our estate and cut the conscription.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why don’t we send a knight from here instead, if his second son is going to be drafted?”
(T/N: Drafts are the soldiers listed in the conscription order.)
“Dietrich, are you going to go instead?” Reinhardt asked, frowning. “You can’t. Mikhail won’t be convinced even if you go and Nathantine gets a knight from our estate. His target was Luden in the first place.”
“Of course, I’m not talking about that.”
Dietrich shrugged.
“That bastard, Mikhail, would never agree to reducing the manpower of our estate. Thirty soldiers, one knight. We’ll never take any more cuts from here, but we’ll be able to borrow.”
“Then?”
It was at that moment that the man’s friendly eyes turned strangely cold. He looked out the window. Reinhardt closed her eyes, then walked over to the window and looked down. Reinhardt’s expression changed slightly when she saw the castle courtyard. There, a familiar black-haired boy was in the midst of training.
“No way.”
“He’s good. He is also quite tall.”
“ No,” Reinhardt turned around and refused immediately. “Not Wilhelm. He……”
“He is over sixteen. I told you over again but when I was 16, I followed Hu Linke to the battlefield.”
Dietrich’s eyebrows furrowed.
“I’ll say it again: He’s already good.”
“It’s only been a few months since he first touched a sword…… ”
“But a few days ago, he broke the Captain’s sword.”
“He is small compared to his age, but he is still growing,” Dietrich continued with his arms crossed. “Don’t you know how numb and sore your limbs are when you are growing up? But he still managed to defeat the captain guard with those arms. It’s amazing.”
“It’s nice to say that Wilhelm is so talented, but Dietrich.”
Reinhardt hastily looked at Mrs. Sarah. She meant to ask for some help but Mrs. Sarah shook her head.
“No severe punishment is given to those who are conscripted in place of a knight for conscription. Do you know why?” Mrs. Sarah asked.
“I don’t know, madam.”
“It’s because 80% of them die in the first battle they go out wearing armor anyway.”
Reinhardt flinched as soon as she heard those words.
“But it sounds like Sir Ernst meant that child named Wilhelm would not die,” Mrs. Sarah continued.
“Yes. Well, what she means by this is that only one person will do the job,” Dietrich explained with a smirk.
“I thought of it when I heard that Nathantine had no other knights and he didn’t have any ideas. Let’s appoint the kid as a knight of our estate and lend him out as a knight of Nathantine, then try to reduce the number of soldiers.”
Lending knights were very common. It was simply impossible because there were no knights in Luden. Reinhardt wanted to shake her head. However…….
Dietrich looked up at Reinhardt, who was stunned, then looked out the window again and smiled bitterly. Wilhelm was now wielding a heavy iron sword and practicing what Dietrich had told him step by step.
A shared knight.
It was funny. He knew long ago that little boy was more than capable. In terms of muscular power and strength, he was superior to his peers, though he was clumsy because he lacked skills. What more…. Dietrich shook his head to clear his thoughts.
“The Crown Prince was a f***ing bastard, and I know you didn’t have any clue about it inside the palace. You wouldn’t have been so lonely if you at least had one dog.”
Reinhardt let out a dry laugh. Dietrich shook his head.
“I’m just concerned you will change your mind.”
“About what?”
“Isn’t the Viscount capable of forgetting her grief, leading her to crippling that motherf***er’s legs? Don’t try to commit to anything until you’re done with your revenge.”
Reinhardt’s hoarse voice leaked somewhere from her throat. It was the sound of her sadness she bottled in. She deliberately swallowed it, attempting to prevent unwanted words from coming out of her mouth.
“In this old-fashioned estate… … Don’t mess things up with one little kid,” Dietrich advised as he spoke syllable to syllable to Reinhardt.
“You have to play people like chess pieces. You shouldn’t try to give them love and raise them cradling in your arms.”
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.