Reincarnated as an Emperor ~ Will the Emperor at Birth Survive? - Chapter 20: Theanabe Union, Independence

Chapter 20: Theanabe Union, Independence

Theanabe was in a remote region in the north. This region, which borders the Tomis Ashinaqui Eri Kingdom and Gayuhi Dukedom, spoke the language called Theanabe and had a culture of its own. It was the last kingdom to be annexed in the Bungdalto Empire’s reconquest of the former Lothar Empire, and the aristocrats of this region were neutral and didn’t belong to the Chancellor or the Regent faction. 

… Yes, they were neutral. Three months after Count Palatine Vedett visited my room in the middle of the night the news of their independence reached the Imperial Capital. In the meantime, I had turned seven. I heard they called themselves the ‘Theanabe Union’. 

After this news reached the capital, the palace was in an uproar and the aristocrats acted like a beehive that was being poked at. It was satisfying to watch the Chancellor panic. 

Well, it is supposed to be an alarming situation for the Emperor… but I don’t have any real power. 

Lord Aquicurl was not in the Imperial Capital probably because he had gotten this information beforehand, so he retreated back to his fief. The Chancellor faction, on the other hand, didn’t seem aware of this and there was a big commotion.

By the way, the Regent didn’t know about this either… This father and daughter pair might be on worse terms than I thought. 

The Chief of the Ministry of Ceremonies probably predicted this would happen because his fief was close to Theanabe. 

The Imperial Capital, Cardinal, was located in the centre of the Bungdalto Empire. 

From the Imperial Capital, Aquicurl fief was to the southwest, and Lord Raul’s fief was to the east. The region to the northwest had become independent. 

Moreover, most of the aristocrats in the Regency faction had fiefs to the west while most of the aristocrats in the Chancellor’s faction had fiefs to the east. For the Chief of the Ministry of Ceremonies, Theanabe declaring independence had happened right under his nose. He certainly wouldn’t have the time for political strife in the capital after this incident.

… Incidentally, I said was located because the fief in the southeast and southwest (to the east of the Aquicurl fief) were handed over to other nations after the assassination of the previous Emperor.

Now, the Chancellor hadn’t felt any guilt over handing over his political rival’s fief to another nation, so why was he panicking over this independence? If he were acting like his normal self, then it wouldn’t be surprising for him to gloat at Lord Aquicurl’s predicament. 

The reason lied in the ‘foreign nations’ who seemed to have assisted in this independence. 

First, the nation that would have helped the most, was the religious nation Tomis Ashinaqui. 

This nation had been at war with the Belbe kingdom but were now in a ceasefire with them due to my engagement with Rosalia. They no longer had direct contact with the Bungdalto Empire because the Theanabe Union has now become independent. Tomis Ashinaqui is expected to invade the Belbe Kingdom again now that the buffer state Theanabe Union was created.

… The Belbe Kingdom will have to do its best. 

However, this religious nation wasn’t the cause of the Chancellor’s panic. His panic was caused by the other nation that had supported Theanabe in declaring their independence; the Ghafur Republic. 

Ghafur Republic was a complicated nation. The people didn’t run the government even though it was called a republic. ‘It was a republic for the aristocrats by the aristocrats’. 

The animosity between Bungdalto and Ghafur probably won’t improve in the next few 100 years. 

The Ghafur had taken over the Bungdalto’s settlements. Cardinal, a Bungdalto and an Emperor later on, blocked the expansion of Ghafur Empire and caused its ruin. There was also the crushing defeat of the Ghafur Conquest during the reign of Bungdalto Empire’s Sixth Emperor. 

To the Bungdalto people, the Ghafurs were their natural enemies. 

When the Ghafur Empire collapsed, their name was changed to Ghafur Kingdom, but their King was elected by the aristocrats and had no real power. 

Thus, at this point, the surrounding nations commonly referred to Ghafur Kingdom as ‘Ghafur Republic’. It was during the reign of Edward III, the Sixth Emperor, that they became a ‘Republic’. This Emperor tried to interfere by enacting a ‘law for the abolition of the King’ in Ghafur Republic and was badly defeated. 

Fearing that they would retaliate and invade him in return, he gave his brother ‘a quarter of the Empire’, including the north-eastern area which bordered Ghafur Republic. His brother’s son was now known as Archduke Raul. 

What I’m trying to say is that the Chancellor’s sphere of influence bordered Ghafur Republic and the independence of Theanabe Union can be seen as an attempt to disperse the Empire’s troops… or in other words, to prepare for an invasion. 

The people of Ghafur Republic were originally nomadic and were said to have the strongest cavalry on the continent. 

Lord Raul having a strong private army, artilleries being mass-produced in Lord Raul’s fief, and even why he wasn’t becoming independent from the Empire was all to prepare for this fearsome ‘Ghafur cavalry’. 

Personal preferences aside, it was correct for him to fear this cavalry. 

The important matter was that stirrups have already been developed in this world. Even on Earth, a cavalry’s fighting power and handling methods were very different before and after stirrups were developed. 

I believe they haven’t developed a strategy to deal with a heavy armoured cavalry charge yet. The early musket models from Earth were already being developed here, but it’s popularised much slower than on earth. This was probably because of magic. 

Well, good luck with that Chancellor. I don’t have any real power so I can’t help you. 

Also, according to Count Palatine Vedett, Theanabe’s independence was due to the influence of a ‘certain firm’… But the problem at hand was that the number of neutral aristocrats has dropped to less than half. 

I thought I had made progress, but then this happened.

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The Chief of the Ministry of Ceremonies returned from his fief a few days later. He said he was going to prepare for when the Ghafur Republic invaded. 

Even so, the political strife in the capital… didn’t die down. In fact, it was the opposition. 

The only ones left at the capital were the radical George V and the outspoken Regent. The aura in the palace was worse than ever. 

The palace was in chaos now that the top two officials were gone, but my surveillance loosened. Timona was assigned as my night watch during this chaos, so that I could learn swordsmanship and self-defence. 

The Emperor’s room was surprisingly spacious, so much so that there was plenty of room for sword training. I was still being watched during the day even though they had loosened my surveillance. This room at bedtime was the perfect place to train in secret. 

The question was whether I was really training in ‘secret’. I don’t know if I can trust my ‘retainer’… Timona. I honestly had a hard time with this. I didn’t feel any hostility from Timona, on the contrary, I felt that he was respecting me in his own way… but he had directed his bloodlust at me for a long time, so I can’t decide how much I can trust him. 

Count Palatine said, “You can kill him immediately if you feel threatened by him. Master’s shouldn’t feel threatened by their guards.”

… I believe I have to be prepared for that kind of thing. 

I’m going to hide the fact that ‘I can use magic’ for now since this was a matter of life or death for me. Other than that, I’m going to keep an eye on him for a while. 

After this day, I started to learn swordsmanship and self-defence from Count Palatine Vedett (who comes from the attic) during the time when I was normally supposed to be asleep. Naturally, I stayed up for most of the night, so I was always sleepy during the day and often dozed off in my room. 

As a result, I was nicknamed ‘Lazy, Slumbering Emperor’ and ‘Aquicurl Madness’. 

I’m sure they nicknamed me ‘Aquicurl Madness’ because they thought I was having trouble sleeping at night because I was doing it with Timona. 

… I’M ONLY SEVEN, YOU KNOW?! Just what goes on in your minds…

I thought and Timona told me that he was much younger than me when he was assaulted. I didn’t know what to say to him. 

… But ‘Aquicurl Madness’, is it? It might be a good idea to meet with George V often to avoid being considered as being in the Regent faction, but I hate him.