Chapter 3 – Story 101: Capitulation Demand
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This story dates back to the time when the royal army led by King Warius was about to leave Holmenia.
A strange visitor showed up at the mansion of Ponpius, the former Grand Prime Minister of Holmea, who had finished his final farewells with Darius just a little while ago.
“You say an old man of unknown identity has come for a visit?”
Ponpius searched his memory, but couldn’t recall any appointments for today. Just as he wondered whether it was a messenger, heralding the arrival of their employer to ask whether they could visit the mansion, the person in question had apparently shown up in person.
Currently Holmea was in a crucial situation where the country was at risk of falling into ruin.
And yet there are still people around who do not understand any manners, thought Ponpius, but he was surprised by the following words of his butler.
“He told me you would understand if I told you that the Bad Boy of Romania is visiting on urgent business.”
Don’t tell me…, while thinking that, Ponpius said, “Politely guide our guest to the parlor. ――No wait, I will greet him myself.”
Without a moment’s delay, Ponpius personally headed over to the entrance hall. There he found an old, shabby man clad in rags. On his wrinkled face Ponpius could see the traces of the man who was once called Romania’s Bad Boy among the diplomats of Holmea.
There’s no doubt about it, Ponpius assessed. It’s the same man who used to be the head of the Elbasizo family, a prominent, distinguished house in Romania. And even though it’s no exaggeration to say that him and Doldea, the present king of Romania, used to be as close as blood-sworn brothers, he had to flee the country after he denounced the reckless western expedition of King Doldea in front of the generals and lords more than thirty years ago.
“It sure has been a long time, Sir Aurelius Elbasizo.”
The old man replied with a broad smile, “Indeed, long time no see, Sir Ponpius.”
After his escape, Ponpius hadn’t heard a single rumor about him and thus believed he’d died a dog’s death somewhere. As such, he had never expected that he’d be able to meet him alive again.
“Please forgive me, but I thought that you had passed away a long time ago.”
“Nowadays I have changed my name to Solon, and even though I know it’s impudent, I have kept living in disgrace.”
Even as he was surprised by Solon who covered his forehead and eyes with a hand in embarrassment, Ponpius took a guess at the reason for this man’s visit.
“Now then, you mentioned some urgent business, so would it be fine for me to assume that you came here to recommend a surrender to King Doldea?”
He probably received a secret order from King Doldea or is trying to return to Romania while offering a bloodless capitulation of Holmenia as present to be welcomed favorably.
However, Solon denied both assumptions.
“I would like you to not misunderstand. I have cut my connections with Romania long ago. Currently I am serving a new lord. This time I have come here on his orders.”
Ponpius was surprised. This here was Aurelius who had sacrificed everything and fled Romania, where he might have obtained a high-ranking post, if he had stayed. As such, it was hard for him to suddenly believe that such a man was serving someone else again.
“Hoh. Is it Buljeboa? Or Jeboa?”
When it came to places where he could use his name after abandoning Romania, those two countries naturally came to mind first and foremost.
But, Solon shook his head.
“No, no, the name of the man I’m serving right now is Soma Kisaki.”
For an instant Ponpius was confused, not knowing who that might be.
“On the streets he’s feared as 『Divine Son of Destruction』.”
“The Divine Son of Destruction…!”
Solon nodded at Ponpius.
“Quite so. Lord Soma arrived near Holmenia with a small number of troops as he wanted to talk with you personally, Sir Ponpius. I would be honored if you could meet him――no, the two of them by all means.”
◆◇◆◇◆
The meeting between Souma and Ponpius took place atop a small hill less than half a day away on horseback from Holmenia. Souma had awaited Ponpius there with Shyemul and a selected number of guards.
However, this place was located deep within Holmean territory. Even if King Warius might have taken all the combat-ready soldiers with him to repel Romania’s army, it was very audacious to march into enemy territory with such a small number of troops.
Then again, it didn’t seem to just be bold either.
Once Ponpius looked above his head, he spotted harpyian-like silhouettes drawing circles in the sky.
Very likely they plan to immediately flee, if I brought any soldiers with me or if soldiers were hiding somewhere. That’s also the reason why they came here with such a small number. Considering it like that, this young man, who calls himself the Divine Son of Destruction, is definitely the sort of person I should take lightly because of his outward appearance, Ponpius braced himself like that.
“We don’t have much time, so I will get straight to the point,” after such a preface, Souma continued with, “Please surrender and hand the capital to us.”
This was a demand which Ponpius had already expected. It was common knowledge that King Doldea, who was currently invading Holmea, held the ambition to unify the West. It was also unthinkable that he’d be satisfied with just annexing Holmea. As his next step, he’d certainly take actions to obtain the city of Bolnis with its remarkable development and the Solbiant Plains with their abundant fields for farming.
And in preparation for that, the Divine Son of Destruction likely wanted to prevent Romania’s army from invading Holmea’s western regions by seizing Holmenia while he could.
Ponpius had guessed as much himself. But, Souma’s plans didn’t stop at that.
“And then I will have you cooperate with us to drive Romania’s army off Holmean land.”
Ponpius was astonished by this. He had heard that Souma and his troops achieved an undisputed, sweeping victory in the battle against Holmea’s subjugation force the other day. But, because they had then grasped Holmea’s western regions while riding the momentum, Souma should be able to only move few soldiers since the territory, where he had to send soldiers for the sake of maintaining public order, had significantly grown in size.
Our side has only few soldiers remaining for guarding dignitaries and maintaining public order as well. They number 2,000 at most. Even if we join hands and pool our forces, we likely will fall short of 10,000 soldiers. There’s no way we can drive Romania’s army away with such numbers.
Ponpius was about to explain all that, but he swallowed his words in a hurry. After all, it was the Divine Son of Destruction who had suggested this. And he was someone who had crushed enemies with much bigger armies than his own several times over. Hence, Ponpius couldn’t take Souma’s words lightly.
“What are you going to do, if I said that we won’t surrender?”
For the time being, Ponpius asked a question to get a reading on Souma’s real intentions.
Looking as if it was very normal, Souma readily answered, “We won’t do anything.”
Because the answer had been given so easily, Ponpius couldn’t help but merely ask, “And won’t do anything means what?”
Souma readily answered once again, “It means what the words literally mean. We won’t do anything.”
He lightly shrugged his shoulders and further added, “We will be observing the bloody battle that will unfold between you and the approaching Romanian army. And only when the Romanian army will be exhausted from taking the capital, will we take action.”
Ponpius firmly resisted the urge to click his tongue. This was definitely the easiest method, if one was in Souma’s position. Especially after hearing about the wretchedness of Romania’s brutal acts of barbarity, many citizens would likely welcome a rule by the Divine Son of Destruction with joy and cheers, if Souma’s troops were to rout Romania’s army just when the inhabitants of the capital were about to be visited by the same tragedy after their city fell.
But, that was still no reason for Ponpius to immediately surrender without any conditions, begging Souma to rescue them.
“How about forming an alliance? We will acknowledge your independence and treat you as a nation. Moreover, we will pay you an appropriate reward when Romania’s army has been repelled.”
Souma’s objective ultimately was stability for his own territory. From the get-go he had no intention to destroy Holmea, if it meant to take unreasonable measures. Rather, if he destroyed Holmea, the aftermath could become more troublesome for him instead. Rather than doing that, it’d be easier to solidify the territory he secured now and develop it into prosperous land.
Looking at it from this point, this suggestion of Ponpius wasn’t bad either. But, that was a matter of the past.
“If you people had become a wall, blocking Romania, I would have been able to take this into consideration. But, at present the foundation of your country is shaking. At this rate, you will be swallowed by Romania in due time. And once that happens, we will have to deal with Romania as a problem.”
He sure doesn’t hold back with stabbing where it hurts, Ponpius thought. At present Holmea is like an embankment that’s full of holes. Even if we join hands with the Divine Son of Destruction and withstand the big wave called Romania, it’s unclear what’s going to happen to Holmea afterwards. Right now Romania is testing the limits of atrocity, but once they’re repelled, I’m sure they’ll calm down as well. And once that happens, their next move won’t just be to invade with brute physical force, but to split Holmea apart by adding soft measures, such as bribing Holmea’s lords to side with them, to the mix. The authority of the royal family will plummet, causing Holmea to lose its unifying force. And even though we will know that this is going to happen, we won’t have any means to stop it.
If Romania’s army attacks a second or third time when Holmea is in such a tattered shape, it’ll spell the end of our nation. And no matter how many plans the Divine Son of Destruction thinks of, he won’t be able to stop the collapse of Holmea. In a near future Holmea will be swallowed and Romania, which will have grown even more powerful, will share a border with the Divine Son of Destruction.
The one troubled by that will be the Divine Son of Destruction. So, rather than depending on an embankment which is full of holes, it’s only reasonable to plan to break that embankment and build it anew. In short, Holmea will perish and a new country with the Divine Son of Destruction at the helm will be established.
And Ponpius had no choice but to admit that this way of thinking was correct.
“But, in such a case, it’s only a question whether Holmea will be destroyed by you or Romania, right?”
Surrendering to the Divine Son of Destruction and getting destroyed, or getting attacked and overthrown by Romania; both meant the end of Holmea. Ponpius appealed that there would be no advantage in surrendering to Souma.
Souma curiously tilted his head, and said, “You think so? You will lose your positions and status, but we will guarantee that you keep your property and life. I think that’s much better than being eradicated by Romania, but what’s your take on it?”
The conditions in case of a surrender, which Ponpius had been told about in advance by Solon, were the same conditions as the ones given to Mythos in Luoma.
And certainly, the terms suggested by Souma were much better when compared to the gruesome brutality of the Romanian army of which he had heard rumors. Moreover, back then Ponpius was given a letter from Mythos, who had already surrendered to Souma and accepted the new ruler.
The letter basically told him that the agreements had been kept properly and that most of the residents had accepted the rule by the Divine Son of Destruction as the transition also occurred without any major chaos. In addition, the letter referred to the strife that had taken place after the troops of the Divine Son of Destruction had entered the city. According to that, one dwarf had assaulted a resident after he got drunk on wine. That dwarf was naturally under the effect of alcohol, and on top of that, he had experienced long years of forced slave labor in the Copper Mine Marven. Many of the dwarves following Souma felt sympathy and even empathy with the offender, appealing to Souma to reduce the punishment significantly.
But, Souma had said, “Thinking of his past, I’m compelled to pardon him, but if I refer to our military regulations, there is nothing but the death penalty awaiting him,” and swiftly beheaded that dwarf.
The letter mentioned that the people of Luoma felt very relieved by this, even though Souma hadn’t aimed for that. Mythos effusively praised that firmly judging according to the laws, without fearing the resentments by those who had been supporting him for some time now, was the way how the Divine Son of Destruction ruled, instead of the usual reign through royal bloodlines and divine right.
Ponpius knew the character of Mythos well since he had taught him the fundamentals of ruling in the past. He was someone with enough of a backbone to not write something in a letter, if he didn’t believe it from the bottom of his heart, no matter how much he was threatened to do otherwise. Moreover, even if he had been forced to write it down against his will after his residents had been taken hostage, Mythos possessed enough cleverness to secretly add a few lines to the letter which would tell Ponpius everything he needed to know.
The fact of such hints completely missing from the letter meant that Mythos was truly believing what he had written down. In addition, another big factor guaranteeing that this letter had been written by Mythos and didn’t contain any lies was Adomius, an officer of Holmea’s royal army who wore black armor. The only ones allowed to wear black armor in Holmea were members of the Black Wall. Ponpius couldn’t believe that an officer of the Black Wall, which was so loyal to Darius that you could describe it as worship, would go as far as lying for the Divine Son of Destruction, who should be Adomius’s hated enemy.
Adomius had thus become an unexpected guarantor for the letter’s credibility, but in reality, it wasn’t as though Souma had him carry the Mythos’s letter with such a goal in mind.
Souma didn’t quite know what to do with Adomius. After all, he had persistently begged Souma, “Lop off my head! Send me to my comrades!”, right after he was arrested when Luoma surrendered. Of course, Souma couldn’t execute someone, who had become a prisoner of war, just because that person wished for it. But, when he tried to release him instead, Adomius stubbornly remained in his cell, clamoring that he wouldn’t accept any pity from his enemy.
And just as he was perplexed about what to do with him, it became necessary to find someone to deliver the letter instead of Mythos who couldn’t leave the city. Seeing that as a good opportunity, Souma chose Adomius for the task.
At first Adomius was unwilling to do that, but Souma cajoled him into it by dropping the corny line of “Isn’t it the duty of a Holmean officer to place the country above his personal honor!?”
Those were the circumstances of how Souma managed to make Adomius agree to deliver Mythos’s letter to Ponpius. In short, a smart way to get rid of a nuisance.
But, it was an unforeseen stroke of luck that this would become a guarantee, supporting the authenticity of Mythos’s letter.
Ponpius had roughly grasped what shape Holmea would take if it surrendered to the Divine Son of Destruction. But, at the same time, Ponpius asked about the most crucial part which had been excluded in the precedent of Luoma.
“I understand how you intend to treat the lords and population. But, what do you plan to do about Holmea’s royal family?”
Alexius, the legitimate son, was missing, and at this point it was unclear whether King Warius would return alive. Ponpius didn’t explicitly mention her name, but this question was clearly aimed at the destiny of Princess Warina.
As a matter of fact, Solon and the others had suggested to Souma that he should marry Princess Warina for the sake of ruling over Holmea. Maybe you could call it fortunate, but Souma was single and he wasn’t associating with a specific woman either. Moreover, because Princess Warina had been shunned by her older brother, her fiancé hadn’t been chosen yet, which was very unusual for a princess of her age.
For all these reasons, there were no obstacles blocking a marriage between those two. And even when looking at other examples throughout history, it was very normal for a conqueror to marry a girl from the royalty he destroyed himself in order to solidify and stabilize his rule of the land.
Souma marrying Princess Warina and then claiming the legitimacy of him taking over Holmea to the foreign and domestic powers was definitely the most effective and appropriate method.
But, Souma didn’t approve of that.
“After she declares the end of Holmea for us, I promise she will be paid a salary so that she won’t live in need, so I plan to let her live wherever she wants to.”
Souma’s decision to let Princess Warina live a secluded life wasn’t because he was a late-bloomer and good-for-nothing, nor was it because he hated to turn an unknown princess of a country, which he had destroyed, into his wife to make her power his own. Of course, he couldn’t deny that these points played a role as well, but what mattered a lot more to him than those was the ideal of having created a nation where everyone was equal without any birthright privileges or positions. This ideal was also the driving force behind his current fighting.
Declaring that he’d marry Princess Warina and make Holmea his by doing so was simple enough. But, if you looked at it from another perspective, it’d also mean that Souma would inherit the royal authority of Holmea’s royal family. Consequently he’d consider it as him denying the ideal of equality which he had been advocating.
Because of that, he had decided to resign himself to the hardships which he might have been able to evade, if he married Princess Warina.
“So you’re saying you don’t plan to welcome Her Highness Warina as a wife and inherit Holmea?”
Ponpius ceased using indirect approaches and bluntly asked Souma in order to probe Souma’s true intentions.
Souma responded to that frankly, “Yes, I don’t have any such plans.”
Ponpius felt that Souma was speaking the truth. And at the same time he felt a certain emotion.
Dread.
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