Chapter 3 – Story 89: Banner of Revolt
<– Previous Chapter | ToC | Glossary | Next Chapter –>
“T-That blasted Vulitas rose in revolt, you say…!?” King Warius asked even while feeling somewhat dumbfounded.
The soldiers, who brought that message, deeply nodded at that question.
“It is as you say, Your Majesty. His Highness claims that you, who failed at suppressing the likes of rebelling slaves, do not possess the qualification to be king and named himself as the legitimate king of Holmea. King Doldea of Romania approves of that and has sent forth a big army under the pretext of assisting His Highness Vulitas!”
It took King Warius a moment to comprehend what the soldier had just told him. And as soon as he did, he screamed, “THAT PIIIIIIIG!!”
He was convinced that Vulitas was a pig, but he didn’t expect his younger brother to be such a gullible, shameful idiot. However, King Warius couldn’t believe that a cowardly, incompetent, and lustful man like Vulitas would scheme to usurp the throne out of his own volition. He assumed that Romania or someone working with them had instigated Vulitas after he was expelled to the remote borderland, gathered some troops, and set forth to plan everything necessary to rise in rebellion.
That dumb pig thrust its muzzle at the bait dangled in front of it without even noticing the intent behind it all, King Warius cursed inside his mind. Even if he manages to dethrone me after borrowing King Doldea’s power, he’ll merely lead Romania’s puppet government. He’ll be forced to immediately abdicate for some reason or another and afterwards, someone following Romania’s interests will be allowed to take the throne. Once that happens, Holmea’s name will likely vanish from history.
King Warius was enraged that Vulitas couldn’t even understand something so simple.
“That is not all there is, Your Majesty,” the messenger soldier further continued. “The eastern lords Lord Rastiatos and Lord Regnacis have declared their support of His Highness Vulitas’s claim to the throne and have hurried to his side. The commotion caused by this in the eastern region is huge. Right now it is unclear which side the other lords will choose!”
Among the eastern lords whose territories touch upon the large river separating Holmea from Romania, some had good relations with Romania for a while. But, that too was a stance with the ulterior motive of protecting their own territory, if it ever became necessary. If King Warius were to scold the lords about each and every such connection with Romania, he’d quickly get on their wrong side instead. Accordingly, he had tolerated it until now, but at long last, that connection had substantiated into something concrete.
Now King Warius was stomping his feet, regretting that he didn’t lop off the heads of those lords as soon as he found out about their connection to Romania. But, it was too late.
And then, starting with the first notification about Vulitas’s rebellion, the messages arriving at the palace subsequently painted an increasingly worse picture of the situation in the east.
“Vulitas’s rebel army and Romania’s forces passed Laphrae, went further south, and attacked Barrier Fortress Masalkar. The defender’s desperate struggle proved to be in vain, resulting in the barrier fort’s fall. The fortress of Loylops has surrendered as well. At present, Romania’s army has formed another huge fleet and begun to cross the river.”
“The forces of Romania invading our country number 20,000 or even 30,000. The border lords won’t be able to cope with such forces by themselves.”
“We have already received a message that towns and villages, ruled by the border lords, have been attacked by Romania.”
Seeing that they wouldn’t be able to handle Romania’s army, which was approaching with an overwhelming number of troops, many of the eastern lords offered their allegiance to King Doldea, but Romania’s king only accepted those lords who had friendly relations with him in the past. All other lords had their fiefs invaded, just to get fully pillaged and devastated by the Romanian soldiers.
Although it would be much easier to simply accept the allegiance of the eastern lords, King Doldea very likely opted for attacking the lords without acknowledging their request to allow his own soldiers, who had endured so far, to vent some of their pent-up frustration. But, above all, King Doldea wanted to completely turn Holmea’s east into a part of Romania.
He gave the land to the commanders and generals, who performed outstandingly on the battlefield, after overthrowing the local lords. Moreover, he recruited settlers from Romania, transforming the region into Romanian land in name and reality.
It was said that huge treks of Holmean people fled their homes to escape the barbarity of Romania’s royal army, heading towards Holmenia. Yet, hyenas were lying in wait for the pitiful sheep which were running away from a pack of hungry wolves.
Outlaws such as bandits attacked the refugees in broad daylight after discovering them, looting all their valuables and kidnapping the women and children. The lords, who usually would protect their lands from such outlaws, couldn’t move with Romania’s army approaching. Furthermore, some of the lords personally pillaged the valuables from their people.
Holmea had become a genuine melting pot of chaos.
As such messages kept arriving at the palace every day, King Warius’s furious, shrill shouting could be constantly heard. And at such time a letter from Vulitas was delivered to the king. The letter used all sorts of sophisticated, poetic expressions to describe just how tyrannical, incompetent, and imbecile King Warius had been as a king. Moreover, Vulitas demanded for King Warius to step down from the throne and announce him as the new king. The letter ended with a threat, telling King Warius to lead the royal army in person, if he couldn’t accept those terms since Vulitas would burn down the whole capital and roast lines of pigs during his own coronation as king, if King Warius proved to be a coward who couldn’t even do this much.
This highly provocative letter had the desired effect. It was almost as if one was tossing boiling oil into a raging fire.
“That pig! That damn pig!! DAMN PIG!!!”
King Warius tore the letter from Vulitas into pieces, threw it on the ground, and furiously trampled all over it. Seeing him act like that, the lords and chief vassals secretly knitted their eyebrows. No matter how enraged he might be, this was not how a monarch was supposed to act. Rather, he appeared to be more like a rampaging ape.
The people present in the hall quietly averted their eyes. But, even they couldn’t ignore the next words coming out of King Warius’s mouth.
“I will lead the soldiers myself and slaughter the pig and its dung-smelling keeper, Doldea!”
The lords and vassals couldn’t help but to raise their voices. It was only natural for the king to lead the army himself, now that the kingdom had fallen so deeply into an existential crisis. But, King Warius was a ruler who usually didn’t partake on the battlefield. His lack of experience in commanding troops thus changed the story quite a bit. An army led by a king, who never led a big army let alone experienced a big battle, wouldn’t be able to win winnable battles.
In a hurry, the lords and vassals advised King Warius to not do anything hasty.
“Your Majesty, please reconsider this carefully! You cannot allow yourself to fall for such a provocation!”
“I believe that to be the right choice as well! The enemy finds it a problem, if we seclude ourselves in the capital, and that is why they provoke us like that!”
However, King Warius roared at all those talking back to him to shut up.
“Are you telling me to watch my stupid younger brother and Romania devastate our lands while watching how things unfold from the capital!? If I were to do such a ting, even the lords, who are currently assessing the situation, will lose all confidence in me and surrender to Romania!”
King Warius had a very valid point. They couldn’t leave Romania, which was invading the kingdom, unchecked.
“In that case, how about you entrust the army to one of the generals while waiting for the good news in the capital, Your Majesty?”
Even that plan suggested by one of the vassals was immediately cut down by King Warius.
“And to whom should I entrust that army, you say!?”
All generals present simultaneously lowered their faces. They had heard that Romania’s invading army numbered more than 20,000 soldiers. But, now that Holmea had sent a huge army to subjugate the rebellious slaves in the West and suffered a crushing defeat, the remaining forces didn’t even amount to 10,000 soldiers, even if they scrounge up every last soldier.
None of the generals possessed the confidence to fight against Romania’s army in such a disadvantageous state and take a win. And as no one spoke up, King Warius’s face told everyone that this was just as he’d expected.
“I guess no one is volunteering. In that case, there’s no other choice but for me to take the command! If I myself stand at the top of the army, it’ll inspire the soldiers and raise their morale! Once that happens, every common soldier will turn into a peerless hero and we’ll expel those brutes from Romania without a doubt!”
Some people in the hall found hope in this statement of King Warius. But, all those who experienced various battles pulled bitter expressions since they knew no one would struggle, if such idealism allowed one to win battles.
In front of those people, King Warius continued to heavily insult Vulitas and King Doldea, his face bright red and spit flying all over, while explaining how the soldiers led by him would rout the enemy. His current appearance made those in attendance recall the time when he lost the copper to the rebellious slaves.
At this rate he was going to collapse just like the other day. Of course, no one dared to mention this, but not few of the lords and vassals thought so to themselves.
However, for better or worse, King Warius pulled through without fainting and loudly declared, “This is my decree as king of Holmea! We will put together an army as soon as possible and meet Romania’s army on the battlefield!”
<– Previous Chapter | ToC | Glossary | Next Chapter –>
Translation Notes: