Hakai no Miko

Enjoying a tea party in Eladia, Joash made a stop at the branch of the Shapiro Chamber of Commerce in the Wang capital Holmenia and made his way to northern Holmea on his feet.

Throughout the road, I was mistaken for a family pushing a luggage truck loaded with family belongings more than once.

They are all the inhabitants who lived in the territory of the Northern Gorges. They were fleeing from the north, abandoning their land from the sooner they cared, anxious not to know when the end of the war would open between the northern lords and the Son of Destruction.

But in this day and age, it is so much so that the inhabitants abandon their land themselves.

When Joash caught those families several times and let them hold the change and listen, he found the situation in the northern marquis to be more unexpected than expected.

Firstly, most of the young men have been conscripted in preparation for the battle against the Son of Destruction, and food has been taken up with extraordinary conspiracy, apparently. Seeing the machines and the sensitive merchants and so forth, logistics lagged behind because they had walked away from the territory of the northern marquis, and now have lost their vitality in markets everywhere. It seems to be spreading more dark air into the city and the village.

Still, I've put up with it if I think it's to protect my life from brutal invaders, but it won't even open an end to battle with the Son of Destruction for long. No, they are also beginning to whisper among their inhabitants whether they can beat the son of terrible destruction that destroyed the Holmeer country in the first place and even repelled the Romanian state, and their dissatisfaction with the northern marquis.

In that way, the Marquis Apius will be gasping for his plight.

The carriage carrying Joash, who damn well laughs that this is going to be interesting, reached Rahban, known as the largest city in the northern part of the Holmeer country.

This rough van is the base of the Marquis of Apius. Among the northern marquis, rich in finances with many excellent mines in the territory, that is the lap of the Marquis of Apius, also known as the Alliance Lord. It was a tall city wall that surrounded a large city, said to have a population of 20,000 and 30,000.

And that's not a common dirt wall in this day and age. It's a stone wall built from a pile of stones cut out of the mountains to the north on purpose. The city wall, said to have been thrown for more than twenty years and enormous funds to complete, is also set up with arrow narrows and so on, and the presence of this wall also gives a nod to the fact that Rahban is called a fortified city.

Because he had sent out a previously touched messenger, when the carriage carrying Joash reached the city gate, there a squire was picking him up to serve the Marquis of Appius.

But it is the fully armed soldiers who consolidate both sides of their squire. This is a form of welcoming a messenger from the enemy. Perhaps it is the Marquis Apius' statement of intent not to submit to the Son of Destruction.

When he exchanged brief greetings before entering the city in the lead of his squire, Joash was even more convinced by the speculation.

The city had an atmosphere of war. Throughout the city, soldiers with spears peeling their tips stand in an upright immovable position. I can't see the inhabitants, but from inside the house I could feel signs of people who would kill their breath and hide.

It is not strange when the battle against the Son of Destruction begins.

However, it is such an atmosphere.

But Joash judged the city to be a performance.

Almost six months have already passed since the Marquis of Appius raised the flag of the recapture of the State of Holmea. If this were the case from time to time, people in the city would be used to it. From where the inhabitants are frightened and hidden, it is reasonable to see these as performances according to their arrival.

And that would be to draw concessions from the Son of Destruction.

If, indeed, the Marquis of Appius wants a confrontation with the Son of Destruction, it is better to be cautious here without even showing the bare gestures that are ready for the battle.

The absence of it means that the sincerity of the Marquis of Apius is not a confrontation by force, but a negotiation by dialogue.

Maybe this will bring the negotiations together easier than I thought.

The carriage with Joash thinking about it leads through the city's boulevard and out to Central Square.

"Wow. Is that the Rumor Marquis Apius' Mansion?"

With his face out of the carriage window, Joash raised his admiration for the large mansion he could see at the end of the square.

Built on a piece of land a step higher than the surrounding area, the mansion was reminiscent of a boneless fortress with little decoration. Windows, etc. are built smaller than the size of the mansion, also to prevent arrows, stone-throwing, etc. from jumping in when it is a battle. And the moat was dug around the mansion, though small, and the water drawn from the nearby river sparkled.

It is a Marquis Apius mansion that leaves itself to be a warlord.

The only one in such a mansion with a different colour was a large terrace (balcony). The terrace, set in a position overlooking the square, is the only one with sculptures on the columns and their columns. Brightly colored tiles were also affixed to the walls and so forth that, looking up from the square, only there stood out in the boneless mansion.

Rumor has it that that's where the Marquis of Appius is going to make the decree of his appearance, the announcement of the law, etc.

You're a lot more of a lookout, calling yourself a boneless warlord.

The carriage, in which Joash smiled so coldly, crossed a bouncing bridge over a small moat and entered the mansion. Soon Joash is then led to the room where the Marquis Apius waits.

"What did you say to the head of the rebel slave to set foot in our territory?

It was the grumpy voice of the Marquis of Apius who welcomed Joash through to a small room used for private visitors. It is a costume (roughly) whether the Marquis of Apius himself wears a battle costume and will continue to appear even now, just throwing a slashing wording at him without even saying hello.

The Marquis of Appius leaks one tongue beating just saying it's abominable, then goes on to say it.

"If you are not involved in Jeboa's merchant guild, you are about to cut off its neck and send it to the head of the rebel slave. Speak up after you've got it."

Joash bowed his head to this and said, "I thank you very much for your mercy," he whispered his tongue out of the sight of the Marquis of Appius.

If you really intend to go out into battle for the King's Capital now, you should make a grand declaration of war in front of the knights under your command in a place like during the wider sight. It's better for the knights.

The fact that we met in such a small room, putting aside only a few samurai who were not, only confirms that the sincerity of the Marquis of Appius is dialogue.

All Joash says is, "Let's show you how frightened you are at best," shivering your body into small pieces and moving your gaze restlessly.

"I am afraid to address the Lord of the Northern Marquis and His Highness the High Marquis of Apius."

That the Son of Destruction is now not just the head of a rebel slave, but a powerful force in control of the majority of the Holmeer nation. In addition, only a few months later, the entire population embraced its reign with cheer and that the consolidation is progressing rapidly. However easy it may be for the northern lords to defeat this, they will lose a great deal to each other if it is a war. That it was also not what was desired for the merchants of Jeboa, and that they thus bought an intermediary between the two and left.

In doing so, Joash preached to the Marquis of Appius in a well-deserved voice who worked out in a noisy market.

And on top of that, like the rest of the Hordes, if you descend to the Son of Destruction and accept the rule of that law, you tell him that your identity will be a mere name and that your territorial autonomy will be lost, but that you will be guaranteed its life and property, etc.

Marquis Apius, who was silent and listening to it, remained silent for some time, even after Joash had finished saying it. I had no choice but to ask Joash, "How about that?," he finally opens his mouth.

"It is humiliating to be seen in the same line as those who have already descended. The Northern Marquis, including me, will spare no life if they are to protect the honor they inherited from their fathers and the land they were born and raised on! Each of the soldiers will show bravery when it comes to immortal Divine Soldiers, and will drive the head of the rebel slave out of Holmea!

Marquis Appius' resolute declaration of war - it's not, Joash decided.

If it's a declaration of war, you can just take a seat and kick out Joash if there's no more room to argue. From where we are still waiting for this reaction without doing so, the words of the Marquis of Applius now read as follows:

"I am dissatisfied with the same treatment as the lords who have already descended. Relax the status and territory of the Northern Marquis. Or I'll fight you."

But many of the people have already followed the Ethereal Horse after swallowing this condition. Now the Marquis of Applius and the other northern marquises cannot be given special treatment. If special treatment is to be demanded, the Marquis of Apius must show the reasons for it. But the Marquis of Appius only tells us to treat ourselves favourably if we want to avoid the battle.

Joash was stunned by this.

Whatever the Northern Gorges may be, they are only part of the Holmeer Nation. It is no longer like a fish swimming in a pot, such as the northern marquis, if you look at it from a pale horse who holds the majority of the Holmeer country. You can always boil it on fire.

Though I told the Marquis of Appius with some soothing expression in order to preserve his face, I should have explained that well too.

But the Marquis of Appius, he doesn't realize it. No, I guess you can't admit it even if you're aware of it. I assume that I should have been taken into account, as was the case with the former State of Holmea, a marquis with a vast territory.

You can't do this.

At this point Joash truncated the Marquis of Appius.

Originally, Joash named himself a messenger to the Northern Marquis in order to incorporate the territory of the Northern Marquis into the free-trade area of Jeboa that the Ethereal Horse is trying to build.

In any case, there are many excellent mines in the territory of the Northern Marquis. The same is true of the territory of the Marquis of Appius.

And it was Cornelius, one of the ten members of Jeboa's merchant guild, who handles the majority of the metals he gets from it.

If the conflict between the Ethereal Horse and the Northern Marquis continues like this, it will be handed over to Cornelius' business.

Cornelius and I are annoyed by the copper of Marben Copper Mountain in the earlier Battle of Holmea. As for that, he had hand-held that he would not leave one another with remorse by conceding copper cheaply afterwards.

However, the presence of the Champiro Chamber of Commerce in Jeboa would be increased if we sold more grace to Cornelius by resolving the issue of the Northern Marquis early here.

I became a messenger from that thought, but I do not see the status quo - or, in this case, the Marquis of Apius, who has not seen it, a negotiated solution is not foreseeable for the moment.

Joash is in his chest, all alone.

"It's a trade ship's preoccupation to get rid of rotten fruit as soon as possible."

Joash decided to have the northern queens settled by force by the Ethereal Horse.

Of course, I am aware of the intentions of the Ethereal Horse, who would want to avoid the war even if there were some disadvantages. But Joash is only the business partner of the Ethereal Horse. He is a "Jeboean child" from the root.

Quickly tapping the gauge in his head, Joash presents to the Marquis of Appius what was one of the proposed concessions that had been proposed beforehand by Ethereal Horse, but which he dared to lay low to narrow Jeboa's free-trade area.

"If you really cannot obey yourself, Master Soma has said that you may even recognize independence for the Northern Marquis, including the Marquis of Appius".

"Doh, it's independent?!"

Marquis Apius was stunned.

Acknowledging independence means acknowledging it as the same country.

This is not about status and territorial appeasement. There will also be no longer any obligations under the ministry imposed by the state so far, and truly everything in the territory will be its own. All that, no matter how much he was called the Alliance Lord of the Northern Marquis, he could only be named King himself.

To the Marquis of Appius, flabbergasted by unexpected surprises and delights, Joash tells himself to step forward.

"Yes, Master Soma has no ambition for territorial expansion. This (this time) invasion of the Holmeer Country also took place until the Holmeer Country side showed its will to invade earlier, but had to respond. It's only peace and friendship that Soma wants."

With a demon-whispering smile inviting people to the path of decadence, Joash whispered a sweet word.

"To this end, you have said that it is not a rash to join hands with His Excellency the Marquis of Apius and the Northern Marquis as good neighbours"

"Ooh...... Right, right! How fat is the son of destruction? No, I misjudged the Son of Destruction."

It is an unprecedented story to admit that countries are raising blood trails to expand their territory, even if it is only a grasp of land.

Yet even as he turns his thoughts to the sight of himself being called king, he still releases a damned pushing word to the Marquis of Appius, who looks suspicious somewhere.

"We have heard that there are mines in the territory of His Excellency the Marquis of Apius that produce quality copper. By contrast, there are many of those dwarf skilled craftsmen at Master Soma's. Master Soma buys out the copper of Marquis Apius. Dwarves process the copper. Jebor buys away copper products made by Dwarf. Wouldn't that connect us by mutual benefit and make for an irresistible era of friendship?

"I see. Sure, it's a very good story for each other..."

The Marquis of Apius dreamed of the figure of his subjects, who glorified himself as king, and of the huge pile of gold coins that would be obtained by the trade in copper, and exhaled with a hot breath.

However, did you still think that cheaply accepting it on this occasion would involve your own voucher, cough it up, and then correct your residence?

"It's a good story. But we have to discuss it with our friends in the North. Then again, let's send a messenger over us. - Tell those who call me the Son of Destruction."

Until earlier, he said he had cursed himself as the head of a rebel slave, but he is a brilliant palm returner.

Joash keeps wanting to laugh and pours his last poison into the ear of the Marquis of Upius.

"There will also be our former remorse for each other. But if it's possible to hold hands together, it would be a great pleasure."

◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

After Joash resigned, Marquis Apius was left in the room to think alone.

When the temporal excitement passed, Joash's words caught on.

"Once a remorse," Joash said as he left. Until now, however, the Marquis of Apius has not been directly harmed by the Son of Destruction. What comes to mind at best is the extent to which military spending was wasted when we joined in response to King Walius' rebel slave crusade. That alone could not be said to be very much a remorse.

Nor have the Marquis of Appius and the other northern marquises done anything before against the Son of Destruction.

Yet it is a strange story that Joash said "to each other" about his remorse.

In addition, Joash also described joining hands with the Son of Destruction as "if possible". There will be other expressions, but I am also concerned that I dared to express them that way. It's like, I just want to say it's so unlikely.

That really caught the back of Marquis Appius's brain.

"Copper and dwarves..."

The Marquis of Upius casually uttered the words copper and dwarf, which Joash had emphatically said.

Once in a while, the Marquis of Appius raises a much more surprising voice.

Marben Copper Mountain was crushed by the Son of Destruction about the other day. Copper Mountain, which had the largest copper output in that Holmeer country, originally belonged to Dwarf. It is what the Holmeer nation bought in from the Dwarves, which it fought and took away after ascribing to it that the copper was of poor quality.

Behind the brain of the Marquis of Apius, who remembered it, comes to mind a conjecture with shock.

"No way, no way! Son of a Destroyer, aren't you going to set me up with the same thing...?

Like the State of Holmea at that time, Marquis Apius was stunned, now attributed to the quality of copper sold by himself by the Northern Marquis, and using it as a pretext for the possibility that the Son of Destruction would attack him.

Not to mention the Dwarves who were in Marben Copper Mountain at the Son of Destruction. If we try it on them, it is a form of returning the cause we have been put on. That would be exactly what the outfit means.

Normally, it is an unforgivable betrayal to recognize independence where a female male should be determined with a sword, and to trick us into grasping vicious copper with our hands as better neighbors and neighbours than this.

I think of the army of the Son of Destruction, who so loudly claim and attack me.

"Right! The aim of the Son of Destruction is to let me lower the flag of the reconstruction of the Holmeer country!

With certainty, the Marquis of Appius read so the aim of the Son of Destruction.

Now I can fly the flag of the reconstruction and royal liberation of the Holmeer country to attack the King's capital. That would spread the agitation as to which to put it among those who were the old ministers and lords of the Holmeer kingdom who are descending on the Son of Destruction. Of course, I don't expect them to get to the point of joining us. But at least be wary of those upsetting old ministers and lords, and the Son of Destruction should not be able to focus on the northern lords either.

But once you accept independence, you can't keep that flag down. And once you put it down, you'll no longer be able to put it up again. If we can put up a fight there that will say yes, the northern marquis will have to fight in isolation.

Of course, it was only the assumption of the complete Marquis of Appius that he would use difficulty in the quality of copper as a pretext for war. But it is an evil deed that we once put upon the dwarf of Marben Copper Mountain. It is man who thinks that if he did evil deeds, others would do them as well. No longer in the Marquis of Appius, it had become a definitive future.

"You filthy bastards!

Marquis Apius, one of the northern marquis, also had one bite in his plot to take Marben Copper Mountain from Dwarf.

And yet, Marben, when the Dwarves of Copper Mountain heard, they peeled their eyes off and said, "Don't you tell me!" and the Marquis of Upius was very seriously angry at things like rage.

Soon, however, the Marquis of Appius reveals himself in impatience as well.

"But that's why what to do...?

As it is, it is jilli poor.

There had already been a major impediment to logistics. Because all the big caravans or even the traffickers were hard to come by, things that could not be produced in the territory were thin and prices were soaring. That is notable, especially for salts and the like, which are necessities.

There was also a shortage of labour everywhere and a voice of dissatisfaction because of the conscription of a small number of young men in the realm.

If this prolongs, your feet will collapse before you fight the Son of Destruction.

But that's why it's foolish to attack the King's Capital now. Gather all the soldiers of the Northern Gorges, and their strength will not reach 10,000. Only then can we not defeat Holmenia, the king's capital, with its thick walls where the Son of Destruction stands caged.

Except if the old ministers and lords of the Holmeer kingdom, who had already descended upon the Son of Destruction, responded inside, yet there were no signs of any of them responding to their own. No matter how many flags are flying for the reconstruction of the Holmeer country, they will probably not move either, while the trend of war (sorry) is uncertain.

"An opportunism from our cuteness during a national disaster is an undeserved bunch of people!

Marquis Appius is so outraged.

But the old ministers and the marquises to whom it was directed will also not want to be told only by the Marquis of Apius, who once fell into King Cesar's plot to bypass King Walius's Romanian National Army defeat.

A squire came to the Marquis of Apius, who was working out future measures, beating his finger with the elbow of the chair, also in a blatant frustration.

"Sir. Now we have a visitor named the Messenger."

"Said he was a messenger! Where the hell are you from?!"

The squire, barked like eight hits, carries out his duties, though frightened.

"That's not to say who the messenger is from. - I just want my husband to look at this so that the rest of us don't see it, and he'll know."

"Do you want me to check right away?!"

And I said, "There's so much disrespect!" To the Marquis of Apius, who says with reprimand, the samurai offered a small leather bag in fear.

Marquis Apius, who held it in his hands with such abusive gestures as to take it from his squire, emptied the sack and often opened his eyes.

What was in it was a small seal.

And the drawings carved there belonged to one Holmeer national nobleman who also knows the Marquis of Appius.

"... put that messenger through here so that people don't see him"

The squeezing Marquis Apius' life-giving squire brought one man in short notice.

At first glance he was also a man who looked like a pedestrian, but the thanksgiving he gave to the Marquis of Apius belonged to the knight.

"Forgive my disrespect before His Excellency the Marquis of Apius"

Yes, I said no, and then the man mutilated some of his jacket with a knife he took out. Then take out a single letter that was sewn into your jacket from there.

"My husband wrote to His Excellency."

Marquis Apius glances at himself when he receives the letter he has been offered to hold with respect and dedication via his squire.

As we continue to read the letter, the eyes of the Marquis of Apius open to surprise. What was written in the letter was a fire of hope for the Marquis of Apius, who was stuck. And when the fire burns to the ambition of the Marquis of Appius, it burns up violently in an instant.

"... hehe. I see. Right, right!

Marquis Apius nodded again and again, floating in a febrile excitement. Then eventually when he rises from his chair, he commands his squire.

"Give it to the allies of the Northern Marquis! I've been prepared to march to the King's Capital at any time!

◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

The Marquis of Appius was receiving a secret book, just around that time. At the Ethereal Horse in the Wang capital, Holmenia, there was a new move.

"Dear Soma, I have a ritual (gi) that I would very much like to ask of you."

The man, lying flat like a flat spider, said so.

It is the office of the Ethereal Horse.

A pale horse who doesn't like rugged courtesy nods to stand up if he doesn't have to be so flat, but the man doesn't try to stand up if he's afraid. If this doesn't reveal, the Ethereal Horse can't help but say, "What is it?," he asked.

"Yes. Actually, it's about Her Royal Highness the former Princess of Wallina"

The lay man - Mendax, a former prime minister of the Holmeer country, laughed niggardly, keeping his face down.