Warhammer Divine Throne

After nightfall, Laine and Surya naturally went to rest in the guest room of the Lake Fairy Tower.

The guest room’s furniture had already been fully prepared and perfumed with incense. After Laine comfortably took a bath, he changed into his pajamas and sat on the bed. He noticed that it seemed to be raining outside the window. The Count himself went to firmly shut the window, leaving only a standing Magic Lamp lit in the room.

Surya and Mogiana had yet to come in; Laine figured they were probably discussing something. All the better—he just happened to have some free time to think.

The Count began quietly pondering the gains from this trip to Estalia, and what he should do next.

Outside the window, the drizzle pattered against the glass, the "da-da-da~" sound not only failing to disturb Laine’s thoughts, but instead helping him calm his mind.

Ever since becoming a Count, Laine had been constantly busy—if he wasn’t leading armies in campaign, he was occupied with handling Internal Affairs. These past years he had fought south and north, building a tremendous reputation for himself and drawing in enough allies; at the very least, his relations with several major Order Faction powers in the Old World were quite good.

The throne of the Knight Kingdom had always been fluid. The fact that the capital was usually set in Kulona did not mean that one or two families perpetually controlled the Knight’s Throne; on the contrary, the throne had always circulated among the great families, and even an ordinary Knight could become King. This was what gave Laine a chance to vie for the throne.

If it really were like the Empire, where the imperial throne could only be chosen from among the Prince-Electors, and the Prince-Electors were all iron-hatted hereditary titles, then the candidates for Emperor would basically rotate among a few people. Laine might have needed dozens or even hundreds of years of accumulation—keep in mind each Prince-Elector Family had already been passed down for two thousand years. Even if a case like the Duke of Oster family dying out occurred, the local major families would immediately fill the gap. For Laine to rely on his own strength to become Emperor of the Empire...

Well, perhaps there would still be a chance—when Chaos fought its way to the walls of Brunswick City, Laine could imitate Savior Ludwig, delivering a rousing, impassioned speech in Nuer, calling upon all Imperial people to unite...

But this method was really too stupid; it was tantamount to sitting around waiting to die. As a mature noble, Laine understood very well that if "miracles" kept happening over and over, they wouldn’t be called miracles anymore. Moreover, there had been many reasons Ludwig could succeed back then, including the omen of the Twin-tailed Comet in the sky, including the fact that he himself was a small countryside noble and a very devout Priest of the Justice Church, and also that the Empire at the time was internally chaotic and corrupt: the Emperor had died in battle; the remaining nobles were locked in endless infighting; all the nobles were aware of the northern threat, yet simply refused to unite.

At that time, someone like Ludwig, who had no "background" at all, appearing was good news for most of the Prince-Electors. It meant they could放心地 hand their armies over to Ludwig as Commander without worrying that he would favor one side over another.

From this point alone, Laine had already lost at the starting line. Because he had been adopted by the White Wolf Knight Norman, Laine bore the brand of the White Wolf Church on him. If he tried giving a speech in Nuer, he could expect to be pelted with eggs and tomatoes. The southern regions of the Empire did not like Yurik, and as for presiding over the overall northern situation, that was obviously Boris Todbringer’s role. Even if it were someone else’s turn, it would be the White Wolf Knight Order’s Grand Tutor Axel or the White Wolf Pope Emil Wager—it would never be Laine’s turn.

The current Emperor Carl Franz could not really be called fatuous; in fact, in some respects, this Emperor of the Empire surpassed Laine in Internal Affairs and diplomacy. Laine himself was, after all, a noble who had "entered halfway," while Emperor Carl Franz had always been cultivated as the heir to the throne. Be it in command, Internal Affairs, or diplomacy, he was a leading figure of his age.

(Leadership +8)

And now, Laine already possessed the qualifications to march toward the Knight’s Throne. Especially after Egil’s invasion, Richard resolutely took upon himself the responsibility for Jules’s death in battle and had, in practice, largely ceased to govern. The northern part of the Kingdom was under the regency of Duke Lorne, while the south of the Kingdom had, in effect, faintly become a political arena with Laine as its leader. He might not hold the highest title or be the strongest in sheer power, but he was indeed the one with the greatest energy and influence.

Thus, the Knights of the Kingdom generally acknowledged that the next King would emerge from between these two men.

After all, only these two had any real interest in the throne. Bohemond and Francois had no desire to be King; Duke Hagen’s temperament and Internal Affairs abilities were ill-suited for a King; Duke Hubert’s fief was Kakasong, which was simply too far from the capital.

So, compared to Duke Lorne, where did his own advantages and disadvantages lie?

Laine carefully thought it through and felt that his advantages lay in the following points:

First, Laine had the full support of Lilith the Lake Fairy and Lake God Witch Mogiana.

Second, Laine had Belgar and his Angland Clan as steadfast allies. The Dwarf would provide Laine with large quantities of heavy artillery and military support, compensating for the Brittania Army’s chronic lack of line-holding Infantry and long-range firepower output. Moreover, after years of training, the Peasant Infantry Corps in his territory had also developed considerable combat strength.

Third, Laine’s personal Martial Valor could absolutely be called a model for the ages. As the Grey Knight Primarch and a Holy Sanctuary Holy Grail Knight, he possessed the ability to face an entire army alone—something Lorne did not have. To this day, Lorne was "only" a Legendary Peak Holy Grail Knight.