SS: King Jimetz’s Ambition
[King Jimetz’s POV]
The plan had been perfect.
There should have been no flaws…
To make our nation the ruler of the continent, we needed to fully absorb the frontier as our territory, and the Margrave House was an obstacle!
Since the time they were royalty, the Margrave House had been bound by a curse passed down through generations.
Back then, when the neighboring royal family had been weakened by a stampede, we were able to place a curse of subjugation upon them.
That curse had been inherited by our kingdom ever since, allowing us to use the frontier as we pleased and eventually annex it several generations ago, but we never gained the loyalty of the noble houses that followed the Margrave.
The frontier was constantly under threat from the Demon Forest, which meant its soldiers were well-trained, elite, and tightly united.
That was why other nations feared them, and why their economy flourished from selling magic stones and monster materials.
Generation after generation, the kings of Titania had desired the frontier, but its unity was too strong. All we could do was gradually strip away its rights and weaken it over time.
And in my era, maintaining the curse of subjugation required marrying my daughter Elizabeth into them… it was an engagement born of necessity.
However, when I finally saw the boy…
The Margrave heir we had engaged her to was, to put it kindly, not particularly capable. A somewhat airheaded youth.
“Well… if it’s this boy, Elizabeth should have no trouble handling him.”
… or so I had thought.
But in the year he turned ten, our kingdom received none other than a legendary [Hero].
And not just anyone, the heir of the long-standing Harmetz Marquis House, Waltz, a family that had served the royal line for generations.
Meanwhile, the Margrave heir, Julius, turned out to be something incomprehensible, a [Job Changer]…
Hero Waltz had liked Elizabeth since long ago. Proposals for engagement had come in repeatedly…
With the power of a Hero, one spoken of even in legend, did we even need to concern ourselves with the frontier anymore?
So I observed carefully, taking my time to judge.
The Hero lived up to his legend, his skill in swordsmanship and magic improved at an astonishing rate…
Meanwhile, Julius learned quickly, but only within normal limits. His swordsmanship and magic were on par with lower-tier classes.
Comparing the two, the gap between the Hero and that fool filled me with deep regret, and led me to decide to eliminate the fool.
In the early days, Elizabeth and Julius could often be seen getting along well within the castle.
But once their “classes” were revealed, Julius was avoided, disliked, ignored by those around him.
And with that, his relationship with Elizabeth rapidly cooled, while she, in contrast, drew closer and closer to Hero Waltz.
At that, I clenched my fist. Good.
At the same time, I instructed my son, Crown Prince Erason, to win over the daughter of Duke Gulf.
And to extract information about the frontier from Julius, I had him secure the Saintess as well.
Everything proceeded smoothly.
To avoid backlash from other noble houses over breaking the engagement, I placed Julius, who accompanied the Hero’s Party, under the curse of subjugation, restricting his abilities, and had him join the Hero’s Party on repeated expeditions.
We spread word of the Hero Party’s achievements, and Julius’s failures, fanning the flames further.
Julius participated every time, yet produced no noteworthy results, and was constantly berated…
But he never argued back. He simply accepted it.
I thought he had given up…
This expedition, with the Hero Party’s usefulness proven, the cooperation of the guilds, and the support of two massive organizations, if things went well…
It had all been arranged to bring the frontier under the kingdom’s control.
And yet, from the very beginning… it had all been meaningless.
“I will become the first ruler of the entire continent.”
How old had I been when I declared that?
Even as a child, I dreamed of unifying the continent, and I had come this far chasing that dream.
The path I walked was a radiant, golden road.
And my son would walk that same path after me.
That was the dream I always held… the future I believed would come to pass…
This crown and red mantle were supposed to be the proof of a king’s dominion…
And yet, to stumble halfway through the dream…
The bond I cast aside could have been the one and only ticket to unifying the continent.
My son’s rule will no doubt be a difficult one.
But if we don’t endure now, the Titania Kingdom will have to bring down the curtain in my generation.
First… reconciliation with the frontier.
Then, settlement of reparations.
If we don’t resolve this, the kingdom will be attacked simultaneously from three directions, everywhere except the southern frontier, and fall to ruin.
Even if the Hero’s Party does their best against the invading neighboring nations, they’ll only be able to handle one front…
Even so, reconciliation with the southern frontier is absolutely essential.
After that… it depends on how far Julius is willing to compromise.
Even if we reconcile, the kingdom will be burdened with enormous reparations and ransom payments for the prisoners…
War expenses will only grow further.
And we can no longer expect material support from the Yotsuba General Trading Company.
The same goes for transport.
I need to determine the absolute minimum line… and figure out how much we can recover from there…
… Why did I stumble here?
It should have gone like this…
Julius would be expelled, Elizabeth would unite with the Hero, the Crown Prince and his allies would support them, they would earn praise from other nations… and eventually, all would become my domain…
We had been gathering information on Julius constantly, from our shadows and from Saintess Almeria…
But if those two great organizations were seriously concealing things, then perhaps it was impossible to uncover…
To think he managed to hide his true nature even from his fiancées…
Is there something he had to hide?
There must be some secret, but more importantly now…
I must find a way for the kingdom to survive.
Defeated… by a single black-haired boy?
By the very fool I had looked down upon…?
Is this… is this the end of my path to supremacy?
If we had chosen coexistence with the Margrave House… would the future have been different?
Someone… tell me!!
What do you think about this chapter?
