Agreement on the Terms of Surrender
Over the course of five days, various discussions were held, and a general agreement was reached.
It went as follows…
1. The kingdom shall pay Julius, eldest son of the South Margrave House, an amount equal to one year of the national budget, split over three years.
2. The kingdom shall recognize complete autonomy for the South Margrave House and its vassal nobles, effective immediately, for the duration of the compensation period.
3. Naturally, during that period of full autonomy, they shall have no obligation to pay taxes.
4. For three years, civilian movement and migration shall be unrestricted.
5. A non-aggression pact and non-interference in domestic affairs.
6. The Yotsuba General Trading Company shall continue buying, selling, and transporting goods at regular market rates.
7. Full permission to enter all areas within the kingdom.
8. Unlimited permission for the South territory to accept migrants such as the poor and orphans.
9. Reports on the condition of the South territory and its vassal noble houses shall be invalidated, and inspections from the kingdom may be refused.
10. Right to refuse orders based on noble rank within the kingdom.
To summarize all that…
Kingdom dear, you’ll be paying us money for three years.
The South lords and neighboring noble houses will do whatever they like, and we won’t be reporting any of it to you.
Movement of people and migration won’t be restricted, but the South territory will take in the poor and orphans. During wartime, you kingdom folks can’t afford to feed them anyway, right?
Also, we’ll freely walk around inside the kingdom, and even if kingdom nobles outrank us, we won’t be taking orders from them.
During the war, we’ll still handle trade and transport as usual, so cough up the money…
Yeah.
Normally, conditions like this would be unthinkable.
They were practically being treated as an independent nation. We’d be marching freely into their lands, they couldn’t refuse us, and even royalty would lose the authority to command the South Margrave House or its vassal nobles.
But if they didn’t accept the terms, the frontier was already preparing for war, and the neighboring countries would invade too.
Since I had the chance, I shoved it through by force.
Sure, we could’ve separated from the kingdom entirely, but there was a reason that option was never on the table from the start…
King Jimetz spent the whole time yelling,
“My dream…! My ambition…!”
Not my problem.
Meanwhile, Princess Elizabeth’s face was bright red, squeaking and shrieking.
“I told you, I am to be Julius’s wife! Where did that gentle you go? Please do stop troubling me so. As an apology, I shall allow you your freedom.”
She struck a pose, pushing together her perfectly flat stonk chest with all her might.
Did absolutely nothing for me.
Only Hero-boy reacted instantly with an enthusiastic, “Oooh!”
That reaction speed really is worthy of a Hero.
Clearly, it resonated powerfully inside him.
Leaning slightly forward, he started endlessly lecturing me on the virtues of small breasts while I gave no reaction whatsoever.
In the end, Princess Elizabeth seriously punched him.
(Still, he looked happy about it.)
Compared to that, my eyes met those of Saintess Almeria with her pink hair.
As expected of the Saintess, what a magnificent set she possessed.
Grand and expansive, evoking pastoral landscapes and vast open earth…
Truly, she resembled Mount Yukaran, the sacred peak overlooking the Halbit Plains, one of the world’s three great scenic wonders, located in the northern Holy Nation of Norstan.
Locals called it the Mountain of Blessing, worshiped since ancient times.
Its foothills teemed with plants and animals, but the mountain itself was tall and treacherous, few ever reached the summit.
As expected of the Saintess.
A holy mountain indeed.
And beside her stood the purple-haired, sleepy-eyed member of the Hero’s Party, the [Archmage], also carrying a truly incredible mountain range.
That was Mount Helburn, the tallest peak in the world, found on the Demon Continent.
A barren mountain where no grass grew and monsters roamed freely, ranked among the same danger zones as the Demon Forest beside my homeland, the South territory.
Rumor said there was a dungeon near the summit, but no one had ever confirmed it.
The Archmage seemed specialized purely for offense.
The [Archmage] possessed overwhelming attack power.
The [Saintess] possessed overwhelming defensive power.
And Julius thought…
“So they’re both min-maxed builds, huh. Strong if they fit the situation, sure… but both have weaknesses, so saying one is definitively better than the oth…”
“Julius, honestly. Are you listening to me?”
The princess suddenly cut in.
My gaze lowered from her face…
“Shut up, Princess Elizabeth. Right now I’m contemplating whether the strongest spear or the strongest shield…”
She had interrupted a truly sacred line of thought. Naturally, I was annoyed.
“What in the world is that supposed to mean…?”
“Mmm… but maybe balance really is better than min-maxing? In the current situation…”
I looked around.
There stood Yukimi, captain of Squad One, [Ginka], of the adventurer clan Shiranui, assigned as my guard.
I gave her a once-over from head to toe.
Her beautiful silver tail began to sway side to side, and her ears drooped.
“There it is. As expected of Yukimi. A mountain with balanced offense and defense… yet difficult to conquer, an impregnable fortress.”
When I patted Yukimi on the head, her tail wagged even harder.
“Kuuun~~ Master~~”
Yep.
Cute.
That said… did the Crown Prince really conquer that Demon Realm Mountain and that Holy Mountain?
I’d seen him before when we bathed together.
What he had hanging below the belt wouldn’t work in that demon realm.
Maybe he’s got some kind of cheat ability?
“My words…”
Princess Elizabeth Savannah would be a harsh land to live in, environmentally speaking.
Well, things had mostly come together according to plan.
Good thing it was settled before the party.
Now we could begin exactly as scheduled.
Thank goodness.
Nothing went to waste, and we could welcome the perfect stage!!
What do you think about this chapter?
