Chapter 154 - A New Phase (4)

The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (154)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

51 A New Phase (4)

The Emperor had two main symbols.

1 The Emperor’s Crown.

2 The Imperial Seal.

If the Emperor’s Crown symbolized the Emperor’s current authority, the Imperial Seal was a treasure that symbolized the future. 

The Emperor’s Crown was so important that the Emperor always deliberately wore it to meetings and parties to show off his authority and status as the most important person in the Empire. 

The same was true of the Imperial Seal. As a treasure that symbolized the future of the Empire, all important documents that would determine the future of the Empire must be stamped with this seal. 

Of course, there were cases where the previous Emperors lost one of these two treasures. Sometimes, the rebels would also venture to steal it to claim their legitimacy. However, these items were so important that there weren’t any big problems with the current Emperor’s legitimacy if they only had one of these items. 

This was how important these two items were. After all, these were the items that symbolized the Emperor who ruled the entire Empire. 

But the current Crown Prince had protected and kept them?

‘The next Emperor… huh?’

The nobles gulped as they stared at the Crown Prince. Some of them were worried for the future of the Empire, while some of them lamented that the fallen Imperial Family’s authority would break and collapse until it was buried under the ground. 

All of the surviving Central Nobles who had experience in governance knew this…

[ The Crown Prince is foolish, incapable and greedy. He is also tyrannical and vicious so he is extremely inappropriate as the next Emperor. However, he is the Crown Prince and he is very good at one thing, and that is ‘acting’. He knew how to wrap himself up. He can do that so well to the point that anyone in the Empire would be jealous of him. ]

It was a secret article that was written by one of the officials. The article did not reveal who wrote it but it was so popular to the point that all middle-aged officials had read it at least once. 

Nevertheless, the rumors about his character and ability did not spread outside of the palace. Perhaps it was because of the Emperor’s efforts. In addition, the Crown Prince had always worn his mask outside with his ‘acting’. And this Crown Prince, who only knew how to package himself well, was most likely the next Emperor. 

The expressions of the middle-aged nobles crumpled and creased when they realized this fact. On the other hand, the masters, who had actually protected and made contributions in the Empire, remained silent. 

Even though many people knew to some extent about the Crown Prince, the middle-aged nobles, who entered the Hall of Glory, still looked suspicious.

‘Don’t tell me!’

One of the old nobles looked at the masters in doubt.

All of the current masters were commanders in charge of each region’s armies as well as the family heads of the two households that supported the Empire. 

Can these people who can see this truth still trust the Center?

Even if they knew that the Imperial Family and the Center was completely rotten before, they might have had no choice but to remain silent since they had no justification to make a move. But right now, the whole nation was already aware of the numerous corruption, misdeeds and shocking truth about the current Center and Imperial Family. It might be possible for them to declare their independence with this as their justification. 

All of them would become independent even though they remained in the Empire’s framework. If they stood independently from the administration, the army, the law up until the learning institutions, then the Center would be isolated from within this vain framework of an Empire. If that happened, then the Emperor would also live on just a vain and superficial authority. Perhaps, even they, the nobles, would never regain their previous authority. 

For the Central Nobles, who have lived on the mighty authority of the Imperial Family, that would be the worst situation. 

‘We… We have to stop them.’

While the old nobleman was covered in cold sweat, the funeral of the late Emperor was currently being held in a solemn atmosphere. 

Although there was no body left due to the blood storm, they were fortunate to be able to find several items that he owned and placed it in the coffin and allowed them to proceed with this ceremony. 

The Crown Prince, the closest to become the next Emperor, took the initiative to enter the place where their predecessors were buried and moved along with the previous Emperor’s coffin. 

The late Emperor’s funeral was originally supposed to be held honorably. However, when they moved, people sat down, screamed and even hurled abusive language at them. Seeing and hearing them like that, one of the knights of the Imperial Palace pulled out his sword. But Leopold grabbed one of the knight’s arms himself and shook his head heavily. 

Before they knew it, the procession had stopped. All of them were looking at Leopold and the knight. 

“They… deserve to have this.”

One of the nobles came forward and spoke when they heard Leopold’s words.

“But this is still the late Emperor’s funeral!”

The other nobles also agreed with this one nobleman’s words. However, their momentum was forced to lower. 

“I feel the same way.”

“There should be someone that these people, who lost everything, should blame.”

The Western Commander, the master among masters, and the oldest among the masters, Crimson, spoke up in agreement. Even the other masters nodded lightly and agreed with Leopold’s opinion. Even Lioner and Terrion Sigurd were also nodding along. 

“We… have sinned. The safest place, the capital, has fallen and the Imperial Palace was destroyed. And… we have learned the ugly truth and the sins that they had committed. Will you be able to ask them to stop with this sin?”

Countless people who went to see the late Emperor’s funeral began to wail after hearing Leopold’s words. 

Those who lost their family members.

Those who lost their colleagues. 

Those who had to live the rest of their lives with disabilities.

Those who lost everything just so they could protect this place and have them sit on their seats comfortably. 

All of them wailed.

Some cried out loudly as they blamed the late Emperor.

“Save my children!”

“Mother… Heuk, heuk… Mother!”

“Darling!”

No one could blame them for being disrespectful as they cried out their grievances regardless of their circumstances. They just listened to their cries with their heads bowed down. 

The once solemn procession had turned into a sea of wailing as the people poured out their resentment and anger towards the Emperor and the Imperial Family. They listened to the cries of these countless peoples who lost their loved ones until they reached the place where all the previous Emperors had been entombed. They then began to bury the coffin and build a graveyard according to the procedures. The general public and the nobles watched this scene from afar. 

Meanwhile, the surviving Central nobles began to wink at each other. All of them had felt that what happened in the Hall of Glory and the reactions of the masters were quite unusual. They weren’t sure about the two greatest households’ family heads but they felt like the commanders only gave minimal respect to the Emperor. However, he was still the Emperor, no matter how guilty he was, they should have given him the utmost respect at his funeral. But they did not do that.

‘The situation has changed.’

Among the late Emperors, they could count with their fingers those who did not enjoy a prodigal life. Some of them even brought the Empire on the brink of its ruin. As an Empire that held a long history, their Emperors were still honored with respect and solemnity towards their ends despite being prodigal Emperors. 

But that did not seem to be the case anymore.

‘The authority of the Imperial Family has been destroyed!’ 

This thought flashed in everyone’s heads making their thoughts complicated.

A strange atmosphere could be seen among the nobles from the provinces too. These nobles were rolling their heads trying to grab the line of the people that were close to the masters instead of trying to grab the hands of the new Emperor and the Central Nobles. Even the merchants were doing the same. 

On the other hand, the Central Nobles were all in a frenzy. As soon as the official funeral procession was over, they all gathered in twos and threes as they attended meetings that would discuss their countermeasures for the future. 

The only person that they could trust was Commander Leopold, but even that was a thorny path. In fact, he was showing them a much colder reaction than what they had expected. He was originally hard to approach before but now they felt like he had lost his remaining affection for the Center.

“Persuading Lord Leopold… is difficult.” 

“Hoo… I’m going crazy.” 

“Well, the capital had abandoned the Central Army, do you think it makes sense for any affection for this place to remain in his heart?” 

“We could have relied on his loyalty to the Empire, but now we can’t even rely on something like that…” 

The old Central nobles had long lost their quick-wittedness and were stopped just like that. They couldn’t help but click their tongues at these obstacles. 

If things continued at this rate, the Center would be abandoned as the most useless place in the Empire. The core of the Empire would very well become the trashiest place. 

In a situation like that, Leopold announced one thing.

｢ The new Central Army Command will be built in Burt Territory! ｣

This was announced the day after the late Emperor’s funeral had finished. Leopold’s announcement, which covered one side of the morning newspaper, hit the capital by a storm. 

Burt territory was the point where the West, South and Center meet. He must have decided on this territory to help the West and South, the regions where war was still not over yet. 

The problem came next.

｢ From this point on, the Central Army plans to move completely independent from the Capital Defense Corps. ｣

This was virtually equivalent to them saying that they were abandoning the Capital Defense Corps. This announcement was basically stabbing a huge stake on the already ruined capital and sending it down to the abyss. 

In addition, Leopold’s firm stance and extreme unwillingness to have any relationship with the Central Government and its officials could be seen through this announcement. Because of this, none of the Central nobles dared to persuade Leopold anymore. 

Then, the Crown Prince accepted the Emperor’s will and declared that he would become the next Emperor. 

The Central nobles almost went crazy when the least competent person was set to become the Emperor while the Empire was still in a crisis. At the rate things were going at, they were sure that the capital’s isolation was just a matter of time. 

When they were facing this huge crisis. The young man that walked together with the masters caught the eye of the old nobles. He was the hero and the newest master, the person who made the biggest contribution during the capital’s defense war and made significant efforts to recapture the Center. 

“How about seducing him over?” 

The Central nobles looked at the picture of the young man that the old nobles had pointed at. 

“Ah…” 

“If he grows up…” 

One of the nobles quietly spoke up while everyone was slowly being filled with hope. 

“However, I believe he doesn’t have a good opinion of the Center either.” 

“We still have to do it. Besides, it’s not like we don’t have any chance at all.” 

Everyone pricked their ears to listen to the words of the old noble. 

“He was only a small outpost leader when he made huge contributions to the North. And even if he’s just at the 6th Stage of swordsmanship, he still has his powerful divine beasts as well as his experience as an army’s commander.” 

“Right.” 

“There might be complaints.” 

Thinking that they were correct, the old nobles began to put their operation to seduce the young hero of the Empire in action. 

“Since the Central Army has left, we need to establish a new Capital Defense Command.” 

“Alright. Then, I will propose that position and have him promoted to General…” 

“Don’t you think that’s not enough?” 

All of the other nobles rubbed their chins in thought after hearing the words of someone from their group. 

Since he had already become a master, it was only a matter of time before he got promoted to General. It would be difficult to attract him to their side with just this. 

“Then, how about a title and a territory… But isn’t he the Lion Family’s eldest son? Don’t you think this would be meaningless to him?” 

“How about being a count?” 

“With the contributions that he had made, don’t you think that this is something weird?” 

Each of the nobles clamored and shouted their opinions to somehow give him more. 

“At least the title of a marquis… And even after giving an appropriate territory, we should also make sure to give him the tax benefits and important rights.” 

“That’s right. Many nobles had died this time anyway so there wouldn’t be any problems.” 

That evening, the Central noble factions were able to get a wind of what the old nobles had decided. In order for them to attract the easy target, the new master, the heads of the major factions gathered together and set up heated meetings. 

While they were working hard to try and recruit him to their side, Iron had gathered together with the Northeastern men to have dinner for the first time in a long while. 

He saw his old comrades, who came to the capital despite being on a vacation themselves. They were none other than the surviving Ghosts. 

“You’ve become quite the successful man.” 

Iron smiled when Lintel grinned and teased him. 

“That’s just because I worked hard.” 

“That’s true.” 

Lintel nodded in acknowledgement. 

Then, Carl, who was quietly listening to their conversation, spoke up. 

“By the way… Are you going to break free of the Northeast now?” 

Billy, Lintel and Milton all stared at Iron the moment they heard Carl’s question.

***

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