The Duke's Eldest Son Escaped to the Military

The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (204)

Translator: Master of Djinn

64. The Fallen Imperial Family (3)

Something no one could have ever predicted had happened.

The emperor’s last orders were for the empire to be brought to and, so it was not something they could solve on their own, regardless of how much power they had to control the state of things.

After a long period of complete silence, Crimson finally spoke.

“……we should first ask the opinion of other people.”

Everyone else nodded in agreement, and began leaving the palace. The moment the ministers and the commanders stepped out, the people in the square looked at them with curiosity. The ministers and commanders may have been the first to hear the emperor’s will, but in the end, the will still had to be read to all the people of the empire too.

The problem was that that very will was announcing the end of the empire.

The ministers and commanders had decided to announce the will to everyone in the Great Hall. Of course they were worried that doing so would cause chaos to ensue throughout the empire, but they could not hide the emperor’s last orders.

“Call the reporters.”

Once Leopold ordered the officials to assemble the reporters, the officials dispersed to carry out the task.

They had decided to announce the will in the Great Hall, so everyone’s eyes turned to the palace. In an unprecedented event, everyone, including commoners, was allowed to enter the palace, and the enormous doors to the Great Hall had been thrown wide open. As for those who could not fit into the hall, a giant screen had been installed in the capital square.

All the newspaper reporters from every corner of the empire gathered there, while the empire’s affluent nobles were able to go through warp gates to get there.

With the emperor’s passing, there was sure to be some rearrangement of power, and knowing in whose hands that power would fall was an important detail for the merchants and nobles. Whoever the emperor had named as his successor would take the throne, and the factions of the other princes would be toppled like a house of cards.

“I will now read His Majesty’s will.”

But at that moment, a noble raised his hand and interrupted the internal affairs minister.

“I have a suggestion to make before you begin.”

Everyone turned to look at the noble who had spoken. It was a young noble named Chevara, who had earned the title of baron by his own efforts. Although barons were the lowest ranked in the hierarchy of nobility, no one could deny how capable he was to have earned it by his own might. The thing was that many young nobles like Chevara trotted out the word ‘revolution’ at all times, and were trying to oust the various factions among the nobles. [1]

All this time, they had not been able to give voice to their movement because they were lacking in strength. But even then, they were very involved in several aspects of the empire, be it administration, policy or academia, and also very outspoken. But things were different now.

With everyone in the empire now awakened, all those who were dissatisfied with the empire’s current hierarchy began standing out, and their representative was the very same Chevara who had stepped forward in the Great Hall. At this moment, he looked at the internal affairs ministers with eyes that seemed to be blazing with fire, and spoke.

“First, I must express my deepest respect for the noble sacrifice that His Majesty made for the empire.”

Everyone nodded at what he had said. The benefits the emperor had given them this time completely erased all his previous actions. Count Chevara’s declaration of respect for the emperor softened the sharp eyes of those who were listening. The count continued almost immediately.

“I want to state that we can no longer accord any authority to those members of the Imperial family who abandoned the capital and its people at the very first sign of crisis. While His Majesty had been carrying out the duties of the Imperial family all on his own, they escaped, putting their own lives first. As such, we can no longer recognize them as members of the royal family.”

All the high-ranked nobles frowned upon hearing Count Chevara’s speech. Saying that they should no longer recognize the authority of the current members of the imperial family was no different from saying that they should no longer recognize the power of the imperial family as an entity. All the nobles who belonged to the different princes’ factions glared at Count Chevara as if they wanted to tear him apart right there.

But despite the fact that most nobles in the Great Hall were staring him down, Count Chevara paid it no mind and continued with what he’d been saying.

“The second is about what punishment should be meted out to those nobles who abandoned His Majesty and their responsibilities as nobles. They ran off, busy saving their own necks. They no longer deserve to be called the empire’s nobles.”

A deep silence spread through the hall as Chevara finished speaking. All the ministers, commanders and officials remained silent as they only looked on. But those nobles who had run away and then returned after everything had settled scowled at him, as if they could kill him with their eyes.

“We should honor His Majesty’s last words, but if it pardons these criminals in any way, then I say we must reject it.”

Looking at Count Chevara who had just turned the direct descendants of the Imperial family and all the nobles into criminals with his words, the internal affairs minister asked.

“Count Chevara, are you done with your suggestion?”

“……Yes.”

The minister nodded calmly at the count’s reply. But the rest of the nobles held strange expressions on their faces.

Count Chevara’s suggestion was exceedingly dangerous, as was expected of him as a reformist. But what was more surprising was that the faces of neither the ministers nor the commanders showed any fluctuations. The ministers, on one hand, had never recognized the reformist group that wanted to overturn the current system. The commanders too, always seeking to pacify and stabilize the empire, did not like them either. So seeing no reactions from them was bound to be strange.

Of course, Count Chevara noticed that too. In fact, when he decided to step up and speak, he had also been ready to lose his life. That was how dangerous what he had said was; he knew that for certain. But he still had to speak up, regardless of the danger he would face. He could not stand the thought of any authority being in the hands of those bastards who had run away while the God’s Orb was falling apart and the palace was being trampled on, only to return later. A good number of the empire’s citizens held the same thought as he did, and were also hoping that those ingrates would be expelled. That was why he steeled his heart, ready to lay his life down on the line, and stated his opening in the Great Hall.

He had to put up a resistance, no matter how small. He had to show the citizens that there was someone who had the same idea as they did.

“Then I will read His Majesty’s will.”

The minister of internal affairs began reading, his voice unwavering.

Everyone in the Great Hall had the same exact response that the ministers and commanders had when they first heard it. They were surprised by everything, from the fact that the emperor had the gift of foresight to the fact that he had even made preparations for the apocalypse. But what threw them even more off-kilter was the very end of the will.

“What did we just hear?”

Once one of the nobles mumbled to himself, the rest began speaking loudly as well. The most surprised among them were Count Chevara and other pro-revolution nobles.

The emperor had written the very thing they wanted in his will: the end of the imperial family, which had always been at the center of the empire and its affairs since time immemorial.

That end had now been announced formally before everyone.

“There is no way… this cannot be. Did the ministers and commanders collude and change His Majesty’s will……”

One noble shook his finger at the commanders while looking at them, causing the commanders to stare him down. Their gazes seemed indifferent, but the noble felt his breath cease, and immediately cowered.

“As you have all heard, His Majesty proclaimed that the job of the Imperial Family has been finished. His Majesty also hoped that the empire would be reborn.”

The minister of internal affairs looked around the room as he spoke.

“His Majesty ended his will with that exhortation, and the rest is left for us to decide collectively on.”

Hearing that, the high-ranked nobles felt that they had been thrown a lifeline.

“Doesn’t… doesn’t that mean that the empire could also continue to exist?”

Everyone nodded when one of the nobles asked. They had to decide what path the new era the emperor spoke of would take. It did not mean that they absolutely had to dismantle the imperial family and end the empire.

But contrary to what they thought, the ministers and commanders had judged that it would be difficult for the empire to continue as it was any longer. Iron who had been watching silently the entire time felt certain of that. While the contemptible acts of the were being revealed, weakening the Center, the power of each regional command had been increasing.

Even if the current state of things were maintained, the empire would still not last long. The emperor’s will that formally stated the end of the empire only put paid to it.

“His Majesty’s will reading is now over.”

The internal affairs minister finished his sentence and immediately left the Great Hall, while those who remained immediately went up in uproar. Some of the nobles were shouting, while the reformists faced them down.

Now that the emperor had written that in his will, the reformists had the justification. But it was the high-ranking nobles who had most of the power in their clutches. On that basis, they were trying to reinterpret the emperor’s will by all means.

The commanders shook their heads and left the room as if they were tired of the ongoing fight. The ministers followed right after them.

Among the people fighting in the room, only a small minority had remained in the capital to fight. Most of the nobles had run off to save themselves, while most of the reformist nobles had been in different regions of the empire and were not from the capital. That was why the ministers and officials who had remained in the capital found their fighting so pathetic, it made them nauseous.

Just like there was a fight happening in the Great Hall, there was also an uproar in the capital.

“The empire is over!”

“We have to start a new era now!”

At some point, some of the revolutionaries had appeared and began inciting the citizens.

One group of nobles argued that the legacy of the empire had to be continued, no matter what. The new era the emperor spoke of was not the end of the empire, but a new political system. Since it was not explicitly stated in the will, then it could defer based on how it was interpreted.

The scholars thought that those nobles’ argument held some water, but the citizens thought differently.

‘Why do we have to listen to those incompetent people?’

‘We are also strong now!’

The nobles’ power came from the personal connections, blood ties, martial arts and maybe even magic that they had accumulated over time. The nobles used those things, as well as their enormous wealth, as bait to lure in talents, further cementing their own power and privileges.

But now that everyone was awakened, that advantage had disappeared. This made the crisis the perfect time for those who wanted revolution. Once the reformists declared that they wanted a meritocracy, a system based on skill levels, it was inevitable that the citizens would latch on to that ideal.

“Expel the nobles!”

“Remove them!”

After the will reading had ended, the capital became divided between two forces. The two forces did not have the guards or the army fighting for them, but almost everyday both sides clashed during protests.

Iron watched everything happening outside with an expression of disgust.

“I think its time we made a decision.”

Crimson too looked out through a window with a similar expression, before turning to the other commanders. This time, there were two other special people sitting in the midst of the commanders. It was the family heads of the Godly Sword and the Lion clans.

Now all the masters in the empire were gathered in one place. Crimson asked all of them.

“What do you all think will be good for the empire?”

All of them remained silent. It was such a serious matter that even the Godly Sword family head, who was known for always doing as he wished and concerning himself with nothing, did not dare to answer without serious thought.

As they all dithered, thinking of what to say, Iron spoke.

“One thing is for sure. We can no longer leave the empire in the hands of the members of the Imperial Family.”

The others looked at Iron as he continued.

“The late Emperor was very clear on that. The role of the Imperial Family is now over…… In fact, their time came to end the minute the God’s Orb broke. Without their responsibility, what kind of Imperial Family can they be?”

“Hmm……”

Everyone hummed at Iron’s words. He spoke again, driving the point home.

“Also, I am not sure what you all think…… but for those people who threw off their responsibilities and ran off, I have absolutely no thought of letting them off lightly.”

The commanders’ eyes blazed as they listened to Iron speak. Everyone of them understood what he meant when talking about the runaway Imperial family members. The same went for the two family heads as well.

Honor? Loyalty? Trust? Even if those were set aside, why should they have to submit to people who ran away from their duties?

Once this thought came up in their heads, none of the masters in the room held any more regard for the members of the imperial family.

Notes:

[1] ‘Revolutionary’ and ‘reformist’ will be used interchangeably to describe Chevara and his group.