Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight Volume 5

1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-7183-3108-2
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 350 Seiten

Reihe: Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight

Having thwarted Rolmund's initial invasion, Veight must now unite Meraldia's north and south, forging a new alliance between the region's seventeen cities. But turning the Meraldian Federation into the Meraldian Commonwealth isn't the only task he has to contend with. Now that he's taken an imperial princess captive, he intends to put her on Rolmund's throne in order to prevent any further incursions from the ancient empire.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hyougetsu

Weitere Mitwirkende

Nishi(E)da

Ningen

Leseproben

Chapter 5

Once I finished negotiating with Eleora, I returned to my office. She’d come here as a vanguard of the Holy Rolmund Empire, but her ambitions had died here in Ryunheit. She and her soldiers had become my prisoners. But Rolmund itself hadn’t given up yet. The ancient empire that lay beyond the Northern Peaks was still in prime condition, and it desired Meraldia’s lands for itself. Unfortunately, the empire was too powerful to defeat in a direct confrontation.

“Now then, what should we do?”

I sipped the tea Kite had brewed for me and mused on our next course of action. After interrogating the prisoners, I had a good grasp of Rolmund’s internal political situation. Sixth in line for the throne, Eleora Kastoniev Originia Rolmund wasn’t the emperor’s daughter but his niece. She was the emperor’s sister’s daughter, meaning she wasn’t even in the patriarchal line. Which was why, officially, she was an auxiliary princess. Princesses born to male members of the royal line were considered chief princesses.

Eleora’s family was the Originia family. It was one of the few families in Rolmund that was officially in the line of succession. The current Originia family consisted of Eleora and her sister. Her sister’s name was Sophie. Though Eleora hadn’t stated it explicitly, it was easy to guess that her sister was being held hostage to make sure she was obedient. The Kastoniev part of her name was inherited from her father’s side. It seemed her father had married into her mother’s family. Apparently, he’d died some years past, but he’d undoubtedly had a hard life. As I relayed everything I’d learned to Kite, his expression turned thoughtful.

“It’s interesting how everyone in Rolmund has family names. We don’t have any custom like that in Meraldia.”

“Demons don’t bother with them either. I’m just Veight, and you’re just Kite.”

“It’s simpler that way.”

The only people that had anything resembling family names in Meraldia were the families of viceroys and nobles. The residents of the north were all descendants of slaves, so most of them didn’t possess family names. On the other hand, the seafarers who’d arrived from the south used their parents’ given names as their family names, so it was a different system than how Rolmund worked. I picked up a nearby stack of documents and said to Kite, “This is all the information I’ve gathered on the Rolmund imperial family. I know it’s a lot, but please memorize it.”

“You got it.”

Rolmund’s current emperor was Bahazoff the Fourth. Most considered him to be a capable, but mediocre, emperor. He hailed from the Schwerin family, and he had two heirs: a younger son who was first in line for the throne, and an older daughter who was fifth. Both took after their father, and the prevailing opinion was that they too would be capable, but mediocre. In general, the noble families preferred stable emperors like that.

Next up was the emperor’s younger brother, who was head of the Doneiks family. He was second in line to the throne and had two sons who were third and fourth in line. All the Doneiks family needed to do was remove the crown prince and one of their own would become the next emperor. Which was of course why they were the ones plotting the most.

Eleora’s sister was seventh in line, and beyond that were several distantly related noble families. Typically, the order of succession started with sons of male members of the imperial family, then went to daughters of male members of the imperial family, then sons of female members of the imperial family, then daughters of female members of the imperial family. There were, however, a number of exceptions, so mapping the order of succession often got messy. Emperors who hadn’t left behind any sons had introduced some amendments to the system to try and get their daughters on the throne, which was the main source of the exceptions.

I finished checking through the documents, then looked up at Kite.

“You memorize them all yet, Kite?”

“Hell no.”

Kite shook his head. He was in the middle of copying the information down.

“It’s not easy to remember all the branches of another country’s imperial family, you know. Were you able to memorize it all, Veight?”

“There’s no way I’d be able to memorize all this.”

All I’d really learned was that Eleora had a lot of rivals. This was starting to give me a headache, so I started pacing up and down the hall muttering, “The emperor’s brother’s family is dangerous,” to myself over and over. Next I started muttering, “The emperor’s kids are first and fifth in line for the throne,” over and over.

The question was, would I still remember these details tomorrow morning? I passed Lacy in the hallway as I was doing my mnemonic exercises, and she gave me a puzzled look. But I waved her off and continued pacing. During the battle the other day, Lacy had used her illusion magic to camouflage the entrance to the city’s old district as a wall. Thanks to that, none of Eleora’s mage corps had been able to make it inside, which had made it easier to systematically eliminate them.

I poked my face inside the prisoners’ barracks.

“Excuse me. Mind if I come in?”

“Ah, Lord Veight.”

Warrant Officer Natalia got to her feet and gave me a Rolmund-style salute. The other soldiers followed suit. I replied with a demon army-style salute and said, “Are you finding your accommodations satisfactory? You’re all valuable hostages to make sure the princess doesn’t try anything rash, so if there’s anything bothering you, let me know.”

I smiled ruefully, and the prisoners smiled ruefully back. They understood the princess well. Even though they’d lost close to half of their troops, the 209th Imperial Mage Corps was surprisingly obedient. When I asked Borsche why none of them were nursing grudges, he’d immediately replied, “Imperial soldiers are trained from day one not to hold any grudges once the fighting is over. We fight not for profit or personal reasons, but for our country; we pride ourselves on being able to put past grievances behind us.”

The fact that he was able to say that with a straight face sent chills down my spine. However, it seemed Rolmund soldiers considered holding grudges to be the mark of an amateur, and valued order and rationality above all. As a member of the demon army, that was an outlook I couldn’t comprehend. But then, we were more of a rural guerrilla force than a real army. Which was why I decided to respect the Rolmund soldiers’ professionalism.

One of the soldiers looked up and said, “Thank you again for giving our slain comrades a worthy funeral. You even asked a cardinal to oversee it.”

“The Sonnenlicht religion might be a little different here than it is in Rolmund, but we have cardinals too.”

Natalia turned to me and explained, “In Rolmund, cardinals only oversee funerals for military generals or soldiers who’ve been awarded prestigious medals. So, thank you very much.”

I was glad I’d been able to show my respect to the Rolmund soldiers.

“If only I’d had an opportunity to talk to you soldiers before the fighting had begun...but I suppose that would have been impossible.”

One of the officers, Lenkov, nodded apologetically.

“I’m afraid so. Rolmund’s regulations are very strict. If we’d done such a thing, we would have been stripped of our position and demoted to serfs.”

“That certainly does sound strict.”

Lenkov nodded again, “Indeed. Which is why if we returned to our homeland after surrendering, we would either be executed, or sent to join the disciplinary squad. Our families would be punished similarly.”

The disciplinary squad was a special squad that was sent on all the most dangerous operations. None of its members lived long.

“Yet you surrendered knowing what fate awaited you.”

To soldiers of Rolmund, surrender was a fate worse than death. The mage corps’ battle wasn’t over yet. Only this time, it wasn’t against us. While these soldiers were important hostages to keep Eleora pacified, they were also a valuable force that could be used against Rolmund.

Even if it was for the sake of peace in Meraldia, I couldn’t afford to bring Meraldian citizens with me on this campaign. Expeditions into foreign nations were extremely perilous—both for the commander in charge and the troops he was leading. Ideally, I’d be able to make use of Eleora’s family’s troops and what remained of the mage corps to complete my mission. Of course, I needed to win them over if I wanted to do that. As I was thinking such wicked thoughts, Natalia turned to me, her eyes sparkling.

“Umm, Your Highness Black Werewolf King!”

“What is it, Lady Natalia?”

Brimming with curiosity, she said, “I’ve seen all of the Black Werewolf King...