Julia.n.u.s the First looked at the person kneeling in front of him with a somewhat happy expression while resting his chin on one hand.
It was a man named Earl Schwarzheim, he wore silk clothes made by using an abundant amount of gold thread, and looking at the amount of jewelry he had on his body, he must have been a very influential person within the royal court.
Furthermore, the King still let him spoke even though he was pushing the guard and forcefully moved forward in front of the king which also showed how much power he had.
He was a man around his forties, with smooth blonde hair, and a protruding stomach.
However, from the way he was standing and his arms, he did not seemed like an ordinary powerful man.
"With all due respect your majesty, I need to inform your majesty of something, even if this will cause your majesty displeasure."
While lowering his head, the man glared at Ryouma with a sharp look.
Hatred, anger, envy, contempt.
There were too many emotions coming from the man"s gaze.
(Woah woah, what the h.e.l.l is going on with this man...)
Anyone would feel perplexed if someone who they didn"t know and meet for the first time suddenly glared at you with such gaze.
Ryouma tried his best to suppress the unrest within his heart due to the sudden development. Since he didn"t want to show his possible enemy a weakness.
Of course, there was also a plan that deliberately made him being seen weak to reduce hostile enemies, but right now what Ryouma needed to do the most was to impress the Zalda Kingdom"s aristocrats.
To that end, he needed to perform extreme caution.
"If you want to say something to me, say it."
"This retainer think this Mikoshiba person doesn"t have the power to fulfill your highness expectations. I think we should just send him back to his country."
Due to the man"s provocative att.i.tude, commotion resounded within the audience room.
"Hou, so the Earl wants me to sent Mikoshiba-dono who have come all the way here as reinforcement back to his home country, am I right?"
"Yes."
Toward Julia.n.u.s the First’s question, Earl Schwarzheim nodded his head without showing any feeling.
"Does the Earl understand what you"re asking me to do? Does the Earl wants to create a crack between Rozeria and our kingdom?"
"Indeed, that might be true, but your majesty only said that because your majesty has not seen the army this person lead."
The audience room grew silent the moment Earl Schwarzheim said those words.
"Elena-dono said that they have sent their best personnel as reinforcements, don"t you know that?"
"If your majesty thinks everything was alright because of General Elena Steiner then your majesty is wrong. We have confirmed, but the army he leads is only around 300 soldiers. Not only that, the majority of them are women, which have no use on the battlefield. If your majesty sent his army to the battlefield so poorly prepared, and his troops end up becoming the enemy"s prey, the morale of our soldiers would fall, and I think it would bring unnecessary unrest to the whole army. Not to mention, after nearly one year of conducting a defensive war, we have no spare supplies. As we cannot use his troops as a war potential, I think it would be better for us to sent his army back to his home country."
During the time Earl Schwarzheim talked, his voice was the only one reverberating inside this room.
The reinforcement from the Rozeria Kingdom comprised of 2,500 people led by Elena and 300 people led by Ryouma.
Although the reinforcement was being led by the infamous Elena Steiner, it was also a well-known fact that the reinforcement from the Rozeria Kingdom was too small compared to the reinforcement the Mist Kingdom had sent which amounted to 10,000 men.
It was very rude to the person who had came all the way as a reinforcement, but the Earl"s opinion itself was not completely wrong.
A weak ally was much more annoying than a strong enemy.
In a war, breaking the opponent"s heart was the most important.
Certainly, it was true that war ended with the enemy"s commander dead, but sometimes the battlefield could only end when the last enemy soldier died.
And the reason why most of the time war ended when the Generals were killed, it was because the soldier"s heart broke first due to the reality that their Commander-in-Chief had been killed.
Many victories and defeats arrived the moment the soldiers and the General who led the army became aware of the impending defeat.
(Hee... He does understand well when it comes to soldiers" morale. This guy, he doesn’t seem that incompetent...)
Reasonable and logical thinking.
That was Ryouma impression after he paid attention to Earl Schwarzheim’s speech.
His att.i.tude was arrogant and he looked like a stupid n.o.ble, but this also confirmed once again that one should never judge a book by its cover. -
While such prejudice faded away, Ryouma came to understand Earl Schwarzheim"s true motive.
(There are two possibilities. Is he being serious or is he trying to induce something... If he was being serious then he is a reliable person. But if he was actually trying to induce something then, he"s an enemy.)
Ryouma stared at the Earl as if he was trying to read the Earl"s mind...
In a sense, the Earl’s concern made sense.
Looking only at the surface, the army Ryouma had led was only around 300 men, it was too small.
Not only that, his army was filled with young people, it was also mostly women.
Since military organizations in this world were mostly filled with healthy men, Earl Schwarzheim"s words actually made sense.
It was rare for a country to conscript the common people and send them as a reinforcement, and they also understood the situation within the Rozeria Kingdom.
Currently, the Rozeria Kingdom people was doing its best to rebuild the country after a civil war, which also made them unable to send reinforcements to the neighboring country.
That was why they appreciated that even with such condition the Rozeria Kingdom still sent them 2,500 soldiers led by Elena.
However, the army led by Mikoshiba Ryouma was different.
Not only the composition of his army, they also thought that the soldiers were being led by an inexperienced upstart n.o.bleman.
"You sent us this kind of reinforcement! Are you making fun of our country?!"
That was the anger inside the Earl"s mind.
From the Earl"s point of view, Ryouma"s soldiers looked like conscripted commoners that were being made to look like proper soldiers.
"That is why, thank you for coming this far, but, we cannot afford to babysit you. I do not know what is your purpose for bringing such soldiers but, speaking frankly just by being here you"re already an annoyance, although the soldiers you have brought are only around 300, we still cannot provide you any supplies or weaponry that are important to our people!"
Such roar echoed within the audience room.
Certainly it was hard for any nation to share valuable supplies during warfare.
"Earl Schwarzheim, don"t you think your words are a bit too much?"
"What are you saying, General Henschel. In fact what are you thinking? I heard you picked him up before he entered the royal capital, yet you didn"t inform his Majesty about this in advance. You should have sent him away before presenting him with an audience like this!"
It was a sound argument with no room for defense.
What Zalda Kingdom wanted was a reinforcement not an additional burden.
Such opinion within the audience room made Grahart unable to provide any a.s.sistance. -
For the other n.o.bles, the Earl looked like someone who was thinking of the best interest for the Zalda Kingdom.
The neighboring countries might think Julia.n.u.s the First as a mediocre ruler, but for Earl Schwarzheim, he was a man worthy of service.
(His Majesty is not a mediocre king. He is someone who is able to manage the country throughout many wars!)
Such thought emerged inside the Earl"s mind. -
"Fumu, I can understand the Earl"s concern... But I have no intention of sending Mikoshiba-dono back."
Julia.n.u.s smiled while stroking his white beard.
Then an uproar happened inside the audience room once again.
"Why? What is your majesty reason to decide that?!"
With such unexpected words from his king, the Earl could not contain his surprise and tried to approach the throne.
"You"re being rude toward his majesty!"
Grahart immediately restrained the Earl.
"d.a.m.n it! Let me go! Your majesty, why?!"
His face dyed red, and the Earl also tried to shake off Grahart’s hands.
"Henschel. Let him be..."
After Julia.n.u.s said those words calmly, Earl Schwarzheim immediately realized his own action.
His action could be seen as an act of rebellion for trying to forcefully step too close like that.
"P-Please forgive me for my rude behavior, your majesty..."
The Earl"s immediately lowered his head begging for forgiveness, and Julia.n.u.s only lightly waved his hand and asked him to raise his head.
"It is fine... I can understand the Earl"s concern..."
After he said that, he turned his eyes toward Ryouma who up until this time kept kneeling quietly in silent.
"How about this ? Everyone in this room might have the same concerns as the Earl. Although it might be troublesome, how about showing your power to everyone?"
"Does that mean in a battle?"
"That is right. Or are you going to say that the Earl"s concerns were true?"
After he said those words, Julia.n.u.s smirked provoking Ryouma.
(I see... It is a bit irritating that the situation ended up like this but... Since we will have to fight in the end. I guess I will have to move the plan forward a little...)
Originally Ryouma had come to defend the Rozeria Kingdom as a reinforcement.
Now that he had taken sovereign control of the wortenia peninsula, what he needed now was fame.
It was no exaggeration to say that the reason he had come as a reinforcement was also to obtain that fame.
A small sacrifice needed to obtain a glorious reputation.
The more blood flowing, the more Mikoshiba Ryouma"s name would spread across the continent.
"No, please let me prove the power of my soldiers in front of everyone."
Saying those words, Ryouma"s face distorted.
He showed the smile of a beast who found its prey.
But no one was able to see his smile since Ryouma lowered his head when he did that.