Revolutionary Day –
The day after Hero.
Thanks to Eris’ treatment, my body was almost fine, but being treated like a sick person made me feel sick.
As I was swinging my sword in my room to relieve my frustration, I heard a knocking sound.
Everyone who came to visit the patient had gone yesterday, and after Balian’s hard urging, the army went out in the morning, so there would be no one who would come.
Is it a servant?
“Please come in.”
I lowered the sword I was swinging, wiped off the sweat with a towel, and froze when I saw the person who opened the door and entered.
“…Pierre.”
“Christine.”
Christine, who had a slightly flushed face as if she had arrived in a hurry, spread the fan in her hand and covered her mouth.
“I’m going to stay outside!”
While Christine’s eyes were scanning up and down my body, the maid Lina, who had followed her in, was startled and immediately closed the door and left.
After a moment of uncomfortable silence, I quickly wiped the sweat off my body with a towel and put on the clothes I had taken off.
“Oh, welcome. “I didn’t hear you coming.”
“I heard you were injured in battle and are recuperating…”
Christine looked at me with slightly sunken eyes and folded her fan noisily.
“…You seem to be in better shape than I thought.”
…What should I answer?
It’s hard to find words as I think about how I felt when I heard that the person who trusted me and would wait for me was injured.
“Thanks to Eris’ good treatment, I’m feeling better.”
After much thought, the words I said to reassure her were difficult to even think about.
Christine slowly approached me, placed both hands on my chest and leaned against me.
“I smelled because I was sweating just now.”
When I spoke with a sense of embarrassment at the feeling of her forehead touching my chest, Christine responded in a slightly quiet voice.
“Just stay like this for a moment.”
My chest feels a little wet.
Without saying anything, I slowly wrapped my arms around Christine’s delicate shoulders.
–
After some time has passed.
Christine returned to her calm appearance as if she had never seen her before and sat across from me.
But that’s just the atmosphere, and I can’t hide my feelings of regret when I see her tired face.
It is obvious that he was busy taking care of business in the capital while I was away, and when he heard about the results of the battle and the news of my injury, he rushed all the way here without resting.
In the meantime, Christine told me everything about the situation in the capital.
It is said that Maximilien Isidore and the radicals formally founded the Revolutionary Party.
After the founding of the Revolutionary Party, the moderates, the Liberal Party, and our people founded their own parties under the name of the Center Party and began activities in the National Assembly… It is
only now that the National Assembly is breaking away from the transitional period in which it was run in a sloppy manner and moving into a more proper political organization. I feel the same way.
“The National Assembly has completely stabilized. Maximilien Isidore’s revolutionary party also began to put forward agendas that allowed for some degree of compromise instead of radical policies such as voting rights unrelated to property or free distribution of land.”
I think the moderates and those who were in extreme conflict with us and ended up in an accident also felt that way.
“Personally, I think it’s a bit of a positive direction.”
I nodded to Christine who added that and held out the apple with my fork.
Christine slightly raised her eyebrows, but calmly took it with her mouth.
“I don’t think they’ve completely given up on radical reform. Still, as you said, it is a positive sign that they have made a compromise to push forward reforms that can be achieved little by little under the current situation.”
I asked as I watched Christine chew and swallow her apple.
“What about the Liberal Party?”
“…For now, we are maintaining a cooperative relationship. “It’s just that they are absorbing the radical faction’s defectors, and we are conciliating their members to expand our power…”
Christine seemed to be choosing her words a bit, then continued.
“Ultimately, I think the alliance will fizzle out as time goes by. “If possible, our goal is to expand our power as much as possible before then so that the Central Party is not significantly behind the other two parties.”
This time I took a strawberry and presented it to Christine.
Just now, I accepted it in silence, but this time, Christine looked at me with dissatisfied eyes and asked.
“Are you treating me like a child?”
“Even if you leave the child alone, he will eat when he is hungry, but not you. “If anyone sees it, they will think I came to visit you, not you.”
Instead of saying more, Christine took the strawberry and started muttering.
I opened my mouth, holding back the laughter that was about to escape my lips.
“I trust you are doing well, but I would still like you to hurry up if possible. “For now, we are all cooperative under the banner of fighting against foreign powers, but if my predictions are to be expected, the Germanian Empire will try to withdraw from this war sooner or later.”
Christine, who swallowed the strawberry, looked a little puzzled.
“How can you be so sure about that? “It would be an issue for the empire’s prestige to lose face and withdraw like this.”
“This is not their war, but a war that broke out in the name of appeasing the imperial ruling class who were surprised by our revolution and supporting the alliance. “We are in a situation where we have lost even the important power of the imperial family, so they will not want to bear any more loss than this.”
Christine still looked suspicious, so I added one thing.
“Furthermore, if King Louis disappears, the imperial empress Cecilia will have a justification to claim the right to succeed to the Frangian throne. Since we have already chosen our alliances, we would rather prepare for the next war than go out of our way to put King Louis’ head on the line.”
“…Yes. “I never thought of that.”
This is also something I can think of at this stage because I know what happened before the regression.
Princess Cecilia was married long before the civil war between the Kingdom of Francia and the Empire of Germania as a symbol of reconciliation between the two countries.
At that time, no one cared about the young woman’s right to succession because there were princes, but who would have imagined that after all the princes died, the empire would raise her right to succession?
Christine, who was lost in thought for a moment, looked at me with new eyes.
“So Eris no. Are you protecting Her Royal Highness Princess Esiliste?”
I grinned and held out another apple to Christine.
“you’re right. The empire must be dreaming of placing the empress on the throne of Francia and making her a puppet when King Louis dies. “Don’t you wonder what their facial expressions will be like when the princess who has been missing for a long time appears and takes the throne?”
Christine swallowed the apple she was chewing on and sighed softly.
“I thought you were only planning to use Her Highness as a focal point to bridge the gap between us and the revolutionary government, but since you didn’t say anything, I was wondering when you were going to make a move.”
“That’s why I’m telling you now. Eris gained enormous popularity during this battle, so when the empire raises the question of her right to succession to the throne, there will be few who will object if she is put on the throne to avoid war.”
Christine grinned.
“Okay, now I can clearly see the picture you were aiming for.”
“The trickiest moment for us will be right before that. Once the power of King Louis and the Duke of Lorraine is eradicated from Francia and the war comes to an end, political fights and checks will begin in earnest in the National Assembly. “I will be on the battlefield, so your role is important.”
Even those who were originally self-reliant when fighting a national crisis tend to take care of their own interests if it makes their lives a little more profitable.
“Just as you trusted me and waited for me, I will trust you and head to the battlefield.”
Christine, who heard what I said, laughed as if it were absurd and opened her mouth.
“I know you often say things like that when it breaks other people’s hearts, but I’ve made you worry too, so I’ll let it pass this time. “It is true that you fought well.”
At a loss for words, I quietly dipped a strawberry with a fork and handed it to her. Christine laughed and took the strawberry with her mouth, gesturing behind her.
Then Christine’s maid Lina, who looked like she was full, came over and put down the wad of paper in her hand on the table.
Um, is it a newspaper?
The moment I saw the picture on the front page of the newspaper, my mouth fell open.
In the background, there is a large picture of Eris emitting light from her hand and me leading the revolutionary army with a sword in hand and advancing towards the witch floating in the air.
It was a picture that looked like something from a book about ancient hero myths…
Christine, who had been deliberately taking her time leisurely munching on a strawberry, slowly swallowed it and made a mischievous expression.
“You probably know the atmosphere of the capital, right? For the first time, people began to praise you not as the son of the Blue Knight, but as the hero Pierre de Lafayette. congratulation.”
…I roughly expected that to be the case, but seeing it in person like this made me feel more embarrassed than I expected.
“…Thank you. But this is just the beginning.”
There is still a long way to go before I can hear that I have surpassed the Blue Knight.
–
Before the imperial army, which had retreated after a crushing defeat after losing the wise man Wilhelmina von Weinfeld, could even recover its troops, the counterattack of the French Revolutionary Army led by Raphael Balian began.
Archduke Leopold judged that there was no hope in fighting like this and had to give up Bahua and retreat again.
Duchy of Lorraine.
Archduke Leopold was looking around at the wounded soldiers of the Anti-aircraft Regiment who were lying in hospital beds at the makeshift infirmary.
Among the majestic soldiers who were once renowned as the strongest army in the empire, less than a third were in good health.
Unlike Balian, who left the wounded in Reims and launched a counterattack by selecting only those who were healthy, the Archduke, who was on the retreating side, could not do so.
We picked out as many wounded soldiers as possible, but many of them fell behind during the retreat.
Either that, or there was no other way so I left it behind.
As the Archduke was looking at the sick beds of his favorite subordinates, a soldier who recognized him tried to salute him.
However, the soldier realized that his right hand was missing and just nodded with a darkened face.
The Archduke saluted him and turned his back.
Yesterday, he received an order to retreat from his home country, so this war was out of his hands.
The Archduke and his soldiers must leave this land without any glory.
Archduke Leopold laughed.
He was confident in his military command.
Even confronting the Great King of Krafte was difficult, but not only that, everyone thought it was because he was a monster.
He had never imagined himself being defeated by anyone other than the Great King.
Although I was interested in Raphael Balian and Pierre de Lafayette, I was only concerned about the generation after the Archduke.
There are many excuses. The existence of an Irregular called a Saint, an alliance that did not play its role, etc.
But that did not take away the fact that the Archduke had been defeated.
Even though a lot of blood was spilled, he could not even achieve the honor he could place on the corpses of his beloved subordinates.
Perhaps he, who was once famous as a hero, is just an ordinary old man who has not been able to keep up with the times.
Rather than staying in his position until he was old, he would have saved his honor and the honor of his subordinates by at least retiring.
King Louis appeared before the remorseful Archduke.
The energetic young knight, once favored by the knight king, looked like a coward and approached alone with an extremely anxious face, leaving his servant behind.
“Your Majesty the King.”
“…Is it true that Archduke Leopold’s Germanian Imperial Army is withdrawing?”
The Archduke nodded calmly.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Archduke waited, wondering what King Louis would say if he tried to seize him.
“Take my luggage with me!”
However, when I heard King Louis’ next words, I felt like I had been hit on the head.
“What did you say, Your Majesty?”
“Please take my luggage to the empire, Archduke.”
The Archduke was speechless because he did not know what to say.
King Louis began to desperately talk about how he interpreted it.
“That old traitor, Duke of Lorraine, cannot be trusted. If this continues, Jim will be captured by the mob and suffer all kinds of humiliation! Aren’t we allies and the Empress of the Empire is your sister? take me away “I will give anything for the Empire if you can drive out those rebels and restore my country when the Empire has the ability!”
Archduke Leopold felt helpless when he saw King Louis talking so hard that he had become half-mad in fear.
How many of his subordinates died under the false pretext of restoring this man’s country?
How much blood was shed from the civil war that started because of this person to the revolution?
At this moment, Archduke Leopold felt genuine sympathy for both his men and the Frangians.
And with that much anger, he opened his mouth.
“His Majesty the King of Franzia.”
The Archduke coldly opened his mouth without even listening to the response from King Louis, who flinched.
“If your Majesty is truly the owner of the honorable kingdom of knights, if you are the owner of the people of this land, if you are the leader of the allies of the glorious Germanian Empire.”
The Archduke looked straight into King Louis’ eyes and uttered his last words.
“It would be better to end your life now to protect your Majesty’s honor and the people of this country.”
“What what?”
“I’ll just leave now. “I wish you good health.”
Archduke Leopold turned his back and began to walk away.
King Louis was the only one left and screamed in anger.
“You bastards of the Empire! We were allies! “How dare a soldier who was defeated in battle dare to insult the king of this country!”
The old hero didn’t look back.
“Let my sister meet Cecilia! Where is this law between blood relatives?”
The next day, the Germanian Imperial Army left for home under the command of Archduke Leopold.
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