The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military - Chapter 206
Chapter 206 – A Time for Revolution! (1)
Iron’s words shocked everyone. But they had no way to refute him, nor did they have the justification to.
Iron had the iron-clad justification of fulfilling the late emperor’s last wishes on his side.
If it was just a simple will, they could have every means to push forward the argument that the empire had to be maintained. They would have grabbed onto the faults the late emperor had when he was crown prince, and used them to drag his honor to the ground, if that would give them the justification they needed.
However, the emperor changed and recovered the empire’s honor by virtue of his death. To add to that, another problem was that the contract between the Lord and the first emperor was set to break when the God’s Orb broke.
The Orb had been both the basis and the support of the empire. Safeguarding the Orb had been the pride of the empire, allowing them to protect the entire continent, and was also the first emperor’s dying injunctions.
“Now that the God’s Orb has shattered, it does seem that the job of the Empire is done.”
“Hmm…… I do understand why the late emperor His Majesty gave that order.”
“Right.”
When the people heard the military’s decision, they nodded their heads slightly. There was no one in the empire who did not know the story of the first emperor. However, they had not known that when the first emperor made the contract with the Lord, he had also placed restrictions on the Imperial family. They had only come to know of those restrictions when the recent series of events occurred. In addition, when the late emperor revealed everything and gave his orders before breathing his last, all the citizens of the empire heard all the secrets of the imperial family”
The contract between the first emperor and the Lord.
The first contract was a sacred contract to protect the continent from ancient races and external gods. But the first emperor had thought that his descendants would not abide by the contract at some point. So he had also placed restrictions on his bloodline through the contract.
Mandatory fulfillment of the contract by the imperial family
This was something the first emperor put in place to make sure that the contract was fully executed. He bound his bloodline and the imperial family’s souls to the ground using a number of objects that had been passed down for several generations, ensuring that the imperial family remained obedient and did not go astray.
Contracts with ancient kingdoms
The rulers of the different kingdoms that came to know about the contract between the first emperor and the Lord agreed to keep the secret. Instead, they made their own contract with the imperial family, agreeing that the imperial family would never threaten the peace of their kingdoms in order to keep the continent safe.
These three things were what secured the safety of the empire.
But, paradoxically, it also led to the rot of the empire. The mutual agreement between the imperial family and the ancient kings was known only to them, the involved parties. But, feeling safe in the knowledge that the minimum safety of the empire had been secured, the emperors and some of the members of the imperial family became haughty, the arrogance reaching the high heavens. As time passed, some noble families also learned of the secret, and also occupied key positions in the Center.
That was when all the problems started. It didn’t take long for the roots of the empire to decay, and for the empire’s honor to be sullied.
In the annals of history, there had been other times when the empire faced one crisis or the other, but each time, with luck on their side, they were able to overcome the crisis. For that reason, and because they had the protection of the contract with the Lord God, they let the same crises occur time and again. With this, the empire became irrevocably corrupted. The only threat they ever faced was the monsters. This was why they gave the northeast and the south so many troops, as well as special privileges. If there were no monsters, the empire would not face collapse, nor would the safety of the Center be threatened.
It was because of these complacent thoughts that the empire became moth-eaten, rotten to its core.
“Now that the duty of the Imperial family has been finished, it is right to remove their authority.”
“That’s right. We have all awakened now. That means that we have all been chosen by the Lord God.”
“It is only fair that those with skill and talent get promoted.”
These thoughts did not remain among the citizens alone; they soon spread to the soldiers that were under the nobles’ faction too. As the collapse of the empire began and those soldiers awakened powers, discontent soon started to foment among them. They did not want to remain low ranking soldiers any more.
“We can also become knights now, can’t we?”
“Yes, we can. What does it even matter if we do not have the talent for mana? We already have these skills.”
A soldier held a flame on his palm as he said.
Having awakened, the soldiers had no desire to continue bumming around for the rest of their lives. This was their opportunity to increase their status and rankings.
As such thoughts spread no one wanted to maintain the system of hierarchies that divided people into nobles and commoners. And to do so, they had to take away the authority of the imperial family, those who reaped the very best fruits of that hierarchy.
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[The Fall of the Imperial Family]
An article in the morning papers explained everything about the current situation. A mere few days after Iron returned to the capital, public opinion completely moved to side with the reformists.
Actually, before he came, the people had thought that any big reforms would be hard to carry out because of the nobles and the members of the imperial family that had returned to the capital. The commanders had agreed to follow the late emperor’s will, but they had all returned to their regions, and the nobles once again became the dominant power in the Centre. The reformists had resisted and continued to push for the establishment of the parliament, but everyone had thought that the reformists would have to settle for a compromise eventually.
But in the middle of that, Iron returned.
The only command in the entire empire that was free at the moment was the Mobile Field Army command, and now their commander had returned to the capital to personally represent all of the military in making sure that the late emperor’s will was followed to the T.
With both justification and military forces on his side, the Center had no other choice but to yield. After all, the citizens and most of the officials had chosen to side with the military, instead of with the imperial family and the high-ranking nobles.
“Things are becoming interesting.”
Iron smiled brightly, as he stood before a window, the height of the building allowing him to see a complete view of the entire capital.
The people had used their own strength to make certain of the fall of the imperial family. In the midst of several threats, the people of the capital had realized that they were no longer safe, and had developed a fighting spirit. As that spirit grew inside them, instead of just wanting to be safe, they became filled with a fierce desire to become stronger. And at the same time, they naturally began to think that people who were strong or skilled were the ones who should be in high positions.
No matter how the nobles and the imperial family tried, they could not stop those thoughts from spreading. Especially now that everyone had awakened, and weren’t just regular humans.
“Well… there are a few problems with the way things are currently… but it’s much better than the way things were before.”
Just as there are various problems in a capitalist society, there would also be many problems in the society that people wanted to create now. But at the very least, it would still be better than a highly stratified, caste-driven society.
Knock knock!
A man entered through the door, just after the sound of knocking came.
“How are things outside?”
“There are no big problems.”
Cardro, leader of the 22nd Corps, replied with a bored look on his face.
“They are quieter than I’d thought.”
Iron felt it odd that the nobles remained so quiet. If things were left to continue as they were going, they would have not an iota of power left to speak of. That they were yet to make any moves made Iron puzzled.
“Even the imperial family?”
“Yes, sir. By the look of it, they seem to be having a lot of internal problems.”
Upon hearing that, Iron found it understandable. With the soldiers of the nobles and imperial family faction now awakened, several problems had emerged in their faction. The desire to advance was, after all, something that all humans had.
“They could make a sudden move, so continue to keep an eye on them.”
“Yes, sir!”
Cardro bowed his head as he responded. Iron glanced at him before raising a wine bottle.
“Since you have nothing to do, shall we have some wine?”
“Oh! That sounds good!”
Cardro looked at Iron who was holding the antique-looking wine bottle excitedly, and immediately took a seat. Iron chuckled at his excitement, took out two wine glasses, and then opened the bottle.
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As the commander of the Mobile Field Army and his corp commander leisurely drank from their glasses, the capital was frenetic. As the calls for the parliament to be established and the imperial family members stripped of their power spread like wildfire throughout the empire, people continued spilling into the capital.
Originally, the nobles had wanted to send the capital guards and defense troops they had bribed to go suppress the people. They wanted to exhaust the reformists and people who had come to protest against the nobles and imperial family through confrontations with their bribed men, forcing them to come to the negotiation table of their own accord.
However, all those plans turned to dust because of Iron.
If Iron had come alone, who knew if things would have been different. But Iron had brought his troops with him.
The 22nd corps of the Mobile Field Army, two divisions of drake knights under the command of the Mobile Field Army, one division of the Mobile Field Army’s air force, two divisions of the Knights Order and one division of the Magician Army.
If the 22nd corps was excluded, the number of troops was not so large. But the problem was that every single one of them was an elite, seasoned fighter. They had gone through several battles, causing their overall level to rise at a frightening speed.
To add to that, the Mobile Field Army had something unique from the other armies, and that was two techniques that were special to them alone. Even before mass awakening happened, they had each received an ability while disposing of the monsters they’d faced. But then after the awakening, they had gotten yet another ability.
But were they unable to use mana? That was not true either. To be part of the Mobile Field Army, they were all able to utilize mana. So on top of their mana, they now all possessed two more abilities……
“Monsters…”
The capital defense troops mumbled as they watched the soldiers of the 22nd corps.
Once the weakest field army in the whole of the empire, they had now transformed into the army with the greatest potential among all the commands. No one doubted that with just a little more time, they would truly become the strongest army in the empire. At the moment, some people even thought that Iron himself had already surpassed the two family heads who were battling for the title of strongest in the empire.
As it was, neither capital defense troops nor the guards even dared to mess with the troops of the Mobile Field Army.
Clang clang!
“In a month, we will formally discuss the establishment of a parliament.”
The minister of finance, still serving as the interim prime minister, formally announced the discussion in the Great Hall, as he was now the highest authority in the absence of the emperor.
While the reformists cheered greatly, the nobles and the members of the imperial family released deep sighs.
Public opinion was already inclined towards the formation of the parliament, and the military and high level officials had turned their backs on them. Even the compromise they had offered was rejected. Because of Iron and the threat he represented, the nobles and imperial family had united, setting aside their different factions, in order to resist Iron. But they were still defeated in the end.
What was left now was for each of them to find their own ways to make a living.
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The revolution happening in the strongest empire continent had a domino effect. Once news of the revolution hit every region of the continent, movements immediately began in the Alliance of Southern Kingdoms and in the Holy Alliance in the west.
Although they could not become awakened because of the wrong choice they’d made by following the ancient and external gods, the people of these regions felt that they could also not miss out on the revolution.
There were several forgotten ancient gods on the continent, just as there were several external gods who had lost their powers or had been forgotten too. People who had made contracts with such gods inevitably became discontent.
[We want a society based on strength!]
This was the cry of the reformists as they roamed through the Alliance of Southern Kingdoms. Even if they could not have complete reform like in the empire, these reformists wanted to at least create a meritocracy. They wanted this despite knowing that problems might emerge.
The alliance had an even more oppressive caste system than the empire. The reformists felt that the only way to break out of that was if their society was based on merits, on people’s own strength.
Of course people in the Holy Alliance also wanted this to. They wanted to reorganize their society based on individual strengths, and not based on the rankings of the strengths of the external gods.
A tide of change spread through the three powers that dominated the continent.
A revolution was about to begin.
