After finishing his private meeting with the Second Prince’s lackey, Kaon headed straight for the Crown Prince’s palace.
Somehow, cleaning up matters at the imperial palace was proving busier than commanding a war.
But he did not find it troublesome in the slightest.
Just as a farmer who obtains seed plants it in the ground, Kaon intended to sow seeds of his own.
By the standards of this other world, the author was something close to a divine being, and now that he had intervened, the Crown Prince was certain to die.
If the author wanted to torment Kaon, the succession had to be thrown into uncertainty before a confrontation with the Second Prince could truly take shape.
As long as the Crown Prince remained alive, there would be no reason for Kaon to fight the Second Prince at all, which would make the author’s act of throwing him into this world pointless.
He had to draw the larger picture on the assumption that the Crown Prince would die.
‘Plant the impression that the Crown Prince’s faction is favorably disposed toward me.’
No matter how much of a reckless wastrel the Third Prince had been in the original novel, his relationship with the Crown Prince had never been particularly bad.
The only reason that wastrel had survived until the end was because of his eldest brother’s protection.
Of course, Kaon did not expect the Crown Prince’s faction to be moved by this and immediately switch sides.
It would be enough to plant a certain impression in public opinion and make it clear that the Third Prince genuinely cared about the Crown Prince.
Several nobles had gathered in the Crown Prince’s palace.
Duke Langpine was among them.
In the lavish bedroom, the Crown Prince lay gaunt and pale.
Kaon immediately rushed to his side and tightly clasped his hand.
“Brother!”
“Youngest…… you came?”
Kaon, the youngest prince.
There was Princess Sharon beneath the Third Prince in birth order, but the Crown Prince had always called Kaon the youngest.
Among the male siblings, Kaon was indeed the last born, so it was not exactly wrong.
And in any family, the youngest child was special.
If that youngest brother wept openly over his elder brother’s grave illness, anyone’s heart would be moved.
“Please, get up! I’m scared to death!”
“Ha ha…… You fool.”
“If not you, who is going to protect me? My dream was to live peacefully while wasting your money.”
“I do not think I have much hope left.”
“Who gave you permission to die? Wait for me. There may be some secret art of revival in the north. I will find medicinal herbs and have Sharon use her alchemy to make medicine. Please, you have to hold on for at least a year.”
Kaon spoke sincerely.
It was such a blunt thing to say to the Crown Prince that it almost sounded inappropriate, but to anyone watching, it looked like a younger brother making an extraordinary resolve to save his elder brother.
It was an act.
And yet, it was also sincere.
If his life were not under threat, there would be no reason for him to take on the headache of becoming emperor.
Part of him truly wanted to live leisurely, travel through this other world, and explore it.
The Crown Prince turned his head and looked at Kaon.
“I will…… wait for you.”
“Yes, Brother!”
Once the Crown Prince fell asleep, Kaon rose from his seat.
Then he looked toward Duke Langpine.
“Every decision I have made until now has been sincere. The burden of ruling as emperor must be carried by my brother. If imperial authority is handed to the greed-filled Second Prince, the Empire will undoubtedly be torn apart.”
“…….”
The air in the room grew heavy.
They still were not used to this suddenly changed Kaon.
‘So he hid his true nature because all he wanted was to live freely.’
‘To think he cast aside such intelligence and pretended to be a wastrel. Could it have been to strengthen His Highness the Crown Prince’s position……?’
Even Duke Langpine found himself thinking along those lines, so Kaon’s political maneuvering(?) seemed to be working fairly well.
The nobles of the Crown Prince’s faction still looked only half-convinced, but Kaon’s declaration that he would find medicine somehow had sounded genuine.
Duke Langpine could only bow his head.
“The bond between brothers is so deep that I hardly know how to express my gratitude.”
“My brother looks like he is about to die. What younger brother could simply stand by? I will save him no matter what, then go live in some quiet corner of the countryside and spend my days traveling. Duke, you should also search for any possible way to cure him.”
“I obey.”
Kaon turned and left.
Duke Langpine and the other nobles stared after him for quite some time.
***
The Crown Prince lay in bed.
He still had not regained consciousness.
He had awakened briefly to see his younger brother, but he would likely remain unconscious for at least another day.
The nobles of the Crown Prince’s faction left the palace and gathered for a light drinking session.
The sudden deterioration of the next emperor’s health had placed everyone who followed him in an extremely difficult position.
They could hardly sleep without drinking.
They all knew that if the Second Prince ascended the throne, they would likely be purged.
And now the Third Prince had appeared.
He had completely cast aside his foolish past, achieved an enormous military victory, and returned.
Everything about him had changed, from his tone of voice to the look in his eyes.
“What do you all think?”
Duke Langpine asked the other nobles for their opinions.
“His Highness the Third Prince was sincere.”
“Why do you think so?”
“When my father died, my younger brother wore exactly that expression.”
At the chief of staff’s words, the other nobles nodded in agreement.
He let out a sigh before continuing.
“I believe he was also sincere when he said he wanted nothing more than to live leisurely while wasting imperial wealth. He probably intended to wait only until he came of age, then leave the imperial palace immediately and obtain some small piece of land.”
The Third Prince had the eyes of an adventurer who longed to explore the world.
Mercenaries and travelers often had the same look.
He had yearned for freedom and endured until now for its sake.
The depth of his calculations was beyond imagination.
They had seen another side of the Third Prince.
Of course, none of them said they should immediately switch allegiance to him.
The Crown Prince was still young.
He might yet recover and rise from his bed.
Duke Langpine also knew it was far too early to speak of such things.
“Just as His Highness the Third Prince said, let us search for a cure. That is the path by which we survive.”
***
Three thousand soldiers were lined up before Brontia’s northern gate.
Every one of them wore a sour expression, and the newly assigned knights looked as though they were marching to their deaths.
Their ranks were uneven, and their weapons came in all shapes and sizes.
Their uniforms were so old and patched in so many places that the entire force looked like a rabble.
Sir Mitchell saw them and immediately lost his temper.
“What kind of damned bastard does something like this!? Is this not too much?”
“Keep your voice down. The soldiers can hear you.”
“This is ridiculous! We are heading to that dangerous backwater, and what are we supposed to accomplish with a rabble like this?”
“Use them as instructors.”
“Haa…… Even so.”
Kaon silenced the complaining knights.
None of them understood the true value of retired soldiers.
Could the experience of men who had served twenty years in the army really be shallow?
They had probably been through every kind of battlefield.
The same was true of knights nearing retirement.
Their bodies might have aged, but their experience had not disappeared.
‘Just having Sir Chester, one of the previous generation’s Masters, with us more than compensates for every unreasonable condition.’
There were likely political reasons why Sir Chester had been sent north.
From Kaon’s perspective, however, it felt like discovering a gold mine.
There were three thousand soldiers, and with their families included, the total came to fifteen thousand people.
Perhaps the deputy commander still possessed a shred of conscience, because Kaon did not complain about the three thousand sturdy horses and two thousand mules they had been given.
At least they would not have to suffer the disaster of walking all the way to the north.
Kaon did not pressure the soldiers who had been forced to leave.
If he started lecturing them about discipline while dragging them off to a remote northern backwater, controlling them would only become much harder.
“So you are leaving now.”
“Marquis Weiss.”
“I came on official business. I tried to prepare as much as possible for you. Is there anything lacking?”
“Thanks to your attention, everything is in order.”
“Ha ha ha. I am glad to hear it.”
His great-uncle, Marquis Weiss.
He claimed he had come on official business, but naturally, it was personal.
He could easily have left supply matters to subordinates.
Kaon stepped away from the knights and walked for a while with Marquis Weiss.
“You came rather late. I thought you would visit me last night.”
“The survival of the family is at stake. It took me some time to decide.”
“You have always been a man who puts the family first, Great-Uncle.”
“…….”
Kaon meant it as a barb, but for Marquis Weiss, who had spent decades rolling through politics, something this mild caused no damage at all.
“Your Highness is not yet at the stage where you should openly reveal your faction, so I will work beneath the surface for now. If you can bring the Northern Army completely under your control and draw several neutral nobles to your side, I will spare no support.”
“So it is conditional?”
“Yes.”
That was not bad.
If Kaon could not bring the Northern Army under his control, there was no future to plan for anyway.
He needed not merely to seize military power but to cultivate even stronger troops.
Only after obtaining both political influence and economic power would he be able to persuade the various nobles to support his challenge.
Marquis Weiss’s conditions might have seemed cold-blooded, but that was simply the nature of nobles in this era.
Most of them were willing to risk their lives for their houses.
The imperial family itself was, in the broadest sense, just another house.
Underlying it all was the belief that only when the family prospered could the individual be happy.
‘That must be why he became such a powerful minister even after sacrificing his own niece.’
In any case, this was tremendous progress.
The old Marquis Weiss would have looked at the Third Prince as if he were garbage.
“Very well. In return, I promise glory for the family.”
“That is enough.”
Marquis Weiss bowed deeply and withdrew.
Once the column began moving, Kaon finally felt the tension leaving his body.
‘Forget central politics for a while.’
“This looks more like a column of refugees than an army.”
“Take good care of them anyway. They will become our people.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Kaon understood the knights’ complaints.
Without knowing the original novel inside and out as he did, anyone would feel as though they were being exiled to the north.
Contrary to their fears, however, the column moved quickly.
The deputy commander might have deliberately selected the rabble, but Marquis Weiss had handled the supplies.
He would never prepare carelessly for a prince’s party that included his grandniece and someone he might eventually choose to support.
The horses were strong, and the mules were young.
They had been given more than enough food as well, so no one was likely to fall behind along the way.
When evening came, they arranged the wagons in a circle to form a barricade, then established camp.
An attack this close to the capital seemed unlikely, but there was no harm in being cautious.
After finishing dinner and waiting until the night deepened, Kaon took a jar of liquor.
The most valuable person in the entire column.
If he could win the loyalty of Sir Chester, one of the previous generation’s Masters, then not only could Kaon learn swordsmanship from him, he could also raise a powerful knight order.
Kaon knew exactly how to persuade him.