The Urgalia Empire is a great power counted among the five strongest on the continent, and its territory stretches across a hundred and twenty provinces.
Since a single province can raise about three thousand troops, that puts the Empire’s mobilization capacity at three hundred and sixty thousand.
Mind you, that figure of three thousand per province is “the number of soldiers you can call up without straining anything,” so if the whole country went to total war, it could scrape together double that – six thousand per province.
In other words, if the Empire really wanted to, it could raise a grand army of over seven hundred thousand.
The region generally labeled “the northern continent” covers three hundred provinces, but no great power there rivals the Urgalia Empire. Not rivals it – there isn’t even a country holding sixty provinces, which is half of what the Empire has.
You could honestly say the Urgalia Empire reigns as the undisputed champion of the northern continent.
This time, the Kingdom of Selseta, which ended up as the enemy, holds thirty provinces. As for Ney’s tribe, they don’t even control a single province, so if it came to a head-on clash, the Empire would win for sure.
In other words, this battle was a guaranteed victory, and perfect for showcasing the new Emperor’s first campaign – that was the claim Duke Inserm made at the war council held in the imperial palace.
The Inserm ducal house was a noble house among noble houses, founded by the elder brother of the third Emperor, and the current head, Karmark, was one of the leading figures representing the Noble Clans.
For that matter, Duke Inserm was the noble who had backed the second prince – the one who died in the recent rebellion. If the second prince had taken the throne, the seat of Empire Chancellor would without a doubt have gone to Duke Inserm.
Naturally, or maybe inevitably, he and the current Chancellor, Marquis Gram, were like cats and dogs, and he didn’t exactly look kindly on me either, since I was Gram’s pick.
And now here was Duke Inserm passionately insisting, “This battle is a fitting first campaign for His Majesty the Emperor!” – which made the whole thing reek of suspicion, to put it mildly.
With no way of knowing what was going on inside my head, Duke Inserm went on in an easy, unhurried tone.
”According to reports, the flag of Selseta flies over the enemy camp. Most likely the King of Selseta himself is leading the troops. With the King on campaign in person, enemy morale must be quite high. In that sense as well, I believe His Majesty’s personal leadership is essential,” Duke Inserm declared to the council.
With that, Duke Inserm gave Marquis Gram a meaningful look.
Duke Inserm’s hair, once golden, had turned to a white close to silver after he passed fifty, but nothing else about him suggested age. The gaze he fixed on Marquis Gram was strong, sharp, and full of a piercing force.
In response, Marquis Gram glanced at Duke Inserm and then spoke.
”His Majesty has not yet completed the rite of adulthood. Per protocol, taking him to the battlefield is premature. If anything were to happen to His Majesty on the field, it could never be undone,” Marquis Gram replied firmly.
”Of course, having asked His Majesty to lead the campaign in person, I would never sit idle in the capital. Unworthy as I am, I, Karmark, shall remain at His Majesty’s side as his aide. The finest warriors of Inserm, who have long served as the shield of the imperial house, will surround His Majesty. I doubt even a one in ten thousand chance exists that His Majesty would take a wound—what say you, Marquis Gram?” Duke Inserm countered smoothly.
Duke Inserm kept piling on the words, stubbornly pushing for me to take the field.
The Duke’s aim was probably to separate me, the Emperor, from Marquis Gram by dragging me onto the battlefield.
The source of Marquis Gram’s power was having me, the Emperor, in his corner. So if you cut the Emperor off from him, Gram’s power ought to collapse all at once.
Even if he tried to get close to me in the imperial palace, the people around me were all Chancellor’s men, so it never went well.
But on a battlefield – and especially if he were serving as the Emperor’s aide – he could be by my side around the clock. Once he had contact, for a Duke who’d been through a thousand battles and a thousand schemes, winning over a kid like me would be no trouble at all. At least, that must have been what Duke Inserm was thinking.
And what if the Chancellor, wary of Duke Inserm, came along on the campaign?
In that case, he could scheme freely in the capital with both the Emperor and Chancellor gone, and if he felt like it, he could even strike the Chancellor from behind while he was fighting the Selseta army. If that happened, I’d be right there with the Chancellor and wouldn’t get off easy either – but Duke Inserm was the leader of the Noble Clans, who honored bloodline above all.
I might carry imperial blood, but my mother’s status was low. There was no need to wonder what the Duke thought of me at this point.
- This just got messy.
Sitting silent in the palace council room, sizing up Duke Inserm’s intentions, I sighed on the inside.
I knew a first campaign would come eventually, but I hadn’t predicted being sent out before adulthood. Well, even calling it a first campaign, it wasn’t like I’d be swinging a sword on the front lines – but still, just thinking about going to a battlefield made my balls crawl up inside me.
If the enemy launched a surprise attack, I was confident I’d run around in a blind panic.
I glanced at the Chancellor.
Naturally, the Chancellor had to have read Duke Inserm’s aim too. If the Chancellor simply refused my personal campaign to the end, Duke Inserm wouldn’t be able to push any further.
After all, the most powerful man in the imperial palace right now was the Chancellor. Even Duke Inserm of the Noble Clans would want to avoid a decisive break with him.
At times like this, that stern face, like an imposing fortress wall, was reassuring.
…And then, exactly three seconds later, I got a firsthand lesson in how naive I was.
”- Hmm. Per protocol, if Duke Inserm, shield of the imperial house, insists so strongly, I cannot very well brush aside his proposal,” the Chancellor stated.
The moment the Chancellor said it, the air in the council room rippled. The Chancellor, known for his ruthless skill, almost never put someone else’s opinion ahead of his own.
The nobles and generals in attendance exchanged startled looks with the people sitting to their left and right. The most surprised of all was the one who’d made the proposal – Duke Inserm.
He must never have expected the Chancellor to accept his proposal without even a real round of bargaining. Open confusion was written on the silver-haired Duke’s face.
I was observing it like it was someone else’s problem, but of course I was surprised too. Still, the reason my expression didn’t shift like Duke Inserm’s was that the shock was so deep it had gone all the way around and settled into calm.
Ah, so that’s how it is – that kind of feeling.
Having completely seized control of the meeting, the Chancellor didn’t give Duke Inserm time to regroup and started deciding the assignments.
”I will leave His Majesty’s support to Duke Inserm. The Empire forces sent out will be the First through Fifth Armies, and I intend to entrust overall command to General Oswald,” the Chancellor declared.
Hearing that, the people present let out gasps of surprise again.
The Urgalia Empire’s standing army is made up of seven legions, the First through Seventh, but since the Sixth mainly guards the highways and the Seventh mainly trains recruits, the actual fighting force is the First through Fifth.
The Chancellor had just said he would send out all of that fighting force.
General Oswald, who was given command, was the general of the First Army, and a veteran among veterans who had served the Empire since the reign of the great Emperor Cassius two generations back. He was effectively the supreme general, and his fame and influence within the military surpassed the Chancellor’s – even the Emperor’s wouldn’t measure up.
Incidentally, just like Duke Inserm, he and the Chancellor were like cats and dogs. As proof, when the Chancellor suddenly named him, he bent his thick, white-streaked brows into a look of clear annoyance.
Then one of the people in attendance, unable to hide their surprise, questioned the Chancellor.
”You’re sending out all five armies, the First through the Fifth? Then the defense of the imperial capital could be neglected. And if Duke Inserm serves as His Majesty’s aide while General Oswald takes overall command, where do you intend to be, Lord Chancellor?” one attendee interjected.
”Regarding force composition, it is arranged so His Majesty’s first campaign may achieve perfect victory. Per regulation, the Sixth and Seventh remain, so capital defense is assured. With Duke Inserm and General Oswald present, I shall remain in the capital to secure His Majesty’s rear,” the Chancellor responded smoothly.
The moment the Chancellor said it, the council room stirred for a third time.
It wasn’t a voice calling the Chancellor a coward for not going to the battlefield. The Chancellor had never been a hero of the field to begin with, and looking at his past record, you could say he had zero military achievements in battle.
For the sake of a unified chain of command, there might be people who appreciated that the Chancellor wasn’t sticking his nose onto the battlefield, but no one blamed him for it.
What startled the attendees was that the Chancellor had handed the Emperor – the jewel in his palm, me – completely over to Duke Inserm.
What on earth was the Chancellor thinking?
Nobles and generals alike – dozens of gazes turned toward the Chancellor from every corner of the council room, but the man himself took them without moving so much as an eyebrow, not letting the attendees glimpse even a pebble’s worth of insight.
Duke Inserm, too, had gotten his proposal for the Emperor’s personal campaign accepted, and could even achieve his goal of splitting the Emperor from the Chancellor, so he wasn’t about to object to the Chancellor’s assignments.
And so, at the tender age of eleven, I found myself headed into my first campaign.
Trivia:
- The narrator’s calm reaction to being handed over to Inserm is framed as shock so deep it circled back to stillness, hinting he already senses the Chancellor is playing a deeper game.
- The Chancellor’s odd choice to send every fighting army out while staying behind himself quietly strips Inserm of any chance to scheme in the capital, turning the Duke’s own trap back on him.
- Oswald being named commander matters because his fame and influence outstrip even the Chancellor’s, meaning the Emperor’s safety on campaign may rest on a man who answers to no faction.