106 – Maxburg True Education (10)

At the end of my words, the minister of heraldry and the king of the Northern Alliance turned their attention to the duke.

After a while, the duke let out a big sigh and said.

“Minister of Ministry of Culture, please tell His Majesty the Emperor first. I am sorry that I lost my honor as the electorate by using tricks to defeat the one who is likely to become the greatest enemy of the Empire in the future.”

“I’ll let you know.”

“And Count Kreuttel, what are you going to do with Lothringen?”

“I’m not interested in Lothringen. Of course I’ll give it back.”

“That’s right… Thank you. Here’s the condition I propose. Including the payment for the disgraceful behavior as a nobleman, the price of war, and the ransom… I will hand over the entire eastern province of Lothringen.”

Everyone’s eyes widened at those words.

In the eastern province of Lothringen, there are a free city with a population of over 20,000 and two smaller cities, with a total of 200,000 people living in them.

In addition, there is a wide Main River flowing through it, and it is a place that can accommodate up to 500,000 people depending on the pioneer.

Seeing the duke give such land as if tossing it around, the Minister of Communications asked in a surprised voice as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Your Highness, no matter how much it is, the entire eastern region of Lothringen.

“That’s right. But in this war, I committed many dishonours, and I was greatly defeated. So I have to compensate for that much.”

“Of course, since it is the domain of His Highness, His Majesty, His Majesty will not object. No, rather, if he sees us paying such a great price as an atonement, he will understand our sincerity.”

Seeing as they readily agreed, the Emperor must have instructed the Minister of War to pull out the duke’s molars.

If not, no matter how much negotiations are conducted after defeat, the granting of a territory the size of a county to me cannot be passed without a word of objection.

Even though he was a duke who was defeated by an overwhelming margin, if he believed in what he gave him and ate it, he would hear the sound of a rare idiot.

Because there must be some ulterior motive to give it up.

And the plot is obvious.

He must be thinking that he can buy time while I rebuild the almost completely destroyed area of Lorthringen, and that if he recovers his strength and enters in alliance with Franchi, he can even swallow the county of Nantes.

Also, when persuading the emperor, he will say obvious things.

“Your Majesty, even though I have done something dishonorable, it is all for the sake of your Majesty. Because if the Kreutel grows bigger, it will obviously cause great concern to Romania. While we rebuild eastern Lorthringen, we will join forces with Franchi to conquer Kreutel and ease your worries.”

After that, I’ll dedicate a county from my own territory to the emperor and gulp Nantes.

“Minister, I don’t need a manor.”

“Then what do you intend to receive?”

“I want a fair reward for winning the war, and I also ask for compensation for the damage done.”

The emperor, who had already spoken with me, nodded his head with a happy expression on his face, and the minister and duke looked surprised at the completely unexpected answer.

“Here is a report summarizing the damage I suffered and the cost of dealing with it. Please read it, Your Highness the Duke.”

“Okay.”

The Duke quickly snatched the report I handed him from his hand and began to read it.

When I first read the report, I read it with a relaxed expression, but my expression gradually darkened.

By the time I turned the last chapter, my face had become the color of mud.

His expression and complexion were similar to those of an unemployed man who put the money he borrowed from debentures into stocks and lost everything. Isn’t that why he really dies of stress before he pays the reparation?

Then the duke, perhaps forgetting that there is a foreign emperor higher than himself here, got up from his seat and grabbed me by the collar and said,

“Ciel von Kreuttel! There’s even a handful of them. Compensation for 200,000 gold coins!! No matter how great the damage to the port, it shouldn’t have been that much loss!”

He sees me and frowns and protests, but from my point of view now, His Highness the Duke is just a cute piggy bank.

Because the duke can never kill me here, and I already have that report full of justifications to rip off the duke.

Of course, there are various schemes to extort as much money as possible and put the duchy in debt like post-World War I Germany, but in extreme predicament, you won’t be able to find the fraud in the papers… Your Highness the Duke .

Thinking like that, even if I get caught by the collar, I somehow feel relaxed.

So I spoke in a soft and gentle voice as much as possible to drive our Hogang, who is confused by this situation, into even greater confusion and fear.

“Your Highness, the duke, you speak harshly. How can you discredit my honor as an earl without any legitimate grounds like this in front of His Majesty the King of the North and His Excellency the Minister of War… If anything, it’s the will of His Majesty the Emperor, your lord. Couldn’t it be misunderstood that this is what you think?”

At that, the duke released his hand from my collar, shoved me roughly, and returned to his seat.

“First of all, the warehouse that was set on fire by the criminal organization that broke in last time contained 60 tons of sugar, various musical instruments, and artworks that were originally planned to be exported to the Northern Alliance. The combined income and alimony amounts to more than 70,000 gold coins. Also, the citizens of Blueport were not a little concerned about the poor people who caused this incident. 60,000 gold coins were spent on housing, housing, and job placement. 10,000 gold coins were spent to expand the guards to protect the citizens of our territory who were trembling in anxiety, etc… A total of 150,000 were spent, and the remaining 50,000 were paid for damages. It is limited alimony.”

After my words were over, the duke was so shocked that he could not speak, and the emperor of the north looked at me and said,

“50,000 alimony is not a small amount, but if it’s an amount equivalent to 1/4 of what you lost, it’s appropriate. Or rather, you can say that he showed mercy, son-in-law!”

“Because the Bible says to hate sin, but not people.”

“The decision to marry my daughter to you was the best decision of my life! I would envy her to be the wife of such a benevolent and powerful man.”

“It is an honour.”

That’s what he said, but of course the Emperor of the North’s thoughts would be different from this.

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Maybe if I eat Maxburg and weaken it, he’ll be happy to use it as an excuse to secure a larger territory in Romania? Father-in-law.

“Yes, son-in-law. Then, how much money do you plan to receive for the victory?”

“300,000 gold coins. I think this much should be received as a ransom for the citizens living in Lothringen, members of noble families, and 1,000 captured knights, as well as for ending the war. What do you think, Your Highness the Duke?”

The word is the question, the duke will never be able to shave this, and he will never even attempt to shave it.

In a situation in which prestige has been exhausted due to being defeated so ridiculously easily, if you even cut the price for the duty to protect your vassals and their families, you are on a direct train to ruin.

If that happens, the vassals will turn to us, His Majesty of the North, or other Elector Counts with their territories.

So the duke gave up everything and said with a liberated expression.

“500,000 gold coins, I’ll pay them all…”

“Minister of Text, if you look at this contract as a representative of the emperor of Romania, is there any part that is not fair?”

The minister of sentences also nodded in agreement with my words.

“All right. Then… what does His Majesty want to receive as a just reward for participating in this war and shedding blood?”

At that, the emperor pointed to the barony of Mainz and Linz on the map spread out on the desk and said,

“I want to take Mainz and Linz.”

Even if there are two territories occupied by the emperor, Mainz and Linz, maintaining Mainz is the limit with only 10,000…

And obviously, if the negotiations don’t go well, between Mainz and Linz, I’ll give up the Linz barony as patronage and take Mainz.

Sure enough, the duke jumped up and raised his voice to the emperor.

“Your Majesty, what kind of ghosts are you talking about! Mainz and Linz?! Your Majesty only brought 10,000 soldiers in! And without even proclaiming a marriage alliance with the Count!”

However, the emperor, like a professional politician who knows how to throw away his conscience for the sake of his country and territory, responded with a more conscienceless story.

“No, didn’t my daughter say she couldn’t come for some reason, Duke. And I already occupied Mainz and Linz, isn’t it just a matter of acknowledging sovereignty as it is?”

“There is evidence that you have entered into a marriage alliance, so it’s not like you came in without a justification, but that doesn’t mean I can’t give you both Mainz and Linz.”

“Minister of Text, what do you think?”

The minister of sentences heard that and said with a sigh.

“What the Duke said has some basis. Also, since you didn’t announce the marriage relationship anyway, you came in on your own. Considering this point, take only one of Mainz or Linz.”

“To think that I had to bargain for the territory I occupied in the battle I participated in for my son-in-law… I’m really good at selling myself. That’s good, then I’ll take the Barony of Mainz and Salzhaven attached to it. Do you agree, Duke?”

The duke rolled his eyes up and down and left and right, as if shaking his head for a moment, then spoke.

“Good, good. You do that.”

Then, I looked at the minister of sentences and said.

“Minister, then please fill out the oath now.”

The minister wrote the contents of our agreement on four sheets of paper without making a single mistake.

After checking all of them, I left only the corners of the four pieces of paper slightly protruding and stamped them with four people.

And when the corners of the paper were aligned, the four seals came out in perfect shape.

With this, a treaty of compensation and territorial transfer was now concluded.

After that, the Duke, His Majesty, and the Minister of Texts and I ate the food I had prepared and dispersed each other.

It was a really dizzy day to the point where I had no mind at all.