So the Medieval Age Has a Split Inheritance System…
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Derpy
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 13 – Justification
After promising Linde-san to meet her again, I returned to my territory, Fentz county, and a few days passed uneventfully. I visited the church and talked nonsense with the vicious goddess. Despite what she had said and done, the fact that she still accompanied a mere human for conversation showed she was truly a goddess. Everything else about her was garbage though.
The people who’ve become my vassals are useless fellows. Why should I choose members of the council from among them?
[“Ehe, you’re so unpopular that it’s funny for me. That prime minister candidate had a total ability score of three, complete trash. Rather, asking to be a diplomatic candidate despite being unable to even write properly, was that supposed to be a gag?”]
I’m begging you, please give me some useful characteristics or convenient points I could earn every time I visit for worship, like a god apostle.
[“There’s no login bonus here, and I wouldn’t such give cheat-like characteristic of becoming a god’s apostle to a person like you.”]
Counts and above had their respective councils. They generally consisted of a prime minister, a diplomat, a judge, a steward, a tax collector, a marshal, and a chief spy – and they were usually selected among their vassals of lower rank. Since I was a count, it meant that I would have to choose among my barons.
By the way, my brother Wagner was a candidate for the next marshal of Emperor Paulus IV. What the heck is up with him? Once he became the marshal of the empire, he would be able to mobilize the empire’s troops to some extent, and I wouldn’t stand a chance at winning the war of independence in that case.
The members of Wagner’s council were people he inherited from our father, so he wasn’t lacking there either. Alfred had a ton of capable maids with him, so there were those who could do the duty of councilmen.
On the other hand, Fentz county’s council was filled with incompetent barons. By modern people’s standards, that is. No matter how educated they were, it just felt… lacking. The only one who seemed suitable was Baron Harting, who was excellent with military affairs so I gave him the position of marshal, but I couldn’t have him hold another position on top of that.
[“Rather, do you see me as a goddess who would give such characteristics to subordinates?”]
Not at all. There’s no way a vile and wicked goddess with such a defiled mind would do such a thing.
[“…Hey, just ask me one wish. I will make it come true.”]
My words stuck when the goddess asked after my wish. I doubted that she would actually fulfill it… but I would speak honestly anyway.
I want about 50 million yen worth of money for territory development.
[“I see… I understand.
…
Thank you for participating in the questionnaire survey. See you again next week.”]
Aah, damn it. I knew it would be like that, you shitty goddess. Go to hell.
When I honestly told her my desires, the goddess ran away. Even though she said she would fulfill it, the fact that she didn’t even bother to pretend and betray my expectations was as expected of an evil god. I didn’t have other forms of entertainment so I visited to form a good relationship with the church faction, but if I had no such need I think I would have never visited again.
Anyway, I finished making donations to the church and gathering information aside from making conversation with the goddess. Joachim Hars, the count who owned two counties, seemed to be busy suppressing a peasant uprising that he had trouble purchasing justification for from the church. And David Reuter, the count with three counties, had practically confirmed that he would invade me.
At the age of 17, David Reuter, who was active in wars, received Reuter county as his territory. Since then, he had steadily expanded his territory and he was now the closest man to the title of Duke Deal. He had four sons, so upon his death, his territory would be split down to the 3rd son, with each receiving one county.
If things continued as they were, it was almost certain that David Reuter would try to earn justification to conquer Fentz county. I had no idea how much money was being used to purchase justification.
In the future, David would try to conquer Fentz county through war using the justification he bought, but I didn’t have any justification to “conquer the territory under David” even if I won the war. I could ask him to pay reparations, but it would be difficult to recover the blood shed during war.
However, once David attacked me, I would have justification to kill him in defense. If I managed to kill him during the war, his territories would automatically split apart. Since a count couldn’t serve a count, the other sons wouldn’t serve the eldest son and instead become an independent count on their own. Since the Reuter family only had 3 counties, they would be totally torn apart. After that, I could just reap the rest of the rewards. The third son also wasn’t an adult like me after all.
So it was just a matter of whether I could kill David. The opponent owned 3 counties. If he mobilized all his forces, I couldn’t win even if he fought upside down. And while my vassals were incompetent people, I heard the people under David were mostly capable. I beg of you, couldn’t you pass at least one such capable person to me instead?
Naturally, their standing army had superior numbers, and my only advantage was the fact that the war would take place within Fentz county… But that advantage alone was enough for me to screw decently capable aristocrats over. It didn’t feel like I would be defeated on my home turf.
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