So the Medieval Age Has a Split Inheritance System…
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Derpy
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 39 – Transfers
It had been a while since I had become Duke Deal, but Count Joachim was still a vassal of His Majesty Paulus. Originally, vassals of a duchy should be transferred to the duke the moment the duke emerged, but since I still had not reached the age of adulthood, talk about it didn’t progress much.
However, thanks to the efforts of Duke Schult—Fontana-san, who was also a steward of the emperor, Count Joachim safely became my vassal. From the emperor’s perspective, he likely felt weird having to transfer his vassal to an opponent he almost fought against in an earlier battle.
Well, since I was granted the title of duke, it meant that I was acknowledged as the lord of the territory, so it would be weird to not transfer vassals—hence, things quickly progressed once he decided.
The moment Count Joachim became my vassal, I immediately sent him a notification regarding the confiscation of Fabi county. It was the same thing Wagner sent to me and Alfred in the past. History repeated itself.
At that point, Joachim was forced to make a choice. He could refuse and rebel, but that meant that Joachim would have to break the truce to declare war on me. His justification would be rebelling against my tyranny.
He could also obediently hand over Fabi county, but that meant that our vassal contract would be modified to prohibit interference from the master regarding their vassal’s territory. It meant that I couldn’t confiscate any more territory, and I couldn’t interfere with whatever Joachim did in his own territory.
Well, I could break the contract, but such an act was considered more tyrannical than simply confiscating a vassal’s territory, which would lower my other vassals’ trust in me. Basically, it could be considered a promise not to interfere with Count Joachim’s main territory—Hars county.
To be frank, Count Joachim had no chance of victory if he started a rebellion. If he did, he would become independent if he won, but the former master could do anything to him if he lost. In most cases, it would be the confiscation of all his territories and then killing him after.
It sounded like he was forced to either submit or die, but Wagner used a similar method to force my and Alfred’s hand. Moreover, it was a chance that all of our territory would be confiscated, so we practically didn’t have any choice. On the other hand, Count Joachim could submit and continue his reign as lord of a single county.
He seemed very hesitant, but a week later I received a reply that he would transfer ownership of Fabi county to me, making me the owner of 5 counties and Count Joachim a vassal who also had a county of his own. It was the biggest event that took place ever since I became Duke Deal.
In a different way, Countess Jeremias had become Duchess Poitiers after taking over the county under the emperor’s direct control, and the sixth prince became her vassal… In this case, there were several reasons why the emperor transferred territories and vassals to former enemies.
First of all, the emperor already had more vassals than he could handle to the point that he couldn’t govern the territory under his direct control properly. Once a duke emerged, it was in fact a custom since long that all counts in that duchy would become vassals of the new duke. This could easily spark a war and was also my goal in paying a large amount of money to become a duke.
The second reason was increasing favor to make it harder to betray the emperor. Wagner, for example, had already been bestowed many graces from the emperor, so betrayal was a difficult thing to do. Furthermore, the moment the vassal was transferred, a truce period of 10 years would be applied, so they couldn’t do anything against the emperor during that time. Well, this was also a custom, so I couldn’t complain.
For the time being, I could either choose to concentrate on domestic affairs or pick a fight with the Estoani Kingdom in the south. If I declared war, the kingdom’s vassals and superiors would become my enemies all at once, so it was hard to do but I think I could manage somehow with the help of Duchess Jeremias.
But well, I guess steadily increasing the number of slave soldiers and concentrating on domestic affairs wasn’t a bad choice either. Since the price of slaves had started to rise, I guess I should get myself involved in the disputes within the duchy again…
Rather than that, if my goal was just to increase the number of slaves, it would be more profitable to plunder the Miller duchy of Estoani Kingdom instead. If I recall correctly, the Estoani Kingdom was the first to pick a fight against the Borghardt Kingdom’s king of lust the moment he was excommunicated by the church, yet was defeated easily.
I don’t think they were good at war, and above all, the Estoani Kingdom happened to neighbor Wagner’s duchy and Alfred’s Borghardt Kingdom.
…I didn’t feel like it, I really didn’t, but inviting those two was the most effective way to plunder Estoani Kingdom. If the three of us attacked Estoani Kingdom at the same time, Estoani Kingdom’s singular army wouldn’t be able to handle it. It meant that while one person’s forces were kept in check by that Kingdom’s army, the other two’s armies could plunder Estoani Kingdom as they liked.
Needless to say, the vassals of Estoani Kingdom had their own respective armies, so there would be resistance from each territory… but humanity had yet to invent a method to gain profit that was easier than taking it from others.
Want early access to Cannon Fodder, Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer, and I Was a Man Before Reincarnating, So I Refuse a Reverse Harem? Support the translator on Patreon!
