Translator: Tsukii

Editor: PalenMisha

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 19 – Raise My Infamy desuwa

Shortly after I became a king, sure enough, a rebellion occurred within my territory, so I headed out to subdue them. Well, since the tax for emperors until now was 15%, they would naturally rebel when I requested double the amount at 30%.

I also declared an increase in taxes on farmers from 50% to 60%, but that still made the dukes and counts earn less compared to before. This kind of rebellion wasn’t that uncommon, as the story of the counts, the vassals of the duke, revolted and replaced their former master as the new duke family, was something often heard in this world. 　

In addition to my Narorosa duchy, three duke families were included as part of the Narorosa kingdom, and one of them rebelled now. The other two dukes, Duke of Harozer and Duke of Ally, didn’t raise a complaint about the tax increase and didn’t participate in the rebellion, so they felt opportunistic desuwa. I would have preferred all three of them to rebel, though.　

Rather, the Duke of Constine, who declared rebellion, had to pass through the other two dukes’ territories to attack my territory, and those dukes would fight with me if that happened.　

…If the prefecture was considered a count’s territory, the region was considered a duke’s territory. If we compare it to modern Japan, the Narorosa duchy would be the Kyushu region, the Harozer duchy was the Shikoku region, and the Ally Duchy was the Nakakuni region. The rebellion of the Constine duchy took place in the Kinki region, and the counts that governed Aichi and Gifu prefecture also participated in the rebellion.　

All the territory of the Narorosa Kingdom combined would be about the size of western Japan, but it was considered small for a kingdom. The empire had at least ten kingdoms of this size.　

When I heard that a rebellion occurred, I immediately returned to the territory, and I saw a mysterious situation where 800 soldiers strong on our side repelled 2,000 soldiers from the enemy coalition army. It was normally impossible for an army to repel an enemy on a scale of more than twice their size. But both the Harozer duchy and the Ally duchy sent 300 soldiers from their standing armies to contribute, so I couldn’t help but be baffled by the situation.　

“Lydia-sama. We had 100 soldiers in charge of guarding the territory, and a 300-strong army of Ally’s duchy fought alongside the knight brigade, which made a total of 800 men on our side. Since the battle began with the Constine duchy’s army attacking the Ally duchy’s defensive facility, the damage to our side was small.”　

“…The soldiers in charge of guarding the territory mostly consisted of the former members of the knight brigade or those who wanted to enter the knight brigade. That said, of course we will attack from our side, right?”

“Yes. At the moment, we have a total of 1,100 men in the Narorosa army, which consists of 300 spearmen from the Ally duchy, 300 cavalry from the Harozer duchy, the 400 members of Lydia-sama’s knight brigade, and 100 soldiers that guard the territory.”

When I heard the situation from Joshua, who was left in charge of the mansion, I confirmed that Crecia was away and led the army at the moment. Please don’t go off and suppress the rebellion on your own. Moreover, they were already invading the Constine duchy, so there was no more possibility of me getting violated by them.　

…The army of the Constine duchy, which conscripted mostly farmers, was outed quickly, with many dead and deserters. The enemy army was already less than 1,500, so I didn’t need to interfere anymore. There would be a strong conscript sometimes, but basically, those conscripts were unable to beat half the amount of a standing army, much less if their numbers were equal.　

I would be troubled if my reputation shot up if I left it all to Crecia, so I had to command the army myself. For the time being, forget about tactics and charge. That was the most foolish thing to do after all.　

“All hands— charge desuwa! We are overrunning them without minding the damage desuwa! There, we’re going!”　

I sprinted my horse, joined the front line, swung the flag of the Narorosa family around, and hit the enemy soldiers with it, but why did the members of the knight brigade smash them with their swords before my attack landed? Ah, the enemy army sent the messenger to declare surrender. Why did they declare their surrender within the hour I arrived on the battlefield…? Did they lack the intelligence of trying to capture me and do something about the situation with that…?　

Well then, the messenger of the Constine family desperately lowered his head, but this was a good opportunity to destroy my reputation and let the world know the tyrant that I was. At a time like this, a saint-like lord would say humane things, so I think I could just do the opposite.　

[“Please raise your head. Stop resisting, abandon your weapons, and surrender. I won’t consider any of you guilty. Let’s live together as fellow citizens of the kingdom from now on desuwa!”]　

I thought about what I would say if I was a saint-like lord, so I tried to say the opposite.　

“Keep your head down. Cease any thought of surrender and keep resisting with weapons in hand. I have no intention of forgiving any of you. All of you are to be YEETed from the territory of the kingdom desuwa!”　

That would do it! After the meeting, the messenger immediately returned to their fortress, but he was trembling the whole time, so I guess he was burning with rage, thinking about resisting desperately. We might be losing now, but we will exact our vengeance someday…! There was no doubt that they had such fiery thoughts inside.　

And about 30 minutes later, I could see the people of the Constine family escaping the fort one after another. It was an anticlimactic end, and the army of the Constine family ended up collapsing in on itself, accomplishing a virtually bloodless capitulation… I hope my tyrannical remark to the messenger of the Constine family would spread to the world to raise my infamy.

Tsukii’s Note: 

Her declaration could be interpreted as:

“I didn’t see anyone’s face. Since I had no idea who is responsible for the rebellion, I will not designate any particular person to bear all the crime. That means there’s no need to surrender to begin with. However, if anyone among you still feels dissatisfied toward me and doesn’t want to obey me, then you may keep your weapon and continue to resist or YEET from the kingdom. You may choose whichever you like.”

Also, YEET could be interpreted as “You may escape and we won’t chase after you” and considering the clear difference in the army of both sides, most would choose to escape if such an option is given.

Yep, totally sounded like a wise king, giving them a way out for all they did.

If we combine with what she did the previous chapter, it meant Lydia immediately move to make preparation for disaster right after being appointed as a king, and considering they are already winning against the rebel, there’s no need for her to act personally yet she still did, intimidated enemy enough to settle the situation with minimal casualties on both sides.

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