Once I had given that order to the entire army, I secretly called Ludwin aside and gave him a note I had prepared. Ludwin accepted it with a puzzled look.
“What is this note? A list of people’s names?” he asked.
I nodded, then said in as calm a tone as I could manage, “Ludwin… find the five people whose names are listed here, decapitate them, and put their heads on display above the gate. However, make the reason for it ‘because they attempted to enter and loot the houses of a resident of Van.’”
“Wha?! What have these people done…?”
“It was a gift from Georg that came to me through Glaive,” I said. “They’re from the Army, but when they were in the Carmine Duchy, they broke into a private residence, engaging in pillaging, rape, and murder. We would just be executing them later anyway, so I’ll render judgment on them here to set an example.”
“…By your will.” Ludwin meekly bowed, then took his leave.
Soon there were five heads lined up near the gate to Van. Next to them was a sign on which the charge against them, “attempted pillaging,” was written. It helped enforce discipline in every soldier who passed through the gate. As a result, the forces of the kingdom not only didn’t engage in arson, looting, or violence, they didn’t even fight back when those who couldn’t accept their defeat threw stones at them.
That, despite expectations, ended up inspiring awe and fear in the Amidonian people.
Once the roads were confirmed safe, I myself entered Van.
This time I traveled not in a carriage, but on horseback. It seemed that, as the victor, it wouldn’t do for me to ride inside a carriage.
While I had finally learned to ride a horse recently, I still wasn’t very good at it. Well, Aisha was holding the reins for me, so it would probably be fine.
As my horse and Liscia’s moved forward side by side, I looked at the streets of Van.
The Capital of the Principality of Amidonia, Van.
The militaristic Principality of Amidonia had built this military city as a foothold towards their invasion of the Elfrieden Kingdom, and as a front-line base to defend against invasions by the kingdom. On top of that, because of their unique mentality of not wanting to lose to the kingdom at anything, its scale was comparable to that of Parnam.
When I first entered Van and saw that mishmash of practicality and vanity, I had one strong impression.
I want to re-district this place…
The civilian residential areas were crowded, the roads were complicated, and the layout made me want to call it a “labyrinth city.” Even though we were heading towards the castle, we kept turning left and right, and just couldn’t seem to get there.
There were mansions that looked like they belonged to nobles here and there in the residential area. When I saw they were higher up than the commoners’ residences, I finally understood the layout of the city.
The layout had probably been designed so that, in the event of a battle, any soldiers who broke through the gate would get lost in the labyrinth city, while the defenders would use the nobles’ mansions as fortresses from which to attack.
…I dunno, it just made me think: Did you really have to go that far?
This city layout would be hard on the enemy, but it was no kinder to the residents. It was inconvenient for getting around, and I was worried about how fires would spread with the buildings crowded together so tightly. The fact that this city seemed to be designed around a policy of decreasing accessibility made my head hurt.
At this point, I had no choice but to rework the entire city. There weren’t many cities that would benefit this much from improved infrastructure. When I thought of the mountain of administrative work that was no doubt waiting for me… I couldn’t help but get depressed.
“Souma? What’s up?” Liscia asked.
“…No, it’s nothing.”
“Hm?”
“Look, you can see the castle now,” I said.
While I dodged Liscia’s questions, I braced myself for what was to come.
I entered the castle in the center of Van, then sat on the throne in the audience room which must have belonged to Gaius VIII. Gaius was probably the type who had cared about projecting a dignified appearance.
I had heard Amidonia’s finances were in bad shape, but this audience chamber was quite impressive. They might have spent even more on decorating it than the one in Parnam.
If you had this kind of money, was there nothing better you could have spent it on? I wanted to question the former lord of the castle.
As I sat on the throne, Liscia stood by my side and Aisha stood behind me diagonally. The rest of my retainers stood a few steps down the stairs on the carpet, waiting to serve me. It had been a while since I’d had such a king-like scene in front of me.
I ordered them to each give me their reports. They did so in order, with Ludwin coming first.
“First, in regards to the family of Gaius VIII who were in this castle, we were unable to secure them,” he said. “In addition to his son Julius, who fled the battlefield, there was apparently another princess, but she vanished a number of days ago. Furthermore, judging from the fact that the finance minister and a number of other important bureaucrats are missing, it is believed they left Van before we arrived.”
“Hm… Setting aside that princess, it hurts that we’re missing those bureaucrats,” I said. “Contact Parnam immediately and have Marx send some over. Hakuya should be coming from Red Dragon City once things settle down, too.”
“By your will.” Ludwin bowed.
Poncho was the next to speak. “I–I’m here to report on the state of the national treasury, yes. As expected, you could say, there were hardly any funds or stores of food. While it doesn’t really compensate for it, there was a plentiful supply of weapons and such, yes.”
“How did they plan to hold out in a siege without food reserves?” I asked.
“Oh, no, if we only consider the guards for this castle, they could hold out for three months, yes,” he said. “If we consider the city as a whole, they wouldn’t last a week, though…”
“‘The townspeople can fend for themselves,’ huh,” I muttered. “They sure are a militarist state… Let’s sell off the excess weapons and convert them into funds. Also, I’d like to distribute rations until things calm down inside the castle. Would it be possible to ship those in from the kingdom?”
“We don’t have a lot to spare, but it should be possible within limits,” he said. “This place is close to the kingdom, so if we can just make the roads safe, I think we can manage something, yes.”
“Make securing the roads our highest priority,” I said. “Next, Glaive.”
Glaive Magna, Hal’s father who now led the Army, made his report. “Perhaps as an effect of Your Majesty’s ‘example,’ the troops are adhering to regulations. However, if you make them hold their desires in for too long, I believe there is the risk that some of them will explode. If any of them were to lay a hand on the townspeople, public opinion would take a turn for the worse quickly.”
“We have that sort of problem, huh?” I asked. “Well, there are drinking establishments and a red-light district in this city, aren’t there? We’ll cover the expenses, so negotiate with the owners to get them some wine and companionship.”
“Are you sure that’s all right?” Glaive asked, sounding surprised.
Had I said something that strange?
“We can’t have them causing trouble for the townspeople, can we?” I asked.
“No, that’s not it,” he said. “Is it okay to let the men fool around? With our current momentum, I would think we could annex all of Amidonia in short order.”