In the process, anyone who was attached to maintaining Amidonia’s independence (which was pretty much all people who had launched rebellions to usurp Julius’s position) was eliminated by the annexationists.
Herman Neumann, the old general who had stopped the Turgish advance at Nelva, along with the former Minister of Finance, Gatsby Colbert, who was staying with him, both lent their names to support the annexationist faction, which was a major factor in that. It seems Colbert was well-trusted by the people for his reputation as a great minister who supported the country through financial difficulty.
And so, a request for the annexation of the entire Principality was delivered to me.
…
…Yeah. It makes you go, How did this even happen?
If I weighed the pros and cons of annexing all of the Principality of Amidonia, there were more negatives than positives. The positive was that it would raise our population, which would increase the power of our nation in the long term.
Furthermore, the Principality of Amidonia was rich with rare mineral resources, such as gold, and this would provide a steady supply of those mineral resources that we couldn’t mine inside the kingdom.
The negatives, on the other hand, were that even though we had finally resolved the issue of the food crisis inside the kingdom, we would now need to deal with Amidonia’s food shortages, too.
In addition, it was a nation that had been our enemy until mere days ago, so it would likely be difficult to rule.
Also, until now our country had only shared borders with the Union of Eastern States, the Principality of Amidonia, and part of the Turgis Republic. With the change in borders, in exchange for the disappearance of Amidonia, we would now border the Mercenary State Zem and the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria, which was another downside. The more nations we bordered, the more difficult our diplomacy would be, after all.
Another thing was that, though I hadn’t ever been counting on them, the war reparations would stop being paid, too. Since the citizens of Amidonia would become part of our country, the border between those paying the reparations and those receiving them would be gone.
When I looked at it this way, it seemed like there were more negatives than positives to annexing Amidonia.
However, we didn’t have the option of refusing. That was because the negatives of choosing not to annex Amidonia were even bigger.
First, it would shake our just cause in claiming, “We incorporated Van into the kingdom at the request of the residents.” If we took in just Van, but not the rest, then: “Oh, so, in the end, the kingdom just invaded the land they wanted,” people would point out.
Furthermore, if we left Turgis and Lunaria to invade the country, ultimately, we would still end up bordering more countries.
Also, ruling Amidonia while it was facing food shortages would be difficult. If the two countries failed to rule properly, and famine and civil war were to break out in the former territory of Amidonia, we would see a fresh influx of refugees. That being the case, it would be better if we took responsibility for caring for all of it from the very beginning. It would be difficult now, but in the long run, our investment would pay itself off.
In the end, I accepted the integration of all of Amidonia with the kingdom, and notified various foreign countries. As I did that, I also moved a naval unit under the command of Excel that was standing by in the southwest of the Elfrieden Kingdom to the border with Turgis, putting myself in a position to invade at any time.
From the Republic’s perspective, they wouldn’t want an attack on their mainland while their primary force was laying siege to Nelva. They immediately withdrew from Nelva, and the forces of the Republic pulled back from Amidonia like the receding tide.
Also, seeing that the chaos in Amidonia had subsided, the forces of the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria that were deployed along the border stopped preparing for war.
Unlike Turgis, they hadn’t made any major moves. Because of that, it was hard to gauge what they had been thinking, and it felt creepy.
Anyway, that was the sequence of events that led to my annexation of Amidonia.
Sometime after the Turgis Republic withdrew…
I was back at the castle in Van to handle the post-annexation paperwork, and on this day, I was seated on the throne in the audience chamber to present awards to those who had contributed to defending against the Turgis Republic. It had come up suddenly, so I hadn’t brought many of my followers with me, but, as per usual, Liscia and Aisha stood on either side of me, while Hakuya carried out the ceremony.
There were two people receiving commendations on this occasion. The old general who had defended Nelva, and by extension Amidonia, Herman Neumann; and the former Minister of Finance Gatsby Colbert (his first name was Gatsby, but because he was a former minister, I felt like I should call him Colbert) who had worked with him to unite the fractured Amidonia. Herman was a battle-hardened old general, like Georg or Owen, while Colbert was a more delicate intellectual type in his mid-twenties.
Behind them were two piles of something, but I couldn’t tell exactly what because they were covered. Whatever it was, it was apparently a gift to our country.
When they bowed before me on the carpet, I told them, “Raise your heads.”
Once they had, I first addressed Colbert.
“Sir Colbert. I thank you for bringing the people of Amidonia together. Without your hard work, the chaos would have been drawn out, and the people of Amidonia would have suffered much misery for it.”
“You are too kind.” Colbert bowed his head deeply.
I had tried speaking of the people of Amidonia as if they were my own people, but he showed no real response. Well… he did plan to push all of the responsibility off onto me, so that was only natural, I suppose.
Colbert raised his head and said, “In any event, Your Majesty, I have something here which I would like to give you.”
“What is that?” I asked.
Colbert removed the cover from one of the two piles. What appeared from beneath it was a mountain of documents. Hakuya, who was standing beside him, said, “I see,” with a strained smile.
I wasn’t sure what it was that he saw, but I asked Colbert, “What are those?”
“These documents are statements of income and expenditures as well as materials regarding rights and ownership within the Principality of Amidonia,” Colbert explained. “They were originally stored in the archives at Van, but we carried them away before the outbreak of hostilities in order to prevent them being lost in the fires of war. The war is over now, so we have brought them back to Van, where they belong.”
Oh, now that he mentioned it, when we had taken custody of Van’s archives as collateral against the war reparations, I might have received a report saying that none of those documents were there. That must have been the reason for Hakuya’s strained smile. Because, for Hakuya, things hadn’t worked out the way he had planned there.
“I see,” I said. “That makes a wonderful gift. It will make ruling easier.”
“I’m honored to hear you say that.”
“However, I think it would be best if you returned them there with your own hands,” I said, refusing to accept them.
“Huh?” Colbert looked dumbstruck.
Hm, I think that evens the score.
I grinned as I said, “Former Amidonian Minister of Finance, Colbert! Do you wish to serve me?!”
“Y-Yes, sire!” Colbert responded almost reflexively. Good, I had a commitment from him now.