“Fine, I suppose. But don’t you touch anything else. Especially the weapons and armor. I won’t forgive you if you took them”
“We sold some out for raising funds”
“Gh, then don’t touch anything more!”
“… alright”
So weapons are more important than books? Considering the era, that might’ve been the dominant line of thinking, but he didn’t understand the gravity of letting such a crystallization of the country’s knowledge outside. Looking at Jeanne, she seemed to be thinking the same thing and wryly smiled. Now that the discussion on indemnities is done, we could start on discussing everything else.
“We want Elfrieden to return the soldiers taken prisoner by the Elfrieden Army”
“Alright, but anyone ranked noble or knight or higher will have to be ransomed”
“… fine”
“However, we have conducted investigations on war criminals who attacked villages and plundered towns while in our countries, and drew up a list of them. Those among the prisoners who are on the list will be judged by our country and could not be returned. Also, there are names on the list who are in your country, we would like you to hand them over. The return of prisoners won’t begin until that happens”
“Guh … very well. … by the way”
While receiving the list of criminals from Hakuya, Julius said:
“Is Roroa among the prisoners you will be returning?”
Roroa? who’s that?
“I don’t know. Who is that?”
“Roroa Amidonia. My younger sister who had gone missing. She should’ve been in Vannes during the battle”
“Sister? When Vannes capitulated, we let everyone who want to leave do so. The only noble or knight ranked people who remained was only Margarita. We received no information on whether we had captured a royal”
“… fine then”
Like that, Julius stopped the discussion as if he had no interest in it. His sister’s missing, right? But he’s really acting nonchalant about it. Isn’t he worried?
“Do you need us to look for eyewitnesses?”
“No need”
“No need …?”
Hakuya then whispered into my ear.
“(It is likely that he is wary against a struggle for family headship. Based on what I’ve investigated, Lady Roroa is a supporter of civil affairs, a rare personage in Amidonia. As a military patron, Lord Julius isn’t popular among civil officials. He must be afraid that they would reject him and support Roroa)”
“(Isn’t she his only family now that Gaius is gone?)”
“(Royals are often like that)”
“(… I suppose so)”
Even looking through Earth’s history, family struggles aren’t rare among royals. Similarly in Elfrieden, when Liscia’s mother inherited the throne, the family was close to annihilation due to family struggles. But still … as someone who knew the loneliness of not having family, I thought he would’ve at least cherish his one and only sister. I guess I just can’t see eye to eye with Julius after all.
“Ah, that’s right. Speaking of Margarita, the Kingdom would like to have her. Since she cooperated with the pacifying of Vannes, you’d be troubled how to treat her, right?”
“Margarita Wanda? … hmph, I will agree on the condition that you release five of the noble prisoners in your custody”
Saying that, Julius made a sort-of unpleasant look as if he’s sizing up for an advantage. Rather than a general he’d find hard to manage, he finds the ransom of his obedient subordinates more beneficial.
“… alright”
“Hmph, to want a general of that level, the Kingdom must be running short on leaders”
I caught myself wanting to tell him ‘the reason you lost is because you only evaluate people’s worth on their military strength like that!’, but since there’s no need for me to give help to my enemy, I held myself back.
Once the major talks had concluded, I declared the end of the negotiations. The conclusion was that “The Kingdom of Elfrieden will return Vannes, in return for a sum of indemnities paid”, “Amidonia will regain Vannes in return for paying those indemnities”, and that “The Empire will make itself known as the arbitrator of this dispute”, which was satisfactory. Amidonia was the only losing party, as the Empire shouldered no losses and the Kingdom gained decent, even though not great, profits.
“Lord Julius”
After the discussions had concluded, Julius made to turn around as if saying that he had nothing more to say to me, but I called him out.