Officially, an ultimatum messenger came from Rezad.

　He asked me for reparations, extradition of criminals, and many other things, but I rejected them all.
　Diplomatic relations with Rezad were officially cut off.

　But it didn't have much of an impact.

　We still have friendly relations with the two cities other than Rezad we still have friendly relations with Gehenna and Nemeth.
　Increasing trade with these two countries is an excuse, and there is no need to trade with Rezad.

　In fact, it would be Rezad who would be in trouble.

　For now, we prepare for the war to come.


　Bartolo. When do you think the time is right?
　Two months from now, in March, will be just right. By then, it should be much warmer in southern Adelunia.

　King Rosais' country is warm enough to not have snow in the winter, but the south is even warmer.
　By March it will be warm enough to march into the country.

　'We'll have to deal with the cities in between if we want to march to Lesad...'

　Let's drop this one through diplomacy.
　It would take too much time to capture all the city-states one by one.

　Then.....

　'Ial, proceed to orchestrate the various city-states. If you threaten them with force, they will yield.
　Okay. I'll put a stop to it.

　Ial nodded.

　Each city-state has already begun to give up on Rezad.
　It shouldn't be difficult.

　''As for the rest ... assuming we invite the Equus tribe ... shall we also invite King Belvedil's country? King Domorgal's country and King Evil's country, if possible.
　"...It's a win-win. Isn't that unnecessary?

　Raimondo expresses a bit of frustration.
　It's probably because his share of the loot after the victory will be reduced by that amount.

　Well, I can understand that too........

　'For one thing, it's an invasion, even if it's for a good cause. The more accomplices you have, the better.

　Even though we are using the Kingdom of Roselle as a scapegoat, if we invade Rezad, our country's national power will jump.
　We don't want to increase the distrust of our country in each country.

　It would be most desirable for King Domorgal's country to join us.

　Most of all, though, it's a prerequisite that our country will be in command.

　It was I who put the crown on the heads of King Equus (Muzio) and King Domorgal (Carlo).
　And our country has won one war against King Evil's country and King Belvedil's country, and our national strength is several times greater than theirs.

　It's only natural that our country would have the upper hand.

　''And ... this is just a little something I thought of...''

　I'll tell you what I'm thinking.

　Bartolo grinned.

　'Sounds interesting. Let's do it.





　After I finished talking with Raimondo and the others, I called Ains.
　The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the treatment of Rezad after the occupation of Rezad.

　'As for me, I would be happy to see Rezad join our country as an autonomous city but do you guys have any attachment to Rezad?

　Ains nodded his head at my question.

　''Well what does that mean?''
　'As it is. You are autonomous in Rezad to do business, aren't you?

　The city-state of Cilicia called Claris, which was the suzerainty of Rezad, was apparently a monarchy long ago.
　By taking advantage of the country's location, the junction of the Teutis Sea and the Ash Sea, the west (Occident) and the east (Orient), Clarice had prospered by transit trade since long ago.

　However, the king of Clarice imposed a high commercial tax.
　Dissatisfied with this, the merchants of Clarice hired mercenaries to wage war against the king and won.

　Since then, Clarice has been self-governed by its merchants, and its colony, Rezad, has a similar political system.

　In other words, Rezad is self-governing itself so as not to interfere with its own business....

　'Politics is expensive. It's a lot of work, isn't it?
　''Well I'm sure you'll make more money if you stay focused on your business.

　Ains nodded.

　'I suggest that you and the others abandon Rezad.
　"...His Majesty is asking us to present the 'Rezad' to you?

　Well, that's just the way it is.
　It's too foreign to say it straight out of a stone.

　'I'm not saying that. I'm just suggesting it. ........If you guys leave Rezad, I will receive you as nobles.

　When I said that, Ains' eyes widened.
　It must have been an unexpected word.

　''Does that mean I can participate in the national government of King Rosais' country...?''
　What else does it mean?

　I looked at Ains' face.

　'Of course, the position is hereditary. Well, I can't let you feud the land but you don't need it, do you?　If you become an aristocrat in our country, I can supply you with salt and spirits wholesale at a low price.

　I'm not sure if this world's salt production methods are lagging behind, or if it's more difficult to make salt in the salt pits.
　But I've heard that you can get salt cheaper by digging up rock salt than by making it in the salt pits.

　The merchants in Lesad transported the salt from King Rosais' country to Cilicia and Persis and made a profit from the profits.
　Considering the cost of transportation, there must be so much demand for rock salt.

　Our country sells salt to foreigners at a slightly higher price.

　We want to sell it to the people at a lower price.
　We want to take money from foreigners.

　That's the intention.

　So you can get salt for that much cheaper if you leave Rezad and become our aristocrat.
　I think this is a very good story.

　It is the same with spirits.

　If we annexed the southern countries, including Rezad, the total population of our country, including slaves, would exceed 600,000. It's a big economy in its own right. ....Maritime trade has been stagnant of late, hasn't it?

　As a result of the Persis-Cilician War, the Cilician people lost control of the Teutis Sea.
　Now the Teutonic Sea is controlled by another maritime race called the Poffenians.

　Because of their control of the sea, Rezad is not able to trade by sea as much as it should.

　The economic sphere of King Rosais' country may be much smaller than Cilicia or Persis, but it still has its own flavor.

　Above all, there is growth potential.

　'Our country will continue to expand its territory. .... the economic sphere will become ever larger. Not a bad thing, you know?　Well, I'm not going to ask you to come to a conclusion out of the blue. Go have a full discussion with the other senators.

　You'd be wise to accept it.
　I am not going to give up this port of Lesad.

　If you don't want to give up Rezad, we'll take its autonomy like a piece of cotton around your neck.
　It's not that hard to do if you incite second class citizens to do so.

　Goods should be sold when their value is highest.
　Your value is highest now.

　Now is the time to sell.


　Two weeks later, the senators of Rezad offered to accept my request.
　I'm glad it's done without any trouble, thank God.






　'Your Majesty, why did you want Rezad so badly?

　After negotiating with Senator Rezad, Raimondo asked me.
　What's so strange about it?

　Annexing Rezad would add to the hassle, wouldn't it?　Anti-piracy. I thought His Majesty would hate that kind of trouble.

　Well, it's certainly a pain in the ass in that area but....

　'Rezad has too much national power. It's a threat to keep it as an autonomous city. Besides, minus the hassle, the benefits of annexing Rezad are great.

　From what I've heard, the population of Rezad is about 100,000.
　Among them, the wealthy are 20,000.

　There's no way we can't annex it.

　Also, they wanted to make the members of the Rezad legislature our country's aristocracy.
　Why is that?
　They're going to be able to invest in our country.

　The mainland of King Rosais' country still has a lot of untapped land on the mainland.
　If the rich people of Rezad would buy up this land and cultivate it, the production of food would go up.

　Besides..........

　The intention was to increase the number of nobles.
　He wanted to make people from another class of people into nobles besides the former great families.

　That's why they welcomed Ains and others as nobility.

　There are other purposes to reassure the Cilician people in the country as well.
　King Rosais' country is the country of the Adelnians.
　However, the territories recently annexed by our country have a large number of Cilicians, and in some places Cilicians are in the majority.
　The Cilician people are welcomed as nobility for their governance.
　But it's a problem if they continue to have local influence forever.　
　So we need to cut them off from Rezad.

　'For the most part, it's ridiculous that the number of votes is determined by the amount of taxes paid. You can't run a proper government that way. From now on, I'm going to rule directly.

　You say it's a business advantage
　It's questionable whether it's really an advantage.

　Second class citizens, for example.
　They don't have a decent amount of money.

　The reason for this is that they are forced to work for the merchants for cheap wages.

　Sure, in the short term they may make money from it.
　But in the long run it is a loss.

　If we pay our second class citizens higher wages, they will buy our goods that much more.
　That way, the merchants will make more money as a result.
　Wages will go up even more.
　

　Well, until now, Rezad's business partners were the Cilician and Persians from across the sea, so it probably didn't matter what second class citizens were.
　But will they be able to survive by doing the same thing in the future?

　The way Rezad does it, he is consumed by the tide of the times.

　Individual interests are not always in the best interest of the whole.
　Rezad is putting too much emphasis on individual interests.

　There must be many other systems that smell like tariffs, taxation systems, and so on and so forth.

　I'm going to change all that.

　'And you want at least one port, don't you?　If you're going to get it anyway, you should get a good port. I've heard that Rezad is the best port in the southern countries.
　Huh ... is the port that important?
　You know what that means to the world?
　Do I need to get through to you?

　Mmm.....
　Don't you understand the ramble of communicating with the world at sea?

_______________________________.

　'In creating a nation, the Emperor Almus had two options.
　One was to create an empire of the Adelian people - the Adelian Empire - which would occupy most of the Adelian peninsula.
　The other was to create an empire that included all of the humanity living in the Adelian peninsula - the Cilician people living in the south and the Gauls living in the north - the Romarian Empire.
　Emperor Almus chose the latter by welcoming the Cilician people as his nobility.

　The Romalians are those who have Romarian vassalage.
　Place of birth, language, religion, skin color, status, or any such thing is not an indicator to distinguish a Romarian from a non-Romalian.

　I will declare.
　All those who now live in this country, my people, are equally Romarian and I will treat them equally as Romarians.'

　Gaius, Julius, Caesar, Westorian, Germanicus, Augustus, Pater Patriae.

　Excerpt from "Memoirs of the Sage Emperor".