What's more, it seems that King Gilbed, King Fardham and King Domorgal have asked him to give up the territory that the Kingdom of Romalia has acquired.
　They also asked him to give up the prince of the Kingdom of Romalia as a hostage.

　But in response to such numerical pressure from the three countries, our King of Romalia said, "You're kidding!

　"You're joking!　Then I'll leave the Alliance against Gaul!

　It was one middle-aged man who shouted that.
　He was a man who had been a centurion since the time when the Kingdom of Romalia was the land of King Rosais.

　''Whoa!!!!''
　His Majesty the King!
　Quite right!
　''What are you talking about, those who couldn't do anything against Roselle's kingdom, in a big way!
　'I knew our king was different!

　The thousand or so men gathered around the middle-aged man and cheered loudly.
　They were adult men from the villages and towns around this area.
　Their ages varied, but the only thing they had in common was that they were of the military service generation, or soldiers of the Kingdom of Romalia.

　This gathering is called the Soldiers' Association, also known as the "Commoner's Association".

　Basically, in the Kingdom of Romalia, or rather in the Adelunian Peninsula, the centurion is elected by a vote of the soldiers.
　They choose the non-commissioned officers to whom they entrust their lives, by themselves.

　It was a custom imported at the same time as the importation of the phalanx from the Cilicia peninsula.

　Originally, it was just a kind of popularity contest held on an ad hoc basis during wartime, but recently, it had begun to be held in peacetime as well.

　Factors.

　One, the number of meetings was increased and inevitably became acquainted with each other as the war broke out in rapid succession.
　Two, because it became necessary to hold them even after the war in order to share equally the loot, plunder, and reward money from the king.
　Three, it was also opened in peacetime because even in peacetime it was hunted out under the guise of 'road construction is a military action'.
　Fourth, with the full-scale influx of Cilician culture, democratic ideas began to sprout among the common people.

　These are the four main points.

　Of course, this conference was unofficial and had no political authority.
　To begin with, the country's upper echelons, including the king, Almus, do not know of its existence.

　They saw it as nothing more than a commoner's meeting.

　And that view is currently correct.

　After all, it's just uneducated commoners complaining about politics, or rootless rumors about the relationship between Almus, Julia and Tetra, or what kind of monarch Marcus, the next crown prince, would be or want to be.......
　It's just a place to talk about the futility of the situation.

　But .....
　Only this time, the commoners' association had a great impact.

　Through the commoners' associations, both large and small, throughout the Kingdom of Romalia, three events quickly swept across the Kingdom of Romalia: 'The three northern states ordered the renunciation of their territory,' 'The three northern states ordered the prince to be taken hostage,' and 'Almus overruled them and withdrew from the alliance against Gaul.

　And it was not only the Commoners' Association that contributed to the uproar.


　

　'You are insulting our country!　I can't stand it!　Our country is withdrawing from the Alliance against Gaul!

　In a core city in the western part of the Kingdom of Romalia, a sorceress cries out.
　On her chest shines a golden plate the mark of being a senior national spellcaster.
　Perhaps because of the woman's high-pitched voice, it's not very powerful.
　However, hearing her words, the spellcasters around her clapped and cheered in unison.

　''Exactly!
　'I can't believe you're asking us to give up the territory we shed our blood for!
　And you're holding the crown prince hostage?　Who the hell do you think you are!
　A North Adelian from the countryside!
　His Majesty is lovely, though, isn't he?
　'It must have taken a great deal of determination to leave the country... and to dare to do so in an instant... His Majesty the King!
　'I envy Lady Julia and Lady Tetra........'

　Just as the soldiers have unofficially formed plebeian associations in many places....
　The sorceress women of the Kingdom of Romalia had also formed a community of sorts.

　Should we call it the Society of Magicians?
　However, unlike the commoners' association, this organization itself had been around for a long time.

　There were places throughout the Kingdom of Romalia where sorcerers exchanged herbs, showed each other their skills, and engaged in friendly competition with each other.

　In recent years, this has led to the state actively committing spellcasters to war and state projects.
　A system of state-designated national spellcasters was also established, and spellcasters who were different from other women were given the same rights of vassalage as their male counterparts.

　With this, the spellcasters' association had begun to transform a bit.
　In addition to debriefing each other on techniques, it had begun to become a place to discuss politics.

　However, this spellcaster's association was not considered to be of much importance by the kingdom's top brass, and they had yet to take political action.

　However, like the Commoner's Association, this Society of Conjurers had also contributed greatly to the spread of the recent events throughout the Kingdom of Romalia.


　Thus, through the Commoner's Society and the Conjurer's Society, the earlier incident quickly spread, slightly distorted, throughout the country, and soon began to spread throughout the entire Romarian Commonwealth, the three northern states, as well as the Kingdom of Roselle, the Republic of Pofenia, and the Empire of Persis.

　The more the rumors spread, the more they became distorted and perverted to the extreme.
　Once a rumor becomes extreme, it becomes more and more extreme with the passage of time.

　No longer did the rumors capture the truth.
　But for most of the people of the Kingdom of Romalia, of the Commonwealth of Romalia, it did not matter whether the rumors were true or not.

　They were insulted themselves.
　What mattered was this one thing.

　It was enough of a stimulus to unite them.
　Were they beginning to unite because of the rumors that had gone too far?
　Or whether they had, half subconsciously, radicalized the rumors in order to unite, I don't know.

　But what was important, however, was that the Kingdom of Romalia was beginning to unite, the Federation was beginning to come together.

　In the process of its expansion, the Kingdom of Romalia is holding a large number of former foreigners.
　They are ex-foreigners, even though they have sworn allegiance to the Almus and have also served in the military.

　Because of this, they are not very well organized.
　And the ex-foreigners were aware of this.

　Especially the Cilician people in the south, perhaps because they felt threatened by the fact that their ethnicity was different from that of the majority Adelnians, they actively believed the rumors and trembled with anger in order to become 'Romalians'.

　By being angry, he showed his loyalty to the Almus and increased his sense of belonging to the Kingdom of Romalia.

　This phenomenon was happening simultaneously in the Kingdom of Romalia and throughout the Commonwealth.

　........although the people of King Evil's country, King Belvedere's country and the Kingdom of Alva, which have their own sovereigns within the Romarian Commonwealth, accepted the matter relatively calmly.





　It's going to be interesting.
　Totally.

　I nodded at Raimondo's words.
　My withdrawal from the League of Nations against Gaul had certainly had a huge international impact.

　But for most commoners, it was completely irrelevant.
　Or so I thought.

　"People are more enthusiastic about this than I thought.
　Well, war war warms the pockets of the common people.

　Looting in war is, as a rule, forbidden in our armed forces.
　However, we often confiscate the property of those who have refused to surrender.

　Even a single storehouse of a wealthy local family has a good amount of property stored in it.
　Such property is sometimes distributed and I offer special rewards, so if it's only to go to war for a little while, the commoners can make a fair amount of money.

　It's a good way to earn a little money.
　On top of that, if you fight bravely, it's a saga.

　That's probably why so many of them want war.
　Since they have conquered the western countries, the three northern countries are the only ones left.

　This is the only way to agitate.
　Does that mean?

　'But, Your Majesty. It may be convenient for us this time, but that was a problem.
　'The Commoners and the Conjuring Society...'

　I was aware of its existence itself, of course.
　However.........there was a section where I had underestimated it a bit.

　After all, the civilization level is only a hair's breadth away from ancient times.
　That they don't have much influence.
　But it's actually creating a public opinion that's heating up the entire kingdom.

　It's clear that they have considerable influence.

　It's a problem, but that doesn't mean it's illegal. If they were to disband, that would be the catalyst for a major rebellion. Only recently have we finally made a compromise with the commoners. We don't want it to flare up again.

　The boycott of the commoners' military service is fresh in my mind.
　That was settled by concessions from us........

　If they do that, I honestly can't touch them as a king.

　In our country, a military state, commoners = soldiers, and soldiers = commoners.
　Making enemies of the commoners is the same as making enemies of the soldiers.

　It is not rebellion, but boycott, which is a poor quality.
　If it's a rebellion, it's a good cause, but....

　I'm not a puritanical idol, I'm a puritanical king, so I can't use too many treacherous moves.
　Ostensibly.

　''Just in case you have a secret agent on the side. I'll also pay off some of the centurions and sorcerers. It will have to wait and see. We don't know if they're going to be harmful yet.

　At the very least, the people's support is a valuable thing for me, as I'm planning to conquer three countries in a war from now on.
　The Commoner's Association and the Sorcerer's Association are currently working in a good direction.

　''Ugh........''
　What's going on?
　I'm getting a bit of a migraine, but it's recent. Maybe it's an after-effect of the Granada. I'll get Julia to make some pills for you later.

　I smiled at Raimondo, who looked worried.

　'Your Majesty, may I have your permission?'

　As me and Raimondo are talking, I hear Ial's voice from the other side of the door.
　When I give my permission, Ial opens the door and bows.

　''Your Majesty, an alliance with the Roselle Kingdom has been established. The Roselle Kingdom will only maintain a favorable neutrality during the war and will not provide military (...) support.
　Okay, good job.

　I smiled.
　Now I could completely play the Roselle Kingdom out of the war, out of the war.

　Now it's three against one.

　''Now, call Bartolo and Alexios, Ron, Rosward, Gram, Soyeon, Lulu, Tetra, and Yulia. We have less than a year left before the conference. Let's wrap up the war effort.