Record of Wortenia War: Volume 21

By Ryota Hori and bob

Having chased out Queen Lupis’s army, Ryoma marches on to the capital, Pireas. There, Meltina and Queen Lupis discuss options with Mikhail and realize their only choice is to hold the fort and fend off Ryoma’s siege. However, Ryoma learns that the Church of Meneos has Asuka in custody. Since he cannot spare any forces, he chooses to rescue her with a small group.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J-Novel Club
• Release date: Oct 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781718345904

Book preview

Prologue

Thick clouds hung over the sky, obscuring the sunlight even though it was high noon. One could say the weather accurately reflected the fate of the Kingdom of Rhoadseria. Nobody felt that suffocating realization more keenly than the commoners.

They were the lower classes, the weak peasants oppressed and extorted by the nobility. Despite that, and perhaps because of that, they could instinctively feel the encroaching presence of the giant, two-headed serpent that threatened to swallow their country whole.

Said serpent had already begun consuming several villages and towns. Its cold, lifeless, crimson serpentine gaze fixed on a new prey—the town of Dursen, the domain of Viscount Rancard. At this very moment, the influential people of Dursen were in the middle of a meeting that would decide their town’s fate.

All of them had gathered in the hall of the mayor’s estate, built in the middle of the town. Such people present were those like the guild master, the bank’s manager, and the heads of firms. Many were undoubtedly commoners as far as the class system was concerned, even if they were close to being nobles in terms of power and wealth.

Their facial expressions would usually be dignified, for wherever they went, they knew they were some of the most powerful people in Dursen. But this time, there was no shadow of their usual pride and self-worth, only doubt and distress when facing a question without a correct answer.

So... What are we going to do? grumbled the mayor, who managed the assembly, as he looked around the room.

At this rate, the men who had gathered would achieve nothing but glare and growl at each other. If they were going to reach a conclusion, they’d need to discuss it. Regardless of a solution’s viability, the group needed to come up with something, or their discussion wouldn’t even start.

None of them said anything; no one had a suggestion. The attendees fully knew the predicament Dursen was in but couldn’t devise a miraculous solution that would turn the tables and save them from this terror.

They all had something to say about the situation and might not have had a good suggestion, but they were all tormented by the current turn of events. Of course, they knew better than to speak to the anger and frustration they felt because the moment they spoke out loud about it, there’d be no stopping their emotions. If they made their decisions based on those raging feelings, they could wipe their town off the map. That fear held them in check, and the mayor could see that.

After all, we’re going up against the Devil of Heraklion and his army, the mayor thought.

That army routed the northern subjugation army, which boasted over two hundred thousand soldiers, and became a gigantic viper that threatened to consume the entire kingdom. Not a single person present could maintain their composure in the face of a threat of that magnitude.

But that wasn’t to say they could just sit idly and wait.

We’ll never reach a conclusion if you just hold your tongues, the mayor finally said.

The influential people hung their heads, hoping to avoid his gaze, and were aware that the more they stalled on making a decision, the more they stood to lose. At the same time, no one wanted to take responsibility. They all wished someone other than themselves had gotten the ball rolling so they could all just go along with another’s decision. Perhaps they knew that if the talks didn’t progress, the duty of deciding would fall on the mayor’s shoulders.

Cowards. Every one of them only cares about saving their own hides. Scorn and anger bubbled up in the mayor’s heart for a second, but the agitation soon died down. No, I’m trying to save my own hide just as much as they’re trying to save theirs. And at least they’re here. That alone makes them better than the fools who refused to heed my call for a meeting.

The mayor looked around the room again and sighed as he confirmed the number of empty seats. Less than a third of the town’s influential figures had answered his call for a meeting. Nearly half of the people who didn’t attend this meeting had fled the town with their servants and families. Those that remained had claimed they needed to recover from sudden fevers and stomachaches. No one took their excuses seriously. They were all just afraid of having the responsibility for these choices thrust upon them.

Not that I can fault them for that.

The mayor wished he could throw everything away and flee this town too, but reality wouldn’t allow him to do something so irresponsible.

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Things would have been different if the Rancard viscounty had issued an evacuation order, but if the mayor fled at his own discretion, both he and his entire clan would have faced treason charges. He was not allowed to escape or bear the oppressive atmosphere as time passed.

He had to propose a solution within a time limit, and if he failed, the whole town would be destroyed. That included the nobles and friends living in this town.

How did things come to this? Just a few months ago, Dursen was promised a wealthy, prosperous future...

This town acted as a relay point between the Rhoadserian capital Pireas and the citadel city of Epirus, the linchpin of the country’s northern defenses. Since Viscount Rancard was a prominent member of the nobles’ faction, his town’s protection led to many caravans passing through it, stimulating business.

While Dursen wasn’t large enough to be called a city, even if it was built to stimulate trade, it didn’t boast the same market as central financial hubs like Pireas or Epirus, the largest city in the north. To Viscount Rancard, though, the town of Dursen was akin to a chicken that laid golden eggs.

We’re on a crossing of highways that connects to all four corners of the kingdom, and our terrain is ideal for gathering goods and supplies. The Rancard viscounty knows this, and that’s why they treated this town well for generations.

That favoritism was clear from how Dursen paid lower taxes compared to other towns and villages in this domain. Among the Rhoadserian nobles, who only saw the commoners as tools to support their own livelihood, the Rancard viscounty’s political measures were quite unusual. Maximizing tax revenue required a lot of work. Most nobles didn’t bother to do so and instead extorted their commoners, squeezing them like fruit as hard as possible to make them yield the most juice.

An example from the Edo period, Haruhide Kamio, who served Yoshimune Tokugawa—known for revitalizing the Tokugawa shogunate’s influence—was famous for reorganizing the government’s finances. He was also known as a ruthless official and had been reported to have said that Commoners, like sesame oil, yield more the more you press them.

But perhaps that wasn’t so surprising since organizing finances often involved tax increases. Taking taxes from the easiest source was a natural conclusion.

In contrast, the Rancard viscounty increased the fruit they sought to gain juice from while fostering each fruit to grow larger. To the commoners, this was a favorable treatment that raised the share they got.

This wasn’t to say that the Rancard viscounty, across its generations, was a merciful noble house. There were other towns and villages across their domain, and they didn’t receive the preferential treatment Dursen did. Instead, they paid the same tax rate other territories in Rhoadseria did, where the lord took seventy percent, and thirty percent remained with the villagers. They only gave Dursen preferential treatment to stimulate trade and draw in merchants. Given that the financial strength they gained allowed them to rise within the ranks of the nobles’ faction, one could say that their tactic was a success. It was a classic case of investing money to make more money.

Thanks to that, Dursen boasted greater financial power than other towns in the viscounty’s domain and stood head and shoulders above its neighboring communities. Even commoners from neighboring domains looked up to Dursen in admiration.

To most commoners, the land they’re born and raised in and its surrounding towns and villages are their entire world.

Even nobles couldn’t freely travel as they pleased. Since the nobility abhorred new blood tainting their veins, they mostly married among themselves, meaning most noble houses had some familial connection to others. Based on their talents, they were dispatched to the capital to find employment under the royal family. Nobles rarely spent their lives entirely within their own domain, except those too sickly to travel far.

Those born into the lower classes lived much simpler lives, especially as the ones born in agricultural villages lived and died on the land. Some commoners became adventurers or mercenaries or found employment as merchants.

Such commoners traveled the land and even ventured as far as other countries, where they fought in wars as mercenaries. Alternatively, they could be hired to explore new lands meant to be inhabited after monster attacks reduced existing villages to ashes. But few people went out to journey across the land of their own will, nor were they allowed to, because most governors forbade commoners from moving freely across different domains.

So, to commoners living around Dursen, this town looked like a big city rivaling the capital. The food and sundries they needed for their everyday lives, as well as hoes and other agricultural tools, were all obtained in Dursen.

But this is all a thing of the past.

Over the last few months, this city completely changed its appearance. It all began when Baron Mikoshiba won his war with Count Salzberg, head of the ten houses of the north, and began his hostilities with Queen Lupis.

The highways that were once full of people became empty, and there was no sound of merchants setting up stalls to sell their wares. For a town established as a relay station for trade from all across the country, this was a matter of life and death for Dursen.

Everyone in this room knows this.

Once the hen can no longer lay golden eggs, it has only one fate ahead of it—and they could feel it approaching. Right now, they had to deal with an even bigger problem approaching them, which was why they were trying to find a way to survive.

Amid this silence, one man spoke up.

If we can’t expect reinforcements for the garrison, I think our only option is to accept the Mikoshiba barony’s call for surrender, is it not?

Everyone’s eyes fixed on the speaker.

And you are? asked the mayor, narrowing his eyes.

The speaker was a man in his late twenties, his eyes glinting with firm will. His lean physique and calm demeanor gave him a capable, wise appearance, which came across