I received a report that Ana and the others had succeeded in their defense. I felt so relieved. From what I heard, Ana had been able to repel a force of close to thirty thousand soldiers all by herself. She’d continuously fired off magic from a distance, which had apparently made the enemy decide that if they got any closer to the fort, they’d be wiped out, so they retreated. They’d made the correct choice.
For a spell like ember, which didn’t have any method of precision, it became more accurate the closer you were. They’d probably realized this and turned right around.
Despite pouring a frighteningly large amount of money into their new weapon, it’d been destroyed by Ana and the golems before they’d even had a chance to use it. Apparently, everyone was singing Ana’s praises back at the base. Heh heh. This makes me so happy. Yeah, everyone better realize how amazing Ana is!
“I’m glad to see you in such high spirits,” Matthew chuckled.
I couldn’t help but beam as we walked down the hallway. I was really thankful for what Ana had done from a political perspective as well. She did perfectly by making them retreat without even a fight after showing them our power. If there’d been a lot of casualties, it’d be harder to govern this country, so if she’d used only the golems, we wouldn’t be in such a good position now. This was all thanks to Ana deciding on her own to fight.
I entered the meeting room with Matthew. Everyone else had already gathered. We were currently in the now-occupied palace of Thorsdale, and I’d invited the chief nobles of this country to also attend. Though we had captured the royal family, that didn’t automatically end the war. Unlike in my past life, where countries usually had one centralized army, this country’s armies were made up of various forces from different territory lords. Without them conceding, the war wouldn’t end.
“I’ll start off by explaining the current situation,” I said.
At my signal, knights and soldiers brought in a collection of wooden boxes. When I’d commanded our seven squads to occupy their assigned territories, I’d intentionally not given them any detailed instructions so as not to restrict the versatility of their tactics. Thanks to that, we wouldn’t have to force this occupation with more bloodshed. There was another method.
I’d allowed the squad leaders to make their own decisions, and they’d all decided to kill all those in the noble houses they were asked to target. They made sure to hunt down anyone who was part of the house but wasn’t present as well. Both the forces led by the knights from our house and House Lillard did it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Since our enemies had essentially been trying to raze the Sevensworth territory to the ground, it was inevitable that the leaders of the houses that made those decisions would be killed. However, I felt it was a bit excessive to target their young children too.
In the boxes that had been brought were the decapitated heads of these nobles, preserved in salt. This undeniable proof would tell them exactly the situation they were in. After explaining the end of the seven houses that’d actively pursued war against us, I began explaining the fate of the royal family as well, but as I did, someone burst out screaming.
“Enough with the charade! I know your plan! You plan to destroy my house regardless, don’t you?!”
He was Duke Sarouge. In terms of military power, he had the highest in the country. Though he was a close friend of the royal family, he’d been opposed to the war because of the negative impact it would have on his businesses. I didn’t understand his outburst, though, because I had no plans to destroy his house. I stopped right as I was about to ask him what he meant, because Lady Francess, still in armor, had stood from her seat at the table and walked over to him. Her expression gave away nothing of what she was thinking.
“Wha...” I couldn’t help but let this sound of surprise leak out, but it wasn’t just me.
Screams and sounds of shock broke out all across the room. Upon arriving in front of Duke Sarouge, Lady Francess had promptly unsheathed her sword and cut his head off without even blinking. She’d taken a life that easily. She then picked up his head from the ground and tossed it at the duke’s retainer.
“Return to your house and prepare for war,” she said in a cold voice, expressionless. There was no anger or amusement in her voice.
“Have you all forgotten? We’re still at war. We’ve taken over this palace. If you believe it to be the same place it was during times of peace, you may lose your life very easily.” Lady Francess smiled gracefully at the room that had completely frozen up.
Then she bowed to me and retook her seat. Now everyone’s eyes were on me. She got me... Now they think it was my order to kill him. She really lives up to her name as the Gold Rose. Her resolution is fearsome. She had the decisiveness befitting of a commander. Undoubtedly, she made a much more excellent one than I did.
Thanks to that, the remainder of the meeting went smoothly. There was nobody who objected to our proposal, and we essentially got an unconditional surrender from every single one. As a result, this country now belonged to House Sevensworth. All the assets and territories from the dethroned royal family and seven large noble families would be split up between our house and those who participated in the battle with us. All the nobles were now under the command of House Sevensworth.