Opening a fantasy anime world with the style of Mount & Blade

Page 72

King Louis, whose attention had been focused on Marianne, immediately turned his attention to Verna upon hearing Marianne's introduction.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Verna was a little puzzled as to why King Louis, who had been so aloof, was suddenly so excited, but she nodded nonetheless.

"Ha, it's been twelve years already, hasn't it? I didn't expect to hear news from the Stormy Plains again."

A hint of reminiscence flickered in King Louis's eyes, and he uttered a cryptic remark.

"Alright, I remember I already exempted Stormwind Territory from feudal obligations, so why are you suddenly asking me to fulfill those obligations again after so many years?"

After reminiscing for a while, King Louis sat lazily on his throne again and continued to ask.

"The Earl of Axel, of Axel, is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He adopts a high-handed policy towards his vassals and exploits his people to the extreme."

A few days ago, disregarding the fact that Viscount Storm was your vassal, you launched a surprise attack on Stormhold.

Viscount Storm was forced to retaliate and questioned Earl Axel, but Earl Axel replied bluntly, "Kings take turns, and this year it's my turn."

Today we eliminate them, and the king becomes their vassal; tomorrow we establish our own independent states, and the northern provinces are established; the day after tomorrow we conquer them, and the king becomes the king of the capital.

Faced with such a treacherous traitor, Viscount Storm has an obligation to eliminate him on behalf of His Majesty.

After a bloody battle, Viscount Storm successfully defeated Count Axel and destroyed his stronghold.

These are Count Axel's secret documents, seals, corpses, and a list of ill-gotten gains. Your Majesty, please examine them.

Verna's speech was still intermittent, but both her expression and emotions were passionate and extremely stirring, so much so that even King Louis couldn't help but sit up straight.

However, his attention was not on Count Axel's rebellion, after all, the kingdom was far from peaceful at the moment, with a few troublemakers rebelling every year.

They could be nobles with ulterior motives, commoners dissatisfied with oppression, or even unfortunate souls bewitched by the remnants of the Demon King's army.

His point of view was that Viscount Stormwind had managed to defeat the wealthy city of Axel, despite the barren town of Stormwind!

This is simply a fantasy, unless...

While King Louis was brainstorming, Verna had already taken off her storage ring and taken out everything inside.

"This……"

If King Louis had any doubts just now, he now had no choice but to believe them.

Beside Verna lay the body of Count Axel, his seal, and his sword; the palace was surrounded by piles of gold and silver treasures.

King Louis looked at the secret documents, the list of feudal obligations, and Liu Tianyu's handwritten letter that Verna handed him.

"100000 Supreme Gold Coins?! Is this the feudal obligation your Stormwind Territory pays? How can it be so much? That's almost equivalent to a quarter's worth of taxes in the capital!"

King Louis's young face was filled with shock. This was absolutely the first time he had ever received such a huge feudal obligation, and it was the kind he had to hand over voluntarily!

There's only one possibility for Liu Tianyu to be able to come up with such a large sum of money: he emptied out the entire city of Axel!

This is probably all the wealth a count's family, which occupies a large city and has been passed down for nearly a hundred years, has accumulated.

As for the possibility of it being fake? Could so many extra gold coins and treasures in the palace be fake?

Not to mention, Liu Tianyu's handwritten letter was really something else; it gave him goosebumps all over.

Such a young hero, so loyal, and skilled at flattery, plus being the son of an old acquaintance, perfectly suited King Louis's tastes!

After examining him carefully for a while, King Louis couldn't help but ask:

"With Liu Tianyu sending so many things, does Stormwind Territory even have any money left?"

Verna immediately replied:

"Viscount Storm has said that as long as Your Majesty is satisfied, he would be willing to sell the entire Storm Plains!"

Of course, this was just Verna saying something politely.

Are you kidding me? Asking Liu Tianyu to sell Stormy Grassland? He's more likely to sell Gouzi!

However, it must be said that King Louis was quite pleased with it, even though he knew that Verna's words were just polite words, he still felt comfortable listening to them!

Moreover, they weren't just talking nonsense; they actually gave me real money.

Unlike the nobles living in the capital and the vassals stationed outside, who all claimed to be completely honest with him, but when things actually came down to it, they all wished they could disappear into a hole.

Initially, I planned to borrow money from these nobles to raise funds for the national treasury, and then begin to purge the remnants of the Demon King's army that had been scattered and dispersed throughout the kingdom.

But these nobles, who usually lived a life of debauchery, actually cried poverty in front of him in public.

Some even got so emotional that they disregarded the dignity of the nobility and directly showed him their "open and honest heart" in the palace!

In the end, this farce didn't result in much money being donated at all!

Now look at Liu Tianyu. Judging by the timeline, he probably hasn't been in power for more than two years, yet he quelled the rebellion of Count Axel and even brought in so much money. He is truly a pillar of the nation and a young hero!

The kingdom needs loyal nobles like Liu Tianyu who are willing to share the king's burdens.

As for Count Axel? King Louis had already tacitly approved of his rebellion, and then Liu Tianyu quelled the rebellion and sacrificed him to the heavens.

After all, the corpses are already laid out here in the palace.

King Louis had absolutely no liking for these parasites. They were only concerned with vying for power and profit, and exploiting the people. When things really got tough, they never made any contribution to the country.

In any case, regardless of how Count Axel died, King Louis was convinced that the man was a traitor.

When the old Viscount Storm died in battle, he had already ordered the exemption of Storm Territory from feudal obligations, but unexpectedly Liu Tianyu is now fulfilling those obligations.

And he accomplished it so well—no, if you compare the amount of feudal obligations Viscount Storm performed with those of other vassals.

Liu Tianyu is not just outstanding, he's practically unparalleled!

That's why people say, "Comparing people will only lead to ruin, and comparing goods will only lead to discarding them."

Other vassals would make them fulfill their feudal obligations and would send tax officials to urge them on. Some vassals even had to arrange guards for the tax officials to prevent any "accidents" from happening to them along the way!

In the end, the feudal obligations that could be collected were utterly shameful compared to Liu Tianyu's!

Thinking about this, King Louis felt a flush rise to his face, and it was under these complex emotions that King Louis decided to make a decision that went against his ancestors' wishes.

He wants to promote Liu Tianyu's title directly from viscount to marquis!

The reason it is said to go against the ancestors' decision is that since the founding of the kingdom, there has never been a precedent of promoting nobles across ranks.

No matter how great a person's achievements are, they must take it one step at a time. It is only by relying on their achievements that they can improve their pace from small, quick steps to large strides.

Most importantly, as a marquis, Liu Tianyu needs to own a real city, and in terms of territory, he also needs to occupy one-third of the kingdom's provinces.

In fact, if you really want to count, the Storm Steppe alone already occupies one-third of the northern provinces.

Liu Tianyu had only lacked a city, and now, after destroying the Axel family, he truly possessed one.

Therefore, it is not impossible to promote Liu Tianyu to the rank of marquis.

However, breaking with the kingdom's traditions and setting a precedent in this way will inevitably be met with opposition from countless people.

Especially those nobles who lack ability but are jealous of talent will certainly stop at nothing to stop King Louis's decree.

But King Louis wanted to do it this way; he wanted to set an example so that all the nobles could see it clearly.

As long as one is willing to be loyal to King Louis and serve the country, he, as the Holy King, will never mistreat anyone!

Moreover, this was done to isolate Liu Tianyu, placing him naturally in opposition to most of the nobles, thus forcing him to rely on the king.

By doing this, regardless of his true feelings, he would inevitably become one of my loyal followers.

As expected, when the draft edict promoting Liu Tianyu to marquis was announced, it immediately drew opposition from the vast majority of nobles in the kingdom.

The opposition was particularly fierce among some ancient noble families who had been established for hundreds or even thousands of years. These guys were true diehards, and they even formed a clique called "Gensokyo".

They have always looked down on the country nobles outside the capital, not to mention that King Louis is about to break with the kingdom's tradition and directly promote Liu Tianyu, a minor viscount born in the countryside and whose family has only been in power for two generations, to marquis.

Once he becomes a marquis, wouldn't that mean that this country boy would soon be on equal footing with them, or even standing above them? How could he possibly agree to such a thing!

Unfortunately, King Louis was as stubborn as a mule—he was determined and ignored Gensokyo's objections. He forcefully issued a decree promoting Liu Tianyu to marquis, acknowledging his achievements and allowing him to completely annex the Earldom of Axel.

However, in order not to overly provoke the people of Gensokyo, King Louis did not assign Liu Tianyu any position, and instead issued an order for Liu Tianyu to come to the capital in person so that he could personally bestow an official title upon him.

Not long after King Louis finalized Liu Tianyu's promotion to marquis despite the opposition of the nobles, many nobles still came to remonstrate against it.

Today was no different. In King Louis's drawing room, dozens of powerful nobles gathered to once again voice their opposition to the king.

Among these powerful nobles, members of Gensokyo make up one-third of the population.

Those who were not members of Gensokyo made up two-thirds of the total.

The remaining nobles who were not from Gensokyo opposed the decree for a rather simple reason: pure jealousy!

Why was Liu Tianyu, an unknown country nobleman, able to be granted the title of marquis by the king despite opposition?

I have served the king for so many years, and even if I haven't made any great contributions, I have certainly put in a lot of hard work. Why shouldn't I be promoted to a higher rank?

What I can't have, no one else can have either!

So even though these people could clearly see that King Louis looked gloomy, they still kept talking and explaining their reasons!

"Your Majesty, the decree you bestowed upon Liu Tianyu the title of Marquis is truly inappropriate (why should such a high title be given to this country nobleman)!"

"Liu Tianyu is only eighteen years old, just two years into his adulthood. He can't handle such a high title as Marquis (I should be the one to handle it)!"

"Yes, what you're doing is really against the ancestral rules and laws, which cannot be changed (if they are to be changed, it should be us who do it)!"

"Even if you want to make an exception and grant Liu Tianyu the title of Marquis, Liu Tianyu must at least have outstanding merits (I don't have any, so why shouldn't I be promoted)!"

"I hope Your Majesty will consider this carefully and think it over before acting (forget it, just withdraw your order immediately)!"

A swarm of people chattered incessantly like flies, making King Louis's expression increasingly awkward.

What a bunch of worms! These nobles are utterly useless, only concerned with their own little plot of land, completely disregarding the overall situation of the kingdom.

I should have brought these insects to the battlefield when I was fighting the Demon King.

If someone dies, it's considered a sacrifice for the country; if they run away, they're labeled a traitor, stripped of their title, and their property confiscated—all done in one fell swoop.

He only regretted that he was too young and ignorant of politics back then, and was just a prince, and failed to see through the true nature of these insects, which allowed them to continue buzzing around him.

How can a kingdom be run well when surrounded by such a bunch of insects!

In a fit of anger, King Louis also displayed his regal demeanor, stating bluntly:

"Shut up, everyone!"

When everyone saw the king lose his temper, the once noisy reception room, which was as chaotic as a marketplace, instantly fell silent.

"Since when has it become a matter of you deciding whether I should promote one of my vassals? Am I the king, or are you the king?"

Everyone fell silent instantly; they dared not utter a word in the face of the enraged King Louis.

You should know that before King Louis ascended the throne, he was a Gold-level adventurer. He was a ruthless person who had fought the Demon King and survived! That's how he got the title of Holy King!

Although he has always presented himself as gentle and refined since ascending the throne, if you really provoke him, it will be far more serious than just bloodshed.

"It seems you all know that I am the king!"

Since I am the king, my decisions are absolute!

"If I want to promote Liu Tianyu to the rank of Marquis, then he must also be promoted to the rank of Marquis. It's that simple. Do you understand?"

King Louis shouted sternly, his golden eyes sweeping coldly over the crowd. Every nobleman he looked at immediately lowered his head, like a mouse seeing a cat.

"Humph!"

King Louis snorted and was about to leave the drawing room when a voice suddenly came from inside.

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! The Seven Shields Alliance has sent an urgent request for assistance! The Kingdom of Geolar has also sent an urgent request for assistance!"

Chapter 105 The Situation on the Mainland

"So, King Louis wants to personally bestow upon me the title of Marquis, and now that war is about to break out, he has asked me to answer the call of the lord and lead troops to the capital."

Three days later, Verna returned to Axel Castle and presented Liu Tianyu with King Louis's handwritten letter.

"Yes, the nobles of the capital, especially the long-established nobles of Gensokyo, all oppose your promotion to marquis."

However, the king, defying all opposition, insisted on elevating you to the rank of marquis. I think there are two possibilities.”

Verna spoke softly with her signature languid smile on her face.

"One possibility is that I impressed the king with my feudal obligations, and then the king wanted to use me to set an example for the kingdom's nobles, to tell everyone that as long as they are loyal to him, they will naturally receive generous rewards."

After all, he broke the kingdom's tradition for me, elevating me from viscount to marquis, which would surely attract many others to follow suit.

Another possibility is, as you just mentioned, that the king wanted to put me in a difficult position, isolate me from the nobles, and force me to become a loyal subject dependent on the king.