I Became the illegitimate son of a duke

62 – Preparation (2)

“You evil bastards!!”

“Even though the way they serve is different, they serve the same God. How can they be so heinous!?”

Reformed Christians were very angry when they heard of the Holy War proclamation and the atrocities of Canaanism.

You can’t solve corruption and depravity, but you’re going to oppress us who made it a problem with violence? Are you not even thinking about fixing the problem?

“False beliefs are coming from all sides!”

“They intend to kill us all!”

“We must all unite and fight against each other!!”

Each of them blushes at the atrocities of the Canaan religion and raises an indictment.

In the end, it wasn’t long before the atmosphere became extremely harsh and all sorts of words started pouring out.

“The Emperor is going to take all our fiefs and sell them to foreign monarchs who send armies!”

“Seonghwang, who serves the devil and distorts the will of the gods, will sacrifice us to the devil!!”

“On the condition that the Holy Emperor baptize us, the illegitimate son of Burgon is coming to crush us with his mighty army—”

“Everybody calm down.”

A middle-aged man steps out in front of the group as the atmosphere becomes extremely threatening.

His voice is very quiet compared to the others who scream, but no one in the group misses it.

The mouths of the people who were raising their mounds fell shut in an instant, and silence settled in the room.

“Your Majesty the Elector…”

The identity of the man is Elector Meissen, one of the seven electors who have the right to elect an emperor within the Holy Empire.

Even though it became a heresy, the right to elect an emperor that had been passed down in the Meissen family for a thousand years did not disappear anywhere.

Of course, since he was excommunicated a long time ago, he is not protected by any laws, but he is one of the most powerful people in the empire except for the emperor, so he does not need to be protected by the laws.

In addition, his court has long since been replaced by Reformed Christians, so it is safe to say that there is little risk of excommunication.

“First of all, I’m going to point out only certain things, not rumors. First, Seonghwang declared a holy war. Second, monarchs from various countries joined in that holy war. Third, the troops led by them are committing all sorts of atrocities. Is there anything wrong? ?”

“…No.”

Everyone here is listening to the words of Elector Meissen.

Of course, among the Reformed Christians, only Elector Meissen is the only one with enough power and authority to negotiate with the emperor and foreign monarchs.

No matter how much the Reformed Christians turned their backs on the atrocities of the Catholic Church, they did not turn their backs on secular authority.

“Then, we must first take measures against certain things. First, the fact that Seonghwang declared a holy war… To be honest, even a bug would be foolish to think of it.”

“…Yes?”

But the believers who were listening were greatly embarrassed when such harsh and vulgar words came out of the mouth of the noble elector.

How could he say such a thing when his authority is as strong as that of an emperor, and he is the head of a noble family that has been around for thousands of years?

“I’m busy with work, so I can’t explain it to you in detail, but for His Majesty the Emperor, the increasing number of forces participating in this Reformation conflict is a very terrible thing. Even if you don’t, it’s going to be very different.”

As the Elector’s brief explanation continued, the Reformed Church believers, who had been greatly anxious, were visibly relieved.

There is nothing worse than for the Seonghwangcheong and the Empire to cooperate and attack the Reformed Church, but if that statement is true, the Empire will never cooperate with the Seonghwangcheong.

“Second, the same goes for the monarchs of each country. His Majesty, like the Holy Emperor, will try to push them as far as possible.”

Of course, it will be very difficult unlike the success.

After saying that, Elector Meissen closed his eyes and giggled at what was so funny.

“Keuhuh…Anyway, His Majesty the Emperor will block the first and second, so the last one we need to pay attention to is the last one.”

“…Atrocities.”

Elector Meissen, who had been laughing for a long time, stopped laughing while making the sound of an old wooden chair creaking.

“Yes, atrocity. How would you like me to treat this?”

“Yes, yes…?”

Elector Meissen picks up a young aristocrat muttering to himself and asks her opinion.

The young aristocrat, who has suddenly attracted the attention of many people, looks around in bewilderment, and then, under the pressure of Elector Meissen’s sullen gaze, ends up closing his mouth little by little.

“So… Publicize the atrocities so that the new faith-seekers… Are more crowded?”

“Exactly, but one is missing.”

Elector Meissen took one quick glance at the people in her room before continuing her words.

“Why hasn’t the empire taken military action against us so far? Hasn’t it been simple political pressure?”

“Isn’t that… It’s because our strength is so strong that we can’t rush into it?”

“That’s true, but the root cause is taxes.”

“…!”

A thunderbolt strikes in the heads of the Reformed Church members.

Come to think of it, Duke Meissen always emphasized that he had to pay taxes no matter how much he changed his faith.

Of course there were a lot of people who hated paying taxes to their lords who believed in false beliefs, but rather than persuading them, Duke Meissen pressed them down with force and continued to pay taxes to their lords.

At that time, I thought he was just a noble nobleman faithful to his feudal duties…

“I don’t need to poke my lower back to pay my taxes regularly. And taxes, to put it a little rougher, are protection costs. Protection costs to protect me from all dangers.”

“…No way.”

“Yes, the emperor, and the dukes and counts under him, all of them have never refused to pay our taxes. They have a duty to protect us, and we have no right to ask them for protection. Yes. Then, I will write a letter soon. I will write to His Majesty, so each of you should write to your lord. Ah, if your direct lord is the Emperor, just like me, come to me, and I will send it with you.”

The room that was filled with anger until just now is now filled with the smell of ink.

Reformed Church believers each sent a letter to their lord according to the words of Elector Meissen, and most of the lords responded positively and raised an army. And among them was the emperor.

………

“The situation seems to be going very urgent…?”

A bit… Unexpected?

Leclerc, who heard the report together, also seemed very perplexed.

“The Canaanite feudal lords are fighting against the forces of the temple…”

At first I was confused whether I was seeing something wrong or not hearing something wrong… But it’s true.

The Principality of Laurel, the home of Ines, is not heretical, but it is said that they are fighting against the crusader forces. According to what I heard from Ines, the Lord of Laurel, the Duke of Laurel, was greatly angered by the fact that the Holy Temple faction killed the heretical vassals and subjects of the Principality of Laurel at random.

Huh… I knew it wouldn’t be easy to control because it’s a multinational army, but isn’t this a bit harsh?

“The Crusade… Made a big mistake.”

“I’m glad I didn’t participate.”

I’ll use Jeanne as an excuse to intervene later, but now doesn’t seem like the right time.

It would have been quite a headache if I had participated in that crusade and entered the depths of the empire and was beaten on all sides by the enraged princes. It would have been very difficult to fight Ines’s birth family, the Duchy of Laurel.

“The most unusual thing is the emperor. The emperor who tried to suppress heresy not too long ago is now protecting heresy.”

The power of the Emperor of the Holy Empire comes from the authority of the Canaanite religion, which is the state religion, and this became the cause of the emperor’s competition against heresy and suppressing heresy with persuasion, conciliation, intimidation, and bribery.

It is an emperor whose authority has already been driven to the ground, but if the authority were to dig into the ground at all due to the spread of heresy, the emperor would have seen only an ending in which the empire completely disintegrated.

Such an emperor is now trying to protect those cults. This… Ok, that was it.

“It seems the emperor has changed his policy.”

“What kind of policy…?”

“Up until now, the emperors had tried to suppress the heretics in any way because the spread of heresy could lead to the division of the empire, but the situation has changed a lot since the Holy Emperor declared a holy war.”

“…A foreign enemy, that’s right.”

Hearing the word foreign enemy, Ines took a deep breath. Ines, who had been in the Duchy of Laurel not so long ago, would know very well what that meant.

No, not just Ines, but everyone here. Not too long ago, the issue of my accession to the throne as an illegitimate child was completely overshadowed by the invasion of the Carolingian kingdom.

“Yes, by protecting his vassals from foreign enemies, the emperor enhances his authority without relying on religion, and it is not enough to rid them of their will to independence, so we can all create an identity as imperial people.”

Of course, this is in direct contrast to Seonghwang’s will. Among the seven Elector Counts who have the right to elect the Emperor, the three Elector Counts are episcopal consorts and only receive orders from the Holy Hwangcheong.

Um… From the monarch’s point of view, it’s better for the neighboring country to be politically confused, but personally, I still want to support the emperor. You say you’re defending the country from foreign enemies, but shouldn’t you be cheering for it?

Above all, even if things go like this, the method of using Jeanne to gain advantage is still valid. For me, there is no reason why I should hate the emperor.