Chapter 18

Right after Karolus finished speaking and left, the Royal Palace Audience Hall was engulfed in a fiery rage.

“That lowly brat dares…!”

“In the old days, that scum wouldn’t even have been able to look us in the eye! Just because he has some achievements, he thinks he’s something special?!”

“If I still had my position as Chief Justice, I would’ve thrown him in prison forever!!”

Karolus’s attitude was utterly disrespectful. His tone, the emotions in his words, his demeanor—everything about him made it clear that he had no intention of acknowledging the authority of the nobles and royals who ruled the kingdom.

How could this be possible? Even though he’s a noble, does he not know what etiquette is? Even an envoy from an enemy nation wouldn’t act like this!

But no matter how much they grumbled, no one dared to speak up in front of him. The reason was simple: his presence was too intimidating.

‘Still, we can’t afford to clash with Karolus. If we do, our entire family might be ruined.’

‘He’s completely insane. If you provoke him, he’ll just charge straight at you.’

The kingdom’s greatest general, who spent ten years in the north, amassing countless achievements and burying tens of thousands of enemies in the snow.

The man who, upon being ordered to abandon his defensive position and retreat, went berserk and marched his army all the way to the capital.

The monster who annihilated an entire division in half a day, absorbed their forces, and crushed even the elite royal guards and capital defense forces.

That was Karolus von Roytel, as seen by the high and mighty lords of the central government.

Though he was pushed into launching the coup by his subordinates, the results were undeniable.

‘It seems difficult to assert my authority or experience against him. I guess we’ll have to give up on trying to persuade him nicely.’

‘He has more political sense than he lets on. He knows how to manipulate public opinion.’

‘For now, it’s best to bow our heads and cooperate.’

And what about just now? Even as the kingdom’s most prominent nobles roared in anger, he didn’t bat an eye and instead tried to threaten them.

He even hinted at releasing sensitive documents to sway public opinion. That’s not something a political novice would do.

‘This is a step back to move forward. We’re not completely surrendering.’

The sharp-eyed nobles who observed Karolus’s reaction had already made their decision. They would give up what needed to be given up.

They had just confirmed that if things didn’t go his way, he was ready to throw everything away and settle things decisively. Who in their right mind would provoke him?

Resistance only works if you’re confident you can sway the other side. To them, Karolus didn’t seem like someone who could be persuaded or coaxed. Especially when it came to matters he had decided on himself.

And… to be honest, they weren’t entirely guiltless.

“It was excessive to let him off without any responsibility after losing the entire front.”

“If he had deserted or fled the battlefield, he should’ve at least been stripped of his military rank. There’s a limit to special treatment for nobles.”

“Even if the trigger was Her Majesty the Queen’s incident, we also bear some responsibility.”

Nepotism, preferential treatment in evaluations, stealing achievements, neglecting subordinate units, irresponsible command—the list went on.

The nobles had caused so much chaos just because they were nobles. Even the documents Karolus had roughly gathered amounted to a stack, and if he really dug in, it would fill carts.

They had sucked the blood of commoners for generations, exploiting and dominating as if it were their right, but they still had some semblance of conscience.

Enough to avoid eye contact if someone asked why they turned a blind eye to the worsening war situation.

“Since Karolus wants troops, let’s each contribute a bit. That way, the damage to each of us will be minimized.”

“I think the families that caused trouble in this war should step up first. If you caused a mess, you should take responsibility first, right?”

“Then the first priority would be the Liebert family…”

“Our family’s private soldiers are already deployed for capital defense, so we don’t have any to spare. I guess we’ll have to bring in the ones left in our territory.”

In the end, the nobles agreed to each contribute troops according to a set ratio. It burned their hearts to give up the private soldiers they had spent so much money to train, but it was the best option at the moment.

Excluding the royal loyalists, they could still gather enough to meet the target size.

Some families would suffer significant losses, but what could they do? If you cause trouble, you have to take responsibility.

“Your Majesty, I request your approval.”

“Understood.”

With the agreement reached below, Karl VII promptly signed the document Karolus had left behind.

Thus, the order to seize the military power of the noble factions was completed.

“Still, this is too much. Do they think we’re not contributing troops? The war broke out because of—”

“Shh!! Why bring that up now?! We agreed to bury it and move on!”

“I-I was just frustrated. I won’t say it again, so let go of my hand.”

There was some strange talk in the middle, but it wasn’t relevant to the current topic.

…For now, at least.

* * * * *

“In the end, you made a wise choice. Well thought out. So, how many will you mobilize?”

“You wanted 40,000, so we matched that. A mixed force of 45,000 from various regions. Will that suffice?”

“5,000 more? Not bad. It would’ve been great if you had cooperated with the war effort like this from the start.”

Regardless of the process, we now had a fresh batch of troops equivalent to a corps. With the Headquarters and the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which I led, we drew up a new deployment plan.

First, we stationed 50,000 troops in the west, mixing in half of the nobles’ private soldiers to address the immediate crisis. Then, 5,000 in the east, and the rest in the north. We adjusted the numbers according to priority.

Some argued that sending them all at once was wasteful, but I firmly rejected that. Troops could always be replenished, and resolving the precarious war situation was the top priority.

With the decision to move a massive force of around 100,000 troops, some people were thrilled.

Namely, the officers from commoner and lower noble backgrounds.

“Just the army heading to the plains is equivalent to two corps, right?”

“With that size, there’s bound to be new positions opening up. I’m not aiming for corps staff, but even an administrative or assistant role would be nice…”

“There are a lot of newly formed units this time. If we play our cards right, we might even get field command positions!”

In any society with a class system, the primary consideration in personnel matters is not ability but status.

If you prioritize lower statuses and upset the higher-ups, it’s hard to manage the fallout, but the opposite is all too easy.

That’s why officers from less prominent backgrounds are always getting the short end of the stick.

When it comes to assignments, the cushy jobs and elite tracks are all taken, and they’re stuck with the tough, low-benefit positions.

No matter how hard they work, their achievements are mostly stolen by the upper echelons.

‘I suffered a lot during my time as a junior officer. Damn, I should’ve fragged that battalion commander back then.’

Clearly, in terms of talent and ability, they could handle the work of a major general or lieutenant general with ease. But many spend their whole lives as majors or lieutenant colonels and retire. That’s the harm of the class system.

If you want to escape that fate? You have to make a name for yourself and build a significant career, like I did, to overcome the class gap.

Of course, getting the positions needed to build that career is hard enough, so I don’t need to explain further.

Even when war breaks out, this injustice doesn’t change much. There are more opportunities for rapid promotion and standing out, but in the end, it’s still the same.

If you’re not given the chance in the first place, you’re stuck in the same position.

“Where do we apply to get assigned there? If we go to the personnel office, will they handle it?”

“The competition will be fierce. Maybe it’s better to go to a famous general and pledge lifelong loyalty in exchange for support.”

“Wouldn’t the newly established Supreme Council be a better option?”

Given that, it’s no surprise that these officers are excited about this rare chance to turn their lives around.

And seeing a large number of competent officers eager for advancement, my subordinates and I immediately started recruiting.

“Want to join the new units?”

“L-Lieutenant General Roytel, sir!”

“Did you hear what we were saying?”

“I happened to overhear. If you’re interested… I might be able to help.”

We quickly moved to recruit them.

Talented individuals, likely dissatisfied with the current system, and potential allies if handled right? How could we resist?

“If it’s okay, let’s have dinner together the day after tomorrow. We can discuss the details then.”

If we can groom these guys up to the rank of colonel or brigadier general, maintaining power will be much easier.

If we control the younger officers, the military’s command will naturally fall into our hands. After all, the core of military dictatorship lies in securing actual command authority.

“Yes, sir! I’ll definitely come see you that day, sir!!”

Unsurprisingly, the targets of our recruitment were ecstatic.