Otherworld Nation Founding Chronicles - Chapter 113

Chapter 113

Chapter 113 - Bloodless Capitulation

　I called for Ains and Gehenna’s representative and moved ahead with talks of how postwar will be handled specifically .

　First order of business was that of territory but these talks went over smoothly .

　To put it briefly, the southern third of the Belvedere Kingdom would go to Lezzad and Gehenna . The north and central thirds would go to the Rosyth Kingdom .

　And so it was .

　This agreement reflects each of the three nation’s power dynamic and geography .

　First, the my kingdom is much stronger than both Lezzad and Gehenna .

　Writing this [treaty?] makes it sound like I made a threat . . . but that’s the case . [1]

　In fact it’s the opposite . Lezzad and Gehenna insisted for me to take the majority of the land .

　It is obvious to reason that when you expand territory, you must divide some of your power to defend it .

　Because Lezzad and Gehenna are small countries, they do not hold the defensive capabilities to cover the territory . That’s why we gained a majority of the territory .

　Also, the Belvedere Kingdom’s unique demographics and political system influenced this .

　First, the biggest reason was that Belvedere Kingdom’s ruler, King Belvedere, was an Aldernian .

　The Belvedere Kingdom in the beginning was a confederation of the Belvedere gens (family) and several other influential gens . Over time, the Belvedere gens stood out and became the leaders amongst their allies . They then claimed the title of “King” . . . That is basically the origins of their political system . Well, we [the Rosyth Kingdom] are the same . [2]

　In other words, it’s a country centered around Aldernians .

　However, the Cretians have built many colonies in the rich and warm southern part of the Aldernian peninsula .

　The number of Cretians immigrating rapidly increased and so too did the number of people who migrate to the Belvedere Kingdom . 　

　Successive Belvedere kings have encouraged Cretian immigration for their technology and economic power .

　And so, the Cretians who had immigrated began to marry with Aldernians, and the number of multiracial people grew . [henceforth dubbed Cretian-Aldernians] [3]

　Like this, several autonomous cities made up of mostly Cretian-Aldernians started popping up in the central region of the Belvedere Kingdom .

　As time passed, the Belvedere Kingdom’s national power grew, and so they began to invade the Cretian colonies to expand further .

　While I say this, they weren’t really “invaded” but more coerced into a confederation .

　Even when influential city-states like Lezzad began formed alliances, the Belvedere Kingdom’s policy of forcing other colonies to confederate did not change much .

　That’s why much of the Belvedere Kingdom’s south is made up of former Cretian city-states .

　In a nutshell, the north is run by Aldernian patricians . The middle is made up of Cretian-Aldernian autonomous cities . And the south made up of former Cretian city-states who were coerced into an unequal confederacy with the Belvedere kings .

　For Lezzad and Gehenna, it is not difficult to integrate the southern region . All they need to do is to make the same pact as King Belvedere had . [basically this]

　In contrast, the central and north portions are more troublesome .

　Although the people of the central region had autonomy, it was an autonomy policy allowed to the same level as the previous kings of the Belvedere Kingdom .

　Without the “king’s guidance,” we don’t know what we should do . . . is what many people thought .

　So, should Lezzad or Gehenna provide guidance? That said, thinking this way is no good for them either . Because they hold a lot of half-baked pride, they hate to see fellow “mere humans” be depended on . It can’t be anyone but a “King . ”

　The northern region goes without saying . Because the Aldernian patricians are paying, an Aldernian king must also pay . [4]

　Well, anyways that’s the situation that led to our country annexing the northern and central regions .

　In the negotiations, Lezzad and Gehenna did have a dispute over how the southern territory should be divided between them, but now the partitioning has been decided and agreed upon .

　All that’s left now is the confrontation with the Belvedere Kingdom with the conditions .

　”What sort of conditions did you have in mind of King Rosyth?” (Ains)

　”All major state-owned mines are to be suppressed by my country . All castles and forts are to be abolished [or demolished?] with the exception of the one in the royal capital . The prohibition of military arms . The prohibition of going to war without permission from the Rosyth Kingdom . For all of the [former?] cities and patricians confederated/allied the Belvedere Kingdom who  confederated/allied to Rosyth Kingdom [instead?] to be recognized . The wife and children of King Belvedere to be turned over to the Rosyth Kingdom for 10 years . . . . I think that should be good . ” (Almus)

　I carefully explain the conditions I thought up of until now .

　Ains and Gehenna’s representative give a surprised look .

　”Those are some pretty harsh terms . But are you not going to demand them to pay reparations?” (Ains)

　”They won’t be able to pay a high amount anyways . Because that’s the case, it’s better off to not demand reparations . Rather than reparations, it would be smarter to make it so they would be unable to turn against us in the future . ” (Almus)

　To be honest, I wanted to add in more things such as banning alliances except with the Rosyth Kingdom but Lezzad and Gehenna are also here . . .

　”But there is a problem with the prohibitions on arms and war . Would they obey that?” (Ains)

　”They would have no choice but to obey . The Belvedere Kingdom is surrounded by my country’s allies after all . ” (Almus)

　The Belvedere Kingdom’s capital is in the northern region . Because the northern region’s patricians and central region’s cities are to fall under the Rosyth Kingdom, that will naturally make the Belvedere Kingdom surrounded by my country .

　The Belvedere Kingdom would not be able to fight a war against anyone but my country .

　In a way, it’s not that harsh treatment . Rather, this treatment is a matter of course .

　This is the same with the prohibition on rearmament .

　Because money can’t be taken, if it were just then it wouldn’t be too difficult to swallow .

　Also, I don’t think the terms are too bad .

　You could say this treaty is rather paradoxical, as it leaves all national defense to the Rosyth Kingdom .

　King Belvedere can turn his head to domestic affairs now since he would no longer have to manage national defense .

　It’s a pretty good deal for the losing country .

　Well, that’s assuming the Rosyth Kingdom honors the premise of the treaty . . .

　At the very least, I don’t want to destroy the Belvedere Kingdom as long as King Belvedere doesn’t make any suspicious moves .

　In the first place, I put in the clause to take hostages to convey this .

　If I were the type of person to attack after prohibiting rearming then it would be unnecessary to take hostages .

　If we are to keep surveillance over the hostages for 10 years, then that means we plan to let them survive for 10 years .

　Well, if you read too much into it, it seems like some kind of trick made by the fiendish Almus Ars Rosyth .

　”Actually . . . my home country says they want to claim reparations . . . ” (Ains)

　”Same here . ” (Gehenna’s representative)

　Ains and Gehenna’s representative say this with emberrassed faces .

　In other words, Lezzad and Gehenna need to be paid reparations . . .

　”About how much?” (Almus)

　”For now lets say it’s double to triple the cost of the war for us . . . ” (Ains)

　It seems it’s the same with Gehenna .

　Over a thousand gold coins huh . . . without a doubt there is no way the Belvedere Kingdom can pay that much .

　”Can’t you give me something more concrete?” (Almus)

　”No, we don’t mind if the payment is made in installments . However we cannot wait more than 5 years for it to be paid . ” (Ains)

　Hmmm, I don’t want to really just deny this claim . . .

　What to do . . .

　”Then how about this . My country will shoulder the reparation debt . After 3 years, the Belvedere Kingdom will start to pay my country back the debt, then after 10 years the reparations will be paid off . What do you think?” (Almus)

　”No, we are completely fine with this but . . . is your majesty, King Rosyth, really fine with agreement?” (Ains)

　Ains is asking if Rosyth is really financially stable enough not to collapse from this .

　This is more my country’s domestic affairs but . . . if it’s going to lead to bankruptcy the proposal won’t be put through .

　I’ll figure something out . No, rather I’ll do something .

　Thinking about it 3 years later . . .

　I had not thought about how dangerous it was to not crush King Belvedere . If you can crush someone, then crush them . In that time, it is time for your country to fall into ruin .

　”Well, it’s time to end this . . . ” (Almus)

　I wrote out the contents of the treaty on the paper .

King Belvedere will capitulate and hand over all arms .

From here on, King Belvedere is prohibited from any arms in the future .

With the exception of the royal capital’s castle, all castles and forts are to be demolished .

Until the third clause is achieved, Lezzad and Gehenna’s amies are to be stationed in the Belvedere Kingdom . The maintenance cost will be covered by the Belvedere Kingdom .

King Belvedere is forbidden from declaring war without the Rosyth’s Kingdom’s permission .

King Belvedere will accept the fact that the patricians and cities in the northern and central regions who have become King Rosyth’s vassals are vassals .

King Belvedere will accept that the cities in the southern region have confederated with Lezzad and Gehenna .

The wife and children of the Belvedere king are to live in the Rosyth Kingdom for 10 years .

When someone from House Belvedere is getting married, the marriage must be approved by King Rosyth, Lezzad, and Gehenna .

King Belvedere must pay 2,000 gold [each?] to both Lezzad and Gehenna within 5 years .

If payment is impossible, the Rosyth Kingdom will shoulder the debt . The Belvedere Kingdom must repay that debt back to the Rosyth Kingdom after 3 years and must finish repaying within 10 years . (Depending on the financial situation of the Belvedere Kingdom, negotiations may be permitted . )

[WTF there is no 12th clause lol . Also that parenthesis in 11 is not mine fyi]

The Belvedere Kingdom shall maintain direct control over territory it had before the war .

Mines within the Belvedere Kingdom (salt, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, magic stones) are to be owned by King Rosyth .

When these are all done, the Rosyth Kingdom, Lezzad, and Gehenna will recognize the Belvedere Kingdom’s sovereignty .

　”Your majesty, King Belvedere . It is a pleasure to meet you . I am Lezzad’s representative, Ains Worth . ” (Ains) [5]

　Ains gave King Belvedere a rountine greeting .

　And so the long preaching of the splendors of peace began .

　To summarize Ains’ long talk, we want peace . If the Belvedere Kingdom, wishes it, then the war could be over . Basically that’s what was said .

　Then, while laughing and smiling, King Belvedere was presented the conditions .

　”This is . . . ” (King Belvedere)

　Kign Belvedere frowned .

　These conditions would make it so they would become something like a client state of the Rosyth Kingdom .

　The only good thing about this is that Lezzad and Gehenna are involved . Freedom of diplomacy is permitted .

　In the first place, it was Lezzad and Gehenna who cornered him this far .

　But, these are not bad conditions for situation that the royal capital is being sieged .

　For a crushed country, completely getting rid of the Belvedere family would be normal, so these conditions that left a bit of hope are not bad .

　Territories are being greatly partitioned, but areas under direct control will be maintained .

　In the first place, most of those territories are owned by the patricians and autonomous cities so there would be no major changes .

　There is the minus that taxes from the patricians and autonomous cities will be lost but that cancels out with the fact that military spending will be cut .

　These are favourable conditions for a country right before capitulating .

　The problem is . . .

　(There is the Eville Kingdom . . . )

　If we let the siege keep going, it may be possible for either the Eville Kingdom or the Rozel Kingdom to destroy the Rosyth Kingdom .

　If that happens, then Belvedere can gain some territory from the Rosyth Kingdom .

　A choice between high risk, high reward and low risk, low reward . . .

　King Belvedere closes his eyes for a while and then gives his response .

　”We accept . ” (King Belvedere)

　”I thought that would be the case if it were with King Belvedere . ” (Ains)

　Ains laughed and smiled .

　King Belvedere saw this and gave a self-deprecating smile .

　(This was a treaty made after considering my cowardly personality after all . )

　King Belvedere gave out a sigh .

　In the first place, King Belvedere never wanted to be king . However, because his siblings were so engrossed in plotting against each other, they ended up killing each other and so the position naturally went to him .

　King Belvedere was aware he had no talent . That’s why he never tried to compete .

　But the messenger from Rozel had convinced him .

　”You can definitely win if it’s now . ” (Rozel messenger)

　The Rozel messenger said this . King Belvedere also thought that if King Rosyth were besieged by Rozel, Eville, Belvedere, and Equus then he would be defeated .

　In addition, he saw ambition in King Rosyth’s eyes . Get your enemies before they you . That is the rule of the world .

　Originally, because he was accused of being a coward, he had gotten a complex about it .

　Therefore, he thought this was going to be his once in a lifetime chance . . .

　”Sigh . . . it seems I’ve stepped on the griffon’s tail . ” (King Belvedere)

　King Belvedere sighed .

　(But it’s good that my generation did not become the last generation . Not that that was decided but . . . sigh, I suppose I’ll be known be carved into the annals of history as a foolish ruler . A stepping stone for that young king . . . )

　Later, King Belvedere would dramatically increase his income by spending more on domestic affairs over the military and successfully paid off all debts to the Rosyth Kingdom without fail .

　Although it would written in the history books that he had no military talent, because he had not allowed for unnecessary blood to be spilt and with his『resolution』 , he would go down in history as a wise ruler .

　What kind of face would King Belvedere make if he knew this . . .

　Author’s note:

　None~

　Translator’s note:

　Hope you enjoyed this chapter . I’ve been pretty busy since last week (what with moving into my new apartment and helping my parents move) but am completely free now for this week so I might be able to come out with the next chapter really soon . Anyways I’m tired . In the words of a certain isekai protagonist, “Sleep is justice . ”

[1] Writing out the treaty I guess? I don’t think this is meta to the point where Almus is the one writing the web novel down in-universe . That’d be very odd on why he would know certain character POVs lol . Just caught me off guard there for a second and wanted to comment on that .  

[2] The author is making a distinction between 豪族 and 氏族 . Both can be translated into clans I suppose but the former refers to a powerful and wealthy family (basically the upper class) and the latter refers to any group of a family . The distinction I made to translate this is 豪族 are still “patricians” since they were the Roman ruling/upper class and for 氏族 to be gens, which is the Roman term for a family (by blood generally) . Basically in both the Japanese here and English I’m giving, all patrician families are gens but not all gens are patricians, just the important ones are .  

[3] I didn’t have a really good way to say this . Basically what is being said that the Aldernian and Cretian cultures/blood was being more mixed together? Like the people became something not completely Aldernian or Cretian I think . The Japanese translated literally says “Thus, the Cretians who moved married the Aldernians, and the multiracial advanced . ” Also Cretian-Aldernians means an Aldernian of Aldernian and Cretian heritage . I suppose an Aldernian-Cretian would be a Cretian of Aldernian and Cretian heritage 

[4] I guess they must mean they spend resources to maintain the direct control? This part in general was a bit awkward for me to translate so honestly I just directly translated what the literal Japanese said here so if anyone else has a better idea let me know: 北部地域は言うまでも無いだろう。アデルニア人の豪族が納めているのだから、同じアデルニア人の王が納めなくてはいけない。

[5] Lol really? Ains Worth? Wonder where the author got that name . Also Ains had a last name lol? 

Note : Please download the sponsor's game to support us!