WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

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◈ Friedrich's Battlefield

Chapter 127: A Comeback from the Brink (2)

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Over the next two weeks, the area centered on the defensive positions changed completely.

Friedrich and the other frontline commanders moved according to Claudia’s orders, and as a result, people gradually began to gather. Adult men made up the core, but there were also no small number of women and children, as well as elderly people with enough strength to travel a long distance under their own power. During the first week, the numbers increased slowly from nearby areas. During the second week, they rose rapidly as people came from a wider range.

Furthermore, as the date of Claudia’s expected arrival drew near, the lordly nobles came as well. In most cases the heads of the houses themselves arrived. For houses whose heads could not endure the hurried journey, the heirs came as representatives, and one after another they arrived after forced marches with only a few attendants.

Representatives of every lordly noble house, and large numbers of subjects centered on the kingdom’s west, gathered on the hill and the plains around it. In total, the number of people approached ten thousand.

During this time, a vast amount of food had been sent from the royal demesne. Not only the transport units but merchants as well were used, and mountains of food were still arriving. A considerable amount of money had also been sent, and purchases of food from the surrounding regions were proceeding. These supplies were meant not only to maintain the forces that would hold the defensive line here, but also to feed the people who had gathered for these several days.

“Still, it is impressive that this many people gathered… Good thing the enemy has not moved. If they marched on a place like this, it would be a disaster.”

Looking over the scene that could only be called chaos, Diethelm spoke with a sigh mixed into his voice.

If one looked only at the number, it was close to ten thousand. But more than half were simply a crowd of common people who could not even be called conscripts, and there was no way to regard them as fighting strength. The attendants of the lordly nobles were little more than guards for the journey, and they too could not be counted as troops.

It was a mob that had only been gathered with the idea of keeping them here for a few days. On top of that, the fallen morale of the conscripts who had already been here had spread, and the proclamation of the king’s death had been added to it. The air hanging over the place was terribly heavy. The people all had dark faces, not even knowing why they had been gathered here, and simply waited for time to pass. If an enemy army came to a place like this, great confusion would have been inevitable.

Fortunately, perhaps because the Kingdom of Arelia had no time for such a thing, or perhaps because they were wary that this strange situation might be some kind of trap, they showed no careless movement. As before, they were busy turning the fortress into a base for advance with a force of roughly two or three thousand.

“Her Highness the Crown Princess must have been gambling on the enemy not moving as well. In this kind of situation, it is difficult to accomplish anything without making any gamble at all.”

Beside Diethelm, Friedrich let out a wry laugh.

Before long, the one who arrived before them was a royal herald. Another herald had already told them that the royal party would arrive sometime today, so this newly arrived herald had come to announce that their arrival was close.

Friedrich and the others prepared to receive them on the road, and soon they caught sight of a group marching from the east.

There was the Royal Guard serving as escort, and part of the Albrecht Regiment as support for them. There were conscripts mobilized from the royal demesne as further reinforcements for the defensive line. Besides them, there were many noncombatants and commoners brought as witnesses from the direction of the royal demesne. Standing at the head of them all was none other than Crown Princess Claudia herself.

Though inwardly surprised that she herself stood at the very front, Friedrich and Diethelm saluted and received their lord as frontline commanders. Behind them, the officers of both regiments who had joined the receiving party followed suit.

“Your Highness.”

“Thank you for receiving me… It seems you prepared as instructed.”

Claudia first addressed the two of them, then looked over the sight of the gathered crowd. Behind her, Viscount Gustav Eichberger, commander of the Royal Guard, ordered the entire force to halt.

“The people have gathered not only from this western royal demesne, but also from the noble territories in the kingdom’s west, and some even from the southeast of the kingdom. The lordly nobles have already gathered as well, with either the head of each house or a representative from every family.”

“Excellent. As for the people of the kingdom’s northeast, there are knights and soldiers I borrowed from the Albrecht Regiment… This means that, in effect, nobles and people have gathered from the entire kingdom. As witnesses to what is about to begin.”

Claudia showed a smile. In that expression, there was not the slightest trace of anxiety or fatigue from losing her father the king in the middle of a national crisis. It was the figure of the crown princess Friedrich and the others had seen before, the one who had dignifiedly handled state affairs in place of her bedridden father.

And today, she would no longer be the monarch’s representative.

She would become the monarch herself.

The coronation would be held.

・・・・・・

Perhaps because several rehearsals had been conducted in advance in the royal capital, the officials and clergy Claudia had brought with her moved quickly. Under the direction of the Minister of Rites, the ceremonial space was created in no time atop the hill near the defensive positions.

A giant carpet serving as the stage for the ceremony was laid upon the ground, and a massive curtain serving as its backdrop was raised. Countless banners bearing the royal crest were lined around it.

Friedrich watched the preparations proceed from a position where he would not get in the way. As always, Yurika stood at his side.

Then a sharp voice called from behind.

“A coronation full of exceptions. To think it would be held not in the magnificent cathedral of the central church, but before the people on a battlefield in these plains.”

Friedrich turned around. The one approaching was an old man with a gaze as sharp as his voice, Marquis Helmut Dahlmeier, the Minister of Finance.

“…It is certainly exceptional. Looking at the history of the Kingdom of Edelstein, Her Highness Claudia will be the first monarch to be crowned on a battlefield in the plains. However, she is not the first monarch to be crowned before the people. I read in the histories that Queen Waltrude, the mother of the founding, also admitted not only nobles but commoners into the central church, which was still undergoing expansion at the time, and had them witness her coronation.”

“Oh? You have studied well. No wonder you are praised as clever and talented.”

Friedrich answered with an expression he kept deliberately calm. Helmut replied with sarcasm and came to stand beside him.

Then he glared sideways at Friedrich.

“But I would like you to stop looking at me with that surprised face. Is it so amusing that I, especially old among the civil officials, have left the comfortable court and appeared on the battlefield?”

At those words, Friedrich raised one eyebrow in surprise.

Claudia had brought not only guards, reinforcements, and the personnel necessary for the coronation ceremony. Helmut, the foremost of the civil officials, and almost all of the heavyweights including the ministers had accompanied her.

Civil officials who normally worked in the royal castle and lived lives unrelated to the battlefield tended to clash with military officials who went to the front. For those political rivals to appear together on a battlefield ruled by military men was unprecedented.

Moreover, Helmut was already conservative by nature, and old age had made him something like an embodiment of precedent. Yet he had followed Claudia’s likely unilateral decision to hold a coronation ceremony on the frontline battlefield, coming to a battlefield where not only could he not expect treatment comfortable enough for his title and office, but his life might even be in danger. Even among lordly nobles, the elderly had sent representatives, yet he, a civil official nearing seventy, had accompanied her in person. Friedrich could not honestly say he had not been surprised by that fact.

He had thought he was hiding those inner feelings well.

“I have spent most of my life in the world of court politics. There is no way I would fail to understand that much of your true feelings… I too never thought I would carry this body to a battlefield. But wherever it may be, it is impossible that I, a hereditary senior retainer, would not be present at the place where this country’s new monarch is born. If Her Highness the Crown Princess is to be crowned there, then following her even to a battlefield or to hell is proof of my loyalty. Do not underestimate me.”

Helmut spoke as though offended that Friedrich had found this surprising. In his words, one could glimpse the pride of a close retainer of the royal house.

“I beg your pardon. I admire your resolve, my lord.”

“Hmph. That flawless attitude and those respectful words are just like your father.”

When Friedrich honestly apologized and bowed, Helmut snorted with even greater displeasure.

“Also, do not call me my lord. Call me Lord Dahlmeier, as your father did. You are now the count who bears the Hosenfeld name. Behave in a manner worthy of your house and title… Count Matthias Hosenfeld was an irreplaceable commander for the kingdom, and a hero whose name the kingdom should engrave in history and praise. I am proud to have served the royal house in the same age as your father.”

“…Those are words of the highest honor. On behalf of my late father, I thank you, Lord Dahlmeier.”

Friedrich answered without looking away from the old noble who had been his foster father’s political enemy and comrade.

・・・・・・

Not long after, the preparations were complete.

The ceremonial space formed atop the hill had become a place apart from the mundane world.

A giant curtain decorated the background. A giant carpet colored the ground beneath their feet. Countless crested banners displayed the majesty of the royal house. Around them, kingdom army flags were lined as well.

And there stood the nobles in formal dress. Not only the civil officials Claudia had brought with her, but also the lordly nobles who had gathered at Claudia’s request, all dressed themselves as finely as possible before the important ceremony and lined up.

The regimental commanders who were frontline generals now stood as members of the kingdom’s nobility. Marquis Rebecca Eisenhut had entrusted command of the northern border watch to subordinates and come with Claudia. Diethelm Brightkreuz stood there as well. Friedrich stood beside them.

The uniform jacket and mantle he wore had belonged to Matthias. Fortunately, there had not been an extreme difference in build between him and his foster father, so after slight adjustments, there was no oddity in wearing them here now.

The sight of the kingdom’s nobles in formal dress gathered before the ceremonial space already possessed enough presence and persuasiveness. Around them, the kingdom’s army in full equipment formed ranks.

Most eye-catching of all was the Royal Guard, directly under the royal house and charged with ceremonial duties as one of its tasks. Their number was one battalion of three hundred. The sight of them lined up in perfect order was overwhelming, their armor shining beneath the sunlight.

This was where the value of the “pretty battalion,” as the frontline units called them, was displayed in perhaps its greatest sense.

Of course, the other regiments did not lose to them. Excluding the units assigned to watch the area around the site and respond to emergencies, their total number was about a thousand. They had polished their well-used equipment as much as possible, and with the spirit of those who had survived recent combat, along with the force of their numbers, they stood proudly in line.

The result of all that dignity merging together was nothing less than a scene from history.

A space like a famous painting made real. A sight that would be recorded forever as a famous painting. In fact, several court painters and battlefield painters were busy running their brushes at a slight distance.

The people ordered to gather before that space found themselves holding their breath, or conversely releasing sighs of admiration, as they looked at the site of the ceremony.

Not only the rural people of the western royal demesne and its surroundings, but even the people of the royal capital, the greatest city in the kingdom, had never seen or heard of such majesty. It was an overwhelming sight beyond the limits of their imagination as commoners, like a world from myth or fairy tale.

They saw in that majesty proof that the Edelstein royal house was the ruler, and that royalty were beings above them. They saw proof that the royal house possessed a power too vast for commoners to imagine in full. The anxiety that had filled them until then scattered beneath the radiance on the hill, and in its place, rapture and excitement were born and began to spread quietly.

As several thousand people looked at the ceremonial space in fascination, Crown Princess Claudia appeared before the vivid curtain carved with intricate patterns.

She wore the luxurious and beautiful red military uniform made for her and permitted only to her. Clad in this uniform, which also served as ceremonial dress, she stood as the protagonist of the majestic scene and as the master of that space removed from the mundane world.

The coronation that would remain in the history of the Kingdom of Edelstein, and in the history of the continent, was about to begin.

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