Became a Medieval Fantasy Wizard

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: none

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"Let's have a talk."

After sending Elia out, the Emperor met privately with Ian.

"Wizard Ian. About my illness..."

"That would be Wizard Forendal's work."

"!"

Forendal had mentioned it several times.

Ian was qualitatively different from those cheap frauds who picked up a few magic words and pretended to be wizards.

He was an orthodox wizard who had properly studied magic under Wizard Eredith!

Though this must have been his first time seeing such magic, Ian already understood its principles.

"Hah. Young people are fearsome."

Forendal smiled.

Though they say it's a senior's fate to eventually be surpassed by junior disciples, experiencing it firsthand felt strange.

Ian's skill was comparable to Forendal's.

No, in some areas Ian was likely far superior to Forendal.

"Your Majesty."

"...Yes. I ordered it."

As expected, though anticipated.

The evil energy lingering around the Emperor had been created by Forendal.

Ian thought for a moment.

Why would they do such a thing?

The Emperor had been cosplaying as a patient.

He'd openly received bloodletting treatments and spread rumors everywhere about being deathly ill.

The reason the Emperor needed to be sick...?

"Is there someone you don't want to meet?"

Ian briefly recalled his modern memories.

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, didn't the Chancellor of the Cao family refuse visitors daily to avoid meeting a red-faced man...

That was the only intuitive reason Ian could think of for the Emperor to fake illness.

And that guess was correct.

"I don't want to burden a wizard with troublesome talk."

When the Emperor hesitated, Ian said:

"Perhaps it's something I need to hear."

"It'll be political talk. Are wizards interested in politics?"

The Emperor thought Ian was like other wizards who wandered in search of mystery.

That assessment was half correct.

While Ian did seek mystery, he also wanted to resolve Maria's situation.

"Though I am a wizard who wanders seeking mystery, I have some political concerns of my own."

"Ho. A wizard's political concerns. Now I'm curious."

Forendal went outside and carefully guarded the door.

No one should know what transpired in the Emperor's bedroom.

Having already had his secret exposed, the Emperor decided to seek Ian's wisdom instead.

Ian was Forendal's university colleague and his daughter Elia's friend.

He barely qualified as someone to confide in.

"Duke Fargar is currently crushing the Rashin Kingdom."

"I've heard the rumors."

Ian knew all too well how things were going in the empire's south.

Duke Fargar had 'coincidentally' found a survivor of House Silverwind.

He'd started a war to restore the title to Silverwind's rightful heir.

Silverwind's old territory had been split and occupied by the Rashin Kingdom and Duke Roxlan.

Could a mere duke invade a nation called a kingdom? One might wonder.

But imperial dukes were dukes in name only - their power rivaled foreign kings.

The Rashin Kingdom in particular was an ethnic minority state holding unnecessarily vast territory.

As the vast territory suggested, most of Rashin Kingdom's land was wasteland.

Historically, the Rashin Kingdom had been... the Desert Empire's punching bag.

Wedged between the Holy Empire above and the Desert Empire below, the Rashin Kingdom was a weak nation.

When Duke Fargar deliberately drew his sword, the Rashin Kingdom was being pushed back without offering proper resistance.

"I heard fertile land is rare in the Rashin Kingdom. It's strange they'd give up Silverwind's land so easily."

"They haven't given up."

The Emperor rested his chin in his hand and said:

"They know Duke Fargar won't stop here."

It meant that even after crushing the Rashin Kingdom, the Duke's sword wouldn't return to its sheath.

Let's say the Duke completely drove out Rashin.

Would he just say 'Well that was fun~' and quietly go home?

He'd say 'Hey everyone! We haven't found all of Silverwind's land yet!' and keep fighting!

This wasn't something the Duke could decide on his own.

He had already hired numerous mercenaries and called his vassals to arms.

War was fundamentally a business.

Stories about fighting evil enemies~ mostly appeared only in storybooks.

The purpose of war was ultimately money, and thus many nations waged war like running a business.

Not just in this medieval fantasy world, but on Earth too, war was business.

Until when?

Until right before World War I.

Until WWI, wars were 'honorable' fights with clear winners and losers.

So commanders showed each other courtesy, and crazy things like allowing first strikes weren't uncommon.

To them, war was business and work.

But the weapons of mass slaughter that appeared in WWI changed the concept of war.

The traditional battlefield where you subdued enemies and enjoyed glory...

Became a killing field where everyone who jumped in died.

In other words, in this medieval fantasy world, war was still considered 'good if you win.'

The horrors of war? Its futility?

Only weaklings felt such things!

A truly brave knight should crush all enemies and collect treasures!

It was an incredibly naive concept of war, ignorant of machine guns, tanks, and poison gas...

"Fargar will inevitably clash with Roxlan."

Fargar's warriors were hungry for victory.

With victory would come land, women, and livestock!

By now Ian could understand.

The claim about returning land to Silverwind's heir was really just an excuse.

What Fargar truly wanted was Roxlan's land.

"Have you ordered them to stop the war?"

Ian asked the Emperor.

The Emperor was master of the empire.

The chairman of the imperial apartment complex ordered his tenants 'Stop fighting!'

And the result!

"I did. Long ago."

"...They ignored you."

A completely unsurprising dismissal!

They were imperial dukes.

They were madmen who'd only follow the Emperor's orders if they had reason to.

I'm a du~ke? Why should I listen to the Emperor?

If this were an Eastern empire, the Emperor would have immediately raised a massive army to sweep away the traitors.

But unfortunately this was the Holy Empire.

"The dukes have no reason to follow my orders."

"..."

Ian was slightly dumbfounded.

What? They need a reason to follow the Emperor's orders?

Fuck. What kind of Emperor was this?

"This isn't a situation that can be resolved with force."

"Then the worst outcome will occur."

The Emperor pressed his forehead and said:

"Duke Fargar's maternal family is the Roland royal family."

The Roland Kingdom. A country Ian had heard of.

The country where Belenka's father had served as a knight, and Belenka's original destination.

Unlike the Holy Empire, the Roland Kingdom was a true 'kingdom' that had achieved centralized rule.

The Roland Kingdom's king could wield truly king-like power (if this sounds strange, it's just your imagination).

"If I move troops, Duke Fargar will request aid from the Roland Kingdom."

Ian spoke as if sighing:

"It seems Duke Fargar doesn't mind leaving the empire."

"Sigh... why else would he attack a fellow imperial duke."

Though bitter, it made sense in a way.

Imperial dukes already enjoyed king-like power.

So why? Why stay bound to the empire as an alliance (as they thought of it)?

Of course, if they actually became independent and established the Kingdom of Fargar, reality might be harsher than imagined.

But didn't people tend to act when drunk on sweet dreams?

...Ian could understand why the Emperor used illness as an excuse to seclude himself.

If he promised to mediate with Duke Roxlan, the flames of war might spread uncontrollably.

But to declare cutting ties?

That couldn't be an option for the imperial Emperor.

Like it or not, the Emperor had to protect the empire.

"I keep requesting talks with Duke Fargar."

"Will the Duke agree to talks?"

"I'll have to set acceptable conditions."

Such conditions would naturally involve territory.

For instance... having Duke Roxlan spit out Silverwind's territory that he'd previously swallowed.

The problem was whether Duke Roxlan would accept such conditions.

"What about Duke Roxlan?"

"I'm deliberately buying time. When Fargar's sword reaches his neck, Roxlan won't be able to hold out."

The Emperor seemed to have made up his mind somewhat.

He'd side with Fargar and make Roxlan spit out the Silverwind territory he'd eaten.

That had both legitimacy and fairness.

It would be an ideal choice if only Roxlan would accept it.

Of course, the Duke wouldn't quietly follow the Emperor's will.

Though every choice would lead to trouble-

This was how imperial Emperor's work had always been.

A world where everyone was happy didn't exist.

"Hmm..."

Having heard everything, Ian organized his thoughts briefly.

Then he said to the Emperor:

"Your Majesty. Just perhaps..."

"Speak your mind."

The Emperor was ready to listen to the wizard's wise counsel.

But Ian's words surprised even the Emperor.

"What if it were revealed that [Silverwind's heir] that Fargar presented was fake?"

"...?"

The Emperor asked in confusion:

"Duke Fargar wouldn't have prepared so carelessly? How could you possibly prove that?"

Ian smiled mysteriously.

After all, the Emperor didn't know that Ian had House Silverwind's signet ring...!

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