Chapter Twenty-Four: The Nightmare Empire (Part II)

In fact, not so long ago, the succession to the imperial throne was not a problem at all, because Emperor Moult II had already canonized his eldest son Sochar as the crown prince as his legal heir. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info but the problem is that about two years ago, the crusade against the headhunter rabbit tribe personally commanded by His Royal Highness the crown prince Sochar unfortunately failed completely, not only was the crusade force wiped out on the grassland, but the defeat was extremely humiliating, and even Sochar himself was captured. Such a humiliating defeat became a laughing stock in the Falmatt continent for a while. And the empire, which had just unified the mainland, also suffered a blow to the head, and everyone from the emperor to the senate felt disgraced. So, after pinching his nose and negotiating peace with the headhunter rabbit and paying for the redemption of Sochar, the angry Emperor Moult II issued an edict to depose him as crown prince and ordered the guards to escort Sochar back to his fiefdom for seclusion and introspection.

However, at the same time, Emperor Molt II did not appoint any other heir as crown prince, and it seems that he has not completely abandoned his eldest son, Sochar, but still hopes that he will be able to change his mind and grow through this lesson...... Because His Majesty the Emperor has been in charge of the state for decades, he has accumulated a lot of power, and his body is quite strong, not like he will die soon, so the nobles of the empire do not talk too much about this kind of royal private matter.

This time, Emperor Moult II appointed his third princess, the nineteen-year-old Pinna, before leaving the imperial capital of Ullabianca to patrol the hills of Arnus. Spear. His Royal Highness Landa served as interim regent. But in the upper echelons of the Empire, almost everyone knew that the title of regent was purely empty. The actual government affairs are completely handled by the emperor's henchmen and the senate, and the princess has the qualifications to observe at best.

The reason for this arrangement is that, on the one hand, it is customary for the emperor to appoint a member of the imperial family as regent when he leaves the capital. On the other hand, Emperor Moult II, who is still angry, has not forgiven His Royal Highness Sochar for the time being, but he does not want other princes or princes to serve as regents, lest he have undivided thoughts about the throne, which will lead to the hidden danger of civil strife in his empire...... In the end, Emperor Moult II chose to let his daughter, Princess Pinna, who only had the tenth succession to the throne, stay in the palace of the imperial capital, sit on the throne, and hold the scepter left by herself, to serve as the regent of this purely nominal empire.

In the emperor's opinion, this expedition is not an expedition across half a continent, anyway, the Arnus Hill is not far from the imperial capital, even if there is really any accident, it will not be wrong to let the envoy come...... Then, just when everyone was unprepared, the emperor died in the flood!!

What's even worse is that Emperor Moult II did not leave any will at all before he died! I didn't explain anything!

So, when half of the imperial capital of Ulabyanca was still submerged under the monstrous floods, the once strong city walls were crumbling and crumbling piece by piece, and thousands of refugees were trapped on rooftops and trees, the upper class of the entire empire exploded because of the vacancy of the imperial throne.

According to common sense, although the crown prince Sochar was deposed by the emperor because of the defeat and drove out of the imperial capital, he is still the first successor to the imperial throne in terms of blood and status. In this case, it seems to be a matter of course to recall Sochar to the palace and take the throne. The problem was that when Sochar was driven out of the imperial capital, his cronies were also implicated, and almost all of them were demoted or sent back to their respective fiefdoms during this period. However, Sochar's political opponents took advantage of the opportunity to seize the opportunity and grabbed many positions of real power and shortages.

In this way, when the disaster broke out, Sochar and his supporters were not in the imperial capital, and there were not many people in the Senate who were willing to help him speak and contribute, and the result was that the current Senate was not very willing to let Sochar come back as emperor, and the reason was also very sufficient: Sochar was no longer the crown prince, but the sinner of the empire, and when there were other options, how could there be a reason to let the sinner be the emperor?

- Because of the polygamy of the Empire, there were eight legal descendants of Emperor Molt II, and as many as fifteen including illegitimate children......

In addition, as the regent of the empire, Princess Pinna is legally the supreme ruler of the empire after the death of the emperor, and the princess herself is a direct member of the royal family with pure blood, and there is theoretically the possibility of changing from the female regent of the empire to the empress - in fact, the recently deceased Emperor Moult II usurped the throne of his young nephew Cady in this way many years ago, as regent.

But it is completely different from the situation of the first emperor Moult II who gradually operated and finally seized the imperial power, first of all, Pinna's position as the regent princess was purely a vase from the beginning, and no one took it seriously; Secondly, because the flood broke out too suddenly, when half of the emperor was soaked in water, Princess Pinna only regency for less than three days from beginning to end, and even the faces of hundreds of elders may not be able to recognize all of them, and the so-called regent power is completely useless.

To make matters worse, the princess regent herself was not mentally prepared to fight for the throne in advance, nor did she win over any strong supporters - unlike Sochar, who was the eldest son, Princess Pinna was born to a side concubine, although she also theoretically had the right to inherit the throne before marriage, and could be ranked tenth in order of order (male and female, first concubine, the queen's daughter and the emperor's younger brothers were all given priority over her). And according to the convention, she will give up her inheritance rights in a few years, change her surname and marry a foreign royal family or a domestic nobleman, so in the previous years, no big nobleman would treat her as an emperor candidate, let alone take refuge in her command in order to gain support. Therefore, even the princess regent herself has no confidence in the fight for the throne...... During the vacancy of the throne, she was basically in a state of bewilderment all the time.

In the end, the winner of this battle for the throne was Sochar's half-brother, the brother of Princess Pinna, and His Royal Highness Diabo, the second prince of the empire. Unlike the arrogant and rude Sochar, His Royal Highness Diabo was quite modest and courteous, and had close relations with many scholars and civil officials, and had many supporters in the imperial capital. When Crown Prince Sochar was deposed and driven back to his fiefdom, Diapo became the most contender for the throne, and used this time to build a large network of contacts and gain the support of many senators and nobles, or at least neutrality.

What's more, when disaster struck, Prince Diapo himself was in the imperial capital, and in the first time after learning of his father's death, he contacted his henchmen everywhere, wooed the powerful, bribed ministers, and created momentum, and finally was finally proclaimed the new emperor by the imperial senate.

-- Although it is actually a hereditary feudal dynasty, the current empire still retains some remnants of the republican system. For example, theoretically, every emperor must be elected by the Senate...... And this is also the "back door of the system" left for the usurper.

Seeing that the wood was already in the boat, Princess Pinna, as the regent, had no choice but to push the boat and hand over the scepter and throne to Diabo.

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However, despite his success as emperor, Diabo, who had just ascended to the throne, was still in front of a mess that could not be worse: the violent floods from the Arnous hills continued to pour in, showing no signs of subsiding. Half of the imperial capital, Ulabyanka, was submerged in water, and the remaining half of the imperial capital was also an isolated island surrounded by floods, and the water level showed signs of further slow rise. With most of the capital's treasury fed fish and shrimp and wells flooded and polluted, food, fuel, and clean fresh water quickly became scarce, with hundreds of citizens falling ill every day from drinking sewage or eating moldy food, and some died from brawls over food, fuel, and clothing.

In addition, the tens of thousands of square kilometers of vast plains around the imperial capital of Ulabyanca City have also been soaked and washed by the otherworldly sea water washed down from the Arnus hills, and the villages, towns, and pastures have all been turned into Zeguo. This area was the most fertile land in the Empire, not only a very important granary, but also the essence of the imperial domain, which could not be abandoned in any way, leaving the subjects of this land to purgatory.

So, from the first day of his ascension to the throne, there was not even a single registration ceremony, and Diapo had to devote all his energy to disaster relief. First of all, the imperial capital, which was surrounded by salt water, could no longer carry such a large population, and it was necessary to organize the evacuation of the remnants of the population from the imperial capital and move to the nearby highlands that had not yet suffered from flooding; Second, the Empire's strategic reserves were running out after the disaster, and it was simply unable to provide relief to so many refugees who had no food or clothing. After some deliberation, the Imperial Senate decided to take a two-pronged approach, urgently ordering various vassal states and local lords to send food and materials to the imperial capital, and organizing the imperial capital refugees to migrate long distances and disperse to the surrounding noble territories and vassal states to settle "food".

In addition, the Senate also sent people to the vicinity to inspect the terrain and prepare for the construction of the new capital of the empire - if this flood from the other world could not be retreated, but turned into a turbulent river with the Arnus Hills as its source, and it was still a "saltwater river", then with the current miserable appearance of Urabianca, I am afraid that it will not be able to continue to be used as the capital. The fertile farmland near the imperial capital will soon be polluted into saline-alkali land, and crops can no longer be grown, so even the farmers and herdsmen in the countryside will have to move away with them.

In the midst of this anxious and hectic situation, Princess Pinna was also assigned an errand to escort more than 30,000 refugees from the imperial capital, mainly "subhumans", to avoid the monstrous torrent of the Arnus hills, and to the west over the Romanian mountains to the hereditary territory of Count Vermar on the other side of the mountain, and to settle in Itarica, which is known as the "subhuman shelter".

-- The city of Itarica, with a history of more than 200 years, was once a border city in the western part of the empire. At that time, the empire had just expanded westward into the Romanian mountains, and the city of Itarica was the first frontier stronghold established by the empire in the western foothills of the Romanian mountains.

Situated at the intersection of the Tisariya Avenue and the Appiaa Avenue, the city was a major point of trade and military traffic. When the empire was not as vast as it is today, successive emperors crossed the Romanian mountains many times, gathered a large army in Itarica, and then marched westward. However, as the empire continued to expand, the city of Itarica gradually became farther and farther away from the border, its military and political importance declined, and the place had no special products, and finally became a normal medium-sized commercial city, and was even rewarded by the royal family.

The present-day city of Itarica, along with a large area of rugged mountainous terrain nearby, was the hereditary domain of the imperial noble, Count Vermar

Among the imperial aristocracy who generally shared the idea of "human supremacy", the former Count of Fomar, Colt, was a relatively unusual person. It is said that Colt prefers subhuman beauties such as cat-people, winged people, and Medusa to human beauties - there are actually not many people with similar curiosity fetishes among humans on the continent of Farmatt, but in the eyes of traditional imperial nobles, this is a relatively depraved expression.

In short, although Colt still married the wife of a pure-blooded human, he had a large group of subhuman mistresses, and even the maids in the Earl's mansion were mainly subhuman. At the same time, in his Earl of Fomar, the headhunter rabbit tribe, the cat people, the winged people, the Medusa tribe, and other subhuman tribes that are generally abused in various parts of the continent are also tolerated and protected to a considerable extent, at least it is strictly forbidden to illegally capture and trade these subhumans. As a result, orcs, elves, and dwarves from all over the continent have migrated to live near Itarica City, forming many sub-human villages.

- In the human concept of Falmat, the term "sub-human" is a general term for all non-human humanoid intelligent life in a broad sense, dwarves, elves, orcs, demons, etc. can be called sub-human; In a narrow sense, the term "subhuman" can also only refer to non-human intelligent life other than dwarves and elves, mainly orcs and demons, who usually have the size and most of the physical characteristics of humans, and at the same time have some but very obvious beast or monster characteristics, such as cat ears, rabbit ears, tails, wings, hooves, etc.

After humans became the masters of the continent of Farmatt, the vast majority of the remaining sub-humans have been fully integrated into human society, and only a small number of sub-humans are still active in the wilderness far away from human civilization and society, living in the form of tribal clans. However, because of their beastly or demonized physical characteristics, except for elves and dwarves, the vast majority of sub-humans on the Falmatt continent are generally suppressed at the bottom of human society, suffering from all kinds of discrimination and injustice, and it is difficult to obtain the minimum power and dignity, and a considerable number of sub-humans have simply become slaves. There are still many places where human beings regard it as a failure of the gods to create man, and even openly discriminate and persecute subhumans in the form of laws.

And in the red light districts and slums of the imperial capital, tens of thousands of sub-people also live. Although the discrimination and persecution of sub-people in the core areas of the empire is not very serious, for example, in the army of the empire, werewolves, foxes, demons and elves can be seen everywhere. In the government of the imperial capital, there were also a small number of sub-officials and nobles. But the folk customs in other regions may not be so tolerant of the existence of subhumans. It was in consideration of this special situation that the Senate arranged for the sub-human refugees in the imperial capital to eat in the city of Itarica, which is known for its "kindness to sub-people", in order to reduce conflict and trouble.

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But the problem is that a few months ago, the former Count Colt and his wife died suddenly due to an accident, leaving no son, and the count himself has no brothers, he and the countess have only three daughters, from the oldest to the youngest: Ellie, Louie and Miu. In addition to the youngest daughter, Miyu, the other two older daughters have changed their surnames and married into other people's families to become noble ladies. Originally, the counts planned to wait until their youngest daughter grew up, and then find a son-in-law to inherit the family business, but before they could do it, they died.

In this case, Count Vermar's eldest daughter, Ellie, and second daughter, Loui, are considered to be from other families because they have married into Count Ron's family and Count Mizner's family respectively. Therefore, their inheritance rights naturally rank second to the unmarried youngest daughter Miu, which is the law of the empire and the practice of the aristocratic class, and there is no room for argument. However, the youngest daughter Miyu is only eleven years old, and before she reaches adulthood, who should be her guardian? Or, before she becomes an adult, which sister should hold the real power of Itarica City, and by the way, make a big profit for herself?

So, in order to compete for the custody of the younger sister, the two married sisters began a hysterical tearing war: at first it was a pretended reserved rhetoric, and then it quickly evolved into an ugly shrew scolding, and then it developed into a farce of pulling her hair in public, which frightened the little sister Miyu to cry at a loss, and the old ministers of the Count of Fomar's family could not persuade them. In the end, the two sisters even got their husbands' families involved - both the Count Ron and Minaz families sent their own troops to force their way into Itarica, and both saw that a civil war was about to start.

At this point, even the Imperial Senate on the other side of the Romanian Mountains was alarmed and was about to send an envoy to mediate...... However, before the selection of the envoy of the Senate could be determined, the flood from the opposite side of the "gate" on the top of Arnous Mountain surged, and then there were earth-shattering events such as the death of the first emperor and the struggle for the throne, and this little conflict in the family of Count Vermar was naturally forgotten and delayed.

It wasn't until the dust had settled on the issue of the new emperor's candidates that someone finally remembered the affair of Count Fomar's family again. Therefore, Princess Pinna, who was ordered to take 30,000 subhuman refugees to Itarica City for resettlement, was stunned and told by the Senate before leaving that she would have to mediate and arbitrate the custody of the new Countess Miu of Fomar by the way.

As a result, when Princess Pinna finally arrived in Itarica after a long journey, she found that the headache of mediating and arbitrating family affairs had disappeared on its own, because the two shrewd sisters who were fighting for the custody of the younger sister had already gone - the raging flood on the top of the hill of Arnus also swept away most of the men of the Count Ron and Mizna families, and the eldest daughter Ellie and the second daughter Loui of the Count of Vermar had become widows in the blink of an eye...... So, in order to protect the inheritance rights of their respective children to their husband's property and title, the two sisters, Ellie and Louie, had no spare energy to care about this little oil and water of their mother's family, and immediately hurriedly led their troops home to fight for power.

But the problem is that even if the situation has developed to such a point, before leaving, the two sisters Ellie and Loui did not forget to empty more than half of the treasury of the Count of Vermar...... So, with the official documents of the Senate and the emperor's edict, Princess Pinna, who took over the city of Itarica temporarily with the Knights of the Rose, looked at the empty granaries and vaults in the city, and immediately began to worry about how to fill the stomachs of more than 30,000 imperial refugees.

In addition, during the chaos of the previous conflict over custody, the young and cowardly Countess Miu was neither able to deal with the invasion of other nobles' private soldiers, nor could she restrain her retainers, and her two sisters, who had already married out, were unjustifiable, causing the entire Earldom of Vermar to fall into a state of anarchy, and the corrupt officials who had lost their supervision took the opportunity to expropriate and enrich their own pockets, even if they provoked a popular uprising. By the time Princess Pinna arrived with her troops, the entire territory was already in turmoil, and the law and order situation had deteriorated sharply, and it had entered a state of turmoil on the verge of rebellion.

To add insult to injury, after the 100,000 Imperial Expeditionary Force on the Hillss of Arnus was crushed by the flood, a considerable part of the surviving rout turned into thieves and began to attack the caravan convoys on the Tisaria and Appia Avenues in order to obtain mounts, horses, and rations to return home, paralyzing the commercial trade operations of Itaria City. It was even more difficult to raise food rations for the 30,000 subhuman refugees.

However, for the anxious Princess Pinna, all of the above disturbances are not the worst nightmare.

In the second month of her arrival and takeover of Itarica City, the real nightmare finally came from the East.

- The messenger of the imperial capital hurried over the mountains of Romania and sent an urgent report to the princess: her eldest brother, former crown prince Sochar, refused to recognize the throne of his younger brother Diabo, and declared a rebellion in his private lands in the east! Moreover, with the connections and prestige accumulated during his years as the crown prince, Prince Sochar quickly gained the allegiance of a large number of vassal princes, imperial noble lords and field army commanders after raising the banner and raising his army, and easily gathered a rebellious army of astonishing size, and was about to slaughter the imperial capital with great momentum!

In addition, one of the younger brothers of the first emperor, the imperial uncle of Princess Pinna, also planted a banner of rebellion near the imperial capital......

There are also several states that have just been conquered by the empire, and they are also ready to act after hearing the news, and they may rebel at any time.

All of a sudden, the empire was in turmoil, and before the surging flood had receded, it seemed that the flames of war were about to strike.

- Before the Otherworldly invaders set foot on the land of Farmat, the overlord of the land was already in a nightmare of destruction...... (To be continued.) )