“Listen, learn, act.”

  Those words were etched on plastered posters placed in front of the local Adventurer’s Guild branch building, while revolutionary soldiers, eating their morning bread, stood guard on the side, their faces dead neutral as they chattered about the work ahead of them. The first snowflakes were now beginning to fall from the sky, and the cold was starting to give its first bites to the Imperium’s inhabitants.

  Helsdorf, a major city of two hundred souls, was almost devoid of life early in the morning. The few citizens walking in its streets and lanes were early risers rushing for work, alongside a few merchants and shopkeepers rushing to get their establishments open early on. But, even then, civilian activity was noticeably lower than normal. Usually, at times like these, most of Helsdorf would already be out and about to work.

  Unfortunately, much of the activity was from the military, as squad after squad of soldiers patrolled the streets. A few days ago, riots broke out in the city due to the military requisitioning much of its grain stores, and people got angry due to a lack of bread. The revolutionary government, now paranoid of any forms of dissent, quickly put it down.

  Now, most of Helsdorf’s citizenry refused to come out of their homes, fearing for their safety after the display of violence earlier. Many were said to have been killed on the streets; others were detained. Besides, the Empress had been making nightly proclamations using her strange ability, telling Imperial citizens in territory held by rebels that salvation was near. No one wanted to die in the middle of a crossfire when the war was already about to end.

  Unfortunately, the rebellion’s leadership still remained adamant to fight on. Here, in Helsdorf, one of the last bastions of control by the revolution, officials from the military and the republic’s government gathered together in the halls of the Rumminhein Castle, which was the property of Count Rumminhein before he and his house were forced out of Helsdorf after Henry’s army took over it.

  “Now that we’ve lost every other major city,” Henry spoke to the gathered officials. “We’ve got one last chance to fight for the terms we need. I’ll make this clear: I am not sure if they’re going to honor the agreement, but we have to make do with our current situation.”

  Nods came from the generals and bureaucrats surrounding Henry. After days of deliberation, he and his colleagues all came to the conclusion that they had, in fact, lost the war. There was going to be no wonder weapon, or any individual, or any element that would shift the course of the war. They started it, and now, they were beaten rebels on their last element.

  “Surely, they will honor it!” snapped one of the generals as he slammed his hand on the table. “No matter what they say, we still have nearly three hundred thousand troops in the field. We have leverage. If they do not agree to our terms, then they shall snuff us out bloodily.”

  “Hear, hear!”

  “He’s right. They can’t take us all down!”

  Indeed, the man was right. Due to Henry’s policy of fighting retreat, the revolutionary army managed to limit its casualties and make sure that recruits would go on to build up new units. While the Second Continental Army was not going back to its former numbers, it was now up to two army corps in strength. Meanwhile, the First and Third Continental Armies were still in fighting shape.

  But…

  “This kind of optimism is not something we need right now,” Henry reminded his colleagues. “Even if it is helpful, we must recognize that once we lower our arms, we would have lowered our arms. That is why there must be a shift in strategy.”

  He nodded to himself, confident about his words. “The crown princess wishes to lessen the bloodshed and sue for peace. That, gentlemen, is our opening, even in defeat. Should we be able to make a good show this winter, fighting them at the outskirts of this city, we shall make it clear that the ideals we’ve lit up will not simply die, and this will be something that will be repeated should she fail at meeting our people’s needs.”

  “And how will we do that?” Ask another general.

  “We will send them a final ultimatum,” Henry answered. “They will either concede in the 4th term of our demands, or they will have to take this city from our cold, dead hands.”

  Henry was serious. The first three demands were already something good, yes, as they would essentially be able to raise the white flag before transitioning into a political faction in the Imperial Diet once the referendum and national elections conclude. But none of that mattered until it was assured that a new constitution would be created.

  This was something he wanted to be a part of his legacy in this world. If Henry was going to lose to some spoiled brat who had everything handed to her on a silver platter, he needed to eke out a win that would place him in the list of great men in history books. Henry would be a defeated rebel, yes, but if he was able to negotiate a peace wherein the Empire would have to abide by some constitution, he would have a lasting effect in the world.

  Being able to elect representatives in the Imperial Diet wasn’t enough. They needed to have a piece of paper that would delineate the powers of those that governed the nation, which would be great progress, and something that would definitely make Henry look like some kind of a genius in the future of this world once they figure out the importance of his demands.

  Back then, all I wanted was to win and rule over Lotharingia. It was my ambition. Now, I’m going to replace it with something more achievable.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “We may not win, but this will do if we can just fight for it,” Henry reiterated. “The world today will not be kind to us, but history will be kinder to us. If we manage to force the crown princess to bend the knee to get the fourth term, then you and I will stand as heroes for the future generations. Even if she breaks her word, the shame will be on her and her alone. Not us! We would have fought honorably!”

  “B-but, is this really worth sacrificing lives for?” One of the officers shakily asked. “It’s just…”

  “Is anything worthy of sacrificing our lives for? Tell me, why did you even join this movement if what’s worthy of dying for is so limited for you?”

  “I, uh…”

  “That’s right. We already sacrificed many lives for it. Then we need to have something to show for it.” Henry planted his hands on the table. “We will begin drafting the plans for our stubborn defense around this city and its surrounding region. I want them to pay dearly for every inch forward, and I want us to hold on till the cold bites so hard that the crown princess is forced to compromise.”

  The room went silent as Henry’s words sank in their minds. Then, they all began nodding in unison. Henry smiled. He now had a very concrete, concise, and actionable plan.

  All that’s left, is to enact it.

  +++

  “We foresee, under these circumstances, that the front against the demon horde is sure to collapse if reinforcements are not sent posthaste.

  Signed, Defense Minister Helmuth Hindenburg.”

  Alexa crumpled the piece of paper with a shaky hand. They were now just a few hundred miles off from the center of the revolutionary republic, Helsdorf, when this piece of news arrived. Suffice it to say, her earlier plan of trying to crush them to make sure that they would surrender easily to her demands was not going to be an easy one.

  “It’s to be expected,” Wilhelm explained while he was standing behind her seat. “Quite frankly, it’s a surprise that the Defense Forces lasted this long. We’ve been diverting so many men and so much materiel to this conflict that, in the meantime, they had to make do with their limited stockpile, and they were barely replacing losses.”

  Alexa placed the piece of paper on her table, turning to Wilhelm with a grave frown.

  “I thought that they wouldn’t be affected, Wilhelm,” Alexa said. “Why didn’t you tell me about this? Why is Defense Minister Hindenburg telling me that he lost fifty thousand troops to a demonic offensive during this spring?”

  Wilhelm averted Alexa’s gaze. Then, he bowed, shame clear on his face. “I apologize. As your subordinate, I realize that keeping things from getting to your ears isn’t as productive as I expected. I merely wanted to cover this up so you wouldn’t have another headache.”

  Alexa pouted a bit.

  “Another headache? Is this you trying to protect me again from the truths of this world?” She felt quite annoyed by it, so she crossed her arms. Quite frankly, for someone so blunt and ruthless, knowing that he’d always been trying to lighten the mental burden for her was something that both surprised her and made her feel a little warm inside. On the other hand, she still didn’t like how she was still being treated like some fragile princess by men like Wilhelm.

  His actions already led to her having to confront the world at such a young age. Why would he be chickening out now, when Alexa believed that she had already grown enough of her formative years that this world that was literally just a fantasy tale to her was so serious and grim? Her eyes bore down on Wilhelm, and he faltered a bit.

  “I’ll make further adjustments to my behavior,” Wilhelm said. “Again, apologies. I feel like I’ve insulted you.”

  “Hmph. Of course you did. You kept me blind to this just because you didn’t want to make me worry. Do you have an idea about how detrimental that is for someone who will soon become the leader of this nation?”

  “I have myself and have appointed many brilliant officials in the government to deal with this,” Wilhelm said. “Remember, while you’re the crown princess, and you’ve assumed so many extreme roles in preparation for that, including this, you’re still not the monarch. There is a regency council in charge, and that includes me, and I’ve decided that you only need to concern yourself for now with the internal matters of the nation before moving on to bigger things.”

  You just didn’t want me to put your schemes under scrutiny. Hmph, this guy.

  “...Don’t act as if I’m that inexperienced,” Alexa snarled at him a bit. “You’re only three years older than me. Quite frankly, I don’t like how you always act like you’re such a wise elder.”

  “I am older than you, though?”

  “You know that’s not what I meant!”

  Wilhelm leaned back and sighed as he straightened himself. “You’re not going to forgive me for this, are you? ”

  “Unlike Alfred, who works himself to the bone honestly to protect me directly, you’re someone with a brain who always makes hairbrained schemes about everything,” Alexa pouted further. “I feel like at this rate, you’re sidelining me too much from the decision-making process. Are you even truly my subordinate?”

  “...”

  Wilhelm remained silent.

  “What do you want to do then?” Wilhelm said. “I know I’ve made a mistake here, but, at the moment, everything is going according to plan—”

  “Your plan, not mine.”

  “Right. My plan entails forcing the enemy to surrender within a week or two, before diverting two group armies up north to plug the gap.”

  Alexa narrowed her eyes as she looked up at Wilhelm. Already, her mind’s gears was turning rapidly as she considered everything about the situation. Namely, the fact that Wilhelm was starting to sound unsure of himself. It seemed that this report also somewhat shook him, or maybe he had used his [Azure Eyes] skill to determine if things changed for the worse.

  Either way, he can’t hide anything from me when I need to decide for the fate of the nation.

  After all, if the rebels decided to fight further because of one term on a piece of paper, and it led to the demon horde breaking through, Alexa would have no one but herself to blame for her shortsighted power hungriness. She needed to know the situation so that she would be able to weigh the pros and cons of her paths going forward.

  “Alright. Look, just hand me the full report from the north, and I’ll weigh in on our plans about this,” Alexa said. “Is that alright?”

  “Of course.”