129 – Escalation (1)
“Your Majesty, it’s time to go in.”
“Is that already?”
I’ve had a lot of work lately, but since I’m only in the position of giving orders anyway, my work hours and workload haven’t changed at all. The court attendants also tend to work at the court rather than administrative work, so there is not much difference in workload, just like me.
Are you bureaucrats? Of course, bureaucrats who make scandalous attempts such as absenteeism without leave or leaving the company have long lost their will to pressure, conciliation, and threats from all over the place.
There’s no way I’m willing to let go of slaves who have been extremely trained and have undergone a lot of training and practical work.
In this era where educated people are very rare, losing even a few bureaucrats is a very painful loss. Of course, talents are being created one after another at universities in an ongoing fashion, but it will take a very long time for them to graduate properly and adapt to work, so we have to hold on to the bureaucrats by any means and methods.
He said that he would be able to quit his job only if he raised at least two successors who could carry out his duties with the same efficiency as himself.
‘Everyone is working hard today…’
Oh no… I’m laughing…
When I see the bureaucrats looking out the window on my way home from work, I naturally put a smile on my face.
Have I ever been such a bad person? When I see them working after I get off work, a mysterious feeling of satisfaction spreads from the depths of my heart to my fingertips and toes.
“…”
And Leclerc’s expression as he looked at me was… Indescribably calm.
It is the expression of a grandfather who clicks his tongue as he sees his grandson who is addicted to a bad hobby. What, why are you looking at me like that?
“Do you have anything to say?”
“No, Your Majesty.”
You know.
As if to tell him not to lie, he slightly frowned and stared at him. Leclerc slightly closed his eyes and slightly lowered his head.
When presented in text, Leclerc’s attitude seems rude and insulting, but looking at the atmosphere, it’s not at all like that. As if he gave up the persuasion of his immature grandson, he exudes the atmosphere of his grandfather, so it is a bit daunting to take issue with it.
…Aww, that’s it.
“Keuheum, then let’s go.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Your Majesty. Please do your best tomorrow as well.”
…What?
Why is the greeting different from usual? Please cheer up tomorrow too, what are you talking about?
Umm… I’ve been playing around and eating too much lately, so am I stabbing myself for no reason?
Well, I’ll do whatever I want in my territory, but who will say anything? In the first place, there really is no work.
“Uh… Thank you, Sir, you did a good job today.”
I thought Leclerc’s words were just a slightly different greeting, so I skipped it. I have to point out all these things so that it doesn’t look good. Hmm.
“…?”
I left the room while evasive like that, but Leclene bowed her head to me and headed inside the palace instead of going outside.
To leave work, I have to go in the opposite direction… What is it? Are you going to your private office now?
“Isn’t Kyeong off work?”
“Oh, I have a little bit of overtime left today. It seems that the work distribution is wrong, so I need to correct it.”
“Really? Uh… Good job.”
I think I can do it the next day… Well, I’ll take care of it.
You don’t have to hold on to people who are willing to work hard.
…………
“Ahhhhh…”
“Welcome, did you have a good night last night?”
“Good morning, Leclerc.”
I didn’t have any work anyway, so I went to work a little late after hanging out with Ines in bed. No, it wasn’t just a little bit, but I went to work after lunch break… What is it like?
It’s not just that people like executive directors and directors are free to go to work. Even if I go to work early, it’s because I don’t have anything to do unless it’s an important agenda.
“Have you eaten?”
“Not yet. Have you eaten?”
“No, they said the meal wasn’t ready yet because the time was ambiguous. We decided to take care of this lunch easily in the office, so the meal will come when the time is right.”
“…Is that so?”
Of course, it’s a king’s meal, but it can’t be simple. Based on eating in the office rather than eating in the royal dining room, the amount will be relatively small, but it is still enough to prolong the meal for more than an hour.
It will probably take about 90 minutes after lunch setting, cleaning, eating and post-meal rest, but I get off work at 2:00 PM, so the actual working time is about an hour?
Next time, if you go to work this late and have lunch at the office, won’t you only be able to work for an hour? Oh…
‘Good!’
Ai… I shouldn’t be like this…
Until I first became a duke, I worked hard because there was so much to do, but as the bureaucracy gradually settled down, I became lazy because I had nothing to do.
It’s not that I don’t work on purpose.
Administrative work that does not require my judgment or useless chores are already being done by the working-level staff, and the work that managed to come to me after passing through countless sieves of those bureaucrats is again under the judgment of Leclerc Work is divided again.
Something related to the legitimacy of the royal palace, requiring diplomatic judgment rather than simple administrative disposition, or unprecedented work, etc., Are given to me, and Leclerc takes care of tasks with a strong simple administrative aspect. Do.
As a result, I was really left with nothing to do. There can’t be so many important things I have to deal with in just one day, right?
At first, I was a bit reluctant because I didn’t have a job, but now, if I have a job, I think I’ll be more reluctant to do it. I’ve been doing this for almost 1-2 years, so I can’t help it.
This is Leclerc’s fault for being competent, ummm. It’s not my fault.
Get out of the way, get out of the way!!
‘…?’
As I was self-hypnotizing myself, I was thinking about what would come up for lunch, but suddenly there was a lot of noise outside the door.
Someone making a sound close to screaming, and the sound of someone’s footsteps penetrates the office door and pierces my ears.
Looking at the sound getting louder, it looks like it’s coming here…
Knock!!
“Your Majesty!!”
“…What is it?”
It is etiquette for those who have business with me to knock and then enter after my permission is given, but the messenger’s face is so pale that I can’t point out the rudeness, so I just skip it.
“Cool, cool!!”
“…I’ll take this color, give me the letter.”
To the messenger, who couldn’t speak properly after the first words that sounded like he was screaming because he ran so hastily, Leclerc hands over the water he had prepared in advance, then grabs the letter he was holding and reads it quickly.
Leclerc’s expression as he read through the correspondence was exactly the same as when the declaration of war came from Carolingian earlier.
You can tell that Leclerc was greatly surprised by the fact that his eyes narrowed slightly and then opened them wide. It’s a textbook-style change in facial expression.
“Your Majesty, something has happened in Carolingian.”
“In Carolingian? They can’t be bothered here because they’ve been beating each other for over a year now?”
Are you even talking about not being able to pay for the things you bought?
No, there’s no reason for the messenger to be so excited about something like that.
“Some of the nobles in Carolingia, who had been neutral until now, joined the civil war.”
“…?”
What is that?
The degree of escalation of the civil war is something that doesn’t always happen–
“And the ultimate goal of those nobles is to present the Carolingian crown to His Majesty.”
“Your Majesty? Uh… You mean the Carolingian King?”
This seems like a stupid answer, but it’s a reasonable one.
No, that’s why there’s a civil war going on between them, and I, who has nothing to do with it, shouldn’t be mentioned there?
What is the justification for me to become King of Carolingian in the first place?
If you go back 4 generations, your great-great-grandmother is a member of the Carolingian royal family, so there is a bit of blood involved.
Besides, I’m half a commoner in their eyes.
Yes, that majesty refers to the King of Caroling, equal in rank to me—
“…Means His Majesty Claude, rightful Lord of Lotharing.”
However, my denial of reality is shattered by Leclerc’s eyes staring straight at me and the elegantly spoken reply that comes out of his mouth.
“Does that… Make sense?”
“Doesn’t it make sense that this is what happened now?”
Leclerc, who gave a thorny answer, eventually explained the contents of the letter to me.
Neutral nobles, not nobles who forcibly claimed neutrality in the civil war because their weight class was too weak, but large nobles who did not participate because they really did not want to get involved in the fight rose up in unison to support me going to the Carolingian throne.
Those neutral aristocrats, no, now the Rotaring aristocrats launched a surprise attack on the civil war forces that had been neglecting their neutrality and inflicted great damage, but the ratio of the total power of the civil war forces to the power of the Rotaring aristocrats was about 4:1. It is said that the damage was not enough to end the civil war as it was.
And those Carolingian nobles are asking me for help. The price is, of course, the Carolingian throne.
Ugh…
“How can I, no, Jim have a claim to the Carolingian throne?”
“Isn’t the mother of Her Highness Valiant, the predecessor Duke of Burgon, descended from the Carolingian family?”
“…Is that really the reason?”
“Yes, it is. In the diplomacy of power, such trivial reasons and poor justifications do not matter much.”
That’s why the weak countries always hang their heads in order not to give even the slightest justification to the powerful countries.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, Leclerc’s posture when he said that … Looked like a praying mantis with his butterfly within arm’s reach.
The praying mantis, who had been patient and still to let the butterfly fly to him carelessly, finally reached the range of the butterfly and stretched out her arms to hunt.