Rebirth in a Ruined Nation! The Life of a New Strategist Starting From Now - Chapter 132

The Royal Ceremony (1) – Interruption

“There’s a change of plan?”

“Yeah. Prince Zeland, have you heard anything about the change?”

When Prince Zeland was visiting my room, as usual, Rays-sama summoned me.

When we went to Rays-sama’s room together, the first news he brought to us was there was a change of plan regarding the personnel that would be dispatched for the royal ceremony.

“No, I haven’t heard anything.”

It seemed like Prince Zeland also didn’t know. He looked puzzled.

“So, what will change?” I asked.

“The number of soldiers dispatched by the 10th Division will be reduced by half.”

“So it will be 2000 instead of 4000? What about the rest?”

I don’t think they would reduce the number of soldiers guarding a prince, so another division would probably send the rest.

“Using the excuse that the royal shrine was located on their territory, the 9th Division said they will send 2000 soldiers”

When Rays-sama mentioned the 9th Division, Grantz-sama and Lapilia-sama frowned. My expression probably wasn’t that much different from the two.

The 9th Division. When the King asked my opinion about Rudek’s Knight Order, The King said that the 9th Division was one of the divisions with the best offensive capability, while I said they were suited for providing rear support.

They were currently stationed in the northeastern part of Rudek, on a mission to guard against the Empire.

To put it bluntly, my assessment of the 9th Division was mixed. That’s why I told the King they were suited for rear support.

I said both the 9th and 3rd Division were suited for rear support but the reason for my assessment of the two divisions were different.

Zackhart-sama was flexible in combat and due to his experience, he could give a sense of security to any frontline he was supporting. Even now, he was entrusted with Gedland, located at the center of Rudek. So if anything happened, he would be able to quickly dispatch people to any part of the country.

On the other hand, the 9th Division’s commander was Humet Trad. As his family name suggested, he was a member of the royal family. He was King Zeurasia’s uncle.

As for his achievement…well, he did have some achievements but it was a little doubtful whether those achievements were truly his.

In later times, some historians suggested that perhaps the 9th Division was created for a balance when the three new divisions were created.

In other words, King Zeurasia, who wanted to give the new 10th Division to Rays-sama, also created the 9th Division to quell the dissatisfaction of those who opposed the creation of the new division.

The fact that the 9th Division had a higher proportion of members related to nobility than other divisions made it even more suspicious.

Normally, it would be difficult for nobles not connected with the Order to advance in their careers.

However, there was one secret trick that those connected to big noble houses could do which was joining the 9th Division. The 9th Division was the only division where you could buy the position of a captain with money and power.

Of course, there weren’t that many seats for the position of a captain so only extremely powerful nobles had enough capability to buy the seat. That’s why a lot of the 9th Division’s captains were equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and they looked powerful, but their abilities were questionable.

I even suspected that the number of 9th Division captains that had real ability was few.

That’s why the 9th Division was dispatched to the northeast.

Although technically there was a border between Rudek and the Empire in the northeastern region, that border was protected by a line of towering mountains.

In the northeastern region, there wasn’t any road that connected the two countries like the Yolos Corridor in the southeastern region, so the northeastern region was a region that the Empire didn’t place much importance on.

As a matter of fact, there has never been a major battle between Rudek and the Empire on the 9th Division’s territory.

In addition, if an emergency occurred in the 9th Division’s territory, the 2nd Division would rush to their aid immediately.

In the history that I knew, the 2nd Division’s arrival was delayed in the Zetta Great War because they were heading east, to the 9th Division’s territory, to take care of the Empire’s invasion there. In other words, the 2nd Division didn’t trust that the 9th Division would be able to take care of the invasion.

Now, with the 9th Division’s sudden participation, I asked, “Why all of sudden?”

“It was Duke Senburia’s idea. He said he wanted a chance to redeem himself. One of Duke Senburia’s sons is a captain of the 9th Division.”

When Duke Senburia was mentioned, Prince Zeland’s shoulders quivered. Seeing his reaction, I realized that Duke Senburia was probably the noble who’d sent those incompetent tutors for Prince Zeland and Prince Ural.

But then…

“…Isn’t he the noble who incurred The King’s wrath?”

“That’s right. Currently, we are in the process of gathering evidence that can be used to destroy that house.”

“Then isn’t it dangerous? Maybe they’re up to something again.”

“Exactly.”

Rays-sama easily acknowledged my worry, then he turned to Prince Zeland.

“I’m sure the King will tell you something later, but since I’ve already said this much I’ll give you some information.”

Prince Zeland gulped.

“Duke Senburia is going to plot something. Yet, when he asked the King to let the 9th Division participate in the ceremony so he could redeem himself, the King allowed him. If there’s any incident with the ceremony, the King will use that incident to destroy Duke Senburia’s house. Overcome the Duke’s scheme with your own strength. Prince Zeland, that’s likely what the King is trying to tell you.”

Prince Zeland nodded with a nervous expression. Seeing that, Rays-sama turned to me.

“Roa, choose 1000 best soldiers of the Roa Brigade.”

“Understood. What about the remaining 1000?”

“I’ll dispatch the Lapilia Brigade for that. If the 9th Division stabs you in the back, show them that you can thoroughly defeat them even with the same number of soldiers.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Thus, with some trance of intrigue, the start of the royal ceremony drew closer.