Under the Banner of Princess Mia ~Friendship United~
Ludwig went to see Outcount Rudolvon at his manor one day.
He had asked Rudolvon to talk to other nobles in the Outlands, so he came to see how things were going.
“I’m glad to see that you’re doing well, Ludwig.”
Outcount Rudolvon greeted him with a warm smile that showed how much he cared. Technically, there was a big difference between Ludwig’s status as a commoner and that of the Outcount.
Nobles from the Outlands were looked down upon by the central nobles, but they were still nobles. Ludwig worked for the central government and had Mia’s full trust, but he was in no way the same as this man.
Their behaviour, on the other hand, didn’t show any of the shyness that would be expected between men of their different ranks.
Rather, they had a strange bond with each other. It was like friendship and went beyond age and status. It was a sense of camaraderie that only those who stood behind Princess Mia had.
Before Ludwig sat down in a guest chair, they gave each other a firm handshake.
“Again, I’m sorry to ask you to do something so hard,” he said.
“Absolutely not. I owe a lot to Her Highness. If she gives me a task, I’ll do my best to finish it.”
“I’m most obliged. Hearing that takes a load off my mind for sure…”
Ludwig’s attempts to split Yellowmoon from the inside were slowly starting to work. With the help of the Outcount, they were able to convince a number of outland nobles to switch sides and join the Rudolvons.
Even though they didn’t have enough people to be called a “faction,” Ludwig hoped that this would eventually lead to the rise of a new group of nobles who weren’t controlled by any of the Four Dukes. This new group could then be the core of a group that is loyal to Mia—the princess group, if you will.
All that needs to be said is that in his head, all kinds of gears were turning and doing all kinds of calculations. All of that can still happen later.
The problem right now is…
Rudolvon asked, “Based on the look on your face, I’m guessing you’re in trouble.”
Ludwig grimaced.
“The nobles from the outlands are coming around, but it’s much harder than we thought to get the rest of them to leave.”
Usually, a group’s internal politics and loyalties are more complicated the bigger it is. With a group like the Yellowmoons, whose members joined together out of desperation more than anything else, this should be even more true.
They couldn’t have much in common. And yet…
“Well, yeah. When you know you’ll be killed for betraying your side, you tend to think twice about switching.”
Dion, who had been listening to the conversation, said, “That makes sense to me.”
Ludwig looked at his partner’s casual attitude and shook his head.
“Not necessarily, no. Those who are held back by fear should also have a secret wish to get away from that fear. So, if someone with the power to protect them offers them a way out, there should be a good chance that they will take it.”
He had slowly told people that he had been attacked by a skilled killer a few days ago. The idea was to spread the story that someone wanted to kill him because he was a loyal subject of Princess Mia. They sent a deadly assassin to kill him, but his friend Dion stopped him.
It was a way to send a hidden message. Even though important details were kept secret, people who knew what was going on could tell that a statement was being made: they had the power to stop attacks from the Yellowmoon faction.
The nobles of Yellowmoon would have heard the rumour, but no deserters had shown up.
“Everyone already knows about Her Highness’s patience and wisdom. I made certain of it. Noble houses with power and pedigree would probably see her as a bother, but those with less power and loyalty should be practically salivating at the chance to leave.”
In fact, Mia’s situation should be saying all it needs to say. She was good friends with Duke Greenmoon’s daughter and got Duke Bluemoon’s son to join her side by inviting him to be on the student council. She even got Duke Redmoon’s daughter to join her personal guard.
Even though none of them were the leaders of their houses, it was still clear that three of the Four Houses were on good terms with Mia. She also had the Princess Guard, a small army of elite soldiers that she could send out whenever she wanted.
With this powerful item in her possession and the indirect support of three groups of dukes, she was steadily becoming a key figure in the empire whose power could not be ignored.
“Yet, talking to these Yellowmoon nobles is still like shouting into the void. There’s something wrong here…”
Ludwig started thinking quietly with his arms crossed.
Rudolvon coughed in a polite way to wake him up from his thoughts before he spoke.
In a quiet voice, he said, “By the way, Ludwig, about that…prediction that Her Highness made… It looks like it happened.”
Ludwig jumped and looked up, blinking as he tried to figure out what this meant.
“You mean… You’re noticing the same things here?”
Rudolvon took a sip of his tea before answering.
“There isn’t much wheat in my area. I asked the other nobles in the Outlands, and it seems like they are all in the same situation. Our crop yields are going to go down for sure in the coming year. There’s no way to know how long this will last, but…”
The future was always a mystery, but Mia’s prediction that wheat yields would be low this year had come true. She had also given Ludwig and his friends strict instructions to make sure they were ready for anything. And now…
“If we’re ready for the worst and it doesn’t happen, that’s definitely a good thing. But if it does happen and we weren’t ready, we’ll have to take a lot of criticism,” Ludwig thought.
“Her Highness chose to tell us what she thought would happen. And told us to get ready for that. Then we should live up to the trust she has put in us,” Rudolvon said.
So, the two of them spent some time figuring out the finer details of emergency supply plans in case dwindling food supplies led to a full-blown famine, as well as the convoys that would be needed for these routes.
Ludwig then left the Rudolvon manor and went straight to Mia’s academy city to see how things were going.
There, he got a message, and when he looked at who sent it, he…
