The Birth of the Empress Faction 3: When Master and Servant Hearts’ Overlap
“I already mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again. She is a truly remarkable individual, isn’t she?” Gilbert let out a sigh and gave a mocking headshake. “To be honest, there are times when I think she can handle everything by herself. I’m not even certain that she needs our assistance as mere mortals.”
Ludwig gave a headshake. “No, Her Highness understands how society works.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“You don’t get it? Let me explain. Yes, Her Highness is extremely competent, and it’s possible that she could complete most tasks on her own. She is typically able to do any mental work on her own, but she is aware that an empire cannot run solely on cerebral labor.”
“Ah. And that’s why she employs individuals like you and me?”
“Yes, but that’s not the only cause,” he replied.”
“Hm? Gilbert blinked and questioned, “Is there anything else?”
“Have you heard of the project for Academy City? Her Highness is passionate about developing young talent who have the potential to lead the empire in the future. She intends to stop in Princess Town on her way back to Saint-Noel to see how the academy city is progressing.”
A man close to them said, “Oh, that reminds me. I’ve heard that the master will take over as the school’s headmaster. Is that true, Ludwig?”
“It is. In fact, I’ve asked a few of his students to serve as lecturers already. In essence, Her Highness is trying to create people like us through the official educational system of an academy; she doesn’t care about status or riches; she aims to offer education to anyone who has the potential.”
There was a burst of puzzled whispering in the space. They had never considered duplicating the interactions between students and teachers that Galvanus had with his pupils in a methodical way.
Gilbert finally smiled after some thought, like a guy who had just accepted a challenge. “Well, didn’t that just light a fire under our asses? We need to stop sitting back and enjoying ourselves because otherwise, a horde of tiny Galvs will soon engulf us.”
“Each of them will be our equal in talent, but probably our superior in loyalty,” Ludwig continued.
As ramifications began to light on the group’s spinning heads, the room became silent. Up until recently, the term “Great Wisdom of the Empire” was often associated with spectacle rather than fact. They finally understood that it wasn’t being overstated.
“So…” The stillness was broken after a protracted period by Balthazar, who had not yet spoken during the discussion. “The question ‘What should we call ourselves?’”
Gilbert joked, “What, are we turning this into a whole thing?”
“Yes, we can copy what the insurgents in Remno did. We will all wear the color of our choice. We could dubbed ourselves the Purple Scarves as she wore purple to the ball.”
Ludwig scowled before giving a slow head shake. “No… Her Highness has made her position obvious and what she believes. Therefore, we must act in a similar manner. We’ll be called the Empress Faction.”
“The Empress Faction…”
There was a noticeable tension in the room as the words descended.
“The first empress of Tearmoon and The Empress Faction.”
“Hah. That’s something worth working toward. I enjoy it.”
The newly created Empress Faction gathered around Ludwig in the shadowy corners of an old house and took its first breath.
Mia left for Viscount Berman’s estate while Ludwig was busy plotting in the capital. It was intended that she would take her detour first, then go to Belluga via the Sealence Forest and Outcount Rudolvon’s realm. The plan did not include for dealing with an irritable emperor who incessantly complained that she “doesn’t have to leave so early” and “could at least let Bel stay a little longer, or even just leave her here.” She managed the problem nonetheless, albeit not without some irritation.
“Besides Bel also continues to be fed with sweets. She’ll bloat up if I let her stay here much longer.”
When F.A.T. affects other people, it’s simple to worry about it. This is how the phenomenon works. The two girls left together after removing Bel’s grousing great-grandfather from her.
“Hmm…” Mia mused as her carriage rumbled down the road, “Isn’t there quite a distance to Viscount Berman’s domain?”
She was becoming more and more conscious of the empire’s lands’ extreme size.
“It will be difficult to send food from the capital to all of those outlying areas. Additionally, it implies that if a location runs out of food, it will take some time before word of the situation ever reaches us.”
In that situation, going without food for a few meals was essentially inevitable. She scowled, her stomach turning viscerally at the idea.
“It’s awful to have to go through life without food. They would not have to wait for the meal to arrive, if only.”
Mia had already traveled around the empire on an inspection and visitation tour in order to assess local conditions and persuade soldiers to stay at their stations. She had witnessed the suffering caused by the famine, as well as the rage and hatred of her people, firsthand on the journey. Fury over food is fury well-incensed. Finally, she had developed a profound awareness of how hunger robbed individuals of their composure. Ludwig deserves praise for including practical instruction!
“And Ludwig being Ludwig, he’ll undoubtedly send me a never-ending stream of in-depth reports. That will offer me a ton of work! I wonder whether there’s a solution to this issue.”
The only time Mia didn’t generally slack off was when she figuring out how to slack off.
“The more I think about it, the more I wish everyone just handled things for me voluntarily, like Outcount Rudolvon did. That would make everything so much simpler.” she bemoaned.
“Furthermore, food would go faster to all of his adjacent regions if it were being sent from his jurisdiction. Hm… I believe one solution might be to assist local leaders in creating their own systems for distributing food. The concept looks sound, but I can find someone to work out the specifics later. After all, no one is more familiar with a region than its ruler. Not making use of that would be wasteful. In reality, we must make them function! What gives people the idea that they can just sit about doing nothing while I do all the work?” Mia sighed. “Okay, I made a decision! I have to get Ludwig to begin considering this.”
The princess’s and her vassal’s hearts had thus united by some cosmic miracle! Despite their initial motivations, Mia and Ludwig had independently decided on the same overall objective.
She kept thinking about it, and before she knew it, Princess Town was coming into view and requiring her attention.
Little did the freshly assembled Empress Faction members realize that the princess they had united behind would soon drop their jaws to the floor once more. Even Ludwig, the group’s leader and Mia’s devoted autonomous appendage, failed to see it coming.
