Hans sat in a room while sipping from a teacup that contained whole milk. On a plate in front of him were some treats, such as cookies and cupcakes. By his side were the princesses of Poland and Bohemia, as well as the most recent addition to the Royal Palace. Princess Priya Tomara of the Anangpur Empire.
Since Hans had saved Veronika from the Grand Duke of Moscow, the Bohemian princess had looked at Hans in a new light. Though there were several years apart between them, with Veronika being in her early teenage years, and Hans being a pre-pubescent child. She accepted her engagement to the boy and treated him with respect.
Natalia was practically the same age as Hans, and did not understand why the girl who she thought of as an older sister was behaving so courteously to Hans when she used to be rather standoffish. This sudden change in behavior caused the young girl to become competitive, where she began to follow Hans around like a pet. Truthfully, the young prince found the Polish princess to be a bit of a nuisance, but she was cute enough in his eyes to keep her around.
At the moment, Priya was observing the reactions between Hans and the two other princesses with an awkward smile on her face. Veronika was discussing matters of importance with her fiance, and Natalia was begging for attention.
"Hans, are you listening? Pay attention to me!"
Hans merely lifted his hand into the air, signalling the young girl to be silent as he continued a conversation with Veronika about the concerns she had about the upcoming crusade. Natalia pouted when she saw she was being ignored, but listened to Veronika's words nonetheless.
"I fear Natalia's father might do something foolish. He had already sent his eldest son to his death against the German Armies. Who is to say he does not conscript all of Poland's young men to invade us from the East? If that happens, Bohemia will become a battleground. Does the Reich have enough troops to defend all its borders?"
When Natalia heard the mention of her father and dead brother, she grimaced. She did not want to be reminded of her life before becoming a ward. She was still very young when she first entered the Reich, but she could remember the relative poverty the Polish Monarchy had when compared to the Kaiser's household.
She could never enjoy herself as much as she did now, if she were still in Poland. Thus, she was rather grateful to the von Kufstein family for all they had done for her. Despite being a ward, she felt as if she was a genuine member of the family. Thus, she had a hard time understanding what Veronika meant when she said that her father was willing to send so many young men to their deaths.
Hans immediately answered Veronika's questions with a confident smile on his face.
"Of course, we have the means to defend our borders. I have looked upon my father's designs. They are quite brilliant. A few thousand men on one section of the border can defend it from tens if not hundreds of thousands. Not to mention the national railway is nearing completion. We can easily dispatch our reserves to compromised sections of the border if such a scenario occurs. Truth be told, It would be an absolute slaughter if the Polish were to invade through Prussia or Bohemia."
Priya gazed upon the Prince and Princess who were discussing matters of war with confusion in her eyes. They were awfully young to be having such a conversation. Was the potential for war really that much of a concern that even children would talk about it? She did not understand that Hans was a genius, who was being groomed to succeed his father, nor was she aware of the whole situation that Germany was facing and was quick to voice her concerns.
"Are you guys expecting an invasion soon?"
Hans and Veronika gazed over towards Priya with sympathy. She had only arrived in Kufstein recently, and was illiterate when it came to the politics of Europe. Hans could not help but sigh heavily before giving a brief overview of the German Empire's current foreign relations. He did not speak of propaganda like Henrietta had, but the truth as he understood it.
"My father has made a lot of enemies in his rise to power. Practically all of our neighbors despise us. Not only has he used force at every given opportunity to achieve his goals, but he has also pissed on the primary religion of the European continent. To put this in perspective, the Catholic Church holds immense influence over the European Kingdoms, or had I should say.
When my father was just a lowly baron's son, the church conspired with my uncle to eliminate him. My father outsmarted them, and as a response to their sinister actions, he thoroughly angered the papacy by executing a few of their representatives and starting a reformation in the Church that split power away from the Papacy.
Over the years, the Papacy has fought my father via a series of proxy wars, trying to halt his expansion and prevent his influence from spreading. For the record, my father prevailed in each conflict, thoroughly angering the Papacy who now intend to unite the Catholic world against the Reich and march on us from all corners of our Empire.
Fortunately, my father has built robust border defenses and secured powerful allies. Otherwise, such a situation could prove dire, even with our superior military might. It is not easy to defend your lands from millions of screaming crusaders.
Natalia's father is one of the Catholic Kings who holds a grudge against my father and his Empire for more than one reason. It is our fear he might do something foolish, like conscript every young man in his Kingdom and send them off to war on our Eastern borders. Such a thing would prove disastrous.... for Poland."
It astounded Priya to hear that the German Empire was surrounded on all sides by potentially hostile states. Only the North had an ally on its borders, and even then Berengar had prepared ample border defenses against the Kalmar Union in case they switched sides. Priya thought about it for a second before asking the most serious question on her mind.
"Are these other kingdoms a threat? Should I be worried about this upcoming war?"
In response to this, both Veronika and Hans scoffed at the same time before the Prince voiced his opinions on the matter.
"If you knew the weapons that the Reich has available, you would understand how foolish of a question that is. Any attempt to invade our lands would be an absolute slaughter of the enemy. The problem that I see with this eventual war is the desperation it will cause to our neighbors. If we wipe out millions of young men from across Europe, it will cause famine and poverty on a massive scale.
Our neighbors are still feudal states. They would have to send every peasant farm boy to war to have a chance of breaking through our borders, and they would not get far even if they did. It would be a monumental loss of life, which would only cause further despair in our neighboring realms."
Veronika nodded her head when she heard Hans' statement before adding her own thoughts on the issue.
"The reich currently has a very strict immigration and refugee policy. A small number of women from kingdoms that are either Germanic or have a Germanic history, such as the Kalmar Union, England, Burgundy, and France, are allowed into the country so long as they marry German men. There are a few exceptions granted to women from neighboring kingdoms like Hungary and Poland, but the majority of these women come from the aforementioned countries.
This immigration policy has led to the most beautiful and fertile women from those countries seeking a better life in the reich, and competing for German males. This has proven helpful in increasing the population of the Reich and is well regulated by the Department of Immigration to ensure that there is no major demographic shift in the country.
While this is good for the Reich, it is bad for the other kingdoms. It will be even worse if we eliminate millions of young men from these foreign kingdoms in a defensive war. In the neighboring realms, there will be few men left who can plow the fields, let alone marry and reproduce. Our neighbors would become desperate for survival, and the number of refugees trying to flood into our country could become disastrous. We would need to expand the border guard substantially and use lethal force to deter these refugees.
There could be a diplomatic solution to this crisis if the Kaiser actually cared about the lives of foreigners, and if the Pope wasn't so desperate to cling onto the past glories of the Church. Unfortunately, these two men are willing to fight a disastrous war for European Hegemony that will undoubtedly result in the deaths of millions. However, in the end, all we can do is lament the loss of life. Truly, it is none of our concern, as we are the younger generation in the Reich who will not suffer in the slightest."
Hans nodded his head in agreement with Veronika's summary of the future crusade. Though if he were to be honest with himself, if he was in his father's position, he would be just as stubborn in dealing with the Church. Priya, on the other hand, felt as if she had been through a university lecture on geo-politics, and felt as if her head was spinning. She calmed this sensation by drinking the milk in her cup. After doing so, she shifted the subject to something irrelevant.
"Still, he is amazing, isn't he?"
Hans raised his brow when he heard this before asking for clarification from the young girl on who she was referring to.
"Who?"
Priya flushed with embarrassment as she noticed all eyes were on her. She averted her gaze before voicing her thoughts aloud.
"The Kaiser! He is so powerful that even the entire continent combined can't bring him down!"
Hans and Veronika merely sighed as they heard the girl's opinion on Berengar. They rolled their eyes before expressing the same sentiment.
"Oh great, another one..."
Priya and Natalia did not understand what they meant by that, and the duo did not elaborate. Instead, they continued to educate Priya about the current affairs of the Reich and its neighbors while enjoying sweets and milk.
