In the ancient Astra Empire, women had no inheritance rights. “We should not go against the ancient wisdom.” Such was his argument.
“In the midst of all this, Vladimir was born, and Lord Giorgie was grumbling about the fact that if men work hard, they always succeed in having a baby boy. I remember it well.”
If Ekaterina heard about it, she would immediately summon a particular fighter in her brain.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Indeed.”
“Vladimir once told me that my mother was not allowed to read even a single book. Although he said he was glad he wasn’t a woman. He sounded sad.”
Alexei chased the memory away with a shake of his head, and looked at Novak.
“The Anachronistic Magna will eventually fall if left alone. Do you want me to finish them off with my own hands and dedicate them to Ekaterina?”
His Excellency may have a plan to settle the matter. If as an Empress, then a Duchess. She will reign as the real Duchess, the Duchess of Yurimagna, the Mistress of the Yurimagna Dominions. If your Excellency, the Duchess, your sister stand side by side as Dukes, it will be a historic victory for Yurinova. As a branch of the family, the best she would be was a count, but I think the prior would be a position more befitting of the young lady.”
“…hmm.”
Alexei was momentarily distracted, perhaps because he was thinking about his sister reigning over Yurimagna, who had, directly and indirectly, caused his mother and sister so much hardship, which would be the perfect retribution. But he immediately shook his head.
“Don’t even start with that out of your mind. His Majesty will not allow Yurinova to expand its power to such an extent, even if it is in the guise of saving the bankrupt Yurimagna. In the first place, even if the position is suitable for her, she will not be happy. I have no intention of putting her in a dangerous position full of enemies. Besides that…”
“And?”
“…Yurimagna territories are far away.”
Novak sighed in resignation.
Ekaterina PoV:
Yurinova territory was far from the capital.
It would take two weeks by horse-drawn carriage each way. In other words, it would take a month to go there and back.
Just going there and back would consume most of my summer vacation.
It would have been better not to go back.
But fortunately, there was another means of transportation that was much faster. That would be by boat.
By traveling up the Cernov River, the great river that flows through the imperial capital, and following its tributaries, one could reach the territory. Incidentally, merchants and traders transported timber from the Yurinova territory to the capital by following this route in reverse. As was the case in Europe and Japan during the Edo period (1603-1867), it was a theory that civilizations flourished on the banks of great rivers, and rivers were the main arteries of logistics and transportation.
Even so, the river ran upstream, and because we were on a sailing ship, we could not go as fast as a ship with an engine from my previous world. It usually took a certain number of days to get there.
However, in the Imperial Kingdom, a unique ship existed that was much faster than usual.
Rapid Ship Rapidus.
All the crew members were specialists in the art of sailing ships at high speeds, with all of them possessing magical powers of water or wind. Several of these fast ships were in the kingdom, but they were assigned to a specific basin, and Yurinova’s family always used the Rapidus.
It was an effective and peaceful use of magic power. However, the technology that enabled the ship to sail at high speed with magic power was apparently learned in the imperial navy.
Like a certain robot vacuum cleaner from my previous life, I believe that was also a diversion of military technology. It was human nature that the military would first study superior technology, even if the world was different.
