ch 1; Suddenly became a King

Plan. Heh. Everybody has plans. Exaggerating a bit, you could say plan is a mortal's way to control his own life to some extent. I am a mortal, so of course I have a plan.

First, living low-key and using my family's wealth, do whatever the hell I want. Second, live my life like a king.

Dying from overwork in my previous life made me make an oath to not burdening myself with such fate ever again. And fortuna did seem to favor me because I was reincarnated into a wealthy noble family. Of course, although I plan to live with no limit this time, there's a line I won't cross, although my social hierarchy is far above most people and no one could bring me consequence must I choose to do depravity.

This time, I planned to live a fulfilling life. Since I was born as a noble and wealthy, why wouldn't I use it? 

Then again. Plan, is merely a plan, after all.

Compared to the machinations of fate, how could I, a mere mortal, hope to stand its onslaught?

"Here, in front of us all, with Gods as witness, hear! I, as the Pope, formally decree the ascension of Eleventh King of Vedora Kingdom; bestow him the name Philip—"

Haaaa…

Where am I? Who am I? 

"And thus—"

The pope's voice rang high, but I couldn't even hear him. Why, am I here? In this place, the Royal Chamber? Why, is this crown of gold, symbol of the King, perched in my head? How, did these people, nobles and commoners alike, sat on one knee, keeping their heads low and shouting an embarrassing 'Long live the king, the true king'?

Oh my god. 

Oh my fucking god. 

I am teetering between conscious and subconscious; giving my speech under the gaze of countless people in auto mode, but sober enough to curse the Empire and fate that break my effortlessly-earned life. I mean when I said I dreamt to live like a king, doesn't mean I want to be the King, goddamit. 

Curse the Empire and their propaganda!! 

Scanning the nobles still lowering their heads after promising their allegiance to me, I could see some old heads but mostly new faces that I've never seen before. To some extent, it's understandable, but with this I fully understood Empire's stance in this theatrics. 

They want me to be a puppet king, to some extent. 

Their intent doesn't matter though. Because in the end, all authority is with me, and any fault will be my fault as the ruler. 

But well, I could accept this. 

Sure, living a carefree life free of worry won't be an option anymore. But, maintaining a status quo is probably what the Empire wants, and I could give it to them. My royal lineage could be damned; I don't give a tinker's damn about that. In the first place I'm not patriotic enough to support the old regime, and by extension, this country. 

Sure it's shocking, I mean, knowing you are actually a deposed royal lineage and suddenly dragged to become a king. 

But now, understanding what the Empire's want in this, I could gracefully accept that fact. 

And to some extent, it's understandable, truly. 

I reckon, what those high tables in the Empire want with us, and by extension, the South, are stability. After all, with their geographical disadvantage plus the currently heated international environment, opening one more front won't be ideal. More so, with how the West behaves these days, intellectual ones know something is brewing. 

They need for us to behave, so they could quickly focus elsewhere. For example, Eastward. 

The coalition which started as Entente Alliance, snowballed to become a three nation-coalition, which behaved exactly like a starving hyenas. As the saying goes, 'Opportunity makes the thief'. This newfounded coalition, seeing the Empire fighting a prolonged war with the Northern Demon Federation, pooled their resources and opened a second front, aiming for a quick buck. 

But of course, a hegemon is not a hegemon for nothing. 

Shortly after, the Empire issued a large-scale mobilization order, pouring as much as 35.000 soldiers. It was as if the king of the jungle was determined to let those Eastern thieves recollect the monstrosity called Azure Empire, and make them pay for their foolishness. 

But the Coalition didn't challenge the giant without nothing, of course. 

Answering the king's roar, they mustered about 40.000 soldiers in total, with an abundant food from nearby territory, and equipped their soldiers with steel gears. And they move fast, too. 

Just fifteen days after the official declaration of war, their lightweight cavalry had already begun an assault near the border gate, directly threatening the Empire's food producing territory near the border. Although the main camp still needs at least three to four days to arrive, the 200 lightweight cavalry was all handpicked personnel specialized in siege warfare.

But obviously, the Empire had already employed some means to outwit them. 

By bringing half the commanders and non-commissioned officers from the North theater and pairing them with combat-less but familiar Eastern units, this creates a perfect mix of field familiarity from the local units, and efficient command know-how from the battle-hardened veteran. Moreover, to counter the lightweight cavalry, they fortified the path beforehand with various traps. Not exactly deadly, but exhausting to deal with. 

I don't know who came up with the idea of placing hundreds of palisades and simple archer towers near the Jukchen Pass, but clearly, it was a clever idea. I heard rumors that the high command of the Coalition strained their neck because they failed the first phase of their plan, disrupting their momentum. 

Anyway, because of this, they need to quell the Eastern Coalition—and fast. Then prepare for aggression to the West and at the same time, diplomatic maneuvering with the demons of North. 

In fact, our losses in the South are nothing short of a miracle for them. Or should I say, a genius machinations? 

When we created our own Southern Alliance and amassed about 50.000 soldiers, the atmosphere was quite optimistic inland. Although most nobles know how powerful the Empire is—all the more after seeing them fighting the Eastern Coalition with one hand tied to the North—the fact that the Empire was fighting a two front cannot be brushed away like that. 

Every country knows if they want to topple the Empire's hegemony, then this could be the only chance. Unsurprisingly, our leaders took the helm, creating a Southern Alliance, and took the position of number 1 opposer, as the head of Southern Alliance. 

For me, it was baffling. Since the Southern are the weakest in terms of national combat power, and the regime thought we would actually succeed. And I'm not talking about a single kingdom, but the united region of the South. 

We can't generate massive output like the agrarian East; we are not blessed with superior physique like the Northern demons; we don't have the history of challenging the Empire and winning like the conqueror West. 

Seriously. Could we, which had a gap in national power by a fat margin compared to the North, actually had a chance to fight giants like the Empire head-on? The one who could still go round and round while ganked 2v1? That's why I was actually preparing to start a business in another country, so that when this alliance finally fell, I would already be sitting in my hammocks, sipping wine and eating fruits on the other side of the globe.  

Honestly, such historical trolling—losing as much as more than half your infantry in one battle, to the enemy far smaller in size—and incompetence should be seriously studied, for the future of humanity. They must have contracted some kind of rare brain disease—and who knows if it's infectious?

Either way, the Empire succeeded in curbing Southern paper-like alliance and annihilating most of our forces in that one decisive battle. Minimalize their losses and reap maximum benefit. 

And with the Vedora Kingdom as the helm of that instant alliance, the target will naturally be us. 

Toppling the king with legality, drawing a picture of benevolence by sparing nobles who are not involved heavily with the deposed king, and grabbing me to the seat of kingship to control the kingdom. The narrative is flawless.

I bet it was that Supreme Commander. That guy is definitely capable of pulling this almost impossible feat. 

But again, after reviewing the pros and cons, the conclusion is that; I could accept it. Maybe it's even turned out to be more beneficial? I mean, I'm a king now, didn't I? And what does a king commonly have throughout history? That's right; harem! 

Hehehe. With this fatty body, the only women I could pull were hoes. But now, even this fat body would attract beauties without any effort! Marvellous! 

The job is basically managerial—just on a completely different scale than my old life. Totally doable. It could be even pleasant, since ultimately speaking, I only need to put the right man in the right place. Then make sure they behave properly. 

—right? 

Three days after my coronation. At the first government assembly. 

"...what the fuck?"

I couldn't help but curse.