"While they may be fierce, merciless monsters, Direwolves are among the most loyal magic beasts towards their pack leaders and fellow members as well as the most intelligent among their kind. It's no wonder that someone who exhibits the same values and qualities would find himself leading hundreds of them and be given such a moniker."
- Toshihiko Tenka, 7th Prince of the Empire of Tenka
Spoken during the peerage bestowal ceremony of Baron Jonathan Bougainvillea
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
While the whole battle between the Demesne association's forces and the Bougainvillea baronetcy lasted for a mere three days on the first week since it started, the reason why this war would later be referred to as the "Five Week War" was because it didn't end when everyone on the Demesne's side was wiped out in that initial attack.
For the next four weeks, the Acting Bougainvillea baronet would wage a harrowing campaign against not only the eighteen noble houses that actually sent their armies towards his land but instead, all twenty-six noble houses that aligned their selves with the Penne Earldom.
"Further resistance is futile, honorable madams… Cede your lands and own up to the treachery perpetrated by your husbands, and we will see to it that you and your noble houses will at least survive after this war ends." House Bougainvillea's assistant head maid, Spica Dahlia, spoke firmly towards the two noblewomen whom she is meeting for an armistice agreement.
"…I accept. House Lavento unconditionally surrenders to House Bougainvillea."
"So does House Belgram… We pledge this upon our honor."
The two noble territories neighboring the Bougainvillea's lands had their eventual surrender achieved through coordinated attacks between the Baronetcy's Wizards and House Elliot's knights. In Jonathan's own words, it was payback for helping the Demesne to harass and attack them for so many years.
While these two lands were subjugated through a combined effort, the next phase of the war had to be done solely by the Wizard Corps due to the sheer distance and the hostile territories that they have to pass through.
["Attention to all citizens of this city! As dictated by the Empire's Feudal Magna Carta, we declare our intention to attack this place! We will give you two hours to leave. Staying here after the allotted time will be seen as a sign of hostility and you will be treated as combatants!"]
To the north-east, the Barony House Yibang would face a surprise attack that completely disregarded their other villages and towns, and instead, went straight for their capital city. Jonathan said that attacking House Yibang, the furthest territory among the Demesne association, was to display the range of distance that his Wizards can cover and instill fear on the other territories that they passed through.
["Second Wing and Fifth Wing! Prepare high-explosive spells! Target: The palace's east battlements!"]
["""Roger!"""]
Five hours after they arrived, House Yibang would fly a flag of surrender after a brutally one-sided battle against the Bougainvillea Wizards. At the cost of seven lightly injured Wizards, they would take 400 dead and 1200 injured Yibang soldiers.
The speed and ease of this battle was attributed to the fact that General Dreyfus Shang and the bulk of the barony's best soldiers and equipment have already died and been destroyed back in the initial battle… Still, the casualty count was incredibly lopsided in any way that it can be viewed.
In the end, the fate of House Yibang went to the hands of a certain powerful entity near the region who has long desired to retake it and the other members of the Yilong confederation. Regarding this matter, Jonathan did not butt in anymore as his intentions in the area was already met.
"Remember, everyone. Stick to the plan and leave no room for error. Conserve your stamina and don't feel bad about asking permission to pull back from the battle. Unlike the battle against House Yibang, we don't need to finish this thing in one day. Am I understood?!!"
["""LOUD AND CLEAR, SIRE!!!"""]
Next came the Rendon Viscounty to the far west, almost bordering West Serafina. Jonathan chose to attack them as they are Penne Earldom's second-in-command and the one who did much of their leader's dirty work against the Bougainvilleas.
"Gunther! Lead the second to fourth wings! Use high explosive penetration bolts and blow up the bridges and canals!"
["Yes, sir!"]
Unlike House Yibang who had it quick and easy, House Rendon would face the opposite fate against the Bougainvilleas.
"Did you get them?! Please tell me that you finally fought and got rid of them!"
Utilizing his Wizards' great firepower and maneuverability, Jonathan led his men on raids aimed against the Viscounty's infrastructure, destroying vital bridges, canals and harbors while avoiding any skirmish against the viscount's army.
["A-A-Apologies, my lord! But they-"]
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! F**************K!!!"
Such tactics became a recurring source of grief for the viscount, constantly keeping him up at night. Thoughts about the Wizards, who are still at large inside his territory, suddenly coming to his palace and taking his life became the stuff of nightmares for him.
Because of this, he moved himself and his family inside a cleared dungeon that was turned into an underground bunker complex beneath his palace. However, more problems are about to come his way.
"Where is the money… WHERE IS IT?!!!"
While he continuously feared for his life, it made him unable to spare any thought about why the Bougainvillea Wizards were attacking infrastructure instead of battling his forces until early Spring came and his territory's main source of income became hampered by it.
"M-My lord… the bridges…" one of his knights spoke, shaking in nervousness about having to break the news to his master, only to be saved from it by a pair of more senior knights who took on the burden.
"The bridges, harbors and canals destroyed by the Bougainvillea Wizards has stopped any trade from passing through our land."
"Because of that, we can't receive any trade taxes and transportation tolls… primarily with West Serafina across the Simi Gulf."
Just as Jonathan intended, instead of giving them a quick and easy end, the Rendon Viscounty received a taste of their own bitter medicine after years upon years of hampering the trade relations of his people with the other lands.
"Additionally, House Penne hasn't sent back any letters regarding our request for reinforcements or raising a protest to the Imperial court… our messengers say that they aren't even being let into the Earl's palace to hand the letter to young lord Kaltka."
Hearing all of this, Viscount Rendon removed his eyeglasses with a hand that is shaking with barely held-back anger. He then gave an order to the men gathered in his office.
"…Everyone else other than Kane, Jean, Kole and Baran… leave the room."
The other knights and officials in the room heeded his order and one by one, left the room that now contained only the three knights and Viscount Rendon.
"I GAVE ALL OF YOU AN ORDER! CATCHING THOSE RATS WAS AN ORDER!"
The nobleman finally loosed off his utter wrath about the current situation, lashing out towards his subordinates who up to this point hasn't been able to do anything against their enemies.
"ARE ALL OF YOU SO INCOMPETENT THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN CATCH A BUNCH OF FILTHY RATS?! ARE ALL OF YOU NOTHING MORE THAN A BUNCH OF FOOLS OR ARE YOU DELIBERATELY DOING THIS TO BETRAY ME?!!"
"With all due respect, my lord! We have done nothing to deserve such insul-" one of his senior knights, Jean, tried to defend his fellow subordinates of the Viscount.
"YOU'RE ALL EITHER UTTER FOOLS OR CONSPIRING TRAITORS!!!"
"My lord! This is utterly preposterous!" their master rebuffed, but Jean stood his ground on defending his fellows.
"Oh, cry me a f****** river! Ever since we learned of the Earl's death and the combined Demesne army's total defeat, I told you to take all able-bodied men from the towns and villages and immediately conscript them into the army, but all of you disobeyed my order!" the Viscount shouted, berating his subordinates about the utterly bad situation that they are now in which continued for a while more.
"Whenever I ordered you to do something, you always either disobeyed me or did the complete opposite of what I said! Do you take me for such a massive fool that you never listened nor followed anything that I said!? I should've sent all of you to be hanged the moment you disobeyed me, just like how Earl Penne did to the traitors against him!"
Those words echoed inside the room and can even be heard outside, permeating the utter silence between the shocked knights and officials.
"Traitors… You've done nothing but disappoint and betray me again and again when we were at peace and you are lining your pockets and reaping fame, only to bare your fangs against me now that we are being besieged!"
After a while of shouting at the top of his lungs, Viscount Rendon finally sunk on his chair while speaking his regret about trusting his knights despite their "disobedience" and "betrayal".
"Maybe I really am a fool. I am a fool to believe that I can somehow win your loyalty despite everything that you've done against me."
"M-My lord…" Finally, another senior knight, Baran, broke the silence as their master's outburst reached its end.
"But even then… if you think that I would give up just because you're now conspiring against me, you are sorely mistaken. I'd rather blow my brains out, than have you serve it to the Bougainvilleas on a silver platter…"
The silence inside the bunker became deafening after he said the following words.
"Do as you like… Escape from here with your family and whatever riches you have or go and tell the Bougainvilleas that its time to push their attack… I don't care anymore."
As Viscount Rendon's voice became more mellow and he gave up on trusting and depending on his subordinates, the end of his reign was set in stone.
While it's not true that his knights and civilian officials have conspired against him by disobeying his orders, instead simply disregarding some of its parts that are meaningless or too unreasonable, the outburst he had made it clear that despite their best efforts to do his bidding as reasonably as possible, he didn't want it unless it is exactly as how he ordered it to be.
Simply put, he is impossible to please… and his blind faith to Earl Penne's ambition which is a large part of his sense of self became broken as soon as that person died, turning him into a hopeless mess.
"Tch! It's locked tightly!"
"I've brought the battering ram! Get out of the way!"
A few days after that outburst, true to his word, Viscount Lionel Rendon locked himself inside his office, left a few sealed envelopes on his table and fired a mana pistol into his head, instantly ending his life. His death was only discovered after his knights broke the door of his office and saw what he did.
"…You must be Sir Jean of Knightly House Bergshire."
"Indeed. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Lord Bougainvillea."
Two days later, Sir Jean, who is now bearing the burden left by his late master, met with Jonathan to negotiate the terms of their surrender to House Bougainvillea.
"As we agreed in the letter, we surrender to your force and wish to negotiate that you leave our populace unscathed from any-"
"I don't intend to punish any of you further than I already did by doing all of this… Even the widowed madame and the late Viscount's children, I have no desire to continue this anymore." Jonathan's abrupt reply and its content surprised the old knight who looked at the expression on the young man's face.
"Lord Bougainvillea… may I ask why you're giving up your right to dissolve the noble lineage of an enemy that you have defeated? I apologize for saying this, but it seems to me that this choice is too naïve and… foolish."
"My answer to that is simple… I know what it feels to lose a father and his guiding hand when you still need it very much."
"That is…" Jean mumbled, surprised of the reason that he has for making that decision.
"I already bear the sin of exacting vindication against a man who did many wrongs against us… I don't desire to hurt those children of his that bear no sin against us other than being born into his name."
With the fall of the Rendon Viscounty, plans to take on the Earldom itself was put into serious consideration by Jonathan and his war chamber. However, it would promptly be scrapped after they received a letter from Acting Marquis Kazuto, ordering both sides to immediately cease hostilities with the warning of military intervention if they won't obey.
Jonathan accepted the order and wrote a letter to Kazuto about his terms as the "victor" of this war. He handed the letter to the Marquisdom's messenger who immediately left to bring the letter to his master.
"Sir… are we really backing out from the war?" Gunther asked as soon as the messenger was gone. "This is the best time to take them on. We could easily achieve total victory in this war."
"And what? Show that I am not a man of my word? Don't joke about things of this nature, Gunther."
"A-Apologies, my lord!"
Although he said that they will be obeying the order given by Marquis Kazuto, Jonathan went to the armory of the Bougainvillea Manor and began to wear his Aerial Combat equipment.
"W-Wait… Bougainvillea-sama, why are you wearing your equipment?"
"Hm? Why not? We already planned yesterday that we'll launch a raid against them, right?"
"We did but… didn't you agree to cease hostilities already? …Wait-"
At that moment, Gunther realized why Jonathan immediately sent a reply on the hand of the same messenger that sent him Kazuto's orders.
"We've confirmed that Kaltka is dead and Spica's contacts in the Seville Barony said that Kaliath has taken his mother and a bulk of their treasury to the United Kingdoms through back channel connections with Erican spies… that means that no one with enough authority is left in the Earldom."
"And no one can give an official response from the Earldom…!"
Gunther had a eureka moment as soon as he realized what Jonathan planned all along. He turned to his master with enthusiastic eyes and asked him when they would leave.
"We'll depart as soon as everyone is ready. Tell them that we're not going to engage the remnants of the Earldom's army, we're just going to give them the last shove that they need to finally be forced to dissolve their noble house."
Everything that Jonathan plotted ended up happening. With Earl Kaltka dead and his heir Kaliath and wife Karen making their escape from the empire, what was left in the Earldom were nothing more than Kaltka's bastard sons from his harem of concubines that held no actual authority, and minor Knight houses that ended up quarreling more instead of making a cohesive plan or action.
For three days since Jonathan received and agreed to the armistice order, which "coincidentally" is the same time that it takes for a messenger to travel from the Baronetcy to the Marquisdom's capital, "unknown assailants" would terrorize the Penne Earldom by bombing bridges, assassinating important albeit corrupt officials, as well as scaring away merchants by blocking highways and threatening them with violence.
While anyone else would see this as nothing more than bandits and brigands abusing the sudden lack of patrolling soldiers after the massive losses that the Earldom sustained during the war, those who are more adept with noble politics can clearly ascertain that this is likely the enemy pressuring them further in their weakened state.
In the end, this pressure worked for as soon as the armistice order was received by the Earldom's palace, the peaceful status quo between the concubines' sons and the minor-power knights devolved into an all-out civil war.
Every village and town in the Earldom were engulfed by the conflict as all eleven illegitimate sons and the nine Knight houses of House Penne hired mercenaries and armed their followers amongst the populace in order to win the right to become the next Earl.
This only ended a week later after a massive battle participated by the remaining eight factions was waged in the earldom capital of Phallusia. At the crack of dawn, a total of over 6000 men battled against each other with no truces made to at least form a united front against the other factions. It was a decisive free-for-all battle where the last one standing would end up being the new Earl.
"Third and Fifth Wings, maneuver to their flanks and push them towards the tree line! Gunther, lead the Second and Fourth Wings in destroying their artillery pieces."
["ROGER!"]
However, instead of having a new Earl within them, the civil war ended with the total decimation and eventual dissolution of the Earldom after Acting Marquis Kazuto mobilized his army to squash the conflict and to ensure a total victory, requested Jonathan's help in the form of the Wizard corps.
After this battle and the Taiga Marquisdom's takeover of the Penne Earldom's territory, the unnamed war between the Demesne association and the Bougainvillea Baronetcy ended and was promptly named as the "Five Week War".
While it may have taken nothing more than two months of time, this war would be remembered forever for two things that are now being discussed in the Marquisdom palace's meeting chamber between Kazuto and his subordinates.
"One Earldom, four Counties, six Viscounties, eight Baronies and three Baronetcies, for a total of twenty-two noble houses that have lost the war and are teetering to total dissolution…"
"We've already removed House Lavento and House Belgram who unconditionally surrendered and subordinated themselves to House Bougainvillea in exchange for keeping their noble peerage, House Rendon that was spared by the Acting Baronet, and House Yibang that was retaken by the Kingdom of Qima."
First, there was the utterly lopsided outcome of the war wherein even though only four territories were directly attacked by the Bougainvilleas, the destruction of property and disruption to daily life that they caused effectively crushed the will to fight of the other noble houses and in paper, made them admit their loss in the war.
This practically deprived much of East Serafina of its oldest noble houses, particularly the Penne Earldom that used to oppose the Taiga Marquisdom.
"…While all of this can be easily resolved by simply reinstating the noble houses and the Demesne association, now with our Marquisdom leading it, it would create a big problem since we have to follow the Empire's Feudal Magna Carta." Kazuto spoke and was agreed to by the men in the chamber.
"You're right, my lord. It would be one thing if this is simply a rebellion. However, this war was waged between two factions where we have no involvement at all. This means that we have to honor the victor of his war…"
"…and grant House Bougainvillea the right to choose if the remaining noble houses that they haven't negotiated with would be dissolved or not… and the right to take over the lands that they now have a claim to." Kazuto's continuation of his subordinate's words made the chamber fall silent and cold.
Everyone in that room knew what that meant for the balance of power in the region.
"It's the birth of a new regional powerhouse…"
"What a f****** mess… This shouldn't have happened in the first place if we didn't fear that pig Earl's influence and connections."
The words spoken by his men reminded Kazuto of the utter weight of the subject. And yet, he knew that instead of seeing this new emerging power as something to fear, the Bougainvillea family are not an enemy of the empire nor of peace and order.
"Fear not, gentlemen… I've already secured the Acting Baronet's initial demands for his victory in this war. If I must say so, it is a humble demand, and I can see Baronet Jonathan's wisdom from it."
A week later, an event was held in the Marquisdom's capital city of Marin. The main road leading to the palace were lined with armed knights and soldiers, and the onlooking people had expressions of both nervousness and bewilderment.
"I-Is that him?"
"It is." One man answered the question of his wife after they saw Jonathan riding a horse through the road.
"He's so young and yet… the look on his eyes seem to already be that of a man."
"…Given what he has achieved, I doubt that anyone short of that could do it."
The people continued to talk about him as he passed through the road, behind him were his knights and the carriage where Selena, Syrene, Martha and Spica are in. The people's attention was only brought back to the entourage when a horrified shriek came from a woman in the crowd.
"KYAAAAAAAAA---!!!"
"W-What the-!?"
"W-Why are those monsters here?!!"
A pack of adult Direwolves, towering at a standing height of over 2 meters or 8 feet, followed the march. Although the monsters are well-known dangerous creatures that rightfully scared some of the people, what calmed them was that the Direwolves were wearing collars that bore the Baronetcy's colors, showing that they are at least tamed.
The purpose of the ceremony today was to formally declare the end of the five-week war as well as bestow the rightful rewards and titles that the Baronetcy's faction won from it.
"M-Mother… it's already-"
"Shush! I won't have you walking out there looking unkempt! Martha, can you lessen the length of his sash by two inches?"
"Yes, madame!"
"Mother, you don't need to be so obsessed about this. We all know I look ridiculous with a sash on an—"
"I told you to keep quiet!"
"Y-Yes, ma'am…"
Inside a room reserved for the Bougainvillea family, Jonathan was being tended to by his mother and Martha who pored on every detail of his formal military uniform. Jonathan was already getting tired of it, but a sharp retort from Selena quickly silenced him.
"My liege, I've finished shining your shoes." Spica spoke and raised a pair of black, leather shoes that was so shiny that it even reflected what is surrounding it.
"That's excellent, Spica. Put it over there and help me pin the sash on him."
"Understood, madame."
Selena and Spica placed the silken sash over Jonathan's right shoulder and looped it down to his left waist where they pinned the ends together. With that, Jonathan stepped down from the platform with stiff movements just so the tacky sash wouldn't be undone.
"Mother, I'm being serious right now… This sash is so tacky that it's going to kill me once I make my way out there."
"You're being absurd, Jonathan! This is a proper noble's dress code. There's nothing tacky about it."
Even though Martha was chuckling about it, Selena insisted that there's nothing wrong about the sash. This prompted Jonathan to challenge it by bringing an impartial judge.
"Oh yeah? Syrene! Darling, come here for a second!"
"Ta-dah! Why did you call Syrene, Jo-nii?" Syrene spoke as soon as she came from the room next door while holding a direwolf stuff toy on her arms.
"Come on, Syrene… How do I look in your opinion?" Jonathan asked his little sister who immediately gave an honest reply.
Although he already expected her reply to be straightforward, he at least expected that Syrene would hold back a little… something that the little girl didn't catch from his tone.
"Wahaha! Jo-nii looks ridiculous!"
"Urk—! Well…?"
"Haaah… My answer is still no. The sash stays on you during the ceremony, young man."
Her honest reply hit Jonathan squarely, but he kept his annoyance in as he returned his eyes to his mother who was just as shocked about Syrene's opinion but remained stubborn about keeping it. In the end, Jonathan gave up on the topic.
The ceremony started by noontime inside the throne room of the palace. Jonathan, wearing his formal military uniform and carrying a saber and a katana on his right hip, walked towards the door of the throne room where he met with the other men who is also receiving their awards and peerages today.
"Well, well… let me guess, Aunt Penny and Aoi forced you to wear one too?"
"You got that right, my lord… Mother insisted on it." Gray replied while holding the pinned ends of his sash, so it won't be undone.
"…To be honest, seeing you two wear one makes me feel a little less annoyed with it." Renzo spoke with a slight chuckle, trying to make the best out of their shared situations.
"D-Do we need a sash? I don't know much about noble dress code, so I didn't get to prepare one." The last of the three young men joining Jonathan today, Gunther Dahlia, asked after seeing that he's the only one who doesn't have a sash.
Seeing this as an opportunity, Jonathan approached Gunther and began to unpin his sash in order to hand it to him.
"That won't do, Gunther. This is your debut as a noble today. Come on, you can have mine."
"T-Thank you, my lord!"
"Ahem—!"
"—!!!"
Just as he is about to unclasp the sash, a familiar voice cleared her throat beside him, and he quickly stepped back to where he was standing.
"…Young master, you should know well not to upset the madame. Please take this seriously or I'd tell her about this… Is that clear?"
"Y-You got it, Martha."
Finally, the ceremony began with Jonathan leading his new direct subordinates towards the throne of the Taiga Marquisdom where Kazuto is seated. Right in front of the steps to the throne, the four stopped and knelt on one knee towards him.
The ceremony that was supposed to take a few hours due to the fact that each noble house inside the territory governed by House Taiga is supposed to give their respective speeches, was turned short after much of those noble houses were relieved from their positions just days prior to today.
After a few words from the local Lunarian Sect bishop and the marquisdom's magistrate, Kazuto took precedence in the ceremony and finally officiated the beginning of another chapter of Jonathan's journey.
"By the authority vested upon me as the Marquis of the Serafina territory, I sever your dependence from your main family and dub you here today as a lord of the empire, its honored peer and servant from here and to the end of time!"
That day, a man that will forever be remembered took his first step to his never-ending legacy of greatness.
"Arise, Wolf of Serafina! Lord Jonathan Hakuryuu Bougainvillea!"