The atmosphere was heavy with sadness.

Still, as some time had passed since Kabajid had taken his own life, things seemed to have calmed down somewhat.

「……Kabajid.」

Frizione was the first to speak as she dismounted from her horse and ran over to Kabajid’s body, which lay on a cloth spread out on the ground.

Angela followed after her, stopping a short distance away.

「No……why, Kabajid? You didn’t have to take responsibility for defeat with your own life……why, this……this……I sided with Mercurio because I didn’t want brothers to kill each other……」

Tears flowed from Frizione’s eyes, dampening the ground.

The sight caused Shurus, who was watching from nearby, to tremble.

The same was true of Vihera, whose usually seductive eyes were wet with both sadness and confusion.

「……Kabajid, what made you decide to do something like this?」

Mercurio’s voice echoed out into the sad and silent environment as he dismounted and approached.

His voice lacked his usual light-hearted tone and was instead similarly filled with sadness and confusion.

Close by, Theorem was also looking at Kabajid’s body, still not quite believing it.

Mercurio and Theorem weren’t the only two to have that reaction.

The nobles and guards who had come with them seemed to share the same thoughts.

The only one who harboured different emotions was Rei.

He probably……no, he had definitely been someone who had come to Elgin from the same world as Rei.

And yet, in the end……Kabajid had died without ever talking about his origins.

Of course, if Rei had just told people that he had come from Japan, it was quite likely that a very complicated situation would have arisen from that.

It would likely result in his disclosure of the Magic Beast Art, which Rei wanted to avoid as much as possible for now.

If he had revealed that information, he would probably have had to run from the Bestir Empire.

But still……someone from his original world was extremely valuable to Rei.

(Of course, since Kabajid was from Earth, there might be others as well if I search hard enough. I’d like to meet them if possible……but even so, how would I even begin to look for them? And if I did find them, how could I still keep Set’s origins a secret?)

Rei pondered his many complicated feelings in his mind as Mercurio and Shurus faced each other after stepping away from Kabajid.

Frizione, still with sadness in her eyes, stood a short distance away as she watched the two of them intently.

Unlike the three of them, Vihera had gone back over to Mercurio’s army.

It was likely to display her attitude that Mercurio, Shurus, and Frizione were the only members of Bestir Empire royalty present and that she no longer considered herself to be part of that royalty.

「Shurus, it’s been a long time since we last met.」

「……You’re right. I never thought we’d be reunited like this.」

Mercurio spoke in his usual light-hearted tone, a departure from when he had been speaking about Kabajid earlier. Shurus’ response on the other hand, barely seemed to contain any emotion at all.

Mercurio was puzzled for a moment by his brother’s response, but soon realised that it had to do with Kabadjid’s death as he continued on without mentioning his thoughts.

「Well then, Kabajid took responsibility for defeat, but you have yet to say anything……no, I need to make this clear first. Shurus, this civil war has ended in our victory and your defeat. Is that how we are looking at things right now? Or are you going to say that you don’t believe you’ve lost yet?」

Mercurio asked somewhat provocatively, but Shurus just turned to look at Rei, who was stroking Set, before shaking his head.

He hadn’t even considered resisting at this point.

The only reason he looked over at Rei was because he believed that even if he had tried to do something here, Rei would have been able to easily stop him.

「No, that is not my intention. Even if I resisted here, it would only result in the loss of more soldiers’ lives. I’m not going to make the stupid decision to reject the outcome of the battle and waste lives in vain. Let me hear from you as well. Our punitive force has surrender, can we expect to be treated fairly as prisoners of war?」

「We’ll deal with you all appropriately. Punishment won’t be too bad, particularly for the soldiers……but I can’t guarantee anything.」

The punitive force totaled over 40,000 people.

Of course, their numbers had been greatly reduced from the fighting with Mercurio’s army and they had also suffered significant losses from Rei and Set’s attacks.

There were also those who had fled the battlefield, not wanting to fight anymore.

But……that still left over 20,000 soldiers.

Taking them all prisoner meant feeding them, which was a lot of food even if they were given minimal amounts.

Without much food to spare themselves, Mercurio’s army couldn’t realistically take them all prisoner.

「Well, even so, I can’t just release everyone without any punishment whatsoever……for those with no direct ties to nobility, such as adventurers, mercenaries, and volunteer soldiers, we’ll probably just give them a small fine before releasing them.」

「I have no objections to that.」

Shurus agreed without any protest.

A considerable number of adventurers and mercenaries from the Bestir Empire had joined the war after all.

In other words, it meant that the number of adventurers and mercenaries doing their usual line of work had decreased many places.

This might have been okay for a short period of time, but if they were held prisoner for extended durations, there would be a lack of people to handle various requests, such as hunting monster, killing bandits, escorting merchants, and gathering materials.

This was the same for Mercurio’s army, so even Shurus had planned to do the same thing had they won instead.

Of course, the fine he would have imposed would have been higher than what Mercurio was planning.

「Then, as for the nobles……they’ll be facing more severe punishments. At the very least, the family heads of the noble families who joined the punitive force will be replaced. Some of their territories will be confiscated, or they will be made to pay equivalent reparations. We’ll also have someone inspect their territory for a few years and their taxes will be higher. Oh……there will also be restrictions on military power they can retain past a certain point. And, if the inspections find any illegal activities, we will take appropriate measures. Unless the crimes are particularly serious though, it will probably just be a fine.」

Nobles from both the First and Second Prince’s factions cried out at shock at those words.

Their voices held anger……but not surprise.

It was true that the punishment given out by Mercurio was quite severe.

However, they had already anticipated the possibility that their noble houses would be destroyed……and that they might even be stripped of their titles.

In comparison, the punishment stated by Mercurio was by no means unacceptable to them.

Of course, they already knew that the inspections would uncover various illegal activities that almost all nobles conducted.

That said, even if some activities were illegal, that didn’t mean that they had been done for personal gain.

For some, it was a means to expand their military, to pay for flood control projects and road constructions, or to stockpile food in cases of famine.

Most illegally obtained funds would go to those expenses.

That was why it hadn’t been possible to uniformly punish everyone despite being illegal.

Even Shurus’ eyes went wide with shock as he spoke.

「Are you sure?」

「Yes. Well, if we were to pointlessly reduce the number of nobles at this point in time, it would only lead to further unrest.」

The nobles present knew that they had lost.

But that didn’t mean that they would all accept the revocation of their titles.

Considering that, Mercurio’s proposed punishment wasn’t bad at all. ……In fact, it could be considered incredibly lenient for people who had lost a civil war.

Joy started to spread among the nobles’ faces.

Many of them were smiling as they had considered the possibility of taking the same path as Kabajid.

「However……」

Just as the nobles had been about to cheer, Mercurio interrupted them.

「Remember that if you commit any crimes like rebellion again, your entire family and all your followers will be killed. I am not one to tolerate those who become my enemies twice. Anyone who holds us back are nothing but trouble.」

Mercurio spoke with a smile, but his words were anything but gentle.

It was effectively an ultimatum.

If they tried anything like this again, their entire family and subordinates would be beheaded.

The force behind his words was enough to make his meaning clear.

Normally, there would be those who would have found it hard to believe his words as he smiled at them, but no one here held such foolish thoughts.

「I understand. We are the losers. In fact, you could say that the punishment is already light.」

「Kabajid took responsibility for the defeat with his life.」

Mercurio spoke with a complex expression, one filled with sadness, understanding, and even a hint of happiness.

His happiness mostly came from the fact that despite being his brother, Mercurio had always found Kabajid to be somewhat eerie.

「Thank you.」

Shurus gave Mercurio his brief thanks.

Since Kabajid had entrusted the nobles in his faction to him, he wouldn’t have been able to accept harsher punishments on them, such as execution or the stripping of titles.

That was why he was able to accept the current result.

「……Shurus.」

As his younger brother called out to him, Shurus turned his gaze to Mercurio.

As if waiting for that, Mercurio continued in an emotionless voice.

「I think the punishment for the nobles is sufficient. But, brother, you’ll be facing a lot more troubles from now on. You know that, right?」

「Yeah.」

「Wait a moment.」

At Mercurio’s words, Shurus nodded while Amare spoke up, almost at the same time.

「His Highness Kabajid asked that Prince Shurus be spared before taking his own life. Could you please grant his request?」

Amare usually showed little emotion, but her pained expression betrayed her feelings as she pleaded with Mercurio.

For Amare, this was the moment to save Shurus’ life. It was with those thoughts in her mind that she appealed to Mercurio, but……

「Yes, don’t worry about it. I heard from Rei. Of course, it’s something that Kabajid requested with his life and it is also something I promised Frizione, so I won’t go back on my word.」

If anything, Amare seemed taken aback by Mercurio’s words, which had been spoken with determination.

「Then, Prince Shurus……」

「Yes, I will absolutely not take his life. ……However, that would probably lead to the trouble I mentioned previously. I will have to send a few people to accompany him.」

In other words, to monitor him.

But, if Shurus couldn’t be killed, this was a necessary concession.

If Mercurio were to let Shurus go free and gather nobles again……their roles might switch and he wouldn’t be given the same mercy as he was offering right now.

Also, while the pretext of keeping an eye on Shurus was valid, it would also serve as a means to prove that Shurus wasn’t planning anything either.

Perhaps knowing that, Amare seemed a little disappointed but silently bowed to Mercurio nonetheless.

「Well then, this marks an end to the civil war. The nobles will return to their territories along with their troops. Of course, the nobles present here will need to join in the return to the Imperial Capital. Considering the number of injured people, we won’t be able to bring everyone back right away, so some people will have to be left behind to take care of them. Our soldiers will assist with that. Considering the need to dispose of bodies as well, it will probably be several days before we can actually start for the Imperial Capital.」

And thus, the Bestir Empire’s civil war came to an end.

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