Dynasties Online-Chapter 203: An Erupted Court.

"Not many people know that a ruler will always fear those entrenched powers that hide beneath the surface of every nation."

"Whose webs are so convoluted that they are a nightmare to untangle."

"They come in many forms, many disguises, their shadowy hands able to hold influence over every aspect of society."

"They can be bankers."

"They can be powerful merchants or businessmen."

"They can be landed aristocrats whose power has been passed down from one generation to another over hundreds or even thousands of years."

"But there is one thing that is certain."

"Only when change is absolutely necessary or unable to be stopped will these vested interests finally let go of even a fraction of their power."

"Even then, they may refuse, at which point only then will they be able to be destroyed."

"A smart ruler slowly dismantles them, untangling a web here and there and using other rival powers to contain them."

Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in Dynasties Online.

....

"Your majesty, the minister of war is nearing his 66th year and is credited with over 40 years of loyal and devoted service. Surely, such an outstanding and virtuous minister should be allowed to live out his days in the peace of the capital instead of suffering on the battlefield during autumn and maybe even the cold winter months."

One of the old, grey-haired ministers said righteously, the old fox knowing that the only way to stop this appointment was to use the emperor’s love for the old minister of war to prevent him from becoming Grand Marshal.

If it were any other rank in the military, even the rank of Great General, the second-highest rank a military officer can achieve, then this old man would not jump out like a startled child, but the emperor just had to want Amulius Lunaris to take up the position of Grand Marshal.

One should know that there has not been a single Grand Marshal in the last 100 years of the Chavarian Empire’s history. Even if someone could potentially take the position, it would not usually be offered or appointed willingly by an empowered sitting monarch like Flavius.

After all, the last Grand Marshal of Chavaria, back when Chavaria was only a kingdom, was held by King Kriston Crestier, who was only a powerful prince at the time and used the position to gather an army to seize the throne from his nephew, King Galric Crestier.

Because he used the position of Grand Marshal to gain the throne, Kriston and every other Chavarian monarch after him have never appointed a Grand Marshal, instead rewarding meritorious ministers and subjects with almost any other position title or land grant available to them.

Of course, there were other famous grand marshals in the past who were loyal to the kings of Chavaria, becoming pillars of their rule and, at one point, helping to preserve the rule of House Crestier when it was at its weakest and rebellion erupted throughout the kingdom.

Even a grand duke rebelling with all his vassals’ support, not that this would typically be the case, is not as terrifying as a grand marshal doing so.

But now this rank, which had not been used for a hundred years, had reappeared in the hands of a man who had an axe to grind with a large portion of the influential people and landed nobles in the empire.

After all, the ministers have not forgotten that, even to this day, Amulius Lunaris still holds a grudge over what happened to the two beloved disciples he had raised to give Chavaria and the imperial family a firm foundation from which they could rule.

And now this man, who had been bound to the royal court and its rules, holding merely an advisory or strategic position in matters of war within the empire, was being let loose with half of the imperial army and the ability to call upon the troops of any other landed noble within the empire.

"Oh...."

The emperor said, his eyes flashing with a sinister, ruthless glint that froze the minister in place, as his voice seemed laced with amusement, but anyone who knew Flavius Crestier well would know that this old minister had just made himself a target of the new emperor.

A position no sane person wanted to be in, as there were too many ways for an emperor to deal with those who displeased them.

After all, out of all the princes, apart from Prince Aurelius, who had lost the use of his legs and was too young at the time to fully take part in the secret succession battle that erupted amongst Cassius Crestier’s sons over 10 years ago, Flavius was actually the most talented and intelligent of all of Cassius Crestier’s sons.

Even more so than the virtuous Prince Victarion, who had died just over a decade ago, killed allegedly by House Aurellion, but anyone close to the matter or intelligent enough knew who the real culprit was.

Emperor Flavius himself was responsible for killing his older brother, with no small help from the nobility and hidden powers of the empire, and his greatest helper was the former prime minister, the old snake of Chavaria, Grand Duke Lucan Valantis, a man who even now, two years after his death, left behind a formidable political legacy for his descendants.

In fact, it was only due to the help of this very man that Flavius’s old and the deeply entrenched powers’ supporters managed to get close enough to be able to kill Lucius Aurellion and Victarion’s loyal men without being countered by Amulius Lunaris the almost omnipresent and trusted minister of war, leading to his current position, which otherwise would have belonged to his elder brother.

And he was well rewarded for his contributions, surviving the massive purge afterwards and getting his granddaughter Lucia Valantis married to the new emperor.

Though even that was a close-run thing as the founding emperor almost took Lucan’s head for his actions, but somehow managed to come out of the meeting with a furious Emperor Cassius with his head intact, a feat few had managed after the death of both Prince Victarion and Lucius Aurellion.

"My Lord Amulius, can you still eat meat?"

Flavius asked with a wry smile.

"Your majesty, this subject can in fact I am happy to take up such an important and trusted position."

Amulius replied in a calm voice, having no pity on the old coot who was about to face the wrath of the emperor, which even he could barely survive, let alone an ordinary vice minister of personnel.

"See, Minister Kline, Grand Duke Amulius is still more than hearty enough to live up to the responsibilities of Grand Marshal. However, unlike him, it appears that old age is beginning to impact your judgment and health, and I, as a benevolent monarch, cannot bear to have such a venerable and meritorious minister such as yourself suffer from overwork in their twilight years."

Emperor Flavius said coldly, sending a shiver down Minister Kline’s spine when he heard how cold the emperor’s tone was.

"Your majesty...."

The old 63-year-old minister tried to interject and explain himself as he suddenly realised just now that his official career was in danger, but was interrupted by Flavius’ cold voice.

"Marquis Kline Fendor, as a founding minister of our empire, a man who has followed the founding emperor in establishing our great state. I hereby grant you 50,000 gold and grant you another barony to add to your fiefdom as a reward for your many years of service and allow you to live out the rest of your life peacefully with your family."

Emperor Flavius said loudly in an icy, authoritative voice that brooked no argument.

The silence in the hall felt deafening as everyone, deep in shock, tried to process what had just happened.

None of Chavarian courtiers had expected the emperor to be so resolute and that he would dismiss a long-serving meritorious minister over this matter, but there was little that they could do about it, as the emperor had the right to appoint all ministers in the court and could appoint and dismiss people as he wished.

Ministers, especially old ministers with a record of competent and loyal service, like Marquis Kline, who was from a prominent and powerful family, are very rarely forcefully dismissed like this because no matter how the emperor tried to justify his decision, at the end of the day, everyone with even a slight bit of political acumen would be able to see that this was a forceful dismissal because a minister gave unwanted advice!

In other words, the emperor was subtly disrespecting the marquis and his family, as it was one thing to retire voluntarily and another to be forced out of your position by the emperor because you had displeased him.

Luckily, the emperor had given him enough face, granting him a generous reward for his past services, so it was not a complete loss, but expecting his family to hold a high position under this new emperor was likely a pipe dream!

Prince Aurelius sighed, wondering what gave this old idiot the courage to openly go against the emperor like this, especially when he wanted to personally appoint a Grand Marshal who was only lacking the title of one but had the position’s actual power.

After all, while many nobles and ministers who were not familiar with the army thought that it was the Chavarian Emperor’s overwhelming prestige that kept the Imperial Army in line when Lucius Aurellion was falsely accused of treason and had his confidents purged, Prince Aurelius and the new emperor Flavius knew the truth.

It was not the emperor who kept the army loyal, but the minister of war!

If it were not for him, then it is likely that nearly half of the Imperial Army would have rebelled when Lucius died, so even though he did not hold the title or position of Grand Marshal, Amulius Lunaris had the actual power of one.

This old idiot was just asking to be eliminated. While many ministers were surprised that a minister from such a powerful family could be humiliated and offended by the emperor, the young prime minister was not.

After all, as a member of the imperial family and the prime minister supporting Flavius, he was aware of the emperor and the imperial family’s political intentions and plans. However, these intentions could never be disclosed to outsiders, or they would face unrest throughout the new empire.

And these intentions were simple.

Suppress the old nobility originating from the old kingdom of Chavaria and offer more positions and power to those in the old kingdoms of Nadron and Plurus.

Many may be dumbfounded by this move if they knew about it, as it would lower the strength of the imperial family’s original power base, whose foundation and power were based on the old loyalties of its original nobles, making it more vulnerable than before, but while in the short term this was true in the long term it may not be the case.

Indeed, in the first initial 2 decades, the first Chavarian Emperor indeed needed to rely heavily on the old Chavarian nobility to retain power, build up a solid foundation for the Crestier dynasty, and crush any rebellious intentions in the two conquered kingdoms.

However, now things were different. 20 years had passed since the empire had formed, and many of the older lords who remembered the old glories and grudges of the previous era, when the three kingdoms contended for supremacy on the Alendel Steppe, had passed away or would soon.

So now was the time to begin properly integrating Plurus and Nadron into the Chavarian Empire and binding their interests; otherwise, they would always yearn for independence due to ostracism by the Chavarian Imperial Court.

Unfortunately, under the founding emperor, only old Chavarian nobles held power, as evidenced by the fact that no general in the imperial army, or even a middle-ranked military officer, came from Chavaria’s original land.

Though this was really a hopeless move on Cassius’ part, after all, he had killed far too many Nadron and especially Plurian nobles for them not to be a threat to him, so he had to leave the consolidation of the empire to his descendants.

But now things were different, as neither Flavius nor any of the other Chavarian imperial princes took part in the Chavarian Wars for Unification, so resistance to his rule would be far less than Cassius’ from the newly conquered territories, especially if he ruled benevolently and included them in his new outlook and power structure for the empire.

So now that the emperor had a chance to not only slap the old Chavarian nobility on the wrist but also open up an important position for a loyal Plurian or Nadron lord, why wouldn’t he?

Marquis Kline just happened to be the unfortunate ant that jumped out to be squished by the emperor. The only thing that Aurelius was relieved about was that, despite essentially chasing Marquis Kline out of the Chavarian Imperial Court, at least Flavius gave him a somewhat dignified exit, giving him rewards and using his old age as a pretext to remove him.

This could be seen as a concession by Flavius, allowing both parties to walk away from this incident peacefully and with their honour largely intact, as a barony was no small reward, even if it would just be another vassal for Marquis Kline to manage.

Seeing that no one else stepped forward to speak against his appointment of Amulius Lunaris as Grand Marshal, the emperor then struck while the iron was hot, wanting to ensure this matter passed without any more incidents or obstacles.

"Does anyone else have anything to say about the matter of appointing a new grand marshal?"

Emperor Flavius said, glaring at the room, daring someone to oppose him.

No one spoke as all eyes turned to the two people who could potentially stop this matter, though many were on one young man in particular.

Though both Amulius Lunaris and Prince Aurelius, the new Chavarian Prime Minister, just stood relaxed in their places as if they didn’t feel the earnest wishes of the court ministers, outright ignoring the imploring gazes sent their way.

Without either speaking out, no one else dared to come forward after all the emperor had already dismissed one minister for speaking out, and if it were not for the man’s loyalty and contributions over the years, then his exit would have been anything but honourable, with no reward in sight.

Hell, for all anyone knew, the emperor was just looking for someone to slap the word traitor on, after all, if he could do such a thing to House Aurellion, who once held massive military power, then he would have no issue slapping it on a civil servant or even a powerful noble.

The strength of the Imperial Army was not for show, and it would have no problem destroying a noble house before half of it went south to invade Nathia.

For only a large gathering of nobles would be able to match the Imperial Army for numbers, but even then, the army the nobles could raise from their lands, which had largely been at peace, would likely be of poorer quality and not commanded by a Grandmaster strategist, as everyone knew both Archtorius and Amulius Lunaris were looking reasons to bring them to ruin.

"I’ll take that as a no."

Emperor Flavius said with finality, though now he felt that he should have been more patient and less angry, as he truly wanted a few ministers to come forward so he would have a reason to dismiss them but this would also work as he could only slowly bring in Plurian and Nadron nobles to the Imperial Court and not together lest they create a tightly nit faction amongst themselves like members of the old Chavarian nobility had which would not be in the interest of either the imperial family or the empire as a whole.

As even now, there were still secret calls for the restoration of the destroyed kingdoms, especially for Plurus, which still had members of its old royal family alive to rally around though after three failed rebellions these voices were slowly dying out only really staying alive because until now the Plurian nobility had by in large not been given a reason to support the new status quo.

Something that Emperor Flavius intended to change now.

"May I ask your majesty who you would like to appoint as the new Vice Minister of Personnel?"

Prime Minister Aurelius asked calmly and with deference ever the able helper to the Emperor.

"Does anyone have any recommendations for the new Vice Minister of Personnel?"

Flavius asked his court, even if he already had a candidate in mind, it was best not to always act arbitrarily lest people think him becoming a tyrant, in addition to whom different nobles and factions recommended, could also help him understand his court better.

As ministers began to recommend their various relatives, disciples, and retainers, Vice Count Lorenzo Martenz just stood by watching the drama unfold as if it had nothing to do with him, though even he was shocked that the Emperor would be so decisive and determined to appoint a Grand Marshal.

While he and many others in the Imperial Court were well aware that it was likely that Flavius would appoint Amulius Lunaris as commander for the war against Nathia, they didn’t expect him to become Grand Marshal!

Despite being a player, Vice Count Lorenzo was well aware of what that meant. In fact, he was one of the nobles who volunteered to bring troops and other players and faction members to join the Chavarian Army as it marched to war, as he knew there was no easier way to get promoted than through contributions to a successful military campaign.

Especially one in which they broke through a Stalwart and strategically important fortress guarding a mountain pass.

Nearly six months in real life or three in-game years had passed since the servers opened and in that time the player population had surged especially when stories of success began to pop up everywhere in which a player used the money he made in game to exchange for money in real life and in so doing massively raised his family’s living conditions even able to afford them to go on an expensive holiday.

And he knew that the players based in the Chavarian Empire were looking forward to such a war in the hopes of gaining rich rewards from not just the NPCs but the players as well.

That’s right, after years spent in-game cultivating resources, the players with businesses behind them or part of other entrenched powers in society have finally managed to gather the capital and resources to begin to have a major impact on wars in-game, because not everyone was content to farm or live a peaceful life in the game.

And for Lorenzo himself, it was this war against Nathia, which he hoped would fuel his rise to greater power and wealth.