Henrietta raised the corner of her lips.
"How should I welcome you? As a Demon Lord? Or as nothing more than a Court Count?"
"My apologies, Your Majesty. Whom would you receive as an envoy?"
I smiled faintly. Henrietta raised one eyebrow.
"Whom would I receive as an envoy?"
"The army surrounding Your Majesty's fortress is none other than His Imperial Majesty the Habsburg Emperor's forces. If Your Majesty wishes to discuss matters of a military nature, I will receive you in my capacity as a Court Count."
Our forces had always modeled themselves after the Habsburg Imperial Army. I, who came as an envoy, likewise represented Habsburg—and so it was only proper that I conduct myself as a Court Count.
"However, if Your Majesty wishes to go beyond the situations both armies find themselves in and discuss the future of the continent..."
I showed both my hands as I spoke.
"Then I would gladly converse with Your Majesty as the Demon Lord, ready for a serious discussion."
"Hm. And if I were to take a liking neither to you as a Court Count, nor to you as a Demon Lord?"
"Hmm..."
I pretended to ponder, stroking the tip of my chin.
"Well then, I would approach Your Majesty simply as a man."
"What?"
"You are far more beautiful than the rumors suggested, Your Majesty. If a ball happens to be prepared for tonight, I look forward to it with great anticipation."
Henrietta let out a soft laugh.
"Imagine that—being invited to dance by a Demon Lord."
"Your Majesty already performed splendidly with the Frank Empire as your stage. Tonight, so to speak, could be described as the intermission after the ball has ended. Yes—a time when a man and a woman are most honest with each other."
"There are too many prying eyes for us to enjoy an intimate time together."
Henrietta raised her right hand.
"Everyone, leave us."
The generals saluted and filed out of the reception room like a receding tide.
Only the queen and I remained in the room. Henrietta settled into her chair and crossed her legs. The smile had already vanished from her face.
"I'll be direct. I wish to surrender honorably."
"As Your Majesty is well aware, conditions will be necessary."
"Present them."
We were both players. There was no need to waste time trying to sway each other's hearts needlessly. I raised my index finger and spoke.
"First. Hand over the person of Empress Dowager Catherine de Medici to our side."
"I'll accept. But surrender the person of Saint Jacqueline Longwy to us."
Henrietta nodded, and I nodded as well. There was no hesitation in the decision. I raised my middle finger.
"Second. Surrender all the cities and fortresses of the Frank Empire that Bretagne has been occupying. Additionally, you must conclude a non-aggression treaty with the Frank Empire."
"...Specify a duration in the treaty. It must not exceed ten years. Furthermore, the weapons and provisions we have stockpiled in the fortresses will be taken back to Bretagne."
A ten-year non-aggression treaty. With this, Henrietta's ambition to conquer the continent in the short term was thwarted.
Finally, I raised my ring finger.
"Third. Kill Emperor Henri III of the Frank Empire and disguise it as death by illness."
"..."
Henrietta fixed me with a piercing glare.
"You intend to frame us for the emperor's poisoning?"
"If Henri III dies, the bloodline of the Frank imperial family will be severed for good."
Every member of the imperial family, collateral branches included, had been wiped out. It was all thanks to Henrietta, who had spent years chasing them down like cockroaches.
"Power would pass to the Empress Dowager. If she had tried to rule as regent while the emperor still lived, that would have been one thing, but it won't be easy for a dowager empress to seize control of the government on her own. What do you think the political situation in the Frank Empire will look like?"
"…A civil war will break out again."
I nodded.
Most of the great nobles in the Frank Empire had already been purged. All that remained were dwarfs of roughly equal stature. If any one of them tried to claim hegemony, it would undoubtedly be a turbulent affair. In other words, the recurrence of civil war.
"Until now, the Royalist and Republican factions in the Frank Empire have stood united. They had a common enemy—Your Majesty, that is, you. But once the non-aggression treaty is signed, those factions will turn their gaze inward. It is virtually certain that they will clash over competing interests."
"……"
Henrietta fell silent.
Moments ago, her eyes had burned with fury. Now, however, she was visibly hesitating, unsure of how to judge the situation. After a deliberate pause, she parted her lips.
"Your goal is to drive me out of the Frank Empire, is it not?"
"That is correct."
"I don't understand. Why would you want to harm the Frank Empire?"
"Your Majesty. If the Frank Empire grows powerful, the nations that stand to be inconvenienced are not limited to Bretagne alone."
My reply drew a long sigh from Henrietta.
"…You weren't trying to save the Frank Empire. You simply feared that a Frank Empire united with Bretagne would grow too powerful. You whittle down our military strength and plant the seeds of civil war within the Frank Empire. And then you profit from the chaos in between."
I smiled faintly. I neither denied nor confirmed it.
"To return to the main topic, I believe it would be in Your Majesty's interest to set the non-aggression treaty for longer than ten years. That way, the Frank people will be able to rest easy."
"…I see. The longer the term stated in the treaty, the more at ease the Frank people will feel—and the more they'll focus on their civil war."
Henrietta regarded me with a gaze tinged with bitter resignation.
"You are a terrifying one, Dantalion."
"……."
"The people will think the war has ended peacefully and that peace has arrived. If you examine the conditions you proposed one by one, there's nothing unusual about them. However, in truth, it is a stratagem cloaked in peace… and now the Franks will willingly tear each other apart in civil war."
Henrietta let out a sigh.
"What do you think, Your Majesty?"
"Truly, you are as vicious and monstrous as a Demon Lord… but."
Henrietta rose to her feet.
"There is no reason for Bretagne to refuse. I accept the negotiation."
We clasped each other's right hands.
The fate of Frank for the next ten years was hereby decided, right here and now.
We drafted the treaty document that very day. An unofficial summit had taken place, completely unknown to the outside world. Officially, it was announced only that negotiations had collapsed due to severe disagreements between the Bretagnian forces and our army.
A few days later, Henri III succumbed to an acute infectious disease and died.
The Bretagnian army was "gravely shaken" by the Emperor's sudden death and, having lost all will to fight, declared "unconditional surrender" to the allied forces.
In response, our army acknowledged the remarkable valor the Bretagnian forces had displayed throughout the conflict and proposed an "honorable surrender" in which they could return home bearing their banners and weapons. Bolstered by this generous offer, the publicly announced treaty was as follows:
1. The Kingdom of Bretagne and the Frank Empire shall not invade each other's territory for a period of fourteen years.
2. The Queen of Bretagne shall present a single gift to the Habsburg Emperor.
3. Beyond this, Bretagne shall not demand any war reparations from the Habsburg Empire, nor shall the Habsburg Empire demand any war reparations from Bretagne.
It was a document dubbed the Treaty of Le Havre.
It was far too merciful for a military that had driven a queen of an entire nation to complete defeat to have proposed. Ambassadors from various nations who had been staying in Frank attended the signing ceremony, and there Emperor Rudolf von Habsburg declared:
"Our objective was the subjugation of the Demon Lord Agares, and that objective having been achieved, we have no intention of oppressing the sovereign of Bretagne."
It was proof to the world that the cause the allied forces had once rallied behind was not mere window dressing.
Had an unequal treaty been imposed, the nations that had been watching from the sidelines would have stepped in to put a stop to it.
Just as they feared Bretagne growing too powerful, they equally feared Habsburg growing too powerful. But Habsburg had seized no territory in this war. The nations of the continent were forced to acknowledge that the Emperor had truly marched on Bretagne with pure intentions.
And there was a far more significant meaning hidden in the treaty that no one had yet noticed.
It was the fact that the Demon Lord's army had been included as a party to the agreement.
Until now, humanity and the Demon Lord's army had never formally concluded a single treaty.
On the surface, this treaty appeared to have been struck between the Kingdom of Bretagne and the Habsburg Empire, but no one was ignorant of the fact that the Demon Lord's army formed one of its essential pillars. In other words, it meant that the Demon Lord's army and humanity now recognized each other as adversaries who could, should the need arise, sit down at the negotiating table.
"With this, my objective has been accomplished."
I sank into my chair and hummed to myself.
"Henrietta seems confident that she can restore national power within fourteen years, but with her knights completely wiped out like that, she doesn't stand a chance. Besides, Henrietta is no longer the ideal leader of the royalist faction. The continent has slipped from her hands."
I smiled with pleasure, feeling Laura's hands massaging my shoulders.
"The first-ranked Demon Lord, the second-ranked Demon Lord… and even the sovereign who came closest to being the continent's greatest loser have all been eliminated. Now only faction politics remain. Laura. We've won."
"Yes. Well done, my lord."
As it happened, the Empress Dowager who had been liberated from Bretagne's forces was taken under the protection of Viscount Bercy.
Viscount Bercy had mobilized his personal retainers to escort the Empress Dowager and entered Parisiorum. In recognition of this feat, the viscount was granted the title of count in one stroke. As the Empress Dowager's close confidant and a leading figure of the republican faction, Count Bercy began to seize control of Parisiorum.
Well, then.
The Demon Lord's army no longer had a dictator.
Whether Plains Faction, Neutral Faction, or Mountain Faction, no single faction could move the entire Demon Lord's army on its own anymore. The three factions would coexist in a state of balance.
In the Human Realm, too, the preeminent power had been erased.
Elizabeth had been reduced to a mere tyrant of a single republic, and Henrietta had fallen into the position of clinging to the barest semblance of royal authority.
The Demon Lord's army had lost Bael and Agares. The Human Realm had lost Henrietta. In truth, both sides had taken damage during this campaign. I could confidently say I was the one who came out ahead.
Among the Demon Lords, I had solidified my position as the mediator of each faction. By ascending to the negotiating table with a reigning sovereign as a Court Count of the Habsburg Empire, I had built both the track record and the justification I needed to operate in the Human Realm going forward.
I returned from the war in high spirits. I was genuinely pleased.
Until I heard the strange news.
"...Our forces pillaged southern Francia?"
"Yes. And it appears to have been carried out on a rather large scale."
The allied forces had split into the Batavia Republic army and the Habsburg Empire army, each heading home. That was when we received peculiar information from a messenger.
The Imperial forces had rampaged through the southern territories of Francia, plundering everything in sight.
I was dumbfounded.
"Wait, what kind of baseless rumor is that? We never even marched into southern Francia."
"However, resentment against our forces is rife in the southern cities. In some regions, they say the land has been reduced to nothing but scorched earth..."
As the messenger's words continued, our expressions grew darker.
In other words, over a thousand Imperial soldiers had brutally pillaged dozens of villages. It wasn't merely pillaging—it was tantamount to slaughter. And just as they had done when conquering Paricium, it seemed mass burnings had been carried out as well.
For nearly a full month.
The damage had reached a point that could no longer be ignored, and petitions were flooding into the court of Paricium, which had only just been restored. The newly appointed ministers of Francia were scrambling to investigate the truth of the matter, or so the messenger said.
Barbatos looked around at the group and spoke.
"Hey. Be honest. Who's the bastard behind this?"
"..."
"Who let loose a detachment and started this nonsense? Huh?"
The Demon Lords exchanged glances with one another. Countless gazes crossed in midair.
But no one answered.