Chapter 239 – The Unceasing Sound of Swords (2/4)

“…Oh? There are people who wish to become civil officers?” The Goblin King asked.

“They’re a jumble of wheat and tares,” Pale remarked.

“Hmm… Any good ones?”

“The imperial guard who calls himself Yuza is the most cooperative.”

“Hmm… ” The Goblin King inclined his head before deciding to appoint him.

“Can he manage the administration?”

“He’s a soldier tasked with maintaining the public order, so I don’t think you can expect that much from him.”

“I see.”

What troubled the king now was the lack of civil officials. To be more precise, what they lacked were senior civil officials who could handle the administration. Until now he has been absorbing civil officials from other countries and expanding his territory as much as possible.

Using the south as an example, although they may have killed some of the military officials of the border lands, Elrain Kingdom, and even Pena, they have avoided touching the civil officials. In this world where literacy is considered a skill, the only ones capable of becoming civil officials are either nobles or merchants.

Unfortunately, the violence caused by Zelkof the Knight of Destruction has caused most of the civil officials in the imperial castle to be killed. The fall of the country is likely to be blamed on the power struggle, but in actuality, the problem was that the civil officials meant to manage the country have been thoroughly uprooted.

As such, it was not possible to rule the territories of Germion Kingdom like they did with the others.

In fact, there were even insurgent territories among the territories of Germion Kingdom. As a country that was able to reduce the borderlands, it held a pride unlike others. It was not the sort of place that would just willingly submit to the goblins that came from the west.

And that was precisely why the Goblin King had a hard time figuring out who to entrust the management of the country to.

“…Should I look for someone disposable?”

Pale said to the thoughtful king.

There was a kind of ruling known as Indirect Government, wherein one would appoint a person to serve as a lightning rod of sort for the hate of the people. And when the gathered hate has reached a peak, this person would then be cut down. With this method, they could leave the humans to fight each other, while the goblins, the demihumans, and the elves controlled everything from the shadows.

Until just awhile ago, the Goblin King was considering this method, but the overwhelming lack of civil officials made it unfeasible.

“No. Let’s look for another method.”

There were plenty of junior civil officials, so if they were to try and use that method, they might end up making an enemy out of those they might have otherwise been able to absorb.

“…Why don’t we divide them?”

After thinking for a while, the Goblin King requested a number of documents.

“I want documents detailing the particularities of each territory, the number of junior government officials, and the number of towns.”

“As you will.”

The governing method the king proposed made Pale open her eyes wide. In order to divide and govern Germion Kingdom, they would be dividing it into four administrative districts and three autonomous cities.

It was a method that sought to differentiate each region to slow down any possibilities of the people working together and – at the same time – allow even the junior government officials to rule. Germion Kingdom has existed until now while relying on a centralized power. The Goblin King’s plan basically divided that central power into small parts.

As such, while the country was ruled as one country in King Ashtal’s time, the Goblin King will be able to rule Germion Kingdom as if it were a number of different regions.

At this point in time, the Goblin King was a king that ruled one-fifth of the world’s territories.

Because of that he had enough strength to be able to divide Germion Kingdom.

Moreover, according to the proposition of the Goblin King, within the four administrative districts, the northern territory ruled by Lili will not be under their occupation. The eastern region and the Holy Shushunu Kingdom borders also still aren’t under their occupation, so those aren’t included either.

The areas divided included only the center, which was made up of the territory surrounding the capital, and the south. The area known as the Eight Fortresses of the West will become a part of the former western region and its people will be placed under Yoshu’s rule.

Pale remarked to herself how the human, Yoshu, will have even more to worry about, but she intentionally refrained from saying it out loud.

Of the two remaining autonomous cities, two are southern cities. The other is the northern city, but… When Pale thought of that, she frowned and questioned the king.

“Are you planning to exempt the north?”

Pale could tell what the king was thinking just by looking at the proposal for the administrative districts.

If the holy knight defending the north, Lili, were to surrender, he would allow them autonomy. An autonomous city is a sweet treat to Germion Kingdom. Regardless of what might actually be happening, the regions not given autonomy will be seen as places exploited by the rulers, the goblins.

But having an autonomous city is like dangling bait before the rulers. They will have to tax them a little more, but if they can just present something that can appear as Germion Kingdom’s successor, then the rebellious people will probably move there.

People who don’t want to yield to monsters.

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