Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 744: Post-War Arrangements

TL: Rui88

In fact, once the outcome of the Battle of Hestia was known, discussions about post-war arrangements had already begun. Envoys from the various nations of the New Protestant Alliance frequently visited one another, putting forward their demands and eager to secure their own interests.

For Lion’s Port, its initial purpose in joining the war was to protect its land, property, and the lives of its expatriates in Horn Bay. From this arose its greatest demand: that in the future, there could be no power in Horn Bay hostile to Lion’s Port. Undoubtedly, installing a “friendly” ruler in Collins, the most powerful inland nation, was an effective method.

The tide of this war was turned single-handedly by Lion’s Port. When the New Protestant Alliance was on the brink of defeat, it was Lion’s Port that joined the alliance and quickly tipped the scales of victory. It could be said that without Lion’s Port, there would have been no victory in this war; the coastal states of Horn Bay would have all been ravaged by the Horn Bay Church and the Crusader Army.

The combat effectiveness displayed by the Horn Bay Volunteer Army during the war, and the wealth that supported this effectiveness, made the various nations look at them with new eyes. In fact, as people who lived by maritime trade, no one in Horn Bay at this time would still consider Northwest Bay to be impoverished.

For various reasons, everyone respected Lion’s Port’s demands, and they unanimously agreed that the future ruler of Collins should be arranged by Lion’s Port. Of course, everyone also knew that this actually meant following the arrangements of Lakeheart Town, which stood behind Lion’s Port.

As for the Horn Bay Alliance, in addition to a large sum of reparations, they also wanted to move the seat of the Horn Bay Church to Fort Ness. The choice for the new Archbishop of Horn Bay would be decided by the alliance.

The demands of the Horn Bay Alliance caused some dissatisfaction, especially regarding the choice of the Archbishop of Horn Bay. Everyone knew this was a powerful tool for controlling minds. If Fort Ness were allowed to appoint him, wouldn’t all of Horn Bay have to follow the Horn Bay Alliance’s lead in the future?

If the Horn Bay Alliance had been able to withstand the Crusader Army’s attack and push them back, with its status as the strongest nation in the New Protestant Alliance, it would have been no problem for the other nations to acknowledge its demands. But the Horn Bay Alliance was beaten so badly in the war by the Crusader Army that it was on the verge of annihilation, and it was only thanks to Lion’s Port’s rescue that it was able to recover its territory.

Based on the alliance’s poor performance in the war, many countries felt unconvinced and disagreed with the demands it put forward.

Amidst the incessant arguments, Liszt, as the mayor of Lion’s Port, hurried to mediate. After some effort, all interested parties took a step back and reached a new agreement:

The seat of the Horn Bay Church would still be moved to Fort Ness, but the selection of the Archbishop of Horn Bay would have to be decided by a vote of senior clergy from all nations. The heads of the various dioceses would be appointed by their respective countries. At the same time, the new Horn Bay Church had to abolish the tithe. Everyone could contribute a sum of money for the Church to maintain itself, but the use of this money had to be public and transparent, subject to the review of every contributing party.

Another important nation in the New Protestant Alliance was the Duchy of Eton. The demands made by Grand Duke Cabre were somewhat romantic. He only asked for a small sum in reparations to compensate the families of fallen officers and soldiers, just enough to suffice. However, he hoped that all the nations of Horn Bay would acknowledge the existence of wizards and guarantee that they enjoyed the same rights as normal people.

Hearing that someone was voluntarily asking for less money, everyone was very happy and agreed to Grand Duke Cabre’s arrangements concerning wizards. In fact, more than ninety percent of the nations in the New Protestant Alliance had already acknowledged that wizards enjoyed the same rights as ordinary people. The next step was to get the inland nations to acknowledge it. Fortunately, they were the losing side, so they had to acknowledge it whether they wanted to or not.

As for the other countries, they were basically small city-states. Their demands were very practical: to get as much money as possible from the reparations.

When Liszt entered the City of Collins and presented the post-war treaty, signed and acknowledged by representatives from all countries, to the generals, he was free to act as he pleased.

Liszt’s purpose in coming was to select the new king of Collins. He had done a great deal of work for this, studying in detail the history of the nation of Collins, as well as all the information he could obtain on its secular rulers.

After much deliberation, Liszt ultimately chose Count Bridges, the man who had hosted him at a banquet long ago.

When Liszt was still a merchant, he had realized that Count Bridges was not a man of strong principles. The count could converse with him happily and could avoid discussing differences in religious ideology for the sake of practical benefits. Most importantly, Count Bridges had a good personal relationship with Liszt himself.

It was decided that it would be him. With the support of Lion’s Port, Bridges officially ascended the throne of Collins, endorsed by the more than forty thousand New Protestant troops stationed in the city.

When this news reached the prison, the former king of Collins, Garrett III, who was under custody, nearly went mad.

When Collins fell, he had intended to disguise himself and flee, but was unfortunately discovered.

The status of a king still held considerable sway over the soldiers of this era. Garrett III, one of the most important instigators of the Horn Bay War, was not mistreated in any way, but was simply imprisoned, awaiting the decision of the Crusader Army’s high command.

He pounded on the door, demanding to be let out to see Liszt, shouting that he could give whatever Bridges could give, and questioning why he was not allowed to continue ruling his own country.

Whenever Garrett III desperately pounded on the door, Webster, who was imprisoned not far from him, would mock him fiercely.

“What a foolish delusion!”

“You’re already useless. How do you think those heretics will treat someone who is useless?”

Webster had originally been organizing the defense on the city walls, but unfortunately, the Alda army’s artillery rendered useless any defensive techniques he had gleaned from the long river of history. When the walls were blasted open by that barbaric force, even Webster was powerless to turn the tide.

He had wanted to end his own life with his sword but was stopped by his subordinates. Amidst the dispute, the soldiers of the New Protestant Army charged up, and just like that, Webster became a prisoner.

The decision on how to handle Webster had also been made—he would lead a group of prisoners from the Holy See’s relief force back to the Holy City.

Considering that the Holy See still possessed formidable strength, this was also a way to show goodwill.

Before long, Webster and his men were released. They sailed across the sea in the galleys they had brought with them and returned to the headquarters of the Holy See.

The return of this force made the Holy See very happy, as they were planning a new war. Webster and his men had rich experience in warfare and could play a huge role in the coming conflict.

This new war was—the punitive war against the Gabella Empire.