Chapter 8

The day after meeting with the hereditary vassals and donning the necklace that symbolized his highest status, Slein was faced with an enormous amount of studying.

The state funeral to bid farewell to King Fredrik and the royal family would take place about two weeks from now. On that occasion, not only the important figures from the kingdom's nobility and commoners but also representatives from neighboring countries would come to the capital, Yuzelheim. Given the circumstances, it was likely that many countries would send their kings personally.

Slein would have to meet these attendees directly and exchange greetings. Even though he had suddenly become the crown prince from a commoner, as a fact, he was the crown prince, and he could not afford to make a poor impression.

Therefore, Slein had to spend the next two weeks acquiring the minimum knowledge about the kingdom and the surrounding countries and learning the proper etiquette.

"Then, Your Highness, I will begin immediately... I am the only one here, so please listen at your ease. If you have any questions, feel free to ask."

"...Understood. Thank you."

In one of the castle's rooms, which was previously King Fredrik's and would now become Slein's office, Slein faced a blackboard and Monica, who stood beside it.

With the royal family effectively absent from the political scene, the kingdom's prime minister, Sergei, and other high-ranking officials were extremely busy. They did not have the leisure to devote themselves to Slein. Therefore, Monica, his adjutant, was assigned to be his teacher.

"First, I will explain the history of the Hassenveria Kingdom and the current situation in various regions of the kingdom. The founding of this country—"

In the basic knowledge about the Hassenveria Kingdom that Monica explained, there were parts that Slein, who had been exposed to many books as the son of a scribe and had a broader education than the average commoner, already knew.

In the western part of the Sarestakia continent, where the Hassenveria Kingdom is located, there once existed a large unified nation. Alongside the Gared Empire, which dominated the central part of the continent, this nation flourished but collapsed about a hundred years ago. After a period of confusion with numerous nobles vying for power, it consolidated into twenty small countries.

One of these countries was the Hassenveria Kingdom, which was founded seventy-six years ago, and the late Fredrik was its fourth king.

Currently, the twenty small countries, including the Hassenveria Kingdom, coexist without significant conflict, occasionally engaging in minor skirmishes at the borders. This is because they must coexist to avoid being absorbed by the larger surrounding countries.

This is the situation in the western part of the continent where the Hassenveria Kingdom is located. Additionally, Slein needed to understand the internal situation of the kingdom.

The Hassenveria Kingdom, which was founded by establishing the Hassenveria family as the royal family and gathering the surrounding noble families, currently operates under a feudal system. The royal family directly controls about 30% of the land. Out of the total population of 50,000, 40% (20,000) live in the royal domain. The rest are governed by twenty noble families, ranging from earls to barons. These noble families are granted land and subjects by the royal family in exchange for their loyalty and the obligation to provide military service to protect the country.

The royal family's direct military force consists of 300 regular soldiers in the kingdom's army. Additionally, there are 50 guards who protect the royal castle and the royal family. In times of war, they can conscript soldiers from the populace, and in emergencies, such as an invasion, the royal domain alone can mobilize up to 3,000 troops.

To maintain this military power and the authority to govern a country, the royal family has other sources of income besides taxes from the royal domain. These include iron mines and rock salt mines. The iron from the iron mines is sufficient to meet the internal consumption of the royal domain and can be exported to the noble territories and other countries. The rock salt mine is the only one in the kingdom, and salt is exclusively sold by the royal family within the country.

Another mine owned by the royal family is the rutile quartz mine, which, though small, produces gemstones that are popular as decorative items, primarily within the country.

Even with this much information, it was only a rough overview of the knowledge Slein had learned from Monica. From there, he was taught the names, characteristics, and roles of the various noble families within the kingdom, the names of the surrounding countries in the western part of the continent and their characteristics, their relationships with the Hassenveria Kingdom, and the names of their current rulers, one after another.

"How is it, Your Highness? Have you understood everything so far?"

"...Well, I guess."

When asked in a gentle tone by Monica, Slein nodded. Since he already knew some of it, it wasn't that difficult to understand.

"Understood. Then, I will now have you memorize all the items I have explained."

"Huh?"

Monica said this in a gentle tone, and Slein responded with a surprised voice.

"Memorize all of this? By the time of the state funeral?"

"Yes. During the state funeral, Your Highness must be aware of the faces, names, and positions of all the attendees. To achieve this, you need to memorize all the items I have explained. In the latter half of the period until the state funeral, you will also have to study etiquette and prepare for the funeral, so you have about a week to memorize everything."

"..."

Faced with Monica's casual statement, Slein's expression turned grim.

"...Understood, I'll do my best."

However, in the end, Slein nodded with a sense of resignation, realizing that there was no option to avoid memorizing everything.

"I will support you, Your Highness."

Slein responded with a slight smile to Monica, who smiled and said this.

Slein's first task as the crown prince turned out to be the rather mundane one of cramming as much knowledge as possible into his head.

...

"Memorizing all the basic knowledge about the kingdom's nobility in just two days, Your Highness, that's impressive."

"Thank you. Well, if I try hard, I can manage this much."

Slein responded with a tired face to Monica's praise, which came with a smile. Over the past two days, he had memorized the names and locations of the noble families within the kingdom, the characteristics, positions, and power dynamics of each noble territory. Thanks to his experience as the son of a scribe, who was often exposed to books, he was relatively good at this kind of "studying."

During the study process, he chatted with Monica and learned more detailed information about each noble territory, as well as the more complex reasons behind his selection as the next king.

On the first day he came to the castle, Slein proposed to Sergei the idea of "choosing the next king from the cousins of the late king." This was difficult for a reason.

The late king, Slein's grandfather, had three cousins. All of them lived to a certain age and had children. Their descendants, totaling nine people, are scattered among the noble families throughout the country.

That's why it was impossible to choose the next king from among these descendants. They all equally and thinly inherited the royal blood. Whichever one of them became king, the others and their relatives would be dissatisfied.

If such a rift were to occur between the king and the nobles, the balance of the kingdom's noble society, which had been stabilized over four generations, would collapse again.

Fredrik understood this, which is why he left a will to make Slein, his direct son though a commoner, the next king, despite feeling guilty about it.

The kingdom's prime minister, Sergei, and the other hereditary vassals followed the king's will.

Underlying this was their unwavering loyalty to the Hassenveria family, which they had served since before the kingdom's founding. They were also confident that they could run the country's politics even with a commoner king, as long as they supported him.

It was better to have a young commoner with a stronger royal bloodline, who was "easier to control," rather than a noble with a weaker royal bloodline, who would destabilize the kingdom's noble society. If the commoner king lacked ability, they could support him step by step.

Slein understood that this was the reasoning behind the nobles' loyalty to him, a seemingly incompetent king.

Receiving their full support was a blessing for Slein, who was clueless as the next king. However, it felt as if they were saying, "Even if you are incompetent, we will run the politics, so don't worry," which, of course, did not make him feel good.

He could not continue to rely on their loyalty forever. If he remained a mere figurehead king, his mother, who had praised him as a "smart child," would be sad.

Slein began to resolve to learn and grow from now on.