Road to the Crown

Chapter 291: Rules of the election

14th September 1574

"Excuse me What?"

Hearing the announcement of the Primate, I wasn't sure whether I was just hearing things, or maybe if someone accidentally managed to drug me up with some kind of powerful hallucinogens. Either way, to believe in what I just heard, meant reevaluating every single aspect of my both internal and external politics!

"Let me say it once again. The five of you were elected as the Royal candidates for the Commonwealth's throne. As long as you manage to win the elections, you will be ordained as the King of Commonwealth, leading our glorious nation to the prosperity"

Just as the primate had to take a short breath before continuing, one of the men that were standing in the middle of the hall with me, stepped up.

"But? There is bound to be some kind of catch in it, isn't it?"

Looking at the man's profile, I couldn't help but think that he had somehow a familiar look. At one hand, I was sure that it was my first time meeting him in person. But by delving deeper into what my soul was screaming, I was one hundred percent sure, that I had some type of connection to him!

"Well, it couldn't be that easy, could it?"

As the primate answered the question, his lips blossomed in a huge smile. Standing up from his simple chair, the current crown's regent approached the five of us with big strides.

"While I called you candidates, in fact, you are more like candidate candidates!"

Dropping the unexplained bomb, the primate stepped back towards his own chair. Only when he comfortably rested on it, did he start speaking again.

"Each and every single one of you will be given a mission. They are all aimed at fixing the current problems of the commonwealth. Only those who will manage to fulfil their mission will be able to participate in the election."

With a nod of primate's head, a group of five servants jumped towards my group, each of them passing their designed nobles a sealed piece of paper.

"For the first two months, the context of your tasks will remain private. Whether you will be able to finish it or not, solely depends on you. But after this initial deadline passes, the missions will turn public for everyone. Do you understand the implications behind my words?"

Once again, all that the primate offered to us was his wide smile. Yet, despite how kind his appearance was, I could tell how devious the intent behind his words was.

"Once the missions become public, we will be able to hinder each other in an attempt to make sure someone else won't be able to participate in the elections? Is that really the way to go? You said that our missions are strictly correlated to the problems that Commonwealth face right now, and you dare to pit us against each other with those problems as the background?"

The man who I felt a strange connection to stepped forward, openly placing his hand on the handle of his sabre. Just from how tense his facial muscles were, as far as I could tell just by watching his profile, one could tell how infuriated this guess made him.

"I don't think this is the case."

As much as I disliked the politicians of all sorts due to what I saw in the future, I doubted that this strangely familiar man's words were on the point. Even if every single senator here had their own aims and policies, I had little to no doubt that outside of the traitors like Ostros, they would still put the good of the country first and foremost!

"If I may, I guess that once we fulfil our missions and the deadline pass, we will be able and encouraged to help others in fulfilling theirs. As long as we will be able to contribute enough, while the problem will be solved, the other person would lose its right to participate in the elections, right?"

With this kind of approach, rather than ignoring the country needs for the sake of winning the election, one would have to strive to fix as much of its problems in order to not only eliminate the possible rivals but also for the sake of gaining more prestige that could help him win the elections. But as much as I hoped that this guess of mine would turn out to be right, I couldn't help but wonder just how one's participation would be judged?

For example, I could already tell what kind of mission was written in the letter that I received. Even though the rewards for defeating the rebels were already set, given the time when the Senate came up with the rules for the election, if they wanted to assign any other mission to me, they would risk me ignoring the problem of the rebels altogether!

But what would happen if one of the election participants took care of his mission right away, and sent a single soldier to help me to defeat the rebels and as such, fulfil my own mission? In theory, that would mean that I failed to fulfil my requirements of participation in the royal election myself, instantly disqualifying me, even if that solider would fail to contribute anything at all for the ultimate victory!

"You are perfectly on the point, sir Mike. But you are missing one point. Rather than helping others to fulfil their mission in order to eliminate them, the proper election won't start until all of the missions will be fulfilled. So, rather than eliminating others personally, if they fail to finish up their tasks and contribute to the end of the current, troubling times, those who will fail their missions in time will bear the mark of being responsible for the turmoil continuing!"

Hearing those words, I only now realised how devious this plan was. In theory, it wouldn't directly affect the outcome of the elections. After all, all the problems that troubled commonwealth were more bothersome towards the common folk than for the nobles, who would be the ones casting the votes. But just like with everything else, one couldn't speak about one side of the problem without looking at the other one.

Unless the common folk would feel safe and taken care off, their productivity and loyalty would take a dive. The longer the problems would exist, the harder it would be for the nobles to maintain their daily lives at the level they were used to. At some point, I could see how the entire swaths of the country would be covered in the flames of unrest, with commoners rebelling about their overlords, even if said nobles had nothing to do with the problematic situation that bothered those commoners!

"I see. But, rather than just thanking for the opportunity and the honour of being chosen as one of the royal elects, I need to ask one more thing."

It would be incredibly easy to just accept the reality and jump in joy at the sheer thought of such an easy way of becoming a monarch opening up right in front of me. After all, as long as I could get the crown on my head, fixing most of the country problems and improving its standing in the world would become far easier than doing the same while working from the bottom of the social and political ladder!

But there was simply no way for me to just randomly agree to the situation, without properly understanding the terms that would bind us during the election! With how in the real line of the history every elected King had to sign two documents, one of the general laws that guaranteed the position of the nobility within the country and the other that summed up all of his personal obligations towards the commonwealth, I could tell that the terms for becoming the King during this election would be at least as harsh as they were in the original timeline of mine, if not even worse!

"Go on, sir Mike. It's best if all the doubts will be clarified right away."

Nodding his head, Primate smiled at me. With our stares meeting each other, I could tell that this man already knew what I was going to ask!

"Your excellency, respectable Senators and you, noble brothers. While being chosen as one of the potential Royal Elects is already a great honour, there are two things that bother me. First, what would be the terms of becoming a king for the one who would win the elections? And secondly, how did the process of picking the candidates looked like in the first place?"

While the first question was rather obvious, it was the second one that was most important. Unless the entire country would accept the way in which the elections would happen, then becoming an elected King would be akin to plummeting the entire country into the fires of the civil war!

"Let me answer your questions one by one."

Standing up once again, the primate proved that he had a fair bit of theatrical talent. After all, his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear him even if he were to remain seated!

"For the terms, it was decided that after seeing what happened with the previous selected royal candidate, the way of succession will change as well. Rather than opting for hereditary rule or elective monarchy, we decided that once one of you takes the throne unless two-thirds of the noble class decide against the hereditary of your personal rule, then it will be your heir that will inherit the crown. Yet, if the heavy majority of the nobility decides against it, then a group of royal elects will be chosen again, repeating the current way of choosing our king."

Those words were directed to everyone in the hall as if to nail this point down. Looking at the way that some of the senators looked at the primate while he said those words, I could tell that not all of them were the supporters of the idea.

"As for the terms of taking the throne It's fairly simple. The noble class will get the guarantee of its status, while all the wealth and lands of the elected noble would be merged into the lands of the Crown. That means, that as long as your new dynasty will be able to keep the throne, nothing much will change for you, but once your heir won't be directly elected as the next King, all that your dynasty will keep will be a single selected town, village or city!"

This time, those words managed to silence the entire hall. Because what they meant, was that although one could win the crown pretty easily, it would mean risking all the power that one's family amassed during the past ages!