Road to the Crown

Chapter 293: Declaring intentions

14th September 1574

"Step up then. Let us know who is really interested in taking part in the elections!"

Seeing how the lead of the meeting was quickly slipping away from his hands, Jan suddenly stood up, announcing his intentions.

"Since that's the case"

Following the sudden takeover of the leading role of the meeting by the young Ossolin, the last of the candidates that so far remained mute, entered the fray. Due to how relatively inactive he was so far, I didn't really pay any attention to him. That was one of the advantages of the current times over the future. Here, if I was late to do or think something, nothing really bad would happen because of this!

Rather than losing the chance of promotion due to a business client slipping from my grasp back in my times when I operated in a huge corporation, here, I could just calmly take my time to analyze the entire situation. Who would be able to say that this more toned-down approach wasn't better? Instead of making the hasty decisions or judgments due to the pressure of time, taking one's time to come to a proper conclusion seemed to be a far more effective way of acting!

"I can't take the responsibility for burying my entire family, nor can I compete with the achievements of yours. As much as it pains me to ignore such a great opportunity, I will have to remove myself from the elections."

Contrary to my expectation and wishes, it wasn't the mute man who spoke up. Seeing what kind of opponents he would have to face, the young man who I made fun off earlier, placed his letter on the table before sitting down, pulling a small knife from behind his belt and cutting the envelope open.

"Form two thousand men strong unit and establish a defensive position on the left bank of Berezen river."

Uneceremonialy pulling the content of the paper package out, the young man read its content aloud, officially putting an end to his chances of becoming the king. Right now, as long as even a single fellow candidate were to pay any mind, preventing the young noble from accomplishing his task on his own would be as easy as killing one bird with ten stones!

In fact, while his act of dropping out could be considered as an official resignation, no one would be as dumb as to trust his word on that. Not only it would be insanely hard for the young noble to report this act to the senate, as it could easily turn into a huge burden on his household's prestige soon after, no one would ignore the chance that this notion was nothing more but an act of a clever play, aimed at making everyone else forget about his existence. After all, as long as all four of us believed in his words, then this young man would be able to finish his task in peace, without even a single one of us attempting to help him before it would be too late!

"I will, obviously, participate."

Standing up as well, the young Lew placed his hands on the table while gracing all of the gathered men with his wide smile.

"While my family does not owe as much as you guys, even if that could be considered to be a hit on possible growth of Crown's authority if I were to win, I can assure you that as long as I will be given the chance to repeat the same economical miracle that I created in those few lands that I do own, our country will benefit much more than just by claiming your fortunes for the Throne!"

As kind as this man's behaviour was, one would be grossly mistaken if he were to treat him lightly. The fact that he acted politely, didn't mean that he lacked a hand full of ace cards that I could bet he wouldn't hesitate to use!

"So will I. With all due respect, sir brother, I do not believe in my chances of winning the elections, nor I will particularly care if I were to lose, but this chance is simply too great. And let's not forget the fact, that I hope to learn a fair bit from competing with such great statesmen like you!"

On the other hand, young Jan was literally brimming with optimism, as if just the chance to take part in this huge event was enough of an honour, with the opportunity of claiming the crown for oneself being nothing more than a cheery on top of the cake.

"I will partake in the elections as well."

Finally given the chance to speak, the mute man didn't hesitate even for a second to put his few cents. Just this alone was enough for me to understand how tough opponent he would be if I were to go against him. It was a commonly known technique in the future. People in groups would tend to remember the first, the second and the last person speaking about the topic. It was simple conjecture with the first person opening a question, second one answering, then everyone else would input their own views on the mater, and only the last person would be able to leave the lasting impression due to their unofficial duty of concluding the topic.

By forcing his turn of speaking to be the second to last, he made sure that he would achieve exactly what he did with his behaviour so far. Those people wouldn't pay him that much mind. What's more, thanks to the course of the discussions so far, everyone at the table had a rough understanding of everyone's position. Starting from the young man who dropped, he proved to be not skilled enough to be even considered for the role of the king. Then came two short exchanges between me and both Jan and Lew, allowing the entire group to at least gauge our opinions on the entire matter. But as for the last man?

In fact, I didn't even know his fucking name!

"To be frank, sirs brothers, I would like to have a personal and private talk with each and every of those who decided to participate. Truth to be told, I don't really have any interest in the Crown. Ah, and don't get me wrong!"

Seeing the sudden changes of literally every single face that surrounded me, I could tell how I managed to stun everyone with this revelation of mine. While I had to admit that picking the second to last spot was smart of this one guy I name didn't know, I wasn't going to let go of the advantages of putting the memory of my own stance into everyone's heads!

Yet, I still had to tone down the revelation a bit. With how I said my part, it was pretty easy for the others to misunderstand my intentions. While the first to drop out was a man who not only didn't have any real chances or qualifications to become the king, but he also couldn't guarantee that his household would support his attempts due to the risk involved, I had no such excuse. Calling my act of holding back my answer to be caused by lack of interest could be pretty easily interpreted as the lack of interest in solving the country problems!

"I do not mean to say that I won't take part in the elections, but at the same time, I'm not going to say I won't. No matter what mission is written down on my envelope, I will strive to perfectly fulfil it. But before I will be able to tell whether I want to participate in the elections or not, I need to make sure that you guys would be even worse choices for the King than me!"

By putting the matter in this way, someone stupid might feel insulted, but the men around me were far past this point of intelligence. What I basically said, was admitting that I didn't believe myself to be suitable for the role of the king, putting myself down rather than the others!

And it was granted that I would do my best to find this one candidate who could find the perfect balance before securing my own interests with his policy along with supporting the country in a realistic way! While becoming a grey eminence behind the court would allow me to expand my ideas, innovations and influence far further than what even my greatest dreams allowed me so far, if the country would have to pay a steep price for me achieving that position, then it would be ultimately all for nought.

Because in my current position, as long as I would manage to defeat the Ostros, then turning my current power and wealth into the powerbase for my future household would take me a year at most. By forcefully stalling the development and expanding not in terms of innovations but constant and competitive production, I could ensure that my descendants would be able to comfortably live off the fortune I've built while adding another powerful pillar of strength for the country. But if I were to push my opportunities to the limit and achieve greatness at the cost of the country, then I would still be stuck at the position of someone powerful enough to influence the inner politics, but too weak to oppose anyone who managed to gain the control of any of the neighbouring countries!

"I understand. Since that's the case, how about you start with me, sir brother?"