Chapter 46：Hegemony

"One year..."

Once Johann was sure that Sicilia was gone, he couldn't stop himself from grasping his face in rage before-

"THAT DAMN BITCH!"

Johann vented out his anger onto the table, as he slammed his fist against it, causing a large sound to echo throughout the small office.

"One year? She expects results in just one year? Science is an art! And you can't rush art!"

However, another intrusion into his office soon occurred and it only served to irritate Johann even more.

"My lord. We have something to report to you regarding 'Project Psyche'."

Another one of Johann's researchers hurriedly rushed into the office as he quickly tried to inform Johan of something. However, the only response the researcher received was silence accompanied by a fierce glare.

Soon, Johann himself broke the silence.

"You... CONTINUED THE EXPERIMENT WITHOUT ME!"

As most would expect to happen, the researcher staggered backwards in shock due to Johann's sudden loud outburst.

"No my lord... specimen 37-E... she... started it herself."

Johann calmed down when he heard what the researcher had to say.

"What? She started it herself?"

The researcher only nodded in response to Johann. On the other hand, a smile began to take shape on Johann's face. He didn't know why, but this time, he has a good feeling about 37-E's results.

"And what were the results?"

The researcher returned the smile to Johann as he proudly gave his response.

"It was a mild success."

...

Cromwell opened his eyes as he woke up from his sleep, a smile plastered across his face.

"Mmmmmmhh."

"Ggggrrrrmmm."

The first sound to enter his ears were the soft moans of two women as he moved around slightly.

Evidently, he was the only one awake.

With only the blankets to cover them, two women lightly laid on Cromwell as they placed their arms across his chest.

When he got out of the bed, the blanket covering the women was accidentally removed. With that smile still on his face, Cromwell slowly but surely draped the blanket back over the women, not that it actually helped much to keep them warm.

In truth, he couldn't care less about these women, however, his sense of decency somehow compelled him to act this way.

Nevertheless, he still had work to do. After all, the prime minister of an empire couldn't afford to simply idle about, living a hedonistic lifestyle.

"Sorry ladies, but this man has a job to do."

Of course, he received no reply.

Cromwell began to get dressed, only to be stopped by another light moan.

As he took a glance downwards, he found another woman laying belly-down on the floor. She was dressed in a night lingerie, her greyish-black hair covering most of her face while her arms and legs were sprawled across the carpet flooring.

"Oh right... damn... Past me really was an asshole, wasn't he?"

Today was a particularly important day for Cromwell.

Today was the 'High Imperial Council' that was held on every 7th day of the week in order to review and analyse the current state of the Imperium of Drussia as well as discuss plans for the Imperium's future.

Due to the current state of the Imperium, the Imperial Council was held at the end of every week. Once Cromwell could leave things to his most trusted aids and convince his siblings that the situation of the Imperium has stabilised, the Imperial Council would instead be held at the end of each month.

Due to the importance of this council, it was imperative that Cromwell, as the prime minister of the Imperium, to be punctual.

With a sigh, Cromwell moved around carefully as to not wake the woman on the floor as he prepared for the council. All the while, he said a few sombre words to himself.

"Look at me, being forced to handle the responsibility of managing an entire god-damned nation, while that damned Maxwell gets to lounge about even though he's the emperor."

As Cromwell said this, he approached the mirror to find a tired reflection of himself staring right back at him.

"But it was me who agreed to this bullshit in the first place huh..."

Before long, Cromwell was dressed in one of his many formal outfits, this time a platinum-white overcoat that had dark purple outlines and accents with a matching set of similarly designed white pants.

Without any further delay, Cromwell made his way to the Imperial Council.

The council took place within the core governmental building and symbol of power of the Imperium of Drussia, Maximinus Palace. To be exact, it took place in a room known only as 'The Hall.'

As one would expect, 'The Hall' was a pristine, white hall that was made to impress those entering through its doors for the first time.

The Hall consisted of a throne accompanied by similarly grand though smaller seats at the front, with the rest of the hall being filled with various levels of white benches that looked similar to a very wide staircase from a distance.

Glancing around the Hall, Cromwell could see that the various levels of the benches were already filled or were being filled by the highest levels of the aristocracy within the Imperium.

Depending on the situation, the Council was either compulsory or optional. For today, it was the latter. However, actively not participating in the Council may be seen as a sign of incompetence or rebellion, so most nobles tended to participate regardless.

As the prime minister, Cromwell took the seat to the right of the throne.

"You actually made it? I thought that your 'company' would have kept you preoccupied."

The mocking sound of Keizwell's voice quickly entered Cromwell's ears as he took his seat.

Although Cromwell had no desire to respond to his younger brother, he still found himself glancing to his left, where he saw Keizwell, the national Treasurer, who sat on the left-hand side of the throne.

Of course, the one who was supposed to sit on the throne was the emperor himself.

And, as usual, the emperor, Maxwell, was absent from his seat. Maxwell rarely ever attended a High Imperial Council, if ever.

This time though, Maxwell did have special reason for being absent from his throne. He was currently leading a military campaign after all.

When Cromwell tried to reprimand Maxwell for constantly skirting his responsibility as emperor, the latter only responded with something along the lines of 'My absence from the council is an act that displays my supreme power, since it shows that I do not even need to be present for the discussion of such trivial matters.'

But Cromwell was entirely certain that that was just an excuse.

Maxwell wouldn't have even been the one elected to be the emperor if it weren't for the fact that he was the face of the Violet Army and his achievements when fighting the Paniards had been extremely widespread.

However, even without the title of 'emperor', Cromwell still found himself with the most constitutional and executive power within the Imperium as the 'prime minister' instead.

In essence, it was Cromwell who had to busy himself with the actual stability and wellbeing of the kingdom while Maxwell went off to expand the Imperium's borders.

As for Keizwell's role as the treasurer, well, it was obvious. He was in charge of managing the Imperium's finances as well as handling logistics and foreign trade.

The other nobles who attended the hall all belonged to the highest level of the aristocracy composed almost exclusively of the brigadiers and lieutenants of the Gamma and Omega Corps along the magistrates of the core region.

The political structure of the Imperium took heavy inspirations from the Rhoman Empire of Old.

Instead of nobles typically inheriting their lands from their parents, provinces were now instead governed by magistrates, who were nobles elected by the Imperial Council based on merit, not birthright.

It was the same for almost every noble occupation within the Imperium. Gone were the days where incompetent sons and daughters tarnishing their family's name, or in this case, the nation's name.

Now if nobles wanted to continue their family's legacy, they would have to work themselves to the bone in order to be granted a position of some power.

Despite this, the purge of incompetent or rebellious nobles did help in elevating nobles with a low status to ranks that they deserved.

With the establishment of the Officer Cadet Academy and the Imperial Academy, the Imperium now had better control over both cultivating and regulating its nobles.

If it weren't for the complete hegemony that the Violet Army had over the beaten and drained Drussia, Cromwell was sure that the Dunnwals would have never been able to establish the great nation in front of his very eyes.

Soon, Keizwell stood from his chair and made a slight remark to Cromwell as he started to make his way to the middle of the Hall.

"Seeing that you're awfully quiet today, I guess I'll be starting today's council."

Within a few moments, Keizwell walked to the middle of the hall and raised his hands, beckoning everyone else to quieten down and listen.

"As you are all aware, the time is nearing for the emperor, the great Maxwell Von Galnus Dunnwal, to enter and 'liberate' Porrish territories from their tyrannical rulers."

This information was nothing new. Everyone present was already aware of Maxwell's intentions towards with the east.

What no one expected however, was that Keizwell had already made plans on how to govern the land that the Imperium had yet to seize control of.

"As such, it is of vital importance to begin planning how we will handle the integration of Porrish territories when it comes to factors such as logistics, governmental policy, and public security for the newly annexed lands."

As Keizwell continued to explain the main topic of the council, the faces of those present remained unmoved.

It would seem that there were very little who are willing to remonstrate or question Keizwell out in the open.

"Since we are planning to directly annex and control these provinces, we will also need to appoint new magistrates to-"

"H-hold on. Slow down Keizwell..."

In the end, it was Cromwell who had to interrupt and question Keizwell. In the silence that followed the interruption, Keizwell paused for a moment to turn and stare at Cromwell before he asked his question.

"What is it, Cromwell?"

"I'm just saying this but isn't all this based on the assumption that we succeed in subjugating the Porrish?"

Keizwell had a slightly confused look on his face as he answered Cromwell's question in a matter-of-fact way. He acted as if what he just said was obvious.

"Of course it does."