Road to the Crown Chapter 291: Rules of the election

14th September 1574

"Excuse What?"

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

"Let 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 n that were standing in the middle of the hall with , stepped up.

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

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

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

As the primate answered the question, his lips blossod 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 aid 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 beco public, we will be able to hinder each other in an attempt to make sure soone 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 ti when the Senate ca up with the rules for the election, if they wanted to assign any other mission to , they would risk 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 to defeat the rebels and as such, fulfil my own mission? In theory, that would an that I failed to fulfil my requirents of participation in the royal election myself, instantly disqualifying , 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 tis, those who will fail their missions in ti 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 outco of the elections. After all, all the problems that troubled commonwealth were more botherso 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 so point, I could see how the entire swaths of the country would be covered in the flas 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 . 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 beco far easier than doing the sa while working from the bottom of the social and political ladder!

But there was simply no way for 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 docunts, one of the general laws that guaranteed the position of the nobility within the country and the other that sumd 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 tiline 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 . With our stares eting 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 . 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 plumting the entire country into the fires of the civil war!

"Let 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 so 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 rged into the lands of the Crown. That ans, 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 ti, those words managed to silence the entire hall. Because what they ant, was that although one could win the crown pretty easily, it would an risking all the power that one's family amassed during the past ages!