Virgin Knight Who Is the Frontier Lord in the Gender Switched World - Chapter 65

The tent was enormous, capable of accommodating roughly a thousand people.

Despite the proximity of Feylon’s capital, encased in stone walls and just a 30-minute stroll away, Toktoa Khan, the Queen of the nomadic nation, chose not to reside there.

She had an aversion to it.

This sentiment was shared not just by Toktoa but by the other nomads as well.

Being who they are, the nomads detested living in stone-built cities above all else.

Such places were never meant for us.

It wasn’t as if they lived freely roaming the grasslands, settling wherever and whenever they pleased without any care.

Each tribe possessed exclusive grazing lands for their summer and winter camps, to which they would cyclically migrate.

Indeed, there were conflicts over land due to overpopulation among the tribes, leading to battles for territory.

But those days are gone.

With the emergence of the powerful superhuman, Toktoa Khan, minor skirmishes between tribes ceased.

At least, on the surface.

Behind the scenes, albeit reduced, small disputes and killings between tribes still occurred.

However, with a ruler like Toktoa Khan to mediate or sometimes adjudicate disputes, the situation markedly differed from the past.

Anyway, the point is.

It was decided that stone-built cities were unfit for nomadic residence.

However, exceptions always exist.

A few nomads thought living in the capital acceptable, and Seora, Toktoa’s daughter, was among them.

Seora, a girl among the nomads known as “the thinker” or “the seer.”

She entered the tent from the residential area of the capital and headed straight towards its center.

She was familiar with the structure of the tent.

“Mother, are you here?”

“Of course, I am here. My daughter Seora, the odd one who willingly lives in the stone city.”

“It’s necessary. You know that.”

Seora answered with a sigh.

Her life had predominantly been spent embracing the nomadic way.

It wasn’t that she disliked spending time in yurts or other mobile homes.

Seora spent time in the capital because she was the chief among the bureaucrats of different ethnicities.

Despite her nomadic birth, she possessed exceptional political acumen.

“Today, we must decide on the name of our country.”

“That topic again?”

Toktoa Khan.

Seora’s mother, a cavalry leader commanding an army of 200,000 nomads, seemed indifferent to the matter.

“We have destroyed Feylon. We have driven the Feylon dynasty to the ends of the earth, exterminating the royal family without leaving a trace of blood, even as our nation’s size has expanded.”

“The Kyuregen have submitted. Wise women. I almost granted them a position equivalent to our royal family.”

“They are capable. They understood the difference in strength from the beginning and surrendered completely. They have a superior sense of economics, and not only as financial bureaucrats but also those people can be employed as civilian officials for governance. It’s hard to make use of the newly conquered people of Feylon right away, isn’t it?”

Seora strongly nodded in agreement with her mother’s words.

A face truly grateful.

There was a shortage of personnel for governance.

Bureaucrats were genuinely scarce.

Originally, the number of nomads led by Toktoa Khan was significantly less compared to the population of the Feylon dynasty.

Even including the families of the 200,000 cavalry, the nomads under Toktoa Khan numbered less than a million.

Yet, they managed to destroy the Feylon dynasty, which boasted a population of several tens of millions.

The nomadic horsemen were insanely powerful.

“Strong, invincible. Neither lightning nor thunder can stop us. It’s fine to be exuberant. But, think about those responsible for the practical aspects of governance.”

“Are we that short on people?”

“How could you even think we have enough!”

Seora thought of throwing a stone at her mother, who feigned ignorance.

How much trouble did she think she was going through?

Her mother, a person with immense charisma and a superhuman known as Toktoa Khan, couldn’t understand.

Reckless.

Just as a horse escapes its enclosure, Toktoa embodied the very definition of being unrestricted and free.

The affairs of governing a conquered state were nowhere in her mind.

That’s why Seora struggled.

But if the Kyuregen were to submit, Toktoa would wholeheartedly approve, incorporate their entire nation, grant them a status nearly equivalent to the royal family, and employ their people.

Such was the absurdity Toktoa Khan possessed.

And it was this absurdity that has steered the country in a beneficial direction up to this point.

Therefore, Seora found it difficult to fully deny Toktoa Khan, her mother, and the queen of this nomadic nation.

Seora steered the conversation back to the matter at hand.

“Nevertheless, let us set that aside. Today, we must finally settle on our country’s name.”

“Such a nuisance.”

Once again, it must be stated, Toktoa Khan was untamed.

She found even the decision of naming the country and being bound by it troublesome.

That’s why she was reluctant to decide on a country name.

Seora understood this, but without a country name, things would become even more troublesome for everyone other than Toktoa Khan.

Until now, they simply referred to it as “Ulus,” a term in the nomadic language meaning “swirl of people.”

The country has grown?

Then, call it the Great Ulus.

That was good enough, Toktoa Khan had dismissively said so far.

This was terribly insufficient.

“Mother, Ulus is not the name of a country. It’s a term meaning a human group.”

“If we continue to use it, it will become synonymous with a country. There’s no problem with that. We are the ones making history.”

“Well, I suppose so.”

There was some logic to it.

But still, decide on a name for the country.

It was a headache for a bureaucrat.

Seora intended to have a country name decided today.

“Then, let’s call it Mongolia.”

“What?”

The meaning of the word Mongolia.

Among the nomads, it represented “simplicity and vulnerability.”

Is Mother jesting?

“Yeke Mongol Ulus. A large, simple, and vulnerable country. That will do.”

“That’s not good at all. Who would name a country with the meaning of being simple and vulnerable?”

“Isn’t it amusing?”

Deciding on a country’s name based on whether it’s interesting or not.

Seora felt a headache coming on.

Surely, the Noyans, the nomadic chieftains who tremble at the mere mention of Toktoa Khan’s name and yearn for her, would laugh and accept the country’s name without objection.

Truly our Queen, Toktoa Khan.

She has a sense of humor.

With these words from our mother, from now on, the name of our country will be the Great Mongolian State.

Ah, yes, she’s always been like this.

Always pushing forward based on whether something is interesting or not.

Seora felt dizzy.

However, she had to fulfill her duties within her jurisdiction properly.

Unlike Toktoa, Seora was said to resemble her father in character and had never been ashamed of it.

Seora was not a weak daughter but a commander leading 10,000 cavalrymen on the battlefield.

She fulfilled her duties as the Queen’s daughter, destroyed the Feylon dynasty, and either subjugated or persuaded hundreds of superhumans who defended it to join her side.

Sometimes, she even personally went to the technicians and superhumans of Feylon to negotiate with them.

No one in Ulus, now officially named the Great Mongolian State, underestimated her as a versatile superhuman.

“I understand. As the Great Mongolian State, I will announce the country name.”

“Hey, hey, are you serious? It’s a ridiculous name for a country.”

“You said it, Mother!!”

It’s no use; the conversation doesn’t progress with her.

The country name has been decided.

The name has been decided, as ridiculous as it may seem to Seora.

Let’s move on to the next topic.

“Congratulations on the fall of Parsa.”

“Finally.”

Until recently, Toktoa Khan was abroad, destroying the Parsa dynasty.

She returned after plundering many men, referred to as livestock, and treasures.

The distribution of rewards and spoils to the generals who participated in the war has finally concluded, and now, at last, there was time for a mother and daughter to talk.

The war with Parsa started because an embassy and caravan sent by our country to establish friendship were killed and their goods plundered.

At least, that’s the official story.

Of course, the reality was different.

“We’ve finally got the land of Parsa. And we can’t always pamper the merchants. It must have been a good lesson for them.”

From the beginning, the aim was invasion.

The highlands owned by Parsa, that is, the awarding of new pastures to the nobles, the distribution of spoils, looting, massacre—all of these actions undertaken in Parsa were intended from the start.

Even before I was born, Mother had been receiving support from foreign merchants.

Financial support, of course, but also introductions to Feylon and Parsa’s catapult technicians and weapons craftsmen. They even went as far as to deliver men to be divided among the tribes as goods.

Naturally, there was a reason for this.

These foreign merchants wanted something in return: positions as financial bureaucrats.

I don’t know how much Mother understands beyond her exceptional intuition, but Seora, blessed with political acumen and currently the chief among the civil officials, could comprehend it.

The position as a financial bureaucrat in the Feylon dynasty with its tens of millions of people, the right to collect taxes, a substantial return.

What they gain isn’t just a salary from the country.

No, they hardly even need such small change.

Acting as tax collectors means they can skim a little off the vast amounts of money entering the national treasury.

Moreover, they haven’t forgotten their roles as merchants.

In the process of procuring supplies for expeditions and external wars and securing transportation networks, they create a massive state-led trade and distribution network.

Naturally, these financial bureaucrats, holding a special position, use this to make a profit.

By now, they must have earned hundreds of times the amount they originally invested in Mother.

In the future, they might earn thousands of times more.

But they cannot be dismissed.

Because there are no replacements for them.

Seora murmurs softly.

“Good medicine, huh?”

Where in the world would their replacements be?

Who, at that time, would travel all the way to the great northern plains of the Feylon dynasty and offer support to my mother, Toktoa Khan, without asking for anything in return, simply making a one-sided investment?

In exchange, they only asked that if she conquered the Feylon dynasty in the distant future, they be made financial bureaucrats.

For them, the potential of the nomads and a state with 200,000 cavalrymen was sure to become mighty enough to conquer the Feylon dynasty.

But to ordinary people, this was entirely a fantasy, a futile journey, and a wasted investment.

These monstrous individuals who could be confident that my mother, the sole superhuman Toktoa Khan, would end up like this.

Those foreign merchants, now our country’s current financial bureaucrats.

Even if they are somewhat disagreeable, there are no replacements for them.

They absolutely must not be made enemies of; rather, they should be heavily relied upon.

Because, although she skims a little money off the top, the nomads would do the same.

No, it might even be worse.

Seora makes this judgment.

A random thought.

Stopping that train of thought, Seora brings her mind back to the present.

“As for the merchants, you said it was good medicine.”

“The merchants of Parsa, who are now our countrymen, were thinking of profiting through the protection and expansion of trade routes with their homeland, Parsa. Ridiculous, isn’t it?”

Toktoa drinks mare’s milk.

Not from a vessel, but directly from a Huhul, a bag made from a cow’s stomach.

The traditions of the nomads, even now that she has become Queen, have not been forgotten.

“Traitors should die. And it was necessary to make even those who did not betray us understand that a little.”

“Well, I won’t deny it.”

Toktoa sent bureaucrats and merchants who opposed the invasion of their homeland Parsa as envoys and caravans and had them killed by agents we had infiltrated.

Pitifully, they pinned the crime on the governor of Parsa and sold the cargo the caravan had carried in the city in her name.

The rest was easy. They criticized the innocent governor and sold a fight, in the name of envoys, to Parsa.

Parsa chose to resist Toktoa Khan.

And then, it was destroyed.

Because the Great Mongolian State was too strong.

And because many Parsa bureaucrats provided Toktoa with detailed information on the national situation and geography.

“Ah, I killed them. Killed a lot in Parsa, Seora. You might not like it.”

“I don’t like it.”

Seora, though resigned, responded negatively to her mother’s seemingly amused words.

“Human lives should be used more efficiently. Death causes them to lose their function.”

“Seora, human life has no meaning. When they die, they’re just lumps of blood and flesh, the same as livestock. They return to the earth. But there is one thing they leave behind in this world. The fear of death.”

Seora did not hate her mother.

However, she couldn’t defend her mother’s personality.

For the gentle Seora, accepting her mother’s cruelty was too difficult.

“I heard that an innocent governor was killed right before Mother’s eyes, with molten silver poured into her eyes and ears. Truly innocent. I heard she pleaded for her innocence and mercy to Mother until the end.”

“I’ve already told you, Seora. It was necessary to make an example, even of those who did not betray us.”

While sipping mare’s milk, Toktoa Khan murmured in a good mood.

“Now, no one from Parsa will betray us. Fear is what keeps people in check. The ‘former Parsans’ who serve us, the bureaucrats, they understand that a single sacrifice prevents others from becoming victims. I almost want them to be thankful.”

Toktoa often spoke of how fear is an efficient tool.

Indeed, it was efficient.

Their homeland, Parsa, was already conquered.

We invaded, destroyed, set fires, massacred, looted, and then left.

No one from Parsa would dare to resist anymore.

“But still, we killed too many people in the invasion of Parsa.”

“I killed them properly. I killed a lot. I made sure people were so terrified that merely hearing the name Toktoa Khan would make them cry and beg for their lives.”

Toktoa repeated that she had killed, and then she said her usual phrase.

“Fear is what controls people.”

Having finished her mare’s milk, the bag deflated.

Toktoa threw the empty bag on the ground and murmured.

“The people of Parsa will no longer resist our rule. Completely eradicated. But eventually, the population will recover. Maybe by the time of my grandchildren, it will be back. But the fear will not fade.”

Shaking her head and cracking her neck, Toktoa murmured.

“Parsa doesn’t matter anymore, right? Seora?”

“Yes, I have nothing more to say about Parsa.”

Seora’s words probably never reached Toktoa Khan.

She had no choice but to give up.

There’s no use in talking about what’s already done.

But she wished she could have stopped what was about to be discussed.

“I heard that during the meeting I was absent, the western expedition was decided.”

“What, it’s already known?”

“Mother!”

What was she thinking?

They had just finished the invasion of Parsa.

Just because they had distributed Parsa’s pastures to the nobles didn’t mean it was over.

Having conquered, they must govern.

“What about the governance of Parsa!?”

“We completely eradicated them. It’ll be fine until the population increases again. The governance of Parsa is now in the hands of foreign merchants. I’ve also distributed territories to my daughters.”

Likely, the governance of Parsa won’t be anything decent.

Seora frowned.

The right to collect taxes will be bought and sold, security will deteriorate, and repeated collections of head taxes and special taxes will occur.

The governors will embezzle, and not a coin will reach the treasury.

She could easily imagine the scene of corruption.

Unlike Seora, her sisters had no aptitude for governance.

As long as they could live in luxury, they wouldn’t care about the nation’s peace or the people’s well-being.

They wouldn’t spare a thought for the common people’s suffering.

Seora felt as if she could hear the people’s grievances.

Again, her sisters had no aptitude for governance.

It was absurd to expect nomads to do so.

Maybe by the time of her daughters or grandchildren, tax reforms would be implemented.

“Mother doesn’t understand people’s feelings.”

“I do understand. You’re a strange daughter, Seora. Few people care about those below them like you do. Rather, you’re the strange one. Do you understand that?”

“I’m well aware.”

Seora murmured softly.

As a nomad, or even compared to the former Feylonese, she was indeed strange.

If there was a battlefield, she would fight bravely.

But there was no need for unnecessary looting, beyond what was needed.

Seora was content with having just enough to eat.

That’s why she had to refuse.

“We will go west. Far west, there are good grasslands in Anhalt or Virendorf to the north. We’ll make that our base and destroy both countries. The territories along the way will be given to my subordinates and other daughters. Seora, I’ll give you the lands of Anhalt or Virendorf. If you want to create your ideal reign, do it there.”

“Please wait. I don’t need any land, and what about my position as the chief of the civil officials?”

“Seora, do you understand? With your achievements, it’s impossible not to give you land, and you can’t continue as the chief of the civil officials. If you keep your position, it’s as if you’re my successor. But the successor is someone else.”

Seora understood.

She could not become her mother’s successor, and someday, she would be given some land.

But Seora had forgotten her place; she was content to stay in the former Feylon capital and work as a civil official.

That would have made her life happy.

But Toktoa Khan wouldn’t understand.

It wasn’t allowed.

“Prepare for the western expedition. We’ll go to the end of the west. The Silk Road, now barely used except by a few hundred travelers and merchants. We’ll rebuild and conquer this trade route, completing my life’s work.”

Toktoa Khan had a dream.

A grand dream incomprehensible to ordinary people, to rule over all of this continent.

Unaffected by the benefits to merchants, the governance of conquered lands, or even her daughter’s pleas.

It was just a grand dream of an individual.

But those caught up in it would suffer.

Seora closed her eyes, offering silent prayers for those who would die for that dream.

She let out a tiny, truly tiny sigh.