Succession Dispute Arc

**Succession Dispute Arc** is the thirteenth story arc of Kou 1 Desu Ga Isekai De Joushu Hajimemashita series and the second story arc of Western Kingdoms Saga.

After settling the conflict between Agnica and Gassel at Toluca, Hiroto goes to Emperia in order to persuade King Moldias's to bring Prince Leonidas back to the Privy Council only to be offered to join the council instead. However, not all Privy Council members are eagerly to welcome Hiroto join them, specifically Duke Hydran and Deputy Archbishop Sylferis because the former sees Hiroto as his major threat to his ambition in becoming the next king whereas the later, who replaces Archbishop Sobrinus due to his left femur injury, sees Hiroto as an "immoral person" for accidentally seeing her cleavage. Even with these odds, however, Hiroto still ends up entering the Privy Council regardless and holds the Secretary of State Affairs position but Moldias succumbs to his deteriorated health afterwards and eventually passes away, leaving Hybride's future uncertain as both Leonidas and Hydran are feuding for the vacant crown.

## Prologue

### **Enter Sylferis The Elven Saintess**

#### Part 2

Whilst that is going on, Leonidas feels so bored that he lies on the bed and rants about Hiroto's "cockiness" when his mistress tell him, to the point even telling them to summon the Margrave to Emperia and declare his "execution".

## Plot

### **Walls of Rejection**

#### Part 2

Exiting Moldias's bedroom with disappointment,

#### Part 6

Almost everyone in the Privy Council . Regardless, Panopticus

### **Hiroto The New Member of Privy Council**

#### Part 1

Elsewhere, Hydran grows even uneasy about Hiroto's sudden suggestion on joining the Privy Council until he hears news about him visiting the king makes him realize that the Margrave's attempt to persuade his cousin to bring Leonidas back to the Privy Council

#### Part 7

When Panopticus asks everyone for opinion, Leonidas declares that he will make a proposal per custom
With Leonidas' vote is inlcuded, Panopticus declares that the vote bvoting will be restarted and urges Hiroto to leave the room for a while which the latter complies. Before the voting that the voting Panopticus urges everyone to raise their hands to make their final vote and

with only Hydran, Finas and Sylferis rise their left hand fist whereas the remaining six reaising their right hand , both Hiroto and Leonidas are officially joining the Privy Council and Moldius give them both the tittle Secretary of State Affairs and Secretary of Military respectively.

#### Part 8

While the meeting is still ongoing, Leonidas smiles with satisfaction after seeing Hydran looking down .

#### Part 9

Panopticus sees the , whereas Univestel . As for both Sylferis and Hydran, they still antagonize Hiroto even after the result whith the Vice Archbishop

### **Vice Archbishop's Moral Myopia**

The Privy Council's meeting ends on the evening and both Hiroto and Leonidas are leaving the King's Office for an upcoming banquet but the former opts to his room first, prompting the latter to joke about nailing his friend's room shut so that he cannot leave. Just as he exits the room, however, Sylferis stops him for a "talk" where she accuses him as a "immoral coward" who "used" Moldias to enter into the Privy Council while nagging about morality, much to Hiroto's disgust as he now having ill feelings for her. Suddenly, Raquel chimes into the conversation when she finally sees Hiroto and congratulates him as Sylferis begrudgingly informs her about his position as the Privy Council's Minister of State Affairs. Dismayed by Raquel's friendly interaction with a man who once stared at her own breasts, Sylferis argues that having such "immoral" man at the Privy Council will have severe consequences for both himself and Hybride, to which Raquel counters by calling the elf out for her irreverence to a hero who saved Hybride from enemies solely according to her own narrow perception of morality. Despite Sylferis remains adamant about a conduct of Hybride's protector, she eventually stops arguing when Raquel asks her if what she did was the Spirit's wishes. Afterwards, both Hiroto and Raquel go for the banquet and seeing her holding his arm makes him thinks that he will be like Leonidas.

Sylferis, meanwhile, returns to the the Royal Spirit Cathedral instead and while reflecting Raquel's defense of Hiroto due to his contribution of defending Hybride, she remains firm about and enters into the Spirit Vault with expectations that the light will dim as wrath to both Hiroto and Leonidas, only to be confused to see the Spirit still illuminates brightly which prompts her to wonder if the Spirits didn't condemned the "immoral" duo.

### **The Banquet**

#### Part 3

Meanwhile, everyone is having a good time during the banquet.

### **Results of the**

#### Part 2

Meanwhile, Univestel receive the results of the elves'

#### Part 4

The tragic news about Moldias's death spreads across Hybride and everyone

### **Rehearsals Between Two Candidates**

#### Part 2

With so many nobles visiting him as his support, Hydran confidently thinks that he can finally becoming a king and continues his rehearsal with Rasmus.

#### Part 4

Whilst that is going on, all the elves including Artelis and Manelis are attending for the upcoming King's Nominee Meeting but to everybody's concern.

### **Moldias's Funeral And the Eve of the King's Nomination Meeting**

#### Part 2

With so many nobles the rehearsals going smoothly as expected, Hydran thinks that he can finally becoming a king.

#### Part 4

As soon as finished his rehearsal with Rasmus in regards of Hiroto, Hydran meets up with Unika who

### **King's Nomination Meeting**

#### Part 1

On the next day, everyone is where the King's Nomination Meeting is about to begin,

#### Part 9

Everyone is so overwhelmed by Hiroto's eloquence that the atmosphere changes where everyone becomes speechless. While Excelis is joyful to witness this scene, Belphegor on the other hand is panicking because this means that his enemy will gain more votes after this and the situation will only get worse for him when four elves nodding when Hiroto reminds everyone about Magia's case as his point about decision making and a

Eventually, Belphegor expresses his "concern" about Leonidas's "disregard for virtue and conduct" by bringing up Hiroto's affairs with his four lovers as his argument and asks everyone how would words from someone like him can be persuasive, causing Hiroto to sigh which makes Belphegor smiles as if this plans is working. However, instead of resigning as Belphegor anticipated, Hiroto replies by saying that due to Marquis' display in the council that supposedly to judge the candidate's qualification as the king over nominee's affairs, he now see that the Great Noble will not going to make use of him at all if Hydran ascends to the throne while he himself returns as the Prime Minister-staring by talking about his past interruptions against his despite how proud he was during the previous last Supreme Court's Hearing, leaving Belphegor so stunned that he is speechless when he realizes that Hiroto has used his own words as his unexpected blowback against Hydran's answer of containing him.

To add Belphegor's panic, the elves fold their arms while nodding their heads after listening to Hiroto's words which adding his desperation to not lose to Hiroto. So, he tries to denounce Hiroto again by insisting the youngster to answer his question truthfully about his lovers, to which Hiroto retorts with his gut-wrenching point of decisiveness and insight by asking him back that how would either of them if either of them knows the qualities both Hydran and Leonidas as a king even if he answer that question and then calling him out for misusing the nominee council to denounce an individual nominees in order to sway votes through their opponent's "bad impression", all the while questioning his past experience as the Prime Minister for . Not only Belphegor feels the pain after hearing Hiroto's retort, he also sees the elves'  cold stares at him as their reproach that preventing him from retaliation. Realizes that his own defeat is imminent by the elves that includes even Sylferis forces him to realize that his blunder has resulted his defeat and any further action will only cause the elves to turn on him. So, Belphegor begrudgingly apologizes to Hiroto  and withdraws his remarks aobut the Margrave's personal circumstances and

I have nothing more to say. I feel that I have said enough. I formally withdraw my remarks about the personal circumstances of the frontier count.
With these words, he stopped talking. Belphegor had effectively declared defeat.
No from me either," he said. I express my gratitude and respect to the Duke for withdrawing his statement.
Hiroto also retracted his contradiction. As if in anticipation, the facilitator raised his voice.
With these words, we will conclude the final discussion. Both nominees will take their seats and await the results.

Do you think that this meeting of the King's Council is a place to denounce the nominees and to influence votes by giving them a bad impression? Is that the answer you have obtained after more than ten years of serving as prime minister?"
It was a point of view that seemed to gnaw at the inner workings of his heart. Belphegor felt a pain similar to that of a seizure. Still trying to fight back, Belphegor noticed a cold stare piercing his chest. Vice Archbishop Sylferis, whom he had expected to be most sympathetic to his point of view, was looking at him with a horribly cold reproach and disdain. Univestel's gaze went beyond contempt to dismay. The other elves, too, their gazes were cold. Their gazes were tinged with reproach.

With no other choice,
(I lost ......)
It was obvious that if they pursued the matter any further, the elves would sink their fangs into them. The facilitator would also hit back hard.
I have made a blunder," Belphegor breathed.
Belphegor breathed. All that was left for him to do was to back down quietly, like a great nobleman, and not make any more trouble. As a nobleman, he could not afford any more ugliness.
I have nothing more to say. I feel that I have said enough. I formally withdraw my remarks about the personal circumstances of the frontier count.
With these words, he stopped talking. Belphegor had effectively declared defeat.
No from me either," he said. I express my gratitude and respect to the Duke for withdrawing his statement.
Hiroto also retracted his contradiction. As if in anticipation, the facilitator raised his voice.

Nonetheless, the facilitator declares the end of the meeting and tells both Hiroto and Belphegor to take their seats and wait for the result.
With these words, we will conclude the final discussion. Both nominees will take their seats and await the results.

During the elves' preparation for their votes via ball ballots, both Sylferis and Univestel are thinking about what Belphegor did during the nominee meeting: The Vice Archbishop feels so disgusted by his desperate attempt to shame Hiroto  that she changes her mind by not voting for Hydran while thinking that the Marquis shall not become the Prime Minister opts to not vote for Hydran while thinking that the Marquis as the Prime Minister out of fear of invoking the spirit's curse. The Grander Elder, on the other hand, （Immorality is an act that should be punished. (Immorality is an act that should be answered, but it is not something that should be called into question here and now. Such a person should not be the prime minister, who personally attacks his opponent just because he is at a disadvantage.)
He had already decided whom he would vote for. At least, not the duke. He must not vote for the duke to return the duke of Belphegor to the prime minister's office. That would be to invoke the curse of the spirits of the post.

The voting had already begun. The last in line was Grand Elder Univestel.

(After all, Hiroto was Hiroto, wasn't he? ......)
That was my honest impression.
The start of the Belphegor Dosho victory seemed to be a perfect wall. He linked Prince Leonidas with his obsession with being the center of the world, and developed the idea that Prince Leonidas should not be on the throne. From the standpoint of decency, he tried to impress upon Leonidas his disqualification from the throne.
I think Hiroto was struggling with this, to be honest. He was unable to overturn the duke's superiority, as his counter-arguments were returned. He was in the lead from start to finish. But at the very end, he pointed out that the Duke of Hydran was unfit to be king in terms of abilities such as decisiveness and insight, and that the prince was more qualified. He had clearly articulated the nature of the hesitation that the elves had felt toward the duke as an escape move at a critical juncture. It was a major reversal. The game was decided at that point.

But the Duke of Belphegor brought up Hiroto's personal life. Seeing that Hiroto did not deny it, it might be true. But whether it is true or not is not the issue. The issue was that he was asking about the nominee at a place where the issue should be about the candidate. The problem is that he made an off-the-cuff remark for the sake of winning, for the sake of getting votes. The most decisive issue is that the person who should be the prime minister did such a thing. The elves would not let this issue go unnoticed.

With the elves finish their votes, the facilitator open the box and after some checking, he will now announce the result and decide the next king through the results

#### Part 6

Hytrand was in the waiting room, devastated by the shock of defeat and despair. It was as if a storm was running through him. Twice he had been to the king's nominating conference, and both times he had been defeated. Once again, his wish to become king had not come true. Once again, he could not become king.
The result was 11 votes to 18 - a crushing defeat. The preliminary vote had been 20 votes to 5, an overwhelming victory, but the result was a complete reversal. The genie did not bestow a crown on him.
I am not strong enough. I could not put the crown on his honor. It is all my fault, my lack of strength.
Belphegor hung his head. The apology did not make him happy. He was not happy about being apologized for 10,000 times, but it did not change the fact that he had not become king.
(Why, why, why! Why am I falling again? Was I not the one with the advantage? Why does the spirit keep me from the crown? Does he have a grudge against me?)
In my heart, ugly cries of anger and vindictiveness echoed. But Heydran smiled softly and answered in his softest voice possible, as if he had followed his family's precepts: "This is also the guidance of the spirits.
This, too, is the guidance of the spirits. It is the spirit, or it did not want me to be king."

He said back to Hiroto, whereupon Leonidas finally came to life. Then he turned to face the Grand Elder and asked
Is it really me or the king?"
The Council of the King's Recommendation recommends your Highness as king."
Behind the Grand Elder, Hiroto gave a thumbs-up.
A miracle...! Leonidas thought. A miracle had occurred. He had never thought he would win, but Hiroto had never thought he would win, and now he was the king with a great comeback.
"Hiroto..."
As soon as he mentioned his benefactor's name, he suddenly felt a rush of emotions. It was either me or the mud boat. Unlike his brother, he was a failure. The fact that he had visited me with Hiroto and Valkyria at Regulus. That he came back to see me again after that. The fact that Hiroto was the only one who praised me. That he had protected me from the Duke's traps. He protected me from the Duke's trap. He told me that he didn't want to serve anyone but himself. A torrent of memories and emotions surged up inside him, and Leonidas' face became distorted as he embraced Hiroto.
He couldn't speak. It was all he could do to hold back his tears. Still, the tears bottled up.
Fool!
Don't cry. Are you crying here, prince?
I scolded him, but the tears wouldn't stop.
"I am happy for you, Your Highness," said Ferquina.
Felchina said to him. Leonidas nodded his head in a few words as tears streamed down his face. Leonidas nodded his head and tried to hold back his tears, but he still could not stop.
Hiroto opened his mouth.
Are you crying, Your Highness?
I'm not crying!
Leonidas answered in a tearful voice, sobbing.
In the anteroom, Hytrun was devastated by the shock of defeat and despair. It was as if a storm had just passed through him. Twice he had been to the king's nomination meeting and both times he had lost. Once again, his wish to become king did not come true. Once again, he could not become king.
The result was eleven votes to eighteen votes - a crushing defeat. In the preliminary vote, he had won by 20 votes to 5, but the result was a huge upset. The genie did not bestow a crown on him.
I am not strong enough. I could not put the crown on His Excellency. It is all my fault, my lack of strength," said Belphegor, hanging his head.
Belphegor hung his head. The apology did not make him happy.
He was not happy about being apologized for 10,000 times, but it did not change the fact that he had not become king.
(Why, why! Why am I falling again? Was I not the one with the advantage! Why did the spirits keep me from the crown! What do they have against me!)
Inside his heart, there were ugly cries of anger and resentment. But Heydran smiled softly and answered in his softest voice possible, as if he had followed his family's precepts: "This is also the guidance of the spirits.
This, too, is the guidance of the spirits. It is the spirit, or it did not want me to be king."

#### Part 10

Back to their respective anterooms, both Hydran and Leonidas are waiting anxiously for the results with the duke . The result of the meeting revealed that Leonidas will be crowned as the next king instead of Hydran due to the former's 18 votes over the latter's 11 votes. Leonidas, who was so worried about Hiroto's defeat

As for Hydran, who has been waiting anxiously for the result, he is devastated to hear bad news from Belphegor about his crushing defeat, king had not come true. Once again, he could not become king.
The result was 11 votes to 18 - a crushing defeat. The preliminary vote had been 20 votes to 5, an overwhelming victory, but the result was a complete reversal. The genie did not bestow a crown on him.
I am not strong enough. I could not put the crown on his honor. It is all my fault, my lack of strength.
Belphegor hung his head. The apology did not make him happy. He was not happy about being apologized for 10,000 times, but it did not change the fact that he had not become king.
(Why, why, why! Why am I falling again? Was I not the one with the advantage? Why does the spirit keep me from the crown? Does he have a grudge against me?)
In my heart, ugly cries of anger and vindictiveness echoed. But Heydran smiled softly and answered in his softest voice possible, as if he had followed his family's precepts: "This is also the guidance of the spirits.
This, too, is the guidance of the spirits. It is the spirit, or it did not want me to be king."

## Epilogue

### Leonidas The New King of Hybride

Later, a coronation ceremony is held at Emperia's Royal Spirit Cathedral where Syfelis is officially crowning Leonidas as the new King of Hybride. Out everyone who attending Leonidas's coronation ceremony, only Hydran is absent due to his "illness" but in reality, he wasn't in a mood to attend his nephew's coronation ceremony because he wasn't chosen to be king again. During the ceremony, both Raquel and Felkina are seen happy to see Leonidas becoming king whereas both Belphegor and Rasmus are bitterly lamenting their despair for being beaten by Hiroto yet again. Afterwards, a parade is then begins with Leonidas riding his chariot and traveling across the streets of Emperia and during the parade, Sylferis remarks that Hiroto was the main contributor to Leonidas's victory

### Hiroto's New Residence in Emperia

After the parade, Leonidas summon Hiroto, alongside Panopticus and Univestel, into his

## Characters

* Valkyria
* Zeldis
* Sōichirō Sōda
* Curele
* Leonidas
* Hydran
* Sylferis
* Panopticus
* Sobrinus
* Universtel
* Finnath
* Joachim
* Belffergo
* Rasmus

## Story Impact

* Sylferis is introduced as a the Deputy Archbishop of Hybride and Sobrinus's (temporary) replacement as a member of Privy Council of Hybride. Unlike most of Hybride elves, she is the Vice Archbishop who takes her duty in helping everyone in Hybride seriously while refuses to tolerate people's vices due to her belief that these things will cause the spirits to curse the kingdom. Unfortunately, her motives based on good intention only makes her a self-righteous, naive and narrow-minded person who judges people solely based on morality while relying the Spiritual Lights to prove her point-starting with her animosity towards Hiroto as she views him as "immoral" like Leonidas just because he accidentally gazes at her bust; even worst, she siding with the Hydran and Finnath in their vile quest in stopping Hiroto and Leonidas despite the duo are ironically more amoral than Hiroto. Fortunately, she later siding with Hiroto and his allies after his victory over Hydran during the King's Nominator Meeting, thus becoming one of Hiroto's important allies.

* Leonidas's backstory is revealed via a flashback: While not a bad child himself, he was overshadowed by his late brother Juliusnus for he as Moldius favorite child. Not helping his case was at one time, Moldius accused him for breaking a vase even though he tried to explain that he never did it, but Julinus eventually defended him by admitted that he broke the vase. It is likely presumed that the death of Julinus has changed Leonidas's attitude and further deteriorate his already strained relationship with Moldius.
	+ Even more tragic is due to Leonidas's infamy in wooing women for most of his life, many characters including Hiroto's allies (such as Excelis, Felkina and even Raquel) don't trust him and even thinks that Hybride's direction could be different had Julinus is still alive and want nothing to do with him. Of all people, however, Hiroto is the only person who try to help Leonidas despite his antics, making the Dilfrant as Leonidas's only friend he can trust in his life.

* Moldias's death
	+ Everybody especially Leonidas and Orfina are so sad about Moldias's death that they all cry and mourn, all excpet
	+ Univestel opts to skip the nomaniee

* With Leonidas officially crowned as the new King of Hybride under Sylferis' declaration, courtesy to Hiroto's another victory over Belphegor , the following aftermath will going change Hybride's landscape, for better or worse.
	+ Hydran's bitter feud with Hiroto continues it steepen the Duke's hatred for the Dilfrant even further to the point willing to joins Belphegor's conspiracy in the Marquis's another and last attempt to oust him from power.
	+ Belphegor and Rasmus are lamenting their another failure to shame Hiroto to the point feeling the despair from within: While Belffergo will continue to cook up with his plans to get rid of Hiroto for good, Rasmus on the other hand feels that the struggle against Hiroto is futile and he only gets along with most of Belphegor's plan is because of both men's friendship with the Marquis.
	+ Aside from Hydran, Belffergo and Rasmus, others aristocrats who refuses to kowtow to Leonidas which mostly resulted from their growing antipathy against Hiroto and the vampires. This lead to following incident of about Curele destroying half of Hydran's house due to the Duke's terrible treatment of Sōichiro

## Trivia

* This is the only arc in the saga where neither Agnica nor Gassel gets involved in Hybride's affair despite Lyndrus's praise for Hiroto during his visitation of Hybride marks the beginning of Hydran's obsession of getting rid of Hiroto.

## Notes

1. ↑ According to Panopticus, those who raises their right fists means opposing Hiroto's induction into the Privy Council, while those who raise their left fists means supporting it. Sadly for the trio, everyone other than thel .
2. ↑ Sylferis was among those who stared at .
3. ↑ The reason why he begrudgingly apologized to Hiroto was because he cannot afford to show his own ugliness as the nobles .
4. ↑ As much as she condemned immorality, even Sylferis thought an idea of using people's personal life to attack others just because their opponent was at advantage was as bad as immoral person, not to mention that having .
5. ↑ The reason why Belphegor even attending Leonidas's coronation ceremont was due to his duty as a noble.
6. ↑ Sylferis's own hostility towards Hiroto is because she keep reminding him that his folly will anger the Spiritual Lights or the elves despite the Diferente himself never did anything like that; not helping her case is that she siding with Hiroto's own enemies who happens to be even more vindictive than Hiroto himself, ironically.