The Rebellion of Marquis Eiger.
Or perhaps... the civil war known as the "One-Day Rebellion," or the "Day of Light's Punishment," had finally come to an end.
The Kingdom Army stood at one hundred thousand men.
The supreme commander was Crown Prince Richard Aiwood, with Knight Commander Marquis Irjas Catreia serving as his adjutant.
The Rebel Army numbered seventy thousand.
Their nominal commander was the Third Prince, Rodel Aiwood, though the de facto leader was Marquis Berlio Eiger.
While rumors of the Empire’s interference circulated, no concrete evidence was found, save for the presence of Imperial mercenaries among a portion of the rebel ranks.
The Kingdom Army suffered 400 dead and 850 wounded.
In contrast, the Rebel Army was devastated, with 12,500 confirmed dead and over 30,000 injured. The number of soldiers who simply broke rank and vanished was beyond counting.
Third Prince Rodel Aiwood.
Marquis Berlio Eiger, the heart of the Queen Dowager Faction.
And the nameless Imperial Soldier Chief who had fought under a veil of secrecy.
With the primary instigators of the uprising fallen, the greatest civil war in the history of the Aiwood Kingdom since its inception was suppressed. The result was a landslide victory for the Kingdom Army led by the Crown Prince.
Given the sheer scale of the conflict, the speed of its conclusion was unprecedented; the civil war had been quelled in a mere half a day.
With Marquis Eiger, the true leader of the rebellion, slain on the field, the nobles of the Queen Dowager Faction surrendered one after another. The Marquis’s manor opened its gates without a fight, and his territory was brought under the occupation of the Royal Family with anticlimactic ease.
News of the victory reached the Royal Capital instantly, spreading like wildfire through word of mouth until it reached every corner of the nation.
The first to gain immense fame from the conflict was the commander himself, Crown Prince Richard Aiwood.
The Crown Prince had always been known for his earnest, upright, and mild-mannered nature, but until now, he had been a relatively obscure royal who lacked any standout achievements. This crushing victory reinvented his image as a master tactician, providing the citizenry with a newfound sense of security in the kingdom's future.
Next was his adjutant, Marquis Irjas Catreia.
Long established as the Kingdom’s mightiest warrior, his victory over his lifelong rival, Marquis Eiger, cemented his legend. His reputation as the "God of War" resonated far beyond the kingdom’s borders, reaching foreign nations.
And then there was the dark horse. In many ways, the one whose reputation soared the highest was the newly-risen noble, Viscount Rest Clover.
A boy born of commoner stock had remarkably claimed the honor of the First Spear against the rebel army—and, for good measure, had personally defeated the opposition’s figurehead, Rodel Aiwood.
While Rodel’s involvement was kept from the official public record, every soldier present could testify to Rest’s peerless performance. His deeds were so grandiose they bordered on the mythic, leading some cynical nobles to dismiss them as blatant propaganda. The commoners, however, took great pride in seeing a "young hero" rise from their own ranks, and they tirelessly shared Rest's legend.
Many other heroes were born from this civil war, while the old-guard nobles who served the Queen Dowager were swept away. Starting with Marquis Eiger, the nobles who aided the rebellion were stripped of their lands and assets, suffering a total loss of status. The ringleaders were executed to the last man, and their kin who had not participated in the rebellion were demoted to commoner status.
Thus, the elders who had manipulated politics from the shadows since the Queen Dowager’s time were eradicated, and the Aiwood Kingdom turned the page, welcoming a brand-new era.