Chapter 544: The Shot Heard Around the World

Within the City of Luxembourg, the young Duke of the Duchy stood at a podium in the middle of the streets. By his side was none other than his mentor and advisor Renault De la Roche, who acted as moral support to the Duke. Behind these two men were a retinue of Knights whose purpose was to protect their liege from any potential dangers.

Gathered at the sides of the street were a variety of citizens who bore witness to the young Duke's speech. There was a stark contrast between the Duke and his citizens, which was exemplified by the condition of their appearances. On the one hand, Hartman appeared perfectly healthy with a regal and proud appearance, finely groomed hair, and clean clothes in the renaissance fashion style that had died out in the southern German Kingdoms, yet still prospered in the north.

As for the citizens gathered in the streets, they were visibly famished while dressed in homespun clothing that was tattered and patched after years of abuse. Dirt and grime speckled their attire, as they were likely one of the few sets these peasants possessed. Despite these visual signs of destitution, the common people had no choice but to gather in the streets and listen to their sovereign's speech about unity and prosperity in the face of adversity.

Hartman gazed upon his people with a hint of disdain in his eyes as he boldly responded to Berengar's ultimatum that he had spoken a few weeks prior to his people. Since then, the speech of the Austrian King calling upon the people of the Northern German states to rise in rebellion against the Bastard of Luxembourg had caught on like wildfire.

Though Hartman and his allies were unaware, Austria had already made a play to arm and train those with rebellious thoughts, and by now, these men and women had completed their training. In fact, there were a few of them gathered in the crowd today, as they gazed upon their Sovereign with an equal sense of disdain. However, ultimately, their sights fell upon a different individual.

"I have gathered you all here today to remind you where your loyalties lie. This pretender from the South is a wicked man who has enacted all kinds of heresies in his lands that have put our entire faith in danger. However, I will not speak from a religious perspective on this matter, as I am certain that you are all wary of such propaganda.

Instead, I will comment on the horrible crimes Berengar von Kufstein has committed in pursuit of his ambitions. If you think he is some saint sent by God to liberate you from the Church's corruption, guess again. Though we know little of his early wars of expansion that led to him becoming a prominent figure in European politics, we know that he murdered a small child in cold blood to obtain the position of Duke of Austria.

This vicious cunt, who proclaims himself to be the King of Austria, ruthlessly murdered Conrad von Habsburg, the rightful heir to the late Duke Wilmar von Habsburg, by tossing the boy out a window before he could even become an adult, and for what? To satisfy a madman's ambitions!

Officially, the late Duke Conrad committed suicide after the tragedy against his family, which was caused by my long term rival Duke Dietger von Wittelsbach, a man who now swears his allegiance to the man who murdered the rightful heir of Austria!

After usurping the Ducal Throne of Austria, this man waged an unlawful war against our Sovereign Emperor Balsamo Corsini in an attempt to declare himself King. As a result of this illegal war, the Austrian War machine brought the once proud city of Florence to ruin, killing all of its inhabitants in the process. It is a miracle that the Emperor survived this ordeal.

Our Emperor was given an ultimatum to recognize Austria's independence, or face further bloodshed. How could a human being even think of claiming more innocent lives in pursuit of their goal? When faced with such overwhelming evil, the Emperor caved to this Devil's demands, and recognized Austria's independence. Despite now being free to rule as a Monarch, Berengar von Kufstein has continued to build up his armies, an act of provocation to all of his neighbors!

He claims that I have made an attempt on his life, and in doing so wrongly injured his sister, but he has no proof of these allegations. It is far more likely that Berengar himself is responsible for the attack on his life so that he can justify a war against us all! Now he seeks to undermine my authority, as granted by God, and invoke all of you to act in rebellion on his behalf."

Despite this public condemnation filled with partial truths against Berengar, the people were unphased by their lieges words. They merely stood silent as they waited for the man to finish his speech so they could get back to work.

When Hartman saw this, it filled him with scorn towards his own people. Shouldn't his speech have roused them to act in defiance of Berengar's wishes? Instead, it was as if they were staring at him with pity. Such a thing did nothing but invoke his ire. He was about to give them a command to show him some respect when Renault step forward to scold the people.

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"Is this the respect you show your liege? If I did not know any better, I would assume that you were all influenced by Austria's propaganda, and are traitors to the Duchy of Luxembourg! Have you nothing to say for yourselves?"

It was at this very moment something unexpected occurred. A peasant in the second row pulled out a revolver and pointed it towards Renault's head before screaming the words aloud for all to hear.

"Rule Germania!"

After saying this, he squeezed the trigger, sending the .38 Special cartridge down range and into the veteran knight's skull, leaving a bloody hole in his head. A look of shock appeared on the man's face as he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Immediately, the assassin ran through the crowd, who were in a state of panic. Meanwhile, the Knights beneath Renault's command aimed their arkebuses towards the fleeing suspect and fired them, however by the time they could light the matches and take a shot he was at such a distance that they missed him entirely.

While this chaos was occurring, Hartman approached his fallen advisor and grabbed hold of his lifeless corpse, sobbing as his tears streamed down upon the man's lifeless face. In between his cries, the Bastard of Luxembourg spoke the words.

"You can't die... I can't do this without you!"

Despite this, there was no resurrection in this world, and Renault's soul had faded away. As the Knights chased after the man responsible for this attack, grief turned to anger as Hartman gritted his teeth and issued orders to his soldiers.

"Lock down the city. I don't care if you have to butcher everyone in this crowd, bring me the man responsible for this atrocity! He must pay for his sins!"

The assassination of the Duke of Luxembourg's mentor marked the beginning of a brutal civil war in Northern Germany. Shortly after this attack, the local insurgency would publically declare their rebellion, and the hundreds of other cells across the Northern German States would instantly rise alongside them.

The Bastard of Luxembourg had sought to unify his people against Berengar and his goals, and yet the Austrian King was already ten steps ahead of his rival to the North. While the Duke was preparing for war with Austria, his enemy had emboldened his own citizens to strike against him.

With Renault dead, Hartman's greatest form of support had been cut off. After all, the man was not only his mentor but also his greatest general and his closest confidant. As more of his lords and peasants turned against him, the young Duke would grow increasingly isolated and paranoid especially in regards to what Berengar had planned for him.

History would later remember this assassination as the "Shot heard around the world" a single instance of gunfire that sparked the German Unification Wars. How much bloodshed would Northern Germany have to endure before Austrian Intervention? That had yet to be seen.

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