Chapter 95: Leading Up To The Coronation

As planned, the date for Victor's coronation was set to be on his ascension anniversary, he would have been the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Luxenberg for 8 years. With not a lot of time to work with, Victor, Schwarzenberg and Bessières worked tirelessly to make sure everything was in order before the coronation.

Filed Marshal Schwarzenberg was in charge of summoning the generals and vassals to Hannover, while also sending military orders regarding troop deployments. Each vassal and general was told to arrive at the capital a week before the coronation, under the guise of an urgent war council. None of them were aware of the true reason for their summons.

Schwarzenberg's military orders for each general were as follows. 

General Rapp's 1st Corps in Gamburg would join General Kamensky's 8th Corps in Vrague. They were to work in tandem near the enemy cities of Ingelfeller and Konitz. If there were no forces of the Fontaine Faction nearby, they would easily be able to steamroll through those cities.

Genera Gimborns 7th Corps from Hausen was to move to reinforce General Hill's 5th Corps at Bourbon. With more troops in the nearby region, they can react to any situation, whether it is near Vrague or Archenshien, they could react quickly and act accordingly. 

General Tauentzien's 3rd Corps, which was stationed at Leibenzig would unite with General Bülow's 6th Corps at Kreighelm. They were the bastion that would defend the southern territories of Victor's domain. If Kreighelm were to fall easily, the enemy could roam freely, while waiting for Luxenberg forces that were in the north and western regions of the continent.

General Vandamme's 4th Corps, were to depart from Sardia and convene with General Bertrand's 2nd Corps at Jenkas. They were to act similarly to the forces stationed at Bourbon. If the entire Fontaine army were to descend on Kreighelm, they would rush to the city's defence.

With the generals' summons and troop orders delivered, Field Marshal Schwarzenberg then assisted Marshal Bessières in his tasks. The commander of Victor's elite guard was in charge of security for the coronation. The entire small brigade of soldiers in the elite guard would be deployed as a show of strength and splendour.

The location for the coronation was a big but old church near the city square. It was the oldest building in the city and due to its size, it was an ideal place to hold such a monumental event.

Religion in the world of Syronnea was not as prominent as it was in Conrad's world. Religions such as Christianity, Islam and Buddhism still existed in Syronnea but they did not hold a lot of sway in the world, due to the lack of devout followers and money supplied by the nobility. Places of worship were used more as schools, rather than their original purpose. 

In Bulgar and Zandar, Christianity was the sole religion. In Asharan, the people worshipped Islam. In Kislev, the people worshipped Norse gods like, Thor, Odin and Freyja. The continent of Simbar were worshippers of the Buddha.

With a location selected for the coronation, Marshal Bessières planned to put his men at the heart of the event, while utilising the garrison forces to help support them. The soon to be royal family would travel by carriage from the palace to the church, with citizens being able to watch as they drove past.

In terms of, the actual ceremony, Victor was in charge of planning his own coronation. He was able to make use of Florence and Sebastian by getting them to help splurge money in redecorating the church to a standard befitting such an occasion. New rugs, windows, chandeliers and other luxurious items were gifted to the church for the coronation.

Victor, who had informed his wife about his plans for a kingdom gave her a special task. She was to commission the crowns for their royal family. Fortunately for them, they had a brilliant blacksmith in Jenkas who could complete such a task. To speed up the process for this task, jewels that had been stored in the Luxenberg family private vault, were given to the blacksmith as materials for the crowns.

Victor struggled to decide on who should officiate the coronation and put the crown on his head. He had thought about taking a Napoleon approach and crowning himself and his wife, but he did not want to come off as arrogant or narcissistic. The best idea he could come up with was having Cedric Dupont crown Clarisse and Lucious Cassell crown him.

As for the officiator, there were no competent or high-level clergymen in Victor's domain. Zandar had the Pope and 5 out of 6 cardinals, whereas the final remaining cardinal resided in Osterbon. The highest and most competent clergyman who resided in the Grand Duchy of Luxenberg was the officiant who presided over Victor and Veronica's wedding, Bishop Pompallier. 

In the end, Victor had no choice but to choose Bishop Pompallier, he was a pious and kind-hearted man, but Victor could not be certain of his loyalty to the Grand Duchy of Luxenberg. There was every chance that once the Bishop was requested to officiate the coronation, he would immediately alert the Cardinal in Osterbon.

Despite that risk, Victor approached the Bishop, with a month left until the coronation. When arriving to talk to the Bishop, Victor was straight to the point of his visit. "Bishop Pompallier, I would like to request something of you that demands the utmost secrecy, if news of this gets out before the event, it would result in severe punishment." Pompallier nodded sincerely and invited Victor to explain his proposition in depth.

"I would like you to officiate my coronation, it shall be held in a month, here at the church. I am sure you thought it was odd when out of the blue my family commissioned new luxurious items and upgrades for this place. In truth, we will be using it for my coronation. All I ask is that you keep this quiet until after the ceremony."

Pompallier was shocked but agreed to this monumental task offered to him. He swore to God that he would not utter a word about this to anyone until the coronation was concluded. With all the key elements sorted, all Victor had to do now was alert his vassals and generals of what was to come.

There was only one week left until the coronation and everyone was assembled in the palace meeting room.