Railway Gun (1)

The North's declaration of independence was enough to make a conflict between Central and the North a foregone conclusion.

For someone like me, who had been looking for a plausible justification, it was a truly welcome choice. Just when I was wondering whether I would have to stage another incident, they chose to commit such a spectacular act of self-destruction.

Naturally, the Empire's laws contained no provision allowing a grand duke of one region to declare independence.

The Empire's founding emperor had granted the grand dukes of each region extensive autonomy, not the right to secede.

Therefore, everything that happened after Siegfried made that choice would be Siegfried's responsibility.

Well, he probably knew that much himself.

Even so, it wasn't difficult to infer why he had deliberately declared independence and drawn so much attention to himself.

'It seems all the Northern grand dukes think alike.'

They exploited their people, bet everything on military power, threatened that anyone who touched them would die, and desperately stockpiled the means for mutual destruction.

There was only one thing Siegfried had failed to consider...