Chapter 14
The West had thirty wyvern knight orders, for a total of 900 knights.
But in practical terms, they couldn't mobilize all of them.
More than half of the wyvern corps had to be stationed along the western border. Because of Grand Duke Charles Raymonds' ongoing repression of the natives, the western frontier was noisy every day.
Thus, the number of wyvern knights the West could freely deploy in peacetime was 360 in total, spread across twelve knight orders.
But sixty of them had already been ground to dust at Sarsen Port.
So at this very moment, the West could mobilize ten knight orders, for a total of 300 wyvern knights.
"I will set out with all 300 of them."
Charles Raymonds decided to take everyone he could bring.
Because he no longer had any room left to retreat.
Many central nobles wanted the information recorded in the crystal orb. But that was only interest in the South's new weapon.
The imperial family was not on his side now, either.
"Please remain still until His Highness the Crown Prince makes a decision."
The imperial family did not intervene immediately.
It was clear they were weighing him against the Grand Duke of the South.
For Charles Raymonds, that was unbearable.
"I’m supposed to be measured against that bastard?"
Rage clouds judgment. With his judgment already blurred by being pushed to the limit, Charles Raymonds could no longer hear the advice of those around him.
"No! We've already suffered enormous losses from the last defeat! If we launch another campaign now, we'll have to take out loans to cover the war costs..."
"Then just borrow the money! Why can't you do something that simple?"
"We still don't know much about the enemy 'battleship' weapon that destroyed Sarsen Fortress. At the very least, you should prepare some countermeasures before going..."
"Is there really no way?"
"Yes. If we lose, the West's economy will collapse! And the pressure from the central government will only grow!"
"Then get out. The West doesn't need a weak-willed adjutant like you."
Those who offered honest advice were driven out, and sycophants filled their places.
The sycophants who told Charles Raymonds only what he wanted to hear kept insisting they had a good enough chance of winning the war.
Charles also started rationalizing it himself.
"The central government's control will come soon. No one would expect an attack before then. A surprise strike when they least expect it is the most effective of all."
And so, the West began preparing for war in earnest.
The plan was simple.
Lead the knight order in a night raid on the South's industrial zone. Once the industrial zone was destroyed, they could renew pressure on the South.
'If we put our minds to it, destroying you is nothing.'
Just showing them that fact would be enough to make the Southern bastards submit.
Fortunately, the West's capital, Porbin, was close to the South's capital.
"We can cover that distance in a single day."
We'd strike by night as quickly as possible, resupplying at the West's major strongholds along the way.
With his ambitious plan in mind, Charles Raymonds set out exactly a week later.
By the time the emissary sent personally by the Crown Prince arrived, it was already too late.
"His Grace the Western Grand Duke is not here."
Because by the time the emissary stepped into the Western Grand Duke's manor, Charles Raymonds had already left for war.
***
The capitals of the West and the South are surprisingly close.
At first glance, that might seem odd when you consider the vast empire occupying a quarter of the continent.
With such an enormous territory, why are the West and South's capitals so close together?
The answer lay in the Arbel Mountain Range, which cuts across the center of the continent.
Half of the West's land is uninhabitable highland.
Because the Arbel Mountains, the backdrop of the mythical age, and the natural environment around them were anything but kind to humans.
Naturally, the West's cities had no choice but to cluster along the coast and the borders. The capital, too, became one of the coastal cities.
The South had its own circumstances.
When the four major powers had settled in the present imperial territory, the South was still an undeveloped wilderness.
So one power that had fallen behind in the struggle for dominance turned its gaze southward.
They went through the present-day Sarsen-Lutetia region to conquer the South.
Naturally, the first base chosen for occupying the South had to be close to the West.
Albion, a city with a river connected to the port.
As supplies needed for the occupation came in through the port, the base city of Albion prospered.
By the time the occupation of the South was over, Albion had become the South's largest city and naturally served as its capital as well.
The reason they'd kept the capital in Albion, close to the western border, despite the vast southern territory, was simple.
Because it was convenient for exports.
Albion's location near the West was advantageous for exporting the massive output of the capital and its satellite cities' factories.
But... not anymore.
"As everyone knows, our capital and the West's capital are too close."
To put it in terms a modern person could understand, about the distance between London and Paris? Roughly 400 kilometers.
Compared to the Empire's vast territory, the distance between the capitals is far too short.
And shallow strategic depth is a double-edged sword.
"At the wyvern knights' speed, they'd reach Albion from Porbin in about eight to nine hours."
Meaning an attack can come at any time if they only decide to do it,
"Our fleet can also reach Porbin in ten hours. Of course, in the operational plan we'd have to match the infantry's speed, so it would take a bit longer... but as far as the fleet alone is concerned, that's true."
That meant our fleet, too, could always launch a surprise attack whenever it wanted.
The dreadnought's top speed was 21 knots. Roughly 39 kilometers an hour.
A little slower than the wyvern knight order, but in return, this steel monster didn't need rest.
"Taking that into account, realistically, we should be able to strike the West first."
"No."
But we couldn't strike the West first.
First of all, the Sarsen fief is officially Western land.
We're only governing it by leasing it through a ninety-nine-year concession.
So the West hadn't directly invaded southern territory yet.
A preemptive strike in that situation?
That was too risky.
"A war without a just cause will eventually come back to bite us."
If necessary, I intend to swallow the West whole.
To do that, winning over the people of the West was absolutely essential.
And if they got the idea that we were the kind of people who invaded the West for no reason at all... even if we swallowed the West, it would only give us indigestion in the end.
"So we only go to war if they attack first."
I said it flatly and looked around at the staff.
"Honestly, everyone here can feel that the Empire doesn't have much life left in it, can't you?"
...
It was a truly dangerous thing for a grand duke to say.
But not a single person on the staff reacted with alarm.
The reason was simple.
While southern companies grew desperately by devouring one another, the Empire had grown dull and corrupt in a long peace.
Too conservative and closed off to accept new technology and new ideas. That was the central Empire's current state.
"A corrupt empire is bound to fall someday. No, it's already collapsing from within."
Tap.
As I placed my hand on the map, the staff's eyes naturally moved to the table.
"For the South to survive the turbulent years ahead, we have to prepare thoroughly."
The South's territory is about the size of Great Britain.
Even if the Industrial Revolution causes the population to explode, the South is still just a province, so its population is small compared to the Empire as a whole.
No matter how advanced your technology is, if you're too small, it's all for nothing.
In the end, if the South didn't want to be tied to the corrupt Empire and sink with it, it had to increase its own size.
And to do that, it had to absorb the West.
"Up to the Arbel Mountains."
Tap.
I pointed at the Arbel Mountains with my index finger. The vast western territory on the map fit within my hand.
"And sideways, all the way to the Belfort Archipelago."
Off the eastern coast. The countless islands of the Belfort Archipelago, scattered like dust, were hidden beneath my fingers.
"By securing natural barriers of mountains and sea, we'll build a breakwater so the Empire's collapse can't affect us."
After a brief hesitation, I finished in a low voice.
"This is what I think the South's right to survive is."
Mergers and absorption. The right of a people to survive. A strong army.
I know that each and every one of those sounds like something a dictator from some country would say.
But I won't walk the same path as that dictator who burned Europe to satisfy his own delusions.
Unlike the specters of the imperial age, I saw the end of imperialism with my own eyes.
Because I learned through two world wars that the end of imperialism is destruction.
What I wanted wasn't world conquest, but simply to survive in this nation whose destruction was already certain.
Should I call it fortunate?
A pretext for invading the West was found quickly.
"Urgent news!"
With a rough shout, Lucilla burst through the conference room door.
Disheveled in a way that was unlike her, she reported before even thinking to straighten her clothes.
"The radar unit monitoring the western region has detected suspicious tracks. They appear to be a large wyvern force from the West...!"