43 Merger Vote

Of course, just because the West and the South wanted to merge didn't mean a legal merger would happen right away.

Because changing the Empire's administrative districts required the Crown Prince's approval.

And the Crown Prince would never approve the merger.

The South, which was in the middle of beating the West and growing stronger, was a burden in the Crown Prince's eyes.

"...That is the analysis result from the think tank under our South Intelligence Bureau."

"Thank you, Lucilla."

"Oh, and the design bureau says preparations for the 'new weapon' are complete. They say it's ready whenever you give the word."

"Perfect timing."

If we wanted to start the merger, the groundwork to do so within a few months was already in place.

But that didn't mean there was nothing standing in our way.

No matter how foolish he was, the Crown Prince was still the Crown Prince.

Even if the Crown Prince's reputation was terrible, in a premodern empire, ignoring his orders was another matter entirely.

The Empire's people had spent more than a thousand years hearing that the emperor was the sun incarnate, a divine being.

If the West and South pushed ahead with the merger despite the Empire's fierce opposition, public opinion in the West could turn against them.

The Empire might even launch a reckless military intervention.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I never intended to push for an outright 'complete' merger right away anyway."

The position I wanted to occupy under the Crown Prince's proclaimed "peace of our era" was akin to interwar Germany.

A position that walked the line without ever fully crossing it, making people wonder whether intervening was worth the cost or whether they should just leave it alone.

Of course, that kind of position wouldn't last for years, but in truth, I didn't need that much time.

'Because a few years would be enough to swallow the entire Empire.'

So the position I would take was already decided.

"Lucilla. In the East, there's a saying: 'Even if it's a black cat, it's a good cat as long as it catches mice well.'"

"You mean it's fine as long as you get the job done by any means?"

"Exactly. Whatever color the cat is, all that matters is practical gain. Politics isn't all that different."

'A 'complete' merger requires approval from the Empire's central government?'

Then all we had to do was not carry out a complete merger.

Practical gain over principle. Literally, do everything except the actual physical merger.

"First, the Western Army and our Southern Army had already conducted joint operations, and since we'll still need to keep the western barbarians in check, the chain of command can be unified."

Military command was a prerogative reserved for the feudal lords.

And now that Kaiser III had loosened the reins once more, meddling in military authority without openly plotting treason was impossible.

This was the opening created when the iron-fist line was relaxed and Kaiser III died right after.

"And we have plenty of grounds to unify the administrative systems of the West and the South as well. As it stands, many of the Western cabinet posts are already being filled by people from our South."

Since they're all Southerners anyway, rather than waste administrative power on something so complicated, we'd just unify the administration.

It wasn't a difficult task for us, since we'd already installed a puppet government in the Western Grand Duke's residence.

"Now that modernization has begun in the West, the West will need new laws suited to new technology, won't it?"

Under the pretext of transferring technology, we could merge the judiciary as well,

"The chaotic situation in the West should be cleaned up by our Southern police."

and send the police in under the guise of maintaining public order,

"We could also merge the decision-making apparatus into one."

We intended to set up a single West-South decision-making body and steer the West's voice to suit Southern tastes.

All of it was carried out under the pretense of serving the citizens.

"Our South has decided to merge the institutions of the West and South in order to stabilize the chaotic situation in the West."

On the surface, it was cooperation between equals.

But once most of the Western nobles had been purged by Southern hands, there was no way they could have any equal say at all.

Going forward, the West and South would remain separate regions in name only.

But if legislative, administrative, and judicial authority were all merged, could you still call them separate regions?

By the time the Empire gave its answer, it would probably already be too late.

***

All merger procedures were carried out through a vote.

"We in the South also value the West's people's opinions. If the Westerners take offense, we'll stop the process."

Of course, there weren't many Westerners who chose to reject it.

Thanks to the Southern Army, they had been able to pacify the steppe region.

If the Southern Army and Southern new weapons were withdrawn, the western border would once again be plagued by barbarian raids.

In that situation, there was no one who could tell the Southern Army to leave.

It was also the South that was keeping public order from collapsing.

The police force the South had deployed was more or less filling the gap left by the corrupt nobles.

The instant that police force was pulled out, public order would collapse, so there was no way they could be told to withdraw.

"If you oppose this vote, we won't be able to bring in any more of the new inventions?"

"Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do. Unless the Western legal system undergoes major reform, our company won't be able to operate in earnest."

They couldn't bring themselves to give up the South's conveniences they'd enjoyed over the past few months.

"The Southern Grand Duke is truly an amazing man. Just look at how he uprooted that deep-rooted corruption in the West all at once."

"Now that the corrupt nobles are gone, life feels a lot better. There's no more taxation being squeezed out of us under all sorts of excuses anymore, so now I can build up some wealth too."

"After exploiting people like that, they deserve a sight like this."

Those who felt how good life was without the corrupt nobles also supported a merger with the South.

Above all, the very fact that they were holding a "vote" was itself clearly different from the corrupt nobles who had ruled the West until now.

"We've never seen anyone listen to us country folk's voices before."

"No wonder my son, who went to the South and came back, keeps praising His Grace the Southern Grand Duke."

The sight of people traveling around the West in an effort to hear the people's voices came as a fresh shock to the Westerners.

If a government was trying that hard to listen to the people's voices, maybe our lives would improve too.

Those expectations came together, and the vote produced an overwhelming number of yes votes.

"91% in favor, 2% invalid ballots, 7% against. We have heard the opinions of the West's citizens."

Overwhelming support from Western citizens.

Silence from the Western intelligentsia.

The Western Grand Duke's residence had been nothing more than a South-controlled puppet from the start.

With no one left to oppose the merger, all procedures began to proceed smoothly.

The central government was the most flustered by all this.

The mages said this.

"That's clearly a sign of forced merger! We need to raise troops and strike those bastards right now!"

The nobles said this.

"Legally, each regional grand duke is guaranteed extensive autonomy."

The Imperial Army's generals said this.

"Support among the Western people is too high. If we rashly intervene with force now, this situation will soon spiral into civil war."

Civil war.

That was something everyone at the top of the Empire feared.

The imperial leadership knew they were on a sinking ship. They had long since felt the strain from the Republic, which had grown richer by the day by embracing new technology, and from neighboring countries as well.

In such a situation, could they really endure the fallout if civil war broke out?

The indecisive Crown Prince Theodore, who valued his own reputation more than his life, didn't want the Empire to descend into civil war and be ruined because of him.

So he took another step back.

"...I understand your opinions well. Then let us watch a little longer. If there are truly signs that they are trying to merge it, it won't be too late to intervene then."

"But if we just leave it alone, it'll be too late!"

The mages' desperate cries only nudged the Crown Prince's mind slightly.

There was only one way to intervene between the West and the South without war.

"We shall also prepare a public-opinion campaign to sway the Western people's views."

Of course, once more than 90 percent of public opinion had already been won over, a public-opinion campaign was meaningless.

The only person in that place who didn't know that fact was Crown Prince Theodore.

***

"So the bastards in the South have finally started merging the West?"

Inside the quiet residence of the Eastern Grand Duke.

Grand Duke Edward of the East, gazing out at the sea, asked as he looked at the crystal sphere in his hand.

"At this point... it seems we'll need to deal with that Southern Grand Duke brat first."

The disappearance of the Western Grand Duke as a rival was certainly a good thing. But beyond that, the South's power had become stronger still.

Now was the time to stop them. Before they had fully merged the West, the matter had to be settled decisively.

Then, with their economy in his grasp, he would dismantle the ties between the West and the South one by one.

He would make them pay for daring to fall out of favor with him, the one who ruled the Empire's seas.

"Order the undersea monster corps and the navy to prepare a maritime blockade."

"...Understood."

The adjutant nodded with a strange expression.

The situation in the East wasn't much better.

The brilliant and gifted Eastern Grand Duke Edward had, at some point, started using that brain solely to win over women.

'Work? I have no interest in anything that boring anymore. I recently ran into an intriguing mystery in my life that I can't solve.'

Edward said that and set all of his work aside.

The East's economy began to follow the same downward graph as the collapsing Empire.

What would happen if the maritime blockade failed in this situation?

With that vague unease in his heart, the adjutant stepped off to summon the navy's senior officers.