Chapter 5
Cannon always knows the answer.
"Count, do you admit that your side is responsible for violating the Sarsen-Lutetia Treaty and building the fortress?"
"Yes, yes. I agree... I do."
The answer we had failed to extract for the past three years came flying out just five minutes after the meeting began.
Count Sarsen’s face was pale, and he was trembling like a leaf, almost looking pitiable.
Seeing that, I felt a little sorry for him, so I smiled and tried to lighten the mood.
"Haha, why such a long face, Count?"
"N-nothing, nothing at all."
"Then that’s a relief. This is the place where the misunderstanding between the South and the County of Sarsen, which had piled up over the past three years, is finally being resolved, so shouldn’t you be looking a little happier?"
Only then did the count’s expression seem to ease up a little.
He seemed to think the negotiations would end there.
Well, in this rom-fantasy world full of romance, war ended the moment one side won.
"Then, shall we talk about war reparations?"
Of course, I had no intention of stopping there.
Where did he think he was, trying to pocket tolls for three years and then wash his hands of it?
It was time to show this rom-fantasy world twentieth-century diplomacy.
"War reparations... you say?"
"You just admitted your own wrongdoing, Count. Am I correct?"
"Y-yes, that’s right."
The count’s face went deathly pale.
Ignoring that, I continued.
"Then you must take responsibility for your wrongdoing, mustn’t you?"
Clack-
With a light snap of my fingers, Lucilla brought over a stack of documents.
They were a list of the tolls our southern merchant ships had paid to Sarsen Fortress over the past three years.
"This is the list of tolls Sarsen Fortress has extorted from our merchants over the past three years."
Of course, I didn’t think we could collect everything on this list.
First, the South was one of the Empire’s five major regions. It boasted a population and land area that couldn’t even begin to compare with a county like Sarsen.
The South’s main industry was manufacturing. The county’s main industry was farming. The difference in the income they generated was enormous as well.
With such a gap in economic scale, there was no way much would come out of squeezing a place like this.
Wouldn’t it be a miracle if we could get even half of it?
"So, let’s take only one-quarter of the total in cash."
Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to let the rest slide.
The great powers of the twentieth century knew dozens of ways to gut countries that lay down and begged poverty as an excuse.
Fishing rights. Land-use rights. Mining rights, and so on... even in Sarsen territory, which had nothing but fields and mines, there were plenty of things to squeeze out if we looked hard enough.
Only then did Count Sarsen, having sensed the future of his own territory, ask in a trembling voice.
"How much is the total... ?"
"1.78 million credits. You really did us in, charging an amount equal to the construction cost of our dreadnought. On top of that, we’ll need compensation for the obstruction of our companies’ overland exports caused by the fortress’s collapse."
"That’s absurd!"
That was the first time Count Sarsen, who had been obediently listening until then, had openly objected.
"Our County of Sarsen does not have the ability to pay such a huge sum!"
"Do you really think so?"
"From the start, you’re the one who illegally demolished the fortress we spent three years building! We absolutely cannot accept demands this unreasonable!"
They say even a worm wriggles when stepped on, but the cornered Count Sarsen seemed not to fully understand the situation he was in.
"How disappointing."
Then I had no need to remain polite either.
Wiping away the friendly smile and hardening my expression, I said,
"Was the person I’ve been speaking to all this time not Count Sarsen, but a reactionary?"
"W-what..."
"I have no mercy to spare for reactionaries."
As I stood up from my seat with a cold expression, the anger on Count Sarsen’s face finally melted away. He must have remembered the naval guns aimed at the city.
I glanced over and called my adjutants over.
"We’re withdrawing. He’s apparently someone negotiation won’t work on."
"Isn’t that because you’re the ones who’ve set ridiculous conditions!"
"If that’s what you think, then hold the rest of the negotiations directly with our fleet."
Leaving only those words behind, I opened the door to the conference room and walked out.
A little later, from far away, the sound of the dreadnought stretching itself out could be heard.
Boooooo-
The long horn blast sent into the sky made my heart thud.
Just as I was walking back toward the battleship-
"I’ll accept any conditions, Your Excellency! So please, just spare us the shelling...!"
A frantic voice called out from behind me.
***
As a result, we were able to extract a great deal in the negotiations with Count Sarsen.
First, we secured a 99-year lease on the port of the County of Sarsen and the nearby city.
A 99-year lease was just another way of saying we were going to swallow the port whole.
In this way, we succeeded in bringing one of the West’s major ports into the South and establishing a foothold on the western continent.
We also obtained the mining rights to the magical stone mines in the County of Sarsen. For the next 99 years, all resources mined in the county would be sold first to all southern companies.
In exchange for restoring the collapsed Sarsen-Lutetia overland route, we also succeeded in taking the fishing rights.
You could say we took everything except Count Sarsen’s title.
At this point, Sarsen was practically no different from a colony.
Even so, the reason I deliberately didn’t try to establish direct colonial rule was simple.
"Because it doesn’t make money."
In the long run, colonies are a loss-making business. In the end, if a nation has to build infrastructure, suppress resistance, deploy the military and police, and crush independence movements, it ends up taking a loss.
The only ones who profit are the corporations.
Even the great British Empire ran at a loss in most of its colonies except India.
There was no reason to burn through state funds just to fatten up corporations.
And if I turned a territory belonging to the same empire into a colony, the backlash would be far too severe.
After wrapping things up that way, as I boarded the battleship, Lucilla asked cautiously beside me.
"Is it really all right to handle negotiations like this?"
"Do you think it’s a little strange too?"
I’d prefer to solve problems through proper means if possible.
But right now, the crown prince and the important figures occupying key positions in this country are all smitten with women from another nation, aren’t they?
The moment that happened, this world was already seriously messed up.
"But it can’t be helped. This world isn’t in its right mind."
A world designed solely for the heroine. A world where, no matter what happens to anyone other than the heroine, everything exists only for the heroine’s happiness.
That doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing.
After all, a novel is a world created for its protagonist.
But if, in the process, I, the South, and the Empire’s people were going to suffer because of it... then I’d tear it all down and start over.
If necessary, I’d burn this world to ash.
"And... this isn’t just a problem between the County of Sarsen and the South, is it?"
We shouldn’t forget who was behind the County of Sarsen being able to do something like that.
The Western Grand Duke, Charles Raymonds.
That scumbag who played the villainous male lead role in the original story must have given permission for the fortress to be built.
"Whether we like it or not, we’ll be clashing with the West soon. To keep the County of Sarsen from breaking away at that time, we needed a strong shock."
The County of Sarsen was only the prologue to what was to come.
On this vast continent, the County of Sarsen was only a tiny part. There were still many forces I had to contend with.
No matter how strong the South’s economy was, and no matter how overwhelming its industrial capacity was compared with other regions... it was impossible to overwhelm them all at once in a short time.
Because it would take time to build up the fleet and produce the guns.
"In that sense, we need to be thoroughly prepared for a clash with the West."
Saying that, I looked up at the sky.
The South, responsible for the Empire’s economy.
The East, responsible for the Empire’s seas.
The North, responsible for the Empire’s northern frontier.
And the West, responsible for the Empire’s skies.
To face the commander of the wyvern corps, preparations of that scale were necessary.
***
The Empire had never lost a war.
The reason the Empire had been able to win wars even while crumbling from within was the existence of its overwhelming air power.
The Wyvern Knights.
The Empire’s elite knights who guarded the skies were all Aura users.
They deflected arrows and primitive bullets with Aura, then used the wyverns’ powerful breath to melt the enemy ground forces.
Against the coordinated attacks of dozens of wyverns with not a single opening, there was little the ground forces could do.
And that flawless, mechanical coordination was the product of countless training sessions. Under the command of the Western Grand Duke Charles Raymonds, his red hair fluttering in the wind, the Wyvern Knights were training again today.
After two hours of training, just as he had come down to the ground to cool off, a messenger rushed toward him in a panic.
"Urgent report!"
"Urgent report? What is it now, did those tribesmen beyond the western border start another rebellion?"
Charles’s eyes began to shimmer red.
"I clearly told them I’d rather have those uncivilized bastards die right there than let them set foot on my sacred territory, didn’t I?"
"N-no! This urgent report is from the County of Sarsen!"
Only then did Charles relax his expression. Taking a hard breath, the messenger held out the paper he had been carrying in his arms.
"The County of Sarsen... ah, that’s the one that was building a fortress before, right? It should be about finished by now. I wonder what happened?"
Muttering that, Charles unfolded the paper-
[ Collapse of the Sarsen-Lutetia region fortress ]
[ The South appears to have developed an unidentified new superweapon ]
[ It is believed the Southern side has seized many of the County of Sarsen’s interests ]
"Heh."
He burst into a laugh as he read the contents.
The last time Charles Raymonds had seen Kyle Leopold, the Southern Grand Duke, was ten years ago.
He had been a fool who had been exiled to the South after making a move on his lovely fiancée and getting on everyone’s bad side.
"That idiot really has grown, huh? He even knows how to help himself to someone else’s table."
And the Western Grand Duke, Charles Raymonds, was a man who intensely hated anyone trespassing on his territory.
Charles Raymonds crumpled the paper and shouted to the wyvern knights lined up behind him,
"Listen up, boys. Looks like we’ve got someone who needs to be taught some manners!"
Charles recalled Kyle kneeling before him ten years ago.
He had no doubt that their second meeting would go the same way soon enough.