Misconception

The week-long grace period was intended to foment internal strife in the East.

This measure was not aimed at the Empire alone.

If one turned one's gaze a little farther outward, the utterly chaotic state of the world came into view.

Nearly three hundred years had passed since the Age of Exploration began.

The traditional powers had already advanced into the East and the Southern Hemisphere, establishing colonies, and that foundation was now combining with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution to drive explosive growth.

The most prominent among them was the Marezia Republic across the sea.

While the Empire rotted from within, the Marezia Republic entered the early stages of the Industrial Revolution and began expanding at a frightening pace.

By Imperial Year 1026, the gap between the Empire and the Republic had narrowed to less than 2:1. Some even put it as low as 1.5:1.

Even that figure included the South's overwhelming growth.

Excluding the South, the Empire proper had already been overtaken by the Marezia Republic long ago.

The moment a rising power began eyeing a traditional power's domain, that traditional power was put to the test.

The First World War, in which the aging British Empire clashed with the challenger that was the German Empire.

The Cold War, in which the rapidly rising superpower of the United States clashed with the challenger that was the Soviet Union.

And the New Cold War, in which the United States, having won the Cold War and secured its position, faced the challenger that was China.

All the challengers had asked the same question.

"Are you really that strong?"

A traditional power had an obligation to answer the questions pouring in from every direction.

The declining British Empire failed to provide that answer in the First and Second World Wars, and collapsed alongside the German Empire.

After winning the Cold War, the United States maintained its firm position as the world's number-one power, and even now continues to demonstrate strength that remains unchallenged by China.

Then, did the Empire of today, excluding the South, have the strength to answer the Republic's question?

The answer was, of course, no.

If the South disappeared, the Empire could be picked apart by the Marezia Republic at any time.

Why, then, had the Empire ignored and exploited the South all this time, despite knowing that?

Because humans were not rational by nature.

We need only look at the Junkers of the German Empire in Earth's history to see that.

The Junkers, the aristocratic class that occupied the eastern part of the German Empire.

During the Industrial Revolution, they rejected industrialization and focused on their own land and agriculture.

As the gap grew between the Junkers' eastern lands, where they lived by farming as they had in the Middle Ages, and industrialized western Germany, the Junkers used their power to exploit wealthy western Germany.

Although they were economically backward, they possessed the nation's military power and political standing, so they used physical coercion to extort money.

The relationship between the Imperial Center and the South before I came to power had been exactly like that.

The only difference was that, in the Empire of today, these pseudo-Junkers—from the Emperor down to the lowest-ranking nobles—were all feeding off the country.

On top of that, the mages' characteristic sense of superiority and their suppression of technological development had combined to create something even worse than the Junkers.

There was no way such a hopelessly backward-minded group would compromise with our South.

During the First World War, the Junkers diverted enormous forces to the Eastern Front, where barely any fighting was taking place, in order to protect their own interests.

Just as that caused the German Empire to lose the First World War, these people were not a faction that would ever put the nation first.

Then the only thing left was division.

The one that welcomed the division of the world's strongest power most of all was ultimately the runner-up, the Marezia Republic.

"Your Grace, we've discovered signs that the Marezia Republic has been contacting the Empire's nobles."

"Looks like they've finally finished calculating the costs and benefits, too."

A year had already passed since the fighting with the West began.

That meant it was time for the great powers that had merely been observing the situation to start rushing in to take a bite out of the divided Empire.

We did not have much time left.

At least, the Center had even less time than we did.

Before the foreign great powers, startled into action, could rush in, the East was already collapsing from within.

***

August 5.

Internal strife erupted over the sinking of the SDS Arrow.

It was a confrontation between the Eastern Grand Duke's residence and the great nobles.

Originally, the East's power structure had been the great nobles on one side versus the Eastern Grand Duke, the commercial and industrial guilds, and the new nobles on the other.

But the battles of the past several months had completely destroyed the new nobles and commercial and industrial guilds that should have supported the Eastern Grand Duke.

The military had also been smashed.

With all the undersea monsters and the main surface fleet gone, along with the admirals and officers, the military was no longer in any position to have a say.

In such a state, there was no one left who could shield the Eastern Grand Duke.

Eastern Grand Duke Edward had been left completely exposed to the great nobles' political attacks.

"Our Nobles' Council has consistently opposed this reckless war. If you started a war over our objections and lost—and then tried to start another one—the responsibility naturally falls on you, Eastern Grand Duke."

Stripped of all their hypocritical phrasing, the great nobles' argument was this:

You led the war against the South, didn't you? And after losing, you provoked them again? Just leave.

Naturally, Edward felt he had been wronged.

"This is a frame-up. Did the Nobles' Council perhaps arrange this because it wants me deposed? Think about it rationally. There's no way I would do something like this to those Southern bastards twice."

Amid the endless shifting of blame, the claim that it had been a Southern false-flag operation lost its force.

The great nobles were too busy attacking the Grand Duke, while the Grand Duke was too busy defending himself and launching counterattacks.

No one had the power to provoke the South by calling it a false-flag operation in the midst of all this.

Even so, Edward was not particularly worried.

It was because he complacently thought that the Southern bastards surely would not actually attack the Eastern ports.

The Imperial Central Government was watching closely. Kyle Leopold had always placed great importance on justification.

"He's been doing everything he can not to provoke the Imperial Family until now. There's no way he'd launch a reckless attack despite the risks. And the Imperial Family wouldn't simply stand by while its sea routes were blockaded, either."

That misconception was shattered the next day.

August 6.

An official document arrived from the Imperial Center.

"His Highness the Crown Prince still believes that this matter can be resolved through dialogue. His Highness Crown Prince Theodore hopes that our Empire will unite as always and overcome this turmoil together."

The words were polished, but ultimately they meant only one thing.

The Center had no intention of intervening in this matter militarily.

Flustered, Edward asked the envoy,

"W-what about military support?"

"His Highness the Crown Prince wishes for this matter to be resolved through negotiations. Since the East has attempted military actions tantamount to declarations of war twice, our position is that it would be difficult to dispatch Imperial troops to a place like this."

"That's absurd...! The Center knows better than anyone that, without us, the Southern bastards will seize the Empire's entire sea, doesn't it?!"

Edward felt as though everything he had believed until now was crumbling around him.

From the myth of the Royal Navy that had lasted a thousand years to the fundamental assumption that the Empire could never abandon the East.

"Haa... Your Grace Edward. At this point, the Center has done as much as it can for you. We supported your first declaration of war and used our political power to pressure the South. What more do you want?"

Edward could not answer.

Having declared war and then suffered a crushing defeat, he had no excuse left whatsoever.

On top of that, he had been accused of provoking them a second time.

He knew better than anyone how the Center must be viewing him.

"Then does the Center intend to leave the South alone? Those traitors in the South are trying to swallow the Empire whole!"

Even then, Edward failed to understand the situation.

It was because he had no idea how rotten the Imperial Army in the Center had become, or that the Imperial Army was therefore in no condition to fight.

The Imperial Army in the Center would need several years before it was ready to wage war again.

Had he done his job properly, he would have realized this at once... but Edward, distracted by Aria and neglecting his duties, had no proper understanding of how the Empire was functioning.

And the envoy concealed the fact that the Center lacked the capability to act.

It was a matter of the Crown Prince's dignity.

Edward's negligence and the Crown Prince's attempts to save face had created the worst possible synergy.

"His Highness the Crown Prince hopes that Your Grace will give up on everything and come to the negotiating table."

"Ha, I will never accept that."

Edward decided to hold out to the very end.

If I hold out to the end, the Empire will ultimately be unable to abandon me.

As long as I control the sea, the Imperial Army will come and stop the Southern bastards from intervening.

He labored under that misconception.

The envoy looked at him with pity and contacted the Crown Prince.

"...I'm afraid it will be difficult to persuade Your Grace Edward."

"Is that so?"

"My apologies."

"Then negotiate among ourselves, excluding Edward."

In the end, the Eastern Grand Duke's seat was left empty at the negotiating table between the South and the Center.

The only person who did not know that was Eastern Grand Duke Edward.

The long-awaited August 8.

The Southern fleet appeared before the naval base in the lower reaches of the Rheinwald River in the East, after the evacuation of the people had been completed.