Chapter 8
The relationship between the West and the South had never been all that good to begin with.
That was because the wave of overwhelmingly superior manufactured goods pouring out of the southern factories was crushing the West’s industries one by one.
The gap in output between a region that had successfully modernized and one that had yet to leave the Middle Ages was enormous.
To make up for that difference, Charles chose to steal from the South.
He decided to send spies into the South and steal its technology.
The spies he sent reported back that the South was preparing for war.
Even so, the reason Charles remained calm was simple.
[It seems the South is preparing for war]
[Recently, southern weapons production has increased sharply. They say they’re making cannons to fire at wyverns]
[The Ministry of Lands is building curved concrete structures in the Sarsen region. It looks like they’re constructing a fortress.]
Because the spies, who still lived in the Middle Ages, couldn’t figure out what the South was actually preparing.
After all, technical espionage only works if you understand the technology.
The spies the West sent couldn’t properly understand what the South was making.
As a result, every report that landed on Western Grand Duke Charles Raymonds’ desk was full of contempt for the South.
'The southern bastards are trying to hit wyverns with cannons'
'The southern bastards are building walls out of concrete'
'The South must not even know what war is'
And Charles, who took those reports at face value, thought the South were a bunch of idiots.
He knew what cannons were, but aiming them at wyvern knights was impossible.
How were they supposed to hit wyverns performing flashy maneuvers in the sky with something like a cannon?
And walls? Against the West’s wyvern corps?
A wall was a meaningless obstacle to aerial cavalry.
"As expected, those lowborn money-grubbers wouldn’t know a proper war if it hit them."
Yes, there was no doubt the South had developed something amazing.
He had seen the place where Sarsen Fortress collapsed with his own eyes.
But that was only about weapons.
Wars weren’t won just because your weapons or technology were better.
Overwhelming combat experience. The mental toughness not to fear death. And the coordination of an excellent army.
Those were things the South, which had only just started building up its military, could never hope to match.
In the end, what won wars was air superiority. The air force.
"I guess it’s about time I taught that idiot who thinks he’s so great, and that money bag, a lesson."
To Charles, whether the war was won or lost didn’t matter all that much.
From the beginning, he had never even imagined the possibility of defeat.
His interest was entirely in what he would take away.
"Come to think of it, Aria liked the jewelry the South makes."
In Charles’s mind, there was nothing but the image of himself reclaiming Sarsen with one perfect surprise attack, bringing Kyle in chains, forcing him to his knees, and stripping him of this and that.
"How many southern soldiers are stationed in Sarsen?"
"Three hundred, Your Highness."
"Ha, that’s all?"
As expected of the South, which had no proper army to speak of.
Hearing that there were only three hundred troops, Charles snorted and ordered,
"Prepare five thousand infantry and three wyvern knight units. We’ll wipe them all out with one surprise attack."
"Hah, but... after the past few years of recklessly subjugating the western borderlands, our military procurement budget has already reached its limit! We already have so many legions deployed on the western border, and if we move any more troops beyond this point..."
Bang-!
The timid aide’s voice was cut off by Charles slamming his hand down on the desk.
"Military procurement budget? We can just beat the South bastards and make them pay it back!"
Charles couldn’t understand his aide.
The South was a paper tiger that had only just begun building up its military. Why would they need to worry about procurement budgets when facing an army that would collapse with a poke?
"Hey, Albert. Don’t you get it? This is an opportunity to legally loot the vaults of those filthy rich southern bastards in the world."
The West had always had to struggle with financial hardship.
Because of Charles, who was always out there subjugating the western borderlands.
They had been covering their 부족한 군비 by looting the natives beyond the western border.
As that went on, the natives’ hatred of the West grew, and eventually they began periodically invading the western border.
Every time that happened, he dropped everything, led his wyvern knights out in high spirits, and of course the finances never had a chance.
"You’re always complaining that we’re short on funds. And now you’re objecting when I say I’m going to cover them?"
From the West’s perspective, this situation was nothing but welcome.
Until now, they hadn’t been able to lay a hand on that wealthy South because they were all part of the same empire, but now they had a perfect pretext called Sarsen Fortress.
"Don’t worry, Albert. There’s no way our elite troops would lose to those stupid southern bastards."
"...Understood. I’ll have the army ready within two days."
"Good. That’s how it should be."
He hadn’t thought of any specific war plan.
After all, if they occupied Sarsen with overwhelming numbers, the frightened bastards would surely surrender on their own.
Just like when dealing with the West’s uncivilized natives.
"And tell that bastard Kyle that I want to meet him in person in two days to talk about the matter of Sarsen Territory."
"Pardon?"
"While all the southern leadership is gathered at the meeting venue, we can just move the army and cleanly swallow up Sarsen, can’t we?"
It didn’t matter if they refused.
If they refused this meeting, he could use that as a pretext to launch a full-scale invasion.
"No matter what choice they make, all that awaits the South is defeat."
***
The conflict between the South and the West.
Come to think of it, it was a truly absurd situation.
To put it in terms of 21st-century South Korea, it would be like the governor of Gyeonggi Province and the governor of Gangwon Province shouting, "It’s war!" and invading each other.
Realistically, there isn’t a single officer or soldier who would obey a crazy order to launch an armed invasion against a properly functioning country inhabited by the same people.
The central government would also intervene politically and physically to prevent that from happening.
But the empire in this world was a little different.
The 'Empire' was a country formed when five great powers allied around the first emperor.
It was a country founded by voluntary alliance, not one unified by force.
That was why the regional grand dukes held such strong authority, and why the regions lacked a sense that the empire was one nation and one people.
That was how I had been able to rise to the position of Southern Grand Duke, too.
The Southern Grand Ducal House had declined under pressure from the capitalists until its bloodline was severed, and it needed an heir.
And Kyle Leopold’s body had at least a little bit of the Southern Grand Ducal House’s bloodline in it.
Just in time, the Southern Grand Ducal House had no heir, and the imperial family had a troublesome burden to deal with. And so I fell into the grand duke’s seat like a parachute.
Anyway, things had been fine up until now.
The emperor’s royal authority had been strong enough to swallow all of those shortcomings.
But over the past few decades, the empire had been walking the road to decline.
The current emperor had ruined the empire and then been struck down by illness, lying bedridden. The crown prince, who was actually handling the real business, was also completely smitten with a woman and half-melted away.
And as for what happens when central power weakens, the example of neighboring China made that clear.
Warlordism.
Each one rises up with its own power, and the empire ends up splitting apart with a crash.
It had happened even in the original 'Monajo.'
A capital, east, west, south, and north—the five parts of the empire would wage war to seize Aria Leonhart, the heroine of this world.
Men who would start wars just for the heroine.
Really, it was a world made for the heroine and the heroine alone.
"So I need to stamp out the seeds of war before they sprout."
That was why I had forward-deployed troops to the County of Sarsen.
That hotheaded Western Grand Duke Charles, who was sweet only to the heroine, would never let this provocation pass.
One month after the County of Sarsen had fallen.
As southern factories were built and advanced southern goods flowed in, the once-vibrant Sarsen began to feel the stirrings of war.
It started with a telegram from the radar unit.
[No abnormalities currently on the western border]
[However, over the past two weeks, the number of West-affiliated wyverns scouting around the Sarsen region has increased.]
[The number of reconnaissance flights detected by radar has already exceeded thirty. It seems they’re trying to get a firm grasp of the surrounding terrain.]
They may have thought they were being discreet, but unfortunately, they weren’t.
The Sky-Eye radar unit could see far beyond anything humans could compare to.
And there was only one conclusion that could be drawn from that.
The West is preparing for war.
And their first target is probably Sarsen.
"Lucilla, how is the deployment of Sarsen’s air defense units coming along?"
"We’re in the final stages. Three hundred air-defense artillerymen armed with twenty A-01 76mm anti-aircraft guns and numerous small-caliber anti-aircraft guns have been deployed."
That was enough to defend against the West’s approaching army.
If it was the frontline air-defense artillery division that had spent the past month repeatedly practicing anti-aircraft fire on a small island in the southern sea, it would easily stop a wyvern unit.
Ground troops? There was no real need to deploy any.
Because every anti-aircraft gun became an excellent infantry grinder the moment you lowered its barrel angle.
Now all that remained was the West’s attack.
In that situation, the letter that arrived from the West carried intentions so blatant they were almost comical.
[From Western Grand Duke Charles Raymonds to Southern Grand Duke Kyle Leopold]
For a hot-blooded Western Grand Duke, it was a surprisingly normal opening to a letter.
To summarize its contents, it was roughly this.
1. The County of Sarsen was indeed at fault for what happened in the County of Sarsen.
2. But couldn’t this have been resolved in a slightly more peaceful way?
3. It’s not too late even now, so let’s resolve this through dialogue. I deliberately pulled all the troops back from the western border because I wanted to talk.
4. If you agree, let’s meet in two days in Airestopol, the city halfway between the West and the South.
"Oh?"
He was proposing a meeting while pretending to have withdrawn troops and continuing reconnaissance.
Even a first-grader would know that was bullshit.
"That musclehead actually knows how to use his brain."
I snorted and folded the letter.
That Charles guy probably thought he’d hidden his intentions perfectly.
He had no idea his wyvern reconnaissance unit had already been detected.
So he was probably planning to launch an invasion the moment I accepted this proposal and went to the meeting place.
"What will you do?"
"We’ll play along."
Charles Raymonds and I are both bearers of the Sun’s bloodline.
He seems to be under the mistaken impression that, in a fight where two outstanding mages are absent, his side will have a much bigger advantage.
And there was no easier opponent to devour than an enemy who was under a misconception.
"Send a reply to the West. Tell them I accept the meeting."