The King and Roa (7): The Council Dances (3)

An alliance with the Empire.

The reactions to the plan I'd proposed were clearly divided into three camps.

The first to spit out an indignant “Absolutely not!” were the members of the Nobles' Council.

Proud as they were, they loudly declared that they could never bring themselves to cozy up to the Empire, which had invaded us without provocation.

Next came the senior civil officials, saying, “It's impossible” and “We can't do it.” Many shook their heads, judging from a practical standpoint that it was nothing but a pipe dream.

Finally, the military officers chose silence—in other words, the Knight Order commanders. But their expressions were bitter.

The Knight Order commanders, who could readily picture the state of the battlefield, already understood. Rudek had no future if things continued like this.

That was precisely why, even if they opposed it emotionally, they couldn't ignore the usefulness of my proposal.

As someone familiar with both the civil and military sides, I could more or less predict the reactions from everyone except the Nobles' Council. And honestly, even their response was pretty much what I'd expected.

Trying to persuade everyone at once would be inefficient. It would be better to win them over one group at a time...