Episode 203. Abyssal Holy War - Preparation for War (4)
Northern Allied Kingdom, Capital City Nortrich.
The residents of the Allied Kingdom looked up with curious eyes at the massive form of Francia's naval flagship, the ‘Libre’, as it entered the capital’s harbor.
anwhile, in the royal castle of the Northern Allied Kingdom, their king, Gustav XII, opened his mouth sullenly, not bothering to hide his displeasure.
“This is the second ti I have granted you my precious ti.”
“It is an honor, Your Majesty, King.”
The attitude of the woman before him was deceptively polite, but her expression was a far cry from soone who felt honored.
Countess Christine Aquitaine.
No, should she be called Marchioness Lafayette now?
In any case, Gustav XII was incredibly displeased.
The fact that she was in a drab black military uniform, rather than the dress a noblewoman should naturally wear to enter the royal castle, grated on his nerves.
And on top of that, this whole situation of her coming alone, without Maurice Talleyrand, Francia's head of foreign affairs, to have a private audience with him.
From Gustav XII’s standpoint, there was not a single thing he liked.
Even so, the person before him, whether a young woman or not, was visiting as an Admiral of the Navy and a diplomatic emissary of the great power that was Francia.
A certain degree of formality was…
“Know that allowing you this second private audience is the extent of my patience, Black Witch of Aquitaine.”
He felt no need to maintain any.
Above all, Gustav XII had fallen for this damn witch's sweet talk, jumped into the war with Krafte, only to waste war expenses and lose face.
At the title ‘Black Witch of Aquitaine’, which threw diplomatic niceties to the wind, Christine simply smiled and replied.
“I thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty, King. In that case, may I state my business?”
Gustav XII’s brow twitched, finding her behavior even more displeasing, but he soon spoke in a low voice.
“I permit it.”
Christine gave a slight bow and opened her mouth.
“The Revolutionary Kingdom of Francia requests that the Northern Allied Kingdom participate in the war against Abyss Corporation.”
“Ha. Hahahahaha!”
Gustav XII burst out laughing.
He laughed for a long ti, but Christine continued to watch him with an elegant smile on her lips.
Finally, Gustav XII stopped laughing abruptly and spoke in a seething voice.
“How dare you, who have only used , try to use again?”
Christine tilted her head slightly and spoke.
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, King. We have kept all of our promises to Your Majesty. We lifted the mariti blockade, properly proceeded with the mineral purchases after your deal with the Empire was severed, and even connected you with the promised rebel forces within Krafte.”
From the beginning, that was all Francia had promised.
“Not only that, we properly tied down the main force led by Krafte's 'Great King' and even achieved victory, preventing them from focusing on the Northern Allied Kingdom’s front line. As an ally, I believe we have done more than was expected of us.”
“You were also the ones who ended the war before my kingdom could recover its ancestral lands.”
Even as Gustav XII glared at her, Christine replied with a placid smile.
“You are correct, Your Majesty. But at the very least, we fulfilled our entire role as an ally.”
Christine’s gaze remained perfectly casual, but Gustav XII gritted his molars.
‘But isn't the problem that you suffered a crushing defeat with 50,000 troops against a re 20,000?’
Even without speaking the words, the ssage was clearly conveyed through his eyes.
“Furthermore, we gave His Majesty, the King of the Northern Allied Kingdom, the opportunity to sign at the negotiation table as a victorious nation.”
“Ha! A victorious nation? A victorious nation with nothing to show for it?”
“At the very least, we didn't make a separate peace and leave your kingdom to be trampled by Krafte’s revenge. To not feel wronged even after being accused of ‘using’ you, shouldn’t we have done at least that much?”
Gustav XII glared at Christine with a livid face, then spat out his words.
“Get lost, witch. My kingdom has no more business with you.”
Even at the order of dismissal, Christine did not let her smile falter as she spoke casually.
“You are supplying a large amount of minerals to Abyss Corporation, are you not, Your Majesty, King?”
“How dare you try to ddle in my internal affairs!”
“No, Your Majesty, King. How could that be? I am rely expressing so concern.”
“Concern?”
“The war between the Central Continent and Abyss Corporation will begin soon, Your Majesty.”
Gustav XII furrowed his brow.
She had specifically referred to the Central Continent, not just Francia.
If that wasn't just empty words, it ant a considerable number of nations were planning to wage war against Abyss Corporation.
“This is not a simple war between nations, Your Majesty, King. It is a Holy War of humanity against the demons, against the threat of the abyss. In a war for the fate of our race, I am afraid even I cannot guarantee how long so-called ‘neutrality’ will be tolerated.”
“Are you daring to threaten right now?”
“No, Your Majesty. I am simply stating the facts. Moreover, the enemy in this war is across the sea. This ans that the considerable number of ground troops remaining on the Central Continent can be deployed anywhere at any ti.”
Before Gustav XII, whose face was flushed as his lips twitched, Christine's jet-black eyes glead as she added.
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, King. I believe you are soone who can think similarly to , which is why I dare to offer you this advice.”
“Advice? Witch, you dare give advice to ?”
Despite Gustav XII's murderous tone, Christine continued to speak with a composed attitude.
“Your Majesty, do you think an era of peace will arrive just because the demons disappear? Everyone clamors for the continent's justice against the demons, insisting on eliminating the threat and protecting the peace, but I, at least, do not think so.”
“…”
“A continent without a common enemy may beco even more unstable than before. Moreover, if there was a nation that was the only one not to participate in the Holy War, and instead provided resources to the enemy demons…”
Gustav XII thought that the utterly elegant smile Christine wore was as ghastly as any demon's.
“Your Majesty, King. If you possessed greater national power and held such a justification, would you leave that country alone?”
*
Krafte Kingdom's capital, Mittelmark.
The previous king, who had built Krafte into a great power, was praised as the Great King in his pri, but he died having lost his popularity as the instigator of a lost war.
Crown Prince Heinrich—no, now King Heinrich I's new residence was not the Great King's detached palace, which had been the symbol of the Krafte Kingdom, surrounded only by a training ground.
The new king’s residence was once again the margrave’s palace located in Mittelmark, the administrative center and capital.
A modest abode, closer to a mansion than a king's palace.
Under the rule of the diligent young monarch who resided there and beca famous for constantly frequenting the nearby governnt building, Krafte underwent a dramatic transformation in a short ti.
The army, which had devoured almost the entire national budget, was downsized, and the military's term of service was drastically shortened from ten to four years.
After recruiting various talents and reforming the administration, Heinrich, in a short period, had Krafte's reputation change from a 'nation where the military is everything' to an 'innovative bureaucratic nation'.
However, that by no ans ant Krafte had forgotten war.
Heinrich I stepped down from his carriage and entered the sleek, newly constructed building.
“Your Majesty, King.”
“Your Majesty, King!”
Everyone he encountered was a young officer clad in a military uniform.
Accepting their salutes as he walked, Heinrich soon opened a rather large door and entered a dark room.
Under the dim light of a magic lamp, thick cigarette smoke stung the king's nose.
As Heinrich smirked, recalling a mory from the foul sll, the soldiers sitting in their chairs rose in unison and saluted.
“Welco, Your Majesty, King!”
“You're all working hard.”
Heinrich smiled at the sight of the operation map and the ga pieces representing all sorts of armies, as plentiful as the mountain of cigarettes piled in the ashtray on the table.
Then, he slowly walked, his eyes scanning the piles of docunts that filled the room.
Krafte had indeed significantly downsized its military.
The sacrifices had been great, and it was a ti to focus on national reconstruction for a while.
Nevertheless, Heinrich did not dismiss the competent officers who had gained experience in the war with Francia. Instead, he created a group to professionally study war, even if they didn't directly command the army.
In the War Departnt, which would later be called the first modern general staff, were mountains of past battle records, military information, and records of war gas conducted by officers racking their brains over the developnts of each battle.
Within them were evaluations of the battles fought against Francia's Marquis Lafayette, and countless what-if scenarios of how those battles could have unfolded differently, and how the responses would have been, along with their predicted results.
Naturally, it wasn't just the battles with Francia that were analyzed; analysis was conducted on almost every battle that existed in history.
Based on the scenarios they created, countless war gas were conducted with mobilized actual soldiers.
Instead of the machine-like, strong soldiers who moved to the Great King’s lody, a smaller but qualitatively more elite officer corps continued to fight, accounting for countless variables that no single individual could possibly handle.
And the subjects of their simulations included Abyss Corporation, especially their drone army.
By the order of none other than King Heinrich himself.
King Heinrich briefly looked over the vast experintal data, various opinion papers, and proposals accumulated by the officers over two years, then turned his back.
In response, General Scharnhorst, the head of the War Departnt and also the founder of the Mittelmark War College, and his subordinates showed their respects to the king in unison.
Heinrich looked at each of them, as if to sear them into his mory.
Heinrich I could not dare compare to Karl II in military capability.
He couldn't even win against Francia's Marquis Lafayette.
That is why, instead of trying to highlight himself as a hero, he had prioritized national innovation and the building of an organization.
Two years spent that way. It was a short ti.
But it was the first opportunity for the generation, forged by the fiercest war and having absorbed its lessons learned from war most ticulously, to face at their sharpest mont.
“Gentlen, the ti has co to show the results of your efforts.”
Heinrich said, eting the eyes of the generals, who were burning with enthusiasm.
“They often say that Krafte, without its Great King, has lost its glory as a military nation.”
“Hahahaha…”
The generals and officers present burst into laughter.
“Now, tell , gentlen. Have we forgotten how to fight?”
“No, sir!”
“Are our wings broken?”
“No, sir!”
Heinrich smiled with satisfaction.
“Coincidentally, the enemy is demons. No matter how overwhelmingly you exterminate them, you will receive praise, not fear.”
-Wittenfeld was a dem—
The words he had desperately carved while spitting blood in the excruciating pain of the causalgia still remained in his heart.
The heavy war his motherland had to endure.
The fierceness of the mont he defended the nation with desperate resolve against the Northern Allied Kingdom and the rebellious dukes.
-I have fulfilled my duty, Heinrich.
The fate of the previous king who, despite being a warmonger to the very end, had put Krafte on the path to being a great power and had not forsaken his responsibility.
If all of that was brought about by the needs of those demons.
“As the King of Krafte and your supporter, I command you.”
Heinrich smiled coldly and declared.
“rcy is not needed. Show them overwhelming power (Krafte)!”
“Jawohl!”
Those demons must face the fury of the bastard they created.
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