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Vol 06 Chapter 195: International Diplomacy III

「Kukuku… What a face he had. King Almus.」

King Faldam laughed heartily as he sought agreement from his aides after returning to the palace. His aides nodded silently.

「Yes, this should make that king reflect on his actions.」

There were several reasons why King Faldam proposed the Adernian Liberation War.

First, the pure expansion of territory. King Faldam’s country is surrounded by Rozel to the north, Gilbed to the south, and Domorgal to the east. With all directions blocked by countries equal to or greater than his own, there was no room for territorial expansion.

Without organizing an allied force, there would be no future for King Faldam’s country.

The second reason was to weaken King Rosais’ Country while simultaneously putting King Almus in his place.

King Almus had greatly expanded his territory by using the anti-Gallia alliance. Frankly speaking, it was extremely irritating. However, without the military strength of King Rosais’ Country, it would be difficult to oppose Rozel.

Nonetheless, he couldn’t just stand by and watch King Rosais’ Country grow unchecked. Measures had to be taken.

However, simply telling him to stop his conquests wouldn’t make him stop. Young men of that age tend to become arrogant, thinking they can do anything. If we applied pressure, he might threaten to leave the anti-Gallia alliance.

King Faldam held a high opinion of King Almus. Therefore, he couldn’t confront him directly and had to prevent further growth.

To obstruct his conquests without directly opposing him, he needed a just cause, that just cause was the Adernian Liberation War.

It was clear that King Almus wanted to maintain the anti-Gallia alliance to help his conquest endeavors. As long as there were enemies at his back, he couldn’t take military action.

If they were to ask King Almus to deploy thirty or forty thousand troops, he would undoubtedly withdraw from the anti-Gallia alliance.

However, King Faldam only requested around ten thousand troops. Moreover, the war was set to last only two years.

This level of demand should be within acceptable limits. By maintaining a leading position in the anti-Gallia alliance, King Rosais’ Country had strengthened its diplomatic influence. For King Almus, the anti-Gallia alliance should be absolutely necessary.

On top of that, with the noble cause of liberating the Adernians and the support of the other two countries, King Almus couldn’t easily refuse.

As long as King Almus continued his conquests, he would have to get involved in wars that were not beneficial to him to maintain the anti-Gallia alliance.

However, it wasn’t entirely without benefit for King Almus. The distribution of land would be decided through discussions and based on each country’s achievements.

King Almus would also receive Rozel’s land. Although, King Almus requested money instead of land.

Regardless of whether he received money or land, the expenses of the expedition would likely outweigh the benefits. This would hopefully put a stop to the overgrowth of King Rosais’ Country.

If the progress of King Almus’ conquests slowed down, he would naturally reflect on his actions.

And the last reason he had suggested the Adernian Liberation War: centralization.

If the opponent was the Rozel Kingdom, even with a four-country alliance, significant sacrifices would be inevitable. If those sacrifices included patricians and their heirs, that would be ideal.

Afterward, their territories could be confiscated.

Currently, King Faldam’s directly controlled territory didn’t even cover a fifth of the country. His goal was to increase this to at least a third.

◇

「That Faldam fellow, he sure says some interesting things,」

King Gilbed said with a cheerful laugh. He brought a glass of Rosais wine to his lips and took a sip.

「…But, my king, our opponent is the mighty Rozel Kingdom. Even with a four-country alliance, do you think they will let us win easily?」

「What are you talking about? In the last war, Rosais and Domorgal alone defeated Rozel. With Faldam and Gilbed joining in, victory is certain. Besides, General Kuryuu and that accursed witch are no longer around.」

Despite King Gilbed’s confident reply, his aide looked worried. However, King Gilbed ignored the aide’s expression and issued his orders.

「Inform all the patricians in the country. Tell them this is a great war… If anyone refuses to send troops, it means they are in league with Rozel. Tell them if they don’t send soldiers, they will be destroyed along with Rozel.」

「…Yes, understood.」

◇

「Was that really the right thing to do, my king?」

「It’s a beneficial move for our country. We’ve already fallen far behind the other three countries in terms of national strength due to the civil war. If we don’t use this opportunity to recover, we’re doomed. True, angering King Almus is unfortunate, but…」

King Carlo Domorgal was discussing the Adernian Liberation War with his country’s Grand General, Tonino. King Faldam had proposed the Adernian Liberation War two weeks before the alliance meeting.

Carlo and Tonino were troubled by this. This war was clearly a provocation towards King Almus.

If they wanted to maintain their position as a friendly nation to King Rosais’s country, they should oppose it. However…

「We can’t keep tiptoeing around King Rosais’ Country forever.」

「Indeed.」

Domorgal was, until some years ago, a country that was close to being the strongest of the Adernian Peninsula. Continually tiptoeing around a newly emerged country would be an affront to Carlo’s ancestors.

「We will use this opportunity to expand our territory and push for centralization. Tonino, you will take the lead in this. Don’t lose to General Bartolo.」

「Haha… Well, Rosais will just fight the war half-heartedly… This time, you can expect great results from us.」

◇

「Sigh… This has turned into something troublesome…」

The Adernian Liberation War.

Under the noble cause of liberating the Adernians enslaved by the Gallians, we will invade the Rozel Kingdom. Indeed, it might be possible with a four-country alliance. The Rozel Kingdom is currently pouring its efforts into quelling internal unrest in the northern region.

This will cost an enormous amount of money. However, the returns are significant… for countries other than ours.

「I’ve rejected the offer of receiving part of the liberated land. There’s no way we can maintain such distant territory.」

Not only would there be no profit, but it would also incur maintenance costs. Currently, we are too busy governing the southern region. We lack both the manpower and financial resources to manage territories located outside of our borders.

「Instead, I demanded money. This way, we can avoid a massive deficit. Though a deficit is still certain.」

「…By the way, how many troops would satisfy the other countries?」

「It seems we will have to send at least ten thousand.」

Deploying a large force of ten thousand for an extended period, and in such a distant land, would require an enormous amount of money…

「When is the deployment scheduled?」

「Next spring. If we start deploying the troops now, winter will be upon us before we know it, it’s already August after all.」

It’s August now. Even if we quickly gather troops, it will be September by the time the four countries can assemble their armies.

After that, in another two months, the armies won’t be able to move. Conducting military operations in unfamiliar territory during winter would be suicide.

「By the way… are we going to win or lose?」

Raymond’s question had deeper implications. Do we want to help the other three Adernian countries increase their power, or do we help Rozel maintain its strength?

If the three Adernian countries grow stronger and Rozel’s power declines, the significance of the anti-Gallia alliance diminishes, and King Rosais’ Country’s international standing will drop. Conversely, if we lose and the three countries’ power diminishes while Rozel maintains its strength…

In that case, one of the alliance countries might be destroyed by Rozel. If that happens, we won’t be able to proceed with our Western Conquest.

「The safer bet is to win. If we lose and retreat, there will be casualties. Additionally, it will take time before we can collect proper taxes from the newly acquired territories.」

Gaining territory doesn’t immediately increase national power. The newly acquired land requires substantial investment.

Therefore, the three countries’ power won’t rise immediately. In fact, the cost of managing new territories might temporarily decrease their national strength. Such is the nature of conquests. In the case of the Southern expedition, the maintenance costs didn’t become too high because most of the gained territory was in the form of alliances with the city-states.

「However, we might be able to thwart this liberation war at the last moment.」

「…Is that even possible?」

「If it goes well.」

I shared the plan, or rather the idea I just thought, with Bartolo on how to thwart the liberation war. Bartolo smirked.

「That’s quite a cruel plan.」

「Faldam started it. They’re the bad ones.」

Nonetheless, this plan has a low probability of success and comes with high risks. For now, we will adopt the strategy of participating in the liberation war.

However, I have no intention of idly wasting time.

「King Faldam thinks he’s obstructing my Western Conquest… Fine, I’ll take the challenge. Let’s expand our territory as much as possible this year.」

It’s time to initiate the Second Western Conquest.

◇

At the former Mieharis Family’s mansion, which had now become the base for the Western Conquest, a total of 24,000 troops had gathered. Ron, Roswald, and Gram each led 8,000 soldiers.

The strategy for this Western Conquest was to defeat the enemies individually.

The western countries’ military strength was limited, and even if they formed an alliance, they would barely muster 10,000 troops. However, 10,000 was still a significant threat.

Therefore, Iarl would create discord among the countries through diplomatic negotiations… And then, they would attack simultaneously from three directions.

It was currently mid-August. Fortunately, the southern part of the Adernian Peninsula was warm, so warfare was possible until the end of October.

In about two months, King Rosais’ Country could add territories up to the border agreed upon with King Gilbed.

As for the justification for this war… It was in retaliation for some western countries attacking the Kirisian states under Rosais’ alliance. Though, minor skirmishes like this apparently happened every month…

From Almus’ perspective, such details didn’t matter.

King Rosais’ Country overbearingly demanded free passage for their troops, free provisions, and participation in the war of every country their route passed by. Naturally, all these countries rejected every demand.

However, this choice couldn’t be considered wise.

This is because Almus was looking for a justification for war. By taking a stance of opposing King Rosais’s country, they gave him the justification.

Thus, Almus proclaimed,

「We will punish those who dared to attack our friends. Anyone who obstructs us or refuses to cooperate will be punished likewise,」declaring war on the western countries.

This reasoning may be somewhat forceful. However, Almus’s intent was to conclude the conquest before he had to lose for an indefinite time more than 10,000 troops due to the war with the Rozel Kingdom.

That said, ending the conquest in two months without any strategy was dangerous. Therefore, Almus and Bartolo devised a plan.

The plan was…

「Listen up!! The army that conquers the most countries in this war will be rewarded greatly… with money and land!! The First Army will win!!」

Ron shouted to the soldiers, who responded with cheers. At the same time, cheers rose from a slightly distant location.

Gram and Roswald were giving similar speeches to their soldiers.

In fact, many of the soldiers participating in this war were tenant farmers or the second and third sons of farming families. Almus deliberately chose such a composition. Of course, this was limited to those who could obtain or borrow equipment for heavy infantry.

「Let’s go!!!」

「Ooooh!!!!!」

Thus, the Second Western Conquest began.