Prosnark's Eastward Advance (2)

"…What in the world are you saying, Minister of the Executive Ministry?"

My words must have landed like a bomb. The vast council chamber was swallowed whole by a crushing silence.

"Exactly as I just stated. Our Empire must not enter this war."

When I drove the finishing blow home, the stunned members of the Imperial Council finally found their voices again—every last one of them erupting at once.

"Hark!!!!!!"

"To abandon the faith is to embrace death itself…!!"

They howled like chimpanzees trying to crucify an orangutan, pure madness given flesh and froth.

Fortunately for the rest of us, someone in this room still held the authority to shut them up.

"Silence, all of you."

The moment the Emperor's command fell, even the foam-flecked zealots clamped their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mouths shut.

"Hmm… Minister of the Executive Ministry. Do you have a reason for this?"

Even Empress Artraia, the supreme dignity of the Empire, wore a face full of pure, adorable confusion.

I nodded at that question, and then—

"Oh? Then let us hea—"

—I slammed the pause button again.

…Damn it. I got so tense I almost forgot.

The truth was, even I had half-convinced myself that joining the war was the smart play. Yet here I was, standing against it.

And the reason was simple.

An event choice window—something that had almost never appeared lately, yet used to pop up every five minutes in the original game—now floated right in front of my eyes.

Of course, that alone wasn't enough reason to oppose a motion the entire chamber seemed ready to rubber-stamp. Honestly, nothing in my head right now screamed "don't fight Prosnark."

But the instant I saw the choices, I had no choice but to dig in my heels.

Because the phrase "Diplomatic relations with the Prosnark Coalition severed" was highlighted in thick, blood-red letters.

In the original game, that was the system's way of screaming that the player's empire was about to pay a price it could not afford.

In other words, the system was telling me that even in a four-to-one war, beating Prosnark was impossible.

Is this for real?

So here I was, stuck in this beautifully frozen pocket of spacetime, forced to scramble my inadequate brain into somehow stopping the Imperial Council from joining the war. Fun times.

How the hell do you lose a four-to-one fight? What kind of nonsense is that?

The real problem, of course, was what evidence I could possibly throw at the overwhelming pro-war faction to shut them down.

Bluntly put, you couldn't play the "they're so pitiful" card against people who turned other alien races into soap and rations. Number-crunching propaganda was out too—I didn't know the numbers well enough.

So what the hell am I supposed to do here?

If time hadn't been frozen, I would already be clutching my skull and descending into full-blown panic. But thanks to the pause, I had all the time in the world.

I clamped down on my fraying nerves and started dredging up every scrap of knowledge and every status window I could remember.

…At this point I'm not sure if I'm a minister of Seveli or Prosnark's goddamn spokesman…

My sense of identity took a few hits along the way, but even that little spiral of self-doubt was just another process that could flow harmlessly inside the pause.

At last, having cobbled together something resembling a logical framework and a few solid counterpoints, I released the pause and prepared to speak.

"…ar what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you have to say."

Artraia's imperial voice—something I hadn't heard in what felt like a week—prompted me to rise from my seat and begin.

"As Your Majesty commands. First of all, there is no reason for us to fight Prosnark immediately in this war."

"…???"

Naturally, that was the kind of statement that collected every possible aggro hook in the Holy Sevelian Empire. A minor detail.

"Not immediately? What do you mean by that?"

"To be more precise… we need to observe the current trend of the war a little longer."

The moment I opened with a call for caution, the heads of the existing caution faction gave small, approving nods.

"Minister! That is nothing but defeatism speaking!"

"Indeed! Prosnark is the Empire's mortal enemy!"

Of course, to the hardliners—who already considered the northern territories as good as reclaimed and whose eyes had long since rolled back into their skulls—my words were just another reason to attack me.

"Everyone seems to have forgotten something. Whatever the circumstances, we currently have no legitimate claim to the northern territories… that is, the western territories of present-day Prosnark."

"What nonsense is this, Minister?"

Armed with cold facts, I took the controller from the moderator and began manipulating the briefing screen.

"When our Empire was still at war with the Zaniradia Republic, it was Prosnark that attacked and seized the Irtelan Kingdom in Zaniradia's rear."

"But afterward, Prosnark was forced to retreat by Zutrak's fleet!"

"Exactly, Minister! It was we who developed and secured the star systems beyond!"

As expected, fierce criticism erupted from the councilors who had almost certainly been on the front lines back then.

"…Yet regardless of the process, the end result was that Prosnark's fleet annihilated Zutrak's raiding force and once again seized the former Irtelan Kingdom."

I adjusted the display again.

"And because of that, the only corridor linking the northern territories to the mainland—or rather, to the former Zaniradia Republic zone—fell into Prosnark's hands."

As I spoke, the screen showed the Empire's expanding sphere of influence suddenly splitting apart.

"Ahem…"

"Moreover, forcing the issue with military power was impossible. Our fleets were in tatters after the decisive battle with Zaniradia, while Prosnark had just concluded peace negotiations with the Kerzin Federation-led coalition and brought their entire main fleet, fully intact. Was that not the case?"

When I pointed out the harsh reality of that time, the councilors found themselves unable to argue.

"Do any of you truly believe that the Empire—unstable then and still unstable now—could have administered a distant colony that wasn't even physically connected to us?"

I casually indicated the Empire's sole exclave inside the Rixi Republic. The silence in the chamber grew even heavier.

"That is why the Predecessor Emperor made an extraordinarily difficult decision. In exchange for ceding all the northern territories we had seized, he secured a promise of the Adar star system and the former Zaniradia Republic territories then held by Prosnark, along with additional compensation."

"But Prosnark never actually delivered the promised compensation!"

"Hear, hear!"

The moment they spotted a potential opening, the councilors lunged for it like sharks. I shook my head slowly.

"That is true. But it is not the important point right now."

I shifted the briefing map to the border region between Prosnark and our Empire.

"As you can see, by joining the Irtelan Treaty we have renounced any territorial claims whatsoever over Prosnark's sphere."

"…"

"The same is true for Prosnark. To put it bluntly, we have no casus belli."

The Irtelan Treaty—the very agreement that had earned us every curse imaginable and poisoned our relations with neighboring states. By slamming that fact onto the table and declaring that manufacturing a justification was impossible, I drew groans from everyone present, including Artraia herself.

"Even so…"

"But still…"

The hardliners continued to cling and babble, yet—

"Haa… For the time being, we shall simply observe the situation."

When even the Empress, who had just taken the strongest verbal hit of the day, spoke like that, what could a mere subject possibly say?

"…The Minister of the Executive Ministry is correct. Starting a war without justification is unwise."

"I am grateful that Your Majesty has heard me."

The Kerzin ambassador, however, clearly found the entire spectacle deeply unpleasant.

"…It seems the Holy Sevelian Empire has no intention of joining this war just yet."

He muttered the words just loud ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enough for everyone to hear.

"I thought you had changed, yet it appears Seveli's old indecisiveness remains."

"…Is it not better to be cautious than to charge in without thought?"

"Indeed. So this is what Sevelian caution looks like."

When I continued to harp on caution, the ambassador's tone turned sharp.

"I shall look forward to seeing what becomes of you after this war has dealt with those wicked Prosnark. Afterward."

"…"

"Then, Your Majesty, I shall take my leave."

He departed with far less courtesy than he had arrived. The moment he was gone, the Imperial Council dissolved into chaos once more.

"What are we supposed to do now, Minister?!"

"We tried to avoid war with Prosnark, and now we're about to end up at war with the Kerzin Federation instead!"

Yeah, no shit. What the hell am I supposed to do about it?

I hadn't expected things to spiral this far. All I could do was close my eyes and stay still.

Don't ask too much of a normal person's brain, okay, xeno buddies?

I was just standing there like a statue, figuring the situation would sort itself out eventually, when—

"Y-Your Majesty! An envoy from Prosnark has arrived!"

"…What?"

???

Yet another completely unexpected development. I couldn't hide my bewilderment.