Prosnark's Eastward Advance (4)

How was I even supposed to put this into words?

Nothing would settle into order inside my head, so every scrap of nonsense kept bubbling up one after another. Given enough time, though, all that noise funneled into a single, horrifying current.

Oppa, I'm pregnant. Take responsibility.

That kid? She's Yerin's daughter.

And so on—every deranged meme and punchline I had ever known started thrashing around in my skull like it owned the place. Just as the sheer force of that surprise pregnancy assault was about to shove me straight into madness—

"Aaaaagh, no!"

"No to what?"

"...Hah!"

Only then did I remember I was not in the grand audience hall. I was in Artraia's private chambers.

"Judging by that reaction, you dozed off without even noticing, didn't you?"

"..."

Her cheeks were puffed out in a faintly sulky pout, and that expression alone was enough to drag my scattered mind back into my body with a silent order to shut up and get it together.

So I hit the mental pause button for a second to clear my head...

After a pleasant little vacation inside the Room of Spirit and Time, I opened my mouth to get the current situation sorted out.

"So... where exactly did I leave off?"

"The part about the little kid that appeared because of your peculiar tastes."

I nodded at Artraia's razor-edged reply and answered firmly.

"It is absolutely not that kind of taste."

"Sure it isn't."

"It isn't."

"Yes, yes."

Maybe it was because she held absolute power as Empress. Watching her try to pin the "lolicon" charge on her poor, powerless minister filled me with a quiet, tragic sorrow. But we couldn't keep playing around forever.

"...That child is a survivor of the Saldaer—the ones Prosnark wiped out."

"!"

After a stretch of silence, my answer made Artraia's eyes go wide.

"Saldaer... the Irtelan War, then."

"That's right."

The moment the name Saldaer left my lips, her expression hardened completely.

"You're saying there was still a survivor on that planet?"

I nodded and continued.

"More precisely, the last survivor. There is not a single other Saldaer left anywhere in this universe."

"..."

Artraia stayed silent, face set like stone. I kept quiet as well. After all, Saldaer had once been the capital system of an interstellar civilization... and now it was nothing but a dead rock, sterilized down to the last microbe as an example by Prosnark.

The silence did not last long.

"...It's truly tragic. But that alone doesn't answer what this is about."

She could express pity, yet she never crossed the line into softness. That cold clarity was pure Artraia.

"Fair enough. Alien races on the brink of extinction drifting into our empire is something we see all the time."

Just this month alone, immigrants were pouring into the Holy Sevelian Empire by the hundreds of millions.

"I'll be honest with you, since it's us. Civilians who've lost their homes flood in at a rate of a hundred million a month. So why, after ten years, would they suddenly hand over a single civilian and call it the price of the old treaty? What are they actually after?"

Artraia's face twisted with irritation as she laid it out. I pulled up the event message Samiya, the Prosnark ambassador, had triggered when she handed the girl over, and checked it again.

I let out a long breath and spoke to Artraia in a completely serious tone.

"She's not just some ordinary civilian, Artraia."

"Not ordinary?"

"I'll put it bluntly. The price Prosnark paid this time more than covers the star systems we lost in the last treaty, plus ten years of interest... no."

I wet my throat and finished with absolute certainty.

"Even counting all of that, this is still a net gain for our side."

"...There's something more to her, then."

She hadn't become Empress by accident. She read my tone instantly and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was already ready to listen. I glanced around, then lowered my voice to a whisper.

"She is the last survivor of an ancient race who can terraform an entire planet by herself."

"..."

Of course Artraia couldn't simply take my word for it on the spot. Honestly, who would look at a frail, emaciated girl floating in nutrient fluid, hooked up to every kind of hose and pipe, and believe she could do something like that?

I'd probably react the same way if I were in her shoes.

But when someone refuses to believe you, there is one reliable way to make them believe.

"Minister, I just brought her over."

"Ah, good."

I answered the voice coming through the terminal. The firmly shut door opened and Riel walked in, supporting a girl about her own size. The girl kept stumbling and trembling the whole way, looking for all the world like a soaked chihuahua.

"Riel, why is she like that?"

"Ah, looks like she spent almost her entire life inside a test tube. On top of that, the pipes connected to Prosnark's tank were pumping her full of continuous anesthetic, so yeah."

I nodded at the explanation and decided to get her seated on the sofa first.

"Good work. Let's sit her down here for now and then talk."

"Got it."

—Thud.

...What I had in mind was simply having her sit nearby.

"Riel?"

"What? I've been carrying her this whole time, so now you hold her for a bit, Minister."

Plopping the girl straight onto my lap was not a scenario I had prepared for.

—Sliiiide...

"Uwek!"

"...!"

And because the girl had no strength left, just as Riel said, she started to topple over, forcing me to wrap my arms around her and hold her up.

"...So that really is your type after all."

"Please, no."

Thanks to that, another deep misunderstanding bloomed in Artraia's mind, and our conversation showed zero signs of progressing. Proper discussion only resumed a little while later.

"Hmm... by the way, what's this kid's name?"

"I don't know either."

"...That just cleared up one of the suspicions I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was quietly holding onto."

"???"

"The possibility that you might be a Prosnark plant."

"..."

The sudden brush with a potential purge sent a cold sweat down my spine. I spoke carefully.

"Riel, did she say anything at all?"

"Not really? She just followed along when I supported her."

I thought for a moment after hearing that, then decided to give her a name that had just come to mind.

Terraforming means turning an entire planet into fertile land and mild weather—essentially recreating our homeworld, right?

Then focusing on making the land fertile... a name from the myths of my previous life. Yes. That'll do.

"Then for now, we'll call her Gaia."

"...Not bad."

"Why are you naming her after a resort system?"

"Quiet, Riel."

Unfortunately, in this world the name Gaia was famous as a vacation destination rather than a myth, so I had effectively named the child something like "Kim Haeundae" by previous-life standards. And Riel, the tutorial bot who absolutely knew about my past life and its myths, still took the chance to mess with me.

I was just about to decide on testing a brand-new etiquette-injection baton on her later when—

"...That name... is my name... yes."

"Oh."

"Ah."

Having just mocked the girl's actual name for sounding like a resort, Riel had no choice but to bow repeatedly in apology toward the still-trembling girl—Gaia.

Once the side chatter finally ended and we tried to get to the point...

"I-I... heard... everything..."

Still half under the anesthetic, Gaia's words came out broken. At her request, Riel fetched a flowerpot filled with nothing but sand from somewhere.

"...I-I'll... show you..."

A moment later Gaia focused, and—

—Fwoooooosh!!!

A strange energy settled over the sand-filled pot. The sand transformed into rich, nutrient-packed soil, and then a thick mass of weeds burst upward from inside it.

"R-right now I only... used a flowerpot, so it... finished quickly... but if you want it... on a planetary scale... it takes... longer..."

She even added a polite after-action report. Artraia closed her eyes very slowly, then opened them again.

—Whip!

"Congratulations on becoming a citizen of the Holy Sevelian Empire, Gaia."

"Y-yes..."

The moment she heard that simply existing would perfectly replicate the natural environment of our ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠homeworld, Kazan, Artraia's eyes began to sparkle like crazy.

Whoa! Free terraforming with zero resource cost!

For a ruler, this was the happiest gift imaginable. How could she not be delighted?

But after Riel took the still-recovering Gaia away again, the sparkle faded from Artraia's eyes and her expression turned grave.

"I never expected a gift of this magnitude."

"Yeah. For Prosnark, this is basically the strongest card they could play right now."

Faced with my Empress's worries, I resolved to give whatever answer a minister could provide.

"Arto. Be honest with me."

"Yeah."

"What exactly is Prosnark's intention?"

I hesitated for a second over whether to deliver it straight or not... then made my decision.

"If I'm being completely honest... it's half and half."

"Half and half?"

Artraia tilted her head, puzzled. I nodded and continued.

"It's both the literal price for seizing the northern territories... and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a warning that if we interfere in this war, they won't let it slide."