Do You Want Total War?
After contacting the dwarves in the West and ordering thirty Cheonmu launchers and tens of thousands of missiles shipped south, I set one official appointment on the calendar.
In Chrysalis, the largest city in the South, I had the colossal central plaza — large enough to hold well over a hundred thousand people — cleared out, then ordered a stage erected.
On the XXth of Month X, at 3:00 p.m., Isaac — Administrator of Demihuman Affairs for the West and Interim Administrator of the South — will deliver an address. Citizens of the surrounding districts are strongly encouraged to attend without fail. Those who attend will be granted one full day of paid leave in the Administrator's name.
When word went out that I intended to give a speech of the utmost importance, the people of the West set aside their work without hesitation and streamed south in twos and threes, determined not to miss a word.
The humans of the South, for their part, seized on the promise of a free paid day off as the perfect excuse to skip work and flocked to the plaza at once.
As for the various officials across the South who had not yet been purged, I had ordered their attendance outright — they had no choice.
I checked my appearance in the mirror and glanced at Lumina.
"Well? Nothing out of place?"
"Your tie is crooked. Come here."
Lumina stepped in front of me and fixed the knot with practiced ease. Watching her, I couldn't help myself.
"Standing like this, we almost look like a married couple."
Lumina's face went scarlet and she jumped back as if scalded.
"...! Th-that's sexual harassment! Fix your own tie!"
"Sorry. Just teasing. Come on, help me out."
"Honestly — you work so hard every day, so why is it that the moment you see me you absolutely have to say something ridiculous…"
Well, your reactions are just too good.
Lumina finished adjusting the tie, then clipped a small microphone to the collar of my suit.
"Voice amplifier. One light press, and everyone in the plaza will hear you."
"Thanks."
"But do you really need to give a speech? War with the East is unavoidable either way. Why go to all this trouble for a fight that's already coming? You didn't do this when we took the South."
"This time is different. There were casualties. First, their grief has to be acknowledged. And if we fight the East after the South, we'll inevitably break with the Center that backs them — which means voices of exhaustion will start rising even among our own people in the West. If we split from the Center, we're effectively at war with the entire Empire. Before that happens, I need to secure the justice and the cause of this war, and make it unmistakably clear that this fight is the will of the West as a whole. Any force that expands its battlefield without first uniting its interior is doomed to collapse."
I checked my watch, felt the hour approaching, and stepped out the door.
The central plaza of Chrysalis was packed beyond reason — not a single free step of ground remained. Even a space built for over a hundred thousand people could not hold them all. They spilled onto rooftops, balconies, windowsills, and into streets so far back they could hear my voice but never see my face.
Roughly seventy percent were our Western citizens who had come by train; the remaining thirty were Southern humans who had mostly shown up for the free day off.
I pressed the amplifier button and began.
"Beloved citizens of the West. And people of the South. I am Isaac. Before I speak, I wish first to offer both my gratitude — and my apology."
I looked toward the Westerners seated in the very front rows of the crowd.
"Those seated at the head of this assembly are the wounded from the recent raids — and the bereaved who lost family, lovers, friends, people precious beyond measure. It was my duty to protect the people of the West, to shield them and give them better lives. I failed in that duty, and this tragedy was the result. I am truly sorry."
With that, I stepped down from the platform, dropped to my knees, and bowed before them.
The moment I knelt, a shocked murmur roared through the Westerners like a wave.
"Over these past days, the East — without notice, without declaration of war — poured troops into Southern territory and launched military operations. Because of that cowardice, countless precious and noble lives of the West have been wounded or lost."
Furious shouts erupted from every corner of the Western ranks.
"When the South levied illegal tolls against us, I endured it. I endured it for four years. I believed the problem could be solved through dialogue, through peace — that if I reasoned with them, the South would cease its crimes. I was wrong."
"The South refused every attempt at a peaceful resolution. As a last resort, I announced military action. And even in the final moments, I told the units holding the Southern Gate that they could still live if they fled — the most humane measure I could offer. Whether Westerner or Southerner, I sought every means to spare lives. That resolve has not changed. But the East was different!"
I swept my arm to the side. Eleanor and the Rose Knights, held ready offstage, were escorted up onto the platform by Western soldiers.
"Look! The Imperial Court ignored the results we won through rightful struggle, and sent an envoy for no purpose but to send us packing so they could seize still greater interests for themselves — and they even dispatched the so-called invincible Rose Knights, prepared to use force if necessary! I saw through their designs and rejected the Court's proposal! Even so, I never intended to kill the envoy or the Rose Knights first! But the East was different!"
At the mention of the East, the Westerners' rage boiled over in raw, furious cries.
"Cowards!"
"Murderers!"
"The East played the Court's mouthpiece, threatened me, and demanded I hand over the envoy the Emperor himself had sent! They were no different from Harth, the Southern Archduke of this very land — the man who drained his own citizens dry to craft every luxury for this Eleanor, the Emperor's envoy, while turning a deaf ear to those same citizens' screams!"
"In a surprise attack without declaration of war, noble Western lives were wounded and snuffed out! And the sole reason for every one of those cowardly acts was this — that Eleanor be delivered into their hands!"
"Kill her! Kill her!"
"That damned bitch!"
"Cut her head off and hang it in the plaza!"
As the enraged Westerners poured out their violence, Eleanor broke into a cold sweat, trembling from head to foot. There was probably not a soul alive who could keep their wits watching a hundred thousand people scream for their death.
"Yes! All of that chaos — for this one woman alone! Even so, I intended only to hold her here, never to kill her! But the East was different! To them, the people of our West were nothing more than savages who could be slaughtered without sin — 'lesser beings' whose very lives were not equal to their own!"
"Scum!"
"Murderers!"
"I still refuse to kill Eleanor, the envoy! Not because I care for her — but because the moment we do, we, the noble people of the West, become the very 'true savages' those people keep spitting about! I ask the citizens of the West: are you savages?"
A hundred thousand voices roared as one.
"NO!!!"
"Is the value of your lives less than that of humans?"
"NO!!!"
I let a beat of silence fall, waiting until the fever of the crowd cooled just slightly, then spoke again.
"I gathered you here because I truly wished to act as the West's representative. Standing in this place are dwarves who manage the mines and work the production lines, elves who handle administration and paperwork, orcs who sweat through training every single day, birdfolk who ride the skies, and beastfolk of every kind who walk the forests — catfolk, tigerfolk, and more."
"And not only them — fruit sellers, merchants of finished goods, powder-makers, scouts, track-layers, combat troops, observers, drivers! More people than anyone could count! Do you know what you call all of them together?"
The crowd fell silent for a moment.
I held the silence a few seconds longer, then answered.
"The West."
"WOOOOOOOOH!!!"
"The West is not a place! Every single one of you is the West, and wherever you stand, that place is the West! Which means it is not I, but all of you gathered here who are the true representatives of the West! Am I right?"
"YES!!!"
At the same instant I gave a hand signal. From the rails laid behind me, an overwhelming black colossus of a train — Gustav — rolled into view and entered the plaza. Along the roads, thirty Cheonmu launchers formed up in ranks, so that Gustav and the Cheonmu stood at my back like a living backdrop.
The moment the Western citizens saw Gustav, the symbol of their victory, their excitement exploded — the cheering would not die down.
"Then I, Isaac, put the question to the representatives of the West! Do you wish me to carry out your will — and deliver judgment upon the East, which steals the lives of our sacred Western people; upon the Center that secretly supports them; upon those filthy supremacists who believe themselves born superior and that anything done to savages is permitted; upon those who preach honor with every breath and possess not a shred of it?"
A hundred thousand in the plaza — and the countless more packed into every distant alley — cried out as one.
"WE DO!!!"
"Are you resolved to follow me to the end, for the sake of victory, enduring every hardship and the heaviest of burdens?"
"WE ARE!!!"
"Will you become the legions of the West, stand with me to support our armies, enter battle with unbreakable will, and fight on until the day victory is ours?"
"WE WILL FIGHT!!!"
"I ask you: do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and more radical than anything we can yet imagine?"
"WE DO!!!"
"I ask you: is your trust in me today greater, firmer, and more unshakable than ever before? Is your readiness to support me with everything required to lead this war to victory absolute and unlimited?"
"YES!!!"
"I ask one last time. One final time. Are you prepared to devote every ounce of your strength to providing the front with the manpower and weapons it needs, and to strike a fatal blow against these vile murderers and supremacists? Do you swear a sacred oath to the front — that you will uphold it with unbreakable morale, and provide everything victory demands?"
"WE SWEAR!!!"
"Then let us each prepare to do our duty. And let us each steel our resolve — so that even if the history of our West continues for another thousand years, those who come after will look back on this moment and say: This was our finest hour!"
"WOOOOOAAAAAH!!!!!"
Listening to Isaac's speech before more than a hundred thousand people, Eleanor trembled from head to toe. From the moment she first laid eyes on that strange black train of a form she had never seen in her life, a primal sense of danger had gripped her.
And when that vast throng declared in a single, unified voice that they would fight, she knew — something had gone terribly, catastrophically wrong.
Don't tell me… have I awakened something that should never have been woken…?