Gilding (2)
Serpina listened to my words and fell silent for a moment—then let out a soft laugh. She laughed quite delightedly for a while before she spoke.
"Yes. I thought you would say something like that, Swen."
"……"
"I would like you to tell me. Why do you think so?"
"Would you grant me a moment to think?"
"Oh? So you answered without even thinking? That makes it all the more interesting."
Serpina looked at me with a thoroughly satisfied smile.
Even though she must have roughly known how I tend to answer from our previous exchanges of questions and answers, deliberately saying I had "answered without thinking" was very much like her.
It wasn't that she was needling me… rather, she seemed to have somewhat grasped the mechanism of my thinking, and I deliberately left that nuance alone, quietly sinking into thought.
She… at least as she was now, trusted me far more than before.
Even if I pulled out reasons that were merely cobbled together rather than airtight arguments with no room for rebuttal, the likelihood that she would listen to me was extremely high.
But—even so, I had to present a plausible reason.
Only then would there be legitimacy in her having chosen me.
That was something both Serpina and I needed.
There had to be a solid reason for simply letting this golden opportunity slip by, so that the generals under her command would be convinced.
So then, why would moving the occupation forces now be a loss?
It always seemed to come out of nowhere, but ultimately I had to approach it as simply doing once more what I had done all along. Otherwise I would end up crushed under the weight of the compass I possessed, dragged along without reaching any conclusion.
I closed my eyes and pictured the map.
I had memorized the continental map well enough to draw the whole of it with my eyes closed.
…First, let me gather the information I need to deduce the parts I can guess at.
"My lord. Before I speak, I would like to know in which territories Kalintz and Chel each raised their rebellions."
"Kalintz raised his banner at the capital castle of Anel, and Chel at Hyzel Castle nearby, I am told."
As I thought.
Neither of the two rebel armies currently shared a border with our nation.
I organized my thoughts and explained.
"Both rebel armies are currently surrounded by Brans Army territories. As long as the alliance holds, even if we advance that way and succeed in capturing a castle, from our army's perspective it would become an enclave. The premise of 'capturing a castle' in the first place requires concluding a military passage treaty with the Brans Army, but as I recall, no such provision exists in the alliance documents."
"Indeed not."
Of course there wouldn't be.
Our army freely traversing Brans Army territory would, conversely, mean the Brans Army could freely traverse ours as well.
Was there any reason we should grant them that?
Of course, there was the method of concluding a one-sided unequal treaty… but no matter how powerful a nation, if you play the thug too hard in diplomatic relations, things can arise that are difficult to clean up, so one had to be careful.
Bluntly speaking, if our army occupied about four-fifths of the continent, we could pressure the other nation not with unequal treaties but by simply unilaterally announcing things, receiving only moral condemnation with no particular problems—but currently we held roughly one-third, so it was hard to say we had that kind of power.
"Even without a treaty, there is the method of temporarily receiving permission as allies… but whether they would accept those conditions is questionable to begin with, and even assuming everything went well, I don't think our army would be able to gain much from it."
"Yes. I agree with you that far."
"Then what remains is the matter of the Asius Army…"
Coldly speaking, there was no one in our army who could overwhelm the generals who would participate in the Asius Army's defensive battles.
Of course, there was Lady Irene, the specialist in siege warfare… but on their side were several outstanding generals ranked among the best in the game, including Emma, who had similar specs to Irene, as well as Epinel and Ernandof.
Even if one granted they had little talent for state administration, they were still outstanding generals who could never be ignored. In this game, the Asius Army was a nation built on the concept of a sovereign who starts with outstanding generals and few territories.
Even so, war was ultimately about numbers being king, so if we kept attacking with the numbers of our army that occupied the northern continent, we could win… but it would still be the inefficient method of mobilizing every soldier in the entire nation and throwing them at a single castle.
I organized the rough contents and reported to Serpina.
Serpina nodded at my words that scraping together all the troops in the nation and sending them to the front was dangerous.
No—if we could have beaten the Asius Army in the first place—
[That is not the case.]
—an answer like that would never have come out.
Even if we scraped together as many troops as possible and charged now, we wouldn't be able to beat them. No, even if we won, it would clearly be a Pyrrhic victory that inflicted fatal damage.
From our perspective, there was nothing more beneficial than acquiring Asius Army territory, after all.
"In other words, advancing toward the Brans Army is impossible at present due to the alliance, and while our army is slightly at a disadvantage in battle against the Asius Army, even if we take the time to win, the likelihood is high that we would ultimately gain nothing for it—is that what you are saying?"
"Yes."
"……"
Serpina listened to my words, fell into thought for a moment, then asked with a puzzled expression.
"Is that all you have to say, Swen?"
"Yes, it is."
"Then I suppose it is fine for me to state my opinion now?"
…Huh?
Lady Serpina's opinion?
Curiosity sparked for a moment, and I looked into her golden eyes, sending a silent signal of affirmation.
"You just said that scraping together all the soldiers of the homeland is dangerous."
"Yes. To be precise, rather than dangerous, you may take it as closer to inefficient."
"From where I stand, that situation seems more of a problem of danger than inefficiency."
"Well, if there are no soldiers within the territories, it would certainly be dangerous…"
"No. It is not merely a matter of degree of danger."
Having said that, she filled her voice with the emotion of certainty.
"Because a rebellion will break out."
"A rebellion… you say?"
Because a rebellion would break out domestically, advancing onto the continent in the current situation is dangerous—
Of course it wasn't a thought I hadn't considered.
However, I had simply thought it wasn't particularly realistic for another rebellion to break out when we had suppressed a rebel army mere days ago.
It was the kind of feeling like lightning striking three times in a row in a similar location.
So I deliberately hadn't brought it up.
I hadn't had the confidence to persuade Lady Serpina, and further the generals under her, with the claim that a rebellion would break out.
"Then, Swen, I would like to ask you one question here."
"A question…?"
"What do you think? Do you believe a rebellion will break out in our army?"
…??
I wondered why she was suddenly fixated on a "question"… but anyway, I input the question she had asked.
Of course the result came out as expected.
[Unknown.]
As expected, for questions that pinpointed whether such-and-such would happen, no answer came out.
I couldn't give a satisfying answer, but it would still be better to say something somehow.
"It is not as though the possibility is completely nonexistent… but even if the North is in turmoil, the blood spilled by dozens of generals who dreamed empty dreams has not yet dried. In this situation, I do not think a rebel army would risk danger to deliberately reveal its presence…"
"Oh?"
"If I were plotting a rebellion, I would wait for a more suitable time rather than now. Do you not think so as well, my lord?"
I began to persuade her as she wore an amused expression.
But.
She began talking about something completely unrelated to what I was trying to persuade her of.
"You do not think they would reveal their presence, is that it?"
"…Yes?"
"You would wait for a suitable time, is that it?"
"My lord?"
"Swen. I will ask once more. I am thinking of leading the occupation forces south. Can you tell me what you think of that?"
…???
I wondered why she was asking that question again, but since nothing had changed, my answer was the same.
"I stated that at present it does not appear to be an appropriate time."
"Then regarding the talk that a rebellion will break out?"
"…With high probability, it does not seem likely…"
…Ah.
Only then did I realize why she had been asking me those questions.
"Yes. You assert with certainty that our going south is not the appropriate time, but regarding whether a rebellion will break out or not, you speak of probability without any certainty at all. No—"
"Everything you have ever told me with certainty was solely the opinion that moving the occupation forces is not efficient. All the reasons for that fell within the realm of prediction and conjecture."
"And it is not merely this time. You always speak of results with certainty, but for the process you make conjectures rather than speaking with certainty."
She rose from her seat and walked slowly toward me.
This situation.
It wasn't the first time.
Yes.
That man from before, who through riddle-like exchanges with me had come closest to my ability.
Despite his advanced age, his mind was extraordinarily sharp—the ill-fated strategist of the Asius Army, the man called the sage of the former empire—Zinor Nighthart.
That man too… had made me feel this kind of chill, if only for a moment.
And now.
The chill I felt from Serpina…
"Swen. I will ask only one thing. It is a question that can resolve every point of doubt I have felt in our conversations. You need not answer if you do not wish to, but I would like you to at least hear me out, taking it as indulging my whim."
When I came to my senses, her face was once again right in front of my nose.
Foolishly enough, in a situation like this, the sensation of the lips I had once shared with her floated up, and my heart began to pound once more.
Lady Serpina looked straight at me, her face slightly flushed… her eyes sparkling as she asked, as if she were a curious young girl.
"Could it be that you… can only grasp the results alone…?"