Supply Chain Stabilization (1)
Supply Chain Stabilization (1)
'Hear me, clan! We have strived for eons, hoping that all souls might reach the light, yet we could not achieve our ideal. But now, one born with a destiny greater than any other wishes to bestow their brilliant light upon the world. The Dragon clan shall cease the minimal intervention in the human realm that we have adhered to thus far. Furthermore, should this noble friend encounter a great malice blocking their path, the Dragon clan swears to assist Trixie-nim with all our might.'
"Well, I managed to clear away the natural disaster without a hitch."
I managed to butter up the aberrant variable dragons, who could have popped out of nowhere to interfere at any moment.
I went beyond the mutual non-interference I had requested.
I even managed to sound out an active, friendly relationship where they would cooperate if necessary.
...It is a bit strange that they're acting so subservient and happy even after getting their asses kicked, though.
'Hahaha! To think Luminarix would recover so well! The Black Dragon clan shall never forget this favor, Trixie!'
'Argh, Mother! At least let me share a moonlit farewell with Trixie, who is like a single rose-!'
'Trixie. I apologize for the trouble my dim-witted child has caused. I am truly grateful for the life you saved.'
Between Tenebris, who was dragged away by his mother while crying out for me, and the rest of them,
I suppose I'll just have to assume their species has a few screws loose.
Anyway, now it's time to take control of the manageable constants.
Zing-
I scroll through the office AR (Augmented Reality) hologram map.
I examine the territories of The Empire, the Dwarf Alliance, the Elf Guard, and others located across the continent, centered on Lunatium.
"The supply chain in the southern region is going to completely collapse...."
If you were to split the continent in half from top to bottom like drawing an equator line, the entire bottom half is The Empire's territory.
If a war breaks out, we'll face disruptions not only in the food supply provided through trade with The Empire, but also in the supply of various raw materials like steel, stone, coal, oil, and aluminum, which were extracted from mines outside the city.
Even if we assume patriotic companies voluntarily solve the food issue,
Lunatium, no matter how advanced in technology and science, cannot create something from nothing.
Even alchemy, which transmutes stones into gold, requires the stone as a minimal catalyst.
And it's not like Lunatium uses a cost-effective primitive weapon system where you just attach a metal spearhead to a long wooden pole.
From armor plates several centimeters thick to artillery shells, every single weapon is a material-devouring hippo that requires an immense amount of resources.
The moment there is even the slightest disruption in the supply chain, we won't be able to guarantee the operation or quality of our military production lines.
They may be unmanned automated mining machines that don't have to worry about human casualties, but they would be easy targets for enemies if operated openly in a combat zone.
In many ways, it's unreasonable to continue resource extraction in the southern region, which will be the main front against The Empire.
[Resource procurement in the eastern region is also difficult. I mean, the Elf Guard have been running wild there for ages, right? Every time we try to lay down a conveyor belt, they throw a fit and smash everything to pieces. It's not like it's even that close to their precious forest, the petty jerks.]
"I confirmed that in the report from the other day."
<97 years ago>
-Elf Guard, committed unannounced looting of trade routes
I remember that several innocent merchant caravans suffered because of those eco-fascist forest-ear bastards trying to pass through the area around the Elf forest.
This is a matter of religious conviction, so there's no room for negotiation.
If we want to take over the territory, armed conflict is expected.
If that happens, we have to go for a war of annihilation.
"Now that we're at war with The Empire, I don't want to increase the number of enemy allies just to take over some tasteless forest zone. We'll leave the eastern region, where the Elves are, alone for now. How about the west?"
[The western region is... the Beastman Kingdom... hmm... it'd be faster for you to just see it.]
Pop-!
Elara pulls up reference material.
A reconnaissance drone is flying peacefully, filming the Beastmen lined up below, when suddenly, the drone is shot down by a spear thrown by a Beastman wearing medieval-style armor.
[It's a video from a year ago. They act this violently if you even get close to the Beastman territory.]
"...There's no room for dialogue here either. Let's move on."
<73 years ago>
-Beastman Kingdom, confiscated local corporate assets, detained dispatched employees, and notified of diplomatic severance
If the hostility is still this high, well, they're no different from the Elves.
If we try to take it by force, there's a risk of it turning into an all-out war.
We'll put the west on hold for now, too.
Depending on how the war flows, we might be able to strike either the Elves or the Beastmen, but that's a conversation for when we have sufficient capacity.
There's no need to pointlessly make the whole world our enemy at once and suffer a futile defeat.
Then there's only one region left.
"How about the north? The area where the Dwarves reside is at the northernmost tip, so I don't think the mining areas would overlap."
[The Dwarves are sitting on the mining rights in the northern mountain range! No matter how you look at it, Lunatium is geographically much closer to this mine!!]
"What kind of fresh bullshit is that? I've never heard of such a thing."
[Noooo...! You really need to see their truly absurd claims~!!]
<148 years ago>
-Dwarf Alliance, unilateral declaration of 20,000% tariff on goods from Lunatium
Those dwarf runts weren't just ostracizing our corporate goods.
They went a step further.
-Dwarf Alliance, claimed mining rights based on occupied tradition and history
-Dwarf Alliance, imposed 1,000% tariff on steel exports
-Dwarf Alliance, imposed 5,000% tariff on precious metal exports
-Dwarf Alliance, imposed 100% tariff on scrap metal exports
-Dwarf Alliance, controlled total export volume of mined resources
"They shamelessly monopolized resources that should have been ours, and then sold them to us in dribs and drabs while ripping us off. Is that right?"
[That's right!... Of course, no matter how much we were taken advantage of, we haven't had the capacity to demand corrective measures until now....]
"Ha."
Justification to crush them. We have it.
Burden of consequences. None. They're isolated in the rugged northern mountains, so even if they wanted to come down and attack us, they couldn't.
Benefits gained. The underground of the mountain range is overflowing with rich mineral veins.
These runts.
They're shaking their asses, practically begging us to strip them down to their very souls.
March North.
Definitely, March North.
In the current situation, marching north was the only answer to stabilize the raw material supply.
"Rest assured. Under my leadership, Lunatium will reclaim the legitimate northern territory that has been ours since the past."
[As expected of the General Director...! Muek- why are you pushing me awayyy-]
"You're giving me goosebumps."
Press-
I push away Elara, who is clinging to me for a hug of emotion, with a single finger, and calculate how much compensation would be appropriate to squeeze out of them.
If I set it too high, a Dwarf who was suddenly kicked out of an art workshop might rise as a monarch, and believing that national power lies in invasion rather than defense to overcome a broken economy, they might actually break through those rugged mountains and come down.
"Anyway, we won't need any particularly troublesome shows of force this time. Call Colonia for me."
[Yes! Contacting the Administrative Bureau!]
///
{Administrative Bureau autonomous personality AI assistant Colonia. Greetings to the General Director-nim.}
"Welcome, Colonia."
Bow-
A hologram little girl wearing oversized glasses gives a polite 90-degree bow with a lisping voice.
{How was the festival last night? I prepared it really hard so that the General Director-nim would be happy. I'm curious if you liked it.}
"You wasted the budget quite frivolously."
{...?!}
Ding-!
Colonia falls into despair as if she'd been struck.
"But you did well."
{Ueh.}
Tap tap.
I patted Colonia's head with one hand, as if to say, "Good job, good job."
"There is clearly a value that cannot be converted into numbers alone. You did well to execute it by highly valuing the abstract worth that doesn't appear in the budget expenditure items. I saw it. The children laughing brightly at this event, taking a break from their tense daily lives. A great administrator must possess both cold reason and a warm heart. It's easy to lose one's heart when buried in documents and numbers, but Colonia, you managed to reach the realm of emotion. I have no choice but to praise you."
{...Hick, Trixie-nim! Sniff, you recognized my hard work, my worries, and my growth...!}
Tee-ek-!
I hug Colonia, who is bursting with emotion and crying, saying, "Oh, you poor thing, you poor thing."
It's convenient that Colonia, who works well but has a somewhat childish personality, can be handled by dropping and then raising her emotional curve in this petty adult way.
When she's in a good mood, she allocates a large budget.
A very large one, at that.
[It's strange, but when the General Director-nim deals with Colonia, she seems like such a petty, cheap, scary, and terrifying person, even though I haven't seen her like that before.]
"It's just your imagination."
I lightly ignore Elara, who becomes unnecessarily sharp only at times like this.
{You called me regarding the mineral trade with the Dwarves.}
"That's right. I intend to properly crush them this time, and I need Colonia's assistance."
{Just tell me anything. This Colonia will mobilize all of Lunatium's administrative capabilities to help Trixie-nim's plan. Budget allocation, provision of public personnel, omission of administrative procedures, and issuance of special administrative orders—just tell me what you need, and I will support it.}
As planned.
How dare they set up tariff barriers that defy common sense and even commit the tyranny of unauthorized occupation.
Since the Dwarves were the ones to start with arrogant economic sanctions, let's properly and shamelessly screw them over in return.