Chapter 302
Chapter 302
Iron Emperor — Chapter 302
At Duke Ken's brief explanation, Eulji Uru shot him a puzzled look and asked a question.
"Even so, wouldn’t both the attacker and the defender suffer losses?"
"Of course, there were gains and losses from the war."
Duke Ken turned his gaze to Uru in a matter-of-fact manner and pointed to a part of the map laid out in the center.
"If you look above the Ameri Federal Empire, you will see the Five Grand Duchies, headed by the Ssen Duchy. This area was actually the territory of the Maritime Empire. During the wars between the empires, the Federal Empire, pushed back by the Holy Empire's advantage, granted them independence under the name of Duchies through a ceasefire agreement. That is what happened in the recent war. You can see it as their intention to at least create a buffer between the Maritime Empire and the Federal Empire."
Seeing the Gauri commanders nod, led by Jin-cheon, Duke Ken lifted his command baton and pointed to the map on the opposite side, toward the Henesia Holy Empire, and continued.
"And if you look above the Holy Empire, it is marked as territory of the Maritime Empire, but this area was also originally territory of the Holy Empire. However, it was gradually eaten away due to conflicts between the empires."
"Judging by the distance, it looks easy for the Holy Empire to reclaim. Why do they leave it alone?"
As soon as Jin-cheon asked the question, Duke Ken smiled wryly and answered.
"If they pushed themselves, it would be possible, but the Federal Empire would intervene to keep them in check during that time. Or, if the Federal Empire does not keep them in check and instead annexes the Five Grand Duchies while the Maritime Empire and the Holy Empire are fighting, then that's that. At the very least, they could finish the annexation of the Five Grand Duchies before the war between the Holy Empire and the Maritime Empire ends. Then, the Federal Empire, having secured enough profit, could belatedly join the fray and sufficiently hinder the Holy Empire's army from reclaiming its territory."
As Duke Ken finished his explanation, King Alsein let out a deep sigh and began to elaborate further for Jin-cheon.
"In truth, these issues are precisely why the Holy Empire has not intervened directly in Roselin. Instead, for nearly a century it worked politically on North Roselin, while North Roselin accepted that influence to shore up the justification it lacked."
"I see."
Jin-cheon nodded. He knew little of these historical details, so the discussion was largely new to him.
"Furthermore, if it were like before, the two empires would have already intervened. The reason they have not, however, I suspect might be due to the strength of the Gauri army."
Duke Baikal added to Alsein's explanation.
"If they intervene, I suppose it will be after the Holy Empire has taken at least some damage."
"That will likely be the case. If that happens, perhaps the Maritime Empire and the Federal Empire will reach out to us, or else..."
As Alsein trailed off, Jin-cheon's nonchalant voice followed.
"You mean they could strike the Holy Empire from behind while also targeting us."
"That's correct. Until now, rather than attacking each other's mainland, they have used the method of striking the periphery to pressure the opposing empire."
In the end, in the current situation, the Holy Empire had yet another enemy at its back.
Of course, the empire could not have been unaware of that from the beginning. It was more than reasonable to suspect some secret pact between the Maritime Empire and the Holy Empire.
Just the countless warships that had been moving toward the Maritime Empire before the war broke out could be interpreted that way.
Yet from everything they had discussed, it seemed Gauri's repulsion of the Holy Empire's first attack might now have rendered that pact void.
"At any rate, we will be in a slightly advantageous situation."
"That is true."
Jin-cheon nodded at Hwi-garam's words.
Of course, whether the situation was advantageous or not, one fact that would not change was that the Federal Empire and the Maritime Empire would not indefinitely leave the alliance of kingdoms gathered around Gauri alone.
Right now, since we are at war with the Holy Empire, which is essentially their archrival, the situation is such that we have some utility to them.
But that is as far as it goes. They will not desire a new power. What nation would welcome a situation where the balance of power that has lasted over a thousand years is disrupted?
Of course, the empires will not think that far. No matter how many victories the nations led by Gauri have achieved, the strong one is still the Holy Empire, after all...
"Interesting."
A sneer played at the corners of Go Jin-cheon's mouth. Gauri felt like a boulder cast into a vast lake, sending ripples across its surface.
* * *
Within the imperial palace of the Slegian Maritime Empire, where a massive Blue Dragon coiled across the interior, officials gathered one after another in an abrupt summons.
"Glory to His Imperial Majesty Heise Kire Viahole!"
"Glory to His Imperial Majesty!"
Amidst the reverberating, resounding voices, the small-framed Emperor Viahole, seated on the imperial throne, slowly rose and raised a hand in response.
"Everyone will more or less know."
Though his voice was like that of a country elder, it carried a strange weight. As the nobles nodded and met his eyes, Emperor Viahole smiled and slowly continued speaking.
"The old man of the Federal Empire wants to join hands. He says we should teach that youngster from the Holy Empire a lesson."
Even though it was a fact they already knew, a small stir arose among the nobles.
Presently, one noble slowly stood and bowed to Emperor Viahole.
"Speak."
As Emperor Viahole nodded his head slightly, granting him the opportunity to speak, the noble who had stood bowed once more in greeting and then carefully posed a question.
"If we do that, then what about the secret pact we previously had with the Holy Empire...?"
At his words, the other nobles looked at each other and nodded, as if that part bothered them a little as well.
However, only a portion of the nobles were doing so.
"Of course, the method of us taking the Kingdom of Haian under the Holy Empire's proposal wasn't bad either. But Haian is too far. Isn't that so?"
This was the true nature of the secret pact.
In any case, to strike the Holy Empire, the Federal Empire and the Maritime Empire had to join hands. In other words, for the Holy Empire to directly plot against Roselin, the precondition had to be that the Maritime Empire would not join hands with the Holy Empire. Therefore, if the Holy Empire annexed Roselin, the Kingdom of Haian was to be handed over to the Maritime Empire.
"To be honest, this part was troubling, but the other day the old man from the Federal Empire said, 'Let's take the Holy Empire's mainland this time.' On top of that, even half of Haian. Of course, in return, they said they would take Malin and the other half of Haian."
As he finished speaking, the corners of Emperor Viahole's wrinkled mouth lifted upward. A satisfied smile. At Emperor Viahole's words, the nobles put their heads together and conversed among themselves.
"Gauri. An unexpected country emerged and is creating this kind of opportunity for us."
The smile on Emperor Viahole's face deepened. After a moment, he quietly gave an order to the old wizard.
"Send a courteous reply to the Emperor of the Federal Empire."
"What shall it say?"
The wizard's eyes widened slightly, as if in surprise.
"Of course, we must seize the opportunity. Aren't international relations driven by necessity anyway? Naturally, we choose the side with the bigger piece of cake. Heh heh heh."
Emperor Viahole's dry laughter echoed quietly.
* * *
"A reply has come saying they will join us."
"Of course they would, that damn old man."
Emperor Amelie de Can Vish grumbled. The Chief of Intelligence, who had brought the news, answered him with an expressionless face.
"If the Holy Empire's first subjugation had not failed, the Maritime Empire side would still be ignoring our proposal even now."
"Should we give Gauri a medal or something?"
At the Chief of Intelligence's words, Emperor Bishu smiled faintly. But the Chief of Intelligence maintained a blank expression and continued in a businesslike tone.
"Judging by their track record so far, even if we gave it, they wouldn't accept it."
"I suppose so."
Though it was quite a rude manner of speaking, Emperor Bishu accepted the words with an unbothered expression.
"But you know, I smell a rat. It seems there's more to it than just that reason."
As Emperor Bishu's gaze turned sharp, the Chief of Intelligence shuffled the papers for a moment and then spoke cautiously.
"It seems it may be related to the incident before the war when the Holy Empire's Grand Fleet headed toward the Maritime Empire and then vanished."
At the Chief of Intelligence's words, Emperor Bishu clapped his hands together as if he had just remembered and asked.
"Right! There was that incident. So? Has there been any intelligence coming in since then?"
"Nothing in particular, but the current analysis of the Intelligence Department is that they might have taken a long detour from the beginning, aiming for a landing on the eastern coast of Roselin."
"Doesn't that make no sense? Why would the Holy Empire rack their brains against small fry?"
At Emperor Bishu's strong denial, the Chief of Intelligence bowed his head slightly and answered.
"That is true, but the only other possibility is that they struck the Kingdom of Malin, which makes even less sense."
"Well, that's true, but..."
As Emperor Bishu frowned and indicated his agreement, the Chief of Intelligence continued once more.
"So as a result of the Intelligence Department's analysis, we were able to draw two conclusions."
"Two?"
As Emperor Bishu looked at him with a questioning expression, the Chief of Intelligence nodded once more and went on with his explanation.
"One is precisely the Maritime Empire. As we anticipated from this event, the Maritime Empire would have made a secret pact with the Holy Empire. Otherwise, they have no reason to stand by and watch the annexation of Roselin."
"That's right."
"But ultimately, after our Federal Empire kept sweetening the deal several times, they finally agreed when we offered them a major condition this time. In the end, it means the Holy Empire was also aware of this vulnerability. Therefore, it is possible they made a secret pact with the Maritime Empire to quickly wrap up the war."
The Chief of Intelligence, who had been speaking quickly, paused to catch his breath and then continued.
"Regardless of how exhausted Roselin may be now, it is a country that has been at war for decades, no, nearly a hundred years. On top of that, they must have found Gauri's military power burdensome, after it practically annihilated seventy thousand elite North Roselin soldiers, who were assisted by the Holy Empire, in a single battle."
"Indeed, that point was unexpected. And also the outcome of this war."
Though Gauri could not compare with an empire, even the empires had never expected North Roselin’s seventy-thousand-strong army to be annihilated, much less for South Roselin to be restored and the unification war concluded at the same time.
Moreover, while it had been expected that the Tripartite Alliance led by Gauri would put up a desperate resistance against the Holy Empire, nobody had expected them to annihilate even the Holy Empire's expeditionary force in a single blow.
"The result ended up that way, but they must have thought that if there was any sign of the war dragging on even a little, the Maritime Empire might stab them in the back. And the other is precisely our Federal Empire."
"I see."
At last, Emperor Bishu nodded his head.
Is there any reason for the Federal Empire to just stand by and watch the Holy Empire dominate?
In the end, their success in bringing the Maritime Empire into motion meant that all the very concerns the Holy Empire had feared were surfacing at once, just as the Chief of Intelligence had said.
"Thinking that way, it's easy to understand why the old man of the Maritime Empire so readily took our hand. With that many ships, a considerable number of troops must have been deployed, so he must have seen that joining hands with us would make it possible to acquire some of the Holy Empire's mainland."
"That is correct."
"Now that I look at it, this is an opportunity for us as well."
Emperor Bishu smiled.
"That is correct. Once the conquest of the Holy Empire's mainland ends, we will naturally be able to absorb the Kingdom of Malin and the Kingdom of Gauri."
"Good. If we push forward like this, the Federal Council will be able to mobilize the maximum military strength."
"You will become the greatest conquering monarch in the history of the Federal Empire."
"Heh heh heh."
Emperor Bishu laughed with satisfaction.
"Then deliver this warm news to that youngster of the Holy Empire."
"Understood."