Proclamation of Resolve
Only very few people were present at dinner that day. Patricia and Ville Zentra"s mayor on Vireocean"s side, and King Doriachi on Dream Maker"s side. They each had their secretary with them, and some officials, but all in all, there were less than ten people in the room.
「Are you serious?」
Lunch meeting had become part of their daily routine. Patricia, however, didn"t expect the words that came out of the king"s mouth.
「I am. We haven"t fallen so low as to spout lies or trickery.」
「But you do realize that you"re basically saying you"re renouncing your right to a major part of Grand Dream.」
「I am aware of that.」
「We need your help in taking back Grand Dream. In line with this, we will surrender part of Grand Dream in accordance with your efforts.」Doriachi said as soon as they finished their meal.
There was only one country in that continent, Dream Maker. While most of the continent was undeveloped, it was not unusual to claim ownership based solely on the fact that you lived there first. In fact, it was rather common to do so. Yet despite all this, Doriachi said he"d “surrender” part of the continent—in other words, renouncing their right to the land.
Realistically speaking, they"d lost control of the land. So giving it away doesn"t matter to them at all? Patricia wracked her brains as she raised her cup of tea and took a sip. Do they really want to get back their place that badly? I don"t really mind annexing Dream Maker if it means getting my hands on their technology.
「Lady Patricia. Do you think this country will exist in the future?」Doriachi asked.
「What exactly is the point of your question?」
「Excuse me, that was a poor choice of words. Let me rephrase it: Will this country exist after a hundred years or a thousand?」
「It"s natural to wish for your country to endure in the long term. History tells us that countries are usually replaced every hundreds of years. But I don"t think that"s what you"re trying to ask.」
「No… I have one more question. Do you think that there will still be humans in this continent after ten years?」
Nonsense, Patricia thought as she furrowed her brows. Of course—She realized the point of the question.
「King Doriachi. Do you think that the monsters in Grand Dream will invade Vireocean?」
「I am almost certain they will come.」
「Is that why you want to gather forces to exterminate the monsters even if it means giving up your right to the continent?」
「Yes.」
「Do you have any reason to believe that they can cross the ocean?」
「I do.」
Doriachi told Patricia a story about their ancestors. Hundreds of years ago, they predicted the existence of the continent based on the seeds that migratory birds brought. If birds could cross the ocean, there was no reason to believe that monsters couldn"t.
「Hmm…」
It made sense. But Patricia thought it was too unlikely to happen.
Maybe they"re overestimating the monsters that their advanced technology couldn"t deal with, she thought.
A meeting was called as soon as Doriachi"s party returned to Ville Dream; the agenda: Patricia"s response to Doriachi"s proposal.
『It seems the Supreme Leader is underestimating the monsters in Grand Dream.』an official who accompanied the king said.
『Isn"t that a good thing?』Grucel said.『It"s better that they underestimate the enemy and dispatch many troops than being scared and refuse to send any at all.』
『I agree with Grucel. I just hope they don"t blame us later and call us liars after they find out how strong the monsters really are.』
That was Doriachi"s concern. He informed them how dangerous the monsters were, but Patricia and the people of this continent didn"t seem to take him seriously. It felt like they were saying “You"re just saying that because you lost and had to escape”.
『Either way, we did our part and informed them. Bios seems to be eager in going to Grand Dream.』
『Yes. I"m sure there are many greedy countries out there. If the others join us, Vireocean won"t have much of a choice but to send troops as well.』
Everyone noticed Doriachi"s grim expression. The king was too nice; he wasn"t fit to deal with politics.
『Grucel, how is Silver Face doing?』
『There didn"t seem to be any problem when he came yesterday.』
『We owe him a lot of money. I want to pay him back as soon as possible, but we have to use anything we can too.』
『I agree. But I don"t think we have to worry about Silver Face. In fact, he even asked if we needed anything else. Makes you wonder how much fortune he has.』
『Let"s not be suspicious of him or his motives. We must pay him back someday. That"s all there is to it.』
『Indeed.』
And so the meeting was adjourned. At the end of the day, all they could do was wait for Patricia"s move.
The Supreme Leader"s decision came quick. She invited Doriachi the next day.
「We will send troops to Grand Dream.」
Operation Reclaim Grand Dream was formally announced that day.
Queen Kudyastoria frowned for a moment. Before her was a messenger from Vireocean who informed her about the country sending troops to Grand Dream.
「We will lend our a.s.sistance as well.」Her reply was immediate.「But we need to study how many we can send.」
「But of course.」
「When will the troops be deployed?」
「The first batch must gather in Ville Zentra by December this year and will set sail on March next year. The second batch will gather by March and leave on May. The third batch should be there by May and will leave on July.」
「Hmm… Will there be enough ships?」
「In all honesty, we don"t know. We still have no idea how much help we"ll get. However, Quinbland has their own ships. We"re building new ones as well with Dream Maker"s a.s.sistance, so we believe we"ll have enough.」
「Please tell me about Vireocean"s lineup.」
「Seven thousand from the navy and two thousand from Dream Maker"s regular army for an estimated total of nine thousand troops.」
Kudyastoria drew her breath in with a gasp and half-rose to her feet. As far as she knew, seven thousand was almost everyone from the navy. Vireocean would only be able to defend its coasts.
「Dream Maker is lending us a magic item which well help drive away pirates near the harbor.」the messenger said, as though seeing through what went in the queen"s mind.
「I see.」
One thing was for sure. Patricia was serious. She wanted to have the eastern continent. For Vireocean, the sea was a normal traffic route. Connected by the sea, then, was just like being adjoined by land.
She expects considerable profit from this venture, Kudyastoria thought. We have to steel ourselves.
Right now the kingdom was still slowly recovering. While Ponsonia formed an alliance with Quinbland, they were still in hostile relations with Einbeast. The army had to be reorganized as well.
Even if we secure a piece of land in Grand Dream, how do we divide it? No n.o.ble would want to send troops if they"re not getting any land. Sanctioned n.o.bles with no land might find this opportunity enticing. There would surely be fierce compet.i.tion over it. So many problems…
Kudyastoria was starting to get a headache, but she made her decision.
Not sending troops is not an option.
If Vireocean was serious, victory could be attainable in a naval battle. A battle on land would be more up Quinbland or Ponsonia"s alley. Every country would surely partic.i.p.ate in the operation. Ponsonia couldn"t just sit around and do nothing. The question now was how much the kingdom would have to invest.
The problem weighed heavy on the teenager"s shoulders.