The Papaldia Empire, Imperial Capital Esthirant

Supreme Commander Arde was baffled. Knowing that Mu sent an observer to the Celestina Empire and finding out that their analysis showed Celestina would emerge as a victor, he came up with feasible countermeasures for dealing with a larger military force. He thought, without actually seeing the results of Mu’s analysis, that, if anything, what he would’ve misread was their method of attack. However, based on the report, he was completely baffled over the amount of pure strength they had during the meeting. Losing everything they sent to the Kingdom of Selarong wasn’t a big deal where ground forces were concerned, but it was equivalent to a quarter of their naval power.

The implications of this information were causing confusion in Arde’s mind. If, instead, it were some country inside the civilized areas that had brought a few thousand ships-of-the-line. He thought that the forces they dispatched would have taken some damage, and their overall strategy would only result in the damage that can be sustained to a certain degree. Still, there was no possible way they would ever get wiped out.

He had calculated Celestina’s war potential using the report on the naval battle with the Kingdom of Louria, but maybe some of the information in it was inaccurate. Also, a statement from Lieutenant General Adem that survives the war against the Celestina Empire, the Papaldia Empire, didn’t expect that Celestina’s military was beyond his expectation.

“I need to look at all of our information on Celestina again and check the sourcing!!! Mu… what kind of information did they stumble onto?! …Wait, could it be…?”

Arde imagined the worst possible situation. Could Mu have possibly… started exporting their machine science weapons? By moving their technology from the Second Civilization to the farthest reaches of the world, they wouldn’t encounter much risk to themselves, and they could attack the empire by proxy. If the Celestina Empire were able to wipe out the Third Civilization by some miracle, it would fall to the First Civilization, mainly the Holy Milishial Empire, to keep them in check. The technological advancement level outside the civilized areas was too low for them to reproduce the weapons they made. And for Mu, they would be able to measure how effective their weapons were against other superpowers, profit from the exports, and keep the Papaldia Empire in check; it wasn’t just two birds, three birds with one stone.

“If that’s what’s happening… this is bad! This is really bad!!!”

Supreme Commander Arde ordered his men to reinvestigate Japan in much more detail.

First Civilization, Holy Milishial Empire, Port Town Cartalpas, a particular bar

At a particular bar, drunken patrons were watching a flat crystalline lens. In the top superpower, the Holy Milishial Empire, the news could be magically recorded then transmitted and displayed elsewhere, in color, using a flat crystalline lens receiver. The exact method differed, but this magic news program was available in both Mirishial and the Second Civilization superpower Mu, though only Mirishial, the world’s strongest country, could watch it in color. Once a week, news from around the world was projected by Holy Milishial Empire’s broadcast news via these crystalline lenses. For traders, this news was invaluable.

“It’s starting!”

Music began to play, signaling the start of the news broadcast.

“Greetings, it is now time for world news. We have some genuinely fantastic news for our viewers today. And now, for our first story.

“The nation that dominates its neighbors, the perennially aggressive Third Civilization superpower Papaldia Empire, failed in its invasion of the Kingdom of Selarong, and they even lost all of their forces in combat. Among the forces lost include a quarter of their total naval strength.

The ones who defeated Papaldia were from a country in the far east outside the civilized areas, the Celestina Empire, who allied themselves with Selarong. It’s unclear what kind of weaponry they used to defeat the powerful empire, but there’s no doubt that the aftereffects of this event will ripple across the entire Third Civilization.

“Next, the Gra Valkas Empire, also known as the Eight Empire, has sent a request to the Holy Milishial Empire to participate in the leadership conference held in our country that includes the top eleven countries every two years. Our government is carefully investigating this request and the motive behind it. It is widely believed that they should now be considered a superpower themselves because of their overwhelming victory in the war between the Gra Valkas Empire and the superpower Leifor.”

The news ended.

“Hey, hey! Did you hear that?!”

There was only one hot topic among the drunks today.

“I heard! The Third Civilization’s Papaldia Empire tried to bust into Selarong and got sent packing by a two-country alliance from outside the civilized areas!!!”

“A superpower getting done-in by some uncivilized countries, I don’t believe it.”

“Not that again! They got caught up with that emerging country Celestina! The ones who saved Qua-Toyne when the Kingdom of Louria invaded them.”

“Now that you mention it, I heard that legendary Demon Lord Nosgorath from the Third Civilization’s myths came back to life, but Celestina took it out with just a Battalion of Adventurers, not soldiers.”

“‘Demon lord,’ that must’ve been an exaggeration if that’s all it took to deal with it. But with Leifor’s fall and now another superpower losing in a local war, there’s sure been lots to gossip about recently.”

“Well, but you know, no matter how great Celestina is, the Central World will always be peaceful. Milishial is just too far above everyone else.”

“Hahaha, ain’t that the truth!!!”

The drunks kept on chatting.

The Celestina Empire, Royal Capital Regnieburg, Main Council Discussion Room

“Reports indicate that they are currently being loaded and were about to be transported into Hopri by Prison Fleet.”

Sacchito sighs after hearing the report from Yuuna. After the war itself, the problem is where Sofya will prepare her Honor Guardsman to deploy several orphanages to take care of the children that lost their parents through the war or after where the parents may not be able to take care of the child. It also serves as one of the vital influences of the Celestina Empire, where the orphanage will appropriately raise the kids until they are aged enough to live independently. One of Celestina’s strong influences came from Childre's territory, where it houses millions of orphans and runs the entire orphanage at the Celestina Empire. The territory of Childre receives the most budget from the Celestina Empire, with seventy percent of the money surplus was sent to Childre to raise the children every year.

Freya asks for the all-out war preparation.

“Is everything ready when we’re going for an all-out war?”

“Definitely. However, I must say that the luck came from those who are not stationed inside the Capital and the Kingdom of Verlaine by the Papaldia Empire.”

“We better get prepared for it. But, we need to strip those who dare to commit unchecked atrocities.”

“Zion is Verlaine’s primary target, and I’m sure Shiki already planned something for his execution.”

“Good to hear it.”

Another report came from Ishiene, who manages to secure around 5,000 to 7,000 prisoners of war from the sea. Sachi makes a slight frown reading at it. It seems that MAC’s power was very destructive while, on the other hand, it was instrumental in scoring a kill without causing a magazine detonation.

“Ishiene’s report indicates that most of the crew are on top of the deck, and some ships that struck by plasma most of the crew did not make it. The exception was when a MAC hit the ship, causing immediate destruction without triggering the magazine's detonation. The bomb set by the Undine also did not put the magazine to detonate with only one ship where it was either exploded with the gunpowder spilled or the destruction power too high to handle.”

Alicia sighs; reading all of these reports just makes them bring a headache.

“We do have a contact inside the Papaldia Empire, isn’t it?”

“Certainly. Silvano already marks Kyeos as their contact as he has been digging information around us by buying the books about us from the merchants that trade from the Celestina Empire.”

“So, how are we going to take their technology?”

“The magic stone refining tech? It’s even better than Holy Milishial Empire, and we can use that to build one for the Kingdom of Verlaine as a reparation fee. How do we threaten them?”

“I think I’ve got an idea for that.”

Alicia lay out a plan where they will threaten the Empire’s top brass directly.

“We can use Jill to bring us in, and then we do the active camouflage to threaten them directly. But, we should trigger to the point where Ludius leaves his seat. That’s where Sachi will take a seat while the Rabbits will take care of any intruders. Also, I plan to split us into three teams. One will be where the higher-ups will gather, and another will take control of the senate. The third team will switch the flag to indicate that the palace and senate have fallen.

We plan to take control of the castle for at least one to two hours. After that, we withdraw once we complete our operational objective.”

“Well, intel from Jill and Silvano are accurate to this point. The Papaldia Empire is somehow doesn’t know the consequences of waging war against the Empire that has diplomatic relations with over 400 countries and planet systems. If only they could send a diplomat to us in the first place, this certainly won’t happen. However, thanks to that, we were able to secure several things that we need for serving our purposes.”

“Well. I think it will be most likely Shiki will also demand the Papaldia Empire to return the Kingdom of Verlaine, or he will attack them without hesitation.”

“Hahaha, well… It can’t be helped anyway.”

Sipping the tea, they saw Shina entering the room.

“How’s our assassin with her fiancée?”

“Good as a silk, Shina.”

“Well. I think that makes all of the top officers are married anyway. Still, I will be going to miss teasing him.”

“Oh, come on, Shina. How long have you’ve been traveled before you take Frederick as your husband? Six hundred years?”

“Ugh…!!”

Shina’s face turns red, and Sachi only giggles while looking at her face.

“About the Kingdom of Verlaine. I start to think that it’s an excellent option to give them a starship. But, I prefer that we will give them a Frigate starship instead of a Corvette starship.”

“If you want it, you can request me to make a custom Frigate, Madam.”

Feena volunteers herself as she will prepare the Frigate for the Kingdom of Verlaine.

“Please talk to Shiki about it. Since he will be most likely to stay at the Kingdom of Verlaine, we may be able to establish one of our main bases of operations there.”

“I’m not going to the Kingdom of Verlaine until she gets a title, Shina.”

Shina shrieks as Shiki suddenly pops up from behind her, and the councils laugh.

“How’s the date today, Shiki?”

“I don’t want to talk about it…”

They can see his face turns red while Shina looks at Shiki as he takes his seat.

“Alicia, have you arrange for Rosaria so she can study it for a Master's Degree?”

“I’ve already prepared it. She will most likely be suitable to work at either Natunia or Studia for her research or part-time job. If she has yet to be adjusted to how our technology works, then a part-time job is the only option for her.”

“That’s fine by me. Besides, I already promised Rosaria that I would not marry her until she got her Master’s Degree from Royal Celestina Academy University.”

“So, let’s recap our strategy again to threaten the Papaldia Empire.”

The strategy involves a small strike force of up to 40 personnel, including the Main Council, Adjutants, and selected personnel from the Zealot Strike Force. They will split themselves into three teams. The first team will threaten the Emperor and the higher-ups. The second team will capture the senate room and threaten the senate. The third team will capture the castle by switching the Papaldia Empire’s banner into the Celestina Empire’s banner. This operation itself will be broadcasted live on the Third Civilization to instigate more rebellion and give the rebels a morale boost to topple the Papaldia Empire.

Shina reads it, and she nodded with it.

“Good. We can go to this plan. The problem is we need to prepare the schedule itself.”

“Probably after we deal severe damage to their military. They will be most likely to call an emergency meeting. The Papaldia Empire has their forces separated too wide at 77 countries, excluding Verlaine, where we will strike them. That’s their biggest mistake.”

“I agree about it. What about the Ancient Dragon?”

“He won’t come to feast upon the Wyvern Overlord.”

“What Kagefumi is up to, Shiela?”

“No. It’s just that he doesn’t want Wyvern Overlord since the Papaldia Empire’s genetic modifications were made in a rush for breeding the Overlord.”

“That’s fine by us. So we don’t need the ancient dragon for it.”

Shina takes a note as she remembers the request from Emelone.

“The Queen of Embellia wants to deploy the 1st Undine Army to terrorize the Papaldia Empire’s fleet.”

“Isn’t 2nd “Ocean Crystal” Division is enough? She can just join Ishiene in the attack.”

“I will relay to it.”

“Also. Once this war is over, we will start developing the Magnetic Accelerator Ballista. We can establish that in the Kingdom of Verlaine.”

“I agree. We need to make a modified medieval weapon so we can’t rely on technology too much. You know what happened at the Third and Fourth Interstellar War, right? Where the Fire and Forget concept becomes obsolete with ALRS technology.”

“Yeah, I remember it.”

“Also, do you know Etanaru Empire, Shina?”

Hearing that word from Sacchito makes Shina got a cold chill. To think that the Main Council mentions the Etanaru Empire, the new world they currently live in, could be connected to the Eternal Empire of Magic's existence.

“That’s the Empire that goes from one dimension and another, with their ultimate goal is to kill all deities and force them to be the slave of the Etanaru. How did you get this information?”

“When the Demon Lord Nosgorath was defeated by my hands a month ago. He mentions the Etanaru Empire and its subordinate, Ravernal Empire.”

“I better inform this to the World of Yggdrasil. Your father once faced them at one of the overwhelming odds. We must not take this matter lightly since we will be facing a civilization that wants every race to bow down to the Etanaruan race.”

“Is that something related to the Battle of Mount Mjolnir where my father once makes his last stand?”

“Yes. It was where we face one of the Etanaru’s officer that almost kill him. If I recall it correctly, he’s one of the Etanaru’s top general.”

“Then, we will intensify the training right away.”

“Please, do.”

The Main Council never saw Shina’s face gone serious. It seems the threat of the Etanaru Empire was not something that they can underestimate. The Main Council will intensify their training in the morning, and after that, they will equip plenty of restraining to train their strength in both magic and physical.

The order soon relayed to the entire Battle Group, intensifying their training, and the research on weaponry, defenses, and magic intensified.

The Papaldia Empire, Imperial Capital Esthirant

Remille was paying a visit to the emperor in order to request permission to destroy the Celestina Empire.

“I believe you have already seen the reports, but…”

Remille summarized what happened.

“…as a result, the imperial military’s invasion of the Kingdom of Selarong failed. Afterward, King Daara, the 19th, and Princess Rosaria announced the establishment of a legitimate government within Celestina and the engagements with one of their officials. Other territories are starting to show unrest as well. If we allow Celestina to do as it pleases, this cancer within the empire will only grow. Therefore, I have come to request that we officially declare war on the Celestina Empire and authorize the extermination of all of their people.”

Emperor Ludius took his time responding.

“So the stain of this failure falls on Arde, huh… We must consider how to punish him later. However, they are just some uncivilized barbarians… They make light of our empire, a superpower… This displeases us. How excellent, Remille. Your original insight was correct. We were too soft. Our hands must exterminate these barbarians, and we must show the world what happens to those who defy the will of the empire. ……Here and now, in the name of Emperor Ludius of Papaldia, we declare a war of genocide on the Empire of Celestina!!!”

The Third Civilization superpower Papaldia Empire was essentially declaring that they would ethnically cleanse all Celestinian people. Jill, tapping their conversation during her breaks, only chuckles as they dig their own grave for that.

Remille of the imperial family headed to the meeting room in the 1st foreign affairs department. Usually, it would be unthinkable to meet with Celestina, who had just been declared as an “enemy.” Still, Remille herself was the one who proposed another meeting after the battle in the Kingdom of Selarong was over, which the Celestina Ministry of Foreign Affairs had also acknowledged.

Even if it was a local war, she still never imagined they could ever lose, so her steps were heavy as she walked to the meeting room. She imagined that they would act even more conceited this time than they were the last time, probably showing their arrogancy.

“…How impertinent.”

However, if she thought about it, their declaration of war on Celestina was much easier than she could expect, it helped cut through the bureaucracy. In addition, once the Celestinian citizens hear from their own diplomats that the superpower Papaldia Empire had declared a war of genocide on them, they would be utterly consumed by terror. That was a nice thought as well.

Remille opened the door to the meeting room. Greeting her were the familiar faces of the ambassador Jacob and his assistant Rho.

The meeting began.

“……I believe you know the results of the battle in the Kingdom of Selarong… For the sake of the citizens of the Papaldia Empire, have you considered the requests from Celestina that we delivered last time?”

Celestina’s demands were for the Celestina Empire's admittance to become a Superpower, reparations for the families of the killed citizens, hush money to keep Celestina Officials silent for two years, and reparations and a formal apology towards the Kingdom of Selarong.

“Hmph… You should already know the answer. We refuse.”

“Is that so…? I see. Then let’s talk about—"

“We have something we would like to say as well,” Remille declared, cutting off Jacob’s words. “You have incited rebellion in the empire’s vassal states and offered protection to those who seek independence, incurring the wrath of His Grace, the emperor. You barbarians fail to understand that what you’re doing is wholly unnecessary. Your country has continued to underestimate a superpower's strength, let alone you are not worthy of becoming a superpower. And the people in charge of making decisions for your country, are they under the impression that they alone are completely safe where they are now? How naïve. That foolish thinking will lead to your downfall. It has bought you the emperor’s fury and will lead to your destruction.

Pitiful citizens, the Papaldia Empire has declared war on the Empire of Celestina, and we will completely exterminate you, down to the last person.”

Jacob only makes a soft smile, aware of this.

“I see, so you mean your Empire is going to exterminate the Celestina Empire down to the last person?”

“It is exactly as I say.”

“That includes ethnic cleansing against all Celestinian people?”

“Precisely. After the two of you return to your country, you will be killed by our invasion force. Be grateful that I am merciful today; you will not be killed right now. I don’t need to demand the return of the Prisoners since I knew that they would be happy to see us when we crush your Empire.”

Jacob and Rho can only make a sigh, and that makes Remille felt annoyed even more.

“So in this world, a superpower can only put up this much of a front, huh… Well, I do hope you can get a light to see us from a different perspective, not to mention we’re tired of dealing with a barbarian like you.”

“Heh, such are the ramblings of a dead man.”

“The game is on, then.”

“What?”

Jacob and Rho wear their military red beret and goggles, and they place a scroll into the desk.

“Alright, then. This is our new list of demands. This scroll was sealed with special magic and will only open when you are in complete despair and wanting to save your Empire from destruction.”

“Hmph! Why would I need it from those who are going to be killed by invasion force, anyway?”

“You will need it. I’m sure of it.”

Jacob, the primary negotiator for Celestina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding establishing diplomatic ties with the Papaldia Empire, left the room along with Rho. They leave the scroll to Remille since it will be essential to determine the Papaldia Empire's safety.

After Jacob and Rho departed from the 1st foreign affairs department, they headed back to the hotel to retrieve their luggage. Along the way, their carriage suddenly stopped.

“! What’s going on?!”

There was a man dressed in black standing in front of the carriage. As he approached the carriage, he spoke to them.

“I’d like to speak with you for a bit. My mansion is nearby. Would you be willing to have a chat there?”

Jacob and Rho seemed to remember this man who was speaking to them… because standing there was the 3rd foreign affairs department head. They let Kyeos boards the carriage for a while as they apply the sound suppression system so the carriage driver will not listen to their conversation.

“Mr. Kyeos?! I apologize, but Celestina and your country are now at war. We have nothing else to discuss. Would you please excuse us? We will escort you back to the 3rd Foreign Affairs.”

“Please wait for a moment!! Whatever happens in this war in the future, it would be a mistake for neither of our countries to have a point of contact. At the very least, I would like to establish a secure means of communication between just myself and your country. I was thinking of giving you a magical communication device, but if you cannot trust me, then I would not mind putting a mechanical communication device prepared by your country in my mansion.”

“Are you serious? This is your country. If your superiors were to learn of this, you’re the one who will suffer for it.”

“Indeed, I would not be let off with just a slap on the wrist. However, if there were just one point of contact somewhere here, then your country would be less likely to ‘airstrike’ it, right? There are a number of people in the imperial family and leadership who still lend me their ears. It’s just a single communication device. I don’t think it’s such a bad trade for your country.”

“Airstrike?! …It seems you’ve done some digging into us. I understand. Please remember this word as you need to meet one of our agents there. She’s in your office on working days and often yelling at the Clerk to cut some slack.”

Kyeos’s eyes wide opened when they mention it. “Don’t tell me… Is it… Head Clerk Regal?!”

“Yes. Here’s the word. ‘Does someone have a chess piece?’ She will ask, ‘What kind of chess piece do you want?’ Then tell her again, ‘I need a rook.’ She will lastly tell, ‘I have a rook you need.’ Then bring her to your office to start talking. She will be your primary contact for the Celestina Empire.”

“C-certainly! I will remember it!”

Once Kyeos got what he needs, he will immediately contact Silvano Shin Regal for the next day.