Naval guns always know the answer.
"Count, do you agree that responsibility for violating the Sarsen-Lutetia Treaty and constructing the fortress lies with your side?"
"Yes, yes. I agree... I do."
The answer that had eluded them for the past three years popped out five minutes into the talks.
Count Sarsen, pale-faced and trembling like an aspen, looked almost pitiable at glance.
Seeing that, I felt a little sorry for him, so I smiled and lightened the mood a bit.
"Haha, why such a long face, Count?"
"Nothing, it's nothing."
"Then that's a relief. This is the place where the misunderstandings between the South and the County of Sarsen, piled up over the past three years, are being resolved—how could you wear such a gloomy expression?"
Only then did the Count's expression visibly relax.
He seemed to think the negotiation would end with this.
Well, in this Romance Fantasy World full of romance, war ended the moment one side won.
"Then, shall we discuss war reparations now?"
Of course, I had no intention of stopping here.
Did he think he could suck up tolls for the past three years and just wipe his mouth?
It was time to show this Romance Fantasy World some 20th Century Diplomacy.
"War reparations... you say?"
"Count, you just admitted your own wrongdoing. Correct?"
"Th-that's right."
The Count's face grew pale and stiff.
I continued without paying it any mind.
"Then you must take responsibility for your wrongdoing, must you not?"
Snap—
When I lightly snapped my fingers, Lucilla brought over a bundle of documents.
It was a list of tolls paid by our Southern merchants to Sarsen Fortress over the past three years.
"This is a list of the tolls Sarsen Fortress extorted from our merchants over the past three years."
Of course, I did not think we could collect all of it.
First, the South is one of the Empire's five great provinces. It boasts a population and territory incomparable to something like the County of Sarsen.
The South's main industry is manufacturing. The County's main industry is agriculture. The difference in income from that was also enormous.
With that much difference in economic scale, there was no way shaking down a place like this would yield much.
Wouldn't it be a miracle if we could collect even half?
"So, in cash, let's accept only one quarter of the total."
Of course, that did not mean I would not take the rest.
The 20th-century great powers knew dozens of ways to gut countries that lay down and said they had no money.
Fishing Rights. Land Use Rights. Mining Rights, and so on... Even in Sarsen Territory, which has nothing but fields and mines, there is plenty to squeeze if you look.
Only then did Count Sarsen, sensing his territory's future, ask in a trembling voice.
"The total... how much is it?"
"1.78 million credits. You did quite well for yourself, spending an amount matching the construction cost of our Dreadnought. On top of that, we must also extract compensation for our companies' overland exports being blocked by the fortress's collapse."
"That's absurd!"
It was the first time Count Sarsen, who had meekly listened until then, pushed back.
"Our Sarsen Territory does not have the capacity to pay such a huge sum!"
"Do you really think so?"
"In the first place, you're the one who illegally demolished the fortress we built over three years! I cannot accept any more unreasonable demands!"
They say even a worm wriggles when stepped on, but Count Sarsen, cornered, seemed unable to properly understand what situation he was in.
"How disappointing."
Then I had no need to be polite either.
I dropped the friendly smile and hardened my expression as I spoke.
"Was I negotiating with Count Sarsen just now, or with a reactionary?"
"W-what..."
"There is no mercy to grant a reactionary."
When I rose coldly from my seat, Count Sarsen's angry expression belatedly softened. He must have remembered the naval guns aimed at the city.
I glanced at him and summoned my adjutants.
"We withdraw. It seems negotiations do not work with these people."
"Isn't it because you people made absurd demands!"
"If you think so, conduct the rest of the negotiations directly with our fleet."
Leaving only those words, I opened the door of the conference room and walked out.
A little later, from far away, came the sound of the Dreadnought stretching.
Buuuu—
The long Ship's Horn blowing into the sky resonates in my heart.
Just as I turned to head back to the battleship—
"I will accept any conditions, Your Grace! So please, just not the bombardment...!"
An urgent voice came from behind me.
***
In the end, I was able to gain a great deal from the negotiation with Count Sarsen.
First, I acquired 99-year Concession Rights over the ports and nearby cities of the County of Sarsen.
It was called a 99-year lease, but in reality it was the same as swallowing the port forever.
Thus, by incorporating one of the West's major ports into the South, I succeeded in creating a foothold on the Western continent.
I also acquired the mining rights to the Magic Stone Mine in the County of Sarsen. For the next 99 years, all resources mined in the County of Sarsen would be sold preferentially to all Southern companies.
In exchange for us restoring the collapsed Sarsen-Lutetia overland route, I also succeeded in taking the Fishing Rights.
One could say I took everything except Count Sarsen's title.
Now Sarsen was practically no different from a colony.
Nevertheless, the reason I did not go so far as to attempt colonial rule was simple.
"Because it doesn't make money."
In the long term, colonies are a deficit industry. Building infrastructure, suppressing resistance, deploying troops and police, and crushing independence ultimately leaves the state at a loss.
The only ones who profit are corporations.
Even the great British Empire ran deficits in most of its colonies except India.
There was no reason to burn the nation's money to fatten corporate bellies.
Making a territory belonging to the same Empire into a colony would also draw far too much aggro.
As I organized the situation and boarded the battleship, Lucilla cautiously asked from beside me.
"Is it really all right to conduct negotiations like this?"
"Even you think it's a bit strange, don't you?"
I, too, would prefer to solve problems through normal methods if possible.
But the people who hold important national positions, starting with the Crown
Prince, are all bewitched by a woman from another country, aren't they?
From that point on, this world was thoroughly broken.
"But it can't be helped. This world is out of its mind."
A world designed solely for the heroine. A world where only the heroine is happy, no matter what happens to the supporting cast.
That's not to say it's bad.
Novels are originally worlds made for the protagonist.
But if, in the process, I, the South, and the Empire's people are harmed... I will tear it all down from the roots.
If necessary, even if I have to burn this world.
"And... this isn't simply a problem between the County of Sarsen and the South, is it?"
I must not forget who was behind the County of Sarsen's ability to do such things.
Western Grand Duke Charles Raymonds.
The thug who held the 'bad man' position in the 'original work' must have permitted the fortress construction.
"Whether we like it or not, we will soon clash with the West. To keep the County of Sarsen from defecting then, a powerful shock was necessary."
The matter of the County of Sarsen was merely the prologue to what was to come.
On the vast continent, the County of Sarsen is only a tiny part. Many forces still stand in my way.
No matter how great the South's economic power and how overwhelming its industrial capacity compared to other regions... it was impossible to overwhelm them all at once in a short time.
Because it takes time to produce fleets and manufacture guns.
"In that sense, we must firmly prepare for a clash with the West."
As I said that, I looked up at the sky.
The South, responsible for the Empire's economy.
The East, responsible for the Empire's seas
The North, responsible for the Empire's northern reaches.
And the West, responsible for the Empire's skies.
To face the knight commander of the Wyvern Unit, that much preparation was necessary.
***
The Empire had never lost a war.
The reason the internally crumbling Empire could win wars was thanks to its overwhelming air power.
The Wyvern Knight Order.
The Elite Soldiers who guarded the Empire's skies were all Aura users.
They deflected arrows and primitive bullets with Aura, while using the wyverns' powerful Breath to melt enemy ground forces.
Before the flawless coordination of dozens of wyverns, there was little ground forces could do.
And that perfect, mechanical coordination was the product of countless training.
Under the command of Western Grand Duke Charles Raymonds, who let his hair flutter, the Wyvern Knight Order continued training today as well.
After two hours of training, as he descended to the ground and cooled off, a messenger rushed to him.
"Urgent report!"
"Urgent report? Did those barbarians beyond the Western border start a Revolution again?"
Charles's eyes began to shimmer red.
"I'm sure I told them that if those uncivilized brutes dared to step on my sacred territory, they should all die right there!"
"Ah, no! This urgent report is from the County of Sarsen!"
Only then did Charles relax his expression. The messenger, breathing heavily, held out a paper stored in his bosom.
"The County of Sarsen... Ah, that fellow who said he was building a fortress before? It should be about completed by now—what happened?"
Charles muttered that and unfolded the paper—
[ Collapse of the Fortress in the Sarsen-Lutetia Region ]
[ The South appears to have developed an unidentified new weapon ]
[ The South is understood to have taken most of the County of Sarsen's concessions ]
"Ha."
He let out a hollow laugh at what was written.
The last time Charles Raymonds saw Grand Duke of the South Kyle Leopold was ten years ago.
He was a fool who, after pestering his beloved fiancée, fell out of everyone's favor and was exiled to the South.
"That idiot has grown quite a lot, hasn't he? He's even learned to stick his spoon in another man's rice bowl."
And Western Grand Duke Charles Raymonds was a man who detested any encroachment on his territory.
Charles Raymonds crumpled the paper and shouted to the Wyvern Knight Order members lined up behind him.
"Hey, everyone, it seems a fellow has appeared who needs some manners drilled into him!"
Charles recalled the image of Kyle kneeling before him ten years ago.
He did not doubt for a second that their second meeting would be the same.