In fact, until just 100 years ago, the Empire had been a fearsome ruler of the continent.
From the cold North to the warm South.
For the Empire's laws to reach its vast territory, they had to be enforced strictly.
Thus, the Empire of 100 years ago did not let even the most trivial matters slide.
Even in the middle of the sea, the Empire would send a fleet to personally suppress a shipboard rebellion on an island thousands of kilometers from the mainland.
The end of such strict imperial rule came 100 years ago.
It was after the Prince's Rebellion nearly triggered a civil war, 70% of the imperial family perished, and the Empire was thrown into chaos.
It is said that Emperor Kaiser III, who suppressed the Prince's Rebellion and seized power, believed that such a tragedy must never happen again.
After Kaiser III, the Empire changed course.
He believed that the cause of the Prince's Rebellion had been the Empire's extreme Iron-Blooded Governance.
Thus, after Imperial Year 957, Kaiser III's Empire dismantled the existing Iron-Blooded Governance and began loosening the tight grip it had maintained.
It was the so-called Era of Innovation.
The Empire enjoyed unprecedented prosperity during that era.
All sorts of regulations were lifted, and new possibilities flourished.
From that time onward, the seeds of the Industrial Revolution began to bloom in the South and North, the Empire's two major industrial regions.
During Kaiser III's reign, everything seemed to be going well.
No matter how much he promoted catchphrases such as the Era of Innovation, the Moderate Empire, and peaceful governance, Kaiser III remained an iron-blooded who had personally killed 70% of the imperial family and prevented a civil war within the Empire.
The nobles of that time did not even dare to consider committing corruption.
After all, just because the Emperor was smiling did not mean the sword in his hand was smiling too.
If Kaiser III had lived longer.
And if he had been able to establish the system of the Moderate Empire, the Empire might still have been great.
However, Kaiser III did not live long.
His successor was his thirteen-year-old son.
The Emperor was too young, and the existing Iron-Blooded Governance system, which should have maintained discipline, had been smashed to pieces.
From that moment on, the Empire began rushing toward ruin.
Nobles openly committed corruption, and military discipline grew lax.
Thus, over the course of 100 years, the Empire began to crumble little by little.
A tower that would have collapsed long ago were it not for the vast territory expanded by the founding emperor. A lion whose claws had grown dull from resting too long.
And the one effectively ruling this Empire was Theodore, the weak-willed and thoughtless Crown Prince.
The iron Empire that once deployed an immense army at the first sign of civil war no longer existed.
The Empire was more incompetent and corrupt than anyone could imagine.
"Watch and wait over time? What in the world does that mean?!"
The old Mage's roar echoed through the conference room. He pointed at the noble before him and continued angrily.
"This is clearly rebellion! The so-called Grand Duke of the South started a war with the West without saying a single word to the Center, and you want us to just watch?!"
From the Mages' standpoint, it was a natural thing to say.
Why had they struggled so desperately to block the development of guns, cannons, science, and medicine?
The development of firearms would greatly reduce the importance of Mages in war.
The development of science and medicine would put powers that had once belonged exclusively to Mages into the hands of commoners.
Everything the Mages had enjoyed until then was about to collapse completely, from their direct power to their belief that they were the "chosen ones."
However, the nobles could not back down either.
The nobles, who normally loathed direct confrontations with Mages, had come into conflict with them for the first time in a very long while.
"This matter can be considered entirely the fault of Western Grand Duke Charles Raymonds. Breaking the Sarsen-Lutetia Treaty and ignoring the arbitration proposal sent by His Highness the Crown Prince were both Charles Raymonds's doing."
"What are you trying to say?"
"This is clearly the West's fault. The West caused the problem, while the South followed the procedure for declaring war, established sufficient justification, and then began its campaign."
No matter how much power the Mages held, it was ultimately the nobles who handled imperial law.
The nobles did not yield an inch as they refuted the Mages' claims.
"The Southern Army did not cause more death and destruction than necessary, so I believe it is reasonable to regard this as a legitimate territorial war."
"Given the scale of this conflict, arbitration and preventive negotiations should indeed have taken place. However, that alone is not enough to warrant armed intervention."
Of course, the nobles did not view Kyle Leopold favorably either.
They knew that the Industrial Revolution initiated by the South would destroy the existing noble class and bring the commercial and industrial classes, which had been regarded as lowly, into the mainstream.
But that was a matter beyond the Arbel Mountains.
It was a disaster for the Western nobles, but, honestly, the Center did not care.
Surely Kyle Leopold wasn't thinking of rebellion?
As long as no rebellion occurred and their own positions remained secure, what happened in the West did not matter.
That was the thinking of the corrupt nobles.
It was a war in which they had nothing to gain, even if they won.
If it were a war of conquest, that would be one thing, but this was an imperial civil war.
Even if they won, whatever they gained would belong to the Emperor. If they lost and something was taken away, it would be their own loss. All the nobles would receive in return was a meaningless medal.
No one liked a war that offered nothing to gain and nothing but obligations.
Moreover, what if they were defeated by the Southern Army?
Then everything their families had built would collapse in an instant.
Therefore, a civil war was absolutely out of the question.
"The Empire's founding emperor granted each lord the freedom to wage territorial war."
"Grand Duke of the South Kyle Leopold also possesses that authority. Strictly speaking, exercising the right to wage territorial war is difficult to regard as an abuse of power."
The Mages wanted to suppress the South's development by any means necessary.
The nobles wanted to avoid civil war by any means necessary.
The gap between their positions did not narrow.
The same was true of the nobles in charge of the Imperial Army.
"After experiencing the Prince's Rebellion, Kaiser III strove to ensure that an imperial civil war would never happen again. I believe it is also our duty, as his descendants, to preserve that legacy."
For the past 50 years, the Imperial Central Army had actually had very little to do.
It had been an era of peace, with only minor duties such as handling small-scale disputes and suppressing riots.
In an era of peace, the importance of the military naturally declined, and interest in it gradually dwindled.
And what better place was there to embezzle funds than an organization whose budget expenditures were confidential, which attracted little attention, and which had little work to do?
"How about seeking dialogue rather than war?"
As a simple example, the Imperial Army's reserve winter combat uniforms were currently listed in the records as totaling 100,000 sets.
However, the number actually stored in the warehouses was not even 1,000.
No matter how lax the Empire had become, embezzlement on such a scale would inevitably cost them their heads if it were discovered.
The Imperial Army nobles were desperate to conceal the corruption that would be exposed the moment war broke out.
Their own lives had long since taken precedence over the Empire's interests.
The Crown Prince, who did not properly understand these circumstances, interpreted the situation in a peculiar way.
'Ah, the nobles don't want to fight, while the Mages want to fight? Then I just need to help them find a compromise.'
With that thought, the Crown Prince intervened between the two sides, who were in the middle of exchanging arguments.
"If that is your opinion, how about trying to find a compromise?"
"A compromise, you say?"
"Yes. Grand Duke of the South Kyle Leopold wouldn't want war."
At least, that was what Theodore thought.
The last time he had seen Kyle Leopold, Kyle had been fat and despicable, yet lacked the courage to confront others directly.
Moreover, the Crown Prince also wanted to avoid civil war.
In the past 1,000 years, the Empire had never once experienced a civil war.
But for one to occur during the Crown Prince's own generation?
That would be equivalent to announcing Crown Prince Theodore's incompetence to the entire world.
"So, as the noble lords suggest, we will watch the situation. However, as the Mage lords suggest, we will leave room for armed intervention."
This was the compromise the Crown Prince proposed:
1. The Sarsen Territory, which had become the source of the problem, would be transferred to the South's jurisdiction.
2. In return, the South would wage no further wars.
3. If the South showed signs of starting another war beyond that, armed intervention would begin.
"This is the compromise I have in mind."
At the Crown Prince's words, everyone in the conference room fell silent.
In truth, both the nobles and the Mages knew that this "compromise" was a half-measure worse than doing nothing.
Such an ambiguous measure would only give the South more time to arm itself.
However, neither side could back down.
From the Mages' standpoint, they could not allow the South to develop more guns and cannons.
From the nobles' standpoint, they could not heed the Mages' demands and be ground to pieces on the front lines.
From the Imperial Army's standpoint, war would expose all their corruption, so they absolutely did not want it to happen.
Thus, the compromise proposed by the Crown Prince was soon put into writing and sent to the South.
Exactly two weeks later, the envoy who returned from the South brought back a single memorandum from Grand Duke of the South Kyle Leopold.
It bore Kyle Leopold's handwritten signature and stated that "the South will no longer engage in unauthorized combat actions."
At the next cabinet meeting, the Crown Prince raised the paper high and declared,
"Within this paper lies the Peace of Our Time."
Few sincerely agreed with that claim.
Only incompetent sycophants flattered him from the sidelines.
"His Highness the Crown Prince has saved the Empire from its greatest civil war crisis!"
***
"Hmm, I knew the Crown Prince was indecisive... but I didn't realize it was to this degree."
In the Grand Duke's Castle of the East, a black-haired man wearing a monocle muttered in an office lavishly decorated to befit the master of the Empire's seas.
Grand Duke of the East Edward.
He had felt burdened by the South's radical arms buildup and expansion, and he knew very well how meaningless this compromise was.
It was clear that the indecisive Crown Prince would do nothing until the South had completely swallowed the West.
What would come next?
Naturally, it would be the East.
And Edward had no intention of meeting the same foolish end as the Western Grand Duke.
He tore up the paper on which the compromise was written and muttered,
"Most of the South's exports pass through our seas and ports before entering the Empire."
The South's economy ran on exports.
Therefore, if those exports were blocked, its economy would inevitably collapse.
"So... if it comes to it, I should prepare at least one card to pressure the South into changing its course."
Admiral of the Ocean Fleet and master of the Undersea Monster Corps.
Edward.
No matter what anyone said, the surface of the sea and its depths belonged to him.
No matter how powerful battleships were, their naval guns could not attack underwater.
He muttered as he gazed toward the South.
"For example, something like a naval blockade."