Yoshiro: Finally… sorry, motivation have been quite a problem and this political negotiation is a serious pain-in-the-@ss to translate….. politics… uhh…

Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

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Arc 2: The Reconstruction – Change Chapter 6

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In front of me is a tall man with shoulder-length silver hair. His age seems to be from the late 20s to the early 30s. His actual age should be surely around that range.

The name of this man is Arnold Donahugh. The Supreme Admiral of Empire of Aether and my enemy.

After the conversation with Liasha-denka, I quickly head towards Earl Uren’s territory with Roy as my escort. Using the advantage of small numbers, I managed to reach the territory around 6 days and sent an envoy to demand the admiral’s lone presence in exchange for the return of his daughter, Imperial Princess Liasha to the 1st Fleet that started filling up at the coast.

As I was watching out on how he would respond due to his rumors of being a sharp brother of the king, he came alone. And he was also alone as requested.

Though I did think of the possibility of him coming, I didn’t expect he would really come. It’s to the point that I thought if it was due to his cute daughter, but his eyes was on not Liasha-denka. It was me.

He acknowledged me as his enemy and have come here to fight. To fight with our best weapon.

The statistics shown on the status screen are all high. His combat ability is within the 90s.His wisdom is over 130 and magic power were over 100.

It was handed down that the first king’s of all the big countries other than Albion, were of the Ancient Races. So maybe due to that, those who have the blood of the royalty have status that easily overshoots 100, which is rarely the case. As of now, those who overshoots the 100 bar are pretty much royalties. Maybe it’s really due to the Ancient Race’s blood. The exceptions are few and within those, though one is Sophia, including herself, they are the exceptions of exceptions. In regards to Sophia, her existence is even more precious than Ancient Races, so she can’t be a representative of average humans though.

Well, this topic is currently unnecessary. The problem is a person with higher wisdom than me challenged me to an intellectual war.

Admiral Arnold sat down on the chair facing me and on my side are Sophia and Kaguya-sama with me sat down. Even then, he doesn’t shifts his sights from me.

What a troublesome person to be eyed by. Though it’s my own fault. After all, I took his daughter as hostage. But as a person that leads the 1st Fleet, he should have already expected the current situation. The fact that Liasha-denka will be taken hostage and be dragged out for a negotiation. Nah, it could be more like he’s the one who directed it or aimed for such a situation. The Empire’s aim should be not by force, but by negotiations after all.

Though it’s unknown of how far the 1st Fleet’s ability led by Admiral Arnold, it’s almost definite that it won’t be easy to win. And Admiral Arnold wouldn’t make the foolish decision of taking the Veris’s army alone. Without cooperation, they should make us fight the Dominion and when we are exhausted, they would then come in for the finish.

As long as the highest authority of the navy is here, it’s possible to react to any situations on the frontlines. That also, at the same time, means that the situation discussed with Liasha-denka would not happened.

The state of affairs has returned to its starting point. No, I should say it has not changed. Even though it moved a little, the Empire and Veris have not make any visible move yet. Matching the movement of the opponent, and changing the formation, but no attack has been made. That’s because the first that moved would be on the disadvantage. And since we do not want to move first, we are baiting the opponent to make the first move but here comes Admiral Arnold with a smile.

What a dangerous person. Right now, Liasha-denka is being placed on standby on the next room. And on our side, we have two trump cards in the form of Kaguya-sama and Sophia. Even then, this person doesn’t extinguish his smile.

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“I am Arnold Donahugh. Pleasant to meet you. The Strategist of Arkwright.”

“I am Yukito Kurei. Your Excellency. I wish to be named as The Strategist of Veris right now. So please do call me by that from now on.”

“The strategist of Veris, you say…. Were you no longer satisfied with being under Diorood-dono? Or were you being considerate towards Kaguya-heika?” (TL: From now on I will translate it like this for honorifics. Example: Heika means his/her majesty and I will translate it like this if referring to it as a noun itself, but when it’s used as a honorific like in Kaguya’s case here, I shall use the romanji version of it.)

“I shall leave it to your imagination.”

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Before Kaguya-sama make any reaction, I replied in an instant.

After showing me her slight discontent, she introduced herself and Admiral Arnold bowed in reply. He doesn’t seem interested in her reaction as he doesn’t give any signs of saying anything further.

Though that said, that’s not the end. From now on, I will have to consider Admiral Arnold trying to fluster Kaguya-sama and Sophia. That’s likely something to convey that that’s just a light jab, I guess.

I have requested Kaguya-sama and Sophia to leave this to me. Likely, unless something quite serious, both of them shouldn’t be making unsafe comments. Though I asked them to keep up their appearances, this should be difficult for the honest and clumsy Kaguya-sama. Her reactions will definitely leak to people who can understand them.

Even right now, her brows is slightly shifted and her fist is slightly strengthened. Though I do not have the composure to understand what reason would make her that way to this extent, she is definitely not in a good mood. Nevertheless, I still need her to keep quiet.

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“Umu. Then I shall just speculate at my discretion. Including the matter of the Celsus Maiden as well.”

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sophia Lisbert, Donahugh-kakka. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“She’s a lot more mature than Kaguya, Her Majesty it seems.”

“I wonder? If you are talking about maturity, your Excellency’s words feels like a kid.”

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Towards the harsh comment and extraordinary smile that Sophia has made, Admiral Arnold replied with a even more deep smile. A smile that I can’t understand his thoughts from.

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“Since the introductions is completed, shall we start our negotiations.”

“True. I am also a parent. I am worried about my daughter.”

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There’s no sign of that on his face. His attachment to his daughter is so different to some ex-king I know. Both are on the extreme sides, though I am not sure if his daughter is happy.

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“She’s fine. She’s in the room beside us. As we are somewhat in the middle of a war, she’s under our custody. The soldiers seems to have misunderstood that the Empire has attacked so including the intention of letting them understand, we have requested for your Excellency to come alone. This should allow the soldiers to feel at ease. After all, there are no high-ranked officer that enters the enemy castle alone to attack.”

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Admiral Arnold doesn’t break his smile from my shameless chatter. No, since it changed from a gentle smile to a fearless one, I guess I should take that as a change?

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“Though I could be that very first person to do it?”

“What a joke. Do your Excellency think you can win a war against Veris?”

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As I replied with a slightly provocative comment, he thickened his fearless smile and placed his elbows on the table and supported his jaw on top of his linked hands.

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“Our navy is the world strongest. I do not think that Veris’s navy could compare to us in regards to quality and quantity though?”

“As you have said. ‘Do you think you can win a war against Veris?’ was what I asked. Veris definitely do not have a strong navy. We do not have a war in the sea for a very long time and the navy were pretty much only in name. However, we do not have the strongest soldiers with Kaguya-heika as the core. You wouldn’t not know, would you?”

“Of course. Veris’s soldiers are rumored to be the continent’s strongest. They are a country that spends their time having wars after all.”

“Exactly. Unlike the Empire that enjoy their peace, we, Veris, have many enemies so without any choice, we picked up our weapons.”

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His words on Veris doing nothing but battle is sarcasm towards us being battle junkies and creating useless wars. And in regards to my words of them enjoying their peace is also sarcasm towards them being weak and also a country that is only strong in their navy.

I slightly aligned my sights with Admiral Arnold after getting into a situation of throwing sarcasm at each other. It’s that we are glaring at each other. We were just trying to read each other’s thoughts. And I couldn’t. Most likely it’s the same for the other side.

The ending of this negotiation should be what conditions to have the alliance formed. If we face each other, both countries have no future. Even for the Empire’s Child of the Tiger, 1st fleet that would be safe when on the sea, but once they come ashore, they will definitely take some casualties against our defence. And that’s something very critical to the Empire. Conversely, even for Veris, and even upon taking the possibility of grouping up with the Dominion to take on the Empire, we will lose the coastal area and have the flow of logistics and soldier transport hindered, so we will end up losing the war.

After acquiring Veris, the Dominion and Albion will determine to target the Empire. It’s just a problem with sequence.

And both countries that are cornered, understand that it’s the best for both countries to ally each other and repelled the enemy. After all, Admiral Arnold with the highest authority and I comprehend the situation.

Here, both countries’ honour and Admiral Arnold’s and my greed started coming out. Both are hoping to be in a superior position than the other. That’s of course. Though allies, we are still enemies that are trying to survive this ordeal. If we are not in the superior position, it will be troubling when the alliance ends.

And depending on who holds the initiative, the other countries’ viewpoint will change. Especially, the Dominion that is going to side with Albion will change. If they see that this alliance is advantageous, the Dominion will desert Albion. But, the one negotiating with the Dominion at that time would be the one who stand at the top of the alliance.

That’s why the more you think of the future, we have to take the upper hand right now. And this is also for the pride of the country.

Perhaps both Admiral Arnold and I couldn’t be bothered with the negotiations with the Dominion. What we can get by being the one to negotiate with the Dominion are just mild amount of reinforcements and also honour. We were thinking of something else. No, at the very least, I am.

That is.

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“Though Veris who picked up their weapons are strong, we are tired from long battles. We have also made sacrifices from the previous civil war. To be truthful, Veris is being stretched thin from the fight with the alliance from the small countries and Albion who is orchestrating this.”

“I see. But to be frank too, the only ones with actual experiences are only the 1st Fleet from pirate hunting, and the other soldiers, due to the continuous peace, are weak. Just like what Strategist-dono has said, we are in a situation where it’s not possible to fight against big countries.”

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The most important point is to not lose as much as soldiers as possible. Or how much we can shave the opponent’s number while protecting ours.

The Dominion’s navy will definitely come. For Veris, we would like the Empire to take them. However, the Empire would not want the Child of Tiger’s 1st Fleet’s number to exhaust. Frankly speaking, they would really want the 1st Fleet to pull back. After all, the fleet is required for national defence. If they exhaust at a place like this, the country would become unprotected.

Veris that wants the Empire to face off with the Dominion. The Empire that wants to stay as a spectator and hold the condition to be not attack by Veris. Drawn to such a situation for both countries, Admiral Arnold and I are trying to trick each other into making one step into the anticipated scenario that the other is thinking of

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“Our Empire has few commanders, and as a matter of fact, the 1st Fleet wouldn’t function without me.  ”

“How funny. Even after leaving the fleet, the 1st Fleet moved in ranks without a single disorder. That’s the ability of the world’s strongest navy. Please do show me the strength of it. ”

“Hahahaha. It seems that Strategist-dono is good with his words. However, didn’t Strategist-dono mention it just now? Our Empire has little experience of war from the long years. When enemies are around, the soldiers’ movement will dull from fear, confusion and anxiety. As there are no enemies now, they could move as according to training. This is why we wish to show this as an the evidence that we do not see Veris as an enemy.”

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Even though we behaved modestly and flatter, Admiral Arnold made no reaction. Even though I thought by asking them to show their boasted power of their navy, they would move, he doesn’t have any openings as expected. Though I am regretting with heartburn for not attacking at the start, I reminisced that even if I say something like wanting them to be our shield, he would be able to evade that even then. At that point, with the same meaning of having our intentions spoken, we will have to make a commitment. After he evaded that, the situation would be disadvantegous.

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“We do not doubt the Empire. Just that, Veris has many enemies. Right now, though supposedly confidential information,the Dominion’s navy seems to be enclosing this position. We do not have the navy to counter them.”

“What are you saying? If it’s Kaguya-heika that leads the elites of Veris, they should be repelled easily. After all, you can do the same to us after all.”

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Having said that, he grinned and striked both his hands in a grand way.

He moved. The moment I thought that, Admiral Arnold said something unexpected.

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“However, we would not stay silent for the Empire’s beloved Veris to be stepped upon too. Under some conditions, do allow our famed world strongest navy to rout the Dominion.”

“That’s truly thankful. So what’s those conditions?”

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In addition to Liasha-denka’s safety, we also have the know-how to temper soldiers.

New tactics using Nox’s independent system and magic arts. All these can be materials for the negotiations.

If it’s bargaining, we have the advantage. As if what I thought was clear as day, Admiral Arnold made a statement.

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“It’s the assurance that your side would not betray us. Of course, one that would accompany us. Simply a hostage. From the Empire, my daughter, Liasha, will be left in Veris as it is. In return, we would like a royalty to accompany us.”

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Admiral Arnold’s expression turned rather delightful after making that statement.

There’s only 2 royalties that could move for Veris immediately. Kaguya-sama or Dio-sama. Kaguya-sama is the king. It’s not possible for her to become one. However, to let go of Dio-sama right now, it’s also not possible for Veris. We won’t be able to maintain ourselves. Both of Dio-sama’s sisters are now in the Dominion after they were released by the pro-Veris faction of the Dominion. It’s impossible for them to be recalled at this situation. Even then, we can’t present a fake royalty too. The other side has presented the daughter of the supreme commander. If we do not answer with sincerity, we have no idea what kind of bad reputation we might get.

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“However, Diorood-denka seems to have an important role for the country. So we shall compromise in regards to that. A person that does not hold an important post but as important as a royalty.”

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Saying that, Admiral Arnold pointed at me, smiling.

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“That is you. Strategist of Veris.”

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And he stated that.

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