Ch.128Eye Contact Game

The military is fundamentally an unproductive organization.

The military, which is essentially a leech that regularly drains budgets without producing anything, continues to exist solely for one purpose.

To destroy other armies.

The organization called the military maintains its existence to accomplish only this single purpose.

That’s not to say that an army incapable of destroying other armies is completely useless.

After all, the military is a collection of armed individuals, and there are more than enough places in this world where force is needed.

They hold back the flood of monsters, turn dissenters into past tense, and occasionally hold military parades to propagandize to citizens about having a strong nation.

Because the military organization carries the belief that they can protect the people, or at the very least, die in their place.

Above all, human violence can only be stopped by human violence, and throughout history, there has never been an instance where violence was stopped by non-violence.

To survive, one needs minimal force; to prosper, one needs maximum force.

Just as it was the Alliance’s 1.2 million troops that dethroned Fahrenheit from its northern hegemony, no matter how much gold one has, steel is needed to protect it.

“Forward, march!”

Step! Step! Step!

Now, the front-line infantry facing monsters outside the barrier for the first time in actual combat walked in formation to their commander’s orders.

Eventually, the horde of monsters approached within hundreds of meters, and the soldiers halted their march to tighten their formation.

“Aim!”

“Aim!”

Click.

What was aimed were thousands of gun barrels, and what advanced were thousands of lead bullets.

Around the time when the faces of the monsters—flaunting their bizarre appearances—became visible as they crashed forward like waves.

The commander gave the order to fire.

“Fire!”

Ratatatatata!

Instead of a response, what followed was the acrid smell left by burning black gunpowder and white smoke obscuring their vision.

And when all the smoke cleared, the wave of monsters was still charging forward, but with severe injuries and gasping.

“Fire at will!”

Disordered firing began from the front line, which had completed reloading before the smoke cleared.

With each gunshot, the monsters diminished, and when the gunfire finally ceased, none remained standing.

Seeing their kind slaughtered without inflicting a single casualty, the remaining monsters began to flee instantly, pursued by knights in thick armor and barding.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!!!

“Chase them! Leave none alive!”

“For Amurtat!”

As the knights shouting their battle cry swung their swords, the fleeing monsters’ necks and limbs were severed like reeds, and their remaining bodies burst under massive hooves.

In the battle that lasted about six hours, Amurtat’s army suffered no casualties, while the monsters were completely annihilated without a single survivor.

*

“Seems like Fahrenheit has been struggling lately.”

The sudden increase in monsters was due to those that Fahrenheit’s army failed to eliminate migrating toward Amurtat.

Previously, they had cleanly exterminated such threats, but with their national power rapidly declining and now engaged in large-scale battles with the Greenskins, they had no time to properly subjugate beasts and magical creatures.

Given these adverse conditions, I don’t intend to blame them for this situation, but other countries besides Amurtat must have suffered considerable damage from this incident.

Still, since these were just scattered remnants, the damage wouldn’t have been severe. But the fact that damage occurred at all is significant.

Just a decade ago, Fahrenheit, which dominated this region, never neglected monster subjugation to the point of causing harm to other nations, but now they no longer have that capacity.

This meant that small and medium-sized countries, which had been quietly relying on Fahrenheit’s military power for their defense, now had to take responsibility for themselves.

It meant that countries much smaller than Amurtat had begun to develop standing armies of several hundred or thousand soldiers.

With dangerous competition already underway, an arms race was only a matter of time, but this incident would accelerate the timing of countries becoming wary of each other.

In truth, Amurtat was second only to Fahrenheit in scale and had cultivated various high-value industries, allowing it to laugh off an arms race.

However, other small countries, with populations of merely 100,000 or 200,000, had to organize standing armies and import expensive weapons, which would inevitably break their backs.

Lacking in technology and industrial power, their only option was to purchase from others, and with Fahrenheit’s instability, Amurtat was essentially the only supplier in the north.

Only Fahrenheit and Amurtat could produce everything from a single steel sword and wooden bow to siege hammers and trebuchets.

This couldn’t be ignored because developing the manpower and industrial capacity to mass-produce everything from personal equipment to siege weapons was no easy task.

Moreover, if one understands the obvious fact that armies march on their stomachs, they would naturally be interested in preserved food, which happened to be one of Amurtat’s main sources of income.

In short, this meant no country could challenge Amurtat, and ironically, Amurtat would become the eye of the storm in this arms race, suffering no damage.

And since Fahrenheit’s population of 10 million was no lie, no one dared to provoke them either.

In other words, in the midst of this brutal world event, only the great powers stood to benefit.

*

“Steel and preserved food exports have surged. At this rate, our production might fall short.”

“Orders have increased since the arms race began. Some are even offering premiums to divert reserved quantities to them.”

“So, what did you do?”

“Refused, of course. Amurtat isn’t a beggar. We can’t accept requests that would damage our credibility.”

“Of course. Well done.”

Even if production truly fell short, we had stockpiles in dimensional storage, so there was no need to overwork our laborers.

And honestly, no matter how much they wanted, it was only tens or at most hundreds of tons, so production would never be insufficient.

“Sigh. It’s heartbreaking. Scraping together everything they have just to buy 60 tons of steel.”

I checked the countries that purchased steel one by one.

The larger countries paid cleanly with money, but the smaller the country, the more they paid with natural resources like wood, stone, food, or herbs—and in small, diverse quantities.

It reminded me of the early game days when I was dirt poor, scraping together everything I had to buy necessities from merchants. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.

“But this is business. Having accepted the contract, we must provide the steel.”

Whether made of silver or gold, money is ultimately just a proxy that guarantees value.

With that in mind, there was no reason to condemn such barter trade.

Everything has value, and exchange of value is what trade is all about.

“Quite a few countries have made reservations. How long will it take to deliver all the quantities?”

“The last delivery is scheduled for two months from now, but additional orders may come in during that time, so it’s difficult to give a definitive answer.”

“I expected as much.”

After hearing the aide’s report, I scheduled the sale of “those items” for roughly six months later.

What are “those items,” you ask?

Nothing special.

Just obsolete weapons that Amurtat’s army no longer uses.

Of course, these armaments were still active-duty weapons for other countries, and many would prefer ready-to-use finished products over raw materials.

“Aide, keep good records of the countries that purchased steel. We’ll give priority for the armaments to countries that didn’t buy steel.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Countries that couldn’t afford expensive steel must be stomping their feet in frustration right now.

In half a year, when we extend our hand to them, they will have no choice but to take it.

Of course, considering their economic capacity, the prices of the armaments will be adjusted to be much cheaper than the original supply price.

This way, everyone will be well-armed, making a cold war likely but a hot war difficult.

As someone once said, the balance of power must be maintained.

Except for our Amurtat, of course.