Ch.158Know your enemy and know yourself.

As time passed, the wars between the tributary states gradually subsided.

Small-scale guerrilla warfare and skirmishes couldn’t effectively cut off all support, and after calculating the manpower and resources consumed in these conflicts, the conclusion was that they were actually incurring losses.

Thus, the North became peaceful once again.

“Attention all adventurers! An urgent request has come in!”

“Well, at that price… we need to make some profit too, you know.”

“So… we’ve agreed that you’ll handle the supplies? I don’t want any changes later, so keep that in mind. I’ll be off to gather my men now.”

As usual, adventurers, merchants, and mercenaries traveled between nations, fulfilling requests, completing contracts, and facilitating the exchange of money, resources, and people.

However, compared to before, the smiles had noticeably disappeared from people’s faces.

Even tenant farmers could now sense that the political situation in the North was growing increasingly hostile.

The reason for the movement of people and money was to secure as many individuals and resources as possible before the war.

And when there were no more resources to collect or people to recruit, that would be the moment the war horns would sound.

Looking at the overall picture, on the map of the North, the northern coastline and central inland regions belonged to the Amurtat faction, while the border areas adjacent to the Central region and the southern inland were claimed by the Fahrenheit faction.

Neither side could claim a significant advantage.

Especially since Fahrenheit controlled the areas bordering the Central region, Amurtat had no choice but to import gunpowder and firearms either through their homeland or via the coast.

No matter how capable Amurtat was at manufacturing guns and cannons, it was impossible to supply them in desired quantities to numerous tributary states.

However, the Fahrenheit faction, bordering the Central region, could import gunpowder and related weapons from there as resources allowed, suggesting that Amurtat would be at a disadvantage in a prolonged conflict.

Whether the Fahrenheit faction would accept firearms, or even had the capital to do so, was another matter entirely.

“Aren’t guns Amurtat’s weapons? I can accept cannons to some extent, but guns are a bit…”

“What nonsense, weapons don’t have factions…”

“Weapons may not have factions, but factions certainly have their weapons.”

This attitude was partly ideological. The equation [Gunpowder Weapons = Amurtat] was widespread in the Fahrenheit faction, creating a strong reluctance to use what they considered “enemy items.”

In particular, Fahrenheit’s strategists, who had found success in guerrilla warfare, strongly opposed the use of direct-fire gunpowder weapons.

While arrows could be aimed specifically at enemy lines even in close combat with proper targeting, direct-fire weapons like guns and cannons would hit both friend and foe unless special mounds were constructed.

“Damn it. I worked my way up to 4th Circle just to build mounds? I’d rather quit than do something so degrading.”

“I’m used to driving stakes and digging moats, but building hills? In open field battles, not even siege warfare?”

Though they had mages and engineers who could easily construct mounds, they weren’t employing them just for such mundane tasks.

“If we don’t have guns, can’t we just use magic? I’m genuinely asking.”

“You’re right. If those Amurtat folks bother us, we’ll just have to bring down the sky on them.”

Above all, the Fahrenheit faction had numerous “mages” who could replace the tremendous impact of gunpowder weapons, ensuring they were never at a disadvantage in large-scale battles, even if they might struggle in smaller skirmishes.

What could Amurtat’s legions do when lightning struck from the sky, no matter how many guns they fired?

*

As mentioned above, the Amurtat faction lagged significantly behind the Fahrenheit faction in magical power.

Excluding Amurtat itself, few nations had magic towers due to their generally weak influence, and even Amurtat, with its largest magic tower, possessed only just over 10,000 mages.

The entire faction had slightly more than 50,000 mages, a stark contrast to the Fahrenheit faction’s over 400,000 mages.

This disparity was unavoidable because mages literally grew stronger with age, and the Amurtat faction was generally younger.

While there were small nations with deep histories or rapidly growing middle powers, none had the historical depth of a great power like Fahrenheit.

This was because the coastal areas were plagued by merfolk and sea monsters like krakens, and frequent epidemics decimated populations due to lack of immunity, resulting in shorter national lifespans.

Even Amurtat periodically lost tens of thousands to zoonotic diseases, making it impossible for smaller nations whose entire populations numbered in the tens of thousands to survive.

The only advantages Amurtat had were the tremendous firepower and production capacity of gunpowder weapons, and their ability to mobilize troops through a systematic bureaucracy. Currently, Amurtat’s officials were being dispatched to various countries to help establish systematic governance.

“Sort them in ABC order!! ABC!!!! Alpha Bravo Charlie!!! Arghhhh!!!”

“What do you mean the entire country has fewer than 10,000 literate people? And half of them can barely write their names and a few pronouns? Is this a nation or an orphanage?”

Of course… establishing a bureaucracy in places much smaller and more underdeveloped than Amurtat without any foundation led to numerous trials and difficulties. However, united by the sense of impending war, Amurtat’s tributary states were absorbing the teachings surprisingly quickly, bowing in gratitude to their suzerain.

Regardless of Amurtat’s ideology and philosophy, the establishment of bureaucracy made things easier for monarchs and nobles.

“If we can delegate our duties to subordinates, isn’t that just sweet?”

Well, there was nothing wrong with their assessment.

That was indeed the essence of bureaucracy.

However, such leisurely remarks were only possible for small pre-war nations.

If they knew that even Tiberius of Amurtat worked without missing a single day, they wouldn’t be able to make such carefree statements.

*

Another decade passed.

Bows and arrows were crafted, guns and cannons were smelted and cast, and legions and knightly orders were newly established.

Tributary states following ideologies and philosophies began to gather for their suzerain states fighting for symbols, and now the continent’s politicians believed war was only a matter of time.

And that belief was true.

“…”

Many people die, and many are born each year.

As long as births outnumber deaths, humanity can be said to prosper.

Children become boys, boys become young men, young men become middle-aged, middle-aged become elderly, and the elderly eventually return to the earth, making room for new children.

The natural cycle continues as children fill the void left by parents, weaving new places and developing into something more intricate and grand.

“But the Industrial Revolution changed everything.”

I said this while gazing at the smoke rising from countless chimneys in the distance.

Coal instead of wood and charcoal, steel and alloys instead of cast iron for weapons, bricks and rebar instead of clay and branches for buildings.

The advancement of civilization, for better or worse, was the cutting edge that severed the cycle, and those unable to escape from the severed cycle were doomed to an unfortunate end.

Sadly, this was an unchanging fact whether on Earth or in this world.

And it remains so now.

I will use guns and cannons to wage a war of conquest, and they will try to stop us with bows, catapults, and ballistas.

And in this world too, human strength cannot overcome the power of machines and chemistry.

No matter how many knightly orders there may be, they are merely larger targets before countless bullets.

Year 90 of the Amurtat calendar.

Amurtat’s population has now exceeded 9 million and will soon surpass 10 million.

And what that means… there is no ruler in the North who doesn’t understand.

War is coming.

A war that will set the North ablaze.