Ch.167The Four Kingdoms War (1)

# Chapter 167: The Four Nations War (1)

Meanwhile, before Arto submitted his report to the council.

“We must escape from here somehow. If the inner cabins aren’t enough, load them into the hangar bay!”

After the collapse of Kerzin’s final line of defense.

The remaining fleet was no longer planning for battle, but rather organizing an escape from Kerzin Federation territory with refugees.

Of course, the process was far from smooth.

The Sir-Hod Alliance, which bordered their territory and would normally have been able to assist their escape…

“Get lost!”

“Why don’t you just give up and surrender?”

They were engaged in a war with the Fuxviet Federation, which had betrayed them, and had no capacity to manage and process refugees.

As a result, Kerzin’s last fleet was suddenly burdened with the additional role of managing refugees as they continued their journey.

However, the refugees weren’t simply gathering peacefully during this process.

“We must teach those treacherous Fuxviets a lesson!”

“Right! Right!”

Driven by the desire to punish the Fuxviets who had betrayed them, some refugees left the fleet and decided to voluntarily enlist with the Sir-Hod Alliance.

But for most refugees, the desire to escape the battlefield immediately was stronger than any wish to enlist.

“I’m sick and tired of war.”

Kerzin’s last fleet, transporting the refugees, continued moving beyond Sir-Hod.

After bringing the refugees to the Uko-Praknar Interstellar Union…

“From here, you can all go wherever you wish.”

“…”

From there, they directed the refugees toward the neutral Loirakan, or Rixi which was busy rebuilding after the Nano Machine War.

Or they encouraged them to depart for the distant western nations…

“Well, now all that’s left for us is to die gloriously.”

They planned to turn their ships around and return to their homeland to seek revenge against the Prosnak who had trampled their nation.

However…

“Well, hello there.”

“…???”

“We’d like to have a nice little chat with you all^^”

At that moment.

The Seveli fleet appeared.

———————————-

The 3rd Fleet, which had been dispatched to the Southern Alliance Fleet during the Warlord Incident and suffered severe damage.

After returning to their homeland, they were leisurely undergoing reorganization without any specific mission…

“The 3rd Fleet will be dispatched as support for the Nurval Republic.”

“But I was supposed to start vacation tomorrow!!!!”

Unfortunately, they found themselves being dispatched yet again.

Of course, this was unavoidable.

“The 1st and 2nd Fleets are for homeland defense, and the 4th and 5th are protecting colonial quadrants…”

“…”

Given the current deployment characteristics of the Seveli Imperial Fleet, whether they liked it or not, there was no other fleet available for immediate deployment besides the 3rd Fleet.

The hidden reason was that from the beginning, the very existence of the 3rd Fleet was meant to be cultivated as Arto’s blade.

When Arto needed to make quick decisions involving force rather than diplomacy.

Other fleets were either led by faction leaders or mid-level commanders, making it difficult for even Arto to command them freely.

Or like the 4th and 5th Fleets, they were stationed in different quadrants and couldn’t be moved.

The 3rd Fleet was the only force that could be mobilized at any time.

Anyway, this 3rd Fleet, following Emperor Artraia’s orders after receiving Arto’s report, was journeying toward the Nurval Republic when…

“Oh, and I’ve already spoken with Rixi separately, so meet up with the Rixi Congressional Fleet and proceed together.”

With this additional information from Arto, the 3rd Fleet traveled to “Riclaom,” the newly rebuilt capital of the Rixi Congress…

“Hey, Rixi.”

“Welcome, Seveli.”

[3rd Fleet: 149 battleships, 524 cruisers, 2,017 destroyers, 2,510 small vessels]

Combining their existing forces with the 500 ships provided by the Rixi Congress, they formed a fleet of nearly 3,600 ships and once again set off for the Nurval Republic.

After a long journey, when they reached the territory of the Uko-Praknar Interstellar Union, the rearmost of the eastern three nations currently at war with the Fuxviet Federation…

“Isn’t that a Kerzin Federation fleet?”

“It really is!”

The Seveli 3rd Fleet encountered the Kerzin Federation fleet that had just transported refugees and was about to depart to seek revenge against Prosnak.

Naturally, Admiral Zeidler of the 3rd Fleet, noting that the Kerzin Federation fleet consisted of only about 200 ships…

“Well, let’s report to headquarters, but for now, don’t make any contact with them.”

Despite seeing the Kerzin Federation fleet, he was about to proceed without any communication or contact after reporting to headquarters.

However…

“Admiral Zeidler, what’s the strength of the Kerzin Federation fleet?”

When none other than Arto himself made contact, Admiral Zeidler demonstrated perfect military bearing and explained in detail.

“According to our long-range scanners, out of the 200 ships, 20 are battleships, half are cruisers, and the remaining half consists of other classes.”

“Hmm.”

“However, most of the ships appear quite outdated, which is why we haven’t made any contact yet.”

But in response to Admiral Zeidler’s report, Arto immediately shook his head and spoke with a resolute attitude.

“No, let’s combine that fleet with our forces.”

“…Pardon?”

“It would be far better to have them fight against the Fuxviets than to let them charge straight into Prosnak.”

———————————-

At the same time, inside the Diplomatic Executive Office on the surface of Ka’zan, Holy Seveli Empire.

[Time Pause]

‘Spirit of the Great British Empire, grant me strength.’

The moment I received the report from Admiral Zeidler.

I realized this was the perfect opportunity to absorb the Kerzin Federation’s fleet, elite troops, technology, and combat techniques into our empire.

‘Oh, this is sweet.’

Of course, those proud individuals wouldn’t accept our request just because we asked.

Having barely escaped while their homeland was being trampled by Prosnak.

As soon as they evacuated the unarmed civilians, they were filled with thoughts of returning to strike back at Prosnak.

But I had no intention of watching a fleet with 20 battleships and over 100 cruisers be wasted on a suicide charge.

‘I’d like to use the Kerzin refugees and that fleet to create something like a Free France.’

Although we had made peace with Prosnak and agreed not to station large fleets along our borders.

Considering there are no eternal allies in this world, it wouldn’t hurt to create a “justification” to attack Prosnak’s territory whenever needed.

Of course, Prosnak might later ask, “Why do you have a Kerzin government-in-exile on your territory?”

‘Well, we’re a benevolent (laughs) nation that even accepts madmen like Zeltech.’

We accepted Zeltech despite their attempted national subversion (not true), so there’s no reason not to accept the relatively harmless Kerzin.

Moreover, unlike previous refugees including Zeltech, accepting Kerzin would actually be beneficial.

This was because the Kerzin species lived in environments completely different from those of our empire’s existing species.

For our existing species:

We can only live on paradise planets.

And other species also prefer paradise planets over their original habitats, which meant we always had a shortage of planets relative to the empire’s population.

But the Kerzin species, for whatever reason, preferred desert or grassland planets with less moisture than paradise planets.

This meant we wouldn’t need to give up existing planets; we could just toss them one of the desert planets earmarked as terraforming candidates.

Give them a troublesome planet, and the population grows on its own.

I thought Artraia, who governs the empire, would be thrilled to hear this, along with the newly appointed Finance Minister and Exploration Minister.

Of course, this plan was ‘still’ just my own idea…

Setting aside the fleet strength, which would constitute a full squadron even by our empire’s standards.

With delicious elite troops, combat techniques, and genuine technological prowess.

I had no intention of giving up the Kerzin fleet, which would serve as the foundation for my small and precious Kerzin government-in-exile plan.

[Time Pause Release]

After releasing the time pause.

I decided to contact Admiral Zeidler again and ask him to establish communication with the Kerzin fleet’s admiral.