Ch.180Something inside my head.

# Chapter 180: Something Inside the Head

There were many trivial stories exchanged between us.

But since those weren’t particularly important right now.

We entered the Templar Order’s new temple located beneath the Executive Citadel and began our discussion in earnest.

“So, what exactly went wrong with this war?”

“…Well, there were truly many problems.”

Perhaps because Ambassador Samiya wasn’t particularly religious.

At first, he was quite flustered about conducting our meeting in a temple(?) and couldn’t even maintain his composure.

He appeared quite shaken.

But unlike me, he was a professional diplomat after all.

Before long, Ambassador Samiya regained his senses and began responding to me with an extremely cool and rational attitude.

Thanks to that, my Executive Citadel-era method of destabilizing Ambassador Samiya’s mental state through unprecedented sights.

And through that, extracting the information I wanted didn’t work, which was a bit disappointing…

“We’ve discussed this several times already, but what I’m about to tell you is clearly factual.”

“Hmm.”

As the conversation began in earnest, I felt my Executive Citadel-era habits fading away.

And following that, I had to feel the confusion about the current situation washing over me.

————————————–

After Ambassador Samiya’s long and detailed explanation.

“…That concludes my findings.”

The moment Ambassador Samiya finished speaking.

-Ding♬

[Pause]

With the same notification sound as always, another pause began, and a new event message slowly appeared, covering my entire field of vision.

And as always, this event message summarized the long conversation that had left me internally bewildered.

[Event: Prosnack Management Chip]

[The Prosnack people once suffered extreme damage from the worst pandemic that swept across the entire universe in the past.]

[To prevent this, most Prosnack people were required to be injected with something called the ‘Covard Type-C 19 Pandemic Vaccine’.]

[However, there was one secret hidden in the Covard Type-C 19 Pandemic Vaccine.]

[Namely, the vaccine injection contained a special chip embedded with technological capabilities from the distant ancient Dark Age.]

[Those implanted with this chip could have their actions and thoughts restricted by the will of an ‘Administrator’ at any time.]

[No one knows exactly how such Dark Age technology has been available to Prosnack for over 100 years.]

[The important point is that using these chips, the Prosnack leadership established a powerful system unthinkable in other countries.]

[They created a system that could manipulate all citizens’ capabilities, actions, and thoughts to pursue a single goal if necessary.]

It even summarized the results of an hour-long conversation.

-Ding♬

[Event: Misuse of the Chip]

[The story about this war that you heard from Ambassador Samiya Halabi’dus was truly shocking information.]

[None other than using those Dark Age chips implanted in most Prosnack people.]

[The Prosnack leadership, or rather Supreme Commander Fern’dus, pushed forward mindlessly through mass mind control.]

[Literally like undead armies from fantasy novels that feel no fear.]

[As a result, a war that originally wouldn’t have broken through defensive lines but would have caused minimal damage.]

[Turned into a catastrophe where Prosnack lost half of their deployed forces, and Kerzin was completely annihilated.]

‘…So, the war was originally supposed to end in Prosnack’s defeat?’

Seeing the event message, I felt chills as I recalled once again how much military power Prosnack had wasted when the Kerzin Federation was destroyed.

‘That’s basically the entire military power of a decent mid-sized country… equivalent to one of our Empire’s vassal states being completely wiped out.’

And that wasn’t just the regular fleet, but including the capital defense fleet, which was supposed to be the last resort.

But thinking about it, Prosnack’s actions in this war were quite strange.

‘I avoided fighting those guys not just because of power issues… but because they were truly geniuses when it came to combat.’

Minimizing their own casualties while gradually wearing down the enemy’s main forces before delivering a decisive blow to break their backbone.

Or thoroughly handling the aftermath to prevent additional rebellions in occupied territories—that was the hallmark of the Prosnack fleet.

But in this war, did the Prosnack fleet live up to its infamous reputation at all?

Their notorious mobile warfare was blocked from the start by the cheat-level John-Burnater Line defensive system.

They did try to break through using disposable super-large siege cannons.

And adopted the bizarre strategy of conducting mobile warfare inside the defensive line.

They even brought in the Fuchsviet Federation to block additional enemy reinforcements.

But when it came to breaking through such fortress lines, instead of using Zepha tactics or rolling maneuvers like the Fuchsviet Federation did.

They fumbled around and then crudely pushed forward with sheer numbers.

Even afterward, they continued to show un-Prosnack-like behavior.

Where was the thorough rear area cleanup and orbital bombardment that accounted for the majority of Prosnack’s infamous reputation?

Like the Qing army during the Manchu invasion of Korea, they mindlessly rushed all the way to the capital…

No, they rushed mindlessly to the border with the Sir-Horde Alliance in the rearmost area.

As a result, they destroyed the Kerzin Federation, but resistance guerrilla warfare broke out across the federation.

And unlike typical Prosnack operations, surprisingly many Kerzin Federation fleets survived, reoccupying various fortresses including the John-Burnater Line to attack the main forces’ supply lines.

Or somehow escaping and wandering the galaxy, then coming after hearing about the Kerzin government-in-exile we were establishing.

There were far too many gaps in their strategy.

‘I see, so the current Prosnack fleet is essentially no different from living robots.’

Not intelligent synths, but literally biological robots moving only according to orders without any intelligence.

Learning that this was the actual state of the current Prosnack fleet, I finally understood the reason behind the Kerzin Federation’s last stand and the enormous kill-death ratio it achieved.

‘The John-Burnater Line aside, there was no need to push forward so crudely after entering Kerzin territory, but they did it anyway.’

Instead of using their specialty of mobile warfare, they waged war in an inefficient and even disadvantageous way—how could that not lead to disaster?

[Pause Released]

After organizing my thoughts, I released the pause and spoke to Ambassador Samiya before me.

“…Hearing the details certainly clarifies the situation.”

“Indeed, and because of these events, I’m revealing that the current state of our homeland’s leadership… specifically my father and Supreme Commander Fern’dus, is concerning.”

“…?”

Wondering what he meant by this.

Ambassador Samiya spoke with a triumphant expression, as if wondering why I was confused.

“Isn’t it obvious? Even with mind control, our leadership’s military capabilities shouldn’t deteriorate.”

“Hmm.”

Perhaps because his poker face had already broken once in front of me.

Ambassador Samiya openly displayed the arrogant attitude often seen in Prosnack diplomatic ambassadors.

“What do you mean by that?”

“The recent casualties are certainly not indicative of my father, Supreme Commander Fern’dus’s usual capabilities.”

So the ambassador’s reason for suspicion wasn’t about using mind control and mindless charges to instill shock and terror in the enemy.

“…You’re suspicious because he showed incompetence?”

“Exactly.”

Despite using mind control in this war, they suffered massive casualties and failed to properly handle the aftermath.

Compared to the traditional Prosnack approach, they were absurdly incompetent—that was the cause for suspicion.

I nodded, wondering if this should be considered a cultural difference.

But then, a word suddenly crossed my mind.

“Wait… Ambassador? What is this ‘Berry Chip’?”

Berry Chip?

Wasn’t that a name that appeared in ridiculous conspiracy theories in my previous life?

“Ah, you mean that. The Covard Type-C 19 Pandemic Vaccine Chip… since the name is so complicated and difficult to pronounce, we simply call it the Berry Chip.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Yes?”

I had no idea how they abbreviated it to get that name.

But thinking that the name perfectly matched its purpose of mind control, I nodded and decided to continue my conversation with the ambassador.