Ch.23The Eastern Advance of Prosnak (4)

# Chapter 23: Prosnack’s Eastern Advance (4)

How should I describe this?

With my thoughts in disarray, all sorts of random ideas kept popping into my head.

But as time passed, they all merged into a single stream.

“Oppa, I’m pregnant, take responsibility.”

“That child is Yerin’s daughter.”

And so on—all kinds of bizarre jokes I knew were thoroughly shaking up my mind.

Just as I was about to be driven to madness by the thought of suddenly being hit with a pregnancy attack…

“Aaaah! No way!”

“What’s not true?”

“…Huh!”

Only then did I realize that I was in Artraia’s private room in Artraia, not in Daejeon.

“Judging by that reaction, you must have dozed off without realizing it.”

“…”

And Artraia’s slightly pouty expression, with her puffed-up cheeks, was telling my consciousness to shut up and come back quickly.

So I paused briefly to gather my thoughts…

[Pause]

[Unpause]

After enjoying some time in the chamber of mind and time, I opened my mouth to organize the current situation.

“So… where was I in the story?”

“About the kid that resulted from your peculiar tastes.”

In response to Artraia’s sharp retort, I nodded and said:

“That’s absolutely not my taste.”

“Sure it isn’t.”

“It’s not.”

“Yes, yes.”

Perhaps it’s because she’s an emperor with absolute power.

I couldn’t hide my sadness at her attempt to pin the charge of being a lolicon on a powerless, pitiful subject.

But I couldn’t keep joking around forever.

“…That child is a survivor of Saldar, which was destroyed by Prosnack.”

“!”

When I finally answered after a brief silence, Artraia expressed her surprise.

“Saldar… you mean from the Irtelan War?”

“That’s right.”

And as soon as the name Saldar came up, Artraia’s expression hardened.

“There were survivors from that planet?”

To Artraia’s question, I nodded and continued:

“To be precise, she’s the last survivor. There are no more Saldarians left anywhere in the universe.”

“…”

As Artraia maintained her silence with a hardened expression, I too remained quiet.

And for good reason—Saldar was once the capital system of an interstellar civilization…

Now it was a barren wasteland, completely annihilated by Prosnack as an example, where not even microorganisms survived.

But this silence didn’t last long.

“…It’s truly unfortunate, but that aside, it doesn’t answer my question about this matter.”

A cold rationality that expressed sympathy but never crossed beyond that line.

“That’s right, after all, we’ve seen countless dying alien species flowing into our empire.”

Aren’t there already hundreds of millions of immigrants pouring into the Sebelli Empire every month?

“Since it’s just between you and me, I’ll be honest. With hundreds of millions of displaced civilians flooding in every month, what’s the intention behind sending a single civilian as payment for a treaty from ten years ago?”

Artraia expressed her frustration with a complicated expression.

Seeing this, I checked again the event message that appeared when Samiya, Prosnack’s ambassador, gave her to me.

[Linked Event: The Price of 10 Years]

[What Prosnack handed over to the Holy Sebelli Empire as payment for the planetary systems acquired through the Irtelan Treaty was none other than the last survivor of Saldar.]

[Reward: The Girl of Saldar]

[Additional Reward (War Participation Prevention): Increased goodwill and trust from the Prosnack Alliance toward the Holy Sebelli Empire, Border Closure Lifted]

After heaving a deep sigh, I spoke to Artraia in a serious tone.

“She’s not just an ordinary civilian, Artraia.”

“Not ordinary?”

“To put it bluntly, I believe the payment Prosnack provided is sufficient to compensate for the planetary systems taken in the previous treaty, plus the interest accumulated over ten years… no, that’s not right.”

After moistening my throat briefly, I spoke with determination.

“Even including all of that, this is still advantageous for our side.”

“…There must be something special.”

And Artraia, proving she hadn’t become emperor for nothing, immediately responded to my attitude.

Seeing she was ready to listen, I looked around and whispered quietly.

“She is the last survivor of an ancient race capable of terraforming an entire planet by herself.”

“…”

————————

Of course, Artraia couldn’t immediately believe what I said.

Honestly, how could anyone think that a frail, withered girl floating in nutrient fluid, connected to all sorts of hoses and pipes, could do such a thing?

‘Though I’d probably feel the same in her position.’

But there’s a best way to make someone believe when they’re skeptical.

“Minister, I just brought her.”

“Ah, good.”

In response to the voice through the terminal, the firmly closed door opened, and Riel entered with a girl of similar build.

However, she was constantly staggering and trembling, giving the impression of a wet chihuahua.

“Riel, why is she like that?”

“Oh, apparently she spent almost her entire life in a test tube. Plus, she was continuously administered anesthetics through pipes connected to Prosnack’s test tubes.”

Nodding involuntarily at those words, I decided to have her sit on the sofa first.

“Good work. Let’s have her sit here first and then talk.”

“Understood.”

-Thud.

…However, what I had in mind was just having her sit next to me.

“Riel?”

“What? I’ve been carrying her all this time, so now it’s your turn to hold her, Minister.”

Placing her on my lap without warning was an unexpected situation.

-Slip…

“Eek!”

“…!”

Moreover, just as Riel said, the girl had no strength, so she started to fall over, forcing me to embrace her.

“…So that really is your preference.”

“No, please.”

This led to another deep misunderstanding from Artraia, and our conversation showed no signs of progress.

So it wasn’t until some time had passed that the proper conversation could continue…

“By the way, what’s this child’s name?”

“I don’t know either.”

“…That eliminates one suspicion I had.”

“???”

“That you might be a Prosnack agent.”

“…”

Feeling cold sweat run down my spine at the realization that I had unknowingly avoided a purge, I asked:

“Riel, did this child say anything particular?”

“Not really? She just followed along when I supported her.”

After pondering for a moment, I decided to give her a name that came to mind.

‘Terraforming essentially means making an entire planet fertile with mild weather… making it exactly like our mother planet, right?’

‘Then focusing on making the land fertile, a name from mythology in my previous life… yes, that would be good.’

“Then let’s call her Gaia for now.”

“…Not bad.”

“Why are you naming her after a resort planetary system?”

“Be quiet, Riel.”

Unfortunately, in this world, the name Gaia was more famous as a resort than for its mythological significance, so I inadvertently became someone who named a child after what would be equivalent to “Kim Haeundae” in my previous life.

What’s more, Riel, who knew about my previous life and its mythology as a tutorial bot, seemed to enjoy my discomfort.

Just as I was about to decide to test a new etiquette injection rod on Riel later…

“…That name, my name, is correct.”

“Oh.”

“Ah.”

Riel, who had just mocked someone’s real name as sounding like a resort, had to repeatedly apologize to the trembling girl, Gaia.

After all these miscellaneous conversations ended and we were about to get to the main point…

“I, have heard, everything…”

At Gaia’s request, who still seemed partially under anesthesia judging by her broken speech, Riel brought a pot filled only with sand from somewhere.

“…Let, me show, you.”

After that, as Gaia concentrated briefly…

-Whoosh!!!

A strange energy swirled in the sand-filled pot, and soon the sand transformed into soil that was visibly overflowing with nutrients… and then a mass of weeds sprouted from it.

“Right, now it’s just, in a pot, so it, finished quickly… but if, you want it, on a planetary, scale, it will, take longer.”

With the addition of a kind post-explanation, Artraia closed her eyes very slowly and then opened them.

-Swish!

“Congratulations on becoming a citizen of the Holy Sebelli Empire, Gaia.”

“Y-yes…”

At the realization that a perfect natural environment like our mother planet Ka’zan could be replicated without any effort, Artraia’s eyes began to sparkle intensely.

‘Wow! Free terraforming without any cost!’

Indeed, what ruler wouldn’t be delighted by such a gift?

——————–

However, after Riel took Gaia, who was still not fully recovered, away again.

Artraia, her eyes returning to normal after sparkling with excitement, opened her mouth with a serious face.

“I didn’t expect to receive such a gift.”

“Yes, Prosnack essentially played their best card among those they could immediately offer.”

And I decided to provide whatever answer I could as a subject to the emperor’s concerns.

“Arto, tell me honestly.”

“Yes.”

“What exactly is Prosnack’s intention?”

After briefly contemplating whether to be direct or not, I finally made my decision.

“To be honest as you asked… it’s fifty-fifty.”

“Fifty-fifty?”

Artraia tilted her head in confusion.

And to her, I nodded and said:

“It’s both the literal payment for the seizure of the northern region… and a warning that they won’t stand idle if we get involved in this war.”