Ch.265Raid Preparations Done Right (6)

# Chapter 265: Thorough Raid Preparations (6)

Perhaps it’s because they’re neighboring countries.

Or maybe because they’re within the same ISTO sphere of influence.

The situation I discovered as information gathering completed much faster than usual was quite absurd.

——————————————

It was true that the Eastern Three Nations had called upon the ISTO Treaty Forces due to their security concerns.

And in response to that request, ISTO had very honorably described the Treaty Forces’ first deployment…

The problem was that in the process, the Uko-Praknar Interstellar Union, which was responsible for supplying the Treaty Forces from the rear of the Eastern Three Nations, was now facing bankruptcy.

Of course, that was entirely because the other two nations of the Eastern Three—the Syr-Hod Federation and the Nurval Republic—had “too frequently” made use of the Treaty Forces’ fleet.

Moving a fleet of over 50,000 ships back and forth continuously—how much fuel, ammunition, and supplies would that consume?

At least for food, Uko-Praknar, true to their bovine-headed race, had managed to hold out.

They had plastered food production facilities and farms across all sorts of planets.

But for all other resources, things had apparently gone completely to hell.

The problem was that the politicians of our Eastern Three Nations pushed all the blame onto the Treaty Forces fleet.

And when the Kar-Du side caught wind of this, they declared they would only provide bases for the Treaty Forces until the end of this year.

‘Heh, those bastards.’

It was obvious that the Fuksoviet Federation’s threat against them had been neutralized for at least 10 years.

And with the Prosnak Union initiating diplomatic normalization…

Now they found the presence of the Treaty Forces, which was draining their capital, quite irritating.

Of course, our side, including the puppet leaders we had installed, had somehow managed to stomp out such opinions from those governments.

But once words had left mouths, they couldn’t be taken back.

“If Prosnak is normalizing diplomatic relations and there’s no threat from Fuksoviet, do we really need to maintain the Treaty Forces on such a large scale?”

“I agree.”

The result of not crushing these seedlings in time—or rather, before the talk could spread—

Now such statements were not just circulating openly, but…

“Since there doesn’t seem to be any threat now, how about reducing the size of the fleet?”

“With the ceasefire negotiations concluded and the Galactic Federation’s monitoring team stationed… the Federation wouldn’t dare violate the agreement.”

They were even openly saying such things within the Treaty Organization Committee itself.

‘No, you idiots.’

To think that my slush fund—no, my Treaty Forces fleet—that I had worked so hard to build was now in danger of disintegrating.

Naturally, I wasn’t going to just sit back and watch such a mess unfold.

I immediately called an emergency countermeasure meeting within the Diplomatic Enforcement Ministry and ordered them to devise strategies for the current situation.

———————————–

And not long after, a solution was proposed by my very, very intelligent subordinates.

“Minister, to summarize the current atmosphere among the treaty member states:”

“Go on.”

“The treaty members providing bases, including Kar-Du, find the ‘scale’ of the current Treaty Forces fleet too large to possibly sustain with their economies.”

Of course, there were many political assumptions and hidden meanings within that, but on the surface, that seemed to be the representative opinion.

“Hmm… what a ridiculous story.”

“I know, right? When the treaty organization was first established, they were raving about how the Treaty Forces shouldn’t be given to nations that could actually afford them.”

As Riel said, isn’t this the very definition of hypocrisy?

And so I reopened the conversation with our top intellectuals.

“So, what’s the solution to this?”

“There wasn’t much to think about—we simply offer to host the Treaty Forces ourselves.”

“…Hmm.”

‘Great! Ah, wait… is that possible?’

I raised the question about the movement I had mentioned in my conversation with Riel—the one about not giving the Treaty Forces to nations that could afford them.

If that issue wasn’t resolved, wouldn’t it lead to all sorts of gossip later?

Of course, in response to my concerns, our top intellectuals said:

“They’re losing too much capital and resources in real-time to refuse on those grounds.”

“From the beginning, the only members within the treaty who could handle the scale of the Treaty Forces are us, Ztrakfor, and Roirakan.”

“Ztrakfor is still maintaining that stance, and Roirakan can’t be trusted.”

In other words, there was no alternative but us.

Our offer itself would be an offer the treaty couldn’t refuse.

And seeing these top intellectuals, I nodded and said:

‘Such high intelligence…!’

“Good, then let’s proceed with that immediately.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Leave it to us, we’ll bring the best results.”

———————————————————

And not long after.

“Treating the Treaty Forces like unwanted baggage—how does that make any sense!”

“No, that’s not it. Frankly speaking, isn’t the maintenance cost too high?”

“Don’t you think it’s too harsh on those who protected the treaty organization from the Fuksoviet threat?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to discharge them now that they’ve done their job?”

“When professional soldiers have worked hard, discharging them as payment is no different from firing employees.”

“Ah.”

The issue of the Treaty Forces, which had been causing heated debates and all sorts of arguments every minute within the ISTO Treaty Organization Committee…

“Then we’ll handle the Treaty Forces’ base and costs, so just provide us with subsidies from the treaty organization.”

“Oh.”

Was suddenly buried in the deep sea with the appearance of the Sebelli Empire, which boldly offered to provide a fleet base in their capital planetary system of Kesada.

Of course, the intellectuals within the treaty organization were suspicious of the Sebelli Empire’s attitude.

“Why is the Sebelli Empire taking over the Treaty Forces fleet headquarters and base?”

“They’re already dominating as the leader, isn’t this an attempt to devour the entire ISTO?”

They uttered these reasonable words, which were in some ways correct.

Of course, in response to such suspicions, the Sebelli Empire stepped forward confidently and said:

“Oh really? Then are you able to handle this bill?”

“Huh?”

And with the astronomical maintenance costs written on it, most of the opposing opinions subsided, but…

“No matter what, that doesn’t seem right.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to disband the fleet and just leave a military advisory group to maintain the know-how?”

A minority of reasonably sound opinions still survived, opposing the relocation of the Treaty Forces headquarters and base to the Sebelli capital.

But even that didn’t last long.

“Actually, we have the Eternia Annihilation Fleet in our capital right now.”

“Ah.”

At the mention of Pioneer Empire fleets squatting in their capital, even the few remaining opposing opinions instantly turned to support.

It made sense, as the “nasty” character of the Pioneer Empire was something of a common knowledge in this world.

In the midst of this, the Eternia Fleet, which had lost its home base when a space monster emerged in their territory, was lurking in the capital planetary system?

It was impossible to know when the Sebelli Empire’s capital city of Ka’Zan might burst into flames from an attack by the ill-tempered Annihilation Fleet.

“Poor Sebelli, sob sob.”

“Ah… there’s no choice in this case, is there?”

“Quite right.”

And so, while receiving strange sympathy from the ISTO member states, the Treaty Forces fleet headquarters and base were relocated.

——————————————–

Of course, the actual parties involved…

Artraia and I, who were assessing the situation in the Holy Sebelli Empire, couldn’t erase our complicated expressions for quite some time after hearing the news.

And the admiral of the Treaty Forces fleet, who suddenly found himself enjoying a heart-pounding ♡ date with the Annihilation Fleet instead of the peaceful and leisurely capital of Kar-Du…

-“Minister, is this truly the case?”

“Yes.”

-“Why are you trying to make us sacrificial lambs?”

He was already trembling with fear before even arriving.

Of course, after actually coming to Kesada, upon seeing the Saint Hologram Live Concert presented by the Annihilation Fleet…

No, after watching the video of Lady Maria beating and slamming Admiral Lüchou into submission…

“W-what is that…?”

He seemed to be feeling fear in a somewhat different sense now.