Ch.328Chapter 328. Beneath the Surface (1)

“A vassal state?”

I tilted my head at the unexpected term, but quickly organized my thoughts.

This game did have a vassal state system.

However, once a country became powerful enough to have vassals, they could easily unify the continent just by investing time, so unless someone was doing a concept play, nobody bothered with vassals.

Additionally, since vassals could suddenly backstab you or rebel, people would recommend surrender rather than creating vassal states.

But since this was the real world, proposing to become a vassal state wasn’t such a strange offer.

No. Thinking about it carefully, this was probably the best move from Hesna’s perspective.

‘They must have excellent self-awareness.’

Let’s assume omniscient beings were watching the situation on this continent and could place “bets” on which country would unify it.

The lowest odds—closest to a sure thing—would be our Serpina army.

I’m predicting that “Lunarian Ineanne will become the monarch who unifies the continent,” so I know Serpina can’t achieve unification—but from an outside perspective, everyone would see Serpina smoothly unifying the continent.

Next would probably be the Brans army. But from this point on, the odds would be quite high. The southern countries would each have extremely high odds, like winning the lottery.

In other words—even from a third-party perspective, the conclusion that Hesna could never unify the continent under any circumstances was undeniable.

In such a situation, becoming a vassal of a country likely to unify the continent was the most probable way to maintain their nation.

Even if they couldn’t become emperor themselves, by becoming a vassal and receiving an appropriate title and governing a certain territory, they wouldn’t have to relinquish their power.

“Are there any other conditions?”

“Conditions, yes. What Hesna wants isn’t just autonomy over the current Hesna territory.”

“Pardon?”

“What she proposed was—autonomy over the entire southern continent.”

“…??”

“She said if we grant her authority to govern the southern continent, she’ll help us defeat the Brans army. She also asked me to convey that she’d like help in organizing the south.”

“This proposal doesn’t seem to offer us any benefit… Why should our army guarantee autonomy over the south in the first place?”

“Those who died before me would curse me from the afterlife. Our territory would effectively shrink.”

“What are they offering in return?”

“Didn’t I mention it earlier? They said they would recognize you as the new emperor.”

“…!”

I see.

In fact, although the territories had been split into multiple countries with various lords—nominally, they were all subjects of the former Einhart Empire.

Recognition as emperor meant that a lord-level figure would be the first to officially acknowledge Serpina.

Normally, this would be an attractive offer—but it’s too late now. Our Serpina army could unify the continent sufficiently without the recognition of the lords. …At least, from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know that “Luna will unify it.”

“What does my lord think?”

“I determined there’s no particular reason to accept the proposal. However, I didn’t want to decide without seeking your counsel.”

Indeed, if I were Serpina, I would have asked someone like me with the ability of Divine Eye at least once.

After all, apart from the basics, my advice had been nothing but things that defied common sense.

“Please ask me anything.”

Serpina smiled, closed her eyes once, then opened them—

directing all the golden gaze in her eyes solely at me as she spoke.

“Swen. I ask you. Do you think forming a vassal agreement with Hesna would benefit our army?”

And the answer came:

[It would be a loss for the individual, but a long-term benefit for the nation.]

“…???”

What?

A loss for the individual but a long-term benefit for the nation?

What does that mean?

I was momentarily confused by this unprecedented answer.

“Swen. It seems you’ve heard something unusual again.”

“…Indeed, I truly can’t hide anything from my lord.”

“Huhuhuh, is that a compliment?”

Serpina amusedly touched her lips lightly with her snow-white finger.

“Well then, what should the next question be?”

She perfectly understood what I wanted and accommodated me.

The more I worked with her, the more I wondered if I could ever find a ruler who understood me as well as she did. While Luna also listened to me well, thinking about it, that was closer to one-sided trust, so in terms of give-and-take, Serpina might be a slightly better match.

Anyway, what question should I ask to complete this puzzle?

Without much deliberation, it was a relatively simple matter.

“Please ask the exact opposite question this time.”

Serpina tilted her head briefly, but instead of asking for clarification, she did exactly as I requested.

“Do you think we should reject the vassal agreement with Hesna?”

[It would inevitably be a loss for the nation.]

‘The answer here is a bit lighter.’

Moreover, this answer was as I expected. Good. With this, I could decide what to do without additional questions.

I told her with a very confident expression.

“Reject it. I believe it would be better not to form a vassal agreement.”

“Is that the answer from your Divine Eye?”

“Yes, it is.”

Serpina tilted her head back slightly with interest and said:

“How unexpected. Usually in these situations, I get a different answer instead of the obvious one, but not this time.”

“However, this is the best course for us.”

Serpina looked into my eyes for a moment, then nodded.

“Very well. Swen, I’ll do as you say. I’ll inform the envoy that we reject the agreement.”

Instead of answering, I bowed my head deeply.

The reason I rejected “it would be a long-term benefit for the nation”—was to protect Serpina.

The first statement was that “it would be a loss for the individual.” At first, I wasn’t sure what this meant, but by asking the opposite question, I could roughly understand the situation.

If we made this agreement, something would happen to the individual—meaning the ruler, Serpina. Since she was the decision-maker, it wasn’t difficult to deduce that “individual” referred to her.

Of course, it wouldn’t be enough to change fate completely, so she wouldn’t die or anything, but this decision itself might become a catalyst that would lower her reputation.

If not that, perhaps this would reduce the possibility of her being in danger.

After thinking that far, I found myself contemplating Serpina’s unfortunate fate anew.

‘The path that benefits the nation… must inevitably be a loss for the individual—for Ruler Serpina.’

What a miserable and tragic fate—the more her evaluation as a ruler falls, the more public opinion grows that she’s unsuitable for the ruler’s position, the closer the country comes to unification.

Since unification was impossible no matter what, all I could do was protect Ruler Serpina herself, not this country—the Serpina army.

‘That said, I doubt Hesna only made a deal with us.’

If I were Hesna, a ruler prepared to become a vassal, what decision would I make in this situation?

Having found my answer, I slowly raised my head to look at her.

“My lord. I think it would be good to send spies to the Brans army.”

“To the Brans army? Why? Is there a problem with the agreement?”

Just to be sure, I tried asking “Will there be a problem with the Brans army agreement?” but as expected, the answer came back unknown.

“It’s not that… I just want to find something out.”

“Very well. I know you’re not a man who gives frivolous advice. I’ll immediately organize personnel for intelligence gathering.”

Well, since it’s not the Brans army I want to monitor, it should be fine.

What I want to find out isn’t about her but—

* * *

The royal castle in Mertian, capital of Hesna.

“They rejected it, you say?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Hmm… as expected. If they had accepted the proposal, I could have created a more interesting situation.”

Hearing Hesna’s words, Terra asked with curiosity:

“Please tell me now, my lord. What were you planning if Serpina had accepted?”

“Well, I thought I might be able to extract more from Lynn using that as leverage.”

“What? You mean…”

“Yes. You’re thinking correctly. I was planning to use Serpina.”

Upon hearing this, Terra sighed deeply and said:

“I understand now why you didn’t consult with me.”

“But without taking risks like this, we can’t hide the fact that this agreement would be one-sidedly beneficial to us.”

“What if you had incurred Serpina’s wrath?”

“Well, I could have figured that out when the time came, couldn’t I?”

Although she said that—she probably had some strategy in mind.

Terra was a woman who understood her position coldly and realistically.

Although she served as the national strategist, in our army, Hesna the ruler was the most intelligent.

“What do you plan to do now?”

“Since our weapons aren’t ready, we’ll have to face them head-on.”

Hesna said this while licking her lips.

“She’s the lady that the rigid Orlando Brans named as successor, bypassing his two older brothers. I hope she’ll entertain me. Heheh…”