Ch.352Chapter 352 – War is Madness

War.

I never thought I’d hear this irritating word again after coming to another world.

Even in South Korea, where I lived in my previous life, the country still maintained a conscription system due to the war that broke out in 1950.

Born there, I was forced to be dragged into the military during my early twenties—a time when I should have been shining most brightly.

How disgusting it was that they dragged us into the military under the pretext of defending the country, then handed us a pittance they called a salary.

Still, things had been improving recently—soldiers could use mobile phones, and salaries had increased, improving the treatment of enlisted men.

But the military is still the military.

No matter how much you wear, you’re cold; no matter how much you sleep, you’re tired; no matter how much you eat, you’re hungry; and no matter how much you train, you never get used to it.

That’s exactly what the military is.

“How many more people will have to be sacrificed?”

Perhaps that’s why I despised the act of war so much.

I say I despise it only because my expression skills are lacking, but in reality, I disliked war even more than I could express.

From that perspective, the fact that the kingdoms in the southern continent were forming an alliance to prepare for invading other countries…

‘It’s absolutely unforgivable.’

How dare they try to break the peace we worked so hard to create?

If we hadn’t defeated the Demon God and eliminated the Demon Cult, we would all be living miserably as slaves to the Demon God.

Yet they’ve forgotten that and are trying to bring chaos to this continent again.

If we leave this unchecked, won’t they grow powerful enough to eventually clash with the Gelebrio Empire?

‘Ah, it’s a shame I don’t have the ability to fight directly.’

My abilities are specialized in fixing things, not destroying them.

If I were strong enough to serve as a one-man deterrent, I would have invaded the southern kingdoms right away and told them, ‘Don’t even think about starting a war while I’m asking nicely’…

‘Wait a minute.’

Just then, a flash of insight struck me.

‘Do I really need to step in personally?’

As an individual, my combat power isn’t strong—rather, it’s on the weaker side.

But among the people around me, there are many who rank among the strongest.

‘Regina noona alone has the ability to wipe out a small kingdom in a day.’

Even when Regina noona was known as the Red Flame, she and her companions sealed away the evil dragon Neberander, who was said to be capable of destroying a large kingdom.

She’s even stronger now, so erasing a country in a day shouldn’t be difficult for her.

‘And then there’s the Heavenly Demon, who’s the world’s strongest in terms of individual combat power.’

If Cheon Hyeryeong truly decided to unleash the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist, even the Gelebrio Empire would be in danger.

She’s someone who fought on equal terms with the Demon God who descended upon this world with just her true form’s combat power…

‘If it can prevent war, I should use every means available.’

I dreamed of a peaceful world because I wanted to live peacefully without anyone’s interference, but when someone disrupts that, even a good person becomes a thug.

If push comes to shove, I’m even thinking of using the spaceship I have.

It’s common sense that dropping a several-kilometer-long spaceship from the atmosphere to collide with the ground makes for an excellent mass weapon.

But I want to save the spaceship for later when I take my wives on our honeymoon.

Nothing beats the thrill of going to space for a honeymoon, right?

‘More importantly, how should I stop this war…’

The most important issue is figuring out how to prevent the war.

If we can’t stop it, all the peace we’ve worked so hard to achieve will be for nothing.

‘But why is the Alliance Kingdom trying to start a war in the first place?’

I just can’t understand it no matter how much I think about it. The battle against the Demon Cult and the Demon God caused damage to every nation in this world, whether large or small.

And I don’t think all that damage has been fully recovered in less than a year.

So why are the southern kingdoms forming an alliance and preparing for war?

Their target probably isn’t the Gelebrio Empire, but they’ll certainly invade neighboring countries.

‘I really don’t understand.’

They say war itself is inherently incomprehensible, but this truly makes no sense.

During the fight against the Demon God, they must have witnessed with their own eyes how terrifyingly powerful the military forces of the Gelebrio Empire and the Pantheon’s orders are.

Do they really think they can win? Or are they just trying to build up their strength and create fear that war will break out?

‘Wait.’

Creating fear? What benefit would they gain from creating an atmosphere that war might break out?

Speaking of an atmosphere of impending war, I remember something from a book I read in my previous life.

It clearly stated:

‘Those who call for war never actually want war to happen. What they want is merely the atmosphere that war might break out. Through this atmosphere, they justify their actions and claims while crushing opposing forces. Such behavior stems from purely political calculations.’

Through the atmosphere of impending war, they redirect internal dissatisfaction elsewhere, deflecting all arrows of criticism that would otherwise be aimed at them.

This has been a long-standing tradition since ancient times.

Even if there are problems within their community, people will rise to protect it if they believe the community might collapse due to external enemies.

So why are the southern kingdoms uniting and preparing for war?

‘Could it be that the situation is so dire that they need to divert their citizens’ attention outward, even by creating a non-existent enemy?’

Perhaps this was the information the Imperial Intelligence Department wanted.

The reason why they need to divert their citizens’ attention outward, even by creating a non-existent enemy.

That’s what they were trying to find out.

There’s a big difference in what you can achieve in negotiations when you know this versus when you don’t.

Thinking about it this way, I now understand why they’re suddenly preparing for war.

They don’t want war; they want to create an atmosphere of impending war to shift the dissatisfaction directed at them toward an external enemy.

‘I don’t know who came up with this, but they’re really smart.’

This kind of approach won’t work forever, but it will certainly be effective in this world.

Our country has been devastated by the fight against the Demon God and the Demon Cult, and what’s the cause?

It’s because other countries failed to deal with the Demon Cult in time!

Therefore, we must become stronger so we can hold them accountable!

By inciting people this way, they can implicitly foster the perception that other countries—who might actually be victims themselves—are enemies, without explicitly declaring them as such.

In the long run, such perceptions could actually lead to real war, but there’s nothing better for diverting immediate dissatisfaction outward.

Hitler, the German dictator, also rallied Germans by designating Jews, who were already poorly perceived, as evil.

In that process, he wasn’t satisfied and escalated the war until he was pushed back to his headquarters and ended up committing suicide with a pistol in an underground bunker.

Hitler is probably having a revenge match with Stalin in hell right now.

‘So there’s someone like Hitler in this world too.’

Ugh, it’s horrifying just to imagine.

And if someone like Goebbels is with them, it will truly be hell on earth.

While the Demon Cult brainwashed people with special abilities, Goebbels was a true expert in propaganda who incited people with his exceptional eloquence.

‘The Imperial Intelligence Department probably knows this too.’

As professionals who collect and analyze information, they must have figured out that the formation of the Alliance Kingdom and their war preparations are a kind of bluffing.

Then what we can do is prepare for war while maintaining our normal daily lives.

Even if an Alliance Kingdom is formed, having multiple heads versus one is actually quite inefficient for decision-making.

They have multiple kings, while we have one Emperor, so our decision-making speed should be faster than theirs.

‘The best outcome would be if they just create an atmosphere of impending war and then everything fizzles out.’

I hope the high-ranking officials of the Alliance Kingdom are sane people…

All I could do was pray to the gods watching over the world from above that war would not break out.

‘If you’re up there looking down at us, please don’t let war break out, please…’

I don’t know if the gods will hear my prayer, but I really hope they prevent this war.

And not long after, the whole world was turned upside down.

[Pantheon Orders Receive Divine Revelations Simultaneously]

[Content of the Revelation: “We will not tolerate any act that disrupts peace. Divine punishment shall befall those who break the peace.”]

The gods above answered my prayer in the most dramatic way possible.