Ch.385Towards Libya

* * *

“Why of course, the answer is obvious.”

“I feel like I might be overstepping.”

“But wouldn’t the French prefer it that way?”

Why should I personally cater to those baguette people?

“Hmm, even so, it seems too obvious.”

It would look like I’m trying too hard to win public favor.

Unfortunately, I’m not the type who wants to put myself out there to that extent.

Let’s be honest. How long have I been queen that I should say, “I’ll lead your army all the way to North Africa!”?

“Sometimes being obvious is good. France has been steeped in defeatism for decades. Even though Free France returned, most of the mainland was occupied by the Commune. They even lost the north to Britain. Of course, from Britain’s perspective, they needed to take that much to make up for the betrayal.”

Now they’ve lost territory here and there, and what was once the proud France has collapsed internally, so the defeatism must be tremendous.

Perhaps that’s why the French want to make me their queen.

“So, if I do this, the French might escape their defeatism?”

“Yes. Wouldn’t they consider themselves part of the true Rome?”

Part of the true Rome. Yes. No place is as disconnected as France.

Other regions have all submitted on their own.

Even Northern Europe has voluntarily joined by now. Switzerland is now fully under the Roman Treaty.

Only France remains floating in limbo.

“Ah, well. If that’s the case.”

It wouldn’t hurt to try.

But still, going all that way at my age seems a bit excessive.

I’m already quite old, you know. Of course, I could start over from zero with identity laundering, but that’s a separate issue.

I wonder if it’s right to rebuild the French people’s pride.

But if their defeatism is as bad as Louise says, they might not consider themselves part of the Roman Treaty.

They might still see themselves as outsiders.

At the very least, should I pretend to go there in person?

After racking my brain over various concerns, something occurred to me.

Would the French really follow my will as is? What if they might even massacre people?

The French are the ones who beheaded Algerians for sport, after all.

“Well, should I just go and see?”

It’s not particularly because Maria asked me to go.

* * *

The Roman Treaty

The motion for French rearmament was passed at the Roman Treaty.

Of course, there would be some conditions attached, but the situation was much better than maintaining just a self-defense force.

The conditions were that, as a member state of the Roman Treaty, they would maintain a defense force but keep the Burgundy region as a demilitarized zone.

This was merely a formality to begin with.

In reality, most member states of the Roman Treaty had almost completely eliminated their armies.

In such a situation, what difference would a demilitarized zone make?

“Wait, are you saying we should go easy on France?”

The Danube Federation, which had suffered the most damage from France, showed some discomfort, but realistically speaking, France couldn’t easily defeat any country in Europe now.

Well, their military was already destroyed, so what could they do?

“There’s no reason not to be lenient. They’ve taken care of everything themselves.”

“Considering that Burgundy was proposed by Russia, it makes sense.”

Proposed by Russia, the strongest anti-communist country.

While we support the integration of Burgundy and it’s already been passed, there’s something unusual about it.

“Hmm, but Gallia? Are they changing the country’s name completely?”

Actually, changing it to Gallia sounds quite plausible and not bad.

“It seems it will be the Kingdom of France in the Gallia Province of the Roman Treaty.”

The Kingdom of France in the Gallia Province of the Roman Treaty.

I’m not sure if it can really be called a province, but if the Russian Tsar says so, what can we do?

At least it’s not direct rule, so we don’t have to worry about history textbooks being drastically revised.

“The Kingdom of France in the Gallia Province of the Roman Treaty… it feels like all of Europe is becoming the Holy Roman Empire, but that can’t be right.”

In fact, it’s fundamentally different from the Holy Roman Empire.

But on the surface, it still looks quite suspicious.

“Unlike the ambiguous Holy Roman Empire from the start, this is a different Rome.”

Comparing the Roman Treaty to something like the Holy Roman Empire would be a mistake.

“Well, there are more important issues than France.”

France is no longer a major concern.

It’s simply that the Tsar went there and became queen.

It’s a common occurrence, and the real issue lies elsewhere.

“Ah, speaking of which, something came up from the Tsar.”

“It’s about Libya and Egypt.”

Libya and Egypt.

Those who want oil and Suez Canal shares in exchange for a crown.

I can understand to some extent. They’ve been through a lot.

But that’s just understanding from a third-party perspective.

Surprisingly, the Roman Treaty provided a lot of support to them.

No matter how they used it, instead of developing their countries, the money went into the pockets of those in power.

“Honestly, isn’t it too brazen? They were colonies, and Egypt was a semi-colony, so we’ve been giving them various forms of support, but there’s a limit. They’re embezzling the money we’ve given them, and if the Tsar wasn’t a crown collector, this could have been a disaster.”

Even for a crown collector, this seems a bit much.

“The French side says they’ll resolve this issue.”

“Oh, really?”

If they’ll handle it, then rearmament shouldn’t be a problem.

To be blunt, some countries had complaints about France not rearming.

It was essentially a free ride on security. Although they were bound by the Roman Treaty, the French Army was practically non-existent due to its self-defense force title.

This was quite natural.

Moreover, we could anticipate some trouble in Libya and Egypt because of this. This French matter wasn’t bad.

“Who’s managing the Suez Canal in Egypt? The person in charge should be punished.”

“They’re British.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to replace the Suez manager with someone from Turkey or Russia?”

“Let’s go with replacement and arrest the current manager.”

For the Suez shares issue, we can summon the manager and then replace them.

Of course, we still needed to confront Egypt separately.

“Understood. But what’s this?”

Something strange had come up.

Looking at it, it was extremely suspicious.

The Russian Tsar now wanted to lead the French army directly to Libya and Egypt.

“The Tsar wants to go to North Africa in person?”

“Isn’t this the same person who said it was too difficult? Who said they wanted to rest?”

Is this the same Tsar who wanted to rest?

Going there now is essentially working, isn’t it?

No matter how you look at it, the Tsar must be a workaholic without even realizing it.

Perhaps that’s why people quietly hope the Tsar will remain in position.

Now that they’ve become the Queen of France, they can’t easily give up the Russian Tsar position.

Logically, even if they abdicated the Tsar position to Vladimir, they couldn’t maintain the French queen position separately, so they won’t be able to abdicate for a while.

“That’s what I’m saying. It seems they’re working again.”

“Is there really any need for His Majesty to step in?”

If the Emperor gets involved, won’t things escalate too much?

That’s not good from the Roman Treaty headquarters’ perspective.

“It seems they want to give some strength to the French people. The French are currently quite deep in a sense of defeat.”

“Come on, they brought it upon themselves.”

Of course, the Commune suddenly seized power, so the French couldn’t help it, but that’s a separate issue. France brought this upon itself.

We even turned a blind eye to their attempts to maintain Algeria out of pity.

“They’ve lost a lot. If they don’t build up their confidence, they’ll become the most disconnected region in the Roman Treaty.”

France will now start being called the Gallia region of Rome – the Kingdom of France, but due to what they suffered during the Commune era, and because of anti-communist education, the pride of the French people has hit rock bottom as they view themselves as criminals.

“What trouble could possibly arise in places like Libya and Egypt?”

There shouldn’t be any major issues.

It’s unlikely that Libya and Egypt would resort to terrorism, and the Tsar’s movement is clearly an attempt to boost the morale of the French people.

It reminds me of Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, but I believe that’s not the case.

Although it’s quite suspicious, the members of the Roman Treaty decided to let it pass.

“Then, let’s approve it.”

“The Tsar knows what they’re doing. No need to worry.”

They’ll handle it well. It would be foolish to worry unnecessarily.

Meanwhile, Libya and Egypt received an ultimatum from the Roman Treaty and were puzzled.

“If they didn’t want the crown, they could have just said no. Why suddenly give an ultimatum using Roman Treaty support funds as an excuse?”

“They’re giving us an ultimatum because we’ve been nibbling away at the Suez shares?”

“Come on, they surely won’t go as far as attacking.”

For former colonial countries, the Roman Treaty was both an object of hatred and a source of easy money.

They apologized for colonial rule, provided all sorts of compensation, and allowed infrastructure to be maintained if they didn’t cause trouble.

Even after that, they continued to provide financial support.

But that very support became poison for them.

* * *

This is North Africa. A place of much talk and trouble.

Before coming, we sent ultimatums to Libya and Egypt.

Essentially telling them they were truly screwed.

But unfortunately, these guys were fools.

Whether it’s because they have something to hide, or for some other reason, anyway.

These guys were fools.

“Did Libya reject the Roman Treaty’s demands?”

From what I can see, it seems they’re rejecting our demands.

What happens now?

We have no choice but to take military action?

“Yes. They refused to cooperate with the investigation.”

These guys have not accepted the Roman Treaty’s serious demands.

They’re refusing the investigation.

Let’s think about what this means.

“Are they looking down on us?”

It means they’re looking down on us.

Because we’ve been lenient with them, these bastards haven’t come to their senses.

Should we just let this slide? No.

Despite appearances, European countries, excluding the lower-tier ones, were colonial empires.

Even Spain was among them.

The Roman Treaty is what those countries formed together.

Wasn’t Libya under Italy, and Egypt under Britain?

They’re taking us too lightly.

“Yes. They’re clearly looking down on us.”

These guys are beyond help.

This will stir the blood of European plunderers.

Before that happens, shouldn’t I end this by bringing the French with me?

Of course, we shouldn’t commit the Algerian massacres of the original history.

I actually thought about that belatedly.

The French committed all sorts of massacres in Algeria in the original history. Thinking about that, someone needs to be a central figure this time.

Someone needs to maintain order so they don’t beat them excessively.

“I never expected Your Majesty to personally come all the way to North Africa.”

La Rocque greeted me with an astonished expression.

Is it that strange for me to come here?

It’s a simple matter.

“As the King of France, I should do at least this much.”

Again, I can be lenient in this situation. The war here won’t be that significant anyway.

Simply subduing them should be enough.

“The local Libyans have a very low economic capacity.”

“Low economic capacity?”

Honestly, I didn’t expect Libya to be prosperous.

It would be strange to expect that.

But I thought they would develop on their own with a little support from the Roman Treaty, but at this rate, they’re not worth investing in.

“Yes. For the amount of support we provide, the entire population is not doing well. They’re living in poverty.”

That’s to be expected. When there’s a lot of embezzlement, that’s what happens.

Everything goes into their own pockets.

It might be difficult to do much with Libya’s land mass in the first place. But still, they have access to the sea in the north, and it’s not uninhabitable.

What fools. Like Afghanistan.

This is the result of embezzlement.

Looking around here, it’s quite evident. The situation is poor.

There aren’t any well-built cities. Perhaps only the capital would show signs of development.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. At this rate, it would be better to incorporate them under us.”

I genuinely think that would be better.