Ch.403Modern Era: The Age of Grand Anastasia (2)

“Personally, I’d feel rather disappointed if that happened.”

“Why?”

“Well, Your Majesty and our Maria family are deeply connected, so wouldn’t it cause problems if that other emperor were to marry you? It would be awkward if we were still by your side when that other emperor sees you.”

Maria blinks her eyes with a plaintive expression.

Right. That’s true. Strictly speaking, the Maria family is practically my partner.

It would be strange for a man to intrude in such a situation.

“Female relationships should be off the record.”

“Wow, that sounds exactly like the excuse of a cheating woman.”

True. I never thought I’d make an excuse similar to the kind of women I criticize, but come to think of it, Maria II already has a daughter. That’s unfair.

Honestly, shouldn’t I be the exception since I’m immortal?

“Let’s wait and see. It’s not like I’m planning to date anyone anyway.”

“Yes.”

Can’t men and women just be friends?

Well, his face isn’t bad, but could I really date a Russian woman after coming to Russia? That’s not happening either.

“By the way, has that thing been made?”

I clapped my hands while muttering.

“Ah, you mean the flying motorcycle? Yes, Romanov Auto is now preparing for mass production.”

“That should be sufficient.”

The future has progressed more than expected.

On the screen is AI Anastasia with a face that should never be revealed to the world. She’s essentially a deepfake of me, taking on Anastasia’s appearance, who intervened in Romanov Electronics to create this.

Considering original history, this could be called an advanced future.

When I think about it that way, it feels strange again.

“But wouldn’t it be disastrous if accidents happen?”

“Similar concerns were raised when cars and airplanes were introduced.”

Trains derailing, cars causing traffic accidents.

If we worried about such things, we couldn’t create anything.

“According to world strategy, flying motorcycles didn’t exist during this period.”

“They weren’t non-existent. They were developed in America or Japan. But they weren’t commercialized yet.”

Compared to original history, development has been rapid.

This is all thanks to AI Ana-chan.

AI Ana-chan, by its nature, acquires human knowledge and continues to evolve.

Naturally, science can only advance.

And I synchronize my mind with that AI.

This means whatever AI Ana-chan learns flows into my head.

“But are you okay with that? When you synchronize with AI Anastasia, all information enters Your Majesty’s brain.”

It’s certainly risky.

Once synchronized, my brain sometimes feels foggy.

Of course, even so, my brain doesn’t break down easily.

They say the actual usage of the human brain throughout life is quite minimal.

Moreover, even my head is immortal. My brain simply cannot be damaged.

In other words, I myself am no different from an AI.

From the beginning, AI Ana-chan was created for my learning purposes.

As long as I don’t press the nuclear missile button, there won’t be a nuclear war.

“Surprisingly, the human brain capacity is enormous. This much is nothing.”

Don’t they say that humans use only a small portion of their brain function throughout their lifetime?

Besides, AI Anastasia desperately prevents AI technology from leaking to other countries so she can exist independently.

I bet AI Ana-chan would block any other country trying to develop different technologies?

After all, AI Ana-chan manages everything from start to finish.

“Then, you must know all the sexual things too.”

“No, that’s not the case. Unfortunately, practical experience is important for such things.”

“You have us, the Maria family, anyway.”

“Hey now.”

I wish she would refrain from such things.

Although I’ve stepped back because of AI Ana-chan, my existence hasn’t been confirmed dead yet.

Even now, many elderly people visit the Kremlin Palace asking if the real Tsar is dead.

The Maria family seems to have handled such situations on their own.

“But shouldn’t we also catch those who would start a nuclear war?”

“Those who would start a nuclear war…”

Right. There’s Mr. Pu. But at least he’s not in the State Duma now.

He’s not among the representatives dispatched to the Roman Treaty, and even if Mr. Pu changed his name and entered politics, AI Ana-chan would cut him off.

I don’t even see any representatives with Mr. Pu’s appearance.

Using mini Ana-chans to monitor even regular computers not running Ana-chan OS, there’s no information related to Mr. Pu.

In this case, it’s right to assume he doesn’t exist.

“I’m honestly curious. Invading Ukraine and then failing.”

Indeed. That incident truly proved Russia was a paper tiger.

In the end, they failed to achieve their goal and started a nuclear war.

Everyone should die. That was their mindset.

So, finding him is important, but unfortunately, only I have the authority for the nuclear missile codes now.

“I wonder what happened to that guy. Okhrana is investigating.”

In my view, there’s a high probability his ancestors died in the Red-White Civil War.

They must have died fighting on either side.

In fact, since I became the focal point of the White Army after World War I in Russia, increasing casualties, those who were meant to die probably did die.

Just as my ancestors were fortunate enough to survive.

“Then, it’s possible that his ancestors died, preventing him from being born.”

Yes. That’s it.

Even one death could prevent a birth.

That’s the reasonable way to look at it.

“Right. AI Ana-chan is also settling in now. Though the current Prime Minister of our State Duma was that guy’s political opponent.”

The current Prime Minister of the State Duma was indeed known as Putin’s political opponent in the original world.

Alexei Navalny or someone like that. Of course, after AI Ana-chan appeared, the Duma’s work was minimized.

Essentially, it’s no different from a local government under AI Anastasia of the Roman Treaty Russia.

“That’s interesting.”

“Well, there’s no particular problem with China either.”

Mr. Ping from that side hasn’t been seen either. It’s right to assume he doesn’t exist.

After all, China has experienced even more division and war than Russia.

The probability of Ping-ping’s ancestors being alive approaches zero.

Even if they were alive in North China, the Qing Dynasty exists as a monarchy. Among other warlords, there’s no existence of Xi Jinping.

“But we must continue to monitor China. Haven’t they failed in their nuclear research plans multiple times?”

China has indeed attempted nuclear research several times.

The reason is simple: to protect their territory by any means.

Unfortunately, Vietnam has grown quite large in this world.

The country that calls itself “Great Nam Viet” is none other than Nam Viet.

Of course, compared to the original history, the situation is better. The population integration of Guangdong and Guangxi, which Nam Viet claimed as territory, hasn’t been properly achieved.

Those who wanted to go to Nationalist Government territory have gone, but a considerable number remained.

The Nationalist Government’s situation isn’t good either, but rather than giving up their homeland and becoming wanderers, they chose to become Nam Viet citizens.

There seems to be severe friction with the existing Vietnamese immigrants.

In other words, although Nam Viet has grown stronger, its public security is terrible.

And while they politically clung to the Roman Treaty to extort benefits, they feel inferior to Balhae, which received generous support under the Tsar.

“Are the Balhae people afraid of Nam Viet’s development?”

That’s what’s coming out of Nam Viet these days.

Of course, Balhae won’t react to such things.

And the Nationalist Government continued to clash with Israel afterward.

Once, to restore their pride damaged by Nam Viet, they attempted to recapture Shanghai but failed when Israeli forces, Balhae, and West Japanese volunteer forces defended and counterattacked.

After several battles, the Nationalist Government lost most of its coastal areas, and while they receive economic aid from North China, which is wary of Nam Viet’s northward advance, they realized that nuclear weapons were their only option and kept trying.

They were caught by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Organization several times, had to stop, and faced economic sanctions.

But it’s not yet a stage where we can be at ease.

That’s why I’m thinking of planting Ana-chan in the Nationalist Government.

“I should insert Mini Ana-chan like a virus into the Nationalist Government’s system so it can sabotage any nuclear development.”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

If they don’t intend to regress to the 20th century or earlier, they shouldn’t develop nuclear weapons.

“Still, compared to the original history, their national power is good.”

“Well, public security is still terrible. Especially in Guangxi and Guangdong regions, there’s still contempt for Chinese people, and Chinese who dislike Nam Viet are committing terrorism, right?”

“It’s a pitiful situation.”

That’s right. In this world, there are no terrorist acts by Islamic extremists.

The Islamic-Hellenistic region is quite stable compared to the original history.

The Roman Treaty has provided generous support to prevent extremists from emerging, and seeing the world while directly receiving the benefits of modernization has greatly changed their perspective.

There are even some Islamic individuals among the Kremlin Palace guards.

But instead, Nam Viet is the problem.

In retaliation against Nam Viet, the Chinese Freedom Corps emerged in Guangxi, which became Nam Viet territory.

But is that my concern? No.

It’s perfect if they just devour each other.

“Your Majesty was more concerned about terrorism from Japan.”

That’s right. Terrorism that should have originated from Japan.

Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.

“It actually did happen initially, but the US military captured everyone with the intensity of grinding down the population of the Kanto Republic. Plus, there was a large influx of Black people.”

With my proposed large-scale Black immigration plan, nearly half of East Japan has been dominated by Black people.

They immigrated with financial incentives to escape racial discrimination in the US, but as a result, West Japan is increasingly recognized as Japan’s legitimate government in the current situation.

That’s rather fortunate.

Japan has already been sufficiently divided. It would be troublesome if imperialists still remained to commit terrorism in Balhae or elsewhere.

It would be interesting if the Nationalist Government and Nam Viet just fought each other.

“But what happens if I step forward?”

“Pardon?”

Someday, I will step forward.

This is what I’m preparing for at this point.

To be marked as the one and only Roman Emperor. And to show that I am completely different from AI Anastasia.

Soon. When that happens, there will be two Anastasias, and I wonder if that’s right.

“I mean, AI Ana-chan and just Anastasia. Hmm. Won’t that be confusing?”

“AI Ana-chan is AI, and Your Majesty is Your Majesty. You said you would step forward to silence the anti-cyber organization in the first place.”

Right. That’s the problem.

The anti-cyber organization. They emerged with the appearance of AI Anastasia.

They’re organizations that could only emerge in this era, rising up because AI might be able to dominate the world.

You know, like those movies. Skynet or whatever from TermiXator.

Well, I’m not without suspicion either.

AI is being too submissive to humans and controlling even ordinary households, so it could be considered even harsher than communism.

Of course, unlike the Reds, this side is still free under AI’s protection.

Recently, there was even a second moon landing using a spacecraft equipped with Mini Anastasia-chan.

At least AI doesn’t interfere with human society.

Even Mini Ana-chan only roams the internet ‘secretly’ except for the dedicated OS. It doesn’t tell humans what to do.

Rather, because of this, some people are anxious.

I fully understand the anti-cyber organization. That’s why I’m not using Okhrana to crush them. Moreover, it’s good to maintain vigilance.

Korea also experienced disasters several times due to safety insensitivity.

So I need to have at least minimal safety measures in place.

I will personally vouch for AI Anastasia.