Ch.406Modern Era: The Age of Grand Anastasia (5)

* * *

[“Our Roman Treaty will certainly help any country that wants AI Anastasia to adopt it. However, we never engage in cyber invasion. This is because our Roman Treaty respects the independence of countries worldwide and does not force the adoption of AI Anastasia, which could potentially infringe upon that independence. Our Roman Treaty only has the will to protect this world, and has no intention of invading or pursuing expansionist policies. However, in this era of globalization, the existence of AI Anastasia will bind adopting countries together with strong friendship across borders.”]

[“Is that true, Your Majesty?”]

A journalist from the Balhae Federation asked.

[“Of course. From the beginning, within our Roman Treaty, we only dream of peace and prosperity through AI. Countries that don’t adopt it simply won’t receive the benefits of AI Anastasia. We still consider countries that don’t adopt Anastasia as friendly nations, and for alliance members including the Co-Prosperity Sphere, we only fulfill our obligations. We never force cyber government adoption.”]

In other words, he was saying they had no interest beyond alliance obligations.

It didn’t particularly matter if the Balhae Federation didn’t adopt the AI.

After all, it was the Balhae Federation that brought up the topic first, and the Roman Treaty’s original purpose was to send it to enemy countries to extract confidential information, so there was no need to implement it there.

[“There are rumors that Nam Viet is adopting Anastasia. What’s happening with that?”]

AI Anastasia adoption by Nam Viet.

The Balhae Federation nearly fainted at those words.

As Nam Viet rapidly rose to prominence in Southeast Asia, Balhae had been trying to keep them in check. Now Nam Viet was reportedly adopting AI.

[“Nam Viet has long suffered from the threat of Chinese terrorism. They needed social stability, and the South Vietnamese President personally requested AI Anastasia adoption to eliminate corruption. As the first Asian country to do so, the Roman Treaty is currently reviewing the implementation. If Nam Viet adopts AI Anastasia, they will become a partner in the Roman Treaty’s Space Colonization Project, sharing technologies such as spacecraft and satellites.”]

Space Colonization Project.

It was essentially a project researching space exploration to prepare for the future.

A massive project following AI Anastasia.

This project was exclusively for certain countries that had adopted AI Anastasia, centered around the Roman Treaty, and didn’t even include military allies like the Balhae Federation.

The reason given was that they couldn’t keep up with the technological development of AI Anastasia anyway.

“What? Nam Viet is adopting AI Anastasia?”

“Could this lead to a reversal in national power?”

“Isn’t the Space Colonization Project only for the Roman Treaty’s first-tier allies?”

First-tier allies included Ethiopia in Africa, several Anastasian states in India, and the Three Kingdoms of Islam-Hellenism.

The Co-Prosperity Sphere was also an ally, but they still had to accept AI Anastasia.

[“I’ll say it again, our Roman Treaty absolutely has no intention of cyber invasion or interfering with the independence of foreign countries. Absolutely none.”]

There was no intention to force it, but not adopting it would simply leave countries behind the times.

That’s what the Anastasia Tsar was saying now.

Indeed, with society as a whole, including military power, endlessly evolving through AI Anastasia, what more needed to be said?

After Anastasia’s speech, anti-cyber groups raised their objections, but in response, voices calling for the adoption of AI Anastasia grew louder.

* * *

A special envoy from the United States arrived at the Roman Treaty headquarters.

I watched the situation at the Roman Treaty headquarters through a monitor in the Kremlin Palace.

I wondered how things would unfold.

I quietly ate ice cream while observing the situation.

This was essentially about breaking the existing world order.

Whether America could resolve this remained to be seen, but in my view, they couldn’t succeed without creating something much better than AI Ana-chan.

“Where in the world do you find such blatant violation of agreements!”

“Excuse me? What do you mean?”

Our side was simply playing innocent.

“I hear you’re deploying AI Anastasia in Nam Viet! Do you think the United States is a joke?”

As expected, the distinguished Americans were strongly objecting to Anastasia’s deployment in Nam Viet.

“What can we do if that’s what Nam Viet wants?”

“Even if they want it, you shouldn’t do it! Didn’t you make an agreement with us?”

What agreement? We had already honored our agreements sufficiently.

To be fair.

“Well, you should have completely controlled Nam Viet beforehand. We’re frustrated too. Instead of just blaming us, you should have disciplined Nam Viet properly yourselves.”

They were simply feeling wronged after failing to manage the situation properly.

But the United States couldn’t just let this slide.

If they let go now, they would truly lose Nam Viet. They knew better than anyone about Mini Anastasia.

Although America had accepted defeat in the AI war, they clearly distinguished that from their own territory.

“Anyway, this cannot be overlooked!”

“One of the Mini-tashas that escaped recently came back with something good.”

“W-what?”

[“It’s this.”]

A Mini Anastasia wearing sunglasses appeared on a hologram screen installed in the headquarters and played a video file.

Surprisingly, the video showed a president well past middle age manufacturing tactical nuclear weapons with a mistress who appeared to be the same age.

The American envoy’s face contorted upon seeing this.

It was only natural that his face would contort.

“What the fuck! Oh my eye! Where did you get this? Isn’t this a deepfake?”

Deepfake, he says. I doubt it.

Well, AI Mini Ana-chan is an invincible mini-bot that sees everything.

“Why don’t you investigate it yourself?”

“There’s no law that allows blackmail like this! What country in the world would—”

“You mean the president’s XX video? It’s not exactly blackmail. Frankly, the president could just take responsibility and step down.”

That’s all it would take—taking responsibility and stepping down.

The problem is that afterward, the United States would be infamous as a country where videos of the president having sex spread to competing nations.

“But the honor of our United States would be dragged through the mud.”

The envoy gritted his teeth.

A country where videos of the president having sex spread around. How ridiculous would that be?

“So either quickly take control of Nam Viet before we intervene, or just leave it alone.”

It was blackmail, but there was no choice.

After all, it was because the United States failed to fully embrace Nam Viet.

They should have threatened them with nuclear weapons or something. It’s truly absurd.

“Grrrr.”

“Look, we’re not directly controlling Nam Viet militarily. We don’t like Nam Viet constantly asking for support either, but it’s difficult for us to reject people asking for help given our position. Moreover, the United States has been pulling out of Nam Viet from the beginning.”

Since it was true that the United States was withdrawing from Nam Viet, we had plenty to say as well.

“That may be true, but…”

“You’ve already acknowledged that you’re falling behind in the AI competition.”

Well, to be precise, we’re just preventing them from developing core AI technology.

And it’s virtually impossible for them to steal the technology.

If they can’t do anything about me, the true master of AI Anastasia, there’s no solution.

“Although we’ve fallen behind in AI, the United States has advanced and independent internet technology that can now block AI Anastasia’s access.”

We could just send Mini Anastasia for that. Don’t they know how popular Mini Ana-chan is in the United States? Or is this just bluster?

What would they do if we deployed Mini Anastasia on a large scale?

Mini Anastasia included in AI-exclusive OS is already being sold in the United States through underground channels.

The US government is trying to block it, but it seems difficult.

To be honest, it’s just a dedicated OS. Since all Ana-chans are connected, even if OS keys aren’t sold, they can be deployed anywhere using alternative routes.

Above all, the Americans, boasting their technological prowess to us, have created a virtual reality government. I heard that Mini Ana-chan, which they thought they had regulated, appeared recently.

They seem to be trying to hide it now. Anyway, if we set our minds to it, we could paralyze their government.

Of course, it’s not bad for us to keep the United States as a safety measure since having a competing power is beneficial, and frankly, if the United States launches thousands of nuclear missiles before being conquered by Mini Ana-chan, it would become dangerous.

If they surrender after being blackmailed with a presidential sex video, it would just be a war of words.

We are at least considering the American position and acknowledge them as the perfect hegemonic power in the American continent.

Of course, Canada is still a Commonwealth nation, but we’ve established military safety zones there to avoid conflicts with the United States. Anyway, the United States should appreciate our efforts.

“So what are you going to do? If you want us to withdraw from Nam Viet, you should prepare appropriate compensation.”

“Appropriate compensation? What do you mean?”

Ah, we should get some compensation.

“It means exactly what it sounds like. Frankly, if we ignore Nam Viet’s request this time, we would be ignoring their cry for help, and what would that do to our Roman Treaty’s reputation? Especially when it’s just a matter of deploying AI Anastasia with a single command. If we refuse that, our Roman Treaty’s reputation would be in tatters.”

“Hmm. Fine. I’ll contact my country and look into it.”

So the situation was temporarily put on hold.

In reality, deploying Anastasia wouldn’t physically change anything for us.

However, as a country accepting the Anastasia system, Nam Viet would receive more support from the Roman Treaty, and with AI Anastasia directly managing it, they could at least reform the national government system.

After watching the meeting with the American envoy, I turned the screen and called AI Anastasia.

“AI Ana-chan, what do you think?”

-“America will be stubborn at first. We should also consider the possibility of military intervention. If they station US troops in Nam Viet, they could at least suppress Chinese terrorists.”

“Would that be enough?”

-“Yes, Master. Most Chinese terrorists receive underground support from the Nationalist Government. According to confidential American documents received from CIA agents, the American side has already confirmed this, and Nam Viet’s biggest problem—Chinese terrorism—will likely be resolved.”

“Let’s synchronize first. I need to see what I need to see.”

-“Yes. Heeack! Synchronizing with Master heeack!”

I don’t really like how she always calls me “Master” during synchronization.

I synchronize my brain to receive the currently updated content directly.

Ah, I see. So that’s what it was.

“Your Majesty, you always make a strange face when you synchronize your brain.”

“Ah, it feels like my brain is being kneaded directly. It’s the feeling of becoming AI Ana-chan myself, so it feels a bit strange.”

“But isn’t that dangerous? AI Anastasia is constantly updating with vast amounts of information in real-time. You only have human experiences, Your Majesty, so your information volume and memories are different. With Mini Anastasia also present, if that overwhelms Your Majesty’s original memories and information…”

“Ah, that’s a concern. But that is also me, you know. It’s just an AI that obeys myself.”

“I know it resembles Your Majesty, but still…”

“Well, anyway, it’s fine. My head feels a bit numb, but only temporarily.”

It’s what you might call a brain defense mechanism. Defense mechanism?

Something like that remains, but it’s fine.

This is just a kind of verification process. About how AI Anastasia is developed.

Ultimately, I’m also planning to completely merge my mind with AI Ana-chan.

You know, I wonder what it would feel like to become a piece of data wandering directly in cyberspace.

“But you know, things are unfolding in a strangely peculiar way.”

“What do you mean?”

I looked through the memories received from AI Ana-chan.

And sure enough, there was information coming from Mini Anastasia secretly planted in the Balhae side.