362 Chess Match (2/2)

But the sad part was that even though humans obtained the advantage of surprise and timing and pressed onward rather successfully, they still weren't able to obtain much of an advantage after half an hour of fighting. Even though they were making progress, they didn't obtain the prize they wanted the most: killing off large numbers of the Sea Tribe.

This type of special aquatic battlefield made it impossible for the humans to simply reclaim Kagersi and live there again. In that case, killing off the enemy's numbers became the number one overall objective. But the result was quite disappointing. The Sea Tribe's deaths were quite low, and few high-level Sea Tribe members perished.

The reason? It could be repeated an endless number of times but would always be the same: terrain advantage.

That's right, the Sea Tribe couldn't deal with the heavy battleships. But it was the same in return, as the heavy battleships were unable to deal with the Sea Tribe!

All the Sea Tribe members had to do was dive into the deep water and escape. What could these heavy battleships that could only remain on the water's surface do to them? These heavy hunks of metal were quite slow.

Use cannons to fire into the deep sea? Even the stupidest of commanders wouldn't choose such an action.

Magic attacks? Mages' mana was a precious resource to begin with. Wouldn't the sea water block off most of their attacks?

Shoot gigantic harpoons using huge repeating crossbows? This was actually an effective type of attack, but Sea Tribe members were intelligent and wouldn't simply stand there gawking while humans shot at them. As long as the Sea Tribe kept their distance, this type of attack would be similarly useless.

Send humans underwater to attack the Sea Tribe? A wonderful idea… for the Sea Tribe! This type of absolutely idiotic idea could be considered treachery if anyone dared to mention it. It would be no different from sending free meals to the Sea Tribe as that was what the Sea Tribe would want the most—to have the humans go underwater to them!

Darsos was secretly feeling anxious inside as he stood on the Auland fleet's flagship, the ”Shark.” He had previously extrapolated many possible combat situations. Yet the Sea Tribe's losses were still fewer than he had anticipated. It seemed that it would be impossible to achieve the primary overall objective of killing as many Sea Tribe as possible. In that case, even if Auland conquered the docks district, the Sea Tribe was certain to counterattack with incredible force.

Also, these modified battleships weren't undefeatable. As time passed, the Sea Tribe would be certain to discover their weaknesses.

Meanwhile, on the floating airships in the sky, Reyne and the others were also watching the current battle in astonishment.

Perhaps her continuous victories had made her overconfident. Reyne had been looking down upon the people of Auland that had lost to Roland so many times. But today, after seeing this sudden pitch-black fleet's arrival, only now did she truly understand the meaning of the term mega empire.

East Mist was currently constructing aquatic ships as well. Just from technology alone, East Mist was even superior to Auland. But there wasn't a single respectable shipbuilding factory in the entirety of East Mist. Not only that, East Mist's metallurgy and metalsmithing was behind the times. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been forced to use undead magic to construct my second aerial battleship, the Mizar.

Any large ship's required resources and funding would be astronomical. Nor would the maintenance and repair fees after one large ship's construction be cheap. The Borealis was the only exception as it was a living ship—Envy was capable of devouring in order to recover his injuries. That was the only reason why the Borealis hadn't bankrupted East Mist. As for the other large aerial battleships, I didn't even consider having East Mist build them and tossed the duty directly over to the Xiluo Empire.

For a technology to go from blueprint to actual product would require countless processes, materials, artisanry, human resources, and so on. Only since I obtained an almost complete ship, experienced engineers, designers, materials—fine, basically an entire production chain from Auland—I was able to completely utilize this top-level technology. This was also the reason why, even now, East Mist was the only country in the world which possessed a form of fully matured floating airship technology.

Even if East Mist sold part of its technology, it would require many years before other countries would be capable of utilizing floating airships in combat. Reyne had always treated this as her ace and was even secretly rather proud about it.

”If our two countries went to war…”

As the leader of a country, making such an assumption would never be unnecessary. After all, there would only be benefits with diplomatic relationships between countries and no absolute friends. It would be quite common in either world that yesterday's ally would become today's mortal enemy.

For some reason, Reyne recalled my answer from when she had asked me why it was that I still planned to improve our country's industries when many citizens were having difficulty making ends meet.

”It's not that I'm a combat maniac. I'm actually preparing for the inevitable future. War is impossible to avoid. What? You're saying that we don't need fully developed industries to win our wars, that the Borealis alone will be sufficient?

”You're looking down too much on the mega empires. Perhaps not a single one of their ships can match our Borealis, but they can build ten ships for every one of ours. They can afford to take some losses as they can just build more. Same for their warriors, they can just recruit more if some warriors die. But for us? Our foundational strength is just so little, so without industrial strength to back us up, we lack fresh blood. Without complete industries to back us up, it'll be impossible for us to deal with long-term battles.

”The current East Mist is resting on a volcano. Although things may seem wonderful, we're actually being baked in the heat without realizing it. Mega empires can afford to lose countless numbers of battles. But a single misstep on our side will send all of us down into an inescapable abyss. I don't want to risk my country on a gamble.”

It was only now, when faced with the true reality, that Reyne finally understood Roland's seemingly deep words about the difference between East Mist and the mega empires of Eich. Now, she understood that there was no comparing them at all.

”And Auland is only one of the smaller mega empires among mega empires…”

Reyne was no idiot. Once she noticed the difference, she adjusted her way of thinking. Only then did she discover my true intentions for the Northlands.

”The Mist Alliance?”

That's right, just East Mist would have never been sufficient. But with Sleuweir and the combined power of the Mist Alliance's seven Northlands countries, I had always been working to homogenize their economies, politics, and businesses.

”Brother Roland probably doesn't only want this much. What else does he intend? If it's the Mist Alliance, the Kasomi Dukedom that's San Antonio's subordinate country is too much of an annoying obstacle. But to get rid of this obstacle and make San Antonio retreat from the Northlands will require other mega empires' support…”

”No wonder Brother Roland not only invited all the major countries to our military parade but even gave them discounts to buy our technology. Oh, not only that, he even personally picked the envoys to each major country and personally read every invitation letter despite how lazy he normally is.”

”Even though the issues regarding the Northlands' dwarves and elves were quite difficult to deal with, he voluntarily dealt with them. Not only that, when dealing with other Northlands countries, he actually brought up the hugely unpopular plan to cancel all tariffs on other Northlands countries and allow freedom of movement between the their citizens and kept insisting on this despite his lack of support. Also, he always writes letters to Sister Glina so that our two countries will have identical political proclamations. Although this issue isn't so important, it's evidence that our two countries are supposed to be allies in everything. There's also that matter… just how many things has he been doing in secret!?”

I never hid my actions about the Mist Alliance from my allies. But only now was Reyne beginning to understand my overall strategic objective by putting together the individual pieces. She was currently becoming a more mature leader in her own right.

She correctly understood my intentions for East Mist along with East Mist's current position and tactical worth in the world. This allowed her to realize what it was that she should do.

”Originally, I had intended to watch the battle for as long as possible and only jump in to assist after Auland and the Sea Tribe brought serious injuries to each other. It isn't much if it's an individual doing this, but it would be far too unworthy of a country's leader. Right now, what we need is to directly show the world our power and obtain as much support from others as we can. Auland should owe us so we may receive more future benefits from them in return. Since the battle is currently at a stalemate, this is the perfect time for us to show up and break it.”

There would obviously be a great difference in helping out when Auland was seriously injured versus helping when Auland was locked in a stalemate. Nobody would be fond of or support someone who sat on the fence until the last minute. Since Reyne came to this decision, she didn't hesitate a moment longer.

”Aurora Knights, Silver Cross squadron, move out! Borealis, toss down our new weapons!”