17-10 Peace Negotiations

The armies of Hyde and Silas were merely decoys meant to deceive the eyes of the world.

While it was made to look as if the Kingdom Alliance Army would deal with the matter, in reality, even the Albatross Kingdom’s army would not fight.

This had been decided from the beginning, when I and the royal family first started discussing it.

In a normal country, the military people who wanted achievements would probably make a fuss, but in this country, strangely, that did not happen.

The existence of the allied army had also carried the meaning of a light message to the Empire: “Your surprise attack has been exposed,” but as expected, it did not reach the prince.

Or rather, it seemed to be at a level where he did not even try to know.

Even in the Empire, there seemed to have been people who had grasped the information and understood it, but they probably thought that if they advised that prince, they would only incur his wrath.

Because opening hostilities with a surprise attack was already something he had decided.

For domestic political reasons alone, they had taken the impossible strategy of waging war in the dead of winter.

In this freezing cold, they even went through the trouble of crossing a great river with a cold wind blowing fiercely.

Among them, there were probably unlucky ones who overturned partway through or were attacked by monsters.

And after all that, they ended up being rolled around naked in a windswept wasteland in the middle of winter, so it was too miserable to look at.

Thanks to that foolish second prince, even the brilliant Michael had been bewildered and confused.

Because of that, I ended up going to the Empire, and there I had the strange encounter of meeting Yamamoto-san, a fellow Japanese person.

Also, from the Albatross side, by forming an allied army with multiple nations and actually moving troops, there was also the meaning of restraining other countries in the future.

Thanks to the Kingdom of Eldoa, ruled by that heavy-drinking dwarf king, siding with us, geographically speaking, other countries should not be able to meddle so easily.

Well, that would not necessarily last forever, but during my lifetime at least, it seemed we could maintain good relations with the Kingdom of Eldoa.

Apparently, Crown Prince Ecude of Zaid had done whatever he pleased.

Since the Empire’s main force was on the opposite side, in the direction of the Albatross Kingdom, and could not come over there, it was as if he were saying this was payback as usual.

Of the nine countries on the Ross Continent, the remaining three countries that did not get involved in this incident were geographically on the exact opposite side from the Albatross Kingdom, so for now, they should be fine.

It seemed we were not particularly on bad terms with those countries.

They were far away, after all.

Apparently, one of those countries was troublesome, but right now, there was nothing particular to say about it.

Ugh, come to think of it, there was one guy I had forgotten.

I wondered what happened to that idiot duke.

Since I had been bedridden, I had completely forgotten about someone like him.

After that, I developed a fever and was completely bedridden for about three days.

It was a common pattern in stories, but even I had experienced a disaster like that for the first time in my life.

And while I was sleeping, my promotion to SSS-rank had been decided.

Also, I was given the honorary title of duke and the title of “Prince Slayer.”

Was a title like that really something a kingdom should formally bestow?

My body still did not feel right, so I stayed in bed, but Remi and Fal clung to me and would not leave.

The other children also frequently came by to wander around.

I had always carried Remi around, so maybe some telepathy had somehow flown out.

Come to think of it, I remembered something like this happening when I was still in Japan.

My nephew, who had not yet entered elementary school, had come to my house to play.

He was an extremely honest child who made decisions quickly and always took straightforward action.

That child was playing a TV game and was trying to name a game character.

While using a massage chair, I had been thinking absentmindedly.

If it were me, maybe I would choose the short, squat one of the robot duo from that movie where the person walks in the sky? Just as I was thinking that, my nephew typed in exactly that name.

Then he said one thing.

“Huh? Why did I make it this name?”

I could not help but chuckle.

Maybe my telepathy had flown to an honest little child again.

Thanks, Remi.

I thought about that while teasing the cute ears of the little cat.

Marius, the raccoon—no, Count Marius, the Albatross Kingdom’s ambassador stationed in Bernstein—had begun postwar negotiations with Crown Prince Doran, who had been released from house arrest.

The crown prince accepted defeat in a situation where he could not make even a single excuse.

Since we had not killed anyone except the masterminds and had avoided most grudges, it would probably not be difficult for the Empire’s side to accept defeat.

Rather, for the crown prince, one could even say it was a blessing, since the troublesome elements were gone and he was able to return to power.

An invasion operation without a declaration of war, and thirty thousand prisoners.

And then there were the five hundred thousand soldiers in our custody.

“What shall we do about those soldiers? They are still tied up naked and thrown out in the wasteland. They have been given neither water nor food, and they are in a state of urinating and defecating where they are, so nothing can be done. The Duke Granburst in question, who defeated and captured them, is unconscious and in critical condition.”

After hearing that from the ambassador, even the noble-looking crown prince reportedly made a bitter face and said,

“Please do not let five hundred thousand soldiers die of weakness. We will pay sufficient reparations. Including ransom.”

Then Mari, who had been asked by His Majesty the King, used golems through her sub-master authority and sent the five hundred thousand soldiers back to the Empire.

At that time, she accidentally forgot to return their clothes and apparently threw them out under the cold sky, still naked.

I thought that was definitely not an accident, but because Mari was angry.

After all, they had picked a fight with Takeshi’s descendants that much, and on top of that, even I had been badly injured and bedridden.

There was no way Mari would not be angry at that.

She was truly human-like.

Even those who knew her true identity would never believe that she was an artificially created magic doll.

In the end, for the Albatross Kingdom, the various conditions seemed to have been settled quite profitably.

They also properly collected the share for the countries that had cooperated with us.

Also, since we had broadcast it worldwide, the Empire probably could not easily try anything strange.

After that, it seemed they had left various rights for me.

I had been repeatedly provoked, and in the end, I had even suffered serious injuries.

I would make ample use of those rights.

If I had not dodged reflexively back then, my heart would certainly have been pierced.

Well, that kind of thing happened to me often.

When I was driving and a dangerous car suddenly came out, for some reason, I would already have taken my foot off the accelerator before that and be in the posture of moving my foot onto the brake.

At times like that, I could almost completely avoid accidents with accelerator work alone.

It was probably the usual thing coming out, and at the microsecond level, I had unconsciously already entered a posture to dodge in advance.

The Seventh Sense must have moved my body on its own.

Man, having the Seventh Sense saved my life.

Even then, I ended up in this horrible state.

That was how great a crisis it had been.

However, if I had avoided close-combat training and combat just because I could use powerful magic, my body would not have moved properly and I would certainly have died this time.

“There are more mages than you can count who die in close combat.”

Guildmaster Armon’s words vividly revived in my mind.

I would have to keep training again.

Now then, what should I demand from the Empire from here on?

Of course, I absolutely could not leave out crab.