Permission Was Granted. And An Abnormal Temperature Rise Occurred.

The next day.

“Armin, you…”

At the moment he tried to speak to Armin—who had entered the office with a stiff expression—he saw him bend deeply at the waist and start with an apology.

“I’m truly sorry! It’s not like I meant to, and at first I hated myself for being like this. How could I ever exchange feelings with a princess as lofty as the heavens? But I kept losing control of myself. Princess Charlotte was so lovely, and I kept wanting to see her, and for Your Highness’s sake I shouldn’t have—but I ended up falling for her. It’s all my fault. As the older adult, I should have restrained my emotions…”

“Ah, stop.”

Ian raised a hand and cut Armin off first. He wouldn’t stop talking, as if he had endless words. He flinched at being interrupted and fidgeted, looking like he wanted to say something—anything—to smooth over the situation.

“Was I making it too obvious that I disliked this?”

Armin was someone who had followed him since their school days, but the fact that his little sister—whom he’d watched since she was a baby—had chosen this guy as a boyfriend she’d never had before seemed to have hardened his expression without him realizing it. He forced his face to relax and spoke.

“So the conclusion is that you, Armin, truly like Charlotte?”

“Y-yes. I really do. But I didn’t intend this from the start. It’s just… we ended up running into each other a lot. We met often, and then she started making me lunch more and more, and before I knew it, I…”

“Ah. Stop there. To put it simply, you two are seriously dating right now, yes?”

“Y-yes… that’s right.”

“Why don’t you say it with some confidence?”

“Yes! That’s right!”

At Armin’s shouted answer—like a soldier snapped to attention—Ian propped his chin on his hand and stared at him. Armin kept watching Ian’s mood, repeatedly checking his expression, and Ian found himself thinking, What does my sister even see in this guy? He was short, and he was ten years older.

“You said you met often? How did you even get so many chances to see each other?”

“It just… happened…”

“Explain it properly.”

“A-at first, it was just coincidence. The princess came to tour the shipyard where I worked.”

Now that he thought about it, Armin was still continuing his research at the shipyard on aircraft carrier design. He’d built enough experience to have been involved even in carrier construction, and now he’d risen to a position where he formed and led a team.

In reality, the carriers being built little by little kept coming out improved—or were redesigned from scratch into entirely new forms, growing even larger. The further things went, the more advanced technology was applied, and more sophisticated carriers were being completed.

‘He really was talented, after all. He’d practically earned the title ‘father of the aircraft carrier,’ hadn’t he?’

Of course, it wasn’t a title people used because his fame had become enormous—at least not yet. Until now, every country had been uncertain about aircraft carriers. They considered them merely ships suited to hauling fighters for reconnaissance. That was why, even now, most nations were still only building and operating about one carrier experimentally.

Still, the prestige of having built the world’s first aircraft carrier meant he’d keep a reputation as a notable ship designer. With a guy like this, Ian knew his competence wasn’t bad.

“A tour is a tour—what else could there be after that?”

“After the tour, we met fairly often. The princess said there were things she wanted to ask, so we even met at cafés.”

“So you’re saying Charlotte deliberately called you out because she wanted to see you?”

“It’s not like that. She said she had worries about the future, so I listened. And…”

“In the end, it’s true that my sister was the one who called you.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Bottom line: you two kept spending more time together, and at some point you ended up catching each other’s eye, right?”

“Well… yes… that’s how it turned out…”

Watching him scratch the back of his head as he spoke made Ian wonder if it was really okay to leave his sister with a guy like this. He wasn’t showing any clear charisma. Still, Ian knew that when it came time to design ships and personally direct construction, Armin did have a presence—so he could let it slide.

“So you’re really going to keep seeing each other like this?”

“Yes… we are.”

“It doesn’t look like you have any intention of breaking up. Then what if I told you to break up right now?”

“That would…”

His face turned genuinely grave. In an instant, he looked tormented—then before long, cold sweat started pouring down. Seeing that, Ian spoke with exasperation.

“In that situation, isn’t a man supposed to say flat-out that he won’t break up?”

“Th-that’s… what I should do?”

“Never say this to Charlotte. The moment you do, the way she looks at you will change.”

“R-right…”

“Anyway, I’m not going to tell you to break up.”

“Really?!”

“As her brother, it’s not my place to order my sister around. But one thing you must be clear on is that if this becomes known, people will say all kinds of things. Are you prepared for that?”

“Yes, I’m already prepared!”

“If you’re that prepared, then you’re even thinking as far as marriage, aren’t you?”

“That’s… yes!”

He hesitated for a moment, then spoke with an expression that looked like he’d steeled himself. Seeing that, Ian felt Armin suddenly seemed very likely to become his brother-in-law. With that in mind, he spoke, determined to make things clear.

“As you know, if your family becomes in-laws with the royal family, you’ll receive many benefits. But I trust you understand exactly what it would mean to desire anything beyond that.”

Maybe they wouldn’t end up marrying. They could break up along the way. But it didn’t seem likely, so Ian was laying down a line from the start—so Armin’s side wouldn’t try anything foolish once they became in-laws.

“Of course. I will never disgrace the royal family’s name.”

“Good. Then that’s enough.”

“Yes? Then…”

“I won’t press you any further. From now on, don’t worry about anyone’s eyes—date her openly.”

“Th-thank you, Your Highness! Truly, thank you!”

“That’s enough gratitude. I’m just respecting my sister’s thoughts and will. And you—take good care of her.”

“Of course! Don’t worry.”

Seeing Armin brighten and beam, as if a huge weight had been lifted, Ian wondered if he’d allowed it too easily. But after seeing Armin a moment ago, he decided to permit it—because it really could have become a serious situation.

In a normal royal family, they would never have approved such a relationship. They likely would have forcibly torn them apart—and there was a high chance Armin would have suffered for it.

Ian himself aside, even his mother—who had lived a hard life—and his sister had grown up in circumstances completely different from typical royalty. That difference was what allowed this kind of thinking and resolve.

April 15th.

Since the Polia Kingdom lay mostly in the south, it had grown hot starting in April. But this year, temperatures had risen unusually high. Stifling heat was battering the entire royal palace.

Shaaah—

The rain falling over the entire capital was cooling the rising heat considerably. As Ian watched through the window, his gaze was fixed on the dark clouds stretching far into the distance. In truth, not only the clouds but even the rain itself were being brought down by Ian.

“For now, it seems I can only cover the capital and the surrounding capital region.”

He had deliberately made it rain to cool the intense heat. Reports said that crops were starting to wither under the unusually high temperatures. That could soon become a food production problem.

“The farmers must be having a very hard time.”

Of course, there was no immediate problem with survival. From the beginning, the entire kingdom had stored several years’ worth of food separately as emergency reserves. And since they’d even been considering war, even if a year’s harvest failed, there was no chance of people starving to death.

On top of that, they’d been building dams and reservoirs for some time, so it couldn’t be called a total ruin. Still, production would drop sharply, and economically they would have to take a hit. Because of that, Ian thought it would be best to grant tax relief—even if only for a short period.

“At least for the capital region’s farmland, I can help to some extent.”

If he kept making dark clouds and sprinkled rain appropriately, farming could continue to some degree. In a way, it might be only the capital-region farmers who benefited. But it wasn’t as if he could roam the entire country continuously making it rain.

“I could force it, but then people would find it strange.”

If it rained wherever he went, anyone would inevitably suspect him. And with so much work to do, he couldn’t keep touring the nation forever. He couldn’t leave the palace all year, so it was better not to do it in the first place.

“If only those dark clouds would keep moving on their own.”

If they did, he could send rainclouds from here to anywhere in the country.

“Huh?”

He couldn’t help letting out a startled sound. The dark clouds were moving. The clouds that had seemed to hover in place just moments ago were clearly drifting in one direction. With a feeling of hope, he shouted inwardly for them to stop.

“Stop!”

As if responding, the moving clouds stopped. Ian wondered when he’d become able to do that. He had known that, as if absorbing the White Crystal’s power, the dark clouds’ size and strength had been slowly increasing—but he hadn’t realized he could move them like this.

“If this is possible, that’s great.”

The question was how far they could extend. If he moved them beyond the range of his sight, would they keep going endlessly, or would they vanish after a certain distance? He wanted to test it.

“Let’s see if I can send them as far as possible right now.”

With that strong intent, he moved the dark clouds south. In response, he could see them shifting at once. Was this what it looked like when the sky moved? The mass of clouds surged along.

“The movement looks really unnatural.”

He wondered if he should have moved them more slowly. But he didn’t stop—because he wanted to confirm the limit as soon as possible. There would probably be a lot of talk about this phenomenon for a while. In any case, the rain-laden clouds kept moving, and the once-dim surroundings gradually brightened with sunlight.

“The sun is still hot.”

He could feel the temperature creeping up again, little by little. That sensation made him realize this wasn’t a phenomenon limited only to them. Reports had clearly said that the temperature had risen across the entire continent due to abnormal weather.

“Corpses will rot faster, and the plague will spread faster.”

Not only had the plague not yet fully died down, but the stench of rotting bodies would be unbearable too. The battlefield’s already horrific conditions would worsen even further, and the empires’ food situations likely wouldn’t be good either.

“They said they’d burned through massive supplies just to feed the front, so they probably don’t have much left to eat.”

If he played this well, he might be able to gain something from both the retreating Doicheun Empire and the Moria Empire. The best thing to obtain would be technology. Nothing would be better than acquiring technologies more advanced than theirs.

“The Magnia Empire probably still has decent food reserves, but with productivity dropping right now, it won’t be easy for them to provide support either.”

Thinking that, he decided he needed to summon the Foreign Ministry quickly and draft negotiation proposals. In the middle of those plans, he tracked how far the raincloud he’d sent could reach. Unfortunately, it seemed to extend only about 500 kilometers.

In fact, that wasn’t even enough to fully cover one-third of the homeland. Still, it was far better than only watering the capital region. If he periodically sent rainclouds south, southwest, and southeast from the capital, then at least those lands could produce normal food.

After about half a month (15 days) passed, and the moment they were about to cross into May, he finally heard that the Doicheun Empire had been pushed back to the lands of the Leman Federation—their former main battlefield. In a way, after having advanced so far, they were back at square one.

Of course, even amid that, coalition agents who had been secretly assigned missions were blowing up factories across the rear areas, and assassinations of key generals and officers kept happening. Now that the Great War had reached its late stage, there was no such thing as a gentleman’s war.

Only one wicked resolve remained: to win against the enemy by any means necessary. Meanwhile, the Doicheun Empire’s food reserves were nearly depleted, and they were barely holding on by force-growing famine crops—an absolutely dire situation.

The Doicheun Empire’s circumstances were heading in a very bad direction. And in this situation, the end of the war was slowly drawing near.