Could We See The End Of The Great War?

“Your Majesty, the wizard’s actions are far too suspicious and questionable.”

At Viscount Rubingston’s sudden visit and report, Ian felt there must be some kind of lead. Come to think of it, he had been expecting that the one presumed to be the third wizard would be hiding somewhere within the kingdom.

“What is the wizard doing?”

“Yes. Dark clouds have been appearing frequently over the capital’s sky, and they’re even moving periodically. Judging by how unnatural it looks, the wizard is surely plotting something seditious.”

“I see…”

Ian couldn’t help but flinch at Viscount Rubingston’s words. The one creating the dark clouds and sending them in various directions was Ian himself. He had thought it might look unnatural, and of course it would look that way to others too.

“He must be plotting something suspicious. We must find him quickly.”

“Is a moving raincloud that sprinkles rain a bad thing for us?”

“Of course it’s a good thing. In fact, I hear the crops in the region within roughly 500 kilometers of the capital are growing remarkably well, unlike other provinces.”

“Then isn’t that good?”

“Isn’t it far too strange? There’s no reason for him to do something this beneficial. He must have another purpose, and this is merely part of it.”

“Even so, how do you intend to find him?”

“First, I will go to one of the two wizards known to exist in the kingdom and ask him to trace the use of magic. He’ll surely be curious about this phenomenon occurring over the capital as well.”

“This is psychic power, not mana—can it even be traced?”

Because it was power unrelated to mana usage, Ian believed tracking it would be nearly impossible. He considered stopping Rubingston from wasting effort, but he had no real grounds to object. Telling him to leave it alone could be taken as being favorable toward the dark clouds themselves.

“Then proceed, Viscount.”

“Understood. I shall take my leave.”

As Viscount Rubingston left the office, Ian could only scratch the back of his head. A hunt had begun—born from a misunderstanding of Ian’s own actions—to search for a wizard who was presumed to be hiding somewhere.

“Will this be alright?”

No matter what, Rubingston had already gone, and Ian felt there was nothing he could do to stop it. At that moment, his secretary, Mardin, entered. Both hands were piled high with documents that needed processing. Seeing it, Ian wondered why there was always so much work.

“These are the documents you must process. The ones on top are the ones you must finish today.”

“It never ends.”

“Please hang in there.”

“I have to. More importantly, the vacation season is coming up.”

“Shall I compile and shortlist destinations for this year’s holiday?”

“For now, I’d like to stop going deeper into the homeland.”

“If not the homeland… are you saying you’ll go out to sea?”

“Isn’t it about time I could?”

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

Mardin’s face was full of worry. In truth, they still had no certainty that the Kraken was truly gone. And with the war not yet over, there was still the risk of exposure to foreign submarines. Of course, with escort ships stationed nearby, they could defend against threats well enough.

“I also think there’s no need to expose myself to danger, but going to an island a bit away from the homeland seems fine. Especially if it’s in the south—wouldn’t that be much safer?”

“That is true, but… wouldn’t it still be risky?”

“Are you worried? I was worried too earlier this year, but I’m saying this because it seems the outcome of the naval war will soon be decided.”

The Doicheun Empire’s fleet and the Noma Empire’s fleet, which had been locked in fierce fighting, ultimately came to an end as the Doicheun Empire withdrew. Doicheun had held the advantage, but Noma was tied into a coalition.

Naturally, the fleets of the Magnia Empire and the Moria Empire—having recognized the situation—immediately began pushing westward, and in that process, Doicheun’s southern seas and even its southwestern waters began to be occupied little by little.

With that pressure, Doicheun—fighting Noma in the western seas—had no choice but to pull its fleet back toward the continental coastline. As a result, Doicheun ended up isolated, having effectively lost the open ocean to the coalition fleets.

In this situation, the only ships that could pass through freely were Polia Kingdom cargo vessels flying the unmistakable flag of a neutral nation. In fact, because of this, diplomatic pressure from the allied empires was starting to come in. They were strongly demanding that Polia stop selling weapons.

“I expected this, so I’ve been gradually reducing the arms factories’ operating rate—but now that it’s happening, it’s still a bit of a shame.”

Still, five years was long enough to squeeze out plenty of profit. In truth, the countless infrastructures built and still being built across the kingdom were only possible thanks to the wartime boom. The kingdom’s development—achieved in such a short span—had advanced so dramatically that comparing before and after the Great War revealed a gap so large it would be no exaggeration to call it immense.

“Even if the allied empires have taken control of the sea, the submarine threat will inevitably remain.”

“But would those submarines have any reason to come all the way to our homeland waters?”

“That’s true, but… what about the Kraken? If it’s still out there, wouldn’t it be too dangerous?”

“That matter already reached the conclusion that it had left. There shouldn’t be anything left that can threaten our kingdom.”

If Ian, the king, said he would vacation at sea, it could proceed—but he had no intention of silencing Mardin’s concerns. He knew it was all born from worry for him, so he didn’t stop it.

‘Honestly, part of me wants the Kraken to appear again. I want to know how much my power works on it.’

“By the way, did they say they still haven’t given an answer about food supply?”

“Yes. They say they’re still discussing it on their side.”

With abnormal weather triggering food problems across the continent, the Doicheun Empire was now experiencing food shortages. Ian had conveyed to the coalition forces his intention to export food to Doicheun, but they were only telling him to wait.

“So they’re trying to prevent food from reaching the Doicheun military.”

“Isn’t that likely? The Doicheun Empire’s situation is such that even food to feed their huge army of twenty million is nearly exhausted.”

“Thinking about it again, that’s an enormous army.”

“They have to fight all the empires, so that much manpower is inevitable.”

Doicheun was holding back three empires, plus the soldiers of various kingdoms aligned with the coalition. They had raised a massive force of more than twenty million. Meanwhile, the coalition side had already surpassed thirty million and was still swelling.

Such numbers were possible because the Magnia Empire—on top of the millions it already maintained—had rapidly conscripted and organized vast forces and sent them to the front. They were mobilizing an army of more than ten million in a short period.

“We should keep sending our position diplomatically. Ask them if they intend to starve tens of millions of people to death.”

“They will find that burdensome as well. They have to think about the postwar world.”

“We have the moral grounds. This isn’t weapons that kill people—blocking exports of food necessary for survival is a cruel act against humanity.”

He resolved that even if he had to declare he would stop supplying weapons, he would push through the food exports. Only then could he obtain even more from the Doicheun Empire—what he truly wanted. And amid all this, there was already one place where he’d achieved tangible results.

“At least the deal with the Moria Empire went well.”

Glancing over one of the top documents that required immediate action, Ian saw that they had signed a moderate food export contract with the Moria Empire. It was a chance to gain access to Moria’s various technologies—especially the rapid-fire naval gun technology he was most interested in.

“That means we’ll be exporting enough food to feed about forty million people for a year.”

Naturally, this meant shipping sacks of wheat that had been sitting in storage. They were supplies that needed to be consumed within the year anyway, so he was using this opportunity to clear them out. The quality wouldn’t be great, but it was better than starving.

He wanted to export more, but it seemed Magnia had provided assistance, so the export volume had decreased somewhat. In any case, there was still plenty of stockpiled supply left from preparations for war, so he intended to empty the granaries to a meaningful degree.

“It seems the Moria Empire’s situation is truly poor. Their territory already has limited areas suitable for food production, and this abnormal weather has ruined many farms. They may receive food from Magnia and from us, but with the effects of war as well, the economic blow is expected to be severe.”

“And because of that, fishermen have started flooding into our waters again?”

“Yes. Just like before, hundreds of boats are reportedly swarming in.”

“Drive them out of our waters. If they resist, you may open fire.”

The Polia Kingdom Navy had already fired on such fishing boats and driven them out in the past. Ian couldn’t tolerate the Moria Empire fishermen’s abuses. Even if their situation was pitiable, he had no intention of letting them take the fishery resources of Polia waters as they pleased.

“I can’t give away something with zero benefit. If they offered money or something of value, that would be different.”

“Yes. They say patrol ships are already roaming across the entire area to monitor.”

Patrol ships belonging to the coastal fleet—not the regular main fleet—would roam the sea, conducting reconnaissance, warning illegal fishing boats, and driving them out. And as Ian had said, if they ignored warnings or resisted, they would inevitably be attacked.

“Looking at how things are going, it seems the war will end safely within this year.”

“Yes, that’s how it looks. We can finally see the end. But won’t the coalition push into Doicheun territory itself?”

“That would take far too much time. And the casualties would grow beyond control.”

Even if they were coming in with food exhausted and weapons and shells running low, the Doicheun people would surely harden their resolve to fight again if they saw coalition forces pushing into their homeland.

It seemed far better to drive them out of Leman Federation territory and then secure their surrender—because that path would yield far more.

“With their industrial power and infrastructure still largely intact, there will be plenty to extract. Everyone will demand excessive war reparations.”

Only by doing that could Polia also collect the weapon payments it had been owed all this time. Doicheun’s economy needed to stay alive for debts to be repaid steadily. Of course, this would drive Doicheun’s growth potential to rock bottom.

“Recovery will slow, and their economy will keep crawling along the floor.”

As a result, Doicheun would be stuck for at least a decade paying off debt, unable to move. Meanwhile, Polia would need to collect those debts appropriately while also activating trade with Doicheun.

“Even if they lost enormous population to war and plague, their remaining population should still be at least 270 million.”

Right before the Great War, they had been close to 300 million, so an immense population still remained. With that population, Doicheun would not collapse. Rather, they would likely pursue revival through many policies and efforts.

“Their underlying strength won’t be something to take lightly.”

Therefore, it was all the more necessary to boost Polia’s economic power through trade with them. With their shortages, there would be countless things Polia could sell them. And there would be things Polia could gain as well.

“Starting some time ago, Admiral Brudwar kept coming to ask me to bring back some battleships in place of debt.”

It was likely that Doicheun’s defeated fleets would be dismantled. Among those dismantled warships, there would be battleships, and the empires would surely divide them up. In that situation, Polia might be able to obtain a few ships if it played things right.

In fact, Polia already planned to build one battleship every five years to accumulate technology, but the navy still strongly wanted battleships. With signs that the war was nearing its end, they were coming to Ian, hoping they might be able to take a few of Doicheun’s battleships.

“Hm. We don’t really need that many battleships.”

He was annoyed by the constant voices of naval generals greedy for battleships. And yet he also thought it might be less tiring to bring back a few. Still, he didn’t think Polia could simply take battleships just because it wanted them.

“They say ‘in place of debt,’ but other empires will want Doicheun’s battleships too. If we can’t get them, then we just accept that we won’t.”

He figured he could at least say he’d made an effort to the naval generals. Deep down, he even thought it might be better for his preferred direction if the empires couldn’t take them at all. Thinking that way made him feel a bit more at ease.

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

With the intention of first dealing with the piled-up paperwork, he began his work. And beside Ian, Mardin was always there, assisting him.