Chapter 38: I'll Do It!!

“…Huh?”

About a week had passed since the conference.

A single letter arrived in Saripa’s capital, delivered by carrier pigeon.

── Emperor Deken orders a simultaneous invasion of both Saripa and Yaiban.

── The emperor has rejected peace negotiations and seeks nothing but senseless slaughter.

── Fortify your defenses immediately and prepare to repel the massive army.

The letter was unmistakably written in the king—Father’s—own handwriting, its tone laced with frustration.

“Wait, hold on. What the hell is wrong with that lunatic emperor?!”

There is no greater waste of economic activity than war.

Productivity drops, injuries render people unable to work, and public safety deteriorates.

Avoiding avoidable wars was considered common sense for any politician.

“We're a vassal state, you know!”

So long as they remained submissive, an invasion normally wouldn’t occur.

Attacking Saripa just because it’s convenient while wiping out Yaiban would only be a loss for Deken.

But Emperor Deken simply wrote it off as “an educational expense for my son.”

“Emperor Deken… his mind’s basically that of a barbarian.”

Unfortunately, Emperor Deken was no politician.

He was a man of war who had expanded his territory solely through battle, knowing nothing else. Politics were simply handled by his subordinates.

Emperor Deken lived by an instinct more akin to a wild animal: “If they’re not subjugated, I can’t trust them.”

“…No, this is…”

This despairing information wasn’t first delivered to Crown Prince Sario, the next in line for the throne.

It went to older brother Jikei, because he was considered the central figure when it came to internal affairs.

“Gather all members of the royal family in the conference room. Immediately!”

“U-Understood, Lord Jikei!”

With the king absent, Sario served as the figurehead monarch, while Jikei held the true power behind the scenes.

But at only seventeen years old, this crisis was far beyond what he could handle.

---

"That’s everything the letter said. It’s Father’s handwriting, and the seal matches."

Soon after the news arrived, I was summoned to the conference room along with my siblings.

Our father, the king, has no brothers. Our mothers received no political education.

Which means that, in his absence, only the four of us could move Saripa.

“────This has to be a joke.”

Upon hearing the situation, Sister Lululu’s face turned pale and her voice trembled.

I’m pretty sure my own face had gone just as white.

“According to the carrier pigeon, they’ve already begun preparing for deployment. Most likely, they’ll invade within a month.”

“That’s way too fast!!”

The Deken army was known for its speed in mobilization.

Apparently, they were already starting to prepare for a march on Saripa’s capital.

“W-Wait, aren’t our main forces stationed in Draznest? Do we even have any other troops?”

“…There’s nothing left.”

On the other hand, Saripa’s domestic defense forces were practically zero.

That’s because our regular army had all been sent to the Draznest front.

“Then… then we have no choice but to surrender. Lay down our arms, bow our heads────”

“We already surrendered from the start!”

Lululu raised her voice, nearly hysterical as she shouted.

Jikei, wearing a grim expression, snapped back at her.

“They’re coming for one reason only—because they want to invade.”

“What is wrong with those people?!”

Lululu screamed against the sheer absurdity of it.

The Deken Empire had made no formal declaration, issued no demands.

They weren’t invading out of material interest.

“They’re attacking us just because they don’t like Saripa.”

“That’s insane!! That’s—That’s just—!”

The Deken Empire is a major power. Which means, they have freedom.

The freedom to trample on small, weak nations however they please.

…Faced with that Deken tyranny, all Sister Lululu could do was scream with wide eyes.

“Jikei. Then, what are we to do?”

“Sario.”

Unlike Lululu, Brother Sario wasn’t panicking.

Surely, he wasn’t calm on the inside—but he showed no trace of urgency on his face.

“Let me ask you instead, Brother Sario—what do you think we should do?”

“…You would ask me that?”

“You’re the next king. The most powerful person here. You have to make the call.”

Sario sat with his elbows on the table, expressionless, composed.

He was the one our father personally named as heir to the throne.

Maybe he had a secret strategy to turn this situation around.

“Of course, we fight back. It is the king’s duty to protect his people.”

“And where exactly are we getting soldiers from? All the regular troops are in Draznest.”

“Then we have no choice but to draft them here. They’ll be untrained, and of low quality, but it can’t be helped.”

“I was a fool to even ask you, Brother.”

But upon hearing Sario’s response, Brother Jikei let out a deep sigh.

Sister Lululu held her head in her hands, and I just looked around helplessly.

“Even if we gathered everyone in the capital, our total military strength would be a drop in the bucket. The Deken army would crush us in an instant.”

“…Hmm.”

…At that moment, it became clear that Sario and I saw things differently from Lululu and Jikei.

Both my brother and I understood the situation was dire—but we didn’t believe it was over.

Somewhere in our hearts, we still thought, Maybe it’ll work out somehow.

“You may be right—I might be a fool.”

First Prince Sario was a young man with the spirit of a warrior.

He lacked the intelligence or martial talent that Jikei had—he was an ordinary man.

“Then tell me, Jikei.”

The relationship between Jikei and Sario was strained.

But that wasn’t because they were rivals for the throne of Saripa.

“If you were king, what would you do in this situation?”

“There’s nothing to be done!!”

Unable to bear his older brother’s failure to grasp the reality, Jikei shouted.

“There’s an overwhelming difference in military strength—we can’t win! Their motives are completely unknown, so we can’t even negotiate! On top of that, we’re already at war with Yaiban! At this rate, Saripa’s going to be treated like a buffer zone in someone else’s war, and not a single blade of grass will be left!”

“…Then shouldn't we still fight, without giving up hope?”

“I’m telling you—there is no hope!!”

Brother Jikei abandoned all pretense of calm and screamed at the top of his lungs.

---

Jikei hated his older brother.

Everything Brother Sario said always felt shallow to him.

But whenever Jikei pointed that out or teased him for it,

"If you’re going to say that much, then you should inherit the throne!"

Sario would sulk like a child—and it happened more than once.

Frankly, Jikei looked down on Sario.

He had no interest in the throne. Giving speeches in front of people? What a hassle.

Let Sario be the figurehead king. Just leave the real power—the politics—to him.

And yet, every time Jikei tried to slack off even a little, his brother would say:

"Why don’t you ever take things seriously? If you had a proper attitude, you could’ve been king yourself."

Unbelievably irritating. You sit on the royal seat.

I’ll handle all the complicated stuff. You just stand there and be worshipped.

That’s how Jikei had always felt about his brother.

"You just don’t get it, do you?! I bet you’re thinking something like, ‘It’ll all work out if we just try hard enough!’"

"Ah, sorry. You’re right. I don’t understand yet."

"There’s no cure for stupidity, huh?! Fine then—go start your damn conscription if that’s what you want!"

At that moment, Jikei was lashing out in despair.

Crushed by the impossible situation, and now with Sario’s naive optimism, he’d lost all hope.

"Jikei. I know you’re smarter than I am—that much is clear."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"In that case, if you’re so much smarter than I am… tell me why you haven’t just given up and fled the country."

And yet Sario, for some reason, looked… almost happy.

"If you say it’s checkmate, then I believe you. But if that’s true—why haven’t you run away?"

"Shut up."

"I’m glad. …I see. So you really do love this country."

"Excuse me!?"

In the middle of this crisis, his brother actually smiled, happy that Jikei hadn’t immediately run away.

"I’m sorry, Jikei. Please forgive your foolish brother."

"W-What’s with you? Why so formal all of a sudden?"

"Lend me your mind. In the middle of this despair… use your mind to show us any path forward, no matter how slim."

At those words from Sario, both Brother Jikei and Sister Lululu could only gape in stunned silence.

Never before had Brother Sario spoken to Jikei with such calm, earnest sincerity.

"Please."

…Hearing his brother’s plea, Jikei slowly clenched his fist.

And finally, he cooled down and turned to face the mountain of problems they needed to solve—right now.

"…If Saripa is going to survive, then all of us have to act."

"Oh?"

"If every one of us can deliver beyond perfect results… we might have, like, a one-in-a-hundred chance at winning."

Jikei knew it himself—this was nothing more than a pipe dream.

He had probably forced the plan together just to give us a shred of hope.

"Brother, I want you to head to Draznest and link up with the regular army."

"Hmm? And why is that?"

"To move the regular army to the Deken front. If you don’t go personally, it’ll raise suspicion of Yaiban interference, and delay our initial response."

"Hoh… true enough."

"The gap in strength is brutal, but if you lead the regular army and push back the Deken invasion with sheer willpower—"

"Hah hah hah! So you want me to stop them with grit alone!"

If the Deken Empire came at them in full force, the difference in military strength between them and the Kingdom of Saripa would likely be more than tenfold.

Unless every soldier took down ten enemies, there was no chance of winning this war.

It was an outrageous demand—but without something that extreme, Saripa had no hope.

"And then, Sister Lululu… I want you to head to the port town of Anat."

"Oh? So I’m to handle logistics?"

"Exactly. I need you to deliver supplies to the regular army without delay. It’s a tall order, but…"

An army can’t move without a plan.

For a large-scale deployment, supply lines have to be built and goods transported accurately.

Brother Jikei assigned that crucial role to Sister Lululu.

"If it’s you, Sister, I know you’ll pull it off."

"Of course. Leave it to me."

Managing transport logistics requires a sharp and calculating mind.

In this urgent moment, the only person besides Jikei capable of formulating a sound logistical plan was none other than Lululu.

"……"

"What’s with the heavy look, Jikei?"

"Sister, before you head to Anat, there’s something I need to say."

But for a brief moment, Brother Jikei hesitated to send Sister Lululu away.

I didn’t understand the reason at the time…

"It’s just—if something happens, Sister, just in case…"

"Aah, it’s fine. No need to say it."

Jikei had opened his heart to Lululu—his fellow ‘genius.’

Their conversations were on the same wavelength, and she tolerated even his laziness.

"I already understand… completely."

"…I’m sorry, Sister."

"It can’t be helped. I’m royalty too, after all."

Sister Lululu nodded, as if she had already resolved herself to this role.

And Brother Jikei looked at her with a pained, heart-wrenching expression.

"And lastly… Rishali."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

"You have the most important job of all."

Finally, Jikei turned to face me.

His eyes were sharper, more desperate than ever before.

"…Rishali, you understand which factions might still be willing to ally with us in this situation, don’t you?"

"Allies…?"

Normally, it would be a hopeless negotiation.

If we negotiated a hundred times, they’d laugh in our faces a hundred times.

"Ah… don’t tell me, Brother—"

"Exactly that, Rishali."

I broke into a cold sweat as I realized what my brother was about to ask of me.

But… he was right. If Saripa was going to survive this crisis, that was absolutely necessary.

"Go to Yaiban. Negotiate a ceasefire."

"……"

That’s right—we no longer had the luxury of waging war against Yaiban.

Even though they had been our bitter enemies for decades, we had to form an alliance.

"Um, aren’t we, like, literally trying to kill each other at this very moment?"

"An alliance with us benefits Yaiban, too. Use that angle."

How could I even face them for such negotiations?

Could I really pull off something so shamelessly convenient?

"If Yaiban falls, we fall next. We need them to survive as much as they need us."

"Understood."

"It’s practically checkmate already—but if you, our diplomatic warhead, can pull this off… there might still be a chance."

If Yaiban was destroyed, Saripa would have no future.

With our neighbor turned into Deken territory, we’d be surrounded. It would only be a matter of time before we were wiped out too.

"There’s no time. You’ll have to seal the deal on the spot. Within a day if possible."

"……"

"You’re the only one who can do this. Can you?"

A negotiation like this—there was every chance I’d be beheaded the moment I showed up.

And he wanted it sealed in a single day? That’s—

"I’ll do it!!"

It was insane. But there was no choice.

"…I’ll have a carriage ready. Go to Yaiban immediately, Rishali."

"Leave it to me!"

If I failed to secure this alliance, Saripa would fall.

Half in desperation, I nodded to Brother Jikei’s command.