“Increasing food production is important as well. We can supply food, but if it is handed over free of charge, it is self-evident that some ruler will eventually start thinking foolish thoughts.”
“You, after what you were claiming earlier... Well, fine. True enough. If food runs short, the country falls into disorder. Relying on foreign aid for that is also outrageously unhealthy.”
Having forcibly corrected the subject, Aide-Envoy Ayame Zero interfered with the projected display and changed the displayed materials.
“Therefore, we will accommodate enough food to get them through the immediate future, but at the same time, we will spread equipment for increasing food production in the form of trade. Specifically, farming tools and fertilizer.”
“...You mean to provide the fertilizer together with its raw materials, production method, and effects. I cannot say I think the transfer of knowledge will be very effective...”
“Ah, don’t worry about that part. It’s enough if only the people who understand it understand. Even we can’t look after basic education. The goal is to scatter the information and render the privileged class’s monopoly effectively meaningless.”
Amajio Silverhead answered Alban Breias’s question.
Naturally, these policies had already been shared between <Ayame Zero> and Amajio.
This meeting was an explanation for Grand Admiral Alban Breias, who would be moving a great deal of supplies from this point on, along with the escorts for them.
“For the time being, our nation’s dispatched forces will handle public-order maintenance, but in the end, we have to make them build local organizations. If people without learning, or people with too much ambition, gain power, the result is miserable. We’ll need to continue patrols for a long time, though.”
“That area is outside our jurisdiction, as expected... Ah. Will the navy be responsible for transporting personnel?”
“That’s right. Quick on the uptake, aren’t you? They’re forces dispatched abroad, so if their term is not kept short, dissatisfaction will grow. Well, six months is probably the longest possible. If we can, I’d like to rotate them after about three months.”
Incidentally, <Paraiso> would basically handle the detailed work on-site. However, this was information they had no intention of actively disclosing.
In particular, winning over people’s hearts was a field at which doll-machine communicators excelled. Unless it was a closed community, they would likely become far more adored than some lord whose existence was uncertain. That also meant more than the Kingdom of Lepuitari’s troops, who only came from time to time.
Incidentally, the Kingdom of Lepuitari’s dispatched forces would be going around asserting legitimacy.
For rulers, this would be an act worthy of a devil.
Their own standing would continue to fall, while another country’s reputation would continue to rise.
“The food we can distribute will consist only of things that can be stored long-term, such as wheat and dried meat. We examined various options, but anything else lacked feasibility.”
Aide-Envoy then voiced a complaint about the food to be provided. Due to political considerations, they had not been able to select many kinds of preserved food.
If <The Tree> provided preserved food, the rations distributed might, in the worst case, become more luxurious than meals on the Kingdom of Lepuitari mainland.
It was probably unfortunate from Aide-Envoy’s perspective, but flavor was secondary.
To begin with, distributing things of excessively high quality made problems such as illicit resale more likely to develop. For that reason, they had selected items that could be procured within the Kingdom of Lepuitari, or even from other countries.
Incidentally, wheat and dried meat could be stored for a very long time if properly dried. In that sense, sea transport was unsuited to food. Humidity was the great enemy.
“I understand the policy from here on, at least for the moment. What concerns me is the profitability of this enterprise itself... Forgive me, but with my mind, I simply could not imagine where profit would emerge. May I ask for an explanation on that point?”
“Hmm... Right. If we wanted to produce direct profit, I think we could.”
Amajio nodded thoughtfully, placed his right hand on his chin, and sank into thought.
“Simply treating the aid supplies as loans and collecting on them in the future is one option. Well, that assumes those countries eventually come together. Or, if civil war continues forever, we can advance our own army and secure resources. Well, that one would draw heavy opposition from the neighboring states, so it’s questionable.”
“That... did occur to me as well, but I would not say it produces much profit.”
As a state, one maximized one’s own interests.
If that was the premise, then certainly, the current way of reaching out would be difficult to understand.
“True. The main goal is a bulwark against the Prava Divine Kingdom’s cleric-soldiers. Rather than sending our army, having the locals deal with it will reduce our nation’s losses. After that, it’s a matter of earning favors from surrounding countries. The northern nations are also regions with many mines. We can send our nation’s companies in, secure concessions, and have them develop those areas.”
And so on.
Amajio spoke smoothly of plausible-sounding things, but naturally, the goal was to conceal <The Tree>’s complete control of the Prava Divine Kingdom.
No matter that the other party was the head of the navy and an old acquaintance, there was no way he could say such a goal aloud.
“Well, I cannot say it feels entirely satisfying, but I understand. At the very least, if I know our nation is not simply bearing the cost one-sidedly, that will do.”
“To be honest, I’d rather have this sort of discussion handled on your side without going through me, though?”
“Ha ha ha... I am sorry, but I suspect it will take several more years before we have decent personnel in place. The Legendary Senate of Tradition and the army alike were rotten to the core.”
With a shrug, Alban grumbled. It was the price they were paying for the navy having spent so much time on campaigns abroad and neglecting domestic control.
Within the Kingdom of Lepuitari, a major purge had left all kinds of personnel exhausted.
And Duke Amajio Silverhead was single-handedly filling that gap.
If one could properly use the expanded Argument Brain structure, steering a single nation was no great task. Moreover, the major cities were already covered by an intelligence network of bot groups.
Most information was gathered into the control chassis, and appropriate instructions were automatically generated.
“Ideally, it’ll be out of my hands in five years, or ten, something like that. You’ll be retired by then too, won’t you? If you want to spend your old age without worries, you’d better work hard.”
“I understand. Just like you, my modest dream is to shut myself away on some rural estate and spend the rest of my life there.”
“Is that modest...? Well, it’s a far better situation than it was in the past... Though even this moment was something of a tightrope walk.”
Perhaps remembering everything that had happened so far, Amajio sighed.
Seeing that, Alban leaned forward with a curious expression.
“From the way you put that, was there some problem I am unaware of...?”
“............”
Asked that, Amajio glared into the air for a while, as though thinking.
To an observer, he appeared to be hesitating over something, but in reality, he was exchanging vast amounts of data with <The Tree> through the AB structure.
He was communicating with the transcendent intelligence <Ringo> over what to disclose, and how far.
“Well, for you, it should be fine. Our vaunted navy could have been annihilated with one wrong step.”
“...What did you say?”
Amajio shrugged and looked toward Aide-Envoy, who sat in the same seat silently carrying sweets to her mouth.
“You people were planning to dispatch a fleet to Telek Port City, weren’t you? It seems <Paraiso> arrived immediately before the dispatch and overturned everything, though.”
“That is... Yes. That is true...”
Alban’s expression seemed to ask whether it was all right to discuss such a thing right in front of <Paraiso>, but Amajio dispelled that concern with a nod.
“If the <Paraiso> fleet’s actions had been delayed by just one month, in the worst case, you might have run into them at Telek Port City. Thankfully, that future was avoided. It should be safe to turn it into a laughing matter ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) now, shouldn’t it?”
“Wh... What. No, now that you say it, the timing certainly...”
“A situation in which we collided was avoided. That is the end of this matter, Lord Alban. For both sides, it became an extremely meaningful result. There is no doubt of that, is there?”
At Drei=Ringo’s addition, Alban silently nodded.
At that moment, his mind was surely running predictions of what would have happened if the <Paraiso> fleet and the Lepuitari navy had clashed.
Alban knew <Paraiso>’s technological power well. The results of those predictions were surely tragic.
“...It truly was a tightrope walk...”
“That it was. Well, thanks to that, nothing happened. There’s no need to think about boring old matters now, is there?”
