354 Four Birds with One Stone
"International? You mean, you'll be selling weapons to your potential enemies?"
Zeshion's brows furrowed, as if unable to understand what I was planning. Well, looking at it from a common point of view, it would seem like I was strengthening my enemies in exchange for money.
However, that wasn't it.
"God Zeshion, if you are the king of the other country and I offered you guns, weapons powerful enough to raise your battle strength by one or two ranks, what would you do?"
Zeshion thought for a moment before answering with a straight face.
"I would buy it all off, thinking that I would gain more power while lowering your battle power instead."
"Exactly. Then, you'll arm your army with it, right? Then, you would attack me, right?"
"Of course! That's what'll happen!"
"Right,"
I then showed an evil smile.
"Then, what'll happen if the gun that they trusted doesn't work against me?"
"That's...!"
Zeshion was shocked, his mouth agape.
"A weapon that doesn't work on a certain enemy! Is that even possible?!"
In our world, smart weapons do exist. In short, it's not hard to reproduce it, given that Ember's knowledge base for creation now includes microchips and computers. Studying the smartphone-like artifact was worth it!
"And well, if their weapons failed in the middle of a battle, it would be obvious who would have the advantage, given the same armaments."
"D*mn... I'm sure I don't want to have you as my enemy."
Well, basically, I would be scamming my enemies, making them think that they're buying weapons they could use against us. But what they're actually buying are weapons that would work to our advantage instead.
"Ember, can I leave that to you? I'll pass the required knowledge about it to you later."
Without hesitation, Ember nodded her head firmly.
"Of course, Master! I'll make sure to make a gun that wouldn't work when aimed at any of the citizens of our kingdom!"
Excited that she was being relied upon, Ember quickly teleported away, as if unable to waste time any longer, starting on her mass production immediately.
"Then... What's the reason you asked me to come to the Audience Room at this exact time, Zeshion?"
As Ember left, I turned to face God Zeshion once more. This time, my expression turned a bit more serious.
"Right, I was so caught up with your pace that I almost forgot."
He cleared his throat as if preparing to say something outrageous.
"Will, the Cleaver Kingdom sent a request to us, asking to take them under our wing."
"You mean... annexing the entire Cleaver Kingdom?"
Zeshion nodded his head deeply.
That should've been a good thing, but seeing the indescribable expression on Zeshion's face, I guess it's not as simple as it seems.
"Then, what's the catch?"
Zeshion sighed, scratching his cheeks.
"They want you to take their previous queen as your queen."
Queen? If it's Cleaver Kingdom's Queen, then that's...
"Right! The one I placed under Servant Contract, Queen Thalia!"
I completely forgot about her!
She should be the one that we used to enter the secret underground location in Cleaver Kingodm's Castle. I believe she returned to the Cleaver Kingdom afterward, but I have no idea when that happened.
"Hmmm..."
I was thinking deeply, considering my options. It's not that Queen Thalia was a drop-dead beaut; rather, it's because she was already a widowed one. And I'm not one to take used goods just because their previous owner was gone.
"I don't think that's possible... If it's one of their princesses, then I might reconsider, though."
Zeshion's frown deepened after hearing my reply. As if finding it hard to say something, he kept hesitating for a while.
"Actually, all but one princess died from Noir's attack on their kingdom. They also predicted that you would refuse Queen Thalia, so they were sure that you would choose their princess, but..."
"... But what?"
Zeshion opened and closed his mouth, like a goldfish that was out of its fishbowl. After clearing his throat, Zeshion then continued his words with a face as serious as he could muster.
"The last princess is Princess Hazel Cleaver. Currently, she's studying in our Kingdom's Elite Academy... and she's 11 years old."
"... Say what?"
I must be hearing things. I cleared my ears before Zeshion continued, but the same information entered my ears.
"She's 11 years old, turning 12 in a week. They also said that if we don't accept their offer, then they'd go and make the same offer to the other kingdoms."
"..."
For some reason, hearing that they'd offer the same thing to other kingdoms if we refused made me feel how wasteful it was. Ignoring the princess's age, let's enumerate the advantages of this deal.
One, we'll get a boost in fighting power since we'll gain an ally. Two is that we'll get an extra set of pockets. With an allied kingdom under our control, we can surely "share" the contents of their deep pockets. Three, we could sell the weapons to them, bolstering their power even further while ensuring they wouldn't strike us in the back.
"That's three birds with one stone. This deal has absolutely more advantages than disadvantages."
The only disadvantage was the young princess. Wouldn't everyone think I'm a lolicon if I took her as a queen? But taking the previous queen as queen would have its own set of problems.
"Argh! F*ck it! Let's accept their offer!"
What's a slight blemish to my name? It's not like I'm an actual lolicon! I'm not going to touch her until she's of the age of consent! Yep, let's do that.
"I knew you'd say that,"
Zeshion chuckled lightly, his gaze a bit empty-looking. Well, he did have Alpha, a legal loli, on his team, so he must be suffering from the same "lolicon" label.
"Oh, by the way, here's the picture of Princess Hazel."
Zeshion commented as if just recalling it. He pulled a small picture from his Spatial Storage and threw it in my direction. I caught the picture without problems and quickly flipped it over.
A cute girl with her hazel-brown hair tied in a braid sat up straight as she smiled demurely at the picture. Judging from the surroundings, she must be about 150 cm tall already. Furthermore...
"... Is this really a twelve-year-old?!"
She looks about the same size as Fina already?!
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