“More than ten times as much power as us, huh… We’re no match for them right now.”
If we wanted to deal with the Empire on equal terms, we needed to get stronger. We had been able to get by with the things we’d already had up until now, but from here on, we were going to need to create new things.
“It’s unfortunate,” Glaive said, his voice full of regret and his shoulders slumping. “The way things stand, we would have been able to seize the rest of Amidonia.”
However, I felt differently.
“Yeah? We don’t really want it,” I said, sitting down in a chair, resting my elbows on the table and my cheeks on the palms of my hands. “Their mineral resources are appealing, but the country is way too poor. We just got out of a food crisis ourselves. While providing for this city and the area around it is one thing, we can’t afford to feed all of Amidonia. And if we only seized the profitable mines, we would inspire them to hate us more.”
“When you say it like that…” Glaive said, “there really isn’t much appeal to it.”
“I know, right?”
Well, it would all be the same once the Empire put in an appearance. No matter how hard we worked and how much land we seized, when the Empire came, we would be forced to return it. That applied to Van, too.
“Besides, the Amidonians are a vengeful people,” I said. “It looks like they’ve been indoctrinated for generations. If we tried to maintain the occupation, I doubt we could establish stable rule here.”
“You’re right,” said Liscia. “With just Van, we’re fine for now because we have a massive force here, but if you were to try to install a magistrate, I doubt the people would obey him.”
I nodded in agreement. “Yeah. That’s why I want to ‘tame’ their resentment.”
“You want to tame it?” Liscia asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ve already called in the perfect person for the job.”
There was a knock at the door to the war room. When I said “Come in,” the door opened and a blue-haired beauty entered with a bow and a “Pardon me.”
“I am Juna Doma, serving under Navy Admiral Excel,” she added. “I have come at your command.” Then she stood before me and greeted me not with a salute, but with an elegant bow.
Today she wasn’t in the usual outfit she wore as a songstress of the singing cafe, Lorelei, but in the dignified white uniform of the Navy.
“Thank you for coming,” I said. “I see you look stunning in uniform, too.”
“I’m deeply embarrassed to let you see me dressed like this, Your Majesty,” said Juna.
“You shouldn’t be,” I said. “I think you cut a dashing and beautiful figure like that…”
“…Soumaaaa?” Liscia butted in, trying to stop us from bantering. “We’re in a meeting now. Could you save the flirting for later?”
Liscia had a smile on her face, but the words had a strange intensity behind them. She was starting to give off an extraordinarily unsettling vibe, so I decided it was about time to move the discussion along. I mean, it wasn’t as if I’d called Juna all the way from the southern border just so I could banter with her like this.
The mature Juna was watching Liscia and me with a smile. Anyway, moving on.
“Ahem.” I cleared my throat. “There is one reason why I have called Juna here. That would be…”
“…because you like that she’s easy on the eyes?” Liscia finished.
“…Come on, don’t be like that,” I said. “You know that’s not the reason.”
“Hmph.” Liscia turned her head to the side peevishly.
I thought it was cute when she did girly things like that, but… as Liscia herself had just said, we were in a meeting. When I looked around, everyone else in the room besides Juna was wearing a strained smile. I decided I’d try to appease Liscia later, but for now, I needed to move along.
“Ahem… Let’s get back on track,” I said. “There is one reason why I have called Juna here. That is to put a plan I’ve been refining for quite some time into motion.”
“Plan?” Liscia asked, tilting her head to the side questioningly.
I answered her, brimming with confidence, “Yes. I call it Project Lorelei.”
By the time we moved from the war room to the audience chamber, there were already three girls waiting there, prostrated before the throne.
The girls were each of different races, appearances, and ages. One was a light elf with dark brown hair. One looked like an adorable elementary schooler. The last was a slender beastman girl with cat ears. All three could have fairly been called beauties.
When I seated myself on the throne, Juna saluted me with her hand at her chest. “I have brought the individuals you requested, Your Majesty.”
“There’s no need to make this formal,” I said. “At ease, all of you.”
When I said that, the three women rose to their feet, saying, “““It’s a pleasure to meet you””” in unison.
Yep, they’re full of energy and they’re in sync, I thought to myself. As I gave a satisfied nod, Liscia was standing at my side, looking at me with another “lovely smile” on her face.
“Heeeey, Souma?” she asked.
“Wh-What?”
“I hope you haven’t gotten so full of yourself now that you’ve captured Van that you’re planning to keep these girls by your side to wait on you hand and foot. Have you?”
Ah, yeah, her face is smiling, but she’s definitely not smiling in her heart, I thought to myself.
“You’ve got it all wrong!” I said quickly. “I called these girls here because they’re a vital part of my plan!”
“Hmm…” Liscia sounded dubious.
“It’s the truth, okay?” I said. “And, wait, didn’t you say you’d let me take up to eight wives?”
“Well, yes, I did,” said Liscia. “But, while I can tolerate it with someone I know, like Aisha, or if you’re forced to do it for diplomatic reasons, I’m not going to be happy if you abuse your power to round up some pretty faces for yourself.”
“I’m telling you, that’s not it, okay?” I said peevishly. “Remember when I was gathering personnel before?”
During my big recruitment event, Aisha and the other four had been hired with a great deal of fanfare, but I had hired a lot more people quietly, or had them added to a list of personnel being put together by the country.
For instance, those who were talented at arithmetic had been hired as bureaucrats, while one turtle man (estimated age: eight hundred years old) who’d said “I’ve been reading books for hundreds of years. I won’t lose to any young whipper-snapper when it comes to my knowledge of books,” had been appointed as the chief librarian in the new city that was under construction.
Furthermore, when those with the same gift had competed, I had still hired the ones who’d lost if I could be sure of their talent.
Aisha had been the winner of the Best in the Kingdom Martial Arts Tournament, but those who lost to Aisha had still been invited to join the forces that reported directly to me in the Forbidden Army if their skills were up to snuff. Though, my directly-controlled forces had been seen as a purely decorative force at the time, so few had taken me up on the offer…
Now, as for these girls gathered here, they might have lost to Juna in the Kingdom of Talent competition, where contestants had competed on talents like singing. And they might have lost to her in the Elfrieden Pretty Girl Grand Prix, where contestants had competed on beauty. But they had still demonstrated their beauty and singing ability in both of those tournaments.