In the Name of Empress-Chapter 409 - 289: No Need for a Buffer Zone Anymore
No one knew what Roland wanted to do.
Upon receiving his handwritten letter, the heads of several major nations were puzzled, completely unable to understand Roland’s intentions.
Alina carefully read the letter several times, confirming it was Roland’s handwriting. She hesitated repeatedly, not because she was concerned about the land on the west shore of Val Lake, but more worried about Roland’s state of mind.
The governance cost of the land on the west shore of Val Lake even exceeded its output, and its geographical location was not very good, basically a useless area.
Since Roland wanted it, she might as well give it to him.
After much consideration, Alina picked up her quill and wrote a sentence.
"As you wish."
After writing those words, Alina bit her lip and pondered for a long time before adding her signature.
"Yours faithfully,
— Alina."
Not knowing whether to write "friend" or "ally" before her name, she decided to write nothing at all.
The word "ally" felt too cold, while "friend" seemed insufficiently weighty.
It wasn’t just about the land on the west shore of Val Lake; even if it were more, she would find a way to get it for Roland.
After sealing the handwritten letter and giving it to the Secretary of State, Alina stood in front of the large map hanging behind her desk, staring at it and becoming lost in thought.
This map was marked with colorful symbols to record the territorial changes on the Rodinia Continent over the years.
Since the Continental Treaty expired, those small countries finally understood one thing: what protected them was never neutrality, but the great powers’ need for a buffer zone.
With the end of the Continental Treaty and the return day approaching, the great powers no longer needed buffer zones but more expansive living space.
Almost every powerful force and country had touched upon the divine oracle.
The Goddess would descend before the world ended and take the devout followers with her.
What counts as devout was not explicitly stated by the Goddess.
Since the Goddess did not say, people below could only make wild guesses. Yet, no matter how they guessed, there were no conclusive results.
If they couldn’t figure it out, there was only one path left: eliminate those who might be more devout than oneself.
If you can’t solve the problem, then solve the people creating the problem. This has been the universal solution throughout history.
Only the strong have the right to survive, surely the Goddess wouldn’t need a bunch of useless people, right?
It wasn’t that the Continental Treaty was bad, but the ticket to the Divine Domain had a higher cost-benefit ratio.
War was inevitably coming.
In the past three years, over fifteen small and medium-sized countries vanished in the long river of history, with Val City State being the first.
Roland helped Val City State to be restored, not because of his love for peace, but because it was profitable.
Alina’s gaze wandered over the map for a long time, vaguely guessing some of Roland’s thoughts.
He wanted the home-field advantage.
History has proven more than once that expeditions to Saint Rurik Palace were the most foolish actions.
The long supply lines and the terrifying General Dong would treat every stubborn enemy equally, especially given Vladimir Empire’s appalling transportation roads.
Backwardness is sometimes a weapon.
Only by forcing the terrible Rurik Legion out of their nest does one have a chance at victory.
Roland helped restore Val City State openly and honestly as a strategic ploy.
He set up a challenge in Val City, provoking the enemy and waiting for their arrival.
Would Sofia take the bait?
Alina smiled and changed the question mark to an exclamation mark.
Sofia would certainly take the bait; she never feared challenges. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Her gaze fell again on the map, and Alina saw an old, vast country.
The Wende Empire.
This was a vast, populous, historically rich, and once powerful country.
However, in the past hundred years, the nation had produced several disastrous rulers, plunging the country into chaos.
As the prestige of the Imperial Family declined, power gradually shifted to the parliament.
This was nothing unusual; imperial authority and parliamentary power were always in a tug-of-war. In many countries, when a foolish ruler arose, the parliament cabinet took charge, and with a wise ruler, power reverted to the Emperor.
If it were only that, the Wende Empire wouldn’t be so tragic, but the Wende Council conducted earth-shattering maneuvers.
The one-vote veto system.
As long as one High tier Councilor disagreed, major matters could not proceed.
This included the cancellation of the one-vote veto system.
The problem wasn’t the veto itself, but that too many people had the right to use it.
In recent decades, the entire Wende Empire was in a state of serious disorder. Any change that touched upon interests was relentlessly rejected by the parliament.
Even plans to build warships were opposed.
The army’s opposition reason was simple: although the Wende Empire was a coastal nation, its coastline wasn’t very long, and there were only two or three deep-water harbors, so it was better to abandon the ocean and firmly defend the land.
This foolish proposal would likely cost heads in Sussex and Jin Yuan but was passed with pomp in the Wende Empire.
With rulers like these, it’s a miracle the nation hasn’t perished yet.
However, such good days won’t last long.
The border conflict between the Prudon Kingdom and the Wende Empire had been ongoing for more than a year, and although the Wende Empire had a large army, it was not agile, being toyed with by the numerically inferior Prudon Army, having already lost half of a province’s territory.
Although this territory wasn’t much for the Wende Empire, this conflict exposed the Wende Empire’s inner weakness.
Bloodthirsty wolves would not hesitate to extend their claws towards already declining prey.
Gods cannot bleed, nor can great powers.
If the Wende Empire was the first to bleed, it would naturally be the first to die.
Alina picked up a pen dipped in scarlet ink and drew a blood-red X over the Wende Empire on the map.
Earlier than the Wende Empire, the Weimar Federation had already been marked.
She then drew a few more strokes, highlighting the Talia Kingdom in red.
These countries all had various issues and would likely exit the historical stage.
Next, she hesitated for a long time between the Prudon Kingdom and the Tirol Kingdom, marking them with a question mark representing the unknown.
These two countries were strong and on the rise, but unfortunately, their territories were not wide enough, and they couldn’t be self-sufficient in resources. Unless a miracle happened, they couldn’t break the stalemate.
Moreover, although they both originated from the Odin Empire, there were conflicts between them.
Who could represent Odin? That’s a question.
So...
Alina pondered for a long time, her expression growing more serious.
If these two countries, along with the Weimar Federation, all of the same origin, were unified under a singular powerful ruler, a giant would emerge in Central Rodinia.
Currently, there were only two and a half top players: Sussex, the Vladimir Empire counted as two, and the Jin Yuan Republic, still in recovery, counted as half.
If the countries split from the Old Odin Empire were reunified, their strength would rank among the top tiers.
Alina sketched the outline of the Odin Empire, her expression even more grave.
No, absolutely not.
Three strong countries in this world were already abundant; there wasn’t room for a fourth.
She quickly summoned back the Secretary of State and rewrote a letter, fully presenting her analysis and warning Roland to prevent the revival of the Odin Empire.
After resealing the letter written in cipher, Alina finally felt somewhat reassured.
No matter what Roland intended to do, she would support him.
Just whether Roland was prepared to meet Sofia on the battlefield remained unknown.
