“CFN diplomatic channels have now lodged a formal complaint against the Ivory Alliance leadership for ‘aggressive border buildup’ in Northern Gallia. The complaint however is unlikely to be taken seriously, with CFN buildup in the DMZ being cited as the reason for Lorathian and Orlish deployments in Gallia. Already, three Orlish Mechanized Infantry Brigades have landed in the Gallian port city of Frest, and are expected to be deployed close to the DMZ within days. The Orlish Air Force has also now rebased approximately two hundred fighter aircraft in Gallia, with more expected to come in the coming weeks.”

- Geopol Press

+++

United Confederation of Pez

Brewich

Of course, as always, Amelie had to deal with more meetings and planning. This time around, it was her and her Foreign Minister talking again about what the hell they would do with the delays of the MN conference and the ramping aggression of the CFN over their borders.

All while the fence-sitters remain…as fence-sitters.

“They’re pushing us harder and harder to the corner,” said Foreign Minister Adelaide. “And we’re still being too slow at unification. I had to deal with the squabblings of South Opellia to even get them into a vague promise of voting for the MN Defense Pact. Meanwhile, East Vaeyox remains untenable. They really don’t like Orland telling them what to do, those neutral nations will only listen to Asanai…”

“Which is why we’re trying to make ourselves look like the victims here,” Amelie said. “That’s the grand plan. Invite them to push us harder and harder, so that the world will see them for what they really are. Aggressors.”

“That’d take too long, Amelie,” Adelaide shook her head. “I have a proposal to make. What if…the MN Defense Pact will only cover signatories and not everyone? Technically, in this way, other countries can weasel out and act ‘unobligated’ at the moment until the CFN attacks, in which case, they’d have the option to join the Mandate of Nations in the war if need be once we do another emergency session.”

Amelie stopped. That sounded…well, interesting. Quite frankly, most nations outside of the Great Powers would be useless at the moment militarily, so losing them wouldn’t be too much of a blow. But with the Great Powers directly at war with the CFN signing it, technically the MN would be fighting a war “unitedly” against the CFN but also technically “not”.

That would certainly be more palatable for the fence-sitters…

But then, that would be a lot of vagueness in the defense pact. Collective Security was collective security. What would be its point if MN member states could just not sign it and stay out? Might as well just be an expansion of the Ivory Alliance at that point without naming it as such (since both Hebei and Asanai had historically made it a point to never join the Ivory Alliance or the Order Pact).

“What even could we do? Can we not give the Asanaians any concessions to join at last?” Amelie asked.

“We already offered them security guarantees, but they didn’t reciprocate that. We offered them a reduction in tariffs on the Orlish market so they could pump in their civilian goods at us, and…we even gave them hints of eased-up trade restrictions, but…well, they really don’t give much of an interest in getting more from the Orlish sphere with the costs of the deal to them. Economically, we don’t have much leverage on them. Not with the damned civil war in our homeland.”

“Okay, what about…diplomatic favors? Something like we’ll back them next time if they want some new things in the MN General Assembly, or if they want more influence in Hebei. That might work.”

“Hmm…certainly, Asanai had always wanted more influence in Hebei in the Hebeian economy, but…we can’t lose our investments in Hebei. You’re going to make a lot of enemies in the High Aristocracy if you do that…”

“Pfft, so what?” Amelie laughed. “I practically abandoned those old hags already. I don’t care about the interests of paid stooges in the Arcanist Party, or of those nobles acting like they still have a say in how things will be run. The loyalists in the Armed Forces and the people are our backbone, not them.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“But still, even then, it might not be enough,” Adelaide sighed. “Hebei is a devastated land. It’d take decades once the war ended before Asanai would see the benefits of being handed full control over soft influence in Hebei. Plus, truthfully, Hebei has always just played the two of us anyway to drain us of all of the investments, because they know they have a billion people in their nation and they won’t be controlled once this century ends.”

“All those are long-term nonsense that doesn’t matter right now,” Amelie retorted. “Our interests are surviving in the next decade, not to make sure that Hebei remains our sub-puppet three decades later. I mean, as you’ve said, they’re not even a true part of the Orlish sphere in the first place. They’re…just playing us. I’m sure the Asanaians would be more than happy to nab all of our investments there in exchange for signing the MN Defense Pact.”

“Again…that assumes that the Asanaians would see that as a boon,” Adelaide tiredly replied. “Those investments could mean nothing anyway, and that’d just mean we’re offering them an empty concession for…a massive obligation.”

“An obligation they want. Goddess, why are they so difficult to deal with? They want it, they know they need it, but they have to play hard to get just to agree. Then they make the excuse that they need to soothe the delusions of their people first before signing. That’s a lot of hoops they gave us.”

“Unfortunately, that’s simply what Asanai is,” Adelaide shook her head. “Neutral. Pacifist. They’d do anything to weasel out of problems in the international scene. Except, right now, the problems are chasing them. And they’re scared. They don’t know how to react, except to baffle everyone with their inconsistent policies. I’d bet a million blancs that their Imperial Court is the equivalent of chickens running around not knowing what to do ever since the attempt on Princess Kawasaki’s life. The fact that they were attacked beyond flustered them. Their entire nation rests on the idea that no one can possibly attack them because ‘they’re too economically precious’ and that ‘they’re strong enough to do armed neutrality’ and that ‘everyone knows they want peace only’. Well, now, the CFN is poking them with increasing escalations. Their bubble is being popped.”

“Do they still have beliefs that the CFN would actually not attack them?”

Adelaide nodded. “Their pro-peace factions certainly believe that. In fact, many in Asanai believe that because they reformed so hard for men’s rights, there’s absolutely no way that the Republic of Hebei would attack them. Now, they’re going even more hardline about it with clashes in the high seas. Calling for Asanai to retreat or whatever to not appear aggressive and all that. Of course, the good news to that is the fact that the pro-war faction, which includes most of the government, is having more and more reasons to join the war, but, the infighting remains. And even they are trying to weasel out and buy time for their rearmament.”

Amelie sighed. She couldn’t really blame her for that then. Considering how angry Princess Kawasaki was at the CFN, she knew that the leadership of Asanai was the same. Didn’t mean they could act on their fury immediately though. Unfortunately, just like all nations, Asanai was merely acting for their own national interest first and foremost. Or at least, that was their perspective. Delaying the war as long as possible would benefit them.

That wasn’t necessarily true. The more they delayed this defense pact, the more vulnerable the remaining MN member states became. It had already been shown by their failures at stopping the Confederacy from essentially invading all of the countries around them. No one had any legal precedence to intervene. The only true exception was Lombardia, which was under the Ivory Alliance security umbrella.

Unfortunately, Gallia was way too stupid, Orland was still shaken by the civil war, and Lorathia was still trying to calm down their internal situation to react. That was what Amelie didn’t want this time. She didn’t want any more MN member states to fall to the CFN without the rest being obligated to act. Obligation after all was the most important building block for a united response. Without obligation, one could weasel out of the problem that was approaching them.

“Do what you can,” Amelie said. “Anything…just, get them into the line. As quickly as possible. Again, our policy must succeed. We can’t have the CFN beat us piecemeal, so get them into any agreement that we can. You have a blank cheque to offer them our influence and investments into Eastern Vaeyox. Hell, I’ll even promise them that post-war Orland will allow Asanai to take East Vaeyoxan nations into their sphere if need be. Just get them on board.”

“You’d be sacrificing centuries of Orlish hegemony in East Vaeyox, Amelie,” Adelaide warned. “Quite frankly…at this rate, we wouldn’t be in the same ascendant position that we were in pre-Great War…we’re using up all of our diplomatic capital in winning this war.”

“Well, why did you even expect that? We’re in a brutal civil war, Adelaide. Look around you. We’re tumbling to the next as well. I think…it’s time to accept that this will be our last shot to act as a superpower to end this war in decent terms for humanity. Because after this…Orland will surely be in decline.”

“Didn’t you promise to reform everything to improve everyone’s lives?”

“Well…of course I’ll change things. Everything will be shaken up until we can have a semblance of equality and prosperity in our nation. But the false prosperity my mother and grandmothers created fueled by the de facto enslavement of billions and the subjugation of most nations under us…that’s not going to be back post-war.”

“I see then,” Adelaide nodded. “I’ll be on it then.”