"The lies of the ORP had been made clear! Traitors! Traitors they are! Today, the UOP and the ORP announced plans to form a coalition for the upcoming General Elections. These so-called moderates of the movement had turned coats and showed their true colors - lapdogs of Her Majesty!"
- The Front Newspaper
---
Albert stared at the Princess inquisitively. She had asked a major demand from him, and from Amelie. Unsure he was, that he knew. How could he even fulfill that?
"You do know that this would mean Orland - or more accurately, we, the Orlish Royal Family would be meddling with Hebeian affairs?"
He glanced at Marquise Feng, bewildered at how she swore earlier to spill his poor guts should they meddle. Yet now her Princess was asking for that?
"I am a hypocrite, yes. When I said don't meddle, I meant don't aid the junta."
"Well, at least you're honest."
She gave him a thin smile.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
The Princess cleared her throat, which grasped back Albert's attention.
"I believe we have strayed off topic, Sir Albert." She gave him her pleading eye look, which Albert really hated. It almost appeared as if that brat, Alice, was here!
"I'm not sure…" There were many complications with such plans. "Shipping Arcano-Rifles and DC wands and then sneaking them would be difficult."
There was no problem with the acquisition part. The Royal Family's personal corporation, Rolentz Crystals, produced such magical weapons and tools.
Especially the DC wands (or Digital Combat Wands), a much more specialized version of the digital wand - which was the new wands with integrated computers in it.
Due to the mathematical and scientific nature of magic, where women usually manipulated reality through the rapid bending of physics in their minds - digital wands helped in casting standardized magic.
Instead of creating calculations to change the air velocity and density around a woman for example, she could simply imagine what she desired and the computer would channel her mana with a standardized formula based on her mental commands.
Which was why Princess Xue requested its supplies.
"Orland and Hebei are an ocean away." And while the Orlish Navy ruled the seas, Princess Xue wanted the operation to be covert. Such was a tall order then, for how could they ship weaponry without the navy?
The Princess continued to beg.
"But the Rolentz Corporation owns multiple factories in this continent. Look, we can produce these as well, but this appears more and more like a war of attrition, we need every wand and rifle that we can."
Albert knew how dire their situation was. The fronts in Hebei had already begun to solidify, especially in the Ginzhu axis. The junta, overwhelmed by the modern magic that the rebels employed, had begun digging in.
"I recognize that. I fear that if the fronts turn static, Hebei might witness trench warfare."
"That's why I implore you, to give us these weapons." Albert had been impressed by the young lady's demeanor. To defend her people and her rights, she had negotiated with him steadfastly.
But while he desired to give aid, he wasn't sure yet. The complications with logistics were one issue, the Junta was another.
He hadn't heard their side yet.
The Junta were made up of men that rose up for their rights. Morally imperfect, grey, and perhaps even downright evil, it still didn't change that Hebeian men were dying in a fight for their rights.
To meddle now would mean that he betrayed his fellow men, even when they were an ocean away.
"I sense hesitancy in your eyes, Sir Albert." The Princess guessed, her eyes set straight to Albert's. To deny, he could not, for she was right. He was a fence sitter, through and through.
"Princess…I'd like to ask. Is the Junta going to be on the wrong side of history?"
An appalled look took over the Marquise's face, yet Princess Xue held her off from drawing her wand. Albert had expected such a reaction from the Princess, as she seemed similar to Amelie.
He knew she was but another, normal lady, without hunger for power. But circumstances, unfortunate circumstances more specifically, had forced her into such a position of power.
Thus, he asked her directly.
"Sir Albert, I asked you earlier why you men would do such a thing to us, correct?"
"Indeed."
"You are a man. And men had been collectively crushed by our heels for centuries, haven't you."
Bitterly, he admitted yes to her question with a nod. The blatant way that men had been crushed, sidelined, and repressed for centuries since their fall was apparent to all.
To deny such a factoid, was thus unavailable for anyone, bar young children.
"Do you feel bitter about it? You…Sir Albert, you have no title, don't you? In your Kingdom, no man receives any title, so you're not even a Prince."
"I do feel bitter about it. But we men had swallowed that pill a long time ago. Truth is…magic made it an inevitability."
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It was simply the truth for men. The Goddess, the world, women, their families, and even their fellow men at many times, were not with them.
Unfavored they were, that was merely the reality. With women wielding magic, and men without, what was men's role then? The one thing they had always been good at, being the breadwinners, or the protectors of the home, was gone.
And they never had a chance to develop any other redeeming qualities even after three centuries. All they could really do was struggle and resist the winds of change in vain. Now, what did men have to show for themselves after their sudden irrelevancy?
War machines powered not by magic yes, they had such toys, but war machines that merely killed millions of fellow men? What for?
Or the lauded technologies they had developed and operated - that had begun poisoning the world.
Faced with such obsolescence and irrelevancy, men could only offer one thing. Their blood, and grunt labor.
And yes, such a reality made him feel bitter. It made all men bitter. It was almost as if the world wanted them away. Now even more so that women could reproduce without them, science and magic fixing such issues.
Not even biology was on their side.
"Is this…just really how harsh our punishment is?" He felt emotional, and thus his words slipped. Retribution, that was how many women had justified their squalor conditions.
A punitive correction was how the Goddess justified her denial of granting men magic too.
And it bore on all men. 300 years since the first woman who had magic to lift a mere teacup…and men were still paying for the sins of their fathers.
Criminals from birth till death, that was what men's lives were.
The Princess gazed at his hand, ashamed. Even the Marquise fell silent. Such an uncomfortable question had been rarely raised by men. They never liked to appear weak.
To appear that they were cracking.
And women, even the Princess, were used at men like him to never ask why he agonized. For that was too unmanly. And they had no true answer to such a question.
"Sir Albert, I'd like to throw back to you the question then." She slowly looked back up at him. Ashamed she was, indeed that was true. But she met his eyes still. To ask him the same question.
"Do you think we women are on the right side of history?"
…
Colonel Richmeister frowned as he bore witness to the scenes beyond the gate. Civilians in tattered clothing, injured women and children, all lined up the small area in Ginzhu that the MN (or more accurately, the Orlish Marine Corps) had occupied.
Orlish marines stood guard at the gates, the roads, the tents, and the port facilities they had occupied.
Beside him was the 'Prince' himself, Commodore Albert Ludendorf. He had desired and demanded to personally inspect the operations. It baffled him as to why he - a member of the Navy, wanted to personally observe the proceedings of the tasks assigned to the Marines.
But who was he to refuse?
"Why are you taking too long to let them in? And why are the lines of the civilians still too long?" Albert asked as the two argued over their course of action. He had demanded that they speed up the evacuation process.
He had feared that the ceasefire would not last long enough and that these civilians would be caught in the crossfire. The agreement was that the MN would evacuate nearly 4 million civilians that was trapped and starving in the center of Ginzhu.
Both sides controlled the outer outskirts of Ginzhu and had been battling in its outer districts. The MN feared that once both sides entered and clashed in downtown Ginzhu, the trapped civilians would see massive casualties.
Ginzhu, a watery, coastal city, was surrounded by rivers, and a river even divided the city between a northern and southern half. But the war had damaged such bridges, and both sides battled fiercely for them.
With the bridges damaged and occupied by battling troops, and the surroundings flooded and dangerous after a nearby dam collapsed, the civilians in Ginzhu could only escape in its port. Thus, Operation Anchor was created. A plan to evacuate millions in days.
And Albert wanted it done as fast as humanly possible.
Richmeister went against such notions. To him, caution was paramount.
"We cannot be sure if there's saboteurs or terrorists amongst them, sir. And we are now getting too overextended."
"These are women and children!" Albert implored. "How could there be terrorists among them?"
"I admire your overwhelming sense of duty to defend the lives of women, sir." Richmeister frowned. "But to trust them merely because they are women is tantamount to naivety. Not to mention, we cannot control the lines of refugees outside of our zone of control. To rush would be a mere folly."
"So is trusting the words of the Junta and the rebels to keep the ceasefire!" Albert shot back, red-faced. These evacuations, he knew, were risky business for those being evacuated, and those that evacuated them.
Indeed, danger would befall his men should they rush these matters, but the danger the refugees faced was greater, and the lives that could be lost from their size were greater too.
Which was why he always acted this way in evacuations by sea. If the guns had to be left, if the heavy equipment had to be left, if civilian ships and rowboats were to be needed, if even sending his ships close to the shore was needed - the risks shall be damned.
No amount of accidents would ever compare to thousands left behind to die.
"I want this evacuation done quickly, every time wasted is another life lost. Send our troops to the center of the city and get them all out of here. If we have to occupy the two bridges to connect the refugees down south, do it."
"But every time we rush would mean more chances of an accident. And what if the junta attacked? Our troops would be in the crossfire too."
"The orders from the Mandate of Nations is to swiftly evacuate all civilians as possible." It was true, but that was because the MN could not care less for the men that did the grunt work on the ground. "And we shall act by their directives."
Security risk be damned, the world demanded that they saved women at all costs. This was why they planned to send troops as far as the middle of Ginzhu to directly pull and evacuate civilians.
While he didn't agree with such notions of treating them as disposable tools, he agreed in principle. They had to do everything to hasten the evacuations.
"Sir, I understand that. But the safety of our men is tantamount as well."
"Indeed you are correct, Colonel. But we are soldiers, men who signed up to defend those behind us."
The Colonel laughed. Bitterly even. Signed up? Many such men were here as a product of the Great War. Conscripted to be disposed of, but survived. They were only here as they refused to demobilize, preferring to keep to their rifles should the same civil war in this Empire befall Orland.
While there was an overlap in their motivation to defend the innocent and their nation as well, Orlish servicemen weren't blind. No one cared for them that they had served.
"Funny joke, sir. Those behind us do not even give a damn about us. Why can't they give us some slack?"
"And what, lower yourself to their level?" He glanced at the Orlish fleet behind them. "Here we are, men, discarded all of our lives just for lacking magic. But again, here we are, still valiantly defending them in their time of need."
The two fell silent, as a tinge of pride rose inside them. While the Colonel was a bitter man as well, he couldn't deny that he somehow took great pride as well for being here.
It was as if it was a way for men to defy the scornful looks aimed at them. That they were no demons, perhaps. But humans, whose rights had been trampled, yes - yet prepared to defend the rights of those that had trampled theirs.
"To protect, I realized, is the hallmark of us men. Even for nothing in return. Even when we have been slighted, forgotten…despised."
Albert laughed at his own words. It was perhaps cathartic in a way. To be the savior of those that punched them down.
"We are here, and you and every man here will do their job, as men."