Right, time to gather some intel before we go full Yakuza.
It was coming through Latarnia, of course.
And there was one other source.
‘Lord Eyens, thank you for agreeing to meet today.’
I greeted Old Man Eyens with a smile over the remote link.
Claire stood by my side.
‘Is this about the Taikyoku Nation?’
‘For the most part.’
‘What sort of information can I provide?’
‘I want to know why things have gone so wrong. This Taikyoku Nation... they aren't acting like themselves.’
I had acquired a massive amount of Taikyoku Nation Publications through Latarnia.
I’d spent a significant amount of time analyzing their social systems and current state.
What emerged was a legal and administrative system befitting a great power.
I wasn't necessarily praising them.
I simply meant it was within the realm of human comprehension.
The Proone, the Ghouls, the Zork—you can't wrap your head around those!
Well, sure, looking back, I can see the Zork just drew a terrible hand for their evolution cards, and the Proone chose the scientifically wrong path. I understand that now.
Even so, the racial differences were staggering.
Their values were so alien that I couldn't understand them at all initially.
As for the Ghouls, I still don't even properly understand their ecology.
I only get along with Latarnia because I judged them to be a civilization capable of dialogue.
If someone like Lord Eyens hadn't appeared among the Pirates, I would have wiped them all out.
If you can't talk, your only option is to kill.
It didn't matter if the negotiations failed.
That was just how things went sometimes.
But if communication itself was impossible, then violence was the only path left.
As a leader of this country, I have a duty and a responsibility to protect my citizens.
If something is coming to kill us, I have to kill it before it can do any damage.
Ultimately, it's the difference between being treated as a bear wandering into a town or being treated as a human.
In that regard, the Taikyoku Nation had at least started with dialogue, even if their attitude was foul.
They deserved a serious analysis as a nation.
We had treated even the Proone as a nation, after all.
I didn't see that as a failure to be ashamed of, but as an honor—a testament to the fact that we never gave up until the very end.
I could say that with total confidence because I knew the hardships the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had endured.
That was why we analyzed the Taikyoku Nation properly, too.
They had a culture that was difficult to grasp, typified by their Eunuchs, but their legal system was generally understandable.
Salt and other resources were under government control.
Private ownership of real estate was forbidden.
Essentially, it was just another political system.
I had no intention of nitpicking how they ran things.
What happened in our house stayed in our house; what happened in theirs was their business.
Therefore, judging by the materials, it seemed to be a social structure that could be managed with a degree of stability, regardless of its long-term sustainability.
I asked Old Man Eyens a frank question.
‘Yes, looking at the records, it’s just wrong. Internal family disputes are unavoidable. But isn't the frequency absurd? There have been over a million cases in the last ten years based on public records alone. Day after day, the news is nothing but stories of some relative murdering the Head of House, or some minor noble starting a rebellion.’
‘Is that not simply what you call culture?’
‘I considered that, but even so, they are engaging in far too many internal conflicts that they have no hope of winning. Despite being such a mature society, princes are assassinated, and the families of high-ranking aides launch rebellions only to face Clan Extermination. Even the families of the imperial consorts rebel and get wiped out. Beyond that, even local lords are rising up. None of them can win. The strangest part is the lack of a cause—at the very least, you’d expect them to justify their actions. You can't win unless you gain at least a few allies. But there’s none of that.’
‘...Indeed.’
Old Man Eyens was also an involved party.
Perhaps because of that, he hadn't been able to see it from an objective perspective.
Yes. It was wrong.
Certainly, the Empire’s history had its share of nonsensical internal strife and rebellions.
Uprisings by the Duke Association, the Chamberlains, or the Civil Officials.
But that had been political subversion by the Zork.
Traps laid by the Zork centuries ago had gnawed away at the Perennial Empire, eventually pushing it to the brink of collapse.
Even those Zork had proven they could pull off such maneuvers, even if they used brute force.
There was no reason other factions couldn't do the same.
In other words, what I was trying to say was: ‘It’s become so mundane that you haven't noticed, but isn't this actually the work of some outside force?’
The old man looked at me.
His complexion, already poor from age, grew even paler.
‘Are... are you saying this humble one's own life was part of some plot?’
‘I can't say for sure. I don't know which specific incidents were involved. I just think the level of violence is too extreme for a stable government. If you lose a political struggle, you should just be removed from power. Exiled to a planet in the sticks, perhaps. Clan Extermination does nothing but breed resentment; there's no logical benefit to it.’
Fundamentally, it costs an obscene amount of money to cultivate the kind of talent capable of leading a rebellion.
The state funds invested in such people are staggering.
To throw that away felt like an absurd waste.
When I calculated the cost of my own training and that of my squad, it made my stomach drop.
The cost of training pilots far outweighed the cost of the machines themselves.
And we were probably on the cheaper side, given we were rushed into active duty due to the Zork attacks.
Since we won the Zork War, I suppose we recovered that invested capital.
I knew the old man was involved in something behind the scenes, but it shouldn't have been just him.
There was no way Latarnia wasn't doing the same.
But... that wasn't what was happening here.
It was as if the heat behind the malice was different.
I felt a malice closer to the Zork—something that didn't treat humans as human beings.
‘H-His Excellency the Grand Duke... what is your hypothesis...?’
‘Ghouls.’
‘...What?!’
‘We suspect the Ghoul Nest is actually inside the Taikyoku Nation. After all, the timing is suspicious, isn't it? As soon as we started taking the Ghoul extermination seriously, this great power that had ignored us until now suddenly rushed in in a panic. Is that really a coincidence?’
Claire sent the files to the old man.
‘This is...?’
‘The Parasite Dissection Results. Honestly, we were being fooled. Ghouls are merely terminal patients.’
‘Terminal...?’
‘The parasite is the true Ghoul. Mosquitoes seem to serve as the Intermediate Host. The parasite hijacks the brain and controls the host. In the terminal stage, the host's body begins to fall apart. By that point, they crave an abnormal amount of protein, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem. They collapse and die within a few years at most. Those machines the Ghouls wear? Those are Life Support Systems. Not for the human, but for the parasite.’
I was speaking with an air of gravitas, though this was information we already knew.
‘I-I am aware of that, but...’
‘In other words, there must be healthy individuals who don't need Life Support Systems. I’m betting those are in the Taikyoku Nation.’
‘That...’
‘The Taikyoku Nation has been taken over by the Ghouls.’
It was the same tactic the Zork used.
Which meant they were creatures of the same lineage.
The Zork and the Ghouls were likely originally the same type of organism.
God, that's sickening!
‘N-no way...’
With those words, Old Man Eyens covered his face with his hands.
I could hear the sound of him sobbing.
It's always hard to see a grown man cry.
‘Then... this humble one... didn't even realize the enemy... was the enemy...’
‘It just shows how malicious the opponent was. Claire, if you would.’
I offered a small, reassuring smile.
Claire sent over another file.
‘Th-this is?’
‘This is a proposal. Lord Eyens. Why don't we save your home?’
Of course, I would give the old man time.
We wouldn't be the ones in trouble, regardless of which way he chose.
After all, we weren't at war with Latarnia yet.