CH 470

C470: The Power of Persuasion / Jean

The measures to be taken against the Southwest National Alliance were to be discussed with the Iron Knights. It is highly unusual for a mercenary group to take part in a discussion on national policy, but the heads of state don’t seem to mind.

“So what do you think, Mister Jean?”

The current commander of the Royal Army of Meltaria, asked me, as if he really wanted my advice.

“There is no doubt that we should avoid fighting the Alliance as much as possible since the Elysian Empire is making strange moves toward the entire continent.

Forming an alliance to counter them is inevitable. The problem is that the Kingdom of Meltaria is not part of that framework.

Why is the Kingdom of Meltaria, who is not pro-Elysian, being left out of the framework of the alliance? I suppose the first thing we need to do is find out.”

Hearing this, Yudin thinks about it, but he can’t seem to even come up with anything.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about when you say you’re going to find out what’s going on behind the scenes,” he said.

“We had our intelligence services investigating, but we have no conclusive information, and if there is no such thing, we don’t even know if it’s a country or an individual…….”

“Let me see some of your research.”

I had an idea of what might be going on so I picked up the documents to check them out.

“I knew it…….”

One of the countries leading this alliance had a familiar name. Furthermore, I found traces of subterfuge in the information that seemed to have spread from that country. After all, that guy……could easily handle this level of subterfuge, there is no doubt about it.

“What have you found out?”

“I don’t have any proof, and I’ll have to look into it, but I’ve come up with a hypothesis.”

“What is the hypothesis, Mister Jean? Explain it so we can understand it.”

“The isolation of the Kingdom of Meltaria is probably due to the manipulations of the Elysian Empire. It is likely that President Bouddarga of the Republic of Dalaran, one of the major countries in the Southwest Alliance of Nations, is carrying out the subterfuge under the direction of the Elysian Empire.”

“President Bouddarga……that can’t be true. President Bouddarga of Dhahran is the spearhead of the anti-Elysian Alliance. It is hard to believe that such a person would work for the Elysian Empire.”

“That’s misinformation. He always had a longing for the strong and big Elysian Empire. He was absorbed in their culture and history, and if the Elysian Empire contacted him in secret, he would definitely be interested.”

“Jean, you know about this president?”

Alana asked.

“Yes, I knew him a long time ago.”

I didn’t want to go into too many details, so I answered casually. Everyone was a little surprised to hear that the president of a country and I were old friends, but the discussion continued, as that was not the point of the meeting.

“If so, does that mean that Dhahran is behind this and has planned to isolate the Kingdom of Meltaria?”

“The information and the responses of the countries make this a strong possibility but we’ll have to find out to be sure.”

I don’t like the idea, but I may still need to return to Dhahran……and the thought of it makes me feel depressed due to the memories of the past.