第５５２堀：ハイデン殴り込み作戦会議 (Part1)
**Chapter 552: The Operation Meeting for the Raid on Haiden**
**Side: Yuki**
The day after the ceasefire agreement between Haiden and Findall was reached, a new operation was already in motion in Weed. It was the operation to capture the royal capital of Haiden.
Or rather, it was an operation to root out the "Assembly of Wisdom" and the remnants of the Lira Kingdom that were nesting within Haiden.
Well, it would essentially mean turning Haiden upside down. Since the goal was to crush the war-supporting faction that currently held a majority in Haiden, there was no way this would proceed without incident.
"Now then, I would like to begin the strategy meeting for the capture of the Haiden royal capital."
"Err, doesn't that sound like we're planning to occupy Haiden?"
"Kagura. The current situation exists because the war-supporting faction holds a majority within Haiden. You understand that if we don't strike them down, we can't stop Haiden's runaway state, right?"
"Well, I understand that much."
"In other words, we have no choice but to dismantle Haiden's current regime. Is there any problem with calling this an operation to capture the royal capital?"
"……I see. In a sense, we are becoming a group of rebels defying the will of the nation."
As of now, this group, centered around Princess Carrie, was a tiny minority in Haiden. Since they had taken it upon themselves to join hands with Findall, they were, for all intents and purposes, rebels.
"Kagura. I appreciate your concern for me, but there is no need for hesitation. The current Haiden is spitting on the struggles of the First Ancestors, my uncle, my mother, and the way of life that Arge lived. We must use this opportunity to purge the fools who let sweet bait cloud their judgment."
"……Princess."
Princess Carrie was in high spirits after joining forces with Her Highness Stasia. It felt as though she was determined to eradicate every single enemy.
"However, Princess. If I may, how do you intend to handle the selection? Among the current war-supporting faction, there are many who are simply following the tide without knowing the truth. I am not saying they are innocent, but if we punish everyone or make arrests without evidence, the governance of the provinces will become impossible."
"That is true. If that happens, chaos in Haiden will be unavoidable. I believe we should handle that part with composure, Carrie."
It was Duke Kamishiro and Her Highness Stasia who stepped in to calm Princess Carrie, who was on the verge of becoming a tyrant.
"……If Her Highness Stasia and the Duke say so, then it cannot be helped. What you say is reasonable. But how do we conduct the selection? Time will pass while we investigate the masterminds. Wouldn't it be better to round them all up at once?"
"Please calm down, Carrie. It is true that investigating the masterminds takes time, but it is even more impossible to round up every single war-supporter. It sounds nice to say we are relying on the power of Yuki-sama and the others in Weed, but that would mean becoming entirely dependent on Weed, and it would be pushing unreasonable demands onto them. That would not be good for our future relationship."
As Her Highness Stasia said, that would indeed be an unreasonable demand. Trying to capture even the fools who just went along with the crowd, let alone the masterminds, was impossible with the nearly 100 people we could mobilize. There were over a thousand nobles alone, and if you included their associates, the number would surely exceed ten thousand.
If it were a head-on battle, it would be one thing, but they would likely flee before it turned into a test of strength. If that happened, it would only increase the confusion, with people claiming Princess Carrie had lost her mind. The King of Haiden, who was outwardly supporting the war faction, would be forced to issue an order to suppress Princess Carrie. If it reached that point, a civil war would be inevitable.
If that happened, it would become even harder to track the movements of those pulling the strings inside Haiden. Conversely, there was a non-zero chance they might act flashily, but no matter how you looked at it, civilians would be conscripted and driven into battle, and a bloodbath would be unavoidable.
Because we were there, we wouldn't lose in terms of raw power, but it would take a significant amount of time to resolve the issues. From the perspective of stabilizing Haiden and aiming for the normalization of diplomatic relations with other countries, it would be putting the cart before the horse.
"How about we first ask what kind of outcome the Princess desires, and then propose effective actions based on that? The Princess seems a bit impatient."
Following further persuasion from Her Highness Stasia and Duke Kamishiro, Princess Carrie closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again.
"……You are right. If I destroy everything indiscriminately out of hatred, I will eventually destroy myself. If you ask what outcome I desire, it is the pacification of Haiden's war-supporting faction and the expulsion of the Assembly of Wisdom and the remnants of the Lira Kingdom that are backing them. No, I want them eradicated from Haiden. If that is achieved, it will take time, but Haiden will regain its composure."
"In that case, we need to investigate those in the war-supporting faction who are deeply connected to the Assembly of Wisdom and the Lira remnants. Then, we should secure the evidence, combine it with the attempted kidnapping of myself and the Princess, as well as the attempted assassination of Duke Kamishiro, and report it to His Majesty to eliminate them all at once."
"Shouldn't we report the kidnapping of myself and Kagura, and the assassination attempt on Duke Kamishiro, to my uncle... His Majesty first? If we do that, wouldn't we be able to act openly with His Majesty's backing? ...No, that's wrong. If we do that, the chances of my uncle being in danger are high. Since they are the type to choose assassination, is it to avoid being detected?"
"Yes. If we were to contact His Majesty, it would inform the enemy that the Assembly of Wisdom's attack failed. I would like to say we could meet in secret, but there is no way a meeting with His Majesty could go unnoticed."
"The enemy is on the inside, after all. So, we must gather evidence and then strike all at once, or it will be disastrous."
Kagura was, at some point, thinking about the political implications. I wondered how that happened, but seeing Duke Kamishiro nodding happily beside her, I realized she must have been drilled in politics without me noticing. Even though there hadn't been much time, Kagura might be what one would call a genius.
"Then, our top priority is to secretly infiltrate the Haiden royal capital and gather information. Speaking of information, Yuki-sama, Georgin. How is the interrogation of those who call themselves the Assembly of Wisdom going? Can't we get any information from them?"
Finally, the conversation turned to us. Georgin looked at me as if to ask what he should do, so I left the explanation to him, as he had been the one conducting the interrogations.
"If you will excuse me, I must say with shame that the results of the interrogations have not been very fruitful. All we know is that they were the elite magic unit of Haiden—the Saber Magic Unit, was it? Duke?"
"Yes. You know this, Princess, as you saw them yourself."
"Yes. I never imagined that even our country's elite would be cooperating with fools. While I was interrogating them, Yuki-sama stopped me, so I couldn't finish."
Come to think of it, he had been stabbing them repeatedly. Then again, that wasn't an interrogation; it was an execution. Also, I remembered he was with us during the time Clay rebelled, and it was strange that the Princess didn't act like an "idiot princess" back then—she must have started trusting us around that time.
"However, the fact that we haven't obtained information is a problem. We should restart the interrogations. This time, I would like to leave it to me."
Princess Carrie said this with eyes that suggested she would definitely finish them off this time. But unfortunately, I couldn't grant that wish.
Because a different operation was already in motion.