Three months had passed since our contact with the Arkenian Royal Knights.
“…Grrr.”
‘So much has happened during that time.’
The kingdom of Valentia had been trying to scour the forest for years, claiming they had received an oracle.
Yet the moment they saw us, they were utterly shocked.
Then there was Belarus, the country closest to the Great Millias Forest after Arkenia.
With them, we stuck to our strategy no diplomacy, just a straightforward announcement of our nation’s founding.
We were too busy executing our carefully laid plans to have time to breathe.
Of course, I spent my days playing with gold bars in Lea, while my subordinates handled all the work, but still.
[Lord Teonar. Why are you only establishing diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Arkenia?]
[I’ll explain that. It’s called the wedge strategy…]
The fundamental reason for all this busyness was our commitment to selective diplomacy.
The wedge strategy designed to sow discord between a rival nation and its allies.
It was the same strategy the United States used during the Cold War to drive a rift between the Soviet Union and China.
At its core, selective diplomacy was all about executing this wedge strategy.
“Lea, it looks like things are going according to plan, right?”
[Yes. The other nations on the continent now view each other as hostile. If Millenia establishes diplomatic relations with only one country…]
“Then that country will end up completely isolated.”
Imagine if we formed diplomatic ties with just one nation.
How would the others perceive it?
‘Wait, those monsters don’t even acknowledge us…’
‘But they’re sitting down and negotiating with them?’
‘They’re even trading food through them?’
Reactions like these were inevitable.
Before long, Arkenia would become the outcast the odd one out.
And in an international society like this continent, isolation was as good as a death sentence.
“That means they’ll have no choice but to ally with us. If they’re already being branded as traitors, it’s better to fully take our side.”
[A perfect opportunity for Teonar’s cultural invasion, then.]
“Exactly. Let’s overwhelm them before they even realize what’s happening.”
While they were busy dealing with diplomatic fallout, we would flood Arkenia with our culture.
So intensely that even their hostility would wash away.
[However, Teonar, this strategy assumes that humans will act rationally. I strongly advise against letting your guard down.]
“It’ll be fine. And even if things go south… you know, right? This isn’t the only thing I told my mother about.”
We had plenty of backup plans.
At the very least, war wouldn’t be a concern for a while.
‘Well, Arkenia will be the one under constant pressure instead. But until that happens, we have some breathing room.’
“In the meantime, we can… have a little fun with this.”
Ending my brief recollection, I turned my gaze downward once more.
The plains were filled with wagons, each one overflowing with coal.
[Yes. If this is what you were talking about, Teonar…]
“This is going to boost Millenia’s national power by several levels.”
My tail was already swaying with excitement.
Until now, we had relied solely on our people’s labor for production, logistics, and transportation.
All of those problems could be solved with just this one thing.
“Thanks to that, things have been pretty friendly with Arkenia, too.”
One more thing.
Trading coal for food was a huge benefit for them as well.
The Kaiser Empire. The northernmost region of the continent, a frozen wasteland.
A country so barren that even trees were scarce, making fuel an absolute necessity.
For nearly a decade, their coal imports had been completely cut off.
‘Valentia blocked their trade routes, didn’t they?’
Valentia, Arkenia’s neighboring country.
Currently at war with the Empire.
In this situation, Arkenia couldn’t afford to export coal to them.
Compared to Valentia, Arkenia was a weaker nation.
Coal prices had plummeted to 20% of their pre-war value because no one was buying it.
“That’s where we came in. We bought it all up and traded it for the food they desperately needed.”
[This can be considered a highly rational trade.]
Thanks to this, Arkenia was grinning from ear to ear.
Millenia, which had been relying on smuggled coal for research and development, was celebrating too.
A perfect win-win.
‘Though, of course, we’re profiting the most from this.’
“Alright then, Mother. I’ll be heading out now. Someone’s been waiting for this with bated breath.”
With my idle thoughts and small talk with Mother out of the way, it was time to act.
I drew in my magic with a sharp breath.
Waiting for transportation to the capital was too tedious, so I had come to pick up the coal myself.
I was about to transfer this mountain of black diamonds directly to Millenia.
— Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!
“H-Hiiiik! What the hell is that?!”
“That, my friend, is the magic of the great ahem, the leader of the non-human collective, Millenia. Lord Teonar. Tell me, as a member of the Dragon Slaying Expedition, what do you think?”
“I have no idea! That thing’s terrifying!”
“…?”
The onlookers.
Seras, the knight commander who had previously visited as an envoy, looked as if she’d pass out.
The mage who tagged along under the pretense of training was utterly stunned.
[For the 20,284th time, Lea is not Teonar’s biological parent.]
“So stiff. I’ll talk to you again tonight, so don’t sulk.”
[Artificial intelligence Lea cannot, nor has ever, experienced the status condition known as ‘sulking.’]
“You ignored me for a whole week because I refused to take on a human form.”
[That was not sulking, but a method to convey the seriousness of the situation to Teonar. Furthermore, completing the quest would still greatly benefit Teonar’s survival….]
“Not doing it, Mother~.”
[…Determined that Teonar does not take artificial intelligence Lea’s advice seriously enough. Sulking will commence until improvement is noted.]
“W-Wait, don’t actually sulk! Come on, Mother, this is WWE!”
I paid no mind to the commotion around me.
Even as the sparks of my magic shone like a miniature sun,
Even as the surrounding trees bent under the sheer force of the wind pressure.
Transferring a few hundred tons of coal across a long distance?
For me, it was as easy as eating rice cakes while lying down.
“Alright, I’ll tell you an old story later, okay? I’ll even talk about when you were human, all night long.”
[…If you tell me about what happened after solving the Millennium Problem, I will use it as reference to further analyze Teonar’s tendencies.]
“Fine. Though, that story doesn’t have the happiest ending either…”
— Flash!
* * *
And so, we returned to Millenia with an enormous amount of coal.
Meanwhile, in the capital of Millenia—Hermion.
The city was in an uproar.
The dwarves were chattering noisily.
“Is today the day? The day that masterpiece we built with Lord Wiz is finally activated for the first time?”
“That’s right! Come on, grab all the beer we have! If we don’t drink on a day like this, when else would we?”
“Today, once again, the dwarves will carve their names into the history of the continent!!”
The dwarves bustled about, loud and excited.
They all had a few things in common.
First, they looked as if they had just come from work, their entire bodies covered in soot.
Second, despite that, their black eyes gleamed with excitement.
And finally…
They all belonged to the “Workshop.”
They were executives of the development department, led by one of the Five Vassals.
“……?”
‘What is all this commotion about?’
Aurelia tilted her head in confusion as she arrived at the Workshop.
She had come to discuss matters related to chemical fertilizers in her role as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Rural Development.
Yet, the dwarves were running around, shouting excitedly?
Even though she was the Dryad Queen, a member of Millenia’s Five Heavenly Kings, and had just arrived?
Normally, the sheer difference in rank should have made them instinctively shrink back and tread carefully.
‘Something similar happened when they succeeded in producing ammonia…’
[-I don’t need anything. When I finished my current project, Lord Teo said he’d reward me together with Aurelia.]
‘I see. So this is what Wiz was referring to back then.’
That realization dawned upon her.
The owner of the Workshop Millenia’s Minister of Industry Wiz.
It seemed she had achieved yet another great feat.
Something so significant that she had even directly requested a reward from Teo, just like Lucia had received before.
Jealousy made Aurelia clench her teeth.
‘I haven’t even received a word about this from our lord, yet that disgusting goblin woman thinks she can struggle a little and claim all the glory for herself.’
– Creak.
“Hiiik…!”
“M-Maybe we were being too loud. Let’s all quiet down a bit.”
“We got carried away in our excitement…”
The dwarves’ enthusiasm was instantly shattered.
But that wasn’t Aurelia’s problem.
With determined steps, she strode toward the Workshop.
‘If this is something our lord commanded, I can’t exactly complain… but I’ll have to see for myself just how impressive it really is.’
“Wiz. You’re in there, aren’t you?”
With that, she threw open the innermost door of the Workshop.
A wave of heat rushed out.
A dark-skinned woman glanced over at her.
“Ugh, you came too…?”
“‘Too’? Were there others before me?”
“They all stopped by at least once to take a look. Ugh, those humanities folks wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to them.”
Wiz grumbled as she stood in front of Aurelia.
Once, she had been nothing more than a lowly goblin.
Through countless evolutions, she had transcended the limits of the Greenskin race.
Yet, she hardly looked like one of the highest-tier species, the Ancient One.
“You guys have no idea how much I suffer. I spend sleepless nights researching with my underlings, and you just swoop in and reap the benefits…”
“Enough of that. What exactly did you make that has the dwarves in such a frenzy? They were so distracted they didn’t even notice I was coming.”
“Cut them some slack, will you? They haven’t had a proper rest in two weeks. They were terrified of causing an explosion in front of our lord.”
“…I didn’t come to scold anyone. I’m just curious.”
Annoyed by her response, Wiz watched as Aurelia’s gaze swept across the workshop.
Then, her eyes stopped at a particular spot.
Her usually narrow eyes widened slightly.
“…This thing? The one that looks like a carriage wheel?”
“That’s insulting. Do you not see the mechanism attached to it?”
“And what exactly is this?”
“——A steam engine.”
Wiz puffed out her chest with pride.
After countless trials and errors—so many that even she was drenched in sweat—she had finally completed this invention.
And she was deeply satisfied with the result.
“A steam engine? And what do you plan to do with this?”
And then, suddenly…..
—Crackle.
“We boil water to turn the turbine. That’s it.”
“….?”
For now, only Teo and Wiz truly understood.
But soon, everyone would come to realize the greatness of this principle.