"......I wish to meet General de Farnese in person."
"Oh?"
Was he trying to persuade her through a personal meeting? The Marquis's efforts to prevent the war at any cost were admirable. No, perhaps "pitiable" was the more fitting word in a situation like this.
"Let me say this in advance. Persuading the General directly is impossible."
"This is absurd. Two nations cannot be dragged into war over a single family that was annihilated long ago. If the General has even the slightest concern for the hardships her people must endure, she will come around."
I smiled faintly.
"General Laura is my lover, Marquis."
"So you're saying the matter is already settled..."
The Marquis groaned.
He nonetheless insisted on meeting Laura at least once. I didn't stop him, even when he declared he would use an expensive teleportation magic scroll to reach my territory. Needless to say, it yielded nothing. The Marquis set off on his return journey with forlorn steps.
I officially activated diplomatic channels.
I instructed my representatives to convey that restoring honor to His Majesty the Emperor's Deputy General was the only natural course of action, and to request the Kingdom of Sardinia's cooperation in this matter. I also made sure to mention that the Farnese family would be handsomely compensated upon their reinstatement.
None of the ambassadors from the various nations who heard my announcement took it seriously.
It wasn't a demand to hand over the territories the Farnese family once governed. All I had asked was that they revoke the traitor's brand. I even offered a bounty of one hundred thousand gold as compensation. It must have seemed like a simple matter to resolve.
"We cannot recognize the reinstatement of traitors!"
However, once the Kingdom of Sardinia made its refusal known, the atmosphere grew strange.
They must have mobilized every intelligence source they had. The various nations quickly grasped that this was a matter of pride between the Habsburg imperial family and the Sardinian royal family. Well, the Chrysanthemum War was a well-known civil war, after all. With even a modicum of attention, one could readily uncover the relevant information.
From this point on, I put on the best show I could.
"His Majesty the Emperor holds his Deputy General in particularly high regard."
─ If the House of Farnese is restored to its position, I shall immediately repay with a reward of fifteen thousand libras, without any delay whatsoever.
I made it appear as though the Empire did not want war.
The Kingdom of Sardinia dismissed it outright, saying they had no need for a reward and that we should cease our interference in their domestic affairs. We had started with a reward of a hundred thousand gold and steeply raised it to a hundred and fifty, a hundred and seventy, and then two hundred thousand gold. To outside nations, it looked as though the Empire was doing everything it could to avoid conflict.
But the Kingdom of Sardinia stubbornly refused.
As the situation dragged on, murmurs of dissatisfaction began to trickle out among the diplomats of the various nations. The Emperor of the Empire was personally making the request — wasn't this refusal a bit too extreme?
It wasn't quite an open criticism. It was more at the level of, "We're concerned that this trivial matter might escalate into a full-blown diplomatic dispute."
Now was the moment.
─ Our nation pledges to end its dispute with the Kingdom of Polithunia and to cooperate with one another for all eternity.
─ We hereby declare the border region between our two nations a permanently neutral zone, and to consecrate this declaration, we dedicate this territory to the Myriad Gods.
A dramatic reconciliation with the Kingdom of Polithunia.
The nations of the continent welcomed this decision. Everyone had already been worried that King Batory's mobilization decree might lead to yet another war. The temples had done absolutely nothing and were about to receive territory for free, so they erupted in enthusiastic standing ovations.
The Empire desires peace. That gesture had landed with tremendous impact.
To push it even further, King Batory himself joined in on the "show."
─ It is easy for anyone to call for peace with their lips. But the true substance of peace is when each side concedes half a step to the other. It is precisely because that half-step cannot be conceded that wars never cease……. However, the Empire was different.
─ He could not help but be moved by the Empire's sincere desire for peace. He had only wanted a peaceful resolution, but the Empire went a step further and proposed achieving permanent peace.
─ The Empire showed him, and showed all the nations, what it truly means to think of peace. We must follow this example going forward.
Around this time, King Batory's younger sister was gradually having her curse lifted, thanks to the dark mage we had dispatched. It was the King's way of repaying us for curing his sister.
Well, calling it a complete repayment might be a stretch. Looking at the bigger picture, King Batory had wiped away the debt of saving his family member with a single speech. For a man who looks like a bear, he sure is cunning — cunning as a snake.
The Kingdom of Sardinia must have been left dumbfounded. Yesterday's friend had become today's enemy.
Amid the continent's warm and harmonious atmosphere of "love and peace," I once again magnanimously put forth a compromise proposal.
─ For the restoration of the House of Farnese, I shall award a bounty of two hundred and thirty thousand livres.
And a resolute refusal.
As the situation escalated to this point, the ambassadors of the ten nations finally began to raise their voices.
It was draped in all manner of diplomatic embellishments, but strip away every unnecessary frill and distill it to its core, and the message was simple.
─ Don't you dare ruin this perfectly good atmosphere!
─ ….
The Kingdom of Sardinia must have felt utterly aggrieved.
What did it matter to them whether the continent was wrapped in a warm, fluffy atmosphere or not? They had waded through a bloody civil war to finally determine who the legitimate ruler was. And now, if they were forced to restore the house of a traitor, then what had all that bloodshed been for?
It was, quite literally, an outrageous case of domestic interference.
Sardinia rallied its royal family and nobility alike to confront the international community's condemnation. The House of Farnese was the enemy of every last one of them.
To put it bluntly.
The Kingdom of Sardinia was no match for me whatsoever.
I had been hoarding my cards, saving them for precisely this moment. Once the game had swung in our favor, there was no reason to hold back any longer. I flung open the firepower I had been concealing all along.
─ Laura de Farnese is the most unmistakable proof and symbol that humanity and the demon race have united as one! The Empire's Supreme Commander is a human, and under her direct command, every race moves in perfect coordination. How can you reduce this monumental figure to a mere traitor?!
─ Sardinia is gravely threatening the banner of peace and unity among all races. How can one not lament their shortsightedness?
─ I fully understand that Sardinia has its own circumstances. However, no set of circumstances can take precedence over the noble cause of lasting peace between humanity and the demon race.
It was nothing short of a diplomatic carpet bombing.
As though our previous restraint in offering compromises had all been a lie, I unleashed a torrent of fierce condemnation.
What had begun as a simple question of whether or not to restore a single house had grown beyond anyone's ability to rein in.
Starting from the reconciliation with the Kingdom of Polithunia, the issue had ballooned into a question of whether the continent's spirit of reconciliation would be preserved or shattered — and now it had even become a matter of whether one would recognize the very symbol of cooperation between the human race and the demon race!
This was, in fact, the most fundamental technique of rhetoric.
I would interpret the opposing party's claims in the most exaggerated light possible, while minimizing my own claims as much as I could.
In short, by refusing to allow the restoration of a single house, you were not merely letting one restoration go unfulfilled — you were "obliviously derailing the smooth reconciliation mode all nations were entering" and "seeking to destroy the long-awaited cooperation between the demon race and the human race."
Whereas we were asking for "nothing more" than the restoration of a single house.
This technique of exaggerated interpretation proved perfectly effective not only in disputes between individuals but also in diplomatic battles between nations. The Kingdom of Sardinia had been completely defeated by me in this game.
I sat on the terrace of the imperial palace, gazing at the evening glow. The wine glass in my right hand shimmered softly in the golden light.
"This is the essence of rhetoric, Daisy."
My heart was steeped in deep satisfaction. I had turned the continent into a chessboard and isolated an entire nation. Nothing else could have brought me such gratification.
"Do you understand now what the most important thing in rhetoric is?"
"Driving your opponent into a corner."
Daisy answered as she poured wine into a glass. I let out a soft chuckle.
"As I thought, you're dense. You always know one thing but not the second."
"......"
"Remember this well: winning the argument is secondary."
I moistened my mouth with wine and continued.
"There is a mistake that people who consider themselves skilled at arguing often make. They treat a debate as a one-on-one battle between themselves and their opponent."
"Are you saying that's not the case?"
"Of course it isn't. When I was clashing with the Kingdom of Sardinia, I wasn't fighting them alone. Polithunia was watching. The Franks were watching. The Teutons were watching. Batavia was watching."
Rhetoric is a technique that goes far beyond simply dressing up a war of words with flair.
It is not about defeating a single opponent — it is, above all, about persuending the public and the audience. That is what rhetoric truly is.
"What meaning would there be if I won the war of words but had a grating voice, lacked composure in my gestures, and my arguments were devoid of righteous cause and justification! I would lose the crowd's favor, and in the end, I would win the battle but lose the war."
Thus, rhetoric is essentially not a knight's duel but a gladiator's contest.
For a gladiator, it is important not merely to topple the opponent but to dominate them with style. You draw the crowd's cheers and earn their adoration. And when, with the fallen opponent sprawled on the ground, the audience begins to chant "Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!" — only then can you truly be said to have claimed victory.
"From beginning to end, disguise this side as the righteous one. Make everyone acknowledge that justice lies with us. Only after that is war to be discussed."
"……But, Father. The justification still seems insufficient to enter into war."
I nodded.
"Ah, yes. The final fireworks display is certainly lacking."
I gazed at the sunset through my wine glass. The twilight hues curved gently across the glass.
"In times like these, all you need to do is gift them some fireworks."
Three days later, as international condemnation grew ever fiercer.
The Count of Pavia from the Kingdom of Sardinia detonated a bomb.
— Laura de Farnese was once a commoner sold as a sacred slave.
— She escaped from the slave auction house and fled to the Habsburgs, selling herself to her demon clan to survive. Restoring honor to a traitor's family was already an utter absurdity — and now they wanted to elevate a sacred slave to the rank of duchess? How could that possibly be acceptable!
Incidentally, Pavia was the very city where Laura's slave auction had taken place.
This bombshell shook the diplomatic stage to its core. It was a fact that anyone in the know was already aware of, but no one had ever publicly revealed it. Naturally so — calling the Habsburg Emperor's deputy general a sacred slave was a naked humiliation.
The Count of Pavia must have seen it as an opportunity to turn the unfavorable situation to his advantage. He scattered every piece of evidence he could find that Laura had once been a sacred slave. Most of it was material we had secretly fed him. Well, the count himself probably believed he had uncovered the evidence on his own.
The exposé had a decisive effect. The nobility, steeped in class consciousness, cautiously rallied behind Sardinia. If the diplomatic battle continued like this, we might have found ourselves at a disadvantage.
However, there was one point the count had failed to consider.
That from the very beginning, I had never entertained the slightest thought of settling this crisis through diplomacy.
"Mobilize the army."
The justification is more than sufficient.
Let us bring the hammer down on those who dared insult the Empire's Grand General.