# Enhanced Translation
"If I send you, how do you plan to go? If Droan is truly on the brink of war, Vanka, there's not much you can do alone."
Elizabeta's question was valid. While Ivan was undoubtedly the finest agent of the current era, large-scale battles cannot be managed by one person's valor alone.
In a massive war fought for a nation's survival, sending such an exceptional agent alone as a combatant would be extremely inefficient.
There are countless operations that one person cannot accomplish alone but could achieve with proper military support: assassinating enemy leadership, destroying key strongholds, striking high-value targets, and disrupting command structures.
Such operations require reliable support from allied forces. But is Droan truly a reliable ally now?
No. Just look at how Einar failed to send support when Pritzenkaya was in crisis. Either Droan currently lacks the resources to intervene in foreign affairs, or something has happened to Einar himself.
"I'll permit it only after we send a probe first."
Elizabeta shook her head as she spoke.
At minimum, she couldn't send Ivan before clearly understanding Droan's current situation.
Any competent operations commander must fully understand the operational area before deploying agents. Leaving success to individual bravery in an uncontrollable situation is proof of incompetence.
Ivan had anticipated her opposition.
"I have a method, Your Majesty."
"Speak."
With a face that suggested she didn't want to hear it at all, Elizabeta looked down at Ivan.
She wanted nothing more than to order him to stay right by her side. So unless his plan was exceptionally reasonable, she intended to refuse.
"I need Your Majesty's royal seal."
"You want to go as our envoy? In the worst case scenario, Einar might already be dead. Do you really think a Krasilov envoy would receive a warm welcome from Droan's jarls in such a situation?"
"No, Your Majesty. We do need to send an envoy, but it won't be me, and the destination won't be Droan."
Ivan raised his head to look up at Elizabeta.
"I request that you proclaim our achievements to the world."
# EP44. The Strongest Son-in-Law in History.
Three days later, the leaders of the six southern nations each received a letter. It bore the seal of Krasilov.
Throughout history, official letters from this nation were rarely anything other than declarations of war, so each royal court opened the seal in fear.
Beyond the flood of lengthy diplomatic phrasing and flowery language, there fortunately wasn't any terrifying sentence like "A state of war exists between our nations." It was a peaceful diplomatic document written in an extremely friendly tone.
[To the Royal Houses of the Six Southern Nations,
: We killed the corrupt Pope.
Be grateful.
If you wish to verify the authenticity of this letter, please respond according to the attached form.
Attachment 1) Declaration of War.
With affection, Elizabeta Kirillovna Krasilov.]
"...????"
Setting aside the (many) issues of diplomatic protocol, the interpretation of this letter was as follows:
[The chaos in the Six Southern Nations was the scheme of the corrupt Pope who colluded with the Seven Dragon Generals.
SOME stupid and greedy powerful families dared to side with them and engaged in illegal territorial disputes.
Finding this pitiful, we personally intervened and Krasilov turned Ovidis into 'a plain where the Papal State once existed.'
Now your nations' suspicions have been cleared. Be grateful.]
Four nations, except for Bellacriya which had witnessed the incident directly and Equitania which had been celebrating the rise of Saint coins, were thrown into chaos.
Leonor Royal Palace, Throne Room.
King Ramiro of Leonor massaged his brow while carefully reading the letter again. Despite reading the document for the fifth time, he still couldn't understand what these warmongering lunatics were thinking.
"So this is why the southern war suddenly ended...?"
It now made sense why there had been no follow-up reports despite Bellacriya's clear declaration to attack Equitania, and why the Papal State, which would have begged for material support during wartime, had remained silent.
However, while the conclusion made sense, the process did not.
"How on earth did they manage this?"
Unless they flew through the sky across borders, the southward advance of Krasilov's forces should have been detected. At the very least, if they had passed through Leonor's territory, they couldn't have gone unnoticed.
Moreover, Leonor had recently been working with Krasilov on northern border railway facilities. This meant they had many eyes stationed in the north, making it impossible not to notice if they had led an army through.
Like all countries sharing borders with Krasilov, Leonor had installed numerous defensive fortresses in the north. It would be impossible for a large army to penetrate the surveillance network of all those fortresses.
That left only one possible route for them to move south...
"Could Lorensia have secretly allied with Krasilov behind our backs...?"
"That makes no sense."
Lorensia and Leonor were engaged in a border dispute—one fierce enough to prevent them from committing troops to the Crusader Army.
While there had been no direct engagement, forces from both countries were definitely deployed at their borders.
Indeed, a foreign army passing through one's territory is essentially equivalent to having that many plunderers.
Would the King of Lorensia really have allowed Krasilov's forces to pass through his country without any escort (disguised as surveillance) troops?
"Then could this be a false statement?"
"A false statement?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Given that there's no possible route for Krasilov's forces to move south, if they detected the end of the southern war before us, isn't it likely they're trying to create confusion with some ulterior motive?"
"For what purpose... No, never mind. It's ridiculous to try to understand what those madmen are thinking. Send messengers to the south immediately. Bellacriya... No, Ovidis. Our priority is to confirm what actually happened there."
King Felipe II of Lorensia was no fool either, so upon receiving the same letter, he followed the same logic and reached the same conclusion.
When the messengers from both countries arrived simultaneously at the Bellacriya court, they were greeted by a haggard-looking Carlos III.
"You're asking if Krasilov participated in the war?"
Looking down at the two fools, Carlos felt his insides twist.
What nonsense is this? Ah, right, they were too busy fighting each other. Damn it.
Only three weeks had passed since the end of the Ovidis incident. It was admittedly a tight timeframe to gather intelligence about another country's situation, especially one two nations away.
However, Carlos had no desire to be understanding. Half his territory had already been taken by Albinia, and all his control over Elsros had been seized by Equitania. Half his forces had evaporated.
The fate of the defeated nation was this miserable. Even the troops deployed throughout Ovidis were deserting, claiming they had "seen the will of God."
In such a chaotic situation, how could he respond pleasantly to these useless pigs who called themselves allies coming to grunt questions at him?
Carlos answered coldly:
"That statement is correct."
"...What? B-but how...?!"
"You came to ask how? It was the dwarves, damn it. DWARVES!! They dug tunnels and invaded from beneath your feet!!"
The faces of the two envoys turned pale at Carlos's words.
The implication that a large army could cross the border, no, traverse the entire country to emerge at the rear without being detected meant...
'If Krasilov wants war, the concept of a front line disappears in that war...!!'
The concepts of front and rear, supply lines and defensive lines, even the notion of a culminating point of attack—all vanish.
In plains or mountains, desertion can occur during marches. Non-combat losses and extended supply lines can diminish war-sustaining capabilities.
But underground, in narrow tunnels, such issues don't arise. This means Krasilov's conquest capacity is determined by the maximum length of supply lines they can manage.
With the Pope gone and the Saintess now known to belong to Krasilov...
Now, the peace maintained under the Church's authority is gone. While territorial seizures and small-scale border disputes were possible, conquest at the national level, which had been impossible in the past, has now become historical reality.
'Information about Ovidis's destruction would eventually have become known.'
The Leonor envoy hurriedly glanced to his side.
'To announce it first at this particular moment means...'
The Lorensia envoy met his gaze. The expressions of the two envoys mirrored each other perfectly.
'Intimidation.'
From now on, whatever we try to do, whatever we demand, whatever noise we make...
We'll need permission even to breathe.
That kind of intimidation.
'But what's the purpose?'
The fact that they've revealed something that would eventually become known 'now' suggests they're planning to do something 'now'.
After hearing Ivan's explanation, Elizabeta had to nod in agreement, sad as it was, that this was an extremely reasonable plan.
"So the whole world will now know about our nation's war coordination capabilities with the dwarves. Yes, this way even Droan's jarls won't be able to ignore us."
Everyone would find out eventually anyway. But timing is always crucial.
All information has an expiration date. Depending on when and how it's revealed, it can become either a weapon or useless gossip.
If more time passes and the world's powers realize the situation later, it would be too late. By then, Droan would have fallen, and the powers would begin forming alliances to check Krasilov's excessive prominence.
So they would break the news before that. Before those fools could 'think,' they would sow confusion, scatter a mix of false information and truth to the public, and plant seeds of suspicion among them to make it difficult for them to join hands rashly.
And they would use Krasilov's external image. They needed to act like a mindless beast that bites when angered.
Wrapped in a veil of fear, blocking all intelligence agents coming this way for the time being.
So that no one could even guess what they were thinking. So that no one could fathom why Krasilov was suddenly intimidating the Six Southern Nations. Therefore, they needed to act menacingly, as if they might start another war at any moment.
"The counterintelligence command must be deployed to all borders, and border inspections strengthened."
"And we should reject all envoys and close the embassies."
It's the season when the Rasputitsa prevents foot access to urban areas. To approach Krasilov's major cities, one must use trains, and train inspections are the counterintelligence command's specialty.
So internal information about Krasilov would be completely concealed.
"Meanwhile, we'll reinforce the northern front."
"During that time, I will make contact with Droan's jarls."
And after that. After the war zones are clearly defined.
Finally, they would annihilate the demon race.
That seemed good enough. Though she didn't like sending Ivan away, at least she wasn't sending him alone to the front lines.
In fact, visiting Droan as an envoy might be safer. If she took that man to the northern front, he might desert to assassinate the Seven Dragon Generals.
With a lighter heart, Elizabeta smiled and asked:
"By the way, once you enter Droan, on what grounds do you plan to contact the jarls? Those fools won't take your word at face value."
Suppose all plans succeed and Droan's jarls come to fear Krasilov's war capabilities.
If he then goes to them and says, "Sorry, but can we use your army?" would they actually agree? A foreign king cannot issue mobilization orders.
They would obviously deflect, saying, "For that matter, you should speak to our king," while hoping Einar dies in the meantime.
"Ah, please don't worry about that part."
Ivan raised his head proudly, satisfied with this ingenious and surprising plan.
"I will go as a son-in-law."
"Son-in-law?"
"Yes, I plan to enter as Einar's son-in-law. Since Asidis Einarsdottir is currently staying in our country, and considering the relationship between myself and Einar, it should be a plausible excuse."
Droan reveres strength. The reason Einar is respected isn't for his intelligence. He's respected solely for his achievement of building a nation through strength alone.
Therefore, as Einar's son-in-law, whatever he does won't become a 'diplomatic dispute.' There can be no accusation of foreign interference in internal affairs.
Simply by force. Just defeat all challengers. Einar's way.
It shouldn't be difficult to pretend to be fierce and dull-witted.
"...Son-in-law...??"
Elizabeta stared at Ivan with empty eyes as she repeated the word.