Chapter 211: The Kukkoro Male Knight and Drinking Together 2

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“It wouldn’t be entirely accurate to say it wasn’t like this in the past, but…”

Elves are barbaric. 

When those words came from the very chieftain of the elf tribe, I was left bewildered. Lady Dalaiya lifted one corner of her mouth in a smile, then moistened her lips with a brandy highball and let out a sigh.

“Indeed, even around the time I was born, elves were a hot-blooded and impulsive race. But it was not this bad… Not to this extent, at least.”

“So, in short, famine and war have caused people’s hearts to grow rough.”

“…You grasp things awfully quickly.”

“If you’ve dabbled in history, it’s a pattern you run into so often you get sick of it…”

People who are constantly exposed to hunger and the stress of combat will grow increasingly combative, even if they were gentle by nature to begin with. That is simply the natural function of the human heart. 

In my previous life as well as this one, I had seen many people whose personalities had completely changed for that very reason.

When social order collapses, that tendency begins to appear across the entire population of the region. Naturally, public security becomes the worst imaginable. Once it reaches that point, rebuilding a new order is an extremely difficult task. 

These elves were probably in exactly that state.

“Well…I suppose that’s true,”

Lady Dalaiya said, furrowing her brow as her shoulders sagged. Because she looked like an adorable young girl, even that gesture was overwhelmingly cute. 

It’s unfair, really! Loli hag is really unfair!

“As a matter of fact, for you, we are troublesome neighbors as we are now. Still, if possible, I would like you to deal with us patiently.”

“Hmmm.”

I groaned softly as I brought a cup of elf-made sweet potato shochu to my lips. To be honest, I didn’t want to go to war with the elves either. Memories of military training from my previous life were constantly ringing alarm bells in my head, screaming, “Don’t fight the natives in the jungle.”

The army I once belonged to had gone through hell because of that. Even after raining down napalm and defoliants like a torrential downpour, they couldn’t wipe out jungle guerrillas. If we carelessly chose all-out war, we would end up sharing the same fate.

“When factions that have hated each other for three generations or more try to repair relations, it is not easy. And the current active generation of our Liseben is only the second generation since settlement. In other words, this is our last chance to reconcile with the elves.”

Liseben was now at the stage where the children of those who had settled during the earliest phase of development were reaching adulthood. If the chronic state of conflict with the elves continued, the elf tribe itself would become our sworn enemy. I wanted to avoid that. It would be a major obstacle to the future development of the territory. I—well, Chancellor Adelaide—had plans to grow Liseben with commerce and industry as its pillars. And for that, building a robust logistics network was absolutely essential.

Having that vital logistics network constantly threatened by elves who excelled at guerrilla warfare… It was a situation I didn’t even want to imagine. Ideally, we wanted them to be allies, or at least neutral.

“Mm, indeed, indeed,”

After nodding repeatedly, Lady Dalaiya drained her highball. Then she raised her glass toward the attendant waiting by the wall.

“Another!”

“I’m terribly sorry, we’re out of ice…”

“Oooh…”

Lady Dalaiya slumped forward with an intensely sorrowful expression. 

Sorry about that. We don’t really have much money to spare for luxuries. Well, it’s not that we don’t have money at all, but we’re pouring it aggressively into investment within the territory and military expansion, so we can’t afford much waste.

That said, if a full-scale war with the elves broke out, most of those investments would go up in smoke. That would be a real problem. After finally managing to build our own army, the last thing I wanted was to have it worn down by lousy guerrilla warfare.

An army is most useful when it isn’t fighting. 

Sun Tzu said that winning a hundred battles out of a hundred is not the pinnacle of excellence. 

A military that never has to fight is supreme. In modern terms, that’s a state where deterrence is functioning.

“Then, have this instead.”

I poured wine—prepared just in case—into a goblet and passed it to Lady Dalaiya. She accepted it with a smile, saying, “Oh, my thanks,” then happily brought it to her lips and began drinking it down.

“Pwah! Ahh, delicious. If we get along with you, that means you’ll sell us this fine wine too, won’t you? As far as I’m concerned, I have no desire to fight.”

“Hahaha, that’s true.”

Joking aside about the alcohol, if they could trade peacefully with the Kingdom of Galea, there would be plenty of benefits for the elves as well. I was deeply grateful that Lady Dalaiya, as one of their leaders, understood that point. 

When the top leadership is stubborn, there’s nothing you can do. You’re forced to choose war, which is the worst possible option.

“What the elves lack right now is peace and food. If we can somehow manage those two, it’s fair to say that Elfenia will become a sufficiently negotiable partner, correct?”

“Mm… We’re also short on men, though.”

Lady Dalaiya flicked her gaze toward my crotch. It was a strangely sultry sideways glance. 

Knock it off! My spine just shivered! A loli shouldn’t make such erotic expressions! Even if she’s a hag!

“At this point, Elfenia’s current situation can no longer be resolved by ourselves alone. To put it bluntly… We’re down to two choices: become bandits, or become parasites.”

“We can’t have you parasitizing us forever. As you can see, we’re not exactly wealthy either. There will surely be people who start saying things like, ‘Kick out those freeloading lodgers who just eat without contributing.’”

In truth, reconciliation policies have their problems too. It’s just like caring for a sick patient. Push yourself too hard and you both collapse. Even if you devote your heart and soul to nursing them, there’s no guarantee they’ll recover fully. In fact, the country I lived in during my previous life suffered badly from that over and over again… 

Having been dispatched to places like Iraq and Afghanistan, I couldn’t possibly believe that this kind of reconciliation policy would work exactly as planned.

Fight, and it’s hell. Reconcile, and it’s hell. It really makes you sick of it all. 

What a troublesome territory I’d been saddled with. 

When I die and go to hell, I’ll definitely have a word or two for Duchess Olean. Well, there’s also the possibility I won’t go to hell and will just reincarnate again, but…

“At that point, there’s nothing for it but for both sides to make an effort.”

“For both sides, huh.”

Would the elves really cooperate? When I looked at Lady Dalaiya with that question in mind, she smiled brightly and spread her arms wide.

“As those in positions of authority, we must set an example before our subordinates and common folk. Well then, Blondin-dono. How about it? Will you get along with me?”

Even as she said that, Lady Dalaiya shot me another seductive sideways glance. Of course, even I understood that the “getting along” she meant wasn’t quite literal. 

I want to! I really want to “get along” with a loli hag! But as a gentleman—well, a would-be gentleman—I couldn’t just say yes. Damn it…!

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