In a World of Reversed Chastity, I Strive to Become an Honorable Male Knight, but Lustful Women Keep Targeting My Body - 237

Chapter 237: The Kukkoro Male Knight and the Divide-and-Conquer Plot

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The next morning. After breakfast, I had summoned Sonia and Gilberto to the conference room. Naturally, this was to discuss our future course of action based on the outcome of yesterday’s meeting.

“Even so, the elves really are a difficult bunch.”

Sipping her after-meal herbal tea, Sonia let out a sigh. We had managed to push our demands through, but yesterday’s negotiations had been extremely hard. The elves were incredibly stubborn and inflexible. To be honest, dealing with them as negotiating partners was quite exhausting.

“Frankly, even if everything goes well and peace is concluded with the ‘Legitimate’ faction… I find it doubtful whether the rank and file will actually follow it. No. Not just the rank and file, but even the core leadership.”

At Gilberto’s low, rumbling comment, I nodded. What came to mind was yesterday’s conversation with Lady Dalaiya. Elder Vanka-san, whose spouse had been killed by the ‘Legitimate’ faction and who had been driven mad by revenge… There was no doubt she would move to obstruct us.

“In the end, the most troublesome part is this… Both those who are favorable toward us and those who are hostile all have the same tag attached to them: the ‘New Elfenia Empire.’”

I traced my fingertip along the tabletop of the conference table as I pondered. Unlike the ‘Legitimate,’ the ‘New’ had no clear banner to rally under. It was simply a gathering of people who had nowhere else to go. Precisely because of that, there were people inside with all sorts of intentions. Trying to negotiate properly with such a disorderly group was difficult from the start. Even agreements that were once settled could easily be broken due to internal turmoil.

“Perhaps we have no choice but to let the ‘New’ faction be destroyed once.”

“War, then?”

Gilberto raised her well-shaped eyebrows.

“If I’m ordered to do it, of course I will… But honestly, it doesn’t seem like a good move. Even if we did win, we would likely suffer enormous losses.”

I really appreciated subordinates who openly pushed back like this. Even though we were discussing a troublesome matter, I felt oddly warm inside. When a commander proposed a policy that seemed inappropriate, a proper staff officer should firmly object. That was how a strategist ought to be. Gilberto was extremely capable as a commander, and as a staff officer she was excellent as well. Truly, I had good subordinates.

“Right. And besides, our victory condition is the protection of the trade routes. The moment a full-scale war breaks out, we’ve already lost.”

Winning without fighting, that was the ideal of strategy. Picking a meaningless fight was the worst possible move.

“Still, the ‘New’ faction is a precarious organization. There’s no need to use a hammer to smash it apart. If we just poke it lightly, it looks like it’ll lose its balance and collapse on its own.”

“I see, so you’re aiming for internal division. My apologies.”

“No, Gilberto. You haven’t been rude at all. Just stay the way you are.”

A yes-man (or yes-woman) staff officer was nothing more than a useless mouth to feed. When I said that with a grin, she blushed slightly and nodded.

“So, you’re going to pressure them to make their stance clear? Forcing them to explicitly declare whether they’re enemies or allies… Is that the plan?”

Sonia spoke with an amused expression. These kinds of indirect, underhanded strategies were her specialty. As expected of someone educated to be the head of a great noble house, she had the breadth of mind to swallow both the clean and the dirty.

“That’s right. We’ll have the elves themselves purge the extremists who are beyond our control.”

Starting a civil war to stop a civil war sounded absurd, but there was nothing else to be done. If it could be resolved through talks alone, I would stay at it for ten or even twenty years, but that was probably unrealistic. The elves’ aggressiveness was far from normal.

Still, there was a silver lining. The elves did not see us as invaders. The land where the city of Carrera now stood had probably once belonged to the elves as well. Friction between settlers and natives could be horrific. Handled poorly, it could lead to divisions lasting a hundred or even two hundred years.

If the elves continued to view us as enemies indefinitely, developing the territory would be impossible. But now, we could incorporate them relatively easily. If you wanted to call it good timing, it certainly was. Had settlement begun before the eruption of Mount Rana, things would never have proceeded this smoothly.

“First, we’ll soften up the inside of the ‘New’ faction. We’ll pour in food supplies while drawing influential figures over to our side. Feed them, give them drink, and let them sleep with someone, and a fair number of elves will probably lean our way.”

The fact that elves were weak to pleasure had already been proven through experiments on the captive, Rike-san. Even if they seemed stubborn at first, once they were steeped in hospitality, they fell quickly.

“Feeding them and giving them drink is manageable, but… Letting them sleep with someone?”

Sonia asked, looking a little suspicious. Well, Carrera was a backwater. Naturally, there were no high-class male prostitutes suited to seducing influential figures.

“Yeah. For now, I’ve asked Chancellor Adelaide to procure male prostitutes. They should arrive here before long.”

In fact, male spies tasked with seducing the ‘New’s’ liaisons had already begun operating. They were currently approaching the liaisons disguised as servants. These bedroom-based tactics were the chancellor’s forte, and her execution in this area was extremely efficient.

“I see… That’s all well and good, but Adelaide herself isn’t coming too, is she?”

Sonia asked with an extremely displeased expression. Well, she and Chancellor Adelaide were like cats and dogs. Of course she wouldn’t want to face her… Unfortunately, things didn’t always go the way one hoped.

“No, she’ll come after a while. Honestly, the elf situation is more than I can handle. In times like this, it’s best to rely on your superior. I’ve already asked for reinforcements.”

In truth, she was exceptionally skilled at this kind of diplomatic warfare. She would handle the elves far more deftly than I ever could. …Unfortunately, it seemed the chancellor was quite busy at the moment, so she wouldn’t be able to come immediately.

“Tch!”

Sonia clicked her tongue in irritation. …I didn’t think she needed to hate her that much. Aside from patting people’s asses and whispering lewd remarks, she was a pretty good person. If not for the difference in status, I might have proposed to her. Well, in Galea’s noble society, men proposing was considered somewhat improper anyway…

“Well, setting the chancellor aside for now…”

I cleared my throat and moistened my mouth with herbal tea.

“As our immediate policy, our top priority is to increase the number of our sympathizers within the ‘New’ faction. At the same time, we’ll strongly push for peace with the ‘Legitimate’ faction. If we do that, the extremists will naturally grow more impatient…”

“And just as they’re about to explode, we have the elves themselves deal with them. Is that it?”

“Exactly!”

As expected, my proud subordinates were quick on the uptake. I nodded in satisfaction.

“Of course, there are risks. The extremists will almost certainly try to interfere with us. There’s a very real possibility they’ll resort to direct violence. That’s precisely why we mustn’t rush. Slowly, steadily, we’ll infiltrate the core of the ‘New.’”

In short, we would scale up exactly what we had done to Rike-san and apply it to the entire ‘New’ faction.

“I see… It seems like a good plan. I’m in favor.”

“I agree. I don’t want to get dragged into a civil war between people like that and wear down my proud subordinates.”

Both Sonia and Gilberto nodded firmly. It seemed there were no objections. …Man, Liseben really made top-down commands easy. Remembering the utterly exhausted look on Dalaiya-san’s face, I felt a little guilty. Having only yes-men as subordinates was a problem, but that level of disorder was completely unacceptable too…

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