Inside the Ursus Imperial Palace, in the council chamber.
An Xora, Talulah, Mebius, the Doctor, and several others were seated around the table. Kal'tsit—having just changed into a maid outfit—stood expressionlessly behind An Xora.
With the conclusion of the coronation ceremony, Talulah had, in the truest sense, ascended the throne as the Empress of Ursus. This also meant that, both legally and in reality, the largest war machine on Terra had completely fallen under the control of An Xora and his group.
Naturally, it was time to discuss their next strategic objective.
Whether it was beating up Terra's natives for fun, or changing the plight of the Infected so that they would no longer be oppressed, conquering Ursus alone was far from enough to achieve any of these goals. They needed to make more countries bow beneath Ursus's iron heel.
And so, the choice of which nation would be the first to be put on the chopping block became especially important. It couldn't be too strong—otherwise it would drain Ursus's national strength—but it also couldn't be too weak, or it wouldn't properly demonstrate Ursus's current martial might.
Taking into account the requirement that the target must border Ursus, there were only two choices left before them.
Kazimierz, or Leithania.
Both nations shared direct borders with Ursus, and unlike Yan, neither was a massive power on par with Ursus in sheer scale. Moreover, both Kazimierz and Leithania possessed respectable martial traditions, with military forces that ranked among the stronger tiers of Terra's many nations.
If one were forced to choose between Kazimierz and Leithania, anyone with even a basic understanding of the two would be able to give an answer with ease.
"Kazimierz."
"If we have to pick one, I think it should be Kazimierz."
"Taking practical considerations into account, Kazimierz is the best choice."
Although the Silverlance Pegasi of Kazimierz were famed far and wide, compared to Leithania, Kazimierz was undoubtedly the softer persimmon to squeeze.
After all, no matter how formidable the formations formed by the Silverlance Pegasi were, could they really compare to the Wendigo Legion?
Of course, the same logic applied to Leithania's caster armies as well. With the Shadow Troops at his disposal, as long as An Xora wished, he could airdrop thousands of Wendigos anywhere on the battlefield at any moment. No matter how strong Leithania's caster legions were, could they withstand several thousand Wendigos—each with the strength of an Imperial Guard—teleporting directly into their faces?
"Mobilizing the troops will probably take a few weeks. And if we're going to launch a war against Kazimierz, shouldn't we come up with a suitable justification?"
The Doctor spoke up with this question.
So-called war—most nations, in order to ensure they could claim the moral high ground and march under a banner of righteousness, would first fabricate a seemingly legitimate reason before hostilities began. This boosted morale and, to a certain extent, rationalized their own actions.
If Kazimierz was truly to be the next strategic target, did they also need to come up with an appropriate pretext before acting?
In response, An Xora merely waved his hand.
"A reason for war? There's no need for that kind of thing. Once we're ready, we'll just start fighting."
What a joke.
Had he come to Terra to obey all those so-called tedious formalities?
If he wanted to fight, then he'd fight. Why babble on about useless nonsense? With Ursus's own six army groups, the endless supply of Wendigos provided by Mebius, and Jibril on top of that—did they really need excuses or justifications to go to war?
Would "Kazimierz is in the way" be a good enough reason? Just because Kazimierz stood between Ursus and Victoria, Talulah—who clearly possessed a legitimate claim to the Victorian throne—couldn't immediately return to inherit it. Kazimierz was simply guilty beyond measure!
And if he remembered correctly, when they were dealing with those disobedient nobles some time ago, a small portion of them had fled to Kazimierz with their assets. According to intelligence gathered by the Shadow Troops, after greasing the palms of the upper echelons of the Commercial Union, those former Ursus nobles were actually living quite comfortably?
Looks like those Kazimierz capitalists were also due for a good cleansing. They needed to properly experience the strength and methods of Ursus!
...
In the blink of an eye, three weeks passed.
Under Talulah's orders, large-scale mobilization began throughout Ursus.
Aside from the two army groups guarding the borders, a full four army groups began moving toward Kazimierz from different directions.
Such massive movements were naturally impossible to conceal from the intelligence networks of surrounding nations and factions. In an instant, countless gazes once again focused on Ursus.
The Empress Talulah—who had only held her coronation a few weeks earlier—was already so eager to ignite a new war after such a short interval?
As the obvious target of this invasion, Kazimierz reacted like a cat with its fur standing on end, immediately entering full defensive posture. All campaigning knights within its borders were mobilized and dispatched to the frontier shared with Ursus, forming ranks and awaiting battle.
Thus, when the four Ursus army groups successively arrived at the border as well, the two sides entered a standoff—and that standoff lasted several days.
"Something's not right."
In the Grand Knight Territory, Ioletta Russell—the current Chairwoman of the Kazimierz Adeptus Sprawiedliwość and Grand Knight Commander of the Campaign Knights—furrowed her brow as she analyzed the situation before her, feeling that something was very, very wrong.
The newly crowned Ursus Empress had rushed into war almost the moment she took the throne, dispatching a full four army groups against Kazimierz. Was all of this really just to have both sides' armies waste time in a pointless border standoff?
One had to know that over the past few days, aside from a few small-scale skirmishes, the four Ursus army groups massed at the border hadn't launched a single large-scale offensive.
The first two or three days could be explained as resting and building up strength. But now a full week had passed, and those four army groups were still sitting there as calmly as if they were fishing—simply grinding away against the Campaign Knights at the border. Did that make any sense?
Based on the Grand Knight Commander's understanding of the Ursus military, their army was not one that would act so "zen." This kind of behavior could only mean that the enemy had some other scheme in mind.
However, as the defending side, she didn't dare order the Campaign Knights to launch a proactive attack. She could only wait and watch.
After all, facing four entire army groups, Kazimierz was already at a disadvantage. Not to mention that the new Ursus Empress, Talulah, also commanded a powerful Wendigo Legion. Proactively attacking would be no different from suicide.
That's right—the Wendigo Legion.
From the start of the war until now, over these past several days, it seemed that no Campaign Knight had seen any sign of the Wendigo Legion among the Ursus forces attacking Kazimierz.
Would Empress Talulah really make such a grand show of invading Kazimierz and then leave such a powerful force unused? That was obviously impossible.
Thinking of this, Grand Knight Commander Russell's unease deepened even further. But before she could consider more, a tremendous crash suddenly rang out from outside.
A Campaign Knight burst in, battered and disheveled, speaking urgently.
"Grand Knight Commander, the Wendigos have appeared!"
"Where?!"
"Right here!"
BOOM—!!!
As the Grand Knight Commander's pupils shrank, several towering figures smashed straight through the wall of the command room, swaggering in and appearing right before her eyes.
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