Commander Yan had both the means and motive to rescue the priest—or at least retrieve his body. So Aura’s statement that they would assume it was of his own accord was rather persuasive.
“That makes sense. Not negotiating and just taking it would be quicker and less risky overall, then.”
Despite his agreement, the look on Zenjirou’s face was still conflicted. Aura saw that and questioned him.
“What is it? Is something still bothering you?”
He looked away awkwardly for a moment, but eventually decided to speak his mind honestly. “Yeah. Doing it will clearly put Capua against the church. We can’t do anything about that risk.”
The look on her face in response to that was utter shock.
“Aura?” Zenjirou asked.
She didn’t manage to reply immediately. That was how unthinkable what Zenjirou had just said was to her. He was from another world, so his fundamental viewpoint was different. He had only managed to disguise those differences with earnest effort in learning along with logically minding his comments and actions. It had been a while since she had felt the difference so keenly.
She let out a deep sigh, forcibly calming herself before speaking dispassionately to him. “Zenjirou, they were already our enemy from long ago.”
“Yeah, I know they were potential enemies, at least.”
The queen continued her explanation for her understanding yet utterly oblivious husband.
“That is not what I mean. They are far more clear enemies than you think. We have gathered information on the church from those who have visited the Northern Continent, including you. Analyzing it, we have looked at their beliefs, the way they go about their business, and how they are likely to act. They will almost certainly clash with the Southern Continent, and with Capua specifically. The reason they do not currently see us as enemies is that we are out of sight. The Northern Continent is currently in the midst of a revolution in shipbuilding and seafaring capabilities, so it is only a matter of time before we are no longer out of sight. It is not a short time either. That is why avoiding angering the church or making enemies of them is completely pointless—at least, if we let it stop us from acting.”
This time it was Zenjirou’s turn to be lost for words, and he paled. He had thought he understood, thought he was ready. Now he had to understand, though. He had inadvertently been ignoring an enemy.
He and Aura both saw the church, and the countries of the Northern Continent that formed their sphere of influence, as potential enemies. There were definitive differences from there, though. Zenjirou had been focusing on not making “potential” enemies into enemies in truth. Doing that would at least buy time before those nations did turn into enemies, and it could potentially be prevented entirely.
Meanwhile, as far as Aura was concerned, a potential enemy was already an enemy and the important thing was to get into as superior a position as possible before they acted upon it, so appeasement in general was off the table. To begin with, it was not uncommon for countries to break even written treaties and agreements with each other, so just trying to appease an opponent would do more harm than good in her view.
Neither way of thinking was wholly right or wrong, but Aura’s view was the more common one among the leaders of this world. In turn, that meant that it was almost an unshakable truth that Zenjirou’s way of thinking would pass to that majority. He was not dense enough to misunderstand that.
“Okay,” he said eventually. “I’ll change how I think about it. Though in that case, is reviving Priest Yan more important than I thought? It’d limit what our enemies in the church can do, right?”
“You are not wrong but also not correct. I do indeed want to delay the Northern Continent arriving in force by any amount of time that I can. Resurrecting the priest would be one of those actions. However, there should be at least a decade before things become an issue, so our priority is not interfering with the church, but in strengthening ourselves.”
Aura’s current priority was developing intercontinental travel in their own right. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to stand on equal footing with the Northern Continent. If they could not get into a position where they could strike back against an attack, they could not carry out even a political war. Strengthening their nation was important for that. Delaying the church was nothing more than buying time to do so.
“I see, so we need to think of cost-effective strategies,” Zenjirou replied, his face softening in understanding.
Between interfering on the Northern Continent and delaying things for years or stagnating due to their focus elsewhere while the other nations grew in strength by leaps and bounds, the latter would be the better situation for Capua.
“Indeed. As far as we are concerned, we stand to gain if it succeeds, and that is all. It will take few resources and risk us little as well.”
With the explanation over, the conversation returned to the conclusion they had started with.
“So, what exactly do you mean?”
“We will watch and wait until Priest Yan’s execution. If Commander Yan acts before then, we will not interfere. After the execution, we will attempt to get into contact with the commander. If he acts before we manage to do so, we will not interfere. In that case, his actions are unlikely to be those we want—the retrieval of the corpse, that is.”
It would be more likely he would be attempting to take revenge at that point. Contacting the mercenary after he had done something so serious would be too great a risk. In other words, their only opportunity to contact him was after the execution, but before he actually responded to it.
“Can we manage that?” Zenjirou asked skeptically after a long pause. “We’d have to send someone to do it, and the commander is in hiding.”
They would need to find a skilled mercenary’s hideout in an unfamiliar setting, and on a short time limit. Zenjirou was well aware that would be no mean feat.
“It will likely be difficult, yes,” Aura agreed readily. “This plan is essentially making the attempt because it costs us little. It will still take a fair amount of effort, though, considering how the world will go.”
It would be a windfall if it went well and a fairly small effect if it did not. The chances were greater that the plan would never see the light of day. The scope of it sent a chill down Zenjirou’s back as he looked at the smiling queen.
“That’s, just... Wow. You’re always making plans like that. You’re a real tactician.”
Failure would change nothing, while success would be a stroke of fortune. That alone could influence people’s lives, and potentially their deaths. It was the correct attitude for a royal or state leader, but it wasn’t something Zenjirou felt he could emulate.
Aura shook her head with a rueful smile at the mix of awe and dread on his face. “This is far from enough to call myself a tactician. A true tactician is terrifying. Someone caught up in their plans would be incapable of realizing they were part of any such plan, or even that the tactician existed in the first place.”
“There are actually people like that?” Zenjirou couldn’t help but ask.
The queen’s answer was firm. “There are. Every large country has one or two of them. In other words, so do we, so you need not overly fear it,” she responded with a gentle smile to reassure him.