Rust - Chapter 455



Only Krnovel

RUST -455

In contrast to the dry expression of the Bürger-General, the expression on the hood, divided sharply into black and white, was lively, even if only the white half was like that.

“We want to make sure that our borders are secure.”

Dan Brown nodded at the direct speech, devoid of any diplomatic rhetoric.

As a diplomat, it was a waste of time, but it was perfect for reducing waste of time. So, I needed to speak properly.

But what if?

What if I said this from the beginning?

Dan Brown opened his mouth, expecting a reaction from the woman who had come as the plenipotentiary ambassador of the Holy Ark Kingdom.

“The entire American continent is imperial territory.”

“······.”

What were you talking about just now?

Hood was momentarily taken aback. His white half-face turned pale.

Is this that Den Brown?

He’s just some kind of end-of-century tyrant.

The entire American continent is imperial territory?

All of North America and South America?

Are you crazy after becoming president?

She looked at General Dan Brown without realizing it.

Saying something absurd and then having an expressionless face as if it were nothing.

Are you really out of your mind?

If he had spoken in his right mind and not out of his mind, what he had just said was indicative of the empire’s future course of action.

A declaration that the entire American continent was imperial territory. So it was a call to fight.

I thought there was a trust built up between Dan Brown and Vladimir Kalin… but I can’t believe I’m suddenly hearing something like this.

“Death… No. Okay. Then I understand. Then I will assume there will be no border negotiations.”

Despite the fact that half of his face was pale, Hood was the one who spoke his mind.

This time, Den Brown was shocked.

As a plenipotentiary and a diplomat, shouldn’t you do something to respond to strong remarks?

What do you mean by what you just said?

Why is it all imperial land?

Are you trying to befriend the kingdom?

If he were the ambassador, he could have protested and even tried to find out his true intentions. But he just said, “Okay,” and that was it?

Dan Brown took another stab.

“If we have two Aegis destroyers, we can provide a temporary perimeter along the St. Lawrence River.”

“No, it’s okay. That’s all.”

A faint furrow formed between Dan Brown’s eyebrows.

You don’t even try to coordinate what the other person wants or what the limits are.

I wasn’t happy about saving time.

This is, yeah.

This woman was not an ambassador, she was a bomb.

General Dan Brown recalled the files he had checked in advance.

Ambassador Plenipotentiary.

The codename used by Vladimir Kalin’s side is Hood.

Real name: Xenia Roden, hacker.

Full body burns. Burns to the point where the face is unrecognizable, and it is presumed that there are personality and mental defects due to these burns… etc. Data like these are to be discarded for now.

The information about facial burns and full body burns was not correct at the time. The face was clearly vertically burned, and both hands were clean without a single burn mark.

‘I looked into the reactions from various angles because they said he was a hacker and had personality flaws.’

It bounced off in the wrong direction. There was no digging, no pushback.

The slightly wrinkled face of Den Brown became flat again as if nothing had happened. A soft voice was directed at Hood, who was trying to get up.

“You said you were an ambassador, but you didn’t have any authority?”

“No. Since this is outside the guidelines, I cannot do anything about it.”

There’s nothing you can do?

Then what is the authority for?

It was Dan Brown who thought there was something meaningful in Hood’s answer.

“Very well. If the kingdom does as it pleases, how will it benefit the empire?”

“In the future, if the Empire takes over the areas other than the Kingdom, the Kingdom will be incorporated into the Empire without war, he said. Right now, it would be unifying the entire American continent except the Kingdom.”

A look of expression passed over Den Brown, who had been indifferent.

‘What is this?’

His own remarks referring to the entire American continent were a mistake, but he would just hand over the kingdom?

What on earth are you thinking, Vladimir Kalin?

Are you saying that you don’t need power?

Then why did you declare an independent kingdom?

Are you crazy?

A strange conversation ensued in which both sides thought the other was crazy.

“···So you’re saying that the Holy Ark Kingdom will only last until the Empire unifies the American continent?”

“Yes, that’s what you said.”

Things weren’t so bad, except that the woman who came as ambassador was stranger than expected.

‘then.’

Dan Brown thought.

In any case, that area was left to Vladimir Kalin to rebuild. Even if he had declared a kingdom, there was no need to touch it.

It’ll be tough to get on the field now that the Knife King is king, but that was the case even when he practically ruled Detroit.

Now that each had a commander ruling an empire and the other a king ruling a country, it was necessary to clarify their relationship.

“Does the Kingdom wish to ally with the Empire?”

“There is only one condition and promise: ‘If the Empire unites the American continent, peace will be achieved without war.’ That’s all.”

So, if you feel regretful, bring up the alliance story first. The kingdom will have no regrets.

The idea was to decide whether to poke at the small kingdoms that were sitting still and make enemies, or to resolve the territorial issues amicably, unify them, and then take them.

The two men, who agreed that there was no need to mention the alliance first, immediately looked at the border issue.

“Okay. Let’s look at the map.”

“This map shows the border along the St. Lawrence River, with the northern part of the river considered the kingdom’s territory.”

If we take the area north of the St. Lawrence River as the base, it meant absorbing all of Canada’s major cities, such as Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto.

“Are you saying that you want to make all of Canada’s major cities part of your kingdom?”

“yes.”

The population incorporated into the kingdom alone exceeded 10 million. Even considering the severe cold and the wave of infected people, and the severe cold and the spread of cannibals, there would have been at least 3 million, and at most 4 million.

The population of Michigan is approximately 10 million, and there must be 3 to 4 million left here. Combined, the population should have been 6 to 8 million.

‘Are you going to incorporate a population of roughly the same size?’

Well, would that be easy?

Many people may think that Canada is a strong English-speaking country because they speak English, but in fact, the French-speaking cities are also quite powerful in terms of economic power.

Even if the Canadian federal government had collapsed and was unable to respond to the annexation of the Crown’s territory, it seemed unlikely that the cities along the St. Lawrence River would simply be annexed by the Crown.

After completing his calculations, Den Brown neatly acknowledged the border. As long as neither of them touched the other first, there would be no problem.

“So does that mean the kingdom has no intention of expanding further from its current territory?”

“···The border area with the empire has been determined. Advancing into the western or southern parts of the kingdom is the exclusive right of the kingdom.”

Dan Brown believed that if the kingdom was going to establish a defensive line, it should at least secure control of the Great Lakes and the surrounding area.

And that wasn’t a bad thing for the Empire either. If there were guys messing around in the Great Lakes, it would mean problems for the Empire’s water resources.

“Very well. As long as the kingdom takes control of the central and northern regions and the central and western regions, the empire will recognize it, provided that the kingdom does not block the empire’s expansion.”

“All right.”

“Then let’s talk about Aegis destroyers again.”

“They said that the standard is to exchange one Aegis ship for three submarines, with two being replaced with new ones.”

“The important cities in the empire at present are New York and Boston. To defend these cities, we need two Aegis ships.”

“One Aegis ship and three submarines. They said they wanted to exchange two of the three for new ones. This is the standard I received.”

Dan Brown’s calm expression subsided.

Is this the ambassador?

Instead of negotiating with the crazy kids, they laid down guidelines and decided whether you do it or not.

“The Empire is building Aegis ships. They will start to come out in one year at the earliest, or one year and six months at the latest. The Empire will sell you newly built Aegis ships in two years, so let’s make a deal for two Aegis ships and four submarines, two new models.”

“You said that you want two of the three submarines to be exchanged for one Aegis ship to be new.”

“Isn’t the kingdom landlocked? Why would you need two Aegis ships? One would be more than enough to protect Detroit.”

Hood answered seriously to Dan Brown’s words.

“Because Detroit was hit by a missile.”

“···Did you find out where the attack came from?”

Hood revealed some of the information. The destruction of the Pittsburgh Dominion Lab, the destruction of the Seattle Cannibal Queen and the Blood Sucker Demonstration Experiment, and the attack on the Wilmington Noble Lab.

Dan Brown laughed as he looked at the records that Vladimura Kalin had destroyed as he went around. In addition, he had also disrupted work in West LA, San Francisco, and East New York, so Vladimura Kalin would have gnashed his teeth there.

‘A noble who has overcome the shortcomings of a cannibal.’

General Dan Brown’s eyes turned to the file Hood had left behind.

It was the Virginia Langley guys, after all. If they hadn’t declared an empire and wiped it out, it would have been overflowing with people struggling to get over there.

‘If this information is true, no matter how much we block it, there will be people who will go over there.’

If the empire was to survive, there had to be a reason for those who would be in charge in the future to be loyal.

“Those damn Southerners. You knew Virginia Langley and the military were doing that experiment and you did it anyway?”

The South, centered around Texas, had wiped out the infected and cannibals in the early stages of the outbreak. They didn’t say anything about the nobles or the perfect new humans.

Even if they had overcome the shortcomings of cannibals, weren’t they still just counterfeit vampires? In any case, the empire had to be prepared to avoid falling for the temptation of counterfeit vampires.

There had to be a tangible benefit beyond simply blocking it.

“What happened to the research on the ability users?”

[Yes. We have raised the artificial expression rate to 10%.]

“We need to proceed with the research as quickly as possible. We need to have at least a 50% chance of success.”

Ability Awakening Research.

It was research that would become the foundation of the empire.

======

======

Detroit. Vladik Tower.

Hood reported what had happened in the Empire.

A video of the meeting taken with a miniature camera came to mind.

The PD let out a small sigh at Hood’s response. Should I call this diplomacy? As a broadcast PD, I had heard about this and that, so I had a rough idea of ​​how much of a bloody battle the diplomacy field was.

‘We need to find talent.’

The kingdom was short on talent. Even if they had found talent, there was still the issue of trust. Even without that, they had already selected and employed administrative and economic experts from among the Vladiak Town and HOLLY congregation, but no one had stood out enough to be invited to an important meeting like this.

Diplomacy may be considered as communicating with the empire, but it was difficult to find people who could properly respond to that.

Maru praised Hood loudly, seemingly unaware of the PD’s worried expression.

“Good job. You did a great job.”

“Ah- thank you.”

Maru judged the negotiations, which some considered a disaster, as a great success. Shouldn’t they have created a diplomatic context, such as continued exchanges and cooperation and future benefits, and all that stuff? If they just got what they wanted right away, wouldn’t that be a success?

“And this is information obtained from the Empire.”

The reason Maru sent Hood as a negotiator. It meant to get what he could. Hood gathered information as Maru had thought.

[U+ Program 2]

[Artificial Awakening Program]

[Animal Control Program]

[Imperial Army Organization]

···

···

Although I couldn’t check the details because they were on a closed server, I was able to find out the list and details of the fields that the Empire is focusing on researching.

“Didn’t you say that the U+ program was blown away by the research institute?”

“I heard so.”

“yes.”

The story was that the Homeland Security Agency’s secret lab had some kind of backup. Of course, they wouldn’t have kept such a large chunk of rejuvenation in one place.

Still, it can’t compare to Director Yu’s Mark II, who is currently producing poop in abundance, and Mark III, who is growing in the stomach of a person with the ability.

But you uploaded the U+ program first. Can’t you see the contents? Maru snickered.

“I posted this to let you know that the U+ program is still in progress. The Empire is letting you know that rejuvenation research is in progress.”

Would you fall for the temptation of cannibals or vampires? This is rejuvenation? Like this. The main focus will probably be on research into awakening abilities.

“Even if they receive citizenship, there will be those who will have a hard time resisting the temptation to be made noble or a person of ability.”

Fortunately, the Holy Ark Kingdom values ​​faith.

A kingdom that overcomes temptation with faith and belief. If it were not for the divine kingdom, the foundation of the country would have collapsed due to temptation.

The PD’s serious voice continued.

“The kingdom also needs countermeasure research. It also needs people with overwhelmingly powerful research capabilities.”

The PD swallowed his saliva and opened his mouth with difficulty.

“I know your fiancée is a genius when it comes to pharmaceuticals. How about bringing her here for the kingdom?”

PD dropped a bomb.