Youjo Senki - Volume 12 - Chapter 6.4

UNIFIED YEAR 1927, THE LOVE NEST FROM WHICH LOVE SHALL BE SHARED WITH ALL DURING THIS SEASON OF LOVE

A date was an outing. Loria knew that he and he alone was suited to go on a date with his precious fairy, and that those who sought to interfere with his love deserved nothing but death by his own hands. This much was fact, and yet, he was conflicted, for there was little he could do against that wretched Zettour!

With this in mind, Loria’s sworn enemy—a little shit that needed to be killed, a stain that needed to be purged from history itself—had wronged him and the world once more. In Ildoa, this time. Knowing that the unforgivable, utterly detestable Zettour was greatly cherishing the precious fairy Loria had such pure feelings for filled him with a blistering rage that erupted from the depths of his soul.

Were it any other enemy, simply killing them would be enough to end all this…but dealing with a wicked evil that sought to so overtly interfere with his path to love made this a war.

It was all in the name of love and purity that the man was towering with rage and passion. Each and every breath he took was an unabashed protest to the irrationality and injustice that plagued his worldview.

Each breath Loria took was, for him, a curse against his unforgivable, sworn enemy for taking his precious fairy away from the eastern theater. In this way, Loria’s worldview was undergoing a grand shift.

It was almost genuine of him, in a sense. Loria saw himself as a pure man experiencing pure love, pushing forward in his pursuit of that love.

As a higher-ranking official for the Federation, he had any given number of options available to him, along with their varied potential outcomes, but he wouldn’t act so rashly.

It should be obvious, but he was capable of handling any amount of work in the name of love. In the name of his future. Our future!

With profound resolution, Loria diligently made arrangements from within the Federation until the fateful day came for the big meeting, where with great vigor, he would sound the cautionary alarm warning of the Imperial menace to his peers.

“As you can see…the situation in the Ildoan theater has taken a turn for the worst. It’s due to yet another one of the Empire’s evil and inhumane tricks. The dirty bastard Zettour—rotten to the core—in all his impulsiveness, has done away with all logic and morals and is trying to fool the entire world to—”

“Comrade Loria. While I do appreciate you calling together today’s meeting, I fail to see the point of this statement.”

“Oh, right, Secretary General. My deepest apologies… It seems that the sheer absurdity of the matter at hand has made me a bit overzealous.”

Loria shook his head and took a moment to correct his breathing. It was paramount that he maintain his composure to face the unjust world he was subject to. Even if the room he shared with the party secretariat for this secret meeting was chillingly cold, he still needed to exert tremendous effort to cool his own nerves.

“Allow me to clarify myself… The Empire is using Ildoa as the stage for a trick.”

With a loud smack, Loria gestured toward a tuft of documents he held in his other hand as he spoke.

“These papers spell out the crafty, yet highly logical scheme to embroil the Unified States in Ildoa. Despicable stain he may be, our enemy has devised quite a plan.”

It was all as plain as day. Loria’s peers didn’t need to be as crafty to understand, but nevertheless, it was somehow lost on them, forcing him to tell those who knew not of love what he saw.

“Yes, yes. Now quiet down, there’s no need to get riled up about it. While it does indeed at a glance seem as if the Empire initially dug its own grave by pulling the Unified States into this war…it was not without unexpected merits for the Empire, however exceedingly short-term they may be.”

It all comes down to this.

Loria raised his voice once more.

“The US aid for Ildoa, primarily regarding their humanitarian aid, will inevitably put immense pressure on their overseas shipping. This results in our nation being able to receive less help from the outside. Not even Imperial raiding on our commerce could’ve dealt a blow this heavy.”

A few of his peers looked up, showing a shared pain in their own expressions. The Federation, too, was in dire straits when it came to acquiring much-needed resources. They could likely get along without the support should they need to, but seeing as total war was taking its toll on their nation, it was better for them to have access to support if they could.

Loria took on a brighter tone when he spoke next.

“Looking at a more positive point, our new allies will force the Empire to split its war front in Ildoa. The presence of a second war front should lighten the burden on our end. This is a fact. This is also something we’ve requested from our fellow Alliance members, including the Commonwealth, many times.”

Loria took a short pause before continuing. He felt as if he was being cheated. It was painful for him to say this out loud, but he needed to.

“They’ve yet to fully answer our requests in a meaningful way. The reason for this is due to the narrowness of Ildoa. To truly pin the Empire there, they need more land to maneuver.”

There was no need to look at the map to imagine this. Geography was everything in war, and the fight in Ildoa was being fought on a long, thin peninsula, stretching from north to south, and incredibly narrow from east to west. Compared to the massive expanse of land that the Federation and Empire shared, the divide between north and south in Ildoa was but a smidgen of land.

The width of the peninsula was the maximum size the front could ever reach.

It was far too ideal for building an efficient defensive line. Despite this, it was also very easy to gain depth in the long peninsula. It was a geography that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Loria let out a sigh as he continued to lament.

“This is a truly wicked con he’s pulling. The Commonwealth, Unified States, and Ildoa will fight with the Empire here. As if they are the lone protagonists of this heroic tale.”

It was easy for him to imagine the repeated advances and retreats the other nations would make while acting as if they were brothers in arms with the Federation, but the reality of all this?

Loria didn’t attempt to hide his astonishment as he continued.

“What they’re doing is entertaining the Empire’s game of cat and mouse. All while we’re engaged in a much more intimate dance here, which has brought us to the brink of exhaustion.”

Loria’s only wish was to dance as intimately with his fairy. For him, he needed to enjoy the fruits of his adoration for his precious fairy before her purity expired. They needed to dance together, sing together, lament together, pant together, and feel each other’s love. Despite this, there was nothing happening in the Federation where he was stuck. As a hunter and teacher of love, Loria was sure that if there existed a true evil in this world, it was Zettour. It fell upon Loria to stir up rage among his fellow comrades for the man who knew no shame.

“And thus, my comrades, on top of having the resources that were meant for us sent to the new war front, we’re in danger of the Alliance members in the west taking credit for winning this great war.”

With resentment in his eyes, Loria gave the members sitting in on the meeting a stern look before shouting out his denunciation of the injustices befalling them.

“It is akin to them stealing a lover right from a bed that we have so diligently prepared.”

Just imagining this was enough to make Loria’s own heart pound in his chest.

Oh, my fairy. My precious, precious fairy. You deserve nothing more than to kneel before me and chirp your graceful song! Here, where you belong! It is my duty to pluck this flower before it fully blossoms and its petals fall to the ground!

“We cannot allow this injustice to occur! It must be prevented at all costs! You hear me? At all costs! We must stop this!”

“Comrade Loria, I really must point out that your final statements somewhat…lack composure.”

“Please forgive me. I can get excited when it comes to my anxiety for the future of the Federation, and when it comes to propagating the ideals of socialism and how the world should be.”

“Of course. Now, tell me on behalf of Internal Affairs. How do you see this coming to an end?”

Ask and you shall receive.

This was a simple decision for Loria.

“We fear the Imperial Army will soon abandon the Ildoan capital it currently occupies.”

“This is…assuming the Unified States successfully takes it back, yes?”

“That’s correct, General Secretary. While we do the real fighting here and slowly advance along our front, the US forces, only having recently entered the war, will claim what the ignorant masses will interpret as a dramatic victory. That poses a considerable problem in terms of propaganda.”

Love was omnipotent.

That’s precisely why it always won.

That’s why Loria, who lived only for love, could see through the hackneyed act that Zettour was putting on with Ildoa as his stage.

“That rotten bastard, Zettour, is a first-class con artist.”

“This is well known by us all.”

“General Secretary…” Loria shared some advice from the heart. “If we do not cut off the hands with which he sleights, cut out the tongue with which he slithers, and remove the eyes with which he winks his signals…then the world may very well fall for his trick.”

“Comrade. While what you say makes sense, it is far too conceptual.”

A concept. Yes, it was understandable that men who lacked love in their life wouldn’t fully comprehend Loria. It likely wouldn’t make sense to a man not intoxicated on the cocktail of love and passion. Loria, who was awakened to true love, felt sympathy for his superiors who lived only for their work.

Out of humility, he straightened his posture before staring the secretariat right in the eyes and, after a brief pause, spoke up.

“Yes, I apologize. The true threat is that the Ildoan war front has garnered too much of the world’s attention. Currently, there is a growing chance that the plight of the Ildoan civilians will spread to third-party countries where the Imperial Embassy maintains relations, resulting in the relief activities shifting even more toward Ildoa.”

When it came to using media in propaganda warfare, the Empire was hardly a threat up until this point, but this was because the nation only ever tried to use media in the realm of justifying its own military actions. The anti-Empire sentiment in the media was as solid as stone, so it would be impossible to keep the media from running a story about the Empire treating its occupants inhumanely by driving them to starvation. The dirty devil Zettour was trying to take advantage of the propaganda machine that the Federation poured so much blood and sweat into.

“This will lead to a drastic decrease in supplies being sent to our forces who are locked in true battle with the Empire. The US forces are doing nothing more than allowing the Empire to buy time, while playing it off as if they are the true heroes of this war.”

The Federation couldn’t allow such injustice to occur, and it fell on Loria to bring his comrades together to firmly reject the adultery afoot.

“We must claim the initiative in the east for our own and use it. The world must know it is the Federation that defeated the Empire. That the party led the Alliance to victory and was the greatest contributing factor to it.”

Which brought Loria to his proposal.

“I suggest we attack during the winter.”