April 1st, Leon Continent.
It was the season when grass grows and orioles fly. After the biting cold winter, the land of Sa Ri seemed to be gradually recovering with the arrival of spring.
In the capital city of Garnat, the magnificent Champagne Palace gleamed in the warm sunshine. Inside the Queen's office, the maids had just delivered the fresh flowers when Eddington, who was waiting outside, brushed past them and entered the office.
Since returning home from the continent of Phineas with the Falcon Fleet, Eddington has been promoted several times in less than half a year and is now the Admiral of the Sasiri Navy.
Good morning, Your Majesty.
As Eddington entered the office, he removed his hat and respectfully greeted Isabella, who was sitting at her desk.
"Good morning, Eddington." Isabella put down the stack of documents she had just finished organizing and gave Eddington a bright smile.
Before entering the office, Eddington was feeling particularly heavy-hearted, but upon seeing Her Majesty's cheerful smile, the gloom that had been weighing on his heart was gradually dispelled, and his solemn expression softened.
"Sit down, I think we need to have a good talk."
Isabella looked at the vase on the table, reached out and fanned the flowers, gently inhaling their fragrance.
Eddington settled into his chair, pondering how to discuss this matter that was neither a cause for celebration nor concern, when Isabella spoke first:
"Regarding the war between the Yan Kingdom and the Delta Federation Empire, I think one of them has already achieved some progress."
Eddington nodded slightly, but his brows gradually furrowed.
The signs of war between the Yan Kingdom and the Delta Federation Empire had emerged by the end of December, and were confirmed in mid-to-late January that war was indeed breaking out between the two countries.
However, this matter dates back to the end of last year. At that time, the Yan Kingdom fleet, which had crossed the sea, defeated the allied forces and took some hostages. Then, it aggressively crossed its own territorial waters and headed towards the neighboring continent of Salisno.
Shortly thereafter, the fleet sent to scout the situation returned with intelligence: "The Yan Kingdom fleet has blockaded the waters leading to the Salisno Continent. Numerous Yan Kingdom ships are patrolling the seas, making it impossible to approach."
Therefore, the reconnaissance fleet that originally intended to investigate the details had to return home. However, the trip was not in vain. Although they could not get close to that sea area, they had basically confirmed that the Yan Kingdom was making such a big show of force to attack the Delta Federation Empire.
The fact that a more intense war broke out between these two countries is definitely not bad news for their own country; in fact, it is good news.
However, what happened next cast a shadow over what should have been good news.
In January, after confirming that Yan Kingdom was attacking the Delta Federation Empire, the country dispatched a fleet to Coral Island to bring back General Winston and his party who had been detained by the Yan people. However, after the fleet set sail, it was discovered that there were Yan Kingdom ships near the islands along the route. They used the islands as transit points to build a huge island chain system in the waters outside the country's territorial waters.
This means they control an extremely vast sea area, making it impossible for our fleet to approach without their permission, let alone go to Coral Island to bring back Winston and his group.
In this situation, the only option is to use force to cross the sea. However, the ironclad warships of Yan Kingdom are simply monsters of the sea. These ironclad warships have already caused huge casualties to the country's navy. Before the country can build similar ironclad warships, rashly engaging them in naval battle would inevitably come at a great cost.
Therefore, the operation to rescue Winston and his group failed, and everything returned to square one.
The condition that Yanren had previously proposed was brought up again for discussion.
The compensation was "five thousand tons of gold to make up for the losses of the Yan Kingdom".
The compensation plan proposed by the Yan people is outrageously unreasonable. Everyone in the cabinet meeting opposed it, and no one would agree to it.
However, once the Yan Kingdom's fleet controlled an extremely wide area of sea, and it became clear that the country's own fleet would be unable to compete, this reparation, which had once been considered impossible, had to be brought up again for discussion.
Some people still disagreed, but they did not suggest using force to forcibly rescue them, because the facts were clear to everyone: without similar ironclad warships, the risks and costs of fighting the Yan people at sea were simply unimaginable.
A hasty conflict with them would only worsen the situation and escalate tensions. After all, Yan Kingdom is no longer what it used to be, or rather, this country has never been weak. Previous preconceived notions about them were all due to erroneous intelligence.
Based on the consensus that "we should not use force or escalate the conflict before we can improve our own naval capabilities," some people suggested not rescuing Winston and his party.
Five thousand tons of gold is no small amount, and such reparations would be a disgrace to the nation. So it would be better not to pay any reparations at all, and simply consider Winston and the others as having died at sea.
However, the person who made this suggestion was severely criticized by Isabella at that meeting.
This is what she said:
"You think it's okay just because we don't have to pay reparations? Although the Yan Kingdom is attacking the Delta Federation Empire, they still have a considerable number of ships at sea. We can't even confirm the exact number. Don't you realize what that means?!"
"Furthermore, please always remember that whether General Winston is being held captive or an ordinary civilian, they are all targets that must be rescued. We have a responsibility and an obligation to protect our citizens and bring them safely home!"
'Especially these soldiers who risked their lives for the country—if we abandon them today, who will be willing to fight for our country in the future?!'
'I hope this is just a suggestion you made without thinking, but if that's really what you're thinking, then you should be ashamed of yourself.'
At the meeting that day, Isabella became unusually angry, and after she finished speaking, the official who had made the suggestion was so ashamed that he couldn't even lift his head, and the others naturally dared not say anything more.
Therefore, paying compensation seemed to be an essential task.
But simply giving away 5,000 tons of gold to the Yan people is both unacceptable and humiliating, as the country has never made reparations to another country in its history.
But doing so would undoubtedly diminish the nation's prestige on the continent of Leon.
Therefore, the meeting continued late into the night, and in the end, Isabella made the final decision, saying:
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