418: Chapter 53, A Mix of Joy and Sorrow_1 418: Chapter 53, A Mix of Joy and Sorrow_1 On the sacred calendar’s 99988, September 11th, at the suggestion of King Charles III of Frank, the Human Alliance approved the proposal to launch a war against the Orcs.
The news broke out, causing a great stir throughout the continent of Aslante.
“Racial war” is not something trivial.
Ever since the human race secured the overlordship of the continent, the number of racial wars launched against others can be counted on one hand.
On average, there’s one every three hundred years.
Every war erupts when the contradictions between parties have reached a critical point, when they could no longer be suppressed, and they had no other choice but to resort to war.
The last full-scale racial war was a hundred years ago.
The current contradictions between various parties have not yet evidently reached the point of explosion.
To launch a racial war so quickly, one might think that the Orc Army has swept through the north and advanced deep into the human territories.
However, in reality, the Battle of Dapes has just begun.
The three northern kingdoms haven’t fallen yet, and there’s still a long way to go before the Human Alliance needs to get involved on a large scale.
Regardless of how it is, for the countries currently at war with the Orcs, the decision of the Human Alliance to declare war is the best possible news.
Drive the Orcs out?
No!
Such a plan is clearly too small in scale.
Despite the long-standing divisions, the human race is still the overlord of the continent.
Once they start to get serious, all other races would have to respond carefully.
According to the precedent set by past racial wars, the Human Alliance would not back down without displaying the prestige of the continent’s overlord.
…
In Dapes city, the noble and royal dignitaries who received the news could hardly believe it was true.
The turn of events had come too abruptly, with the Human Alliance not only deciding to intervene but also escalating the conflict to a full-scale racial war.
Although the reinforcements were still unknown, everyone’s confidence was instantly boosted.
“Count Reynato, has the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the accuracy of this news?
Is this the final decision of the Human Alliance and not just a proposal?”
Chancellor Hercheg asked with concern.
It wasn’t that he was making a fuss over nothing, but that the news was indeed staggering.
Proposals for launching a full-scale racial war against the Orcs had come up frequently.
Almost at every session of the Human Alliance Council, the Alpha Kingdom would raise the issue.
However, none of them had ever been passed.
There was no alternative, as each kingdom had its own agenda.
If the Orc Empire were to be vanquished, the Alpha Kingdom would gain the most, with the other human kingdoms only getting a slice of the pie.
Some smaller kingdoms wouldn’t even get a share, with remote territories far to the north being of no use to them even if they were given away.
Even when the Alpha Kingdom publicly pledged to exchange territories with other countries after defeating the Orc Empire, they couldn’t persuade the other kingdoms.
Even Moxi Duchy had voted against it, until it became a neighbor to the Orc Empire.
All troubles were brought about by interests.
Without the check and balance of the Orc Empire, it was almost inevitable for the Alpha Kingdom to grow in the north.
The war experience accumulated over hundreds of years of armed conflicts with the Orc Empire and the mobilization system forged under such circumstances were not something that other countries could compare with.
As a neighbor, the growth of Alpha Kingdom would be a nightmare for Moxi Duchy.
Only after they shared a border with the Orc Empire and saw the horrifying orc, did Moxi Duchy change its stance.
No matter what, Alpha Kingdom was a part of the human kingdom, it was bound to follow the rules of the game and could not arbitrarily start wars internally.
A look at the history of civil wars in human countries would reveal that 99% of wars did not involve territorial changes.
Even if they won, they couldn’t take over the other’s land.
Expanding internally would first require legitimacy.
Without this, no matter how much land was acquired, it could only be spit back out.
The nobles wouldn’t recognize illegal rule, and the Human Alliance wouldn’t allow illegal expansion.
Violating these rules would make you an enemy of the whole Noble Consortium, and a net of encirclement would immediately be formed.
If there were no such rules to protect them, small kingdoms like Ruilin would have been swallowed up long ago.
Being a neighbor of a large country might mean suffering some humiliation, but there would be no threat to survival.
If you’re good at diplomacy, you might not even have to suffer any grievances.
Who could help it, that the royal families of all countries were mostly related?
Even if they weren’t related at the moment, they could become related in the future.
The circle of the royal family was only that big, it would be difficult not to entangle relationships.
Once the high-level relationship was handled well, the lower-level conflicts would just be minor frictions caused by differences in opinions.
In the daytime, the two sides would be at war, and in the evening, they could attend banquets together.
Perhaps a few good drinks would turn them into good brothers, and the war would come to an end.
So civilized!
Compared to the Orc Empire, which only knows killing, all human countries are model neighbors.
However, realizing this point isn’t helpful.
In the Human Alliance Council, where there is an absolute majority of opposition, the addition of a couple of supporting votes wouldn’t affect the final result.
“Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, how can the Department of Foreign Affairs not verify such a big issue?
We were there during the voting process.
The proposal to launch an all-out war was put forward by Charles III, who argued that the strength demonstrated by the Orcs had exceeded the warning line.
You must have heard about the ‘Five-Fold Superiority Bill’.
Any species on the Continent of Aslante whose strength reaches 20% of our human race’s will automatically trigger it.
In the recently concluded ‘Battle of Dachias,’ the Orc Army showed such formidable strength, most of the representatives at the meeting believed that the strength of the Orc Empire had reached 20% of that of the Human Race.
That’s why the vote has passed so smoothly this time.
Even the clergy didn’t cast a vote against this time.”