CH 259

Shortly before the Kingdom of Polsky sent a surrender messenger to the Caan-Carruthers Allied Forces, the Polsky’s Parliament was in turmoil at its capital, Waalzaw.

“What in the hell is going on!?” an MP yelled.

“Don’t you have the answer?!” another MP said. “Think about it yourself!”

“What did you just say!?” the first snapped.

The Kingdom of Polsky is ruled by a parliament called the Sajem. Although it is called a kingdom, there is no power to rule over it as a royal family or king would, and nothing can be decided without the Sajem’s consent. Polsky was a kingdom, but it had a system that was rare in the world called an aristocratic republic. Even the king is elected by parliament, and the title is not inherited.

Is it a wonderful system in which parliament controls royal power and curbs tyranny? It is not. A republic or a democracy is mob politics. People often say that humans are stupid creatures. A republic or a democracy makes stupid decisions just because stupid people are in the majority.

The Sajem of Polsky is based on unanimity. Everyone has the right to refuse. If even one person opposes the bill, it will not pass. But is that possible? Countless conflicts of interest can occur even within the same country. So unanimity would be nearly impossible.

Therefore, prior coordination and formation of factions are essential to pass the bill. Great aristocrats called magnates bribe the aristocratic MPs, incorporate them into their own factions, and fight to form a majority. In this way, factions form to some extent, and that faction discusses with other factions, finds compromises, and passes bills based on mutual agreement.

If they are too opposed to it, they will oppose the bills they want to pass, so in practice, they compromise to some extent to reach a mutual agreement.

But… what if, for some reason, you were categorically against it? What if your next bill is against your previous retaliation? It could develop into a quagmire of opposition battles. No, actually, it has resulted in dozens of rejections. The parliament was no longer of any use and was only wasting time and spinning idly.

If so, should it be decided by the majority? The answer is no. Unanimity or majority is not the essence of the issue. The bottom line is that the parliamentary system itself is flawed. It doesn’t matter whether the members are elected by popular vote or by hereditary nobility. Aiming for unanimity or just a majority vote only changes the degree of difficulty of the lawmakers. The problem lies in the method of decision-making.

Legislators try to form a majority to make it easier for them to get their point across. It doesn’t matter if there are some differences in principles and beliefs. It would be nice if it was easy for them to get their opinions across. Even if people with similar ideologies gather to some extent, they are not necessarily comrades aiming at the same destination.

Then, first of all, a certain degree of consensus is formed in order for everyone to turn in favor for the faction. It means that the faction will discuss it first and decide to some extent. Then discuss the plan with the other factions. Then, they will revise it so that the whole or the majority can agree. Is it reasonable to come up with such a method?

Consideration over there, consideration over here, certainly at first glance it may seem like an excellent plan that considers as many people as possible. But no. In reality, compromise after compromise, and consideration after consideration, results in a meaningless plan that lacks substance and effectiveness.

When you actually decide something, there will always come a time when you have to think about the whole thing and decide even if there are some disadvantages for some people. It’s easy to say it’s unfair, but there are times when we have to make decisions for the whole country as a nation, and if we think about national interests, we have to make decisions without allowing individual interests, let alone selfishness to take precedence.

But this system cannot do that. There can be no such thing as a proposal that everyone agrees on without incurring a disadvantage to anyone. The more compromises you make, the more you try to increase the number of beneficiaries, and the more ridiculous the plan becomes, even if you don’t have to say that everyone agrees.

It may be wrong to oppress the majority in order to enrich the few, but it is also wrong to sacrifice the majority in order to help the few. In that respect, the parliament is nothing more than a stupid system of government that is slow to make decisions and can only pass ridiculous plans that have no practical effect.

“Why… why did this happen…?” said Antoni Ponjatou, King of Polsky, as he presided over the parliament with his head in his hands.

The story goes back several years. One of the magnates, Mikalojus Lazicki, spent years carefully laying the groundwork. It was an invasion operation of Koenigsvelg and Danzij, which are now free cities of the Kingdom of Ploiss.

Naturally, most people would object if they heard that. If the Kingdom of Ploiss is at war with the Kingdom of Frasia and the Demon Country, that’s fine. Until now, Polsky has repeatedly invaded Ploiss’s eastern borders and seized territories and cities while Ploiss was busy with wars with other countries.

But now the Kingdom of Ploiss is not at war with anyone. On the contrary, diplomacy has been stable over the years. In such a situation, if they do something like a war against Ploiss, Ploiss will turn their anger against them.

Until now, even if the eastern border of the Kingdom of Ploiss was invaded, it had never received such a full-fledged counterattack. After all, they were attacking at a time when they could not spare resources, so it’s only natural. In the unlikely event that Ploiss were to seriously attack Polsky, Polsky would not be able to endure it.

The difference in national strength and military strength was clear, and it was obvious that the Kingdom of Polsky had no chance of winning if it went to war head-on. After all, in Polsky, the Sajem spends too much time talking to each other. Send soldiers to your territory, no, this one comes first, who will take responsibility if the dispatched soldiers die?

However, Mikalojus gradually persuaded various parties to finally pass the bill for the invasion of Koenigsvelg, assuming all responsibility himself. When the plan finally passed after several years, Mikalojus immediately began preparations and had the forces ready for the invasion of Koenigsvelg in just one year.

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It was about a month ago that the invasion force led by Mikalojus left… and about a month later, they received a bizarre report. The report claimed an emergency, the messenger from a transport train carrying supplies from Waalzaw to Alrenstein and Ostelode.

If you go north from the royal capital Waalzaw, you will find Alrenstein and Ostelode. Both roads are the same until the middle, then they diverge beyond that. If you go further north from Alrenstein, you will reach Koenigsvelg, so Alrenstein became an important strategic point as a supply base for the invading force led by Mikalojus.

The plan was to transport supplies from the royal capital Waalzaw to Alrenstein, and from Alrenstein to the front lines of Koenigsvelg as needed. The transport train headed for Alrenstein now brought back information that Alrenstein had been captured.

According to a report, as they were approaching Alrenstein, the flags of Polsky were lowered, and instead, two unfamiliar flags were in their place… alongside the Kingdom of Ploiss’s national flag.

Just to make sure, some of the soldiers approached the town and were then caught by the enemy who came out of the walls, while the ones left transporting supplies were left alone. Seeing this, the rest of the train hurriedly turned back and sent a swift messenger ahead. The report was dated a few days ago.

And that was the beginning of an incomprehensible situation. It was unbelievable that Alrenstein, which was supposed to be deep inland, had fallen in such a short period of time, but similar reports started coming up one after another from here and there.

The plan was to capture Danzij if Koenigsvelg fell. Goods were being transported to Glaudens, the base for Danzij’s capture, but several days later, they also received a report from a different transport train that Glaudens had also fallen.

If only Alrenstein was fallen, it’s still not clear. No, they don’t think it’s possible because the counterattack is too fast, but that’s fine.

It’s not that they can’t understand the idea of somehow capturing Alrenstein, which is the supply base for Mikalojus’ troops heading to capture Koenigsvelg, and cutting off the supply lines for the front line. Regardless of whether it can actually be done or whether it will succeed, it is no wonder that there are those who would have targeted that in their strategy.

But what about the many reports they received? Many cities that should be far inland from the coast have already been taken down. If it was just one or two reports, you would think that it was either a mistake or a temporary failure due to the enemy’s surprise attack, but as soon as they checked the information, it became clear that it was not that simple.

The enemy is… the Kingdom of Ploiss has already advanced its army from the northern coastal area to quite an inland area. It is also progressing while systematically conquering a vast area. They’re not talking about making one or two towns or cities fall. Clearly, in order to completely overwhelm the Kingdom of Polsky, they are coming out on a full-scale offensive in a wide sweep.

Since when have they been fighting back?

Mikalojus had reported halfway through that the operation was going well. Therefore, it is impossible that the strategy was leaked from the beginning and the enemy was waiting for them. In fact, the transport corps went to the site and observed the target. From that testimony, it seems that Mikalojus’ report is not false.

In that case… it means that in less than a month, this much of the north has already been conquered.

Impossible. They can’t believe it. You can understand why the Sajem nobles say so. But saying that is pointless. What if they attack at the same speed? How many more days do they have before the Ploissian army invades the royal capital Waalzaw? 10 days? 5 days? Maybe they’re already right in front of their gates…

It’s horrifying… King Antoni is not alone. All the nobles of the Sajem are also afraid and panicking. While they were doing this, step by step, the large Plossian army was approaching. There is no time to spare. They don’t have time to talk and argue in circles as their parliament usually does.

If a solution is not found soon, the royal capital Waalzaw will be invaded by the Ploissian army and will be subsequently reduced to ashes.

It was such a big invasion. They can’t even imagine how many tens of thousands of Prussians were invading. 30,000? 50,000? Maybe 100,000…

Mikalojus stepped on the lion’s tail. Up until now, the Kingdom of Ploiss had only protested against the Kingdom of Polsky’s invasion of the eastern border and had never sent any soldiers. However, Mikalojus has finally touched the wrath of the Kingdom of Ploiss.

Everyone curses Mikalojus. The Kingdom of Polsky is in danger of dying because he did something unnecessary. Someone… anyone.… isn’t there anyone who can break through this hopeless situation…? At the Sajem, there was a lot of blaming and irresponsible words about relying on others. At that time…….

“Silence, everyone.”

With the words of the parliamentary speaker Adam Poninsky, the rest of the parliament gradually quiets down. After complete silence Adam opened his mouth, saying,

“Right now, our country is in a very difficult situation… however! We have the wisdom to overcome this situation!”

Adam’s speech again caused some commotion in the parliament. But Adam waited for it to subside before continuing,

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“Currently, our country is being invaded by the Kingdom of Ploiss! I have to say that it will be difficult for our country to stand up to those invaders on our own. There is only one way to respond, if our country alone cannot protect us from the Kingdom of Ploiss’s invasion, then we should get allies that are comparable to the Kingdom of Ploiss!”

“Ooh…”

“That is……”

The lawmakers are drawn into Adam’s speech. and…….

“King Antoni has a deep connection with the Principality of Moscove in the east! We must enlist the aid of Moscove!” Adam yelled.

“Will Moscove alone be able to stop the Kingdom of Ploiss…?”

The parliament becomes noisy again. It’s true that if they can get the cooperation of the Principality of Moscove, it will be a check against the Kingdom of Ploiss, but I don’t know how much Moscove will support them. Even if they dispatch the army, the key here is, when will they arrive.

“Of course, that’s not all! We’ll also have the Principality of Aust, which has a deep connection with the Kingdom of Ploiss, intervene on our behalf!” Adam continued.

“The Principality of Aust!?”

“Will the Principality of Aust protect our country more than the Kingdom of Ploiss?”

“In the first place, why would we need an intermediary…?”

The parliament was in doubt. If it’s the Principality of Moscove, which is relatively friendly, it might be possible to ask for reinforcements, but why is the Principality of Aust, which originally favored the Kingdom of Ploiss, appearing now?

“We will surrender!”

“””””………… Huh?”””””

All the lawmakers were dumbfounded. I can’t understand the meaning because the speech so far and the words now are not connected. But Adam didn’t stop talking, going,

“Before we suffer a decisive defeat and most of the country falls! Hurry up and surrender our country to the Kingdom of Ploiss! However, if we just surrender, we don’t know what kind of demands will be made to our country! So, Moscove and Aust will be involved, asking the principalities to mediate and advance the peace conference to our advantage!”

“Ooh!”

“I see……”

“In that case……”

Members of Congress were easily taken in by Speaker Adam. They don’t think they can win no matter which way they fight. On the contrary, the Ploissian army may storm Waalzaw today or tomorrow. In that case, admitting defeat early and making peace while the wound is light is a wise choice.

Then, in order not to make unreasonable demands at the peace conference, they asked the Principality of Moscove and the Principality of Aust to mediate. They don’t know the connection with the Principality of Aust, but Polsky has traditionally had a strong connection with Moscove. The legislators voted unanimously in favor of the bill as if they had found the light in these dark times.

But no one but Speaker Adam and his faction knew. He had been bought off by the Principality of Moscove, and in the first place, the talk of calling the two countries for this peace was proposed and instructed by the Principality of Moscove…

T/N: I can’t decide whether the author’s commentary on a democratic system is more pointing out the vicious flaws that can come with representative democracy in the context of the corrupt Polsky Parliament, or more a criticism of democratic systems in general because of their inherent flaws and how seriously they can snowball downhill even if the system IS working as intended because the problem is the gears that turn it.

Considering the story is all about monarchies, feudal governments, and much positivity about Flora being the sole top executive of her organizations, the messaging could go either way. Flora is shown to only be able to run this because she’s superhuman and has all manner of unrealistic advantages from the start, and still she’s drowning in work and stress just to keep up the technological advantage that keeps her on top. Mostly played for laughs as it is, I can’t help but feel it’s also a satire and a pointing out of how supernaturally exceptional the “great men” in “Great Man Theory” need to be to move the world and even then, it sucks to be them on a day-to-day basis.

Also, despite sympathetic monarchs and officials like Wilhelm and Dietrich, the rest of Ploiss’s feudal government is criticized for being dysfunctional, corrupt, unable to come together for the common good or effective change, and sabotaged by self-interest as the War Council was, even if Wilhelm theoretically has the power to force whatever he wants. I’ve also read one of the author’s other works where the monarchy and their extreme power were criticized because no matter how well-intentioned the high-level officials could be, the system focuses power, resources, and comfort at the top at the cost of the suffering of everyone below them and that keeps the “good apples” from making any good out of their power.

I can’t get the full context because of the quirks of translation and cultural context, and I am unfamiliar with the author as a person to make any strong judgments.