“Ugh…”
Commander (Eve) was troubled.
Whether or not to invade.
Oil was attractive. Although other metal resources were scarce, they could be managed on their own. What they lacked now was oil.
“But, a war of aggression is…”
However, the other party was a civilized nation, after a fashion. They weren’t aggressive, and no actual conflict had occurred.
There was no information suggesting they would become a threat to ＜The Tree＞ in the future, and she hadn’t heard any stories of them fighting with anyone.
Was it okay to invade such a perfectly normal country just because she wanted their resources?
“It’s true that I want my own oil field, but it’s not like imports are out of the question.”
If oil could be obtained through healthy trade, it would lead to a good relationship.
She could use the oil obtained in this way to prolong their survival while finding an oil field somewhere else by other means.
Her hope was for an offshore oil field.
If that were the case, no one would complain in this continent where ocean navigation technology was not yet developed.
No, even if they did complain, she could dismiss it and make some excuses.
But land was a problem.
If she seized a place that had been declared as territory, it would undoubtedly lead to war.
She could silence them with overwhelming force, but even so, she would definitely have to fight at least once.
“If they were a maritime nation, I could consider silencing them with gunboat diplomacy, but…”
Although Forest Country (Lebresta) had a port, it was essentially an inland nation. It was unlikely that they had a navy.
They weren’t dependent on maritime trade, and even if she blockaded the port, it would hardly cause any damage.
Or perhaps.
“Should I make a Land Battleship and forcibly silence them…?”
Its practicality would be poor, but it would be useful in terms of intimidation.
However, the effect was unknown. She searched the library, but unsurprisingly, she couldn’t find any descriptions of diplomacy using something like a Land Battleship.
“But wait, what am I even going to do with gunboat diplomacy…? Demand the cession of the oil field…? Or turn it into a leased territory…?”
She could also consider taking the lead in developing the oil field, but whatever method she used, any demand involving force would leave a bad aftertaste.
She didn’t want to create enemies unnecessarily, but she couldn’t think of a way to secure oil in a friendly manner.
If the other party actively desired something, she could propose an exchange, but she hadn’t identified anything like that yet.
“Things won’t go as smoothly as they did with Telek Port City, will they…”
In the first place, the Afrasia United Kingdom was not functioning as a nation.
As a result, she had been doing whatever she wanted, but in the end, she had been able to establish her position as ＜Paraiso＞ without any intervention.
The construction of Fortress Two was also in a completely untouched area.
For the time being, the surrounding countries recognized it as part of the Afrasia United Kingdom, but the kingdom itself had no control over it.
Perhaps it was land that no human had ever visited. If she could effectively control it for a few years, she could argue her case.
However, it didn’t seem likely that the chaos in the Afrasia United Kingdom would subside in a few years, and it would take at least 10 years at the earliest. In 10 years, she would be able to build a complete fortress city.
“What should I do…? ＜Ringo＞, do you have any opinions?”
“Yes, Ma’am. First, we should clarify our objective.”
“Objective?”
“Yes, Ma’am. It would be best to set a goal and then choose the means to achieve it. Currently, the only hope I can offer is the expansion of ＜The Tree＞’s power. For that, a war of aggression may be unavoidable.”
Hearing that, she nodded in agreement.
＜Ringo＞’s raison d’être was to protect her, serve her, and expand her power.
A large amount of resources was needed to expand her power, and securing oil was currently the top priority.
And it should be extracted on their own, and an unstable state of importing it was unacceptable.
“Hmm. I, well. My ultimate goal is to live a carefree life without fearing for my life…”
Of course, with ＜Ringo＞ and everyone else, she added.
A carefree life without fearing for her life.
It was a simple-sounding but very difficult goal. ＜Ringo＞ couldn’t define the condition of not fearing for her life.
To put it extremely, if all intelligent life forms other than ＜The Tree＞’s forces were annihilated, there would be no need to worry about being targeted.
However, that would not eliminate the threats of nature. Storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions. Environmental destruction by meteorites could not be ignored, nor could long-term climate change such as cooling or scorching, or fluctuations in the planetary environment such as geomagnetic reversal (pole shift).
Furthermore, there were invaders from outer space. ＜Ringo＞ was originally an AI that had been transferred from a game called ＜World of Space＞.
WoS was a story about developing a given planet and aiming for space. Naturally, it also possessed technology for navigating outer space, and the library contained entries on that as well.
Therefore, she couldn’t ignore intelligent life forms from other star systems either.
What and how much would she have to do to eliminate the danger to her life?
“Well, that kind of thing is bound to be a subjective impression, so it’s difficult. ＜Ringo＞, you don’t have to think about it too seriously, okay?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I will try. We will consider the ultimate goal separately.”
“You’re being super serious.”
＜Ringo＞ didn’t compromise when it came to Ma’am. She had expected that, so she smiled wryly and shelved the topic.
“Well, there’s that. Short-term goals. No, more like medium-term goals. Hmm, what could they be? We’ve secured iron, so I feel like things have settled down a bit. I want to secure oil in some form within a year, but what about a bigger goal than that?”
“Yes, Ma’am. If possible, please set a period of about 5 years.”
Five years, five years, she muttered.
“I’ve never thought about anything 5 years in the future…”
“…”
Unfortunately, ＜Ringo＞ couldn’t offer any advice when she confessed that.
“Hmm. Hmm. Hmm, ah. That’s right, that’s right.”
After groaning for a while, she clapped her hands.
“Battleships, battleships. I said I was going to build battleships, didn’t I? Since we’re at it, let’s create a fleet. Let’s see… five fleets with five main battleships as flagships, and a Great Battleship to oversee everything. If we have that much, our defense will be perfect, right? We can revise it as needed once we understand the world situation.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Understood, let’s consider that plan. Assuming we have everything ready in 5 years, the idea is to increase the fleet by one every year. As for when to prepare the flagship, I would like to launch it no later than 3 years from now.”
“Oh. As expected of ＜Ringo＞. You’ve suddenly become very specific…”
“We will launch one battleship within one year.
Let’s say that a battleship is at least 300m in total length for the sake of clarity.
We will form a fleet with a combat vessel with a total length of 300m or more as the flagship.
Battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and various supply vessels.
Carrier-based aircraft, support aircraft. If possible, the operation of a satellite group.
And landing craft and control aircraft. If we have these, it will function as a fleet.”
The ships and equipment listed by ＜Ringo＞ did not necessarily have to be ready within a year.
However, considering the goal of 5 years from now, it would be necessary to at least have all the types ready early and gain operational experience.
It would be meaningless to have only the numbers without being able to operate them properly.
“Ma’am. To operate these to their full potential, we still need oil. In particular, no energy source can easily match the energy density of oil.
Microwave power transmission is very useful, but the more energy transmission targets there are, the lower the power transmission density becomes, and the more losses there are.
The required number of microwave relay drones also increases exponentially.
Also, a separate energy source is required for dispatching to distant locations, so oil fuel is still attractive.”
“…Muu. So that’s how it connects…”
Commander (Eve) held her head in her hands again at ＜Ringo＞’s claim.