Grand Knight Territory, Adeptus Sprawiedliwi headquarters.
Iolanta Russell stood before the sand table.
The news of the Silver Lance Pegasus Knights' total annihilation shattered the last trace of hope in her heart.
On the sand table, the red arrows representing the Leithanien and Ursus armies had already penetrated deep into Kazimierz's heartland.
"We have lost all barriers on the eastern plains," a knight officer reported hoarsely.
"Leithanien's armored forces are expected to reach the outskirts of the Grand Knight Territory within twenty-four hours."
"And the north?" Russell asked.
"Ursus's 3rd and 4th Armies have encircled the last city in the north. The Campaign Knights inside are still resisting, but..."
The officer trailed off, but everyone understood his meaning.
Resistance was futile.
The conference room door was flung open, and Commercial Federation Chairman Czarny burst in.
His usually impeccably combed hair was disheveled, his expensive suit wrinkled, his face etched with panic and rage.
"Lady Russell! You must give me an explanation!" He rushed up to Russell and slammed a document on the table.
"The National Parliament has just passed the emergency state bill, authorizing the Adeptus Sprawiedliwi to take over all national commercial assets for the war!"
"This is robbery! A trampling of the sacred principle of inviolable private property!"
Russell didn't even glance at him; her gaze remained fixed on the sand table.
"Chairman Czarny, when the enemy's tanks are about to roll into your vaults, your so-called principles aren't even worth the paper to wipe your ass with," she said coldly.
"Right now, everything in Kazimierz must serve the war."
"You're insane! The war is lost!" Czarny screamed.
"We should negotiate! Negotiate immediately! Pay them reparations, meet all their demands! As long as we can preserve..."
"Preserve your business, right?" Russell finally turned her head, her eyes icy.
"I warned you long ago, Czarny. You and your Commercial Federation treated Kazimierz's national defense like a business deal."
"Now that the deal has gone south, you want to cut your losses and walk away?"
"I..."
Czarny recoiled a step under Russell's gaze.
At that moment, a secretary hurried in and whispered something in Czarny's ear.
Czarny's face drained of color.
"What's wrong, Chairman?" Russell asked with mocking sarcasm.
"Which company's stock has hit the limit down again?"
"The National Parliament... Deputy Judge Duk... he... he's publicly accused me of treason!"
Czarny's voice trembled.
"He says I hid military intelligence for Leithanien commercial contracts, delaying our response! Now... now the guards are hunting me everywhere!"
The conference room erupted in uproar.
Russell looked at Czarny without a hint of surprise.
"Take him away and lock him up," she ordered the guards beside her.
"No! You can't do this to me! I'm the Chairman of the Commercial Federation!"
Czarny struggled wildly, but he was soon dragged out by two burly knight guards. His heart-wrenching screams echoed down the corridor, fading into the distance.
With the biggest internal obstacle removed, Russell felt no relief.
It was merely drinking poison to quench thirst.
Kazimierz's tower was about to collapse; arresting one Czarny changed nothing.
"Pass my orders."
She took a deep breath.
"Order all knight groups still resisting on the periphery to abandon their positions, withdraw immediately, disperse into small units, and prepare for long-term resistance."
"Lady! We can't be deserters!" A young knight captain shot to his feet in agitation.
"We are Campaign Knights; we die charging forward!"
"Are we to let Kazimierz's last drop of blood drain dry?" Russell shot back sharply.
"We must preserve the embers, leave hope for Kazimierz's restoration! That's an order!"
The young knight captain opened his mouth, then finally bowed his head, tears welling in his eyes.
...
The retreat order was issued, but executing it proved extraordinarily difficult.
Under the combined air-ground strikes of Ursus and Leithanien, Kazimierz's command and communications systems had long fallen into semi-paralysis.
Many units never received the orders, or were intercepted, surrounded, and annihilated on the retreat routes.
Countless civilians were swept into the tide of war.
They fled with families in tow, laden with belongings, clogging the roads south.
Leithanien's Stuka dive bombers sometimes screamed overhead, targeting forward military units but still sowing panic.
A boy named Tomasz squeezed through the refugee throng with his parents.
He looked back; the town where he had lived was billowing thick smoke in the distance.
He had once thought those knights shining in the arenas were omnipotent heroes who could protect everything.
But now, the heroes were in rout.
In the sky, leaflets fluttered down like snowflakes.
Tomasz picked one up; it bore Emperor Lacey's portrait, his young and handsome face.
The leaflet read:
"People of Kazimierz, war is not our intent. The corrupt Commercial Federation and degenerate knight nobles dragged your nation into the abyss..."
"...Lay down your arms, welcome the new order. Leithanien will not enslave you; all assets exploited by the Commercial Federation will be redistributed to those who truly create value..."
Tomasz couldn't understand the complex words.
He rubbed his growling stomach, glanced at the young emperor on the leaflet, his eyes filled with confusion.
...
Meanwhile, on a secret path leading to the Ursus camp, an unassuming land-vehicle bumped along.
Inside the compartment, the "escorted" Czarny sat with a Ursus diplomat.
"Honored sir, on behalf of the Kazimierz Commercial Federation, we are willing... willing to pay ten billion—no, twenty billion Ursus rubles—as long as your country halts the offensive."
Czarny was like a stray dog now, begging abjectly.
The Ursus diplomat, a mustachioed middle-aged man, took a slow swig of vodka and belched.
"Twenty billion? Chairman, do you know how much our emperor spent on this special military operation?" He eyed Czarny like an idiot.
"What we want isn't your money."
"Then what do you want?"
"We want your land, your mines, your cities—everything you have."
The diplomat grinned, revealing yellow teeth.
"Most importantly, we want your unconditional surrender."
Czarny slumped in his seat, face ashen.
________________________________________
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