At this moment, the imperial court was in a cold silence. With such an event occurring, no one knew what to say next.
Onesis was, after all, on the same front as the Old Emperor now. His small eyes on his chubby face darted around, and he said to the Old Emperor:
"Your Majesty, General Rin Tohsaka just now rendered meritorious service in protecting you. I hope Your Majesty can reward her according to her merits, which would also demonstrate the Empire's and Your Majesty's clear-cut system of rewards and punishments."
After speaking, Onesis directly retreated to his position, as if nothing had happened.
Onesis reminded the Old Emperor that not only had someone attempted assassination, but someone had also saved his life from peril. The Old Emperor's gaze turned to Tohsaka Rin, who stood before the throne, and the gloom on his face instantly thawed. He smiled and said:
"Onesis is right. General Rin Tohsaka's achievement in saving me is immense. However, I didn't expect General Rin Tohsaka to actually possess the ability to control ice."
The scene that had just unfolded undoubtedly confirmed that Tohsaka Rin could indeed control frost, and it was not from the Imperial Arm in her hand.
"It was just a stroke of luck. When I was hunting in the Great Snow Mountains as a child, I accidentally received a blessing from the heavens and coincidentally gained this power. The specific details are not worth mentioning."
The Old Emperor also had no intention of pressing the matter. Tohsaka Rin's timely intervention had already earned her the Old Emperor's complete trust. After all, even if Tohsaka Rin hadn't acted, she would not have been responsible if the Old Emperor had died. The one responsible for guarding the Imperial Palace was the Imperial Grand General, not her, the Legion Commander of the Seventh Legion.
"It is the Empire's good fortune that General Rin Tohsaka possesses this power to defend the Empire. General Rin Tohsaka just now rendered meritorious service in protecting me. Whatever reward you desire, feel free to propose it; I will not refuse."
Tohsaka Rin was waiting for exactly these words!
"Your Majesty, if there is anything Tohsaka Rin desires, then Tohsaka Rin hopes Your Majesty can grant this subject an opportunity!"
"An opportunity?"
This request instantly stunned the Old Emperor, and all the civil and military officials in the court were also stunned.
An opportunity? What kind of request is that?
"An opportunity to clear the Empire of foreign enemies, reclaim lost territories of a hundred years, and expand our borders!"
Tohsaka Rin's powerful and resonant voice echoed through the Hall of Political Affairs. The meaning of her words had been clearly conveyed to everyone present. If they hadn't understood before and were merely stunned, now that they understood, they were shocked, especially the generals on the military side, who were completely dumbfounded.
"General Rin Tohsaka, do you mean... you wish to lead an army on a distant expedition to the foreign regions?"
The Old Emperor asked, somewhat incredulously.
"Precisely, Your Majesty!"
Tohsaka Rin replied without hesitation, decisively:
"This subject believes that the Empire can no longer simply remain on the defensive. It is an urgent matter that we must take the initiative to attack."
Tohsaka Rin's words immediately caused an uproar in the court. Active campaigns into foreign territories were not unheard of in Imperial history, but they had almost always been thwarted by terrain and weather, ultimately ending in failure.
In the Northern Nomads, the weather was extremely cold, with ice mountains and snowfields everywhere, where water froze instantly; in the Southern Ridge dense forests, the climate was hot and humid, with many mountains and dense woods, muddy swamps, and poisonous waters. The endless expanse of forests, along with poisonous insects, wild beasts, and diseases within them, made it impossible for Imperial soldiers to advance. It could be said that the Empire's expeditionary forces were defeated not by the Native's swords but by the weather and environment.
The only truly successful direct expedition was the reconquest war four hundred years ago, after the Western Kingdom's secession. Led by the Imperial Grand General of that time, an attack was launched against the newly seceded Western Kingdom. However, just when they were one city away from conquering the Western Kingdom, the Northern and Southern borders of the Native were simultaneously breached, and tens of thousands of Native troops invaded deep into Imperial territory. The victory, just one step away, had to be abandoned to defend the Empire, and it was for this reason that the Empire could only acknowledge the Western Kingdom's independence.
Therefore, in the Empire's dictionary, 'expedition' translates to a thankless task. After all, whether it was the Northern Region snow mountains or the Southern Ridge forests, they were all barren, desolate places where not even birds laid eggs. There was no point in occupying them. Would they build a super-large royal ski resort in the Northern Region snow mountains?
"Your Majesty, I have something I wish to show Your Majesty. After seeing this, I believe Your Majesty and all my colleagues will understand the urgency of an expedition for the Empire."
Tohsaka Rin remained unmoved by the discussions of the officials, speaking calmly and composedly. The Old Emperor also understood that this was not a joke and approved, saying:
"Granted. I want to see what it is that General Rin Tohsaka considers so important."
Tohsaka Rin gestured to Suzaku, who was further back in the military officer ranks. Suzaku then left the Hall of Political Affairs and returned shortly with an item.
The Old Emperor glanced at the item in Suzaku's hand. It was a curved, white-bladed hunting knife, a weapon of the Native. Although its unique design differed from the weapons used by the Imperial army, he couldn't see anything particularly remarkable that would warrant such importance from a general of the nation. He asked, puzzled:
"General Rin Tohsaka, does this knife have some magical quality?"
"No."
"Then what crisis to the Empire's security are you referring to?"
"The problem is, this is a hunting knife used by the Northern Nomads, and it is made of metal."
As soon as Tohsaka Rin said this, the civil officials couldn't help but show mocking sneers, implying that Tohsaka Rin was making a fuss over nothing. However, all the Legion Commanders who had fought against the Native, especially those currently guarding the Imperial border against Native incursions, all frowned.
"General Rin Tohsaka, if this knife isn't made of metal, what else could it be made of...?"
"Ignorance!"
At this moment, Liva, the Legion Commander of the Fourteenth Legion, who was stationed on the Northern Region front among the thirteen Legion Commanders, suddenly spoke up, cutting off the ignorant words of those civil officials who had never seen bloodshed and did not know the dangers of war. He walked to the front of the hall, took the hunting knife from Suzaku's hand, and after repeatedly examining it, his expression grew increasingly solemn.
Tohsaka Rin couldn't help but carefully observe this figure, who also left a significant mark in the original work/canon plot. In the future, he would be framed and imprisoned by the influential Onesis, later rescued by Esdeath, and become General Liva, the leader of her Three Beasts. At this time, he was still a new general in his thirties, in the prime of his life, having taken over the Fourteenth Legion only five years ago. He was a renowned strategist among the Imperial generals.
"General Rin Tohsaka, I would like to know where you obtained this knife?"
Liva asked Rin seriously.
"The massive Danger Beast riot last year that killed over ten thousand of my soldiers, I investigated and found that it was actually caused by the Northern Nomads using a lost Imperial Relic. At the time, I was so angry that I directly used air superiority to fly over the Forest of Dangerous Species and raided a village of the Northern Nomads, taking this blade back as a souvenir."
Everything Rin said was true, except that she was the only one who raided, and she didn't raid an ordinary small village, but rather a settlement of a large tribe with nearly a hundred thousand people. And the blade Liva was looking at now was the one the Foreign People's leader had used to try and cut Rin.
"Do all the armed Foreign People carry one?"
"It's not just hunting knives; spears, javelins, arrows, all are made of the same material."
Hearing Rin's words, Liva angrily swung the hunting knife in his hand into the air, as if there was a damned Northern Region Outsider right in front of him.
"Those guys, why didn't they tell me about such an important matter! What's the point of just emphasizing how much stronger the Foreign People have become than before and increasing training? If we can't find the key, aren't those fallen soldiers dying in vain?!"
Seeing Liva so enraged by an ordinary-looking hunting knife, the Old Emperor couldn't help but wonder. Liva explained for Rin:
"Your Majesty, most people who haven't seen or understood the Northern Nomads don't realize that the land beyond the Empire's northern border is all permafrost. Even with iron picks and shovels, it's difficult to dig. The mountains are covered in perpetual snow. Therefore, for the Northern Nomads, mining and quarrying are extremely difficult tasks. Coupled with their backward technology and civilization, even if they extract a small amount of ore, they lack the technology to refine and forge it. Thus, in the nearly thousand years of war between the Empire and the Northern Nomads, most of the Northern Nomads' weapons were made from the ground bones of Danger Beasts."
"However, this blade..."
Rin interjected, taking the hunting knife from Liva's hand. At the same time, she took an Imperial saber from a guard soldier. The hunting knife and the saber clashed fiercely, blade against blade, in Rin's hand. With a metallic wail, the Imperial military saber, forged by the Empire, snapped!
"...is indeed forged from fine steel, and it's even superior to what the Imperial armory produces."
At this, everyone finally understood the gravity of the situation. The Empire's greatest advantages against the Foreign People were undoubtedly Imperial Relics, city walls, and weapons and equipment. Among these, the latter, weapons and equipment, was the most fundamental, distributed to every soldier. If the weapons in the hands of Imperial soldiers and the armor on their bodies were all vulnerable to the edge of a Foreign People's hunting knife, then how could they resist the Foreign People's invasion?!
"Looking at the entire world, not to mention countries too far away, there is only one country within sight that can mass-produce such weapons..."
Liva's expression was grave as he continued Rin's words:
"The Western Kingdom."
These four words weighed a thousand pounds, pressing heavily on the hearts of every court official present. The Western Kingdom was rich in minerals and possessed extremely advanced technology for forging weapons and equipment. Before it split from the Empire, it was the Empire's largest smelting and military manufacturing region, and it was known for the secret art of Alchemy. If there was any country in this world that could surpass the Empire in weapon forging, it could only be the Western Kingdom, where the Alchemy practiced could elevate metal performance by more than one grade.
Of course, the Western Kingdom also lacked the Empire's scientific technology. Among other things, they couldn't produce firearms.
"It can be seen that the Western Kingdom is selling a large number of weapons to the Foreign People outside the Imperial borders. In the future, the attacks of the Foreign People beyond the borders on our border defenses will become increasingly fierce as their weapon disadvantage improves. At that time, the Empire's troop distribution will inevitably be heavily tied down by both borders. Then, in the direction with the fewest defenders, will that dog that has been silently lying in its stone den for over four hundred years still remain quiet?"
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