Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Chapter 199
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Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Chapter 199
46. On the Same Side, Right? (3)
The words that the heir of Grand Duke Lucas is none other than 'me'.
Who wouldn't be shocked by that?
Count Reiers, his heir, and all the retainers of the Count's household fell silent.
I'd like to wait for their shock and dismay to settle, though.
But I don't have much time left to remain on Earth.
"I will come and go from Rondel frequently, including through a direct mana transmission array, and provide whatever the Reiers Count's household needs."
Count Reiers, having only just come to his senses, nodded with a dazed expression.
"Then there's nothing better. Thank you."
And yet, he voiced his doubts.
Unless one possessed the Myriad Mirror like me, or the Observing Eye like Blake, the title of Grand Duke Lucas's successor was not so light that a few words would convince them.
"But isn't the Opportunity Seeker the son of the former President Fairmont, who once stirred up the Prius Republic? I heard that son is now in the custody of the Bringham Empire?"
"You must mean Lewis Fairmont? He is a fake Opportunity Seeker."
"A fake Opportunity Seeker?"
"It means he's a decoy clown, put in place to hide my identity from the Bringham Empire."
"Ah..."
"Before Lewis Fairmont stepped forward, the most common reaction people had to me becoming a Grand Mage at twenty was half-joking, half-suspicious talk about whether I was Grand Duke Lucas's successor. But now? Everyone knows Lewis Fairmont as the Opportunity Seeker, and because I've caused and resolved so many incidents, they all say it makes sense that I became a Grand Mage at twenty thanks to my natural talent."
"Th-That means?"
"It means all of it was a situation I engineered."
This meant that even the Bringham Empire was dancing in the palm of my hand.
Count Reiers let out a low, incredulous laugh.
But the Count's son, who seemed about my age, was full of questions he let out exclamations of admiration and kept asking all sorts of things.
"Why can't the Bringham Empire figure out that Lewis Fairmont is a fake?"
"Because the records Lewis Fairmont holds are genuine. And whenever suspicion arises, he provides new records again and again, that's how he keeps their attention. As great as I may have become, the Bringham Empire is still a formidable opponent."
"Indeed... But how did you manage to obtain Grand Duke Lucas's Opportunity? Countless nations and intelligence organizations failed to find it, yet you Grand Duke Lawrence acquired the Opportunity at such a young age?"
No one believed that obtaining the Opportunity was mere coincidence.
It couldn't possibly be so simple that one could just stumble into it.
At that, I hesitated briefly, then simply told the truth.
Now that I'd revealed I was Grand Duke Lucas's successor, what was there to hide?
"Grand Duke Lucas hid hints about the Opportunity all over the place, using the script and information of Earth his homeland. Well, if someone had kept up normal research, they might have found it eventually even without knowledge of Earth, but it would have taken much longer."
"But how did you the Grand Duke find it?"
"Because I'm from here, just like Grand Duke Lucas. As long as someone like me exists, the search for the Opportunity can never be fair."
"Hah..."
I projected holograms of English signs scattered across nearby China.
The fact that English was the cipher Grand Duke Lucas commonly used was something anyone could figure out if they'd taken even a little interest in him.
"How can this be."
There were plenty of points for doubt.
If one was determined to find fault, there was plenty to nitpick.
But this was the truth without a single lie.
"Still, if you have doubts, I'll go ahead and swear the Oath of Mana as well."
With me saying that much, no one could raise any more objections.
Count Reiers told me there was no need, and held me back.
"There are quite a few records related to Grand Duke Lucas's Opportunity in this Lord's estate as well. It's something you can learn with just a little research through the people of this world, so there's no way you'd lie about that."
"Thank you for your understanding."
"Rather, we are the ones who should thank you. You persuaded us, who looked at you with suspicion even when you showed us goodwill."
"In a situation that's practically a disaster, you all must be beside yourselves. It's only natural to be suspicious when someone suddenly shows goodwill in the middle of all that."
The chaotic atmosphere of Reiers County warmed up for the first time in a while.
But before long, shadows fell over their faces.
Even with my help, they still couldn't see a way back home from this unfamiliar land, so they couldn't keep smiling.
"Why did this happen to us?"
"With the information I have right now, as I said earlier, all I can say is that the Sepia Goddess made it so. I suspect the Sepia Goddess plans to incorporate this world into Rondel."
"Is Grand Duke Lucas and His Highness the King Grand Duke Lawrence flowing into Rondel also part of that plan?"
"That could be the case."
"Then all we have to do is help the Goddess carry out that plan quickly, right?"
From their position, they couldn't think otherwise.
For now, that was the only way to meet the people back home.
But the problem wasn't that simple.
"First, we need to see how things go. There are speculations that an enormous calamity will sweep over the world as the Goddess's plan is set in motion. If you help the Goddess and massive casualties occur on both Rondel and Earth, what would you do?"
"That's…."
They wanted to go home, but if it came with mass sacrifice, that was no different from the Demon King's descent.
Even if nobles were criticized for being selfish, this was a choice that anyone with common sense would hesitate to make.
"For now, I'd recommend making adaptation here your top priority. Personally, even if relations with China to the west aren't good, I'd suggest maintaining a close relationship with South Korea to the east."
South Korea isn't entirely clean either, but if you're going to pick a side around here, I think there's no better option.
Of course, there's no need to explain that a large part of why I recommended South Korea is that it was my homeland in my past life.
"Of course, if you can build good relations with everyone, that would be ideal, but there's no need to go in acting servile."
"As it happens, the young Lord just returned from meeting the Chinese Chairman."
"Is that so? How did it go?"
"He made us wait over three hours without any promise. Then, without a single apology, he took a high-handed attitude, so I left only the Chairman alive and blew away everyone else."
"Haha…."
I let out a laugh mixed with disbelief and admiration.
Things had already flowed that way.
But this was absolutely not something to take lightly.
Though they were arrogant and overbearing, their nation possessed power that couldn't be ignored.
"I heard you fought a real battle against China. How was it?"
"I was surprised by how strong they were. But they were at a manageable level. If we deploy the Heaven-Piercing Fortress along with Vangas equipped with Hoverboards, I believe we can seize the advantage at any time. However, the problem is that I heard among the weapons they haven't used yet, there's one that's immensely powerful."
"You mean nuclear weapons."
Physical force is a subcategory of supernatural power.
That held true to some extent on Earth as well, but the problem was that the gap wasn't as large as it was in Rondel.
In Rondel, even if a nuclear bomb went off, as long as the attack was based on physical force, Grand Duke Lucas judged that even a 7th Circle barrier could defend against it.
But on Earth, the story was different.
Since the Goddess Sepia's laws were not yet in effect, even an 8th Circle barrier likely couldn't block it.
Of course, Earth had no Spatial Teleportation Interference Magic, so if you couldn't block it, you could just teleport away but this city and its residents couldn't flee elsewhere.
"That certainly needs to be handled with care. Have you thought of a countermeasure?"
"For now, the only method seems to be intercepting all the missiles."
As the Count said, that was indeed the most certain method.
But even that had its limits.
"First, we need to equip the County with proper gear."
"Pardon?"
"How many Knights does the County currently have?"
"About 1,200 in total."
"And how many Vanga units among them?"
"We have 100 units."
"Understood. I'll prepare the remaining 1,100 and bring them to you."
Everyone was greatly taken aback by such generous support.
A set of 1,100 Vanga units was not something the County could afford, after all.
"It's a gift. If it were possible, I'd like to bring you even a Heaven-Piercing Fortress, but its volume is too large for me to move right now. Ah, and if I can procure a Spirit Tower, I'll bring you one."
"Isn't a Spirit Tower the base defense equipment used by the Elysian Coalition as a substitute for a Heaven-Piercing Fortress?"
"That's right. If you pack it in well, it should fit into subspace. Fortunately, my relationship with the Elysian Coalition isn't bad, so with any luck I can obtain one."
I kept chattering on even as the two of them wore bewildered expressions.
"And I'll also make equipment to effectively counter missiles and equipment that enables communication."
"Th-thank you..."
"Oh right, using magic, it should also be easy to launch artificial structures into space. Earth's space beyond the atmosphere happens to be open, so it would be good to introduce surveillance satellites or attack satellites as well. If you were to drop heavy projectiles from space down to Earth, it would serve as an excellent deterrent against nuclear weapons."
Did you think my help would end with just a mana accumulation formation?
At the very least, it had to be on this level.
Now that I had properly extended my hand, those who had nowhere to lean on were moved to the brink of tears.
"Thank you so much. Thank you."
Naturally, none of this support comes for free.
There must be a reason I'm going this far.
"In return, I ask that you always heed my requests from now on. Sometimes I may request combat support, and I may request infiltration, intelligence gathering, or assassinations."
I would give them room to breathe and establish their right to survive.
In return, they would have to follow my orders.
Even so, Count Reiers nodded without much hesitation.
"How could we refuse? In this situation, the only one we can trust and rely on is Your Highness the King, Grand Duke Lawrence."
A good reaction.
If I kept building relationships by helping them like this, bringing them under my command wouldn't be difficult either.
"I have nothing to give you right now, so I'll leave this here."
With that, I summoned the subspace-type Heaven-Piercing Fortress, Aegis, beyond the window of the Lord's estate.
Aegis, resembling a round metal sphere, looked similar to the Spirit Tower of the Elysian Union.
But it was heavier and its capabilities were far superior.
"It's a defense-exclusive Heaven-Piercing Fortress personally crafted by Grand Duke Lucas. It operates unmanned, so you need not worry about controls."
"Ooh!"
Count Reiers and his people, who had been full of caution at first, bowed their heads again and again in unison.
* * *
"Hmm, what is that now? Something strange has appeared again."
"China's movements are concerning. If things go badly, they might actually use nuclear weapons."
The Blue House of South Korea.
President Kim Min-guk, who had been looking at photos of the Heaven-Piercing Fortress Aegis, rubbed his temples as if troubled by the Director of the National Intelligence Service's report.
When he first heard that some island had formed with anomalous terrain in the northern West Sea, he hadn't thought much of it.
After all, such things happened from time to time.
But people lived on that island, and when a battle broke out due to their conflict with China, it shocked everyone.
Non-Earth technology. Earth's military.
The anomalous terrain's weapons were so powerful that there was no other way to describe them, and they had greatly damaged China's pride.
'No matter how much China isn't the China of old, from South Korea's standpoint, they're still a force to be reckoned with...'
And now, that China and an unidentified adversary were on the verge of clashing once again.
"When I heard the Chairman's Palace had been destroyed, I thought the negotiations had fallen through, but to think they'd move to fight this quickly and with nuclear weapons, no less."
"We absolutely cannot allow them to use nuclear weapons. It will cause massive damage to us as well."
"There's no choice. Issue a statement. In quite a firm tone. And America will be watching this incident too. Request their assistance as well."
"Understood."
South Korea couldn't just step in and dispatch troops right away.
Even though China was split into several factions, for better or worse, they had once been one nation, so they might respond jointly to interference from foreign powers.
The President was racking his brain and letting out a sigh when...
"Mr. President!"
The Director of the National Intelligence Service, who had left the office not long ago, burst back in.
"An explosion comparable to a small tactical nuclear warhead has occurred over Beijing."
"What?!"
There was no way China would detonate a nuclear bomb over their own heads.
Wondering what was going on, he checked the footage he had brought, and it showed ominous black flames exploding in a chain reaction.
Each individual blast carried the destructive power of a large ballistic missile.
With those going off in a chain reaction, it created a spectacle no different from a small-scale nuclear explosion.
"Is that the doing of those islanders?"
"It seems so. As if they had caught wind that China was about to use nuclear weapons, they threatened them not to act rashly."
"So they have large-scale tactical weapons of their own."
"The terrifying part of that attack is that it doesn't use projectiles like missiles, so the point of detonation can't be pinpointed, and interception is impossible."
"Terrifying."
In truth, that was Adrian using the 8th Circle-class spell called Hellfire ten times in a row through the Memorize Magic spell.
It was a show of force meant to check China and make them not take Reiers County lightly.
And that show of force worked perfectly China's movements came to a halt.
South Korea's President, Kim Min-guk, who had witnessed the whole series of events, expressed interest.
"Let's make contact with them."
"What?"
The Director of the National Intelligence Service was taken aback by the President's words.