“Federalist forces attempt another assault straight on Thein today in response to the Mandate of Nation’s rapid offensive against North Hebei. President Rimpler has condemned the Eutstadt Government of ‘utilizing inhumane weapons and tactics to undermine revolutionary allies’, adding that retaliation would happen soon. Right now, both Orlish militaries are stuck in yet another grinding battle for the eastern areas of the Archduchy. Casualties are now reported to be in the low thousands, with dozens of tanks being lost by the Royal Army in just a few hours.”

  - ROCN News

  West Orland

  Duchy of Rimwurz

  November Palace

  January 6, 2026

  “The CFN is finally sending reinforcements?” Amelie asked. She and William were now walking through the halls of the November Palace, trying to get to the situation room, where the leaders of the OHC were gathered. “What are they sending?”

  “As of now, they seem to be relocating their fighter squadrons to North Hebei, out of their positions in Kusari. Same with their expeditionary forces in Kusari. It seems like the two Pozneki motor rifle divisions are being diverted from Kusari to Ginzhu,” William answered. “It’s working, slowly.”

  “How long do you think will it take for them to relocate enough?”

  “Probably a week or so. Then we’ll be free to strike in Kusari. Though, it should be noted that they already found out about our potential attack from Kusari,” William sighed. “It is whatever. I think they’re still going to be diverting things because their troops, while numerous, aren’t unlimited.”

  “Indeed, North Hebei is more valuable for them too, so they’ll have no reason to keep their troops in Kusari when their actual ally is in dire need of help.”

  “Exactly. However, the ‘Kusari Reclamation Government’ has already begun mobilizing tens of thousands of soldiers. They’re being used to bolster the frontlines, apparently, and they’re digging in deeply.”

  “Kusari Reclamation Government?”

  “Yeah,” William laughed at it. “They’re setting up another one, replacing the old one. It was filled with too many moderates. The Reclamation Government on the other hand is stacked with extremists. They want to completely drive the Kusari Empire out of their homeland, and they’re just arming a lot of the Kusari soldiers that were encircled.”

  “They’re doing what?” Amelie frowned, that seemed stupid.

  “It’s working well for them,” William sighed. “It is what it is. Those soldiers in the first place didn’t look up to the Empire. The Reclamation Government is running very extreme propaganda, they’re promising everything to every former soldier that was ‘left behind’ by the Empress. Rights, jobs, positions in the government, money, every bullcrap.”

  “Are we seeing heightened defection rates in the Kusari Imperial Army?”

  “Somewhat. I think it’s in the normal range though, considering millions of them are just conscripts given a gun with barely even a few weeks of training. Their morale is in the gutter, and their professionalism so lacking, that it’s just the MN expeditionary forces that are keeping things in line.”

  “That’s…not ideal,” Amelie said. “Especially when we need them to fight the offensive for us.”

  “It is what it is.”

  Soon, the two reached the situation room. Inside, the various leaders of the OHC and Orlan’s intelligence agencies were gathered, already discussing the situation in detail. When she arrived, they all gave her a brief salute, before Amelie took her seat, and watched the rest of the presentation.

  Mr. Rimpler must have been pissed off by my offensive. She watched as General Albrecht explained the situation in the Wuringer–L?t Axis. It seemed like the enemy was throwing their entire front at them, and her forces would be barely holding within a few days. He’s trying to force me to divert my forces here.

  That wasn’t exactly an option that was on Amelie’s table. Diverting overseas troops was more than impossible. The only thing she could divert was her air squadrons, but that was that.

  Then again, maybe it’s what they intend with these air offensives. If they can place enough pressure on me that I send my planes out of the offensive to defend the homefront, then…

  No, she wouldn’t fall for such tricks. Amelie had her eyes locked on helping her allies regain their footing. Losing L?t or Thein, the capital of L?t, wasn’t something that Amelie would find as a significant setback. After all, the entire principality was already largely evacuated and devoid of civilian life. Thein itself was just rubble, a fortress only manned and garrisoned by her troops.

  Her officers, however, seemed to have a different opinion. They were starting to discuss the possibility of redeploying their forces in response to the L?t offensive, hopefully to stem the Federalist tide.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “I veto the idea of redeploying our forces,” Amelie said, confident. General Albrecht, who had proposed it, seemed a bit surprised. “I said what I said. I already said back then that it won’t matter if we lost Thein itself, so long as we make them bleed. I share that same opinion to this day.”

  “Are you sure about this, Your Majesty?” General Albrecht asked. “I mean, even if Thein is a bombed-out husk of a city, like Ginzhu, it’s a very symbolic city. Losing it would mean a massive morale boost for the revolutionaries and a symbolic defeat for our side.”

  “I understand the value of that, but I won’t be diverting forces assigned to practical missions so they can defend symbolic targets,” Amelie crossed her arms confidently. “No matter what the Federalists throw at us, we’ll just delay them and make them bleed. I refuse to let them have the ability to even influence our overseas fights in any way. That’s a part of our plan to isolate them.”

  General Albrecht nodded.

  “I see then. If that’s what you want, then discussions are over. We’re ordering General Bohm to defend Thein with whatever he has left, and minimize casualties over holding territory.”

  “I am satisfied with that,” Amelie smiled. “Now, onto the next one. I want to hear more about our updated plans for Kusari.”

  +++

  “Oh! Can I touch her? Please let me touch her!” Amelie’s eyes shone in amazement as she poked the white-furred spitz dog on Jacqueline’s table. The dog eyed Amelie neutrally, while behind her, Jacqueline chuckled, amused.

  “Sure, who am I to refuse Her Majesty?” Jacqueline said, and Amelie immediately began petting the dog, who merely lowered her head in response.

  “Aww, you’re so cute. Oh! Who’s the good girl? Is it you? Right, it’s you!”

  “Don’t ruffle her too hard,” Jacqueline shook her head, laughing as she went for her seat. Amelie on the other hand controlled herself, backing off a bit. “So, how were the talks with the OHC?”

  Amelie watched as the dog jumped to Jacqueline’s lap to lie down on it, before being petted gently by the Prime Minister. It was so cute, that Amelie felt herself wanting to just squeeze the poor animal internally. She cleared her throat.

  “Well, it went fairly well,” Amelie answered, a smile present on her face. “I feel confident about our chances. The CFN is being forced to divert their forces northwards, leaving their Kusari frontlines wide open for us to exploit.”

  “Hmm, is that so?”

  “Yep. I expect that we’ll do very well once our forces commence their offensive,” Amelie nodded. “In any case, we’re going to drive out the CFN from Kusari’s capital no matter what. I doubt the second-rate troops by their ‘Reclamation Government’ will stand a stone’s chance at resisting us.”

  “Well, you never know.”

  “They’re armed with just rifles, artillery, and soft-skinned vehicles, Jacqueline,” Amelie retorted. “I don’t expect them to stand up well against our combined arms offensive. Not to mention, the Royal Guard’s KDUs are out there. Oh! I forgot, have you seen how well our KDUs are performing in Ginzhu?”

  “I did,” Jacqueline leaned back in her seat. “They’re starting to become the new terrors of the frontline. It makes sense, the magic they hold is some of the best that women can dish out, and they’re gaining veterancy. They seem to be testing out a lot of new spells too, strengthening themselves.”

  “Indeed,” then, Amelie frowned. “More importantly though, I’ve heard rumors about our troops on the ground turning more and more…pissed at how the KDUs are being treated. They say they’re getting a lot of preferential treatment.”

  Jacqueline shook her head.

  “I’m not sure what we can do about that. Unlike the Army, the Royal Guard isn’t suffering gigantic attrition rates. So they can give out more for their units. Both in amenities and equipment, even if they have a lower budget than the Army.”

  “They’re getting donations too…” Amelie added. “And our boys are seeing it. So many care packages, money, everything flowing into women on the frontlines. I didn’t expect this to happen, but I imagine the disparity will be causing great morale loss to our guys. Fighting side-by-side with someone better fed and taken care of is sure to cause something.”

  “Well, we cannot realistically stop the donations and everything else. They’re being sent by the parents of our troops. I mean, are we supposed to stop a worried mother from sending weekly care packages for her daughter on the frontlines? I think that’ll just be pushing things too far.”

  “That’s why I asked General Albrecht to look into any efforts to improve the amenities for our troops in the frontline that are…well, universal, but he flat out denied me.”

  “Why?”

  “He said it’s a drain on the resources of the Army. He told me that the standard rations and whatnot are already enough for our troops to survive day-to-day. All effort should instead be poured into getting more weapons and munitions, nothing else. He did say that if we can start a program about sending some niceties for our male soldiers, he won’t mind the extra shipping requirements, since it’s possible anyway.”

  “In that case, why don’t we start doing something about it?” Jacqueline smiled. “Do you have any ideas?”

  “The national budget is already too drained for everything else,” Amelie groaned. “We can’t tap out anything from that. I…do have some liquidity left though, and I can order some of the food companies under me to produce sweets, chocolates, whatever other packages needed.”

  “I see then,” Jacqueline laughed. “I’ll work on it. I’ll try to get a lot of our fellow high nobles to donate things then. I’ll talk to them about it. Then…err, we can make some sort of a new agency, maybe to centralize sending care packages, both from NGOs and civilians.”

  Amelie immediately took Jacqueline’s hand to shake it.

  “Thank you, thank you! I appreciate this. I was feeling bad about it earlier, but now, I finally have somewhere to throw my money on!”

  Jacqueline raised her eyebrows.

  “Wait, how much are you going to throw at me?”

  Then, Amelie raised four of her fingers with a bright smile.

  “Four billion Orlish Blancs.”

  “...The Royal Family is going to be a bankrupt entity once this war is over.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Amelie stood up. “If everyone is serving this nation with their lives, to give all of my wealth to it is the bare minimum.”

  “For something as simple as sending chocolates and sweets to jealous soldiers? Which may not even exist?” Jacqueline laughed. “I swear, you can be so childish sometimes.”

  “Well, I’d still like to give them something to enjoy from home. It’s the simple things in life that make living worth it, after all.”

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