Sovereign

"The Battle of Ginzhu finally resumed 5 hours after the end of Operation Anchor. Loyalist forces bombarded the city centre before an assault on the two bridges. Republican forces held the bridge, however, as an 8-hour retaliatory missile strike decimated the Southern half of the city which the Loyalists captured. Civilian and Loyalist casualties were high."

- Geopol Press

Rebenslof, Kingdom of Orland

Amelie awaited the proceeding with great trepidation. It was, after all, a bit of a clusterfudge. According to what her brother, Albert, said, his men had already turned nearly mutinous before the Operation even ended.

Quite frankly, even she was deeply horrified by it. These men rescued so many lives of women, yet they could not rescue many of their fellow brethren - all because of them.

Many tears would have been shed by Her Majesty, fortunately, she was too busy in the repair of the Kingdom gameplay to cry about a bunch of men on the other side of the world.

When Strike Force 7 docked upon the Rebenslof Naval Base, the fanfare was at an all-time low. To much of the Orlish public, they were failures. Failures that left many women killed. Failures that failed women. So why should they give the bastards much attention?

And so they disembarked their ships in a scathingly silent affair. The vehicles of the 5th and 7th Marine Divisions were even watched with occasional glares as they passed through the roads of Rebenslof, relocating to their bases outside of the city.

The Battle of Ginzhu after all was the first televised battle where many women died or suffered injuries. Usually, in wars, women would quickly evacuate an area before two armies clashed - this one was much different, as the Junta never played by any rules, and attacked the city before any evacuations, and even destroyed bridges and roads to "hamper Loyalist logistics".

Thus was the mass condemnation from the world and from the Orlish female public. Condemnation against the Junta, and condemnation against Strike Force 7, and the 5th and 7th Marine Divisions for leaving a few thousand unavoidable casualties amongst the city women. After all, how dare they do such a thing?

But what worried Amelie greatly as well was the implications of the battle. Even in the Great War, most battles were fought in fields of the Gaul-Poznek border, where barely any cities with populations above 100,000 existed.

Ginzhu was thus a dreadful example of what a potential Civil War would play out in Orland. Two armies that would clash not on some insignificant border frontlines - but on the heart of the nation, in sprawling metropolises.

I must stop it at all costs then…

She wouldn't want such nonsense in her cities after all. Oh, imagine if it had happened in Rebenslof with its 12 million population, or goddess-forbid Halia, where her precious Palace resided.

Her musings were interrupted when someone knocked on her door. She had temporarily stayed in an estate owned by her family near Rebenslof to await Albert's return.

And she expected him to arrive about now.

What greeted her outside was none other than Albert himself. Still downtrodden, he forced a neutral smile on his face when he saw her. The man had to stay with a stiff upper lip after all.

"Hello, I'm back."

"Albert…oh, and Minister Adelaide?"

Behind him as well was the same woman who organized Strike Force 7 for the intervention. She smiled as she was addressed. Though, Amelie did not forget her failure on the diplomatic front.

Though one could scarcely blame her for that. Orland after all could not just straight up force smaller nations to accept refugees they didn't want. Plus, what hypocrisy - Orland did not take a single refugee.

And Amelie had also haughtily insisted that it was alright because, "We're doing the most in the evacuation efforts," and she didn't want more pesky refugees (especially angry young men) as an additional headache.

In other words, our dreadfully pure Queen was actually - quite the hypocrite.

"Greetings, Your Majesty. I do recognize that the Operation had been unsatisfactory, and for that, I apologize."

The young Queen took a deep breath of tiredness. While indeed it wasn't as successful as she hoped it would be, she was still thankful it didn't turn into a scandal against her.

That would be most unfortunate. Thank goddess it was mostly men that died (Do ignore how horrifying that sounds.)

"You both did good. Please, don't blame yourselves."

The two entered the lavish city mansion that Amelie owned, which was, among other things, one of the multitudes of properties she had no idea the Royal Family owned.

Naturally, she booked a fancy hotel when she originally went to Rebenslof (of course it was Meintz Hotel) but, turns out she owned a damned mansion near the edge of the city which would have been collecting dust if the staff that kept it maintained hadn't existed.

"So why'd you call me to stop here." Her older brother asked as Adelaide - being the fine lady she was, took a seat at the table that Amelie prepared, with much fine tea as expected.

Albert on the other hand, decided to stand instead, as if he was rushing to leave.

Because he needed to leave immediately. Report to the Admiralty and OHC and all that. He was a good navy boy after all.

"I just wanted to ask you about it." She took her seat as well. "How do you feel about the Operation?"

"Wouldn't want it to happen at Orland too, that's all I can really say."

She took a calm sip of her lovely tea (which she had been sipping for hours as she waited for the two) and nodded.

"Me neither. Do you have any insights then…should an evacuation be required in Halia as well."

Oh dear, she was straight to the point. Amelie after all, bought the Navy's loyalty earlier with the shipyard project, as she would absolutely evacuate her nation should the need arise.

This intent was not lost on Albert, who nodded.

"Simply put, I believe that should a Civil War break out here as well, Halia would be devastated, but evacuation efforts should not be as abysmal unless the city is cut off on both land and sea."

Amelie nodded. Some good news at least. Indeed, Halia was a tad bit different from Ginzhu. While a river did run in its southern outskirts, (where on the southern bank, the City of Heiflitz existed) the terrain up north was a fully open plains, filled with roads and rail lines galore.

Up north was also Rebenslof itself, which she expected to be a friendly city should a civil war break out. The Free Confederation of Westlauren mostly supported her reign, so that was a piece of good news for her.

In other words, unlike Ginzhu which could only be evacuated by sea should things turn sour, she could run like a cat in terror in land. How terribly fortunate of her.

"Mhm, at least some good news came out of this."

"You're welcome."

Now, Amelie went to her next agenda on the list. Albert had already told her about it in the calls that the two made during the duration of the cluster fudge that shall not be mentioned once more.

"So what did Princess Xue say?"

"Do Miss Adelaide know about it already?"

The woman smiled at him in affirmation.

"Indeed I do. Her Majesty had briefed me about it. It is Orland's foreign affairs after all."

With a deep breath, Albert began explaining the situation to the two. It was a bit of a sneaky intervention thing. Princess Xue asked for supplies and weapons. Naturally, Albert told her in the meeting that Orland could not simply do another actual intervention.

To which Adelaide and Amelie naturally clapped at him internally, because really, the dumpster fire that was Orland could not afford much more.

Already, their intervention in Ginzhu had been quite expensive, which taxpayers didn't like, because why the fuck should they pay when they're nearly bankrupt?

The only reason they accepted the intervention in the first place, even if Operation Anchor was quite expensive, was that they had to save millions of civilian women.

On the other hand, shipments of military weapons (which were even more expensive) now that would be a tad bit too far.

And so, Albert suggested a sneaky little intervention instead, with sections of the Royal Guard sending covert shipments of advanced combat wands and arcano-rifles, small arms that could actually be shipped to without garnering much attention.

Plus, it was cheaper - because Orland could really not afford much else.

"But why should we do this?" Asked Amelie, since, let's be honest, Albert hadn't given her a good justification to aid Princess Xue.

And while Amelie felt pity for her fellow aristocrat who happened to reach the revolution chopping block first then her, and she did want to help (as Princess Xue wasn't a bad person) she again was barely in control of her Kingdom. Every effort expended by Amelie to her would be an effort not spent on fixing her dumpster fire.

"Because…the Junta, or well the Republic, is currently engaged in a global conspiracy to overthrow the order you women established. Yes, you two heard that right…my fellow men are planning for a global revolution."

Silence.

"Wait…so the NRF could be under the influence of foreign agents?"

"Foreign rebel agents…or the NRF is the mastermind. It matches up, I suggest you ring Marie about it, I think she already connected the dots and is just compiling and verifying the report for you."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that all of it could be coordinated by extremist men around the world. Terrorist strikes, gas attacks, the nuclear meltdown in the Empire of Larissa, the Hebeian Coup, hell, what if the assassination of our mother was their work?"

That rattled Amelie's brain. How did these jerkasses manage to even coordinate such a plot under their noses? Surely, someone should have noticed.

"It doesn't surprise me at all. We have been quite organized on the internet for decades. It was how the General Strike had been so devastating, and how the Junta successfully couped the Empire. Princess Xue told me that before the tanks even came, militias of young men had already taken control of key targets and cities - effectively paralyzing her mother."

"That's ridiculous Albert? The internet? Seriously?"

"Where do you think angry young men retreat into to fantasize endlessly about destroying the world that wronged them? Of course, to the darkest corners of the internet."

Adelaide finally spoke up.

"Indeed, we noted it for quite a while now. The internet is men's unregulated space. Though, I didn't know such a thing was happening."

"Of course you wouldn't. You would not dig deep into some obscure forum of deranged men calling for nuclear revolution when you're living a nice life."

The two fell silent, Amelie completely stopping her lovely tea-sipping routine. All this time, she had been looking at the newspapers and ministerial reports to see how young men were acting.

When they were on the internet?

"In any case, that's why Princess Xue needs this help. She believes that unless every moderate monarch banded together, the world would fall into regimes created by men hell-bent on swinging the pendulum - violently, to the other side."

Amelie, as expected, did not like the sound of that very much.