I Became The Leader Of A Revolution In A Romance Fantasy

< Chapter 28: Evil Spirits of the Old World – 1 >

The blade of the Great Depression had not only slaughtered the Republic.

From the United States across the sea to many other neighboring countries of the ‘Old World’, an unprecedented recession had crushed the entire world.

And when my life was screwed, everyone else became mean-spirited too.

#

The Republic was a defeated nation.

Count Eugene Albert Wulfric Hastings had distinguished himself as a war hero, in a war that had started and ended long before I found myself in this body.

After losing the war miserably, the Republic had been burdened with a huge reparation and bound by numerous regulations.

This was the mess left by the royal family and the nobility.

The revolutionary government, which had risen like the sun to greet the Red Dawn, wanted to cut ties with those bastards, saying, “We don’t know those guys.”

However, they were aware that if they did, the victorious countries, with their eyes rolled back, would immediately lash out.

So, despite muttering curses, they stayed quiet. Surprisingly, those bastards self-combusted first.

One day, a bill arrived at the Republic’s doorstep.

– Wishing for your nation’s eternal development.

– Pay up, you bastards. The end.

The Republic fell into a state of panic.

###

Had I mentioned that the congressmen of this country did not see themselves as representatives of the people?

In the first place, the representative democracy of the Republic was a hybrid awkwardly grafted onto an environment with no understanding of ‘democracy’.

They did not understand the concept of sovereignty belonging to the people, and the people did not know what that meant either.

官設人爲 (For the people, officials are established).

In other words, those who believed they had created positions for the winners of the revolution (an event everyone understood as a ‘coup’) also made up a significant portion of the revolutionaries.

Because of this.

When a national crisis struck, they mirrored the actions of the past royal family and nobility.

Instead of uniting the public, they gathered in secret rooms.

If those above made the decisions, the lower ones just had to follow; why would they dare to sit at the same table?

#

A congressman slammed the table.

“Let’s ignore it. Why should we bear the kingdom’s debt in the first place!”

Many eyes fell on him.

The unspoken spiritual pressure granted by the gold badge crushed the thoughtless man.

“Ah, that, that is…”

He, who had been flapping like a fish, shrank powerlessly as if he were being dragged into the deep sea as the pressure increased.

Roche, the Royalist congressman and father of Camille Roche, sighed.

He had the knack of conveying a rather lengthy message with just his eyes: ‘Do I really have to discuss important state affairs with this mackerel bastard?’

Indeed, his seasoned demeanor was that of an anglerfish accustomed to the deep-sea pressure since the old kingdom days.

(It would have been better if we had competed with spiritual pressure instead of national power on the battlefield, but unfortunately, this isn’t the Soul Society.)

He took off his glasses and wiped the lenses.

Then, he spoke nonchalantly.

“Everyone gathered here is a congressman. Let’s put away the populist propaganda. It’s a waste of time.”

“Congressman Roche is right. The Republic saying it won’t inherit the Kingdom’s debt—surely no one thinks that will be taken seriously in diplomacy, right?”

There it was.

The Royalists’ characteristic sneer: ‘Look at these pathetic bastards.’

Indeed, our Revolutionary congressmen, who knew nothing about diplomacy, felt utterly deflated. Diplomacy in this era was akin to the family-transmitted divine skills of a few diplomatic noble families.

While I agreed that ‘Why should we repay the Kingdom’s debt, waaaah!’ was too childish a thought,

As a ‘Revolution Mom’, I had the duty to slap those bastards who were demoralizing our kids.

Couldn’t I already feel the pitiful gazes of these idiots looking at me tearfully?

‘What a pain.’

“Those who messed up diplomacy, waged war, and brought the country to ruin shouldn’t be talking about diplomacy.”

“?!”

“We reattached your heads, but that doesn’t mean we granted you absolution. So keep your conscience in check.”

With a single jab, the Royalists were aghast, and our kids switched to loyalty mode, shouting ‘Leader!’ and ‘Your Excellency!’

Luckily, there wasn’t anyone tactless enough to point out that I, too, was one of those with ‘blue blood’ who had brought the country to ruin.

Thank goodness.

“Phew.”

I pressed my forehead.

Just because the Royalists were subdued and our kids were panting with loyalty didn’t mean the massive reparation bill before us would disappear.

Our kids were clueless, and the victorious countries weren’t any better.

In the first place, the reparation amount was unrealistic.

It was just a way to vent anger and appease domestic public sentiment.

‘Even considering the Kingdom’s best times, the amount exceeds five times the GDP. Are they insane?’

As someone from the future, I could say, ‘Haha, humanity has always made progress through such foolishness. Haha!’ but…

As an isekai hero who had to live in this primitive romance fantasy world, I couldn’t handle it.

I crossed my arms and fell into thought.

‘The storyline is steadily moving towards the Great War.’

The Old World, plunged into chaos by the Great Depression.

A defeated nation that lost in an all-out battle for survival, and on the other hand, countless voices shouting, “Why us?! We are the victors!”

They clearly won.

They were supposed to reap huge reparations and heal all the war wounds!

Instead, the citizens of the victorious countries were beginning to experience a country they had never seen before.

The grim reaper called the economy was screwing every country equally.

‘And as all that pent-up discontent exploded towards the defeated nations, harsher and more retaliatory measures began to follow…’

Enduring those tantrums, the Republic, already in domestic chaos, completely disintegrated, plunging into a civil war and turning into powder.

Other defeated countries defied the treaties and declared non-compliance.

……And thus, the powder kegs leading to the Great War were accumulating.

The problem was that it wasn’t the right time for that yet.

“They’re presenting the bill faster than I expected.”

Apparently, the New Deal policy, which was not part of the original plot, had an effect.

Seeing that, the victorious countries must have thought, ‘Wait, do these bastards have money for that?’

Ah, what to do?

I racked my brain.

Not that it would bring any new ideas.

While the male protagonist in this romance fantasy likely didn’t have a baldness gene, I felt like I was on the verge of physical baldness from the stress.

At that moment, Visenya was in her usual ‘completely focused mode, ignoring everyone else’, crouched like a cat.

After staring at the documents for a while, she spoke.

“Hmm, the victorious countries aren’t unified in their stance.”

“?

Everyone looked at Visenya with eyes that said, ‘What does that mean?’

Including me.

The original second part of the synopsis didn’t mention anything like this.

Visenya started pointing out numbers as she flipped through the pages.

“While the total amount of reparations is a fixed value determined by the post-war treaty, the contents of the bills presented by each country this time differ. There are slight variations in the repayment methods.”

Congressman Roche hesitantly asked.

“With all due respect, Princess, what does it matter if there are differences in repayment methods? Didn’t you say the total amount remains the same?”

At that, there were exclamations of “Princess! Princess!” and “These feudalists!” but I lightly raised my hand to silence everyone.

Then, I leaned towards Visenya.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Even if satisfying all the victorious countries is impossible, perhaps we could negotiate with each country individually.”

As all eyes focused on her, Visenya, in her usual manner, began to show off her dazzling gaze.

I ignored her posturing and stared at the documents.

And my conclusion was…

“……It’s worth a try.”

Divide and Conquer.

Separate and conquer.

#

In the original second part, the new government of the Republic did not have Visenya Andrastra.

She was sealed away, wasting her talents in some tragic, destitute state.

And ‘I’ wasn’t there either.

With these two variables in play, a new path opened for the Republic, which had been accelerating towards ruin under an unmanageable debt.

I began to explain the plan to the congressmen in front of me.

“First of all, let’s get this clear. We absolutely cannot repay this.”

“……”

“But Congressman Visenya is right. The victorious countries each have different needs. This is due to the varying political and economic situations in each country.”

I propped my chin up and fell into thought.

“Some countries insist on receiving immediate payment in gold. There’s no room for compromise with them. Let’s exclude them. On the other hand, some countries…”

I circled around some key countries on the list of victorious nations and chose my words carefully.

“…might be open to a more ‘realistic compromise.'”

“But as long as there are countries demanding immediate payment in gold…”

“We need to divide them.”

I dismissed the timid objection.

“From a thoroughly subordinate position, we’ll say, ‘We have brought forth these alternatives, but unless the victorious countries reach an agreement among themselves, we cannot proceed with repayment. You hold the knife, not us.’ With this logic, we pass the ball to them.”

In reality, it was a situation where everyone knew that repayment was impossible.

Those demanding immediate gold payment could be divided into two groups:

1. Those with extremely strong domestic public opinion, who would prefer to tear the Republic apart if they couldn’t get the money.

2. Those who were simply too desperate.

Unfortunately, there was no way to satisfy these two groups.

‘In that case, we need to engage the countries that, while acknowledging the impracticality of the previous war treaty, still want to reap the benefits of victory.’

“Are they satisfied with simply carving up the goose that doesn’t lay golden eggs for a little meat? Or will they pursue long-term benefits through a new agreement? What we need to do is propose a new repayment plan to the countries willing to accept the latter…”

And then I roughly divided the list of victorious countries. The pen line across the paper split the list precisely in two.

“We will make the countries willing to accept the repayment plan fight against those who absolutely cannot.”

As long as the victorious countries remained a unified alliance, our negotiating power was too weak.

We had to find a way to split them and make them fight amongst themselves.

Creating the repayment plan could be left to economic experts. That meant the other half of this plan, the circus of dividing the international stage…

When I looked up, everyone in the hall was staring at me.

‘Shit.’

A bitter smile crept onto my face.

I leaned back in my chair.

And muttered, giving up on everything.

“Prepare for a business trip.”

Damn bastards.

Let’s get past this war.

I’m retiring without a second thought.

The Mediterranean villa I planned to build later flashed before my eyes like a dream.