Preserving Strength

"Your Majesty, we just received word that some of the support vessels dispatched from the Mars Sphere have been intercepted by the Skywing Mercenary Group."

A staff officer whispered into Fadis's ear.

"Mm." Fadis nodded.

The staff officer continued in a low voice, "His Highness the Second Prince, Yelishao De, sent word that there are no more troops available to deploy. Aside from women and young children, nearly all the former Colony Sphere people captured back then have already been sent to the battlefield. There are no Dion Empire citizens left to mobilize either. If we deploy any more, we'll have to seize even the elderly over one hundred and fifty and send them to war."

"..." Fadis could only take a deep breath. He knew the Dion Empire's current situation better than anyone. It was a nation with fewer than five hundred million people.

The wars of recent years had seized many people, sending them to the battlefield as expendable assets and reducing the casualties among their nation's soldiers.

But in the wars of recent years, many of their own soldiers had also died.

The Dion Empire's population had plummeted to around two hundred million. Of those two hundred million, children under twelve, seniors over one hundred and fifty, and women accounted for eighty percent. The remaining twenty percent still had to remain on the homeland to maintain government operations, industrial operations, and so on.

If they transferred any more people over, even the entire nation's operations might face problems, because the homeland's population structure was already barely functioning.

Fadis looked at the hesitant staff officer beside him and said, "What else is there? Speak quickly."

"His Highness the Second Prince requests that Your Majesty end the war as soon as possible, preferably before June. If this continues, the