Handling Matters After the Battle

"In short, that's more or less the situation. Do you understand?"

Duanmu Huai finished explaining everything he knew, while Yargard sat dumbly on the throne with a look of utter shock, as though he felt he was dreaming.

"I'm sorry, Inquisitor Lord, but I don't really understand... No, I suppose I do understand... But..."

For a moment, Yargard didn't know what to say. Euphilia, on the other hand, appeared quite calm.

"So it's equivalent to us discovering an unknown village within the Paretia Kingdom... Is that right?"

"Primitive Village."

Duanmu Huai corrected Euphilia's choice of words.

"To be honest, the Systems Alliance is far more powerful than you. Even the Demon King Army isn't their match. Even if you want to resist, I guarantee you won't come out of it well."

"But perhaps we could sign a nonaggression treaty, or negotiate something like autonomy..."

"No."

Duanmu Huai shook his head.

"Why?"

"It's simple. If thieves from the Paretia Kingdom attacked that Primitive Village and killed everyone inside, would you take responsibility or not?"

"..."

Yargard understood now.

"The barrier cast by the Demon King blocked this planet off for a thousand years. Although the Systems Alliance generally leans toward pacifism, it still has bandits and criminals. And unfortunately, because the Systems Alliance is far more powerful than you, even a criminal organization would be enough to bomb Pareitia Royal City three or five times over. To take it a step further, suppose a wanted criminal from the Systems Alliance hid on this planet and threatened the Alliance with the lives of this world's people, saying that they would kill everyone here if the Alliance came. Do you think the Systems Alliance would intervene or not?"

"...That is indeed troublesome."

Putting himself in their shoes, Yargard realized that this really was