The World is Full of Fools

Ōnoki had always believed that farmers simply worked the land. But after seeing Peach Country's agricultural model, he realized just how shallow his understanding had been.

After also hearing about the free education and healthcare policies a few days earlier, Ōnoki finally understood why Peach Country had risen so rapidly in just a few decades.

Shiraishi Yoshijo was ruthless and brutal toward outsiders, yet generous and benevolent within his own country. Even though the people of Peach Country knew that their emperor was riddled with flaws, they still loved and supported him, because Shiraishi Yoshijo truly was an enlightened ruler.

Ōnoki also understood why Peach Country's finances had always seemed so weak. It was only because Shiraishi Yoshijo had spent all the money on building the nation, while the Daimyos paid no attention to the people's livelihoods. They only knew how to compete with the Daimyos of other countries, preferring to hoard the treasury's money rather than spend it on the people.

Obsessed with bloodlines, obsessed with reputation, obsessed with land, obsessed with power, obsessed with pleasure—how foolish, and how tragic!

If the Daimyos were like this, what could the country possibly become? It could only drift slowly like a tranquil river, looking exactly the same for thousands upon thousands of years, never changing in the slightest.

Yet there would always come a day when a river flowed into the sea. Peach Country had shattered the river's calm with raging waves, showing it what the world truly looked like. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

The seawater flowed backward into the river, and the river ran in reverse. That was what they called the tide of the times.

Perhaps Peach Country did not need to attack the Land of Earth at all. As long as it steadily developed the Land