On the narrow stage where a half-blood female goblin should have been singing, a chestnut-haired wizard, his face twisted with fanaticism, was furiously denouncing the United Kingdom and savaging the countries that had switched sides to Britain, drawing cheers from the wizards in the audience below.
"Gondofus, this isn't about my uncle..." Ian's fingers clenched tightly around his glass. "Shouldn't you know all this too? We had the upper hand before in the power struggle against my uncle's conservatives, but this time... just look at the television. We wanted to isolate the United Kingdom, but now we've ended up isolated ourselves... Those conservatives will use this to attack you."
"There were no small number of countries opposed to the United Kingdom before. If Britain can unite fence-sitters, then naturally we can unite those diehards who oppose it..." Gondofus said solemnly, as though he valued Ian's opinion a great deal. He leaned back in his chair, his fingers interlaced and resting comfortably in front of his chest. "Looking at it another way, with the countries excluded from their united front, the new alliance we form will be stronger and more reliable than the alliance we had before, when it included countries that weren't firm enough."
"But when so many countries united before to resist the United Kingdom, they still couldn't do anything to them. Let alone now. Even if we unite the remaining countries that were left out... sooner or later they'll pull away from us... In fact, they already have... cough, cough..." Ian tipped his head back again and gulped down a large mouthful of liquor. The sensation, as if he had been set on fire, made him choke.
As the liquid that had gone down his windpipe was forced out with his coughing, Ian sighed. Just as his sister