"Chen Si, we've gathered pretty much all the intelligence we can. Three days from now, an Eldia man who heads the Merchants' Guild will give a speech calling for equal status for the Eldia people and refugees. We might be able to win over the Eldia people on the Marley Continent and fight Marley together."
Erwin looked at Chen Si as he spoke.
"That's right. If we can get help from the Eldia people in Marley, perhaps they can pressure the Marley government and ease the pressure on Paradis Island," Hange agreed.
"Actually, I never brought you to Marley with any intention of pursuing peace. Peace simply can't be achieved through diplomacy and protests," Chen Si said, shaking his head.
"Chen Si, you're being too pessimistic. Over the past few days, I've found that plenty of people in Marley still harbor goodwill toward the Eldia people. If we can unite them, they'll become a powerful force that even Marley can't ignore. Once war breaks out, would Marley really insist on fighting without any regard for its own people's lives? That would give us room to maneuver."
Hange still clung to the hope of peace.
"Hange, you're underestimating Marley's ambition to rule the world. War with Marley is probably unavoidable. I heard from the clan chief in the refugee camp that, because Chen Si fed them false intelligence about our spies infiltrating Marley's system, the Marley military secretly executed over a thousand Eldia people. Even some Marleyans were imprisoned and only released recently."
"There's no question that we never sent spies into Marley. Yet the Marley military would still rather kill innocent people than let a single suspect slip away. They killed over a thousand Eldia people for no reason. They've also done everything they can to suppress the news. Only