191: If I say it's you, then it's not you, but it is you.

Aquila V01.01, Thousand-Face Peak Space City,

The heart of the Lacray Empire, inside the Imperial Council Chamber.

At today's Imperial administrative meeting, the Emperor who represented the supreme authority of the entire empire, Vladimir Lacray, sat in the main seat with a gloomy face.

The atmosphere in the entire Council Chamber was exceptionally heavy—

Just one day ago, the Imperial Navy received a sector-wide broadcast distress signal, which clearly stated that Cetus V66.66 was under attack by unknown forces.

Cetus V66.66, as the border intersection sector for the Empire, The Consortium, and the Democratic Alliance, was an incredibly prosperous transit system and a trade hub with massive throughput.

That system, one could say, was one of the Empire's biggest cash cows.

Customs duties, business taxes, transit taxes... the annual tax revenue it provided to the Empire could match the combined yearly output of dozens of key star systems.

But now, it was lost—that system which could continuously grow energy currency as long as it was held in hand was lost!

This felt worse to him than losing an entire border sector!

After all, the latter was just a hot potato; besides adding a stroke to the Empire's bloated territory or being granted as a "reward," it couldn't bring any positive returns.

Oh, wait, it still had some use; after all, the Empire had a Taxation Department that was practically a conceptual god.

They could always collect the annual taxes from places that seemed so poor not a drop of oil could be squeezed out.

(As for why it was so poor, never mind that.)

But the former was a true prime location, more core than the core itself!

They fucking blew it up!

Thinking of this, Vladimir couldn't help but slam the armrest of his chair with a "Bang!", startling everyone present.

"Is everyone here?"

He looked around the room; every seat that should be occupied was filled, and those that shouldn't be... why were they occupied too?

Oh, wait, those were recorders.

Anyway, after confirming that all key attendees were in place, Vladimir pressed a button at his side.

Just like countless times before, a document appeared before every attendee, and was also projected onto the large screen in the center of the Council Chamber—

It was an assessment of the situation in Cetus V66.66, synthesized from multiple sources of intelligence.

A Follower of the Imperial Religion, after gesturing to Vladimir, stood in the center of the chamber, bowed slightly to the surroundings, pointed at the document, and said:

"Everyone, I will now begin explaining this document."

"First, the first part: Cetus V66.66 sent out a distress signal yesterday."

"This communication mentioned that the entire system was attacked by unknown forces,"

"Following the attack, a massive spacequake erupted across that entire area,"

"We haven't confirmed the magnitude of this spacequake yet, but reports of an unusually large spacequake were also received from Cetus V66.65, three light-years away."

"Additionally, the report mentioned the appearance of an unknown arthropod-like creature in Cetus V66.66, and included images,"

"Based on comparisons, it can be confirmed that these are the creatures now named 'Void Insects' from the Ursa Major V12.22 incident."

"Therefore, we can currently confirm that the attackers detonated a super-high-yield void fission bomb in Cetus V66.66."

"Stop for a moment."

Suddenly, Vladimir interrupted the Follower, who immediately nodded again and stood still.

Vladimir leaned forward slightly, questioning no one in particular,

He said:

"A high-yield fission bomb,"

"To cause a spacequake that reaches three light-years away, at least three to four cubic meters of void energy are required."

"Tell me, without some kind of connection, how exactly did void energy—which is strictly controlled by every regime—end up in the hands of those attackers?"

"What do you all think?"

Immediately, Kelaifu, who had just returned to his position as Minister of Military Affairs, stood up to declare his stance:

"Report!"

"I have a theory!"

Vladimir wore an "apt pupil" expression and asked in return:

"Oh? Tell me, what is your theory?"

Vladimir said immediately:

"I believe this is the signal for The Consortium to launch a full-scale war against us!"

"First, being able to pull out four cubic meters of void energy at once to make a bomb is unacceptable for any regime outside the Six Major Powers,"

"The void energy reserves of most small regimes might only be a pitiful few thousand or even a few hundred cubic meters."

"So,"

"We can conclude that this super-high-yield fission bomb was provided by one of the six major regimes—or perhaps even deployed by them."

"And the only one in direct conflict with the Empire is The Consortium."

"Thus, your subject believes this is the casus belli The Consortium has given the Empire."

Vladimir was very satisfied to hear Kelaifu say this.

Exactly; from the start, he didn't want to catch the real culprit, but to pin the blame on The Consortium.

And his question to those below was about how to pin that blame on them elegantly.

But he still furrowed his brows and said,

"No, Kelaifu, your explanation is too far-fetched."

"We must prioritize the overall situation of humanity; we cannot go to war with an ally without a precise reason."

Kelaifu did not hesitate and answered directly:

"Your Majesty, your subject believes this is the truth."

"Furthermore, the moment the distress signal was sent, The Consortium issued a notice for a joint investigation to us, with the reason being merely the inconvenient 'impact' caused to their border systems."

"Your subject believes this was a long-premeditated attack by The Consortium."

Vladimir asked again:

"But don't forget, the Order Grand Ceremony just ended, and the Military Alliance's attention hasn't been fully redirected yet."

"How can you guarantee that the Military Alliance won't intervene like last time?"

Kelaifu puffed out his chest and said confidently:

"Your Majesty, your subject can take full responsibility for this matter."

"First, the Military Alliance's philosophy is to protect humanity, not to protect The Consortium."

"From the big picture, it was The Consortium that first provoked the conflict and massacred the humans of an entire star system,"

"Thus, from the fundamental philosophy of the Military Alliance, The Consortium's existence has become an error."

"Though I don't know what on earth their Marshal was thinking to come up with such a stupid method of retaliation,"

"But they just set up some kind of Joint Supervision at the Order Grand Ceremony, and with that alone, they've offended the Military Alliance to the core."

"In addition—"

"The Warp Engines capable of stable production that we just acquired."

"While the Military Alliance has Void Bubble Engines, those are few after all; most of their active Warships are actually on par with the normal fleet level of the Imperial Navy."

"So—there's no need to worry about the Military Alliance's attitude."

"As long as we show enough sincerity, they won't mind letting us give The Consortium a little lesson on their behalf."

"Besides, even if the incident at Cetus wasn't actually done by The Consortium—"

"Can't we just make it so their Joint Action Fleet launches an attack on us?"

"..."

Listening to Kelaifu's confident rhetoric, Vladimir suddenly laughed.

He said with a smile:

"Good!"

"Then I'll leave this matter to you to investigate!"

"Be sure to give the Empire an 'explanation'!"

"Yes!"

...