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How would you destabilize an enemy country without making it obvious?

That was the question Christina posed suddenly once we were done discussing magic devices. It took me a bit by surprise since serious topics like that are rather uncommon for her.

“Huh? Why do you ask?”
“There’s this country to the west of Seperion, now called the Belromot Republic.”

I remember hearing that name. It’s a small country to the west where a revolution occurred two years ago, and now it’s ruled by the people. I haven’t really heard the best stories after that though.

According to Christina, they used to be good allies of Seperion, but now they were trying to cut ties.

“Belromot has completely turned around and is trying to stand against Seperion, and they’ve started trying to get the other surrounding countries to join them with that.”
“Would that even work though? There’s only small countries around there, so even if they all rally up against us, they’re basically committing indirect suicide.”
“Yes, but it seems that Sacred Granleuche was pulling the strings behind the scenes, and now I keep hearing about refugees from Belromot seeking asylum in other countries.”

Sacred Granleuche is located across the small countries like Belromot, and is an actual enemy of Seperion.

Ohh I see, they’ve been trying to clear the way to get to Seperion.

With that in mind, it’s easy to suspect there’s agents from Granleuche posing as refugees too. I’d bet on it even. When I mention it, Christina nods agreeing with me.

“Anyway, it’s not really something that’s part of my duties, but I was wondering what you would do if you wanted to accomplish what they’re trying to do.”

Hmm, to Berlomot, the neighboring countries are just as powerful as themselves, considering they’re all small. That also means they can’t do anything too excessive, but if Granleuche is the one behind it all…

“I would try to pocket the crime organizations or corrupt leaders of those countries, then start drugs to flood their market and introduce various deceptive schemes. And since the goal is to impoverish the country, I’d just ignore general economics to spread everything as far and evenly through the entire country as I can. That way the local government won’t be able to put an end to everything at the same time, they’ll bleed money, public safety will worsen, and so will public sentiment about the government.”

Well known tactics like pyramid schemes were outlawed in my past life and lost their appeal, but in this world I haven’t heard of other people being aware of them. Even if someone gets the idea eventually, I doubt it’ll be considered illegal right away.

I’m not going to do that myself though.

“Sometimes I’m terrified of your ideas.”
“I thought you wanted to hear something like that though.”

We both laugh a bit after that.

Still, I don’t know much about politics. I have no way of knowing if that plan would actually work, and a lot of resources and previous planning would be needed to carry it out.

“Look at the time, I wonder if the Young Lady is doing alright?”
“They’re with Plum, so I doubt they’ll get lost.”
“Will Plum be able to stay active for long enough though?”
“She’s always carrying some of the mana dust you gifted her when we graduated, so she can just use that if her mana levels go too low.”

I guess she’ll be okay then.

We visit a bunch of stores, but none are carrying any Treant wood.

“That shop was the last one.”

Plum tells us with a monotone voice. I knew there can’t be many stores in a city this small, but I didn’t think they’d all be out of it. Even Clarissa and the rest are baffled at it.

“The only place I can think of that might have some is the lumberyard. All of the trees that are felled nearby are gathered there, so maybe we can find a Treant that hasn’t been sold off to stores yet.”

The probability is a bit low, but Plum is right. It should be worth it to check at least.

Plum guides us to the outskirts of the city, where the lumberyard is located. There’s a large pile of fallen trees which towers outside the yard’s outer wall, and can be seen even from the road.

All of the lumber of the Barnard territory is gathered in the lumberyard, so there’s plenty of people working there, which is obvious from the overlapping rhythms of axes chopping wood, and their voices along with them. However, the voices I hear seem slightly off.

As I try to figure out why I get that feeling, I see one of the tree logs start to get up, which has three holes on its trunk, almost like a pair of eyes and a mouth.

“Lady Olivia, that’s a Treant. It seems to have just been felled.”
“Ohh I see. Though I wouldn’t call it-”

The Treant is already reduced to a bare log, but fresh branches and leaves quickly grow from it, which shake violently as it lets out a roar inside the lumberyard.

I look through the gates and see a large group of workers running away from the Treant.

“Someone call the guards or soldiers! We need to take it down!”

Just as I assumed, the Treant is trying to fight, so the whole lumberyard is in chaos.

“Boss, Claire will go.”
“!”

Clarissa is ready to fight, and Akane, who’s on my shoulder, also wants to do it. I look up and Erika also nods. We’ve all been lacking some action lately anyway, so might as well do what we can.

“Helloo, I’m an adventurer. We could defeat it if you want?”
“Y-You are?!”

I call to one of the men rushing out of the lumberyard.

“Well, me and these girls.”
“Ghaaaaaaaa! There’s even more monsters!!”
“Don’t worry! They’re all my Servants!”

I somehow manage to calm the hysterical employee, and eventually he gives us permission to enter the premises so we can defeat the monster.

“I’ll go tell everyone to evacuate and give you more space then.”
“Yes please. Now let’s do this everyone!”
“Awoo!”
“!”
“Shaaaa!”

We leave Plum behind and everyone else follows my orders, getting ready for combat.

“Grawrrr!”

Akane jumps off, while Clarissa turns back into wolf form and lunges at the enormous tree monster, clawing away at its trunk.

That makes the Treant shift its attention to us, growing long spear-like branches that fly towards us, but Erika’s sickle-like tentacles cut them down, and the mouth-like ones bite through them, stopping all the branches.

Erika then spits out acid in return, which splashes on the Treant’s trunk and makes a sizzling noise as white smoke starts billowing out.

“Erika, don’t dissolve it! The wood is a present for Natalia!”
“Sha, Shaa!”

If we lose too much of the wood, we’ll lose the only Treant we found in the entire city. Erika seems to understand that, as she interrupts her next acid shot.

The Treant remains on the ground, where it starts to roll and move away from us, heading to the area where Plum and the evacuees are located.

“Plum!”

I turn around and watch Plum stop the rolling Treant.

While her construction isn’t the most elaborate, she’s still based on Natalia’s blueprints, making her considerably strong. Natalia is still stronger, but Plum is definitely many times stronger than a child of her size would be.

But her resistance doesn’t last for too long, as a moment later her knees give out and she falls.

“It seems I’ve run out of mana. I’ve moved too much today.”
“I’ll be there in a bit!”
“Don’t worry.”

I try to run there, but Plum’s voice is perfectly calm even in this situation, and she stops me.

Then she brings out a small bottle, filled with a glittery blue powder which she drinks in one go.

“Mana replenished. Moving to counterattack.”

Plum regains her strength and raises a leg to kick the Treant with all her force, pushing it back.

Then the Treant tries to get up, but Akane unleashes a hail of rocks onto it, stopping it from moving.

After that Clarissa lunges onto the Treant, pushing it down to the ground to maul it with her sharp fangs. Then there’s a short burst of light in her mouth, her breath attacking hitting the Treant from point blank and splitting it in two..

The Treant’s upper and lower halves roll independently, wriggling around in desperation for a bit before remaining still.

“Incredible! Are you a monster tamer?”
“No, I’m a mage…warrior¹?”

1. Robinxen: No seriously… they have a point… your identity is a mess.