Published: January 4, 2026
“...I see.”
Watching Henry’s awe, I fell into a brief moment of contemplation.
I understood what Henry meant by “the nature of war is changing.”
“Wars are more troublesome because of the wounded soldiers.”
“Indeed. Treating and caring for the wounded requires dedicating personnel.”
“Tch, it’s far easier when they perish in battle.”
Henry silently bowed his head.
Of course, fewer deaths are always better.
But from a short-term perspective, the burden on the army is lighter with fallen soldiers than with wounded ones.
“As expected of Your Majesty. It took me a month after joining the Ministry of Military Affairs to understand this.”
“If these potions that instantly heal minor wounds could be mass-produced... how much would our combat strength increase?”
“...Even with a conservative estimate, threefold.”
Henry thought for a moment before stating it decisively.
Could it really increase that much... well, I suppose so.
Henry’s claim that “the nature of war is changing” was no joke.
I paused and first turned to face Jessica.
“Jessica.”
“Yes?”
“Make sure you keep that with you. According to imperial law, soldiers and officers on the front lines must not be transferred for private reasons under any circumstances. The empire is a ‘nation of warriors’; this must never be altered, no matter what.”
“...Yes.”
Sensing that I was about to say something, Jessica’s expression grew even more serious.
“You are my consort. No matter what pretext you use, it will be seen as a private reason. In other words...”
“Y-yes.”
“The next time you return will be either in triumph or in retreat.”
There is another possibility, that you might return as a corpse— but I left that unsaid.
“Of course, I hope for your triumphant return.”
“—Yes!”
“Do you truly understand?”
“Huh?”
Jessica nodded eagerly but then looked puzzled.
“The empire is a nation of warriors. That’s why the system was changed to allow appointing a consort like you as a commander. But ordinarily, such a change wouldn’t be necessary. Yet I made that change—why?”
“...”
Jessica stared at me solemnly, holding her breath.
“Because I believed in you. I changed it for your sake.”
“——!”
The atmosphere around Jessica visibly shifted.
She was already a formidable woman, but now that presence grew even stronger.
I was not mistaken.
☆
Jessica excused herself to arrange the formation of the direct subordinate unit, leaving just Henry and me.
Henry exhaled, looking at the door she had left through.
“Amazing, isn’t it?”
“Hm?”
“In that instant when Your Majesty spoke, it was as if she had trained for a year somewhere. That fighting spirit cannot be produced by ordinary humans.”
“She was born with it. I told her that’s why I changed the system.”
“Your Majesty’s skill in winning hearts and minds is truly remarkable, drawing that out from her.”
“That aside... let’s get back to the topic. We need to find a way to mass-produce the potions.”
“Yes.”
Henry nodded with an intense seriousness.
“It would have been better never to know about it, but once the existence is known...”
“Indeed.”
I pinched my chin, thinking.
“There was definitely a time in history when potions existed.”
“Yes.”
Henry nodded deeply.
I had known about healing magic, but I didn’t know about potions until I asked Henry.
Since Henry was so confident, it must be from some written record.
“Any clues on how to make them?”
Henry shook his head quietly.
“That figures. If there was, they’d have already tried to reproduce it.”
“Yes. Even investing the empire’s entire annual budget into research would be worthwhile. If only we had a clue.”
“It’s that valuable.”
Henry said, “Even conservatively, it would triple our combat strength.”
For the warrior nation constantly at war, this is the most important thing.
Henry mentioned the annual budget, but it’s worth risking the nation for this research.
Throughout history, countless emperors sought immortality and destroyed their countries and themselves in the process.