What do you mean, I see no problems whatsoever with this perfectly rational writing:
"- Let's have a duel!
- Sure
- btw there's no duel, kill yourself or lose
- Guess I'll lose then
- Great, now a completely unrelated property of a different person is mine"
Also I'd assume invading territory of a high-ranking noble of the kingdom (and kidnapping his staff member) would constitute an act of war, but I guess the story has become far too retarded for such measly things. How far the mighty have fallen, it's a shadow of its former self, and definitely not because of the new artist.
This arc continues to be so ridiculous that it's really hard to get emotionally invested in it. It doesn't help that Lord Pierre is so comically evil in every chapter. It's sad how poor the writing has been in this sequel, compared to the original series. In the original, Leon's weird personality was the only significant oddity to stomach (as long as you accepted the twisted game setting), but in this sequel there's so much logically and otherwise wrong.
the other guy is right. though he forgot one tiny thing that makes it the Republic CAN'T be ignored on the "world stage". yes, while defending the giant Tree boosts them and their ships become stronger than the enemy. They also are FILTHY rich, so their technology is top of the line. Only Luxion has better weapons, ships... tech in general.
Now, WHY, are they filthy rich? in the previous manga, it was noticed, certain rocks act as energy sources. The Republic sit on a ridiculous deposit of it. But they don't need it. because the Tree acts as their energy source. So they sell it to the other nations. who can't get it from someplace else... unless they decided to break flying islands. which means give up land to colonize. It's the fucking Arabian Peninsula oil of our world on steroids...
What other nations going to do? not buy from them? okay. you lose a vital energy source while your other enemies keep buying, and suddenly you get left behind in trade, tax, population... your people suffer from prices increasing all the while, the 3rd enemy who keeps buying, gets stronger. The republic doesn't even need to go on the offense, because of how politics work.
but it's fine. it's not like stuff wasn't skipped from the LN to move the plot faster. nuance points get skipped~~