Legend - Vol. 13 Ch. 76

[Tonytakanawa]

Was hoping they would sign over one port to the empire. Maybe even make it a "shared city" instead of signing it over in entirety.

That could have avoided the war in its entirety. All they had to do was lose something that is likely to be lost anyway (even if they beat back the army, odds are enough cities will be pillaged and enough ppl will die, to be a city or two's worth. And that is if things go well).
While it has been proven irl that appeasement strategies don't work against power-hungry despots, in this case it is very clearly established that all the empire truly wants is access to the sea. So rather than appeasement, it is changing the cost-benefit analysis of war on empire's side by removing the demand that has made a war worthwhile, while only taking a minor loss of territory to avoid large losses of infrastructure, human resources, and probably territory too (the kingdom is the underdog, barring mc shenanigans it's obvious the empire would win eventually either way, so long as it is still worth it for them to force the issue).

It was established when the empire was introduced that it is an expansionist nation that has been swallowing up the surrounding smaller kingdoms. Furthermore, the empire already showed their aggression when targeting the child of the leader of the noble faction and highly skilled adventurers. The empire never left room for negotiations, they clearly sought to conquer.

 

[Goldenzeal]

I always feel that Storage skill is the second most important skill in Fantasy setting. The first being Communication or Language skill.

Communication and logistics are almost always so underrated. There's a reason why the printing press was such a huge invention.

Its very rare for any Fantasy, let alone Isekai to actually address these points.
I find it really nice that they acknowledge the fact that carrying around supplies is a huge deal.
At best you usually only get a mention that merchants would love to have said ability.

 

[Kaarme]

Fairly sure the empire wouldn't agree to such a trade, considering they have a vastly superior military that is bound to win if they decide to just take it anyway. Sure, the war will cost them, but less than trading away some territory that is already well-integrated with their logistical infrastructure and the subsequent need to build forts along a new border.

But yes, like I mentioned appeasement strategies doesn't really work normally. Only reason it could in this case is because once they have the port they want, doing a costly war will not be worth the loss of resources (specifically because iirc there was a huge forest between them full of monsters. So any territory they manage to conquer will be very difficult to hold, logistically cut off even for merchants in peace-time, and not really fulfilling any of their country's import demands - with the port only worth the effort because access to sea is huge).

Rather than trading territory for territory, I think asking the empire to provide some resource in return instead would be more reasonable and not likely to shift the cost-benefit analysis back to "war is cheaper". Like a portion of some production from some mine, or a promise of free food aid in some future famines, or the like.
This is also why I mentioned having the port as a "shared city", as signing it over entirely is not quite worth it if empire gives nothing in return (but kingdom needs to balance what they give and what they demand in return, such that the superpower doesn't decide to just squash them under their boots).

War is a beast that wasn't born in a single day. The empire has been preparing for it for a long time. Once that runaway diesel train is on the move, there's no stopping it before it has exhausted itself. Both the world wars in our history were like that as well. It's a popular myth the Great War began with the assassination incident in Sarajevo, but historians have always said the whole Europe was nothing but a giant powder keg ready for war, only waiting for someone to light the fuse. Another popular myth is that Hitler saved and rebuilt the whole German economy, but historians, again, point out that the Third Reich economy was simply prepared for a massive war of conquest, and it depended on it to keep going. So, both of the worst wars in human history didn't began by coincidence, and all the appeasement was utterly pointless.

 

[feha]

It was established when the empire was introduced that it is an expansionist nation that has been swallowing up the surrounding smaller kingdoms. Furthermore, the empire already showed their aggression when targeting the child of the leader of the noble faction and highly skilled adventurers. The empire never left room for negotiations, they clearly sought to conquer.

Was it not also stablished that the nations were separated by an unconquerable forest of monsters? And thus that any land they manage to take will be islands unto themselves and nearly impossible to keep if done at large scale (well, unless mc joined the empire with his Storage, I guess)?

War is a beast that wasn't born in a single day. The empire has been preparing for it for a long time. Once that runaway diesel train is on the move, there's no stopping it before it has exhausted itself. Both the world wars in our history were like that as well. It's a popular myth the Great War began with the assassination incident in Sarajevo, but historians have always said the whole Europe was nothing but a giant powder keg ready for war, only waiting for someone to light the fuse. Another popular myth is that Hitler saved and rebuilt the whole German economy, but historians, again, point out that the Third Reich economy was simply prepared for a massive war of conquest, and it depended on it to keep going. So, both of the worst wars in human history didn't began by coincidence, and all the appeasement was utterly pointless.

So you agree? Appeasement doesn't work, and you need to target the economic reasons for it instead. Relying on a combination of being less tasty than their other neighbours (ie. by giving over the thing that forces a war) and the natural defence that is a nearly impassable forest of monsters (or more specifically, how it means they can't setup a large-scale logistics chain to profit of the conquered land, or hold it long-term, unless they keep it small).

 

[Kaarme]

Was it not also stablished that the nations were separated by an unconquerable forest of monsters? And thus that any land they manage to take will be islands unto themselves and nearly impossible to keep if done at large scale (well, unless mc joined the empire with his Storage, I guess)?

So you agree? Appeasement doesn't work, and you need to target the economic reasons for it instead. Relying on a combination of being less tasty than their other neighbours (ie. by giving over the thing that forces a war) and the natural defence that is a nearly impassable forest of monsters (or more specifically, how it means they can't setup a large-scale logistics chain to profit of the conquered land, or hold it long-term, unless they keep it small).

Generally speaking countries don't attack stronger opponents, unless there are extraneous circumstances. Hitler thought, famously, that the Soviet Union is a rotten house that collapses internally when pushed hard enough. Otherwise he wouldn't have attacked. Like he confessed to Mannerheim, he never could have imagined strong the USSR was. On paper the Soviet Union already looked stronger than Germany, Hitler and enough of the German high command just didn't believe it to be the case in practice, after the USSR failed to occupy Finland. In this series' case, handing over a valuable part of territory would make the kingdom look weaker (low morale to make them give up before a single arrow has been shot) and naturally they would become weaker literally if they ceded valuable territory. It's the worst mistake in international politics to look weak or always ready for disadvantageous negotiations in front of a bully.

 

[W1770W]

Thanks for the update !