I think we all just found out why the royal family got deposed by the rest of the Mikaboshi.
The Mikaboshi royal family fully intended on launching a war, no matter how the Irishima talks went. I say this because demanding Chiaki be turned over, who is said to be “the very heart” of the Soga and the system they’ve built, would essentially be tantamount to consenting to political regime change in Japan, which the Mikaboshi must have known would be an absolute non-starter.
I suspect that the average citizen of Shokoku doesn’t care about Chiaki at all, and only want control of their resources (datenseki), security guarantees (from the Soga and Japanese government), and possible reparations for being stuck at the bottom of the ocean for a thousand years (negotiating for land). All of these, I think, are very fair starting points for negotiating a peaceful coexistence.
It’s notable that it was really only two royals and soldiers who came to represent the Mikaboshi, and the king is there to “bear witness,” not participate in negotiation, which one could say is beneath his position. It doesn’t look like there are any aides, advisors, or ambassadors, which to me, signals that it’s possible that not everyone on Shokoku is aware of this meeting or agrees with the demand for Chiaki. I suspect that if we see things behind the scenes on the Mikaboshi side, there will be people in prominent positions who feel that the royal family intentionally made war inevitable at Irishima and have no interest in sending their kids to die in a war or being complicit in the sexual exploitation of a young woman. It is really significant that in this first real encounter between the two governments, Ariu came out on the offensive, because it demonstrates that the Mikaboshi royal family wanted to test their strength against Japanese/Soga forces, ultimately looking to escalate into armed conflict by creating a pretext for launching an invasion.
I don’t like that the Mikaboshi royal family demanded that Chiaki be handed over to be abused, but to me there is no reason to believe that Hokazano is going to ret-con and portray every citizen of Shokoku as bloodthirsty rapists. Considering that we know that they turn on the royal family and ultimately depose them in order to enter peace talks with Japan (because it was the royal family who led the invasion as per chapter 72), I think it’s fair to assume that there are several Mikaboshi who are about to be very annoyed and disgusted when they find out about the request for Chiaki and begin to privately question the royal family's judgement.
It’s also clear that so far, no one intends on handing Chiaki over, because morals aside, capitulating to the first set of demands wouldn’t guarantee that Japan would be left alone in the future, nor would it fix the gap in their military capabilities. I’m privately hoping that Shiba becomes her full-time bodyguard and keeps teleporting her around, but I suspect based on Akemura deciding that surrender wasn’t enough that things will get worse.
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