Five days later, in St. Petersburg, Ruthenia Empire. Alexander was in his office reading correspondence from various ministries. A daily job that he is getting bored with However, escaping responsibility is not always easy, especially for the man who is the head of state of the growing empire.

The workload has increased due to short-term war where countries that wage war on the Ruthenia Empire are seeking dialogue and formalities with Alexander. It would be best if he can find a replacement for Sevastian but finding one with the same qualities as him, except for dishonesty and treacherousness is like finding a needle in the hay of needles.

He propped his head with his hand as he sifted through all the papers that needed checking. His train of thought of him reading it was interrupted by a knock on the door and a voice from behind.

"Your Majesty," a voice belonging to a man sounded from behind.

Alexander recognized the voice, as he is hearing it every day. It was the Chief of Staff of the Imperial Guards, Rolan.

"Come in," Alexander said without looking up. Rolan entered the room and stood in front of his desk.

Alexander spoke. "What brings you here, Rolan? Can I help you with something?"

Rolan shook his head and said. "I am actually here to give you this letter,"

Alexander hummed and took the letter from Rolan and read it. The letter belonged to Sergei, delivered from a Senegal post. According to its content, Sergei had successfully made contact with the locals and its representative. Sergei told the representative about their intention for the land and the people and gave them one week to decide."It's been thirteen days since Sergei left St. Petersburg. And the letter was written five days ago. This means the Senegalese people only have two days to make their decision. Whenever I read a report like this it makes me feel like the Ruthenia Empire is growing," Alexander said.

"Why do they need a week to decide when they could've decided when they were offered. They are not going to lose anything, in fact, they are going to gain a lot from the annexation."

"Well, Rolan, they are going to lose something…Their country," Alexander corrected. "The moment they sign the papers, the land that belonged to them will belong to us. They'll be stripped away of the identity they culminated for a hundred years. But despite me, saying all that, I am not feeling any guilt or remorse about it. Maybe, the world is just unfair that things won't go your way. But I'll be lenient with them. They can still call themselves Senegalese but if they are asked where they are from, they'll answer Ruthenian. They can still continue to practice their culture but only if their culture doesn't infringe on the rights of the individual. As an empire with a lot of ethnic minorities, we still have to be culturally sensitive."

"I agree with you, sir. So, after Senegal. What's going to be your next move if I may ask?"

Alexander rubbed his chin as he pondered for an answer to his question. "First of all, the Ruthenia Empire needs to get stronger. That means, identifying our vulnerabilities and figuring out a way to remove them. For example, despite the Ruthenia Empire having enormous coastlines, they froze and had no direct access to the world's oceans. We had no warm-water ports so we had to invade a country to get access to the ocean. But, despite centuries of efforts, the only warm-water port that we had was at Sevastopol in the Black Sea. Until today, we got Konigsburg from the Deutschland Empire and soon became the headquarters for the Imperial Ruthenian Navy Baltic Fleet. Manchuria in the Far East. Now there's only one ocean I wish to conquer before the end of my reign, the Mediterranean Sea."

Rolan nodded his head in understanding. He has known Alexander for years. Rolan understands Alexander's thinking. After all, he had been sharing this information with him during his early reign. He is explicitly stating his intention to the Mediterranean Sea, a sea that they had lost control of when the Deutschland Empire interfered with the affairs in the Balkan states so that they could halt the expansion of the Ruthenia Empire.

Now, the Ruthenia Empire has a weapon that can obliterate a city. They can pretty much do whatever they like at this point but, that was only Rolan thoughts. He is sure that things don't go that way all the time. The emperor has a lot of things to consider before make action.

"I still remember the time when I took part in the war against the Anatolia Empire. We wanted to expand southwards to get direct access to the Mediterranean sea so that we don't have to trouble ourselves going through Bosphorus Strait."

"I am aware of the history, Rolan. And yes, that was the reason. The Bosphorus straits are a handicap to us. Imagine having to go through that strait, and paying millions of rubles to transport goods into the Mediterranean. Now I am wondering what if we take the Strait of Bosphorus for ourselves?"

"You mean to say that you are going to wage war with them again?" Rolan said, leaning forward as his interest got piqued by the idea.

"I won't call it a war. And war is not as simple as you think Rolan. The problem with war is its justification. If we invaded Istanbul because we wanted to take control over the Bosphorus strait, then it's only a matter of time before the world closed its doors to the Ruthenia Empire. I don't want all the countries to fear us, I want them to work with us economically. So don't take my words seriously, I was just rambling on my thoughts."

"I knew you were jesting, sir. You don't have to tell me. I know you have plans to secure us direct access to the Mediterranean sea but I won't ask further as it is not my job," Rolan said as he stood up and buttoned up his suit. "I'm going to return to work now, sir. Should you require any of my services or just want to talk to me, feel free to call me out by shouting or calling."

"I will take that in mind, thank you for your time Rolan and for giving me this letter," Alexander replied. "Please enjoy the rest of your day"

Rolan bowed before leaving the room. Alexander looked back at the letter in his hands, thinking of the ways of capitalizing on the new territories acquired through concessions.

Well, first of Alaska. The Ruthenia Empire sold the territory, believing it had no purpose and maintaining it wasn't cost-effective. Plus they were in the middle of the war at that time and to support their war efforts, they sold the land to the United States at a steal price.

It was a mistake made by the Ruthenian officials at that time, but Alexander couldn't blame them for their decision. After all, it was only a way for them to get quick cash. Still, a mistake. Alaska is a territory that has a lot of untapped oils and natural resources, waiting to be found by prospectors and dug by miners. It's worth over a hundred million rubles.

Fortunately, the United States handed the ownership back to the Ruthenia Empire after buying it back from them. It was pressure politics. Since the United States was in financial ruin when the bomb was dropped on Washington D.C. The stock market crashed and it was a total depression for the citizens of the United States. To save themselves from financial ruin, they had no choice but to return Alaska to the Ruthenia Empire at an agreed price.

But that wasn't the end of it. The Ruthenia Empire also agreed to participate in the reconstruction efforts of Washington D.C. Currently, the government of the United States is shattered as the three branches of its government were vaporized by the nuclear bomb. Franklin Roosevelt and his secretaries are filling up the seats to keep the country running.

With all that said, the United States will be far away from becoming a huge giant that could rival the Ruthenia Empire. And should they recover from a great loss, the Ruthenia Empire will be too far ahead to the point that surpassing them would be wishful thinking.

Another territory they had secured was Bahrain and Ceylon from the Britannia Empire. The territory will serve as a door into the Arabian peninsula, a land with fifty percent of the oil globe reserves. Also, the territory will become the new headquarters for the new fleet that'll be established in the future. The Indian Ocean Fleet. Although the name is Indian, it is not limited to that ocean. The Indian Ocean Fleet would also operate on the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and Arabian Sea.

Lastly, in the Oceania region. New Guinea. Acquired from the Deutschland Empire, Alexander also wants to control the region as it is rich in minerals the Ruthenian badly needed for its advancement, particularly in aluminum. Maybe establishing a small naval force in the area would do. It wouldn't be cost-effective to establish a new fleet in Oceania. He'll leave that responsibility to the Pacific Fleet.

"Okay, that pretty much draws up everything," Alexander muttered. "Now, I have to simply wait for Sergei's response and get ready for the convention to establish the United Nations."