Immediately, the white and black squares on the table began to distort until they formed a replica of the military camp and the neighboring town. The replica of the town was not entirely accurate and had some obvious flaws, such as the fact that there were very few houses in the town, or that the houses on the map sometimes seemed larger than they could realistically be. Nevertheless, the military camp was replicated perfectly and looked exactly as it could be seen outside the general store, so it seemed that the table had to be fed with the plans of the areas in some way to then recreate them according to the original design. Therefore, it was evident that the town's plans didn't seem to require as much work as those of the military camp, although the table displayed all the important factors of the town, such as its boundaries, entrances, main streets, along with a fairly detailed layout of the nearby forests, streams, and hills.

—This is the map where we are currently...—Murmured the mercenary in a low voice, as if warning the giant of the mistake he had made.

—I know, the orders are regarding this town...—Said Cristobal as he went to fetch a box with wooden figurines of various colors from one of the cabinets in the tent.

Everyone in the room watched in silence as Cristobal arranged the figurines on each of the town's streets. When all the streets were covered, the giant slowly and somewhat exaggeratedly placed a last red figurine on one of the paths leading to the town and explained the situation:

—Currently, our mission is to end the siege that we've been conducting for five years. Does any of you know why we were summoned to expedite the capture of this city, and why we can't continue besieging it until we conquer it?

They all looked at each other, hoping that someone could provide an answer, but apparently none of the representatives knew the correct response, or rather, none of those present wanted to appear foolish in front of the others, so they all preferred to remain silent.

—Because the southern clans are preparing their forces to attack us...—Isidoro replied, breaking the awkward silence that had settled in the tent, and encouraging the representatives a bit to contribute to Cristobal's plan.

—So, what will happen to the siege if we fail to capture this city?—Cristobal asked, looking at all the nobles in the room; however, several minutes passed, and no one answered the question.

—The siege will end because the men have to return to defend the key frontier cities, so an unproductive peace will be declared with the theocrats—Tea calmly replied to avoid leaving her uncle talking alone. But apparently, her words only made the present representatives more nervous.

—But how can we be so foolish as to abandon one of the Theocracy's capitals when we're surrounding it with an army?!—The child in the wheelchair exclaimed angrily—Controlling that city is practically winning an entire county for each of our families!

—Yes, by abandoning the siege, we're losing many cities, castles, and conquered villages...—Tea calmly justified her idea—But we can't go to war on two fronts. The main reason the clans must be attacking us is precisely because if they do nothing, we'll devour the entire theocracy and put the whole continent at risk.

—It's not that simple, the theocracy is deliberately "disposing" of this capital. If we try to continue conquering their territories, they'll likely end the war they're fighting in the north and defend themselves with more men—Isidoro explained—In a sense, the clans are doing the same thing we are right now against the theocracy: they're seeking to attack us in the midst of a war. But our situation is different from that of the theocracy because our real army only acts defensively. Since no noble thinks twice about sending their men when their own lands are at risk. That's why, instead of sacrificing territories to prolong this war, we're sure that the kings will prefer to prematurely end this military campaign, regardless of how close we are to conquering such an important city.

—So, could the theocracy break the siege by sending reinforcements? They have the men to do it. If they're allowing us to besiege this city, it's because they have us under control—The mercenary asked, making everyone at the table look at Cristobal with concern.

—No, they've already tried, and they've failed. Nevertheless, conquering their cities is costly, and their capitals are even more costly: to the point that it's impossible without a siege. So, if we fail in our mission, we'll really have to leave the capital and much of the surrounding land—Isidoro said, reassuring everyone present; the soldier didn't want the representatives to think they could encounter an enemy army actively seeking to attack them.

—The reality is that peace with the theocracy is imminent, whether we achieve our war objectives or not. From the main families, there's a lot of pressure to show results for all the funding and both the crystals and time are running out—Cristobal added, placing his hand on the red figurine again—Precisely our policy of always playing it safe is the main reason why the theocracy felt comfortable being besieged. They knew we couldn't conquer this capital with a long-term siege. However, the Theocrats didn't take into account a small but significant factor for which my uncle deliberately initiated this siege, and that factor is the existence of our commando group. We are basically the secret weapon that will end this war, which is why we are heading to the capital to break the siege right now when there's no time left to lose. At this point, the siege has already taken a toll on the people living in the capital, making its capture easier.

—Do we have to enter the besieged city?—The child in the wheelchair asked.

—My nephew and I will have to enter: the rest of you will only watch the mission from the sidelines and wait to see if they kill us or if we manage to take their lands—Cristobal replied with impressive calmness, contradicting the words coming out of his mouth—And if they kill us and we fail the mission, then what will happen?

—Do we have to try again?—The representative who hadn't spoken yet asked. He was a fat man with blue hair, and his skin seemed completely wrinkled, as if he had been in the water for too long. But the most striking feature of his body was that it was full of holes where worms constantly emerged to explore the outside. With these peculiar traits, Apolo could tell that he was a man from the Blue Beaches, which was home to the only count who held the title of king in the entire empire. The Blue Beaches family was quite unique, as they lived in one of the most remote regions from the empire's capital. This region faced the shores of an unknown sea full of mysteries, which only members of this family explored. The Blue Beaches' reign did not cover a very large territory, and since most of their lands were coastal, they were not very fertile, so there were few people living in this region. Nevertheless, the Blue Beaches family was known for being great adventurers, and they controlled the trade of exotic items throughout the empire.

—No, damn it! As we've already wasted time explaining: if they kill us, the siege is over, whether you like it or not, and all of you go back home to keep drinking your mothers' milk!—Cristobal replied, running his hand over his face, giving the impression that he had asked the question solely to anger the man in question.

—General, is there no other commando group capable of breaking this siege in the entire empire?—The boy asked with such concern that he almost fell out of his wheelchair; apparently, the young man was the least willing to lose this territory, which meant that this conquest was really important to him.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

—The reality is that there is initially no one who can break the siege...—Isidoro replied calmly, but the poor choice of his initial words only served to leave everyone present in a dead silence, causing the soldier to nervously look at the representatives' faces and abandon his speech to remain silent, thinking about what words he should say next to get out of the problem he had gotten himself into without alarming these people too much.

—So they sent you to your death, Cristobal?—The mercenary questioned, breaking the silence that had formed in the military tent and interrupting Isidoro's thoughts.

—It might be...—Cristobal replied reflexively.

—What?—Tea exclaimed, leaving his mouth open like an idiot, clearly understanding that he was in the same boat as his uncle, and if his uncle sank, he would hardly stay afloat on his own.

—Don't answer nonsense, Cristobal! Of course, they didn't send you on a suicide mission! There are rumors that the high priest in charge of this city has already died, but if he is still alive, then yes, the siege will never be broken if Cristobal dies fighting against the high priest. Since unfortunately, the only one who can kill the high priest if that old man doesn't leave the capital is this giant imbecile—Isidoro replied without hiding his annoyance with Cristobal. It had been a long time since the soldier had realized that the general was omitting many important parts of the mission just to steer the plan towards a very possible "failure". The big problem was that Isidoro didn't know why the giant was putting so much effort into scaring the representatives, and even worse, the soldier didn't know how to get Cristobal to stop making these tasteless "jokes".

—Isn't there anyone else in our entire empire who can kill this person?—The blue-haired man asked, shocked by what he was hearing.

—While it's not guaranteed that Cristobal can kill the high priest, it's an estimate made by the great General Jason of the Black Forests himself. He was the main responsible for organizing this mission to break the siege and has also been leading this successful war campaign for these long 50 years—Isidoro replied, trying to invoke a figure of trust so that the representatives would feel more at ease. It seemed that the soldier's plans worked, and the faces of almost all the representatives changed from worry to reflection.

—Still, I could lose the battle, and the mission could fail...—Cristobal said, looking at Isidoro grudgingly; the general knew that bringing up his uncle in this conversation only made things more complicated for his plans. However, the giant had faith in the hunch he was feeling and continued to insist on the topic.

—It's been 45 years since your uncle has been wrong in his predictions. Do you really think that this time the great general will be mistaken? Your uncle has been besieging this city for almost 5 years, thinking about the day when you would finally be needed to finish things if the funding ran out. I highly doubt that this plan can fail...—Isidoro responded immediately without giving Cristobal a chance to sow panic in the room again.

—Regardless of the great general's opinions regarding the mission's success, I ask again: What will happen if it fails?—Cristobal asked again, ignoring Isidoro's angry look, to focus on the people he really cared about convincing. While the red figurine on the wooden table wobbled, as if trying to get someone's attention.

—We lose the capital, but we still have several neighboring territories, right?—The boy in the wheelchair nervously asked, making his wheelchair wobble and lose balance, which caused the planks supporting the wheelchair to fall so that the boy reached the height of the big table. However, just when this happened, Tea skillfully stepped on the floor, causing the rug on the tent's floor to break, and under the boy's chair, some stones emerged to replace the planks, preventing the boy from falling.

Even though the boy had almost fallen out of his wheelchair, everyone in the room ignored the issue and tried not to expose it so that it would go unnoticed. For his part, the boy in the wheelchair didn't even look at Tea to thank him, but it didn't bother the redhead, and Tea didn't return the boy's gaze, understanding that it was best not to make the problem bigger. Cristóbal, on the other hand, smiled for a few seconds, but it was so discreet that only Apolo from the inside could realize that he had done it. Apparently, the giant had achieved what he wanted, and it was precisely to make the only representative in this tent who, due to his young age, was unaware of the military history of the great general who had organized this mission nervous: The boy had always been his target!

—Oh, yes, that depends...—Cristobal replied enigmatically while tapping the head of the red figurine with his finger, as if indicating to the representatives that they should stop pretending to be oblivious to what had just happened and lower their gaze to look at this figurine more carefully.

—Depends on what?!—The boy asked impatiently, clearly becoming agitated by the lack of confirmation from the giant.

—It depends on how easy it is to retain those territories. If the theocracy were to recover from the war quickly, they could try to reclaim their lost territories before we manage to stabilize them. The harsh reality is that if the conquered territories are not stabilized, we risk facing a civil uprising in support of the reconquest army sent by the theocracy. So under those conditions, it would be quite complicated to maintain the territories influenced by this capital—Cristobal explained calmly, hoping that the representatives could understand each of his words perfectly.

—What does it depend on whether the theocracy manages or doesn't manage to recover quickly enough to organize a reconquest army before we resolve the defensive war?—Tea asked, interested in his uncle's words; everything indicated that this was what was worrying him.

—Well, that answer is very obvious, and it's manpower: To recover, an empire needs labor, and the more it has, the more dangerous the threat of a reconquest campaign becomes. How do you recover a bunch of men who have been besieged for so many years, Tea?—Cristobal asked, lifting the red figurine and placing it in the middle of the town, in front of everyone's view.

—Food, with a lot of food—Tea replied, looking at the red figurine in the middle of the town with concern—So, do you plan to burn the fields of this town? That way, it would be quite complicated for the men of the capital to recover, at least for a while.

—Exactly, the problem is that fields recover quickly. How do we solve the problem of the farmers planting them again?—Cristobal asked with a smile.

—By taking away their tools?—The boy replied, but all the representatives unconsciously looked at him as if he were an idiot for a few seconds. However, the boy didn't seem to care at all about the foreign looks, and he was more focused on trying to see how he could secure his objectives.

—By killing them...—The mercenary said coldly—If we kill the men in this town, burn the warehouses with supplies, and the fields, then when the theocrats leave the siege, they will find a lot of useless land and will have to rebuild everything. Since the theocracy is still at war and cannot afford to have so many men, if we limit the recovery of the people living in the capital, it will give us time to stabilize the new territories.

—No, we won't do that. Nearly 100,000 people live in this town, and when we finish the siege, it will be essential to use these people to rebuild and stabilize the capital—Isidoro denied, opposing the proposed idea, understanding that the situation in the empire in the coming years could be complicated by the defensive war. So it was necessary to be smart when dealing with so many people; with this town secured, it was easy to supply the capital with provisions, and with a stable capital, it was very easy to prevent the weakened theocracy from reclaiming these territories.

—But if we fail, then...—Cristobal tried to say, once again emphasizing the risks of the mission.

—We kill the farmers, alright, we'll enslave the people from the clans and send them to these fields in the not-so-distant future. If we conquer the capital, it will be impossible for the theocracy to retake it quickly, and with a war ongoing, they won't rush to reconquer it. Under these conditions, it's best to play it safe and secure some lands—The boy interrupted almost giving an order; however, much to Isidoro's surprise, Cristobal didn't get angry, and instead, he smiled like a fool, making it too obvious that this was the point he wanted to reach.

—Do you know how difficult it will be to stabilize the capital without these people?—Isidoro retorted, looking at the boy grudgingly, as if trying to warn him that the decision he had made was a very serious mistake.

—Will you be the noble who takes over the capital, or will it be me? Stabilizing the capital will be my problem in the future, but right now, I prefer not to take any risks and ensure a few territories for myself in case the whole plan goes wrong. It's better to sleep peacefully with lands than to return to the capital and see my father sending me to some fourth-rate village for not making the decision that needed to be made—responded the boy decisively, displaying a maturity not typical for his age.