—Well, do the rest of the representatives agree with the plan?—Cristobal asked, although his triumphant expression would make it seem that the answer to this question was obvious.
—If the noble wants to solve this problem now, let him do it now...—the mercenary replied, causing the other representatives to also give affirmative responses. After all, they had no intention of keeping the capital they were about to capture, so the people of this town were of no use to them, and they clearly couldn't include this town so close to the capital in their territorial claims.
—Then I will proceed to explain the plan in more detail—Cristobal said, taking out the red figurine on the table and putting it back in the box where he had taken it from.
Meanwhile, Isidoro looked at Cristobal with annoyance; he knew this would end up being a bad idea. But the other representatives, lacking knowledge in military matters, were influenced by Cristobal's words, and it was not convenient for the soldier to continue actively opposing the commanding general, as it could leave a bad impression on the representatives. Therefore, Isidoro reluctantly accepted the plan that would be executed, even though the plan was a disaster and would likely bring problems to Cristobal in the not-so-distant future.
On the other hand, Tea listened attentively to the plan, forcing herself not to voice any opinions and simply blindly follow her uncle's orders to avoid making him look bad in front of the other officers. In her mind, it was obvious that the best idea was to ask the great general what to do about this town: They were only a day away from the siege, and it made no sense to deliberate whether to destroy this town on their own. The people in the siege were a proper army, so it would cost the great general nothing to send five battalions of a thousand soldiers each to destroy the town once he learned that Cristobal had failed to conquer the besieged city and had to start the retreat.
However, Tea continued to refrain from mentioning this obvious fact to those present because the truth was that he didn't care if these nobles lost a town. At this moment, the red-haired man's mind was more concerned about whether he could actually survive the upcoming mission: In the end, Tea was not her uncle, and if the mission was as impossible as they had presented it, then it would be difficult for he to come out alive with her lack of real experience.
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Since there was no opposition, the representatives passively listened to the plan and realized how intelligent Cristobal could be when he set his mind to it, as the plan turned out to be brilliant for them. It was indeed quite challenging to destroy a town of 100,000 people with only 500 soldiers, not to mention that in some less populated regions of the empire, this population size would make this "town" seem like quite an important city. However, the theocracy was particularly prosperous and fertile thanks to its rulers being chosen for their administrative skills and knowledge and could be replaced as easily as they were chosen.
This was because power in the theocracy was divided into two groups: on one hand, there was divine power, which was the most important for the theocracy and was given by the gods, who were worshipped by the citizens just as the ancestors were revered in the empire. On the other hand, there was power as it was known in the empire, the power of the ruler of the lands. Since the people who chose the "rulers" were actually representatives of divine power, the rulers did not worry about the lands but rather the people living in them. Ultimately, they did not own the lands they governed, and only the people living in their lands served to worship their gods, who in turn bestowed their "grace" upon the theocracy's lands. This ultimately led the ruler of the lands to always act for the good of the people living in their domains, causing their cities to become densely populated. This fact was one of the main reasons why this "empire" had several capitals, and it also showed that the great power of the theocracy came from its vast workforce.
However, despite the disparity in numbers, a good plan was a good plan because it promised success, and from this perspective, Cristobal's plan was excellent. The representatives listened to the details of the orders given by the general for several minutes before finally leaving the tent, allowing Cristobal to call in the truly important people, namely his captains and the real soldiers in the camp, who would execute this plan to make it a success.