I snapped my fingers and summoned the large table with the maps presenting the current situation on it. Zephyr quickly ran towards it, dragging Princess Aoi behind him, so I allowed my advisors to come closer as well. The Mountain Dungeon army was split into two groups, which at first I misinterpreted as the enemy army organisation's choice, but it turned out that the smaller group was heading towards the village.
"It looks like you were right, Princess." I connected with the eagles that observed the enemy. "They are walking slowly, but they are going to reach your village in less than twelve hours."
"Theon! I beg you!" I saw genuine concern on Zephyr's face. "Save them!"
"Only Arani might get there in time." Amber looked at me, but behind her calm eyes, I also saw the same request.
"Yes..." I had already given my mental orders to my Scion and suddenly I realised that Zephyr was not trying to leverage my decision using the alliance accords, but he was begging for my help. "I already sent their only chance of survival, but you have to convince them to trust us, Zephyr."
"I'm on my way!" With a strong gust of wind, he disappeared from the throne room, but we still could hear his fading voice. "Please, arrest Viccar. I will deal with him later!"
After I nodded towards Viccar, two Praetorians grabbed the old man and detained him. For the time being, I could pretend he was someone else's problem. I quickly dispatched Sigismund and Drake to learn everything valuable from the Princess's companions. After Viccar clearly lost all of Zephyr's favours, Princes Aoi quickly became very decisive and made sure her people would work with the Avalonians. She made it clear that she wouldn't stand any further displays of incompetence that would further shame God Zephyr. The princess suddenly discovered the weight of her crown as she was unable to help her people and had to rely on the mercy of an unknown man. Irene and Luna went towards her, offering their good word and support while Amber turned her head towards me again.
"We thought that Dragonkin were only in legends and myths. If they are even half as powerful as legends say, you must secure their loyalty."
"I think saving their lives..."
"Hush. Zephyr already told you what to do," she whispered with a smirk.
"Whaaa?" Amber refused to elaborate any further as she left me to join her sister Queens while I shook my head.
No matter what these three were thinking or plotting, it wasn't a time to think about that now. I turned my head towards the Princess to ask probably the most important question regarding the current situation.
"Tell me, Princess... How do your people deal with the pressure of the Shadow Realm?"
"We are not thrilled about being in that place but we won't have other troubles than minor inconveniences..." she responded, but she shook her head sadly. "If you assumed that my people could run to the Shadow Realm, it's no use. We lost the means to open the portal a few years ago."
"That won't be a problem. My Storm Eagle scion is right now on his way towards your village, and he is carried there on the Zephyr's winds. He will reach your village in three hours at this rate and he is carrying a Shadow Fenrir in his talons who would open a portal for your people with ease. In the meantime, I dispatched the carriages that will pick up your people and bring them to Avalon. While I know that my city is going to be besieged soon, I don't have any other safe places for them for now."
"Thank you, King Theon!" she responded, with sparks of happiness in her eyes.
"We must prepare for the arrival of your people, Princess. Theon, I am going to take care of it. Focus on other tasks." Amber turned her head towards me.
"Thank you, Amber." I nodded with gratitude.
"Let's discuss the details elsewhere, Princess." With that, Amber and Irene took the Princess away.
With the rest of the Dragonkin delegation already removed from my sight and occupied with answering Sigismund and Drake's questions, I was left with Viccar. He was eyeing me with contempt, but my single glance made him sweat. Oh, how I love my Intimidation Aura. With a simple wave of my hand, he was taken away to be thrown into prison. After that, I could now focus on the tasks at hand.
"Since we have everything sorted out with the Dragonkins for now, we can concentrate on the more tedious aspects of life, such as war."
The people around the table laughed while Luna just rolled her eyes, but after a moment, she giggled. With everyone holding the table, I teleported us to the war room, and we took seats around the proper war table.
"All right. So let me explain the situation." I started and saw their way too relaxed faces and sighed. Everyone except for Ban. I frowned upon such a sight and started lecturing them. "Listen, people. We are at war with the far more numerous enemy that still controls the entire country, since the area taken by our forces is essentially insignificant. Yet you are so relaxed, as if this war is just a formality."
"The King is right. There are some very strong individuals among King's Korkas’s retinue and he himself is a powerful warrior whose power simply can't be gauged. Everything you know about the Royal Army, including their levels, is a lie. They are a force to be reckoned with, so don't take them lightly. Even if we manage to deal with them, the Queen and the nobility won't just accept defeat. They have enough resources to fortify every city in our path and fight a long and exhausting war." Ban's voice was calm, but he had sadness in his eyes. "They will surely mobilise everyone who is able to lift a sword or draw an arrow… so many innocent people are going to die just so they could run with their riches."
"Couldn't we just target Josla?" Knys asked, and I recalled a discussion we had a few months back about making Josla a puppet. "Without her, their morale would plummet and we could gain a huge advantage."
"Not really," I sighed and leaned over the table, pointing at the capital city of the Cridian Kingdom. "At first, I wanted to simply send a covert squad that would abduct her using the properties of the Shadow Realm. But that's easier said than done. The capital is protected by the multi-layer barrier that prevents any creature of Shadow from using the portals. While we could probably destroy or disturb the barrier for the operation, I don't think that showing this capability to our future enemies is wise."
Everyone nodded, and I smiled at Luna, who took over the explanation as the Secretary of the Defence Department. Her Sage class was incredibly advantageous to her favourite field of work, which mostly entailed gathering intel and counterintelligence and commanding covert operations.
"This war is not the end of our struggles and mission given by Eriar, so we must obscure our capabilities and use our powers wisely. We can't afford to make our enemies bolder, but we can't also allow ourselves to scare them too much, either. Both cases would be disastrous for Avalon." Everyone focused on her and I noticed Ban was nodding his head with conviction. "In the first scenario, the neighbourhood kingdoms would simply fall on us from all sides to partition war-torn Cridia. In the second scenario, the frightened nations would form an alliance to crush us as a unified force. No matter how you look at this, these are not the best-case scenarios."
"In the same way, we can't just cut the head of Cridians. Dead Josla or captured Josla is far more dangerous than alive-and-well Josla hidden in some fortress. If she dies, the nobles are going to panic and might call the foreign countries to help them. If we capture her, she will lose her entire authority and we will face the same problems later on as if she simply had died." I looked at them and they seemed to finally understand that having overwhelming power was not always the obvious winning situation. "Luna?"
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"The two Cridian scouts, captured by Jester yesterday, are..." She hesitated and glanced at Ban, who sincerely laughed.
"They are the worst scouts I have ever seen in my entire life." Ban leaned back in his chair and covered his mouth with his hand. "I beg your pardon, your Majesty."
"No problem," she laughed as well. "However, the Major General is right. They are just the worst, so the only explanation I have for this situation is the possibility that their commander knowingly sent them, since their loss won't make any change in his forces."
"They were sent from Dion, one of the fortress cities responsible for securing the eastern parts of the Kingdom. As far as I can tell, these two received orders to infiltrate Fog of Avalon as far as they could and return. It's obvious to me that they were just sent to fulfil the orders from the capital, but no one believed they could succeed." Ban sighed. "I often received such orders but never bothered to actually lose my soldiers on purpose..."
"I thought we were monitoring all the enemies’ correspondence." Knys scratched his head.
"Don't be silly. It's impossible to look over everything, but we can say we mostly know what is going on behind the enemy lines." I pointed at the map. "My only concern right now is the possibility of losing Fort Crissna."
"The Cridian army can't use my fort as the staging ground. The fortress itself can't feed all those people or even shelter them inside," Ban protested, making me smile.
"My Lord, why is losing Fort Crissna a problem?" Knys looked at the map and tried to understand something.
"You will need the fortifications and camps to supply your army, Guild Master," Ban responded calmly.
"But the Legions of Avalon do not need supplies..." Knys looked at me with confusion.
"Of course my Legions need supplies! While the core of the army is composed of undead, and I am not afraid to use that word, the horses, Lamias, Nagas, Fairies and other auxiliary units need to eat from time to time. Besides, range units will require ammunition for their weapons." The green skin on the face of the Guild Master turned darker. "However, Fort Crissna is already a formidable fortification, and that is concerning. We will need to capture as much Cridian infrastructure intact as possible. In case we manage to win quickly, the forts will be needed to restore the peace to these lands. But if war is going to drag on, we will need the infrastructure to support and expand... Not to mention the problems if our current and future enemies would take them and use them against us."
"That is correct..." Ban nervously rubbed his temples. "My King, allow me to ask you a question."
"Ask then." I allowed him while I took the glass of water.
"What Skill allows you to predict so many movements of our enemies? What Skill allows you to be such an incredible commander, my King?" Fornal Ban lowered his head.
"It is not a class or another form of Skill, Fornal." I smiled. "It's the knowledge of history and experience. Some things are very universal..."
"But your predictions were correct so far, Your Highness!"
"Predictions are nothing more than educated guesses, Fornal. War is nothing more than a battle of wits between the opposing forces. I predict nothing. I merely deprive my enemy of options, allowing them to choose only between the options I can respond to." I disagreed with a smile and saw the sudden understanding in his gaze.
"But the enemy could have always responded in another way," he voiced his doubts.
"Indeed. But as a commander, what would you do?" I asked with curiosity, pointing at Parnma.
"I would attack immediately, wanting to finish the subjugation as quickly as possible," he responded.
"I would withdraw to gather all the resources and information." I smiled, surprising everyone except Luna and Galahad.
"But... That's cowardly." He covered his face and looked at me with fear, expecting scolding or my wrath, but I just started laughing.
"Hahaha! Cowardly? Hahahaha." My laughter surprised him very much. "No, Fornal. Retreating and preserving your forces to attack when and how you want is just a manoeuvre. Of course, in this particular case, it would be according to my expectations, but that move is the safest option. Ban, if you allow yourself to make decisions according to the expectations of other people, then you are going to lose. Victory, Fornal. Victory is what matters."
He nodded very slowly, unsure how to feel about that, making me exhale slowly. I raised my hand and the situation on the map changed, showing a different time and place. Fornal Ban shivered when he immediately recognized the place where he was defeated.
"Do you know why you lost back then, Fornal?"
"Because the Avalon army is far superior," he answered, making me sigh.
"No. You lost because you were not expecting enemies. Your forces were spread thin. You ignored all the telltale signs and were in a hurry."
With a wave of my hand, the miniature army formation on the table changed. It was travelling in far wider ranks, while smaller scout parties were sent to the flanks and forward, checking the road for any danger. Fornal Ban was watching in silence when the first miniature scout found the Legio Fulminata flanks hiding in the forest. While he had been killed, the rest of his party raised an alarm, warning the rest of his allies about the danger, but not soon after, more alarms were raised when another scout party discovered Legio Ferrata. Now the approaching army was aware of the enemy hiding in the forests on both sides of the canal long before they could be trapped between the Legions. The ensuing battle was far different from what really happened, and this time, the Cridians were standing victorious after losing the third of their men.
"As you can see, the knowledge is power." I waved my hand again, showing that the Cridians almost reached the Parnma. "Let's see what General Korkas chooses, then."
•••
"My Lord! Parnma is empty! There is no one here!"
"WHAT?!" Korkas yelled with anger. "It's impossible for Ban's forces to be killed that easily! But there should be soldiers from Girsion as well!"
"There is no one, my King!" the scout insisted, making Korkas furious at the thought that the garrison of Girsion disobeyed his orders.
"Frid! Take half of the men and go to Girsion. If you find that coward... What was he called... No matter. If you find the elements of my army still in the city, hang the commander and his highest-ranking officers! Bring me all the supplies," Korkas hissed his orders to one of his generals.
"At once, Lord Korkas!"
With that, Frid turned around and started yelling his orders at the tired soldiers. Korkas went towards the village buildings to inspect them in the meantime. He was furious that everything was not working like he wanted. After a few moments, he was standing in front of Parmna, or what was left of it. The shabby huts and laughable palisade were barely standing, at risk of breaking by mere touch. He passed the gap between the tree logs that served as the gate and carefully looked around. The signs of a hasty escape and the scorching marks on some of the buildings made him realise that the people living here ran away a long time ago. He kicked the rubble away and swore profoundly when he realised that the supplies they had on them would only last for the next four days, and that was only if he ordered them to preserve the food for the moment. No, Frid was going to bring him the supplies he needed and they would proceed with the plan.
After a few hours, when the soldiers finished setting up the camp, Korkas was angrily drumming his fingers on the field table, waiting for General Frid's return. The sudden commotion and muffled voices outside his tent worked on his nerves, but before he yelled at his guards, the heavily breathing courier entered and knelt before him.
"Your Majesty! Girsion was razed!"
"I imagine." Korkas smiled viciously and laughed coldly. "That's a fitting punishment for treason."
"No, my Lord! Girsion was utterly destroyed by the winter beasts! It looks like Captain Drake's forces tried to defend themselves, but to no avail! The entire city is razed, and it looks like residents were killed or captured, but Girsion, Lord... Girsion is no more! Even the garrison building was destroyed, and we found hundreds of bodies buried under the rubble. Including some monsters that, without any doubt, are the Snow Beasts!"
The courier was trembling in fear with his face pushed to the ground. The roar of pure fury shook him even more, but he dared to look at the King.
"We will march immediately! Run back to Frid and tell him to meet us on the way to that Righteous Dungeon if he wants to live!"
"At once, my Lord!"
But before he could run from the tent, an alarm bell rang sharply outside. The young man needed just one glance at the King to know it was better to run than stay here any longer. Korkas was so furious that he unsheathed his sword and went outside to see who dared to attack them.
"A large pack of Dire Wolves, my King! The Winter Monsters truly must have finally retreated if the Wolves are moving in such large packs," one of his guards reported.
"Crush them and prepare to move. We are attacking that dungeon. Let nothing else stand in our way!" Korkas exclaimed and sheathed his sword.
"But..." The guard saw his king's gaze and quickly bowed. "As you order, Your Highness!"
"That's right..." Korkas smiled coldly. "Do just as I order you to, you fools..."