CHAPTER 2 - II -

 

With everyone settled, Lily put forth the agenda of that meeting.  

 

“…”

 

Honestly, sitting along with these VIPs made me feel awkward.  I wanted to run out of that room as soon as possible.  However, taking into consideration the recent turn of events, I guess I’m needed here.

 

After all, Lily wouldn’t drag me here if I’m unnecessary.

 

“…”

 

And at least two more nobles believed in me, aside from the head maid.

 

The meeting was actually called forth by Lily, with Maddie’s blessing.  However, they made sure that the monarchs were busy with something else before convening since Lily wanted to avoid arousing the suspicions of the pro-Empire kings.

 

The topic?  It’s all about the arrangements for a military alliance to counter the Imperial threat in Amaranth.

 

“My kingdom could field an army of 8,000 footmen to form the coalition.” Sir Simon pledged, “We could muster it within three long sleeps.”

 

“Likewise, within three long sleeps, we’ll muster 4,000 footmen from our levies.” the Duchess Henristone said, “If I give the order, they could march immediately to Amaranth.

 

“From my kingdom, we have 5,000 men under Her Holiness’ command.” quipped the Count of Brooke.

 

“Hold on…” it was the Prince of Stadtsberg, “You children kept on pledging numbers, but do we even know how many legions we’re going to fight should the war break out?”

 

“Well, according to our spies in Amaranth…” Lily sifted through the papers that contained the reports, “We’re facing at least four to five legions, excluding the armies of the rebel Amaranthine nobles.”

 

“Goodness…so it’s around 20,000 to 25,000 well-trained legionnaires!” the Count of Brooke exclaimed, “And we don’t even know the numbers of the Amaranthine soldiers.”

 

“The Amaranthine faction amounts to around 15,000 additional footmen and cavalry,” Lily added.

 

“So…it’s around 40,000, or possibly more, eh?” the Prince of Stadtsberg commented, “I like the odds.  My city could pledge around 600 footmen and 100 cavalries.  I can’t speak for the entire alliance; our Stadtholder won’t take sides.”

 

“It’s all fine, old man.” Lily reassured him, “I’m sure if we gather enough victories, the support for our cause would grow.”

 

“And, tell us, Princess Lilyhaven…” it was the Duchess Henristone, “With such numbers working against us, how do you plan to do that?”

 

“Well…” Lily then turned to me, “That’s what Sir Kuro was here for.”

 

“So, the legendary ‘Fist of the North Lands’ comes in.” the Earl of Yaris excitedly said.

 

“…”

 

The nobles’ attention fell on me.  It sure was nerve-wracking; however, I don’t plan to embarrass Lily or Maddie here.  If I plan to make my fiancé’s dream come true, then I should get the support of these people…

 

“Your Excellencies, and Highnesses, I don’t want to get your hopes up with unrealistic reassurances.” I began, “I’m just a human, just like you, though I came from a faraway country.  So, I’m bound by human limits, as well…”

 

“Oh great.  Like we don’t know of that.” the Count of Brooke muttered, “Come on!  Where’s the ‘Fist of the North Lands’ persona!  I wanted action!”

 

I’m getting pissed.  Dude, this isn’t an action movie.  We had to plan our steps so we can ensure success…

 

“…”

 

However, I chose to ignore it and continue with my words, “And so, listening to our numbers brought me to a conclusion on how to wage our battles.”

 

“So, what you got, hotshot?” the Duchess asked.

 

“Well, Your Excellency, even if we hear the rest of your pledges, I guess we’d still be outnumbered.  However, the numbers are deceiving.  There are a lot of other things to consider when fighting wars.”

 

“Ooh…” the Prince of Stadtsberg was getting impressed, which was what I planned.

 

“My plan is this.  We’re going to do a ‘maskirovka’.

 

“Huh?” the nobles chorused.

 

“Oh dear…here we go again.” Lily was amused.

 

“A ‘maskirovka’.” I reiterated, “First, we’re going to scatter rumors.”

 

“Rumors?” the Count of Brooke mocked, “You plan to fight this war with rumors?  Tell me, how are we going to win with that?”

 

“My apologies, Your Excellency Count of Brooke, I believe I said it was the first step.”

 

“I heard him say that as well, Brooke.  Don’t tell me your ears had gone deaf!” the Duchess snapped at him.

 

Embarrassed, the Count of Brooke fell silent.  With the opportunity to explain given to me by the Duchess, I continued elaborating my plan.

 

“The rumors are designed to confuse our enemies where and when we’re going to attack, and also, overstretching their forces too thin in preparation for our main attack.” I showed it through a piece of cloth I got from Lily, “Based on the intelligence that Her Highness the Princess Lilyhaven had gathered, the royalist forces still loyal to the von Alberts have consolidated their forces in the west of Amaranth.  While they held out there, we’re going to confuse the Imperials in what direction and when our attack would be.”

 

“Ooh…I like this ‘maskirovka’ thing.” Sir Simon excitedly quipped.

 

“You said, confusing the Imperial of the direction of our attack.  And where would that be?”

 

“In this direction.” I showed the south.

 

“The South?” the Duchess cried out, “Can’t you see that in that direction lay the sea?  How do you expect us to attack from there?  We’re going to swim?  I don’t even have a swimsuit!”

 

Wait, that’s your problem?

 

“Duchess Henristone…” it was Sir Simon, “Please let Sir Kuro explain fully before you say something.”

 

Well, that put a stop to their questions for a while.

 

“Alright, continuing on.  The second step is concurrent with the first step, Your Excellencies.  Of course, since your kingdoms are far apart from each other, assembling our forces in one place would be hard to achieve without being detected by the enemy.  In doing so, we could prematurely provoke them into taking the offensive, and with our limited numbers, they could just overwhelm us.  For that, I propose we use disguises in transporting your armies.”

 

“Disguise, huh?” Lily asked, “Part of your ‘maskirovka’, again, Sir Kuro?”

 

I just nodded before explaining, “‘Maskirovka’ involves confusing the enemy about the numbers of our men, the place and time of the attack, and the quality of our soldiers.  For the second part, since transporting large groups of men without being detected would be the problem, I suggest they shed off their equipment and wear disguises—merchants, travelers, migrants—whatever you think of.  They can bring their weapons and armor underneath their carts, or treat it as merchandise.  Also, travel in small groups, so that the Imperials are kept in the dark about our activities.”

 

“Sounds interesting lad!” the Prince of Stadtsberg chuckled, “I like this ‘maskirovka’ thing!”

 

“‘Maskirovka’?  Disguise?” the Count of Brooke once again roared his objection, “What about our honor?  What about the glory?”

 

“You’re an idiot, Brooke!” the Prince of Stadtsberg countered him, “The commoner kid’s giving sound advice and you keep on babbling nonsense!  If you have a better idea of keeping your men alive then better spit it out; if you don’t, then shut up!”

 

Lily and Sir Simon gave me an awkward stare, and we secretly laughed together.

 

“Go ahead, Sir Kuro.” the Duchess urged me, “Continue with your plan.”

 

“Once we assembled our forces, we go to the third step while continuing with the first step.” I drew a line on the table map, “We’ll execute a Schlieffen!”

 

“A what?” the entire room asked in bewilderment.

 

“Don’t you think Sir Kuro’s a bit of a weirdo spouting all of those strange words?” someone whispered, but I heard it anyway.

 

“Oh…pardon me.” I cleared my throat to calm myself; I’m getting carried away again, “What I mean is we’re going to flank the Imperials to the south.  Come to think of it, the southern direction would be the sea, and the Imperials would falsely place their security from the fact that it’s pretty hard to attack from this direction, as opposed to the land offensives coming from the north and east.  Not only do we confuse them where we attack, but we also get to cut-off their line of supply and communication from the Empire, which was to the south of Amaranth.”

 

“So you mean, Sir Kuro, that this first step in your ‘maskirovka’ would involve scattering rumors we’re going to move from the north or east?  Is that what you’re getting at?”

 

“Yes, Your Excellency!”  Finally, the Duchess of Henristone understood, “We’re going to do this while we execute the second step and partly into the third.  This is so that the Imperials would treat all these rumors as false, and let their guard down, in preparing for the main thrust of our offensive!”

 

“If that’s successful, Sir Kuro, then we could strike at the damned Imperials in one fell-sweep!” the Prince of Stadtsberg quipped.

 

“I had a better idea!” the Count of Brooke suddenly raised his hand, “What if, we do some actual, but irregular raids on the north and east borders of Amaranth, while doing this ‘maskirovka’ thing?”

 

“For the first time since we started this meeting, you finally said something sensical!” the Duchess of Henristone told him, “Yes, I like that idea.  It would also add to the confusion of the Imperials should we decided to strike south.”

 

“Hmm…what do you think, Sir Kuro?” Lily asked me.

 

“Yes, that could work.” I agreed, but added, “However, we need to conduct those raids later in the second phase and early unto the third phase.  If we attack them too early, then the surprise element would be lost in our side; attack too late, and the enemy would have time to merge their forces to meet our main offensive.”

 

“Nice!” Sir Simon clapped, “We’re going to drive these Imperials back to where they came from!”

 

“Not so fast, though!” the Duke of Greene finally spoke, “I’ve been doing the calculations for the costs of this ‘maskirovka’, and I don’t think our finances would suffice.  For one, the payment for the agents we’re going to use in spreading rumors would amount to 500 gold coins.  Second, the disguises the soldiers would need could reach at the very least, 3,000 gold coins already.  And that’s one army of 1,000 men, too!  And third, if we add the cost of supplies and the ships, we’re going to hire for the flanking attack to the south, the price would be a staggering 50,000 gold coins!”

 

The others went pale upon hearing the figures brought about by the Duke of Greene.  The almost-triumphant atmosphere in the War Room was dampened because our elaborate war plan would cost big.

 

“Err…so how much gold could Nerfes contribute?” Lily asked Sir Simon.

 

“Well, His Majesty could commit 5,000 gold coins from the state treasury, plus 50 gold coins from his own pocket.”

 

“Uhh…my king could give 1,000 gold coins for the cause.” the Count of Brooke added.

 

“The city-state of Stadtsberg allotted 600 gold coins for this!” the old Prince of Stadtsberg said.

 

“Colveente would add 1,500 gold.” the Duchess of Henristone told us.

 

“So, this would amount to…8,100 gold,” Lily confirmed.  She then looked at the rest of the nobles.

 

“Our apologies, Your Highness!” the three aristocrats told her, “Our countries are so small, we could only contribute an accumulated amount of 500 gold coins.”

 

I could only listen to their conversations as they talked about the costs of the military operations against the Imperials in Amaranth.  Well, of course, every endeavor would need money to make it happen, but I didn’t expect that Maddie’s supporters were actually ill-prepared to undertake army offensives against the Empire.

 

Of course, it’s natural that they’d offer only token support.  They had their own countries to run and protect as well.  Maddie’s vision of universal peace for Chersea comes as a secondary priority for these kings, if not a footnote in their budgets.

 

Isn’t my world pretty much the same as well?  Countries would only move if their own interests would be affected.  Otherwise, they’d let genocides happen for the devil to take care of.

 

“Alright.  So, we’re in a budget deficit for this undertaking.” the Duke of Greene reiterated, “For this, I plan to talk to my sovereign about what arrangement we could provide to lower the costs.”

 

“Aren’t you an island kingdom, Brooke?” the old prince pointed out, “How about using your navy?”

 

“I’ll…see what I can do about it.” there was reluctance in the Count’s voice, “The kingdom of Amarth has a separate minister for the navy, and I doubt if we could keep this a secret should we ask for that loud-mouth’s cooperation.”

 

“Oh…so it would be risky,” Lily interjected.

 

“I don’t want a country’s navy involved, neither.” I told them, “If ever the Imperials detected our movements, and they establish the link between our armies and even one of the supporting countries, we could provoke them into attacking prematurely and the whole plan is bust.”

 

“So we really have to use the merchant fleets, huh?” Sir Simon asked.

 

“Looks like we got no other choice then.” the Duchess pointed out, “However, what about if we try to give concessions to some of the merchant guilds who would cooperate with us?”

 

“That could work!” the Earl of Yaris agreed, “It’s also two-fold; not only they’d help us, but their presence in our respective countries could also boost the local economy.”

 

“But what about the number of ships?” the Duke of Greene raised another valid concern, “The merchant fleets couldn’t take all of our soldiers for a southern flanking maneuver.”

 

“You’re right, Your Excellency!” Lily affirmed his point, “For that, let’s divide our forces, combining with the Count of Brooke’s suggestion earlier.  Since we’re going to do irregular raids on the northern and eastern borders, we would leave about a third of our army in those places, while the rest would come to the main offensive.”

 

“Yes, that’s it!” the Duke of Greene was quick to concur, “Now we only have to worry about our supplies.”

 

“For now, let’s take the costs of army maintenance for ourselves.” Lily told the War Room council, “I’ll see what Her Holiness, and I, can do to compensate you with your losses.”