The man stood from his seat and made to leave the room. As he neared the door, he made sure to leave behind a few parting words. “Prince Roland, Prince Elric. I do hope you complete your end of the bargain. The Militia Burst cognitive model is an active debt. If I don’t see that girl’s head on my desk within the next few months, I’ll take action personally. I’m sure the two Princes wouldn’t want to see that.”
He grasped the door handle and crushed the bronze grip while shutting it behind him. Prince Elric and Prince Roland exchanged glances with each other once more. Each held their own thoughts. Their plans had changed after the Queen’s banquet.
Both men originally wanted to draw Sol to their side, however they were approached individually by a third force and promised benefits. The only task assigned to them was to capture or eliminate Sol Reviarra.
In order to grow trust between the three parties, Prince Elric and Prince Roland were paid partially ahead of time. Prince Elric was promised a political backing as well as direct support from a general as strong as the Kingdom’s Generals. Such a force behind him would allow Prince Elric to both dampen his brother’s influence and also pressure his father.
It’s one thing to have forces lended to him by his father and another to have his own entirely. Loyalties of gifted men were always questionable, however those gifted from a third party unconcerned with the throne was something Prince Elric was willing to bet on.
Prince Roland on the other hand was delivered a method to boost the strength of his troops. Although the method could only be practiced by a small percentile of his army, it was enough for those practicing to become troop leaders.
In fact, Prince Roland was ecstatic after seeing the initial success of the Assemblers in his army. Each member developed ‘gifts’ such as teleportation, plant control, telekinesis, dousing, and similar fantasy-like abilities.
Such gifts were in truth, the reason Prince Roland held such a deep fear in his heart towards Lady Reviarra. He sent out nearly half the Assemblers trained so far in this assault. He didn’t want to take any risks with such a massive loan on his back.
Prince Roland fell deep in thought over his future moves. While in thought, his eyes inevitably trailed over to his brother who also remained quiet. The two kept their silence until Prince Elric finally broke the balance.
“Brother, how confident are you in crushing Lady Reviarra if you went all out without concern for the repercussions?”
“If there was nothing to worry about, this Prince would have been 100% certain however…” His mind quickly calculated the force sent out this time and his face turned more solemn before continuing. “Considering the Lady was able to fend off this Prince’s recent strike… This Prince estimates a 60% success rate. That’s assuming Lady Reviarra doesn’t strike back before this Prince can establish a plan of action.”
Prince Elric kept an interested gaze on his brother. It was rare for this overconfident brother of his to show such a high degree of caution and discernment. Perhaps the setbacks were helping him grow after all. Such dangerous thoughts raced through Prince Elric’s mind before he shut them down.
The danger was no longer his brother, but the third party the two brothers were indebted to. Rather than banter or play for betrayal, Prince Elric focused on the greatest threat. He evaluated his own strengths and finally provided a plan.
“What do you say about working with this Prince once more? Lady Reviarra likely has already determined one of us to be behind this strike. Her survival is dangerous to us brothers for a variety of reasons at this stage. This Prince will undermine Duke Reviarra’s power and remove him from his position. If brother is capable of restructuring your army, this Prince will provide you a platform to reasonably eliminate the Reviarra household with father’s support. Under such conditions, would brother be confident in destroying the Reviarra household and bringing the Lady’s head back?”
The low percentile Prince Roland initially quoted was under the assumption he had to conceal his forces as much as possible and fight under a veil. If his brother was capable of releasing those shackles, Prince Roland felt rather confident in destroying the Reviarra household.
In fact, he felt confident in even removing his father from the throne with a few more years of the Militia Burst cognitive model spread among his troops. With such thoughts, Prince Roland answered as he believed. “100%. If this Prince had no worries about father penalizing this Prince, then this Prince could destroy the Reviarra household overnight.”
“Good. This Prince will begin preparation for this Prince’s part. Brother, do prepare your troops.” After saying as much, Prince Elric left the office behind and sent word to gather his supporters. It was bound to be a long discussion.
As the two Princes conspired against Sol and her family, Sol too, was in discussion with her family. The groundwork was already laid by Sol prior to leaving the mansion. Although Sol proposed the plan to her father under the guise of a business deal, she was certain her father understood her intentions.
What was originally a backup plan suddenly became the way forward. Various documents were splayed across the desk in Duke Reviarra’s office. Sol pointed each plan out and entered a deep discussion on the merits and fallout of each.
The more Duke Reviarra heard, the more his face blanched. There was a part of him that started to fear this prodigal daughter of his. Sol’s initial ‘business proposition’ consisted of establishing storage facilities and hotels near all major roads leading into Blonsall’s capital.
Monetary infusion into the local businesses via her representatives would pull the local economies up while leaving the capitol behind. The effect on each territory would be beneficial unless you counted the Blosall capitol. Inside the capitol, after being surrounded by such rich neighbors, the value of their currency would plummet as if hyperinflation struck the region.
Initially, Sol wanted to use the next few years to bring the surrounding economies up before flooding the market and crashing the capital's economy. After the citizens were forced back to poverty levels en-masse, Iridescent would step in to provide relief while undermining the Royal authority and replacing their importance in the citizen’s hearts.
As far as long term plans go, Sol was confident in replacing the Royal family within 10 years without much conflict. As it stood, Iridescent was already entrenched across the Kingdom with thousands of subsidiaries. Many of those shops didn’t even know they were under Iridescent’s management since Sol acquired them as silently as possible.
This was Sol’s original plan. Now that such an assault happened though, she no longer decided to hide her claws and accelerate the plan. Although the effect would be diminished if left alone, Sol amended the plan with 6 new distinct plans.
Duke Reviarra remained stoic as he listened to his daughter’s plans, however he was shocked after hearing each one. If Sol never revealed the second and third order effects to him, he never would have thought the plans were so vicious.
Taken individually, the plans boosted Arcgate’s income, established a competing currency based on credit and loans, diversified Iridescent’s business portfolio, provided training to local militia’s, and a few other innocuous benefits.
However, for some reason, every time Sol finished explaining the benefits of each plan and Duke Reviarra wanted to praise her, she would immediately follow up with how that plan would interact with the others and destroy the Royal family’s control.
Although Duke Reviarra started questioning his loyalties, he never harbored the desire to take down the Royal family. They were certainly decrepit from a certain point of view, however Duke Reviarra believed in his heart that his role as a minister was to help bring the family back on track.
Even after hearing about the latest assault on Sol, Duke Reviarra’s heart only waivered, but didn’t break. Was he furious? He was furious. Did he want to bring the culprit to justice? He absolutely did. The problem was Sol had no evidence of who assaulted her aside from the words of a dead man.
It simply wasn’t enough for Duke Reviarra to get on board. As such, each plan Sol elaborated on drew a fear out of his heart. Part of that fear was towards the unfathomable depth Sol was planning at, however the majority of it was directed at the repercussions that would follow should Sol remain unfettered.
Although his heart wasn’t fully with Sol during the discussion, he still allowed her to continue. He knew if he stopped her here and denied her ambitions, there was a good chance he’d lose his daughter. Although she remained calm during their discussions, it was easy to see the fire burning in her eyes. It was clear to him that his daughter was enraged.
After she finished her propositions, her eager eyes fixed on him awaiting his answer. Duke Reviarra waved her off. “Sol, go entertain your mother for a bit. I need to discuss with An for a bit. I’ll give you my answer later.”
Sol’s eyes flickered with intelligence. She quickly agreed and left the room, but not before sneaking a glance at An. It was as if he expected her gaze since An remained calm and didn’t allow anything to leak from his expression.
After the two men were alone, Duke Reviarra called for his son.
