Crown Prince Ludwig was glad that the letter from the envoy described how peaceful the Beast Kingdom was. Though he didn’t mind having to squash a tiny kingdom in order to preserve the sovereignty of Barion Kingdom, he still preferred peaceful discussion if possible.
After all, as the Crown Prince of Barion Kingdom, he still cared for his soldiers’ lives, especially when the majority of them were already married with children at ho.
He was ready to imprison that rchant and his wife for lying about the situation, and then send another envoy to discuss a possible trade agreent between Jing Empire, Barion Kingdom, and Beast Kingdom.
However, the pigeon arrived at dawn with another letter, and Ludwig’s blood ran cold when he read the content.
His hands were shaking as he slamd the table, alerting the guards outside who rushed in to check on their prince.
"Your Highness, what’s wrong?" the guards asked as they barged in.
They were shocked to see Crown Prince Ludwig glaring back at them with a murderous aura around him. Then he said in a low voice, "Call that rchant and the general, now."
"Y-yes!"
Crown Prince Ludwig didn’t expect that the rchant was actually right. Those beastn liked to pretend that they were civilized, but once the envoy lowered his guard, they executed him and looted all of his belongings.
The general and Marik walked into the crown prince’s tent at the sa ti and bowed in front of their future king.
"You two are here," Crown Prince Ludwig muttered before he flipped the letter and showed it to them. "Look at this. This is the last letter the envoy sent. He’s probably dead at at this point."
"This..." the human general was also shocked when he read the letter, but not Marik.
His gaze was like still water, calm and deadly. He sighed and said, "I am not lying, Your Highness. Those savage beastn really tricked just like what they did to the envoy. But my wife and I were able to escape. Maybe that’s why they decided to change their plan by trapping their target to rest inside their territory and then killing them at night, because at that point those rchants are at their rcy."
What Marik said made complete sense, and Crown Prince Ludwig was now convinced that the Beast Kingdom was filled with a bunch of traitorous beastn who could only attack, kill, loot, and rape.
"We can’t just let them off then," Ludwig said. "Since they dare to kill our envoy, then we should give them hell!"
"W-wait, Your Highness. It’s better for us to go back and talk to your father, His Majesty, first. Waging a war is not a simple matter, and we only brought five hundred soldiers with us. We will be severely outnumbered!"
Crown Prince Ludwig was about to nod and retreat for now. But Marik quickly interrupted.
"Your Highness, wouldn’t it be better to deploy at least so of the soldiers to battle for a skirmish? At this point, we have no information on the capability of these beastn aside from their surprise attack. Maybe once we get more information, you can return with a much bigger army and destroy this god-forsaken kingdom once and for all!"
"Hey! Watch your mouth, rchant! You are not the one to tell Your Highness about war strategy!" the general raised his voice as he realized that Marik had just overstepped his boundary. "I, as the general, prefer that we go back first to discuss it with the king!"
Marik looked scared after being told off by the general, so he lowered his head and said, "I-I am sorry, General. I was just trying to help!"
"Please don’t listen to him, Your Highness. It is not good to wage a war now. We need more equipnt, more manpower, and more weapons from His Majesty!"
"But the plan to build the trade route across Roc Forest will start in about two weeks. We can suspend it, of course, but do you know how much money the kingdom will lose because we can’t make proper trade with Jing Empire without having them travel a very long route just to avoid Roc Forest?" Crown Prince Ludwig pointed out. "This rchant is not wrong. We have to get so information on those beastn’s tactics, then we can go back and report everything to my father."
The general paled as he realized that the crown prince had been influenced by a re rchant. Thus, all he could do right now was support whatever plan the crown prince had and pray that it wouldn’t harm his life or devastate their army.
"General, go and deploy about three hundred soldiers and announce war against the Beast Kingdom. Tell them that they have killed our envoy, and they will be razed to the ground!" Crown Prince Ludwig ordered.
The general gulped as he had a terrible feeling about this. But he still nodded and excused himself, ready to prepare for the upcoming skirmish between the two kingdoms.
Marik stayed behind and asked the crown prince, "Your Highness, are you not going to join the initial skirmish?"
"Don’t be foolish. Why would I risk my life over a re skirmish?"
"Well, just as you said just now, Your Highness. This is nothing but a re skirmish, and there’s little to no risk of dying," Marik continued enticing the crown prince. "So, why don’t you lead the soldiers instead? That would give a good impression to them because it shows that you’re not a coward, and those soldiers will follow you even to hell!"
Once again, Crown Prince Ludwig was persuaded by Marik. He realized that Marik was a skillful talker, which wasn’t uncommon among rchants. But he wasn’t just fawning and praising—his advice made actual sense, making it difficult to reject the idea.
"Hmm, you’re right. I am going to be the king in the future after all. It will be great if the soldiers are completely loyal to once I ascend to the throne."
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