Things continued like that for a week until the General Commander suddenly returned to the Red Leaves territory, and he went into a closed-door eting with both the Dragon Lord and his heir.
The eting lasted the whole morning and afternoon.
What they talked about was how the n-at-arms of the different Lords, especially those recently displaced, were acting out. Already, two Lords were killed while the n took full control of towns.
The General Commander had already dealt with the situation, but such thods only seed to breed more of the sa. Even the new Dukes were having trouble controlling the n under them as the rebellion of revenge spread throughout the whole Region.
After a lot of back and forth, they decided to go with Vacuse’s idea of a war, putting every force under the Region Army. That would also draw a clear line: join the army or you are the Dragon’s enemy!
At the sa ti, two assassination forces would be created. One to filter things in the Regional Army and the other to deal with the remaining forces in the Region.
Vacuse was tired from all the etings, so he went to rest a little and only ca out with his guards in the evening.
"What are you up to this ti, Vacuse?" Kagerou asked as he looked at him suspiciously.
Harkon stood behind Vacuse, so close that he was almost breathing on his neck. Captain ra was the sa.
Since the incident happened, they had not taken their eyes off him.
"Why do you ask that, Kagerou?"
They made their way through the castle and then up to the battlent, the guards and different important people greeting them on their way up.
"Anyti you have that calm, thoughtful look in your eyes, you always end up doing sothing on a large scale. The sa was when you commanded all the outpost Commanders and when we departed to the Warbines territory."
Vacuse blinked. "...I need to work on that then. I don’t want anyone guessing when I have a plan in mind. That is not a good habit to cultivate..."
"Tell about the Warbines war. How is it going?"
Kagerou imdiately began explaining. "The Warbines are fully committed to their war efforts. With two War Artifacts, they have the upper hand.
"At the mont, they are seriously engaged with Mogthrak High Clan, and they have already gained a foothold with two of their smaller Clans.
"Their strategy is simple. They use one War Artifact for the Mogthrak High Clan while the other is pointed at the other Clans to keep them in check.
"But the other High Clans might just attack anyway. At the mont though, things are like that."
Vacuse nodded, his face filled with satisfaction. The Warbines were fully committed, and they could not even spare the resources to co and collect the Unifier Sword themselves.
"...They will have to use a proxy to achieve that. But at least no War Artifact will be flying at ..."
"Then what about their allies? Have they been drawn to the war effort?"
Kagerou shook his head. "The Mogthrak High Clan does not have allies. But the Warbines have drawn their allies into the war. The information that I received was that the Trolls have been invited to the First General’s castle for so eting, so they might really get thrown in as well."
Although the word they used was "ally," the different races living in the Orc territories were nothing more than colonies. In fact, under the Unifier, that was the term used for them, but the division of the Orcs also brought a bit of freedom to them.
Now though, those races were under the different High Clans and kept to themselves, but their power could not be compared to a single High Clan.
There were three races: Trolls, Ogres, and Gnolls.
Vacuse smiled and looked at Kagerou. Speaking casually, he waved his hand as he asked, "What if we start a war with the Warbines, how will they react now?"
Kagerou stiffened and his eyes went wide. "What? Did we not spend months trying to prevent war with them?"
"When we were doing that, we were not in this position, and the Warbines were not in the position they are now. It is two completely different things. Now, answer. What will happen?"
Kagerou scowled, but he forced himself to think about it.
By this ti, they had already reached the battlents, standing at the highest point in the whole castle.
Surprisingly, it was Harkon that answered, his voice grim and bleak. "The Warbines will respond... by pulling small units out of their forces and using their alliance with the Trolls to attack us!"
Vacuse blinked. Kagerou blinked. Captain ra blinked.
Eh?
Harkon could talk?
They all turned as one to look at him, and he scowled at them with his red eyes. He bowed to Vacuse. "My lord, I am just as knowledgeable!"
Kagerou snorted. "So you have been reading up on it."
Vacuse smiled. "You are just right, Harkon. Then how should the Vorrakyn and the Empire respond?"
Harkon frowned. "We will imdiately respond! With the remaining forces of the Dukes already stationed at Standpoint, it will not be an initial issue.
"With more forces pulled from the Region, we will defeat the Trolls, and that will make the Orcs focus more on us. They would be wary of our threats, but with the war with the Clans, they would be put in a difficult situation!"
Vacuse laughed. And laughed.
Kagerou blinked and then smiled. "The Emperor will not just sit still though."
"No, he will not. But right now, we are the true Grand Duke, and we will stall the Emperor!"
Kagerou looked at Vacuse with shining eyes. "How easily things changed. Now the Orcs are going to feel the heat. What are you going to do then? Are you going to fight a full-scale war?"
Vacuse shook his head. "The Emperor will not want to miss this opportunity to wipe out the Warbines, but that would an stepping foot in the just-recovering Western Region, which will give him power over the Region.
"Before, we wanted him. But now, we do not."
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