World Development System 142 72. Ominous Vibes.

Plato smiled as he nodded and agreed, "That's true, we all have our own agendas and convictions. I find this as a big opportunity this time around."
Luke arrived in the hall and invited them in.
Luke greeted them and invited them in as he saw them in the hall, "Its good you both arrived on time, His Majesty is already waiting for us, Lets go. Lets not make him wait any longer."
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King Lionheart Asked them after telling them the situation, "I don't want bullshit greeting. Lets get to the point, I am sure you guys must have already realized the consequences after his speech. So what do you guys think we should do Plato? Master?"
Plato then again reconfirmed from the king, " Your Majesty, Are you sure that Count John is going to provide blueprints of the Ballista in a few days.
King and Luke nodded and confirmed that Count John had indeed promised them to deliver the blueprints.
Luke reconfirmed and spoke, "Yes, there are no doubts about this Minister Plato. I personally spoke with Count John, he gave his word when we conversed previously."
Plato confusingly thought and spoke, "Why is he doing that now? Is he so desperate now as Demons are asking for more or he has confidence that we will not betray? or is he baiting us into taking action against him? But does that small count even has the capital or army matching us and the strength to bait us? This is quite confusing."
Plato thought and continued as he bought various scenarios, "In this case, I think we should be neutral until the end and attack only in the end. This will help us weaken Duke Fjord and he will be forced to make concessions and reveal some of the secrets of his Warships to us. However, if we want to eat up Count John and his wealth then we would have to deal with Bluesea house as well which could be very tricky and we need to be careful."

Lionheart nodded and revealed his plans, "Well, I have a perfect plan for this, Recently Fire-abyss Prince Chad recently contacted us and proposed a cooperation deal with us. They only wanted Printing technology in exchange for their help in solving the Bluesea house's problem. Currently, he is one of the princes who is vying for the throne. They can make a situation at Bluesea domain so that Vlad would be forced to return to the Fire-Abyss kingdom or even if he doesn't return, they at least won't be able to send men and help them. We can strike them at that point."

Plato didn't give his opinions and waited for Eanred opinion first, He asked Eanred, "What do you think Master Eanred?"
Earned thought carefully and said, "If we take a neutral position then this will undoubtedly send our intentions to Count John that we don't intend to protect him whether it is politically or militarily, do you still believe he will trust us. I am guessing he is hiding something, this time we saw a lot of dead bodies and it can't happen unless it is a big war. It was at the land and water borders of the North-frontier city, they were full of dead bodies and the most notable thing was their new types of walls and weapons, I couldn't even identify how do they use that weapon and I could only see the glimpses not how they were used. However, If we support that count then Fjord will certainly take help from Dwarves and this will open a Pandora Box which will fill the whole region into a big war. However, we have a very big army while that count doesn't even have that much population to match our army. So it would be safe to bet on Fjord and keep the chaos as low as possible while gaining the most benefits out of it."

Eanred gravely continued, "And the thing is we have to choose our sides now as that count has support from Duke Sapphire or most likely Lukav. This is the first time where even I am not able to predict anything regarding this situation. I think we are too late this time, we should have resolved their differences before they took action. I wonder if that count deliberately killed Evan so that this situation gets out of control. Who the fuck killed Fjord's son. I swear I will skin him alive as I can't even predict shit this time around."

Plato then remarked, "We don't have to worry about Sapphire, he will be held at the southern theater by the lords most likely who were rallied by Fjord. So I don't think he will take any steps apart from his usual trading. I think we can squeeze Count John in the winter when he faces Food shortages and that will be our chance to grab him by the neck and make him hand over his slave so that this situation can stabilize a bit after appeasing Fjord. And I guess what Master Eanred said is correct as well as we will have to choose our sides right now. Because most of the people would be easily able to perceive our intentions. However, enraging Fjord would be very fatal right now at least as he can collaborate with dwarves and recently the dwarves have increased their patrols on our borders as reported by the Royal Navy So we have a situation in our hands if we enrage shorty. And that count is just a nobody. We have our dragon knights to deal with him even if he has something hidden. As for who killed Evan, I don't think we should dwell on it. Master Eanred you aren't this cautious usually. What's the matter this time."
Plato thought as he heard some rumors claiming that Prince Hector started this whole incident and tried to deflect from the killer of Evan.
Master Eanred shook his head and spoke, "I just feel there are ominous times ahead as we can't even predict about a mere count's future. I guess he will be someone big as we can't predict about him. The most confusing part is him giving the blueprints of his new weapon to us after Fjord's announcement, is he a fool or just afraid in crunch times? Because if he kept that weapon until the end then we would have a legitimate reason to support him and even Fjord won't be able to continue this war for long and come to the table to talk. We would at least have not taken sides if he decided to delay the handover of the blueprints And as you said, We have our dragon knights in case of emergencies."
As soon as Lionheart heard about Lukav, he decided already and gave orders in a calm manner so that he doesn't seem biased, giving orders out of emotions, "I guess we will follow with Plato's plan because we can't enrage Fjord as we would suffer more losses in containing them, though we can handle him it would be very damaging to the royal family. The very fact that Lukav supports him and he has a good relation with Lukav is bad. This is also the reason why the Radiant church is ignoring our collaboration with Fire-abyss kingdom this time around. Additionally, I would rather want his chefs in our Royal mansion. Our restaurants are getting a lot of flak because of their domain's cuisines and those stubborn chefs."

Plato nodded and spoke, "Hmm... If this is the case, we can't be too cautious this time around, this weapon has changed a lot of things and we can't be left behind. This will also help us increase our control in the surrounding regions. We can also use mercenaries to reduce our losses, they can get a free hand at looting common populace in return of supporting us in this war. While we will also encourage migration to North-frontier town so this increases the burden of Food in that town. When the time comes we will use it to our advantage. Even though they can make medicines to cope up with the Radiant Church but they still have limited land to produce food and can't change the fact that they have to change land after some years. I guess they might already be starting to face the problem of food with an increase in population. Their only solution is an invasion of Beast lands. I guess he wants those northern beast lands and hence fulfilling that contract. Such a moron."

Eanred nodded and spoke, "I guess we will follow the orders. However, we still need to be cautious of the Radiant church and Prince Lukav if they try anything this time around. By the way Luke, you should keep in contact with that Count and keep an eye on him as he is completely unpredictable. As for population, yes we can use this trick to increase their burden and strike them during the winter when he needs food. I guess that was also the reason why he signed the previous deal where he can buy enough food at market yes, right Luke? He is quite perceptive and far-sighted to be honest."

Luke then reminded them of another matter, "Yes, I guess that was the reason why he made a deal with us, a farsighted individual indeed but we would have to break the contract if we intend to use it to our advantage. But, What do we do about Prince Hector? I don't think he will remain quiet this time around when Fjord and John exchange blows with each other. What if that count Assassinate's Hector out of anger by their assassins. You all heard about Grey and that guy called Sylvan, right?"

Plato shook his head spoke, "We can simply say that we too are short on food because of the current war and hence the shortage of food while using it to our advantage. We shouldn't worry about Prince Hector as Alistair is a very capable man when it comes to the protection of the Lord. As for this situation, That count bought this on himself. He shouldn't have made so many enemies left and right. Either he is a fool or rather very clever if he has enough strength and power to deliberately create this situation." Plato smiled with a mysterious smile as he ended his sentence.
Eanred felt an ominous vibe when he heard Plato,
Plato laughed and spoke, "haha, who am I joking too. He can't possibly have this much power."
Lionheart too laughed as he heard Plato and adjourned the meeting, "Hahaha, Damn, your jokes aren't funny. Okay, this meeting is finished, we will go according to our plans. are you guys clear?"

Eanred murmured as he left irritatingly, "I hope what I am thinking doesn't become true. This is such a tricky situation. I hate these ominous vibes. Damn, why can't I predict his future, have I lost it?"

Chapter end