World Development System 256 187. Prince Hector's Plan.

Finally, Lionheart asked Eanred because his predictions came true, "Eanred do you have any advice."

Earned sighed and spoke, "My only advice would be to stop provoking Duke Rose or he too might rebel using the help of that Rebel, John if he is pushed into a corner."

King asked, "Plato?"

Plato nodded his head and spoke, "I agree, Currently we should start diplomacy with Lord John behind the channels via Lord Luke. Previously I heard that Lord John is planning to withdraw his army from the Northern Borders i.e. Dolores and other places of the domain of Baron Mendez. By engaging, we can gain the credit we drove them back soothing the anger of warmongering ministers, At the same time, we can negotiate a ceasefire with them which will reduce the tensions. We will only recognize them unofficially. If we keep a hostile relationship with them currently then it would be very bad for us. We may even be swallowed in a few decades by that cunning count."

Eanred spoke lightly, "You guys do understand the importance of Manrestoring pills, don't you? or are you being deliberately blind."

Plato sighed and spoke, "Yes, I will explain. Currently, many of the top magicians are already migrating to other countries to get access to Manrestoring pills. In a few decades, we would certainly lose edge when it comes to magicians if we can't get access to manrestoring pills and that is also the reason why Elders are being very fussy. A lot of our magicians are going to Rose Institute through other countries which is the main reason why Elders are very anxious. Master Eanred's requirement of resources too would be reduced if we can get those Manrestoring pills."

Lionheart calmly nodded and didn't speak anything, he sighed and spoke, "It seems that Upstart deliberately baited everyone to invade him. Making himself a fat pie without any guard."

"Yes, from my thinking, he manipulated all of us from the start so that he can have a legitimate reason to rebel and explain to his masses. Prince Hector's anger was his weakness and that Rebel used it to the full extent. He is very cunning in the sense that he had hidden those weapons and only showed it when we officially invaded him. He certainly one-upped us this time around."

Lionheart sighed and spoke, "Anyway, inform Luke that he can start the negotiations with Lord John and prepare for the release of Endo and his men. You guys can go for now."

Plato and Eanred nodded as they headed to their official chambers.

****

Currently, at Bliss city, Duke Norman was sighing as he read the battle results, "What do you think?"

Norman's minister spoke, "Well, we still gained something out of this. We still have the leverage of the tamed northern lands."

Norman sighed and spoke, "Yes, it was good that we heeded Alistair's advice on invading the untamed lands. Since we have anyway roped in with Prince Hector we can't back out now. Anyway, try helping him as much as you can since there are two scandals on his tail right now."

"Yes, Milord."

****

Prince Hector meanwhile was grumbling as he looked at the two letters of official inquiries.

"Dammnit, Now that they are losing, they are turning their backs on me. Meanwhile, when they were in a superior position they simply ignored it. I will pay all of them back later for this backstabbing. Alistair, how did Evan's assassination get leaked?"

Alistair nodded and spoke, "According to Minister Plato, Fjord's already had their doubts on you so they spied on your mother and their family members. It was during the internal bragging and gossiping of Queen's family member that it got revealed to their spies."

Alistair sighed and thought, 'Prince and everyone in the kingdom was quite easily manipulated by Lord John. I hope Prince thinks calmly and takes his decisions.'

Hector sipped wine and gravely thought, 'This humiliation all because of that upstart and his weird weapons, he dared use me as an excuse to rebel, unforgivable. It seems he was baiting us the whole time to invade him so that he can use the perfect excuse to rebel.' 

Coming out of his thoughts, Hector asked, "Do you have any solutions for these two matters, Evan and Antonio."

Hector continued, "As far as Antonio's case is concerned we can simply put all the blame on Antonio and Baron Mendez being incompetent."

Alistair had his doubts and spoke, "The Problem with Antonio's case is that Baron Mendez was in a cell when we instigated him to usurp his father so that we can invade North-frontier city. And there might be certain things which Antonio may have revealed when he captured his father. As far as Evan's case is concerned we can simply ignore him unless he can provide any evidence or witness. And I am sure your mother and their family have good control over their assassins. Those assassins wouldn't want their family members to suffer in ruin."

Prince Hector nodded and spoke, "There is no problem with the assassins. Continue, speak of more options."

After some thinking Alistair spoke, "Milord, why don't we use Duke Norman to resolve the case of Antonio. We can use him to pressurize him. If there are other ministers who are unwilling to let go of this matter We can use the Northern tamed lands as leverage and threaten those ministers and their domains that they won't be allowed to invest in the northern lands we captured recently. We can also counter accuse Baron Mendez that he is simply being a puppet of Lord John since he is being occupied by his forces. We can also make use of the fact that one of the arms of Lord John, The Black and White Media frequently publishes slandering articles related to you and your men. This also proves that Lord John certainly has an agenda against us. This time too he is using Baron Mendez to target us. And Since Baron Mendez is under the mercy of Lord John he is following his orders. It is quite easy to influence the ministers."

Nodding with Satisfaction, Hector asked, "What about Felix and his ministers? I don't think they will let this matter go this easily. Last time as well they were targeting us."

Alistair smiled and gave a report, "This is the current report of Prince Felix. Previously when there was intense fighting going on with Lord John in North and in East toward seas. Prince Lukav had made his move and attacked Felix's Northwestern castle in Duke Blackwolf's domain."

Hector furrowed his brows and asked, "So? What about it? Isn't that castle heavily fortified."

Alistair nodded and spoke, "It was, but Prince Lukavv apparently used the ballistas to penetrate that castle. This Time, Prince Lukavv acquired the Ballistas from Lord John behind the scenes. I guess he provided his network of spies to Lord John in exchange for Ballistas. However, the important point is that Prince Lukav decimated Lord Felix's army, From the looks, Prince Felix was running from Blackwolf's domain since Prince Lukavv has a lot of spies. Apparently, fearing that Lukav would chase him to the capital. He ran to the radiant church's headquarters in Radiant City with his tail."

Hector, "And?"

Alistair, "So it would be quite easy to counter them back and they too will be on the defensive."

Chapter end