Chapter 151 Empire Strikes II
"Heh! So they are moving now," Sitting on his working chair with a serious expression, Velian said with a light smile on his face.
Naomi was the one who reported this news as she was in charge of the spying and assassination unit newly formed solely for the purpose of serving Velian.
It was mainly done to keep an eye on adventurers who were staying in the city and the main target who is Ivan.
"Good work! Naomi," Hearing her lover's words, she felt happy but even she was worried a little because this matter wasn't something that can be taken easily.
Velian waited for this chance for a long time so now that they are moving he felt happy but at the same time a little bit sad.
"A lot of innocent people are going to die from this war," He mumbled as someone suddenly hugged him from behind while whispering to his ears.
"Do you feel bad, brother?" It was none other than Lyra who asked this obvious question from him.
"Of course, I'm not a monster but-" He paused for a minute to look at Naomi's eyes which were looking at him with interest.
"Is it cruel to say I don't care about them? As long as I can protect my people, I don't really care about them," Even though it was a cruel thing to say, neither Lyra nor Naomi reacted to it negatively as both of them had the same feeling.
If Elda was here she might start complaining as she was a pure girl who was a little too sensitive but others would easily understand that it's not Velian's job to protect these people as they had next to no connection with him.
"Forget about it! Where's mother and Delvi?" Changing the topic, Velian questioned Lyra who quickly answer him.
"Delvi is with Remi and others getting ready for the upcoming war,"
"I heard mother is supporting Sariya with some work, I think they are planning how to manage the city in wartime,"
Lyra was staying with Velian as they were discussing their war plan to deal with both the kingdom and empire during this wartime. The moment they got to know about the incoming war, both of them started forming a proper strategy to face them.
"Brother, I think this war will be an easy win for us," Lyra was confident with her words.
"I know, we will act as a third party who's rebelling against the kingdom and attack both kingdom and empire when they are at their weakest," He was pretty confident with this war.
"I think Delvi will be happy to see that new emperor,"
Both Lyra and Velian recalled about how they got kicked out of the empire and how they tried to kill them.
"He will pay for what he did, both Pete and his mother and that old man who didnt do anything to stop this, all of them will have to pay for what they did to our mother," Just by remembering about that incident Velian felt his anger rising up but he controlled himself.
Lyra just nodded her head as she knew how he felt after knowing about all these things. But Velian suddenly changed the topic as he didn't want to talk about these depressing things.
"Sister, how's the road construction going?"
To answer his question, Lyra just checked some papers. All this time Naomi was listening to everything with interest.
"Naomi, keep an eye on that old man, if he tries something funny you can kill him, but make sure to not leave any evidence," Right after she got her orders she tried to leave but Velian's next words caught her off guard.
"Be careful, you're important to me just as everyone else,"
Listening to his words, Naomi blushed a little giving him a beautiful laugh before leaving the room.
*Sigh
"I need to do something about her, no matter how I tell her she doesn't want to consider herself equal to my other girls," Lyra heard those words but she ignored them as she was absorbed in her work.
"More than 70% of the road is finished brother and we got a letter that the alliance army will be here tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,"
Both of them were happy to hear this news.
"We will be the only faction that will stand after this war, I won't allow the empire or kingdom to take this trophy,"
Just like that, two days went rather fast with every party including the kingdom and the empire getting heated in the flames of war.
Julius heard the news about the empire invading their territory so they quickly formed an army to protect their border.
They had to sacrifice some people, lands and nobles but in the end, they were able to hold the border without letting Pete and his army invade it.
"Tsk~ how are we stuck here? Didn't we already damage more than half of their army?" In frustration, Pete kicked a guard who was nearby him.
"Calm down, my lord," It was none other than Ferosa who talked with him and tried to calm him down.
After attacking villages around the territory and collecting food, they quickly joined the main army.
It was rather depressing to see the state of the villages they looted. They killed men and abused women in those villages. Sometimes they even went as far as to kill elders who objected to them.
At some point, the soldiers who disliked the war and the higher-ups who questioned why they were attacking other humans without any reason started to enjoy the war because it was human nature to love conflicts rather than embrace the peace they have.
"My lord! We saw the banner of Montero kingdom too, so I guess they have some help, if we try one or two more times we can easily enter their territory and attack the capital,"
*Tsk
"We have this many soldiers and we are still struggling, damn it!"
Pete's words had no basis as this was the nature of the war. They are in an enemy land where they have the advantage so of course, it would be hard to deal with them but Pete couldn't understand such a simple thing.
"Everyone heard our emperor, right? We will attack and destroy the kingdom as soon as we can, now go and get ready," Hearing Ferosa's words, everyone hesitantly went back.
People were against Ferosa being this close to Pete as he was not someone from the empire but selfishness of Pete was the only thing that kept him and gave him this position but now even that person started to question about his decision to support him.
"Did I make the right decision? What happened to the brilliant leader who attacked our kingdom?" He looked at Pete one last time before leaving.
"Was it all that woman's work?"