Inside a building, most people will call, a castle. There lies a room the size, second only to the biggest room inside the castle. Inside that room, two people can be found. One, which stands before the second man that is sitting in a luxurious-looking chair.

"My lord, it seems that the Duke of Orene finally made his move."

The one who talks is a standing man that is facing a person who has a position of a Count.

In the Kingdom of Numero, a Count is a title of nobility. And such a title is only weaker than titles such as Duke and the King. Princes on the other hand although have a stronger title than a count, are usually given another title such as Duke or count to give them a territory of their own to govern as part of the royal family.

"Didn't that he join that Empire deserter?"

Empire deserter is the infamous name given by many of the kingdom's nobility to White.

Most of the people who called him as such are not just due to him being a person who run away from the Empire of Colis but because many still don't accept him.

"Yes, my Lord but what I'm talking about if I'm allowed to speak is about the movements in his territory."

"Hmm. Okay, Tell me more."

As the subordinate continues to talk about his discovery, the Lord listened to him carefully.

"Our Spy on Orene has seen a caravan coming out of his territory. It seems that they are trying to move it as everyone is busy with the war with the Empire."

"Are you an idiot? How can a caravan be anything but suspicious?"

As the subordinate got shouted at, he instinctively kneeled and bow his head.

"No my Lord! Pls, listen to me. This is the real deal!"

The Lord, hearing the pleas of his subordinate realized that he did indeed wasn't able to listen to his subordinate fully. But although he knows his mistake, his pride as a noble didn't allow him to lower himself to his subordinate which the subordinate also understands.

"I'll give you a chance. If I'm not satisfied, I'll make you work in the latrines for a month."

"Yes my Lord."

The subordinate in a kneeling position tried to stand up again before he continue to talk.

"It's not just an ordinary Caravan my lord."

"Hmm."

"As you know my lord, Merchant caravans are normally made up of a big number of people."

"Yes, I know that. So what?"

"Listen to this my lord. It seems that this Caravan is only made up of a small number of people."

The subordinate continued as the Lord processed everything all the information he was given.

"My lord. What's weird about this caravan is that although it's a small caravan, the number of guards is high and not just that. It seems that the daughter of the Duke is also in Orene."

"You're saying that that caravan will carry his daughter?"

"Yes, my lord."

With the direction the subordinate is going, the lord already understood what his subordinate wants. Though there's a problem.

The problem is that he himself views himself as a proper nobleman and as a gentleman, he is hesitant on including women and even any people who got nothing to do with their problems.

"Even I have a conscience. What about his son instead?"

So instead, he tried to ask about his enemy's son which he knows is already at the right age to know about the politics in the Kingdom.

"Sadly my lord, the son seems to have joined the army."

As he heard his answer, the lord only close his eye for a second before opening it again.

"Is the daughter really in that Caravan?"

"My lord, our spy has been monitoring the movements of the daughter so I'm confident that the information is true."

"That's creepy."

When the subordinate heard what the Lord instinctively said, the subordinate wasn't able to help himself but be embarrassed.

"But my Lord, this is for our victory. And also, we made sure to not do anything that will taint her dignity."

"I know that you idiot. Well, it's good that you'll didn't peep but seriously, I would have likened it more if it's his son or another."

"Yes, my Lord. I know that it pains you but this is a rare chance that we have to take."

'So it's lucky that I wasn't able to participate because of my health huh.

Although I don't want to include his little daughter I can't really let this chance go. My subordinates are already frustrated that if not for this war, they would have moved by themselves.'

"So how do you plan to go with this? I'm sure you have a plan already before coming here."

"Yes my Lord."

As they discussed the plan, exchange of ideas and information happened which paved for their final plan to be finalized

...

As they finish discussing their plan, both of the two saw the look of satisfaction on each other's faces.

"With this, it should be alright."

"Yes, my lord. Even if we didn't succeed, there's almost no damage to us."

But when he heard the reply of his subordinate, a thought suddenly came into his mind.

'Now that I think about it, this would all be useless if we lost the war with the Empire, isn't it. Wait... The war.'

"You, what's the news about the Empire?"

As the subordinate was suddenly asked by his Lord about another matter, he suddenly got confused that he instinctively repeat what his Lord said.

But before he could even finish, he already understood enough that he suddenly got shocked at the grave mistake he just made.

"The war with the Empire, my lord..!"

"You idiot, the thing you forgot is more important than your perverted plan. What if we were able to kidnap the daughter if we're gonna lose it all anyway?"

If the Empire won the war, the nobles on the Kingdom do believe that the Empire wouldn't just suddenly remove all the nobility of the kingdom as it would just bring chaos to their newly acquired territory if they choose to fully absorb the Kingdom.

The way they see it is that the Empire would definitely only set up a person that would lead the Kingdom for the Empire.

It could be someone from the Empire or even a noble from the Kingdom as long as it is a person the Empire could control.

For the level of the nobility, the Empire would just remove any anti-Empire nobles and replace them with another that is more to their liking. And on his case as a Count that is indirectly under the Duke of Orene, he could be removed through the Empire's help even by just a false report that he is an anti-Empire.

As the Duke that have a higher authority than him. The Count sees that the Empire who doesn't know much about the Kingdom would believe a Duke more than a Count.

Though that is to say if the Duke would change sides as the Duke did participate in the war against them. There's also fact that he didn't participate in the war. But even so, the unknown chances of it happening is enough already for him to label it as something in need of consideration.

"Forgive me, my lord, I was about to report this to you when I received the message but when another report came this time about the daughter, I was just overtaken by my desire to finally have our revenge that I forgot."

When the lord, hears the answer of his subordinate. He just sighed heavily as he too understand the frustration his subordinate experienced.

In the past when the Duke is still the father of the current one. Their territories are in a good relationship with the Duke of Orene. Although the whole kingdom saw them as under the Duke, the past Duke didn't treat them as such but instead treat them equally.

This created a pretty good relationship between most of the Nobility under the Duke which brought prosperity to all of them.

But when the Duke suddenly died, almost everything changed. Contrary to the past Duke, the current one views things differently.

Maybe due to how the past Duke treat others, the current one believed that they were being exploited instead. From the news that spread to most of the Nobility under the Duke, it seems that the current Duke believed that their riches are being taken from them. Instead of the money coming to them mostly, it is being spent throughout the others. Because of this the new Duke immediately changed so many things that invalidated most of the deeds and promises that the past Duke made.

This move caused so much problem for the other Noble as the sudden change of stance of the current Duke meant so many changes of their current normal. Some nobles even go bankrupt because of it. But when they try to protest to the Duke about it, they were all just ignored.

Finally, many nobles can't take it anymore and rebel. Unluckily though, they were easily taken care of by the combined force of the other nobles who chose to side with the Duke to gain his favor and the Sacred Numbers which sided with the Duke.

It's a total one-sided victory for the Duke and his allies which left so many Nobles destroyed and some, not just bankrupt but their title even revoked.

'If only the King didn't try to involve himself on the matter, we should at least have some chance.'

And to this date, the problem that the Duke caused to them is still felt to this day that a new faction under a Count like him is formed in secrecy.

"I know you all are frustrated but be sure to not be blinded. So, did we lose?"

As the Lord asked the question, the subordinate immediately open the letter containing the message about the state of the war.

"No my Lord, it seems that the Deserter won the battle."

"Oh."

In the war with the Empire, the lord has guessed that the Kingdom would lose the war. One reason is the fact that the chosen Commander for their army was a guy who is new to the ways of the Kingdom.

And although that should have been equalized by White's knowledge about their opponent. The enemy which he would face is a General who knows more than him about their own troops.

Then there's also the disparity between the number and quality of troops to which both sides are won by the Empire.

For the count, there's almost no chance at all.

The only thing he could have thought of to escape the mess that the Kingdom is going through is to exhaust the Empire by making the war more costly for them and bringing them to the negotiating table.

Even if they lost all their battles, as long the Empire can't continue the war, the Kingdom's victory is assured. But contrary to his expectations, the Kingdom won the battle.

But even though he was surprised by the victory, he tried to hide it through his face and tried to act normally.

"How many casualties?"

'I'll admit that he's good to even win a battle like that but that's nothing if the losses of the other side are nothing more than a few.'

The Lord believes that even if White won a battle against the Empire, it would be useless if the victory isn't secured.

'What we need to win is the war, not the battles.'

The subordinate though wasn't able to answer fast and from the view of the Count, he looks hesitant about saying anything.

"Don't tell me, we sustained heavy losses?"

There are cases of battles in which even if the winning side wins the battle, they are the ones who suffered more casualties.

The goal in a battle after all is to achieve their objectives and as long one group was able to achieve it, the battle is theirs.

An example of that are sieges which normally would take more lives for the group sieging than the one being sieged.

Even if the attacker has more losses, as long as they achieved the goal of taking the enemy defenses, they are going to be the declared winner.

But the case between the Kingdom vs the Empire is different. The Kingdom's army is not just weaker, they were also fewer in numbers.

Although the Kingdom has a lot of money, many nobles are hesitant on recruiting their citizen because of the fact that it would damage their economy.

The soldiers that is being used after all were mostly farmers so once they were recruited, the number of people who would tend to their farmlands would be lessened.

Due to that, the amount of troops sent to participate in the war is less than that of the Empire. And if they lost a lot of that troops in just a single battle, they will definitely lose the war.

'We would literally be at mercy of the Empire if that happens.'

But contrary to what's on his mind. What came out from his subordinate's mouth isn't what he is expecting.

"No, my lord. The Kingdom's losses were minimal at best."

"Then what is it?"

"It's the opposite my lord. It seems that the Empire is the one to receive high casualty."

"Hoo... So that deserter is at least that good."

Although he recognized that White is a great general, the word heavy casualty for him meant different from what happened to the actual battle.

Instead of almost total annihilation of the Empire's troops, he believed that the "heavy casualty" that his subordinate has read was just enough damage to cause a retreat for the Empire and not something enough to end the war.

'Maybe he ambushed them. It's been some time since he entered the Kingdom, after all, he might have been studying the terrain while he was here.'

"So what's the current state of the war?"

As the subordinate continue to read the letter, the Lord saw his subordinate's mouth opening little by little like he can't believe what he's reading.

"Lord!"

"What, you look like you've seen your father and mother having sex for the first time again."

"No my Lord, it's something more shocking than that."

'There's something more shocking than that?'

"Say it immediately!"

"The war is over!"