After Caesar left the room, Musashi soon followed after and they walked to the meeting room together. The many maids and doctors bowed respectfully as they walked by, and soon, they arrived in front of the large double-doors.Caesar slid open the doors and walked inside, and almost immediately, he could feel a dozen pair of eyes examine him. The thirteen clan heads, alongside Magni, Tiberius, Joe, and Ahri, were all present.
Caesar was shocked to see that both Tiberius and Joe were present, however, it didn"t show on his face. He acted as though their gaze was merely pa.s.sing wind and walked towards his seat, while Musashi similarily did the same.
There were three glamorous seats at the far end of the table, Ahri sat on left one, Caesar on the right, and Musashi in the middle. Once they sat down, Musashi cleared his throat and laid down a large map that covered the entirety of the table.
The map showcased the nearby terrain, clans, and distance they were separated by. Once everyone"s attention was focused on the large and luxurious map, Musashi gestured for Caesar to stand up.
In response to Musashi"s gesture, Caesar stood up from his chair and walked to the middle of the room, garnering everyone"s attention. He moved his slender index finger forward and pointed at the troll stronghold.
"To formulate a strategy, we must first determine our enemy"s strengths and weaknesses… the trolls have a surplus amount of stored food, weapons, and other supplies, not to mention their vast amount of troops. In accordance with these facts, a head-on battle would be suicide" Caesar explained quietly as he moved his finger to the fox-kin stronghold.
"On the other hand, we have a pitiful amount of supplies, low amount of soldiers and our defenses are pathetic. That is, of course, In comparison to the troll walls that are made of stone, ours are made of wood" Caesar further explained, causing the mood within the room to drastically drop.
"So then what do you, the esteemed strategist, no, general, propose we do?" Tiberius, from the corner of the room, asked sarcastically. If it weren"t for Caesar attempt to recruit them, his clan wouldn"t have been attacked by the trolls. Thus, a small and childish grudge was somewhat formed.
"Naturally, since a head-on collision with them is impossible, we need to use our intelligence to win. The trolls are a short-tempered and arrogant race, so we must use this trait against them. To do this, we must begin something I like to call Guerilla warfare"
After his words pa.s.sed, without waiting for a reply, Caesar pointed towards an area a few hundred meters to the left of the fox-kin stronghold, "A family of three that I rescued from troll stronghold will be moving down this road, however, there are surely still a large number of trolls in this area excavating the supplies from the furbolg clan" Caesar"s words continued as he raised his head.
"We will "acidentally" give this family of three, some false information…" Talking to here, Caesar"s speech was suddenly cut halfway by Faust.
"You mean to send this small family into the clutches of death? And what false information shall we give them?" Faust abruptly asked, he didn"t seem to be angry, but more so testing Caesar"s resolve.
"They will not die, as they hold important information, the trolls will first check if their words are true before killing them. As for the information, we will "acidentally" tell them that Ahri and a very small group of beautiful maids escaped from the clan and headed north"
"What merit do we gain from doing such a thing?" Faust asked whilst tilting his head.
"If they head north, their only possible destination would be out of the dark continent, thus, the trolls would immediately send a small force to capture them… In which I presume, the troll prince would be apart of" Caesar explained, not bothered by Faust"s questions in the slightest.
Caesar then swept his gaze across the room and cleared his throat before continuing his explanation, "I had just infiltrated their clan and destroyed their farms, alongside a.s.sa.s.sinating a few of their guards… They are surely angered by my actions, which should cloud their judgment. As such, we will ambush the small group of trolls and kill the prince"
Suddenly the table was slammed by Tiberius and a few clan heads, "wouldn"t that just anger the troll chieftain and quicken our demise?" they roared in unison.
Caesar was not angered by their roars, but instead, a large smile formed on his lips, "precisely, in retaliation, the troll chieftain will immediately a.s.sault the fox-kin stronghold, however, that is exactly what we want"
Tiberius and the few clan heads that previously roared had calmed themselves and sat back down. They wanted to hear the rest of Caesar"s plan before rudely interrupting him again.
"Clouded by rage, he will send his entire force at the fox-kin stronghold without the necessary preparations, thus, in response, a small group of elite fox-kin will stay here and bait them, while I and the main fighting force will lie down in wait and a.s.sault the troll stronghold while they are gone. We will take the supplies we can carry, and burn the rest. Whilst also slaughtering those that cannot fight" Caesar said and moved his finger across the map, pointing towards a small and secluded area next to the troll stronghold. He had found this area when escaping from the troll stronghold prior.
"What about our citizens, and how are you sure this plan will work?" Faust asked after a few moments of hesitation, it took him a while to fully comprehend Caesar"s words.
"We must evacuate our citizens quickly. Abandoning the fox-kin stronghold is the only possible way to win… although I know some of you have a strong connection with this place, it must be sacrificed" Caesar replied.
Faust nodded his head absentmindedly and started stroking his beard, "you didn"t answer my question… how are you sure this plan will work?" Faust asked once again, this time his eyes were examining Caesar deeply.
"You can never be sure of anything, however, if we execute this plan perfectly, we have everything to gain, but nothing to lose!" Caesar said with clenched fists.
Faust, Musashi, and the rest were silent for a solid minute before Musashi sighed deeply shifted his attention to those still sitting, "If none of you have a better plan than this is the end of discussion… after we succeed with part 1 of the strategy, Caesar will brief you on the other details" Musashi roared with a domineering voice.
The clan heads all nodded their heads and stood up from their chairs, "Ahri, you will be the one to "accidentall"y notify that small family… I trust you will be able to complete this objective wonderfully" Musashi spoke one last time before sitting back down.
"As you wish grandfather" Ahri replied quietly and rushed out of the door, not sparing Musashi nor Caesar a glance.
It was understandable, anyone with a normal level of intelligence would understand that there was no better bait than the clan leader of a clan, after all. This was, of course, something to be expected, however, Caesar still didn"t hesitate to formulate this strategy.
Once she left, the other clan heads stayed for a bit longer, and some even sat back down. Seeing this, Caesar"s smile disappeared and he sat at the end of the table.
"One of the only ways this plan can work is if Musashi can kill the enemy chieftain when he attacks. This will result in the head of the chicken to be cut off, while I will be the reigning commander after Musashi falls" Caesar stated calmly, he and the rest already knew which small group of "elites" was going to stay.
"Even if you destroy their food supply, can"t they just hunt?" Faust suddenly asked, as if he finally found a flaw within Caesar"s plan.
"There won"t be much food to hunt in a burning forest" Caesar explained calmly.
There were some flaws within his plan that required the troll prince to take his bait, however, if everything went according to the way Caesar envisioned it to be, then it would be perfect. The only problem being that Musashi and quite a few others need to be sacrificed.