Caesar raised his hand in the air and signaled for the army to be at ease, to which they complied and stood up from the ground. They stood shoulder to shoulder and awaited Caesar"s next commands.Seeing this, Caesar smiled, "the action will start soon, but before that, we must make sure that we are well rested, as such, even though I am honored that all of you have stayed up to greet me, please get some sleep" Caesar said in a calm and soothing voice.
In response, the army bowed deeply once again and walked into their respective tents. Leaving only a few significant figures such as Soka, Akari, Falthor, Ebisu, and a few others. Caesar didn"t mind that they stayed behind and simply walked to the largest tent, located at the forefront of the lake.
Caesar pushed aside the white, cloth drapes blocking the entrance and walked inside, with the others following behind him. They entered into a s.p.a.cious tent with a large table and an a.s.sortment of chairs in the middle. At the side, was a normal sized bed and dresser.
The table was quite simple and could seat, at the very least, eight people. Resting on the middle of the table was a squarish map with both white and black figurines atop it. The white signifying friendly troops, while the black signified enemies.
Caesar sat down at the very end of the table while the others sat as close to him as possible, with both Falthor and Soka on his left and right respectively. Although Soka wasn"t a clan head, no one questioned his presence, as it was clear that Caesar allowed it.
Once everyone was seated, Caesar turned towards Soka, "did you find out anything useful on your reconnaissance mission?" he asked whilst resting his cheek on the palm of his hands. He was quite tired from running and fighting all day, not to mention the fact that it has been weeks since he last had blood.
"Yes, lord…" Soka said quietly and stood up from his chair, he moved his hand to where the troll stronghold was located, "from my understanding, there are a total of 350 guards stationed at the gates at all times… they rotate personnel every three hours, and one hour after dusk would be the perfect time for infiltration"
"Is that it?" Caesar asked. He didn"t care much about the guards, nor when they rotated. He was more interested in who the helpers of the trolls were, he figured they would"ve shown themselves by now.
Seeing that Caesar was clearly discontent with his gains, Soka contemplated for a few moments, "there is a big guard tower that rests on top of the gates, as it stuck out like a sore thumb, I intently watched it for an entire night. When the door finally opened, a humanoid race of some sort walked out, I presume it was human, however, I am not entirely sure" Soka said after a few seconds of thought.
His words caused Caesar to stroke his chin, "what makes you not certain it is human?" he asked. With the fox-kins great sense of sight, he figured that Soka would have a more sure-fire answer.
"That is…" Soka paused for a short moment and scratched the back of his head before continuing, "from what I could sense, he was quite powerful, and humans are normally weak" he replied honestly and coughed a few times to hide his embarra.s.sment.
Caesar nodded his head and tapped the desk with his index finger, "if we a.s.sume that it is a human, why are they helping the trolls? Do they have something I"m not aware of, or is there some sort of hatred the fox-kin have generated outside of the dark continent" Caesar asked with squinted eyes, to which those present fell into deep contemplation.
Falthor was the first to speak, "The fox-kin haven"t left the dark continent in ages, in fact, Ahri was the only exception to this fact… as for why humans would be helping the trolls, I have no idea" he explained.
The rest sitting at the table had similar answers to Falthor and Caesar could only form a crude hypothesis based on the small amount of information he possessed, "From what you"ve explained, that was the only human that you had seen throughout your entire mission, correct?" Caesar asked once again, he sat straight up and no longer lazily rested on the desk.
"That is correct" Soka replied curtly. He had been spying on the troll stronghold for two entire days.
"Excellent… then we can only a.s.sume that its an investment of some sort. Some faction has decided to help the trolls win this war, and in return, they will gain some of the spoils. Although, It would appear that they are doing so rather stealthily, thus, the help will be minimal" Caesar said quietly and moved another one of the black figurines to the location of the troll stronghold on the map.
"Their defenses are rather formidable, as such, a siege, as I stated before, is impossible. That is why we are baiting them out. When their communication with their "helpers" is gone, they are going to surely panic"
"So what do you suggest?" Akari asked out of turn, she was deathly curious, and Caesar had a habit of dragging things on until it reached some sort of climax.
Caesar first coughed gently and continued, "Soka, do you think you are capable of a.s.sa.s.sinating, or if possible, capturing this so-called human?" he asked, to which Soka dismissed his question with a shake of his head.
"From a single glance, I became aware that the human male was my equal, if not a bit stronger. a.s.sa.s.sinating, or capturing such a target and escaping would pose to be difficult, especially since the troll-guard is tight" he replied with a hint of humility.
"Very well," Caesar said and stood up from his chair. He then picked up one of the white figurines that looked similar to a horse, and turned towards Falthor, "Akari, Falthor, I want the both of you to lend your five strongest soldiers to Soka… in which he will continuously poke at the troll stronghold" he said and moved the white piece with his slender hands.
Before anyone could react, Caesar continued, "Soka, if any of them are captured, kill them. And if you are captured, kill yourself. I want you to constantly sabotage their devices, I don"t need you to do a lot of damage, but I want you to become an eye-sore. Anger them, make them impatient. And the moment they leave their walls and advance, inform me immediately" Caesar explained and didn"t give the others any chance to refute him.
Soka hesitated for a moment, he wasn"t someone who would willingly give his life for someone else… he was innately selfish. However, disobeying would either mean death or dishonor, and his pride wouldn"t allow that.
"Yes, Lord!" Soka replied with determination and stepped out of the tent to prepare himself.
After he left, Caesar sat back down, "our supplies are running dry and we must finish this war soon… the longer we wait, the bigger the disadvantage we hold. Thus, if my a.s.sumption is correct, we will attack tomorrow night. It depends on how patient the troll king is" Caesar said lightly and leaned back in his chair. The troll kings next actions determined whether or not the fox-kin would win or lose.
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At the troll stronghold, an abnormally robust troll was currently shaking with rage atop his throne. His normally green skin was a deep shade of red and his entire body radiated a colossal amount of killing intent. A few guards and advisors were at his feet shaking fearfully.
"M-my king, it is not your fault, we must get revenge for your so-" one of the advisors was interrupted by a loud bang. The troll king slammed the armrest in anger and kicked the advisor at one of the pillars, crushing him like a bug in the process.
"I am Zul"thar, the rightful king of the mighty trolls, and those ants dared to destroy my lineage?" his roar echoed throughout the palace and his rage was clearly evident. Not only was his son killed, but he was humiliated in front of his entire clan.
This not only hurt his son"s reputation, but also his own. Intense rage enveloped Zul"thar and the throne seemed to creak with every heavy breath.
"W-what do you suppose we do?" one of the advisors asked, hesitantly.
His words caused Zul"thar to sit back in his chair and contemplate for a few moments, "we"ll wait for a day. If there are no apologies or offerings. Then I will personally see to it that Musashi"s lineage, and clan, go extinct" He said through clenched teeth and waved the group of trolls out of his palace.
"PREPARE OUR ARMY FOR WAR" he roared at the departing figures, his current rage was overwhelming and any logical thought had long disappeared. As such, they were currently moving exactly as Caesar wanted.
Once they left the room, Zul"thar suddenly remembered about the woman who had lied to him and his son. He clenched his fists and ground his teeth as he stood up, "if it weren"t for that d.a.m.nable woman, my son wouldn"t have died" he grumbled and started walking through a long corridor.