The next morning, Caesar uncoiled himself from Ahri"s tight grasp and stood up from the bed. He lazily stretched his limbs and yawned loudly whilst walking towards his closet. His messy hair rested on his shoulders and his perfect abdominal muscles were being fully showcased.
His loud movement awoke Ahri and she also stood up from the bed, her half-closed yellow eyes silently scrutinized Caesar, as if she was asking for an explanation. Although all she felt was relief last night, now she was more curious as to what he did last night.
Noticing her gaze, Caesar smiled wryly and first dressed himself before explaining. He adorned a casual pair of tight black pants, tight burgundy tunic that perfectly authenticated his fit body. He then slicked his long hair behind his ears and sat with one leg over the other on the bed.
"Although the trolls probably have a large number of stored supplies, I destroyed one of their large farms, which should set them back temporarily, but more so, make them fear another night raid. I don"t want their guards to get a good nights rest, but I also want them to be punished by their superiors" Caesar explained with a calm and soothing voice… attempting to make her fail to realize how dangerous his actions were.
And as he expected, Ahri didn"t seem to care about his accomplishments, but more so the fact that he infiltrated the troll stronghold alone. Her brows furrowed as she softly opened her lips, "why did you, in particular, go alone… do you not understand how important you are to the fox-kin right now?" Ahri said angrily.
Unfortunately, Caesar could not refute her words as they were not wrong in the slightest, it was foolish of the commander to attack alone. However, in Caesar"s opinion, if you couldn"t trust someone else to do it, you must put matters into your own hands.
"Your grandfather and his elites were busy, not to mention the fact that most of our soldiers were tired from the tournament," Caesar said while wrapping his arm around Ahri"s shoulders, to which she just rolled her eyes, sat up, and walked to the closet.
"I won"t admonish you for your tactics, as you are the strategist and I am merely your fiance… but please treasure your life more" Ahri spoke whilst putting on a black kimono with beautiful red clouds engraved onto it. Her previous sulking expression was nowhere to be seen, and instead, was replaced by a calm one.
"Very well" Caesar replied curtly. He was fully aware of how selfish his actions were, as his life was no longer only his. He then sat up from the bed and headed towards the door, but before leaving, he pecked Ahri on the forehead.
"We"ll be having a meeting with Musashi and the new clan heads at evening, but before that, I"ll be speaking to Musashi about future plans," Caesar said as he walked out of the door, he wanted to make sure Ahri knew what he was doing, albeit, he didn"t tell her the full truth.
"I"ll be working with the maids to distribute food and other forms of care, I"ll see you in the evening" Ahri replied as Caesar was walking through the door.
Caesar nodded his head in response and closed the door from behind him, he then walked through the long halls towards Musashi"s room. He saw many frantic maids, nurses, and even doctors running through the halls as he walked.
Judging by their fear-stricken faces, Caesar a.s.sumed that Musashi had completed the task. However, to confirm, Caesar stopped one of the maids that were running by him.
"What happened?" he asked curiously, to which the maids face first paled, and then she bowed.
"T-the trolls… they finally attacked after a month of silence" she replied with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
Caesar"s outward expression darkened as he leaned closer and put his hand on her shoulder, "those d.a.m.ned cowards, attacking during the night and killing our warriors while they slept. Have they no shame?" Caesar said with an expression of anguish, which was, of course, faked.
The young maid nodded her head in agreement, and her previous sadness almost vanished immediately and was replaced by anger. She clenched her fists tight and audibly ground her teeth, "how dare those sc.u.m act so despicable… they killed my son!" she shouted angrily and walked past Caesar, presumably to go help out the other victims.
Once she left Caesar"s line of sight, he continued talking to the many people that walked pa.s.sed him, riling them up in the same way. He would gladly enrage the fox-kin if that meant they would no longer feel fear. Morale was, after all, one of the most important arts of war.
This proceeded for about half an hour until finally, he arrived in front of Musashi"s heavily guarded door, which had double the amount of normal guards. Once they caught sight of Caesar, they breathed a sigh of relief and split, allowing pa.s.sage.
Caesar nodded his head thankfully as he walked by the guards. He then slid open the door and walked inside the dark room. The room was pitch black, except for a single lit candle resting in the middle-most area of the room. It laid on a small, circular table, and Musashi"s barely illuminated smoking figure entered into his sight.
His stature and gestures expressed his weariness. He raised his eyes to look at Caesar, before gesturing towards the nearby chair with his free hand. In response, Caesar walked over and sat down.
They sat in relative silence for a few moments, before Caesar finally broke the ice, "thank you…" Caesar said quietly, he knew of the hardships he caused Musashi.
"I don"t need your thanks, I need your rea.s.surance of victory" Musashi replied seriously, he was tired of war and games. He wanted to win, so that he could rest peacefully.
Caesar nodded his head and tapped the desk, "their defenses are much stronger than I had initially thought, not to mention their surplus of stored food… a siege would be impossible" Caesar said after a few seconds of thought.
"What about defending?" Musashi asked while ma.s.saging his temples.
"Impossible, their numbers far exceed ours, not to mention our limited supplies, they will just wait until we die of starvation," Caesar said with squinted eyes.
Suddenly, Musashi slammed the table and growled at Caesar angrily, "So then what? Are we fated to die, no matter what?" Musashi snapped, he had just killed many of who he considered being his family. And now, Caesar practically just told him that his efforts were for naught.
"We can win…" Caesar"s words trailed off for a moment as his expression hardened and turned cold, "but you must die" Caesar continued, and silently observed Musashi"s face.
Musashi was first shocked, and then he laughed wildly, "When do we get started?" Musashi replied after roaring in laughter.
"Right now…" Caesar said as he pulled out a map from his storage ring, he laid it out on the table and started pointing at a few locations.
Caesar then explained some of the contents of his plan to Musashi, to which he opened his eyes wide in shock as he stared at Caesar incredulously.
"You mean to use that family you just rescued? How many trolls can you kill if your plan moves successfully, even though I"m old, I don"t want to die for nothing" Musashi inquired curiously, as if dying for a good cause was his only goal.
"More specifically, the mother. As for the number of trolls, whether they are children, elderly, or young men. They will all die" Caesar said coldly and stood up from his chair.
"It"s about time for the meeting, we"ll put my plan into motion there" Caesar said while walking towards the door.
As he walked, Musashi couldn"t help but call out from behind him, "does my granddaughter know how coldhearted the man she married, truly was?"
"Love breeds hatred, the trolls simply chose the wrong side" Caesar replied curtly whilst walking out of the door. Since the trolls wanted to harm his family, he would completely annihilate theirs. No one side is right during a war, it is only about who is left.