Cthulhu Gonfalon

Meanwhile, inside the imperial palace of the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs, the current king, Dyke Spoolin was also looking anxious.

As the ruler of a country, he naturally wasn’t worried over the problem of cannon fodder, but rather a different issue. He’d only just received reliable news not long before informing him that the Orc Empire had dispatched approximately 2000 elite soldiers to provide support to the Kingdom of Dwarfs.

Two thousand people wasn’t really that big a number, but 2000 elite soldiers was another thing entirely.

The Mountain of Broken Clouds didn’t exactly have wide terrain; an army numbering in the tens of thousands had no way of spreading out their forces, so 2000 elite soldiers were more than enough to hold a strategic location. Even the most impressive display of manpower couldn’t hope to break through in a situation like that.

It didn’t need mentioning that the Orcs could also help make up for the dwarves’ greatest weak point—though their shaman magic had the disadvantage of being relatively short-range, it was at least more nimble than dwarven rune magic, and had a wider range as well. Its effect as a supplement in battle was therefore on an entirely different level.

Dyke picked up that piece of secret information and scrutinized it again, unable to resist heaving a deep sigh.

Because the Orc Empire had changed their emperor, there’d been a bit of upheaval among their personnel, giving the spies quite a few opportunities to work. Even then, the information they managed to gather wasn’t detailed enough; all they’d learned was that 2000 elite soldiers had been dispatched, along with a few spellcasters. But who exactly was coming? How many spellcasters were there? There was no way for them to ask.

These were genuine mysteries. They were near impossible to get the truth of no matter how much effort the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs’ spies put into it.

After all, even spies weren’t omnipotent.

As for divination and detection spells and the like, if you could predict the Orcs’ plans then they could predict yours; the same went for detection. While it was true that the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs had their human gods to support them, the Orc Empire also had their Orc gods. The two sides were still equally matched after all these years of fighting, so who could manage to get an advantage?

Thus, King Dyke could do nothing but sit here alone looking miserable, unable to think of a solution to his problem. After a while, he sighed again, then had someone call in his chief mage so he could give him the information to look at.

“This is a difficult situation!” the chief mage’s face darkened as he said. “This next battle will be a tough one to fight!”

“Indeed! If I hadn’t already sent out the orders, I might have even considered not fighting at all,” the king said with a bitter smile. “If we fight on like this, the only victory we might obtain will be a tragic one, with far more losses than gains!”

“I agree that it would be best not to fight; this isn’t just an issue of pride. So long as we can get some benefit out of it, what does it matter if we lose a little pride?” the chief mage continued to urge. “If you were to turn me into a demigod right this moment, then tell me to strip all of Nephrite City naked and have them bark like dogs, I’d be ready and willing!”

His example was rather extreme, but it was also quite persuasive. King Dyke lowered his head and began to ponder.

He thought and thought, and the expression on his face changed multiple times. After breathing out a particularly heavy sigh, he shook his head.

“It’s no good, this isn’t a problem of my own honor. To go back on my word over something so big as this—that’s a much more serious issue than losing a war! Rather than take back the order, it would be better to reduce the scale of the war; we’ll send two or 3,000 men to deal with it, take our losses, and then withdraw, denouncing the Orcs as collaborating with the Dwarves to conspire against us!”

The chief mage nodded slightly. “This could certainly be called a plan where there is no plan; it’s one I can accept.”

“But I still wish to win this battle,” King Dyke said, unresigned. “In the past five generations of kings, none have ever lost a battle in their punitive expeditions. I don’t want to be the first to set that example! I’ll be the laughingstock of posterity!”

The chief mage had been here since the time of the king’s grandfather and had even been intimate friends with his father; upon hearing his words, he couldn’t help letting out a sigh of his own.

He had no children and so more-or-less regarded Dyke as his own son. Of course, he had no desire for the man to face such humiliation. But if they wanted to avoid humiliation, they needed to win this war, and winning this war was easier said than done!

After pondering for a good while, he said, “I have an idea that might be worth a try…”

“What idea?” Dyke hurried to ask.

“If we wish to win this war, I believe we should strengthen our army’s mage troops. In order to do this, we can ask the Mifata Federation to help us by sending out high-level battle mages—if we can manage to get one or two Legendary Masters, that would certainly be even better.”

King Dyke repeatedly nodded his head but immediately followed that with a furrowed brow.

“That incident back then…” King Dyke said, “it’s enough of a blessing that the Mifata Federation never hit us while we were down. Why would they ever choose to assist us?”

“That incident happened over ten years ago now, and besides that, it never accomplished anything, so there’s no need to think too hard on it,” the chief mage said with a smile. “All they need is enough benefits, and your enemy can quickly become your ally; it isn’t such a rare thing.”

“But what sort of benefits can we offer them?” the king asked. “Our lands don’t border theirs, and I don’t believe they’re lacking in funds. What exactly is there that they need which we can offer them?”

The chief mage began to mutter to himself.

After a while, he quietly said a few things.

King Dyke’s eyes widened; he shook his head at first, but after thinking on it, he, too, sank into contemplation. A long time passed before he sighed and gave a heavy nod.

Having gained this acceptance, the chief mage took his leave. Not long after, he used transmission magic to arrive at the capital of the Mifata Federation, the Highest Tower.

As a Legendary Master, it was only natural that people came to receive him when he arrived at the Highest Tower. Within the Country of Casters, even if someone said that he’d had a direct relationship with the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs’ attempt to surprise attack the Federation years ago—a Legendary Master could not be censured simply due to hearsay.

Besides, he even brought a present that the Federation had longed for day and night.

“Are you serious?” The Legendary Masters of the Mifata Federation were unable to stay calm while looking at that object. They whispered in each other’s ears for a good while before the oldest of them opened his mouth to say, “This is not something to joke about!”

“I’ve already brought it here. Does it look like I’m joking to you?”

“Truthfully, we do indeed greatly desire this,” another Legendary Master said. “But if the price we must pay is to go to war with the Orc Empire…”

“So what if it is?” the chief mage calmly asked in reply. “Are you to say that the Country of Casters cares who their enemies are? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the Orcs.”

“Of course not!”

“If you aren’t afraid, then as long as there are enough benefits to it, what does a single war with the Orcs matter to you?” the chief mage continued. “As long as we win, there aren’t any problems, am I right?”

The oldest Legendary Master nodded his head, saying, “What you say makes sense. As long as we win, nothing else will be a problem. However… how can you guarantee that we will, in fact, win?”

The chief mage laughed aloud at that as if he’d just heard something particularly funny. “You must be joking! If the entire country were fighting then that would be another story, but a battle like this, between just a few thousand people? With our two countries combined, who could rival our strength?”

“The Orcs aren’t weak,” said the old mage. He seemed like he might be even older than some countries’ entire history. “All else aside, they have the most Legendary Masters on the continent.”

“That was in the past,” said the chief mage as he shook his head. “They’ve recently lost quite a few.”

“But that could only be a good thing for them,” the old mage replied. “After getting rid of that bunch, their government can now move without obstruction, and the entire country’s efficiency will become much better as a result. It won’t be long before that nation’s power sees a noticeable level of growth.”

“We speak now of the war before us, nothing else,” the chief mage calmly said. “In truth, you already made your decision the moment you set eyes on this thing, didn’t you?”

The Mifata Federation’s leaders exchanged looks with each other, then nodded their heads one after the other.

The next day, the Mifata Federation and the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs declared a temporary alliance in order to stop the Orc Empire from digging their claws into the lands beyond the plains.