Delayed

After seeing Blanc's cold facial expression, the envoy flinched a bit as alarm bells rang in his head.

"Not good! I must immediately appease him and delay their attack as much as possible!"

The envoy thought to himself.

"Greetings, King Rougenfort. I am aware of the recent negative developments in the relationship of our kingdoms and King Samara would like to apologize for this misunderstanding."

The envoy said as he deeply bowed towards Blanc.

After hearing how the envoy was twisting words, Blanc inwardly sneered.

"Heh! Misunderstanding? What a convenient word. I wonder if this would still be a misunderstanding if your army managed to obtain Fort Shadowsong. Tell me, how could this have been a misunderstanding?"

Blanc replied.

Meanwhile, the envoy was already inwardly panicking. This King Rougenfort was bolder than he expected and didn't hesitate to directly burn bridges with their kingdom.

In addition, the envoy felt that the current atmosphere of the negotiation was in favor of King Rougenfort so he knew that he had to do something or he would fail the mission given to him by King Samara.

This envoy already knew that this was going to be an uphill battle for him so he could only hope that this young King Rougenfort would be indecisive and inexperienced.

Unfortunately, reality gave him a harsh slap in the face as Blanc decisively implied that there was no way everything was a misunderstanding and that he was only saying it was a misunderstanding because they lost.

It seems that this young King Rougenfort already saw through his lies and he was slowly being cornered, hence, he was forced to use his second card early in the negotiation.

"Apologies for the inconvenience we've caused to you and your subjects, King Rougenfort. However, if you could just give our king some time, we would provide some remuneration for the damage caused by our army."

However, Blanc simply took an aggressive stance and didn't fall for the envoy's trick. 

Why would he settle for meager remunerations when he could take the entire Samara Kingdom as his remuneration?

In addition to this, Blanc believes that he would be doing the citizens a favor by removing a corrupt and incompetent king from the throne.

"Heh! Do you think I'm stupid? Why would I give you time to reorganize your forces and then let you simply attack my kingdom again when you've recovered your military might?"

Blanc retorted.

His reply made the envoy's heart beat even faster as it seemed that he was dead set on conquering the Samara Kingdom.

Unbeknownst to the envoy, the Rougenfort Kingdom's army was already marching towards the Samara Kingdom while their negotiations were still ongoing.

Blanc had already decided to conquer their kingdom and he was only delaying him here for a few hours so that he wouldn't be able to return early and report the news about the failed negotiations giving the Samara Kingdom time to prepare for their attack.

Information is crucial in a war and a few hours of delayed information can mean life or death on the battlefield.

Similarly, the envoy knew that he likely wouldn't be able to convince Blanc to agree to a peace treaty so he was only trying to delay him for a few hours.

The tier 4 Balmore Kingdom has responded to their call for help in exchange for them being a vassal state of the said kingdom so if he could delay Blanc's army for half a day, their reinforcements would arrive on time.

If they manage to defend this time and grow under the wing of another tier 4 kingdom, they will have another chance to take flight in the future.

Unfortunately for him, Blanc used his delaying tactics against him and the Rougenfort Army immediately left Fort Shadowsong once the two of them started their negotiations.

Since the envoy didn't know Blanc's plan, the envoy continued to try and delay their attack.

After a few more hours of pretentious negotiations, Blanc decided to end the conversation seeing that it was already nighttime.

"Enough! Let me think about this matter! We shall resume the negotiations tomorrow morning!"

The envoy inwardly smiled after successfully delaying Blanc. Initially, he thought that this young king would make the negotiation hard for him after a few aggressive responses.

Fortunately, as time went on, it seemed that the young king started to be indecisive and was falling for his tricks left and right.

He left the great hall and headed towards the guest room provided to him. The envoy slept with a slight smile on his face after "successfully delaying" the Rougenfort Army and completing the mission assigned to him by King Samara.

Unbeknownst to him, Blanc's army had already left half a day ago and the crucial information that King Samara was waiting for was the one being delayed.

…

…

…

*YAWN*

The envoy slept soundly for eight hours before using another hour to prepare for another day of negotiations with Blanc.

However, after leaving his room, the envoy realized that there seemed to be way fewer guards stationed all over the fort so he went outside to make sure that the Rougenfort Army was still there.

The envoy's eyes almost popped out of their sockets after seeing that the Rougenfort army was nowhere to be found and only around five hundred soldiers were left to defend the fort.

He hurriedly ran towards the great hall to ask Blanc about what was going on and upon entering, he saw Blanc's slightly smiling face before realizing that he was fooled.

It was he who was delayed!

"King Rougenfort! What's the meaning of this?! I thought you said that the negotiations aren't finished yet so where's your army?!"

Blanc chuckled upon hearing the panicked voice of the envoy.

"My army? Who knows…They might've missed their families and went back to the capital city of my kingdom. And yes, let's start the negotiations because I've already decided about what to do."

Veins popped on the head of King Samara's envoy after hearing Blanc's nonchalant but playful reply.

"Bullshit! You've broken the negotiation's rules! Recall your army right now if you still want to discuss this with me! I'm warning you King Rougenfort! You don't know the extent of our military might so it would be best for you to not be so hasty!"

However, Blanc simply laughed after hearing the envoy's reply.

"The extent of your military might? Don't make me laugh!" Blanc thought to himself. He then looked playfully into the envoy's eyes before speaking again.

"Heh! What rules? The rule I believe in is, that everything is fair in war. You want to hear my decision, don't you? Unfortunately, we reject your offer of a peace treaty. Go back to your king and tell him that he should finish what he started! If he wants war, then he shouldn't stop after a single failed attempt."

Blanc replied with a cold expression.

"Bullshit! Curse you, King Rougenfort! Our king will make you regret your decision!"

The envoy left the great hall while spouting profanities on the top of his lungs. He needed to return to the Samara Kingdom as quickly as possible to warn King Samara that the Rougenfort Army was coming.