The Story of Two Empires (Part 3)

Florentine Empire. Capital City, Lerith. Inside the palace, one week later.

Fellodu was nowhere to be found.

Sitting on his throne, Emperor Florentine stared blankly ahead of him. He had been like that lately.

Immediately after the news about the attack in Kristen, he wrote a letter to Meredith. He literally begged for a reason as to why he had attacked them. However, the other party did not even respond. The dispute was not resolved in any way.

Is my Empire really about to collapse? Under my rule?

My people…

Florentine's tears dripped from his blank eyes.

Slowly, the door opened.

"Father, how are you?" a man in his late teens entered the room, "Are you feeling better now?"

Emperor Florentine snapped out of his daze then wiped his eyes. If not for his family, he would've broken down already a few days ago. Thankfully, he still had people who cared about him. He forced himself to smile. "Ah, Debian. A lot better, thank you. But, our supplies… it will soon run out."

"Father, don't worry!" his son named Debian encouraged him, "Hecate will find a way for us!"

Hecate… Why do people invoke her name at such times when she is long dead, Duvette thought to himself.

"Yes, yes. She will," the Emperor responded.

"I heard Fellodu will be coming back today," Debian said with a smile. Fellodu was one of the pillars of their empire. Surely, him being by his father's side would reassure him, Debian thought.

….

Fellodu wore black clothing. Although it was never really confirmed that his son died, he had already accepted his loss. It was wrong for him to have agreed that day. If only he was more adamant in his decision to not let his son leave. It was all his fault.

While walking towards the castle, Fellodu looked at the garden. It was still as beautiful and pristine as ever. However, he realized that it couldn't make him appreciate its splendor. He felt little emotion. His steps were even as he went past the scenery.

Silently, he navigated through the corridors until he saw the large door of the throne room.

When he pushed it open, he saw the Emperor and his son talking. In just one glance, he could already tell that the Emperor was just showing a facade. He could clearly see the worry in his eyes despite all his jolly expressions.

"Emperor," Fellodu greeted. Two pairs of eyes immediately fell on him.

"Ah, Fellodu. Come and sit," Debian humbly welcomed the Chief Adviser, "I have matters to attend to, so I hope you could keep father company."

Fellodu bowed in silent acknowledgment as Debian walked out the door.

The room fell silent.

...

"What now, Chief Adviser?" Emperor Florentine asked. There was no mockery in his tone. Instead, it was a rather self-deprecating comment for leaving his adviser with no options at all.

Fellodu stared at the man who seemed to have aged rapidly in the span of a week. Gray strands could be seen peeking from his neatly combed hair and the bags underneath his eyes were rather dark. "There is no clean way out of this, Emperor."

The Emperor laughed. A predictable response. But then, he immediately felt something odd about how Fellodu worded his answer. He squinted at his adviser. "What did you say?"

"I said, there is no clean way out of this," Fellodu repeated calmly.

The Emperor was silent for a good 10 seconds before finally responding. "Are we not out of options yet?"

"We have one," Fellodu answered confidently.

Emperor Florentine stared intently at Fellodu, taken aback by his confidence. "Tell me."

Fellodu bowed before approaching. As he got closer, the Emperor noticed that he had a scroll strapped by his waist. Indeed, it was something related to what he was about to say. He unrolled it and started showing its contents to the Emperor.

"A map?" the Emperor asked, curious. His mouth twitched when he recalled how he presented his previous plan that ended in failure. Back then, he was also extremely confident about it. He used a map to elaborate too. Would the same thing happen to Fellodu?

"Yes, Emperor," Fellodu nodded, "However if you focus on this part, you will see something rather eye-catching."

The Emperor looked at where Fellodu was pointing at but found no hints about what he was talking about.

Realizing that the Emperor was at a loss, Fellodu gave him a clue, "If we held this city, the laws of territory would give us a rather high return, no?"

The Emperor's eyebrows furrowed as he thought.

….

The laws of territory were already in place long ago. Long before the Empires even existed. When the people of the Hera continent were still divided by tribes.

Basically, there are three laws.

The first law dictates that there should be no neutral territories. Any part of the continent should be under a ruler.

The second law dictates that purchasing a certain part of a territory should involve the consent of both the tribes in participation and the tenants of the area being sold.

The third law dictates that, in the event of an invasion, the division of territories would lean in favor of the conquerors.

….

In their current circumstances, they could definitely use the laws to their advantage.

The third law…

Indeed, this law has not been invoked for a very long time. Gone are the barbaric days. Now, they were more civilized. But it was indeed enticing.

However, in the end, Emperor Florentine chuckled at the thought of invasion. There was a reason why he never considered such a solution.

"Only mad people would move to conquer a city from Meredith whilst Devon Morgan is still alive. Fellodu, get some rest," The Emperor said as he eased himself on the throne. He was clearly exhausted.

But…

Fellodu didn't move.

"Emperor, you misunderstand. I said 'if' we could hold onto that city. If we couldn't," Fellodu spread his hands and shrugged, "wouldn't it still favor us? Long as we wage war."

To the Emperor, the expressionless Fellodu felt unfamiliar. With his tone and demeanor, he had already understood his intentions. He, too, had a quick wit.

Waging war.

It meant the deaths of many people.

But to those who were suffering from the lack of food and resources, these deaths could somehow… be favorable. They would have lesser mouths to feed.

Fellodu had gone insane.

"Let's wage war against the Meredith," Fellodu moved closer to the Emperor, asserting his stance, "they had done enough. Moreover, we are on the side of justice! We could rally the people to support our movement by claiming that we are simply doing this for the sake of everyone. With this sense of justice, the common people would not find out what we're really trying to do."

Population control.

Emperor Florentine shivered at the thought. It was cruel. He wanted to reject his proposal, but the thought of his Empire crashing, how many people would die then. Wouldn't it be the same? His gaze started moving left and right, considering the proposal.

Minutes had already gone by, but he had still held his response. What was he supposed to do? When he was about to say no, a phrase suddenly echoed inside his head.

The end would justify the means.

Duvette Von Florentine shut his eyes and gritted his teeth. He told himself to give his people a better life after solving their crisis.

"Fellodu, start the preparations," Florentine answered in resignation.

Even with his proposal accepted, Fellodu remained emotionless. He simply nodded then bowed. Right after, he left.

The Emperor was left alone inside the dim and silent room.

Just like that, the days in the Florentine Empire had become darker.

….

It didn't take long before they set up the army to attack their city of choice, Sildonia.

These soldiers were filled with zeal! Take Sildonia and expand their territory! With this, they could give their people a better life.

Long live Florentine!

The declaration of war was sent.

Four days later, the armies of the two Empires finally clashed.

The result: a crushing defeat.

….

Wave after wave of attacks was sent. Every single time, their soldiers would return wounded and fewer in numbers. But then, those wounded would still participate in the next battle.

Some returned once more; some didn't.

….

Emperor Florentine read through the reports and he felt that, for every piece of paper that left his hands, a piece of his sanity came to accompany it in its farewell too.

The number of his soldiers was dropping rapidly.

There were even common people who volunteered to join the war. Those people died too.

It was a mess.

A mess they had planned. The worst thing about it was that… it was clearly working. It was not an understatement to say that the people living in his Empire right now are living off of the blood of those soldiers who died.

….

Months went by.

Then, a year.

Then, two.

The two Empires had been locked in battle for two years now. Due to how long they had been fighting each other, the two developed a sense of understanding of one another. One would not be surprised anymore if Florentine's army would one day break through Meredith's Mist Warfare.

Unfortunately, they didn't have enough men anymore to accomplish that.

Also, two years in, their situation was finally stable. The magical beasts by the coasts had not left, but the food was already enough for the current population.

The sad thing was that… they couldn't stop the war.

The Emperor rejected it in himself that the purpose of their quest was to kill their own people. He was now fully devoted to conquering Sildonia.

And, he was just about to make his winning move.

….

Emperor Florentine sat casually inside a worn-down tent, his belly peeking out of his beautiful clothes. He was humming a tune while waiting for someone.

Not long after, he started hearing the sound of metal boots thumping on the ground

Two guards opened the flaps of the tent while gesturing at the young, blonde man to enter.

"Ah, Vice General Winston!" Emperor Florentine greeted, taking the initiative. He even stood up and spread his hands in a welcoming gesture.

The man named Winston was not very pleased to see Florentine though. So, he spared no effort in being courteous. "What do you want? Speak!"

The air was rather tense, but the Emperor was not fazed in the slightest.

"You already know what I want," Florentine smiled, "let's talk about what I would be giving you instead. A piece of land, the title of a General, any woman you wish. Oh, no, make that any women, hehe. Then I'll also throw in some—"

"I haven't even agreed to anything yet!" Winston interrupted.

Winston's yell startled Florentine. But, instead of being submissive, the smile on the Emperor's face turned into a grin.

"Oh, but you already have," Florentine wiggled a finger, "by meeting me here. Small gestures, my friend. Small gestures."

Then, Winston pulled the spear strapped on his back and stabbed it straight towards Florentine's neck.

The guards immediately reacted and attacked Winston.

Shua!

Swords slashed.

The spear advanced. However, it stopped three inches away from its target.

So did the swords.

"You're not worth it," Winston said.

The two stared at each other. The finger that Emperor Florentine wiggled was still suspended in front of him, frozen. No one relented.

It was Winston who first broke the gaze. He pulled his spear back, turned around, then walked away.

Just before the Vice General's figure exited the tent, Florentine left him short a message. "The only thing that isn't worth it is being under his shadow."

….

Winston disappeared. But, Florentine was joyful. He clearly caught the Vice General's slight pause when he dropped his last sentence. It was subtle. But how could someone like him, the Emperor of Florentine, overlook it?

Small gestures.

He wiped away the blood from his neck with a smile.

….