Kings do not fight, soldiers fight for them
Well earlier was a surprise for me, imagine seeing first constellations coming alive from afar and later on a giant explosion, things could not have been better for me as the two enemy sides destroyed each other. Bronsleyt came to ravage the divided nation but ended up uniting them for one last time, the idiots positioned before they could strike and ended up being out gunned.
I have other matters to tend to, for instance fixing my reputation which the dubious rumors albeit true, destroyed. Some call me a beast, but I'm not big enough that people would recognize me immediately but my name has became well spread as a terrorist, the irony is that the only one I ever harmed were terrorists themselves but I can not blame them really, what I did was truly horrifying and I cannot deflect blame either, even if I was not in control it was still me who did that.
I worry about how Perseus held up but perhaps Lacquer would become more forgiving having committed genocide just now. My train of thought was abruptly interrupted by the arrival of Ria and a fleet of men dressed in shining armor that only shows their worth but what surprised me the most is that all of these are just around my age and none seeming like they have any experience being a knight whatsoever. I asked for soldiers and Rexcarius gave me douchebags led by a mentally ill girl, how very cheeky of him.
"Well ladies and gentlemen, I am Spade Escroc and some of you may know me from the palace and some of you might have heard the rumors but now I present myself to you as neither of what you thought or what you heard, very similar to how high you value yourselves despite being full of crap"
I could already distinguish the biggest douchebags as from their reactions alone I could see that these are naïve spoiled brats who either got their status through high ranked parents or through defeating mediocre competitors, only those who have tasted defeat will see themselves as they truly are. The overestimation of the pathetic is such a common phenomena that there is a term for it, Dunning-Kreuger effect, which states that people with low ability at a task always overestimate their ability, I'll bring these people to their knees to make them see that.
"If I may Sir Spade, what exactly is it that you brought us here for?" Ria stated acting formal in the presence of her subordinate.
"Well Ria I thought that I should see what the men His Majesty sent me is truly made of. Here I shall test your physical endurance and mental fortitude as I will give you tasks and you shall follow them, no questions asked"
"We're in your beck and call" Ria bowed and her subordinates followed.
"Alright we shall be building a mansion in here"
The crowd exclaimed in disappointment. They thought I would be sending them in an adventure but mundane shit like this is the best they could do for now.
"This has to be a joke! You want us to stoop as low as being a carpenter?" The most smug among the men finally spoke up with his disdainful arrogance.
"What is your name soldier?"
"I am Sir Gabriel Ironblade, yes of the noble Ironblade family"
"Alright can anyone tell me what is wrong with Gabriel?"
Few were wiling to blatantly antagonize little rich boy here in fear of what his parents are capable of, that being said there were still those who didn't hesitate.
"Well other than being an obnoxious middle child to a family of commoners, he doesn't understand that chopping wood is all that his worth"
The girl who said that I happen to know, Candace Vasileia. She's part of an even bigger bigshot family that are direct descendants of the Heidcheyser's greatest emperor, the only family that Rexcarius had not banished in fear of the backlash from their many followers that practically worship them and should something happen to the royal family the Vasileia are the most likely to replace them but what the hell is Rexcarius doing giving the second born in my care?
Gabriel was about to attack her when Blade came forward in a swift motion and pushed him back as to prevent any conflict that would make things troublesome for me, however I did see quite a spectacle, these two are quite the significant figures as the whole 48 remaining separated in half, one siding with Gabriel and the other under Candace.
"This is what's wrong with Gabriel, that is what's wrong with all of you. Ego is the fool's burden and as you are now it is your pride that is going in your own way. None of you here are better than carpenters you hear me?"
"The hell we are!" Both Gabriel and Candace refute at the same time.
"If you truly think that you are any better then doing their job for half a day wouldn't be such a problem would it?"
"I'm not doing a commoner's job!" The two are completely in sync when their talking about status that it's actually quite freaky. They were both done with talking and they decide magic would be the way to go and for a while I was worried that Blade might kill them, even if they are good at magic, they are still no match for a full fledged knight like Blade with all his experience.
What surprised me however was Ria who immediately took control, I thought she needed to get her house in order because of the division amongst her squad but now I understand why she is the leader.
"Do not disgrace you're status as knights! We are to follow orders above anything else and you have heard it so follow!" Her sadistic side was showing again and it must be quite capable as it scared the whole fleet.
Getting them to start was quite problematic as well as none of them knew what to do, at first Blade and I had to instruct them one by one but things became easier as soon as the carpenters arrived and I cannot describe how amusing the struggle of these brats to even the most basic of carpentry, even the two nobles were struggling with a job they underestimated so largely.
After an hour or two of work almost all the soldiers were exhausted and only Gabriel and Candace remained hard at work in the foundations as they could not embarrass themselves as I discuss with Ria our strategy for the rebellion in 4 days.
Ria is very well read and she also has the class too, she is very similar to Zyderine with the exception of looks and well, agreeability. She posed some interesting battle strategies that were clever theoretically but were far too vanilla and forgiving considering that I just utterly destroyed the enemy earlier but perhaps I could use this to reshape my image. Winning is still the main priority of course.
After another two hours the work was finished and I compensated the carpenters and bid them goodbye having finished half of the first floor with the help of the exhausted brats. When I approached them, they were still catching their breathe and Gabriel could barely move his arms while Candace was nowhere to be found.
"I hope you all have learned something from this, while you can only train your bodies and minds, common workers exhaust themselves too. You all look down on carpenters but who among you can do their job everyday? You can only wield an axe but they can cut down trees and carry their weight, you can write but they created the very pen and paper that you used, while you complain in the heat they created the very structures that give you shade. So tell me now is anyone of you truly better than them because you were born with status? I hope you think about that as you mend your bodies because war might scare you, but labor takes more effort and time"
I say as I leave to train with Sabre, I missed yesterday but I could justify why. I'm not really in the proper state for it however but I have no choice if I want to fight, I must train.
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Back in Vengeance's main camp, everything was in utter chaos. Lacquer who kept everyone united has yet to return and due to the great decrease of allies in just that day there were some whose resolve was wavering.
With the attack fast approaching and Lacquer being nowhere to be found, Vengeance sought a leader but who was brave enough to claim he could fill in the Grim Strategist's shoes. The second in command had been Ralph who was killed and then there was Sabre who was more of a spy than a member, neither was present. In times like this members started turning on each other, blaming their grief on those who failed to do anything, or turning on those who joined Lacquer and ended up being saved by him and bringing him down.
However through all the commotion came forward the most unlikely candidate, just a boy who was regarded as a spy by most and even accused of being the traitor, this man was none other than Perseus Bloodeon the very same man who betrayed them now volunteered to lead. Suprise was only one of the reactions and most were negative as Perseus is the last remaining member of camp 5 which was wiped out completely and he was one of the people who knew the location of all 5 camps. Perseus however had the alibi that Spade has prepared for him and not only that, he even brought news of the death of Alfron Valhalien, one of the biggest threats in their plan.
On times of confusion people will see what they want to believe and this particular time, people chose to tone out their doubts and choose to believe this boy, after all what choice did they have, kill him? That would have done no good, of course Perseus knows that too which is why he took the risk in order to take control of Lacquer's army. In this world there are counter parts to each person and Perseus is to Spade what Joker is to Batman, a far more twisted alter ego. When Spade completely regretted what he was forced to do, Perseus would be wiling to do it again just to keep the element of surprise.
Spade was the brains of the counter forces because Rexcarius chose to back away, that would mean he would be the best target to tear apart the very foundations of the Palace. Why would Perseus want to do this? It is all in the name of justice, his beloved parents were murdered by the palace's inability to protect the people they swore to protect, the very same people who were forced to lay down their weapons and trust their protectors, that is when Perseus realized that the world is like that not because of the evil deeds of the wicked but because of the incompetence of the weak.
He found that the conditions of living as it is has made people weak and the standard for greatness is nothing more than mediocrity. Easy times will always create weak people he believed and he sought to change that in order for there to be balance, where the good and bad are on equal ground, if principles get in the way then he will gladly throw them away, to create the change that everyone chose to ignore. The first step in that is getting power and being second fiddle would get in the way which is why he must destroy the two strongest people in the continent, Rexcarius and Lacquer and he has thought of many different ways like poison or ambush but these men have reached the very pinnacle of power, the only way they will be killed is if they allow it, so Perseus concocted a guileful scheme. He was blessed by the gods he believed as he always happened to be at the right places and the right times.
Perseus genuinely believed that this was his destiny as the man who will change everything and make the world that belonged to the strong, and everyone was strong. This world belonged to the weak which is exactly why the strong thrive. Serendipity brought the son of Rexcarius to their doorstep and it was also the very same fate that made him come upon the truth of Cebunilla.
First he shall break the foundations of this country and next the whole continent, he will destroy everything to create space for new life, none shall stand in his way, not Lacquer, not Rexcarius, not even his only friend Alfron who although he mourned for, did not look back in moving forward, and the same way he manipulated Lacquer into fighting a war that he despises, he will do the same with Spade and have him do his bidding while from the background he becomes the puppet master that will send all his marionettes to war.