Breaking the Game

"Books on magic?"

Jean lifted an eyebrow, intrigued. She tapped the surface of her table, pondering.

"You know your contributions can't see the light of day… I can't give you rewards or resources be it openly or in a roundabout way. It's alright to have foundational knowledge about magic but it's useless if that knowledge remains as mere ink on paper.

"Are you certain you don't want something else? I can arrange for a few good servants or use gold and silver to buy the information. In a sense, the information doesn't have a fixed price so no one would investigate me no matter how much I paid you for it."

Jean spoke with goodwill in mind. To an awakened mage like Kevin, resources prove invaluable.

In her opinion, the smart move to make would be stockpiling monetary assets or other financial valuables, bartering them for growth-oriented resources in the future.

It might take a year or two but eventually, a decent chunk of wealth sufficient to accumulate magic essentials could be procured.

"You don't need to worry about the minor things Lt. Jean," responded Kevin with an impatient wave of the hand— he knew too well what pros and cons cashing in the reward for a few scrolls and books entailed.

Resources were the least of his worries as he planned to dive right into the heart of the action when chaos erupted. It seemed that Kevin's request subtly distracted Jean from what intel he reported as she suddenly shot to her feet, repeating aloud. "A sneak attack?!"

This was utterly the worst time to receive an attack as most lords were busy cycling their good soldiers with new blood; inexperienced and foolish per se.

"Is something the matter?" Kevin asked, somewhat caught aback. Although a sneak attack was somewhat troublesome, it wasn't the end of the world or anything.

Jean paced back and forth behind her desk, nails under her teeth as she mutter to herself— albeit loud enough for Kevin to hear. "The various lords of the dominions from barons to the counts are making use of the grace period to withdraw their capable soldiers, the barracks are going through a stage of unrest and shuffling at the moment; it is no exaggeration to say the base is at its weakest as we speak…"

Anxiously running her hands through her silky, long locks of hair, Jean plopped back in her chair with reddened eyes. The timing is simply too perfect, she dreaded the thought in her mind and heart the most right now, but there was simply no other conclusion.

"Fuck!"

Her shout swayed as her hand pummeled the desk in frustration.

Kevin blinked. "Take a deep breath young lady. Now that you know, you have time to react… Moreover, their camp shouldn't be any less chaotic than ours at the moment."

Kevin wasn't worried at all as he came to understand one thing; this entire farce of war was a display of strength, influence, and wits by the truly powerful figures deep in the kingdoms.

The fine melodramatic tale of seven kingdoms and the young, predestined empress.

Hmm, I quite like the sound of that… Mused Kevin while he skipped onward, sweeping the table clean of the unnecessary paperwork and sliding nearby a large map of the northern borders.

"Three days give or take and they would have flushed out every spy there is in their base and launch a relentless attack our way. Hmm, if my speculations were correct, we have a spy in our midst— one with a fairly high ranking.

"Any preparations we make might sound us out and we'd end up no better than my stupid father. At most, we can be discreet about delaying the transfer of troops by any means necessary. We will definitely lose the upcoming battle, let us lose beautifully at least."

Kevin had no delusions about making some comeback, reversing the situation, and winning the war. His Badger Fiefdom was meant to switch hands from the Onyx Kingdom to the Solace Kingdom after this war, but he was helpless about it.

He would let them hold onto his territory for a while as he traveled further inland, earning himself a better territory with merits accumulated from the upcoming battle, and return one day to claim the lands of his forefathers.

"What's so beautiful about snapped bones and shattered families? What's so beautiful about marching naive children to certain death? Are you one of those people too? Do you see this as entertainment?!"

Jean slammed her hand on the table, lashing out at Kevin as though he wasn't yet another child according to her standards. His worn-down get-up, messy hair, and bright eyes belied his true age in her view.

For a moment, she forgot that who stood before her was a young teenager about to experience the first dawn of adulthood in but a few weeks.

Kevin wasn't opposed to the harsh tone— he rather welcomed it with a faint smile as he responded, "If you don't like the game, you have two options…

"Don't play, that's one. Change the rules, that's two. I don't know about you, but I feel like playing till I'm capable of changing these damnable rules by my own two hands."

A blazing ambition to wreck world order and establish it anew flared in Kevin's dark eyes, eliciting an audible gulp on Jean's part. A moment later, she gradually calmed down and tossed these thoughts back and forth in her mind.

She laughed at herself and her double standards; who was she to condemn the nobles for their choice of lifestyles? She can rant out, lash out, and flare out as much as her heart desired… For what?

The world won't stop moving forward in accordance with her mood.

In this great river of changes, not many can redirect the flow of water, it wouldn't be too much of a loss to start with the tributaries.

One at a time.

After calming down, she took a deep breath and asked, "What do you have in mind, Mr. End It Beautifully?"

Kevin chuckled, "This meaningless game can carry forward for one reason, that is… No one had suffered any actual losses yet. Lands? At the end of the day, all of these lands belong to the predestined empress. People? All of these people to them are like peasants to us, mere numbers. We need to make those people who are comfortable in their seats bleed… Bleed so much they feel pain and knock these stupid games off."

He drew a circle over the entire soon-to-be battlefield, "They want to treat these soldiers as mere numbers— let's indulge them. No matter how many come, let's make sure no one makes it back; let us play a game of two survivors…"

Jean's expression changed when she listened to Kevin's entire plan, including the inhumane arrangements.

Her seat had just gotten warm when she immediately shot to her feet once more.

"You're crazy," she rambled hoarsely, her steel-clad forearms quacking.

"My lady…" Kevin shrugged helplessly, standing up with a turn of his body, black clothes brighter than his eyes and heart. "This isn't the time to be worrying about things like humanity. If you're worried, evacuate your trusted aids first. At the end of the day, the people will see us as heroes. The demons in our hearts, only you and I are privy to…"

With those words, he left the pale young lady to ruminate in her tent as his body phased through the heavy curtains, leaving two words behind.

"Three days."