War: Preparation (II)

Victor's office was big. Although it was not even close to being as big as Andrew's room or courtroom it was surely bigger than the dining room if nothing.

The office was not much different from a modern office however it was of course far more luxurious. The desk was made up of wood with gold carved into it giving it a beautiful design. The main desk was probably the most noticeable thing present there.

There were also different kinds of furniture made up of wood and cushions. All the chairs and couches were the same in the room with the same color of deep red cushions and light color wood. In short, the office was not anything unique.

In the room, Andrew sat alone on the couch placed a bit far away from the desk, and in front of him sat Victor and Oliver together on one couch.

"Sire... please let Lord Victor fix my pain by magic... I will die-" Oliver said in a begging tone along with a face that showed he might cry at any moment.

Oliver had blisters on his feet because

"It's your karma." Andrew grinned "Accept it and remember you should think before you speak." Andrew then looked at Victor who sat on the couch with a free lifeless body looking at the ceiling.

"Victor come on it wasn't a big deal- they won't tell that to anyone. Now can we PLEASE discuss how we should fight in the war?" Andrew sighed lightly.

"Sire... Why did you do that to me... in front of everyone?" Victor said as he shifted his vision from the ceiling to Andrew.

Victor gasped hearing that and shook his head while saying "tsk. tsk. tsk. Sire... how could you? Lord Victor is like your grandfather."

Victor's eyes widened and he was about to move however before he had a chance to do anything Andrew had already picked up the chair next to him.

"You guys are perverts!" Andrew said angrily and was ready to throw the chair at Oliver "And you really didn't learn anything from your punishment huh!?"

"S-Sire!" Oliver quickly put his forearms on his face and got on guard "Please calm down! I am joking! I am joking!"

"I will smash the brain of yours that has just jokes!" Andrew was about to really throw the chair at Oliver but then sighed and put the chair back in its place before sitting back on the couch.

"We are at war but my powerhouses are making jokes and are depressed because he had to share some embarrassing childhood memories..." Andrew shook his head disappointedly.

Victor also sighed and slowly sat normally on the couch "Sorry sire..." Victor looked down and then there was an awkward silence in the room which was broken by Oliver "*Ahem* So... then shall we discuss what we should do-?"

Andrew looked at Oliver with a calm face before nodding "Yes. But first, bring me a book that has the content of war. I don't know what war is exactly."

Andrew did have a basic understanding of war however after gaining information from the knowledge he bought from the store he understood every kingdom and continent had its own set of rules.

"Before that, I would like to explain to you something, sire." Victor said calmly and seriously while sitting straight unlike before.

"Yeah go on and also drop the Sire. It's kind of annoying to hear sire at the end of every sentence." Andrew replied with the same calmness although not the same amount of seriousness.

Victor sat there quietly moving his head to look at the person who spoke. He had no idea what he should say between them and thus stayed quiet because, after all, he might be strong but not the one who was good with words.

"I can not do that, Sire. It will be disrespectful to you." Oliver would have happily done that if Andrew was the king from the past however he could not disrespect the one who was in front of him at the moment.

Andrew sighed and just bobbed his head at that statement coming from Oliver "Now what you wanted to tell me?"

"I would like to inform you that we are committing war crimes, Sire. If the king of Kalyra was to inform Menvegr Empire about the matter it would be over for us." Oliver spoke while making some random gestures with his hands.

Andrew mischievously copied the moment of Oliver's hand and replied "What do you mean by war crime? and what is this Menvegr Empire again?"

Once Oliver realized he was making random hand gestures in panic and Andrew was copying them to tease him he quickly put his hand on his lap before answering Andrew.

"It is illegal for any kingdom to steal the armor or weapons of the deceased soldiers and melt them to create new items for their own kingdom. As for what it is Menvegr Empire... it is the strongest empire who created that rule."

Andrew gave Oliver a confused look before speaking "It is natural for us or any kingdom to do that. That should be our fundamental right- how are we supposed to recover the loss of iron if we don't? Even if they are the strongest empire, why should we follow their rules? It's my kingdom! I am the absolute rule here, right?"

"That..." Oliver paused before taking a deep breath and replying with "That is true however we are completely powerless in front of the Menvegr Empire. To compare our strengths... they at least have multiple hundreds of high grand wizard level mage users there and the king is at the level of 15th tier aura user."

Andrew flinched hearing the strength of the Menvegr Empire. He looked down and kept silent 'The system wants me to make Zion stronger than that...?' He thought.

"Sire... we have taken off all the armor from the dead bodies but we have not melted it. It would be best if we just put them back on and send them back to Kalyra." Oliver said.

Andrew joined his hands together and stayed quiet thinking about what he should do. Suddenly a grin appeared on his face and he looked up at them.

"I guess I will have to make a story~," Andrew said with a childish smile and tone, however seeing him act childish both Oliver and Victor shivered a little 'Every time he smiles... I feel like a disaster will come' They both thought.

"We will simply say only one of the twins came here. He broke into the kingdom by murdering one of the guards and even injured me saying that because to meet me they end up encountering a beast that killed them all. What do you say? And since they attacked us first we also got a nice reason to start a war, right?"

Oliver stared at Andrew's face with a blank expression for a few seconds quietly before breaking the silence with:

"That is a nice story, sire, however, it has many plot holes. What if they send out a trope to find dead bodies? And by they I mean Church. Menvegr does not directly take action. Churches are reasonable for that and pardon me... I forgot to mention that without approval from the main church here we can not even start a war."

"Dead bodies are not our responsibility now are they? It's the beast who killed them not us so why fear huh?" Andrew's grin got bigger at which Oliver sighed.

"Sire... There exists a spell called a lie detector and priests can naturally tell who is telling lies and who is telling the truth. Please just give up on the thought of using the iron from the armor of deceased soldiers."

Andrew's grin slowly disappeared and he sighed leaning his back more comfortably against the couch "Very well... let me think of this matter more and get me a book about war and their rules. Let me see if there is a plot hole in the rules."

"Well..." Victor finally broke his silence "I know a way where we can get loot from even dead soldiers, however that way might be a lot harder..."

Andrew and Oliver looked at Victor in curiosity and they both said "Yes. Go on, Victor/Lord Victor." together.

Victor smiled and started to explain everything "We have to-"

To be continued...