War: Preparation (IV)

Andrew was sitting on the couch with a serious face looking down at the map of Kalyra in front of him on the table.

Victor was explaining the weak points of the boundary wall around the Kalyra and how exactly they should enter.

Meanwhile, Oliver was in the corner of the room on his knees and with his hands up. He was sniffing lightly and mumbling something under his breath.

"First Lord Victor only bullied me... now even his highness bully me. These grandson and grandfather duo together will end up killing me someday... Why are we here? just to suffer... It was not even my fault. Lord Victor was holding the pigeon. Not to mention it was just a mistake..."

Andrew's vein on his forehead slowly popped up and formed an angry mark hearing all the noises coming from Oliver's mouth.

Andrew grabbed a pencil and aimed it toward Oliver before covering his forearms and hands with a golden aura and throwing it towards him.

The pen pierced through the air and hit the wall just right next to Oliver's cheek with a few inches of difference. The pencil got stuck deep into the wall and with a shaking body, Oliver turned his face to look at the pencil.

"You're a mistake. Now let me focus or my next target will be you." Andrew smiled happily at which Oliver trembled even more and looked down at the ground thinking 'Fuck...'

Victor cleared his throat to gain Andrew's attention back so he can continue explaining the current strength of Kalyra.

"As I was saying... Kalyra at the moment should only have one hundred thirty-two soldiers since we killed seventy nine of them already."

"Um?" Andrew's eyebrow raised in confusion and curiosity "Wait... so they had a total of one hundred fifty-one soldiers? isn't that the same strength as ours?"

"That is indeed corrected, Sire. A low-rank kingdom like ours and Kalyra are only allowed to have hundred fifty-one soldiers aside from the royal family members."

Andrew stayed quiet for a moment before letting out a scoff "How the hell we are a kingdom? We are not even independent enough to have soldiers?"

"I myself believe this is a useless and unfair rule however we have no choice but to follow it to survive."

"Whatever," Andrew said with a sigh "It's beneficial for me right now so it doesn't matter. Anyways, continue."

Victor nodded and continued to tell and explain to Andrew whatever he knew about Kalyra. After around ten minutes finally, their conversation ended and they sat comfortably in their respective places.

"Victor... How do you know so much about them? Do we have spies there or what?" Andrew asked with clear curiosity in his voice.

Victor smiled awkwardly at that question with hesitation he said "I know it because... Lucia told me. Like we know about them, they also know about us."

"..." Just by hearing Lucia's name Andrew's mood was ruined again. He could not help but get angry thinking about how a person could be so spoiled 'That brat... just because I refused to interact with her she caused a war.'

Victor sighed sadly and looked down wondering how it became like that. Just months ago Andrew and Lucia were so close asking to be married already but now all he could see in Andrew's eyes was hatred for Lucia.

"Give me parchment and quill. I will write a letter myself about reques-" Andrew shook his head with a disgusted look at the thought of him requesting them "aski-" Andrew shook his head again "advising them to choose the barbaric way."

Victor nodded and stood up to get a proper parchment, quill, and ink for Andrew from the shelf behind his desk.

"Sire..." Oliver said softly in a tired voice "I can not have my hands up... they are hurting too much." His hands were really shaking from the pain.

"Fine, fine you can put them down but you will stay on your knees until I leave this room." Andrew grinned at his condition.

Oliver dropped his hand to the ground the moment Andrew said he could put them down. Oliver felt his hand might have popped out if he had them in the air any longer.

Victor returned with the rolled parchment, quill pen, and ink bottle and put them all in front of Andrew on the table.

Andrew opened the parchment and refilled the quill pen before he started to write something on it with a calm face.

After around two minutes Andrew put the quill away and looked up at Victor with a wide grin on his face "Send it to them."

Victor nodded and put the seal mark on the bottom of the letter before he rolled the parchment and walked away from Andrew however just when he reached the gate he turned around with an awkward smile and said:

"Sire... how should I send it again?"

Andrew tilted his head to the right in confusion and said "Hm? What do you mean? Send it by pigeon of course."

"Sire..." Victor sighed "Pigeon we sent was not ours. It was at the church. The church gives one pigeon to every kingdom and uses them as a way to communicate with the kingdom."

"..." Andrew was left speechless by the poverty of his kingdom "Why am I even surprised?" He sighed.

"If we send our soldiers then they are bound to be killed... so what should we do, Sire?"

Andrew thought about the solution for some seconds and then turned around to Oliver at which Oliver's eyes widen in terror.

"S-Sire...? You are not thinking about sending-" Before Oliver could finish his sentence Andrew nodded.

An agonized frown appeared on Oliver's face and whined. He looked like he might cry at any moment at which Andrew and Victor laugh lightly.

"Sire is messing with you, Oliver... Is it not obvious? You are a grown man... do not whine like that." Victor said, trying to control his laugh.

"It is not obvious- I believe Sire could do anything." Oliver said, looking away in embarrassment.

"I will take that as a compliment. But now on a serious note. I told you two to look at the family members of dead ministers, court members, and soldiers and find out who is good and bad among them right? You guys are done with that right?" Andrew asked calmly.

"Oliver is responsible for that," Victor said with his eyebrow raised "But why did you ask if I may know, Sire?"

Andrew smirked and leaned his back comfortably on the back of the couch before putting his leg on the table where the map of Kalyra was and saying "We will send the corrupted family members to deliver the letter."

Victor's eyes flinched hearing that. He opened his mouth to say something however Oliver said something before Victor.

"Ho... that is a good plan. In that way not only will we get our message delivered but also get rid of those who might revolt. Not to mention, we will save our soldier's life as well."

After hearing that Victor just looked away from there quietly. He never liked the idea of violence, at least not on Zion's residents, however, he understood that was the only method by which the soldiers would not be killed meaninglessly.

Andrew glanced over at Victor and sighed when he saw the saddened expression on his face. Andrew sat normally again before getting up and walking over to Victor.

"Don't worry. Only those who assisted in corruption will be sent there. Those who were not helping in any way would be just cast out of the kingdom."

Just by hearing that Victor's expression softened and a gentle smile appeared on his face. He looked up at Andrew nodding and said "Thank you, Sire."

"*Ahem*" Oliver tried to gain their attention "But sire they would surely not follow your command.... well normal command so are you going to use your that power on them?"

Andrew turned around at Oliver and with a grin nodded "Now you two go and gather them outside the kingdom. I will do the rest."

And so, Victor and Oliver went out to gather the families of the dead ministers, court members, and soldiers as Andrew commanded them.

Andrew sent those who were corrupted to their death by commanding them to deliver the letter he wrote to Kalyra along with the dead bodies of Kalyra's prince and soldier.

While Andrew cast away those who were not corrupted but gave them a little money to survive. The money was not Andrew's original idea though it was Victor's idea.

After ten hours of continuous travel on foot, the family members of the corrupt reached the boundary wall of Kalyra.

As expected, the moment Kalyra soldiers saw a small group of people bringing the dead bodies of the prince and soldiers they were killed on sight without asking a single question.

It was done not because they were fools, however, it was done because those people also carried a big flag with Zion's golden lion crest on it.

Since the flag with the crest meant a declaration of war they did not hesitate to kill them in an instant before claiming the dead bodies.

The moment the news got into the ears of the king of Kalyra he quickly rode a black horse and went to the border where the dead bodies were placed.

Many people were gathered at the entrance gate and cried over the dead bodies of their son, father, husband, lover, or grandson. The scene was a complete misery...

The moment the king arrived there and slowly got off the horse people walked over to him and kneeled crying, sobbing, and asking "how did this happen, your highness!?"

The King looked around quietly and calmly walked towards the body that was damaged the most... if it was not for the unique hair of the dead body no one would have recognized the horrible body.

The body was covered by a white sheet with only the hair showing from the top edge. It was placed far away from other bodies because of how horrible it smelled and even with a white sheet on top of it looked utterly disgusting because of how it was placed.

The King slowly got on his knees and with a shaking hand slowly removed the sheet but just by a glance he was forced to look away and cover it.

"My son..." The king mumbled holding back his tears but not his sniffing. The King slowly pulled the body up and wrapped his arms around the dead body covered in the white sheet.

"Son!" The king cried out as tears started to run from his beautiful jewel-like blue eyes and stream down his cheek which had a scar going horizontally through the upper side of the nose.

"I will avenge you son! your father will surely avenge you and the soldiers!"

To be continued...