380 The Night Before the March

He might not be a great noble in the Veranis kingdom but he knew where the wind is blowing. The generals on the border that have the thought of resisting the Empire would not come to a good end.

To Kreios, the Empire annexation of Veranis would come sooner than later. 

There is too much division between the generals. Since they could not unite, they would easily be broken. 

Kreios could see that in a few months, all the territory of Veranis would be sporting the banners of the Empire

This is his thought for the long term of the fate of the Kingdom.

But that is not the only reason why he could quickly make up his mind to surrender to the Imperial forces of Vanheim.

One of the reason is that the city had no force to resist Aero. 

They have only ten thousand men that they could mobilize, most of them militias and not some trained force that could defeat a real army

The news about the Chancellor killing tens of thousands of people alone had made him appear like a one-man army.

He would make short work of the city guards and the army that the nobles of the city had. If he fought, Kreios could see that it would be like throwing an egg onto a rock.

Nothing would happen to the rock, but the egg would be broken. 

And by sincerely surrendering, Kreios could also give a good impression to one of the strongest person in the Vilajeri continent and when the day comes when the Empire controls all of Vanheim, he hopes that his sincerity would be remembered by the Chancellor and he too could profit immensely from this.

It would be killing two birds with one stone. 

Not only he would save the city from a hopeless and senseless battle, he would also give the Chancellor a good impression on the city of Sybaris sincerity

As such, Kreios surrender completely and Aero immediately send some of the administrators that was sent to him from the Capital of the Empire and quickly take hold of the city.

Since then, the imperial forces are staying on the outskirt of the city. 

Kreios was allowed to resume his positon as the city lords and is given the privilege to report directly to the Chancellor.

At the same time the resources of the city are used by the imperial forces would be compensated later and the Chancellor had even made a verbal and writing agreement promising to honor the agreement

Aero had stopped here for two days to resupply and to gather information on the current situation in Duvar

He also had reestablished contact with the Duvar border guards and had even sent some of his soldiers first to notify them that the reinforcement from the Empire is coming

The border gate of Duvar is waiting for them and will open the gate when they arrived. 

Speed is important. But haste makes waste

That is the currents situation now. 

Aero believe that Eric probably also got the report that he had arrived near the border of Duvar and he might try to take the mountain passes quickly or try to find a way to get around it as quickly as possible.

Aero put down another report as he listens to the sound around the camp and he smiles a bit

'I pity the people living around here. But it would not be long that we would stay here' he thought to himself as he took another envelope and opened it as he reads more reports of the current situation all over the Vilajeri continent.

On the outskirt of the city, this is where the sound of the hammering of wood could be heard.

All around the camp, there is construction going around

The construction while basic, possess fortification properties. In the center of the military camp that is huge and expansive, there is one tent, the largest and the easiest to see.

That is the tent of the Chancellor. 

Nearby his tent, is the tent of the other generals and commanders. 

Even at night, the construction did not stop even though they would only be here for only a couple more days.

From outside the tent one could see that the security is very tight. It is not that people did not know that the Chancellor could handle almost anything that was thrown at him. 

It is a symbol of status to be protected that heavily.

The area around the tent is lit up and every soldiers could see the tent. It is so that in the unfortunate event of an enemy attack one would not be panicked when they saw the general tent in the distance

Inside the tent, Aero had just finished being briefed by his war council before and now reading the reports that was sent to his tent

He now is making his own strategy and adjusting his plan now that there are many new variables entering the chessboard

'Hmm' he said as he put down the letter on his hand and sighed.

'Even though I was fast, I still came a little too late' The letter on his hand that he had just put down detailed the report of what is happening at Duvar.

They are stopping on one of border cities of Veranis kingdom. 

Aero sat down for a while on the chair in his tent. 

He rested his mind for a while. On the large table in the middle of the tent, there is many envelopes with many different crest. 

Some of them were opened already and some of them is not opened yet

Some of them from Veranis, some of them from Karak, some of the from Duvar and some of them from the Imperial Palace.

Almost all the powers and influence in the eastern part of the continent send him letters. 

Dan send him letter reporting his victory over Karak forces and reporting any weird movement in the Karak regions to him

Aero doubt that they could do much right especially when Veranis, their ally is so disorderly right now, but Aero would not want to be caught unaware.

And then there is also Savillia. Savillia also send him report about their current progression taking the western part of Karak.

Unlike the Empire, Savillia could not remain long in Karak territory and that is why they operate in fast manner.

Even though the Savillia kingdom had gotten the report that says the bulk of United Kingdom of Veva army is now sieging the area around the Duvar kingdom, they could not remain at ease

So, they sent a letter toward him asking for his input.

And Aero understand them. It is not Eric style to be like that. 

Aero smiles a bit.

'Eric is probably doing this to make the board even more chaotic' he thought to himself

Aero could guess that Eric is lying and the fast spreading of the news that claim Eric had mobilized almost half of the military to attack Duvar is a news that he had spread himself

If they did, Duvar would have fallen by now. Eric also bank on the fact that any reliable news from the western kingdom is hard to get right now with how chaotic the western kingdoms right now

Aero had his own thoughts on why Eric would spread such news. Aero sighed a bit

Eric is not some normal strategist like the other. Aero had always views him as his only nemesis in the Veva kingdom.

If Eric is not there, Zeus would not be such a threat.

It is not like he believes that Zeus is an idiot. One could even say that Zeus had improved after his repeated failure.

An idiot would not be able to do what he did. But he lacks the talent of administrating the kingdom. He could take kingdom and conquered it

But one could not rule an Empire on the back of a horse.

it is clear that if Zeus did not have Eric by his side, Aero would find it very easy to manipulate the Veva court

He then thought back about Veva and Eric play here