Sitting at a table lined with books filled with records of old battles, Yu calmly listened to Sivina and Link.
"We are going to support the siege war, we don't need cavalry. We don't have time to form a cavalry unit anyway."
"I agree with Link, Lady Cornelia already has cavalry, they should be enough. Let's use our budget for siege weapons."
"If you say so..."
Yu never came up with the idea of cavalry, the two of them talked to themselves and came to a decision on their own. He had the idea of emphasizing siege weapons from the very beginning.
"It's okay if you get along well."
Link quickly completed the rest of the task he had been given and put the information he had gathered about the members of their councils in a report to Yu.
He had already read the report about Leshua von Shimien, a man who was involved in trade as well as some illegal business and loan sharking. He had already made his move on him and sent a fake letter claiming to be a royal and asking to buy supplies for the war.
He looked at the other reports. Verryho was the man Link had told him before. He had fallen into a brothel when he was a child, and when he grew up he owned it, buying up most of the brothels in the Mora by the time he was forty. He had a reputation for trafficking in women.
Ravin, as he suspected from his appearance, was a corrupt priest. He used the churches to clean up the illegally obtained money of men like Leshua and Verryho. Not only that, but all public donations went into Ravin's pockets and there were many reports of abuse within the churches.
To their surprise, the elder member of their council, Beny von Dandon, was also involved in dirty business. He had drug plantations near Virgo and was involved in the slave trade. The slave trade was legal, but the penalty for drugs was execution.
These four people who were appointed to their councils were being charged with crimes just by breathing. According to Zodian law, all four should be dead by now.
But far from receiving the slightest punishment, they were put in charge of a city.
"Rotten, rotten, rotten..."
In their meetings, they were constantly trying to gain the upper hand, demanding that decisions be taken in their favor.
Yu didn't think it would be right to prepare for Vermia and take care of them at the same time. For the time being, he was trying to be nice to them, and then he would take them one by one. His first target was Leshua.
For the time being, Yu pretended to be controlled by them and allowed them to prosper by accepting their reasonable requests.
"If things go according to my plan, I could end up with all their fortunes, but my first goal is Cornelia, I have to win her."
"Our army is ready, we have ten thousand soldiers. I wouldn't say enough for a siege, certainly not enough for Vermia, but combined with Cornelia's forces we have a chance. I'll spend the rest of our time storing supplies and replenishing supplies for siege weapons. I'm doing the supplying the way you said."
Yu shook his head. Link was a versatile man who could juggle many jobs at the same time. Employers in the First World would have loved an employee like him.
He compiled the reports, helped Sivina to gather the army in the meantime, and then took on the job of preparing the copper-infused gold. Subordinates like him were the great building blocks that would lead Yu to success.
"How are the soldiers doing?"
"So..." Sivina stared at the ceiling for a moment, thinking about her answer, and then tilted her head to look at Yu.
"Hmm…" Link spoke and didn't let Sivina to continue. "What's that letter here?"
He had just closed the envelope. There was nothing written on it, but it still caught Link's attention.
"For the King of Ethalot," Yu said.
Both Sivina and Yurine laughed. "Why are you writing to them?" Sivina asked. "Where I come from, the noblest Ethalotian is equal to a cow."
"I don't want to be racist, but cows are more useful than them," Ana said.
"That was definitely not racist," Yu said. "I heard that refugees from Ethalot are migrating to the Mora, which is bad for us and bad for their king in terms of lost labor. Since they are our neighbors, we will need to communicate with them after the war is over."
He couldn't find out why hatred goes on nowadays, but Ethalotians were hated. After demons, the Ethalothians were the only people that elves, dwarves, humans and all other races hated.
"For their skin color? I heard there are dark elves but dark elves are really has dark skin or it's just a name? Or for their culture?"
He had read that Ethalot had been a huge empire in the past, ruling almost the entire continent and they had even crossed the sea and entered the continent of Aram.
But they were racist, aggressive and savage. They slaughtered a lot of people and earned the enmity of a lot of people. When there were no more enemies to fight, they fought among themselves and perished.
At the same time, these events resulted in many of the non-human races turning away from the human race and retreating to their forests, mountains and cities. This was the reason why there were so few half humans in the central-south region.
"Good thinking," Link said. "It's a country where millions still live, even if they're not very lovely. But what are you doing with them? We're too young to care about them."
"First something for the return of refugees, then something about trade after the war is over. The Mora will need money. And for security reasons it is necessary to maintain a state of peace."
"There wouldn't be a soul in my hometown who wouldn't oppose you. I don't like Ethalotians." Sivina put her hands to the desk. "But let's come to the actual point; half of our soldiers are still teenagers, and the other half are just out of puberty or about to be."
In this world, even in the medieval times, it was not unusual for fifteen-year-old children to be conscripted. Yu was a little hesitant to conscript children, but he did it because it was normal for the world, and for many of them did not consider fifteen to be a child.
"Considering that we will leave towards the end of March and be there in the first or second week of April, they will not have had a very long training, but the training is still adequate."
"Is it enough?"
"Yes, enough." Sivina nodded and repeated her remark. "It takes a lot of money to feed regular armies like those in Rolderhelm and İlonya. In countries like the Mora, men are recruited during wartime and sent into battle after a short training. Our enemies and Cornelia's soldiers are normally farmers, barbers, shoemakers. It may sound strange to you because you are from İlonya, but that's how it is here."
Wealthy countries maintained regular armies, while other countries recruited them in time of war. In wartime, soldiers would pick up their spears and march on the enemy, and when equally untrained soldiers faced each other, success often depended on the commanders.
Of course there were regular troops, but they were a small part of the overall picture. In general, these troops were used to defend the nobles.
"What worries me is that the army is too young. We will send children to war with expensive toys in their hands," Ana said.
"Many thirteen-year-old boys in Elhaven go to war with their fathers," Sivina replied Ana. "They are about to become men."
"And we will go to war together with the children we put expensive weapons in their hands. Let's not overlook this detail."
It seemed like a small detail, but it was a very important part. They, especially Yu and Yurine, had to be at war. They would be by Cornelia's side and would do everything to win her friendship.
"So are we going to join in the festivities? We need to have fun once in a while."
When they were done with the report, Link and Sivina stepped back and got out of mission mode. They shrugged their shoulders and smiled. They were both excited about the carnival.
"Just working for a superior being should have been enough for you."
Yurine jumped up from her chair, where she had been sitting calmly throughout the conversation, and came to Yu's side.
Yurine was also excited about the spring festival and was dressed in her new outfit. The outfit Yu had prepared for her was a Japanese outfit called yukata. He always chose something cute and usually white for Yurine, but today's outfit was pink.
"We'll go down first. Accompany Yurine as a bodyguard today," Yu said.
"I thought I'd be free for one night." Link wrapped his arms around himself in disappointment. "There was someone waiting to see my handsome face..."
"Someone waiting?" Sivina curiously grabbed Link's shoulder. "Your girlfriend? Who is it?"
She was excited and smiling.
"My fiancée."
"Y-you have a fiancé?"
Yu pushed back his chair and stood up. He looked at Link in a daze.
"This guy... Isn't he a gay?"
He looked Link up and down. With his feminine face, slim body and the way he looked at Yu, Yu thought he was really interested in men.
"What the fuck?"
"Yu, don't worry. I-I'll think of something for you. Yours will be the best!"
Yurine blushed and spoke loudly. When the attention was on her, she meowed and buried her head in Yu's belly.
"O-okay... Anyway..." If Link wanted to spend time with his fiancée, he wasn't going to deprive him of it. "Go on then, you're off for the day, but don't forget I'm deducting this from your paycheck."
"O~kay..." Link laughed and left the room, leaving Sivina's other questions unanswered.