Dragon King's Harem Chapter 42. The War Plan II (Patreon)

Dragon King's Harem Chapter 42. The War Plan II

General Guillotine's eyes shifted to the image from the crystal in front of him.
"That's mean ..."

"Yes, they are planning something and after hearing your report I think I know what," I said. I had to admit the Minotaur's plan was neat and brilliant. If it weren't because of the combination of information I got based on Argod's memory and my modern knowledge since I played strategy video games a lot, maybe I couldn't guess this right away.

I explained my guess to them, the possibility that the Minotaurs were making underground tunnels to break through Draconis defences and the troops that they sent to attack the Firestone Fortress was only a diversion to cover up their activity. Since even though the Minotaurs wanted to hide it, we would suspect them since no tribe came to the other's tribe border and built a smithy place near the other tribe outpost for no reason. Although they would have difficulty to move around in the ground because of their large bodies, they possessed earth element mana. It would help them to move around. Also, I could guess, this was one of the reasons why the Orc Tribe wanted to join them.

"Send our Spy Worms to investigate the place to find out more about the tunnels, as well as send more reinforcement troops there," I ordered. Even though the best option was to attack them while the tunnels weren't ready yet, things weren't that easy. To make sure our attack was successful, I had to send at least three-quarters of the Firestone Fortress' troops, which meant that Fortress would be temporarily empty. If the tunnels had managed to reach the Fortress, then they could take the opportunity to ambush the Fortress through the underground. And that was tantamount to handing the Fortress over to them.

If I ordered to mobilize only half of my troops to attack their camp, if the Minotaurs ambushed my assault troops, I would only make unimportant sacrifices. Besides, with only half the defensive troops remaining, I would only give the Minotaurs more chance to penetrate our defences easily. The first step I had to take now was to investigate the tunnels and prevent them from breaching our border via underground. If the tunnels hadn't reached our borders, we could attack their camp right away. If the tunnels reached our border, we must destroy them immediately because dragons had disadvantages in underground battles, since we were half aerial creatures.

"Yes, Your Majesty," replied General Guillotine.

Then I turned to Chancellor Allan.
"I hope you can help Guillotine to prepare the troops' needs."

"I understand, Your Majesty," replied Chancellor Allan.

"Now what do you need to report to me?" I asked Chancellor Allan.

Chancellor Allan told his reports, especially regarding Draconis' progress during my absence. I was quite amazed by all of it since even though some problems had occurred, they were able to solve them properly. Besides that, like Eir, Chancellor Allan and General Guillotine also had the Mark of Servant, as well as some dragon tribe high nobles, especially those who had important positions in government. So they couldn't lie to me. That was a hard rule in the dragon tribe. That's why, for the dragon tribe, the nobles would rise with the king, but also would fall with the king. It was the king who played an important role in this empire.
"What's left behind is facing the Witch Tribe's delegation," said Chancellor Allan, closing his report.

I leaned my back against my chair and sighed.
"When was the last time he sent his delegation?"

"A week ago, Your Majesty," he replied.

"A week ago ..." I muttered. Sooner or later I would have to face this. If the Witch tribe king's goal was only to ask me to marry his youngest daughter, I would have accepted it willingly. But it was not that easy, since, before a tribe King gave his daughter to a king or prince from another tribe, that person had to defeat the strongest warrior in that tribe or his rival if there were two candidates.

My brain estimated how far I could buy my time and how many levels I could gain, also another possibility. For the time being, I could use the Minotaur tribe attack as an excuse to refuse the delegation's visit, but after the war was over. I had to meet him immediately.
"I think I can handle it ..." I muttered again. The Witch tribe's mana element was shadow, as long as I could win against Uraugh, I could bring Evelina to visit the healer tribe and also take another legendary beast nearby there, Solaris. It was a light element legendary beast so I should be able to handle them with that. But still… I had to do everything carefully since I didn't want to tarnish the Dragon King's name. A small defeat would make me a laughing stock for all Igixar. Also, it was not only about winning and losing but how I could maintain my tribe honour and dignity.

"Is something wrong, Your Majesty?" Chancellor Allan looked confused at my serious expression.

"Nothing." I quickly returned to my usual expression since I couldn't possibly tell about my condition.
"One more thing I will take a trip to pray for a week starting from tomorrow. I look forward to your help to protect this place during my absence. Also since my departure is a secret, I hope you can prepare my double," I ordered.

"Yes, Your Majesty," they replied, despite the confusion evident on their faces.

In the middle of our conversation, the knocking sounds came. We turned towards the door as Al entered the room with an awkward smile on his lips since he was late. His messy hair and uniform made me sure he quickly went here at the moment he opened his eyes. He closed the door behind him silently and bowed.
"Your Majesty, please forgive my lateness," he said in regret.

"Take a seat," I said in a casual tone. He stayed up all night making my potions, of course, he was tired. After all, our stamina was completely different.

He nodded and took a seat at Chancellor Allan's side as he nodded politely to them. And they also responded with a slight nod as a simple greeting.

"Al, do you have any idea how to spy on The Witch King?" I asked. I was sure this question would make his drowsiness go away.

As expected, his half sleepy eyes opened wide the moment I mentioned that.
"Of course I have," he said without hesitation.

"Your Majesty, why do you want to spy on the Witch King? Doesn't he just want to make sure our alliance is still in his favour or not?" asked Chancellor Allan.

"That's why I sent spies to him. So far, the Witch King has never questioned anything about our alliance, yet he suddenly sent his delegation to check on me. Isn't that strange?"

"Isn't it because this has something to do with Princess Thiphania?" said Chancellor Allan.

I smirked.
"Are you sure the Witch King is that simple?" Callum Eldridge Shadowsoul, the Witch King was not a simple person. Although no one doubted his power as a king, he was often playing tricks rather than fighting directly, especially when it came to his tribe's interest. In fact, he did not hesitate, sacrificing innocent people, even his tribe's members to avoid the war. One of his victims was Al's family. That's why Al was exiled from his homeland despite his innocence, it was also the main reason why Al hated the Witch tribe royal family. Although I could understand Callum's reason since sacrificing some people for peace was a common thing for a king, but I didn't like his way since it was a cowardly act for me.

"What do you think he is up to, Your Majesty?" asked Al curiously.

I leaned my body forward and put my elbows on the desk, my hands crossed in front of my chin.
"Of course because he wants to avoid the war between his tribe and another tribe by giving his youngest daughter to me."

They frowned at my statement.

"Based on how he acted, I guess there was another royal family that forced him to make an alliance and he didn't want it. And since he used his daughter to tie a close relationship with me, the offer should have come from our opponent. The Witch King tried to counter that tribe's offer with us and give his daughter as the reward. "I would say it was a cheap price since he had an alliance with me from the very beginning. Meanwhile, after hearing my words, Al quickly caught what he had to investigate. He had to find out which the tribe who bid on the Witch King was, also spying on Princess Thiphania.
"Besides, it also doesn't rule out other possibilities," I continued.

"What is that?" asked Al.

"This could be The Witch King's tactic to weaken us. After he succeeded to make us kill each other, he would the one who attacked us. I just hope my guess is wrong." But of all my allies, the Witch King was the most untrusted person for me since he had too many tricks up his sleeve. That's why I had to estimate the worst. But of course, I could prevent it by showing him Draconis' brilliant victory and making Princess Thiphania my wife.