Chapter 55: The chess moves.

The Shilna Clan, just like the other four great clans that governed the vast Vernys Forest, operated in accordance with a political order that greatly resembled the feudal system in Middle Age Europe, in which various elven lords were granted permission from the Clan Head to administer and maintain military forces within their own domains. Although the main clan still controlled most of the lands and military forces, in time of need, it was expected that lesser elven lords who were subordinates to the main clan would have to contribute their forces to the cause. Outwardly, this system appeared fairly decentralized, yet, unlike most of the feudal lords of Europe, the glue that connected all of the Shilna lords together was through blood: these elven lords were all part of various branch families that can trace their lineage to the main Shilna Clan. Furthermore, to maintain its influence over the elven lords, the Shilna Clan would practice a tradition similar to that employed by the Fujiwara Clan in order to gain power over the Japanese Imperial Court during the Heian period: The main Shilna Clan would routinely marry off their own members to the branch family's heads and give birth to the future heirs. The heirs, instead of growing up in their own territory, would be raised and educated at the main Clan's territory instead, ensuring their fervent loyalty toward the clan. Through such arrangement, the cohesiveness of the Shilna Clan and its branch family was maintained for thousands of years and allowed Yllaes to summon the troops from the other elven lords with ease.

The whole Shilna army, commanded by Yllaes along with his right hand man, Skyer, had already been marching out from their territory for almost one whole day now. The army was divided into two main forces, with one commanded personally by Yllaes, along with his Five Forest Captains who he had handpicked specifically for their prowess and the other commanded by Skyer and his band of hired adventurers. Although Yllaes was not too impressed at the quality of the men, nor did he care much for those adventurers, Skyer had convinced him to bolster his forces with them. After all, more help was always appreciated. Unlike the troops from countries beyond the boundary of the forest, the army of the Shilna clan were made up of only the best of the best, with their individual skills far exceeding those of conscripted soldiers. This skillsets were made evident when the whole army was able to traverse through the thick forest at a pace of more than 100 miles a day. This was one of the reasons why the Shilna and the other four great clans were considered the guardians of the forest.

「WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?!」screamed out Yllaes while sitting on his trodding elk. His sudden loud voice had startled both the elk and several rows of soldiers marching behind him.

「... The three clans said although they are very interested in destroying the Princess… yet they can only send... less than 3000 troops.」The messenger's voice was trembling.

「And what are their reasons?」The prince clenched his teeth.

「Apparently, it's because of the Kingdom of Maeg.」answered the messenger.

「Kingdom of Maeg?」

「They claimed that in the past few days, the Kingdom of Maeg has been mobilizing the majority of their forces to station just right outside the forest, along the clans' borders. The kingdom's forces exceeded 100,000 total and it looks like they have the intention to invade the territory belonging to the three clans so they could not afford to lend us much of their troops.」explained the messenger.

「...That's ridiculous.」Yllaes easily saw through the ploy. 「Maeg does not have the capability to start a war with Vernys this soon after all the disasters and civil wars that have devastated their kingdom. This is nothing but Yllaner's calculated ploy. 」

「Yllaner has already made her move, Yllaes.」The quiet elven woman, riding next to the Prince finally spoke her first words in a while. 「It's not too late to stop this ridiculous conflict.」

「Mother, please just sit there and patiently wait for the day I crush Yllaner, repel the Yin empire and unify this whole Vernys under my rule. Then, you'll know who's the right choice to lead Vernys.」Yllaes politely responded before kicking his elk on its side, directing it to fast gallop forward, jumping through the networks of large tree roots on the ground. As he left her behind, ten of the guards quickly surrounded the woman, preventing her from ever trying to escape. Unlike Jayden, who wished for Lance to be rescued after he left, Yllaes had made sure to bring the former clan head with him in order to keep an eye out on her.

「... You guys don't have to be so vigilant.」The former clan head spoke softly to the men. 「I'm not going to run away… After all, it is my duty as their mother to watch their tragic conflict to the very end.」Since she barely ate in the last few weeks, even if she wanted to, she would still not have the strength to escape. The elegant she-elf simply looked straight forward to the far off distance, her eyes filled with sadness and sorrow for she knew, once this battle ended, one of her beloved children would perish.

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「Yllaner sama!」a messenger barged into the mossy tent, where a group of representatives for the Vernys Forest gathered. In the front of the tent sat Yllaner on her high wooden chair, with Uran standing by on her right. The messenger appeared as a black panther before transforming himself back into his half-beast appearance, knelt down before the Princess, and reported the newest intel he had gotten. 「Your brother, Lord Yllaes, had left Shilna's territory with a force of more than 40000. He has expected to be substantially reinforced by the other clans, but each of the 3 clans have refused to send more than 3000 soldiers.」

「Great!」Yllaner was visibly excited.

「Wait.」One of the Vernys representatives spoke out. 「Why did the other clan refused to send more troops?」

「Apparently it's because they're afraid of an invasion by the Kingdom of Maeg into their lands.」answered the beastman.

「Kingdom of Maeg?」

「Yes.」Yllaner confirmed. 「This is all thanks to King Lance. Although he was unable to directly lend troops to our cause since this is still first and foremost, an internal matter, I have asked him to move and station his troops just outside of the forest. Since the NAP was signed between Maeg and Vernys Confederation, the moment the confederation was dissolved, the NAP became ineffective. This means technically, Maeg may start a conflict with each of the three Clans if it wishes. Of course, King Lance is in no position to start a war, the presence of the Maegian troops along the forest border can still unnerve the three Clan Heads. I'm sure by now, the Clan Heads have been trying to communicate with Lance dono and extract his assurance to commit to the previously signed NAP. Lance dono had promised me to not meet with the three clans diplomats for at least the next 20 days.」

「That's great!」An old dryad man exclaimed. 「We can always rely on the Princess at moments like this!」

「But still, our forces are barely reaching 12000. Prince Yllaes' forces of 40000 alone can still decimate us. With the 3000 troops from each clan, along with the 15000 troops from the main Fyeran's forces, their army of 64000 is more than 5 times our number.」One female elf pointed out.

「We have already known we will be outnumbered even before we set out to come to her side.」One beastman loudly declared. 「So what if we're outnumbered? Our valors alone will crush their army.」

「Let's be realistic here. I admired your courage, Futar dono but we cannot win in a pitched battle, period.」Another dryad joined the conversation. 「 The only way for us to win is to fight through skirmishing.」

「Certainly not with that attitude.」The beastman laughed.

「No, Futar dono.」Yllaner calmly disagreed. 「Vyvee dono is correct. I have never expected to fight my brother directly. We shall only engage with my brother's forces through skirmishes. Though, with your great talent and courage, I'd be glad to have you lead our vanguard.」Yllaner cunningly appealed to the man's ego.

「Leave it to me, my Princess!」Futar loudly hit his chest. 「I will not let you down.」

「Rowan chan, Rowan chan...」From the back of the tent, Maia whispered into the healer's ear. 「I thought the Princess will not engage with her brother's forces at all. Why she changed her mind now and planning for skirmishing battles?」

「... I don't think she will.」Rowan studied the Princess' expression. 「I think she's trying to hide from these people gathered here the fact that it's actually her spies from the three other clans who would end this war .」

「But why does she have to hide it from them?」

「Well, even if on the surface, they have all gathered here to help her, some of these people may turn out to be spies from Yllaes. Telling them everything about her plan is never a good idea.」answered the teenager.

「I see.」Maia nodded before broadly grinning. 「I'm glad that she trusted us enough to tell us then.」

「I know.」Rowan nodded, then knuckled.「Though maybe she has another plan that she didn't tell us yet.」

「... I see. There's another layer to the strategy of moving Maeg's troops and preventing the three clans from contributing more to Yllaes' forces.」A realization dawned on Kibadios, who has been analyzing the current situation, with his trusted pet slime resting comfortably on his head.

「What do you mean?」Ryan turned to his master. The hero has rarely attended these meetings since he has been busy looking after Kyles in the princess' stead. Yet today, knowing there would be a big development occurring, he has made sure to be here in person.

「She's pulling a Kingdom's Qin vs the 5 states coalition trick.」declared the hybrid, though his reference was understandably met with blank stares from Ryan. 「Sorry, what I meant is that by preventing the 3 Clans from sending their troops to help Yllaes, Yllaner had just placed her brother in an uncomfortable situation. You see, if all three Clans were able to send the majority of their troops to join up with Yllaes, the prince would not have to worry about any of the three Clans betraying him and attacking the Shilna territory while his main force was away. But now, since the majority of the 3 clans' military forces are not under his supervision and still remain behind, there will always be the threat of them joining forces together and invading Shilna. After all, the major clans are no longer Shilna's vassals nor part of the Vernys Confederation anymore. Of course, it's only a low chance, but for sure it's not zero. I'm sure Yllaes is dreading such a scenario. This is just like when Saitaku was able to convince Qi to withdraw from the Coalition and create the unknown variable that ultimately, making the coalition force collapsed… fictionally speaking.」

「I see.」nodded Ryan, before clarifying further.「Not the "Qin Qi" part but the part about the princess' plan.」

It's kinda genius, actually. Kibadios praised the Princess in his thoughts. Before this, due to Kyles' condition, Yllaner had no choice but to settle this conflict quickly and get him to the Spring of Healing. She had no time to spare but Yllaes could afford to drag this conflict out for months. But now, she had even out the playing field, forcing a time constraint on her brother also. It's now also imperative for him to finish this conflict quickly.

「... Not only that.」Kibadios continued to explain. 「By forcing the 3 Clans' armies to stay behind, Yllaner is also preparing for the eventuality when her people finally take over the 3 clans' leadership. Had their armies joined Yllaes, even if her people successfully take control of the clan, it would mean nothing. They cannot help the princess in any way since the majority of their forces are with Yllaes. In fact, it would give Yllaes the excuse to invade the three clans with his combined army, easily overrun them...」

Oh, I see… Yllaner, so that's how you think, Kibadios had another epiphany about the Princess' strategy. Always looking out for the unity of the forest, aren't you?

「So now, since most of their forces are still under their clans' control, once the new leaderships take over, they can march their armies against Yllaes', forcing him to surrender.」Ryan finally realized.

「Either that or they can invade Shilna's territory, taking away the seat of power from Yllaes and return it to the Princess. Then, it'd be Yllaes who's the rebel… or they can make other moves, their choices are many.」Kibadios continued to chill, sitting in the back of the tent with his slaves until a familiar name suddenly caught his attention.

「Leading the second army, approaching our encampment from the south, is, of course, Skyer, Yllaes' right hand man. Though, to bolster his forces, they have hired a group of two dozen B-rank adventurers, leading by a man named Desmond.」

What? Both Kibadios and Ryan's eyes widened at the mention of the familiar name. It took some time for Yllaner to finally realize where she had heard of the name. The princess' gaze quickly turned to Ryan, who had stood up from his chair.

「... Do you … have any information on this Desmond guy?」Ryan's voice was trembling.

「Apparently he's a monk class. He's not too famous in the adventurers circles so I dont have much information about him.」answered the messenger. 「All I know is that this band of adventurers are led by a monk named Desmond Kent.」

「Master!」Ryan turned to the hybrid. 「That's him!」

「He finally showed up, huh?」Kibadios smiled.「It makes it convenient for us.」

「What are you talking about?」Amber, sitting some distance away, asked.

「He's the member that betrayed Ryan's party.」Answered the hybrid. 「Ryan and I have some personal business with him.」

「Really? But why is he here?」

「If I have to guess, just like how Yllaes had acquired the assistance from the Hyakki Yagyo, he had also hired the adventurers into his forces… I dont truly know why Desmond is part of Yllaes' army, but knowing his whereabouts is good enough for me since we have been trying to track him down before coming with the Princess here. 」

「... Master… Can we… 」Ryan hesitated, his heart was racing. So, this is the trap that she said she has prepared.

「You dont even have to ask, Ryan chan!」Kibadios nodded before turning to the Princess.「Yllaner, I know I said I would not personally involve myself with this conflict but if you allow us, I'd like to take care of this Desmond. I made a promise with Ruek and I'd like to keep that promise. Ryuu will still be here, protecting you 24/7 in my stead.」

「Of course, Kibadios dono. I'm in no position to deny you and Ryan of this opportunity.」answered Yllaner.「Even if Ryuu wants to join you, I would not mind. Your assistance has been invaluable these past few days and I'm eternally grateful for that.」

「No no. I'm sure to deal with Desmond, just Ryan and I are enough. Right, Ryan?」

「...Y...yes… Of course, Kibadios sama...」answered Ryan.

「... Ryan chan?」Rowan muttered under his breath as he carefully studied the hero.