“I’m sure she is,” Myalo agreed. “The Arkhorse family might have fallen from grace recently, but the first order has always been managed by a family that demonstrates loyalty to the queen. The soldiers won’t accept the current state of affairs. And from what I’ve heard, flyers like the one posted outside this manor were raining down all over the royal capital.”
“That’s right. We’ve probably dropped a thousand of them already, and another thousand will drop today.” I looked at the study’s clock. “Two hours from now, they’ll start raining down again.”
“Splendid work,” Myalo said. “Now there’s no chance of the leadership deceiving anyone. The first order must be completely immobilized.”
It was hard to be sure, but from the witches’ point of view, the first order was unreliable. Nothing could be more terrifying than heading into battle with an ally that couldn’t be trusted. At the very least, the first order wouldn’t have a large role to play.
“Tillet, return to the royal capital and make contact with Galla. See if you can convince the first order to turn traitor... Though maybe that’s not the right word.” The first order should’ve been on our side in the first place. It was obvious to anyone that Carol was the rightful heir to the throne.
“Got it. The second order will be left fighting on two fronts.”
What? No. Where’d she get that idea? “I want you to convince him not to fight the second order. As weak as they are, their soldiers should be useful with a little training.”
“You don’t want them to fight?” Myalo looked at me in surprise. “How can we win without fighting?”
“I don’t want to waste the second order. Our attack on the royal capital should end with a brief skirmish.”
“A skirmish...? And then you’ll focus on bringing the other chieftain families to your cause?”
That’s not it. “Do you think the witches are stupid? A crusade force will probably reach us this year.”
“What...?”
Both Myalo and Tillet were left speechless.
“Do you think the witches did all this just to rule the kingdom? How do you think they’re planning to survive the crusades in the years to come?”
“Well...I’m not sure. There’s no way to stop the crusades,” Myalo replied.
Exactly.
If Shiyalta wasn’t under threat from crusaders, I would’ve taken the witches’ usurpation at face value. But with an invasion guaranteed to happen within a few years, the timing made no sense.
“The witches aren’t stupid. They’re desperate for a path to survival, just like everyone else. Destroying the royal family and the Ho family is pointless if it means losing to crusaders. They couldn’t have forgotten that.”
Queen Shimoné had at least been pouring her efforts into warding off the next crusade.
The kingdom had a long-established system that ensured the chieftains would band together as a united front against invaders, but even that would be thrown into doubt under a witch government that used Carla as a puppet. The chieftains would be divided, internal conflict would ensue, and the kingdom’s armies wouldn’t come together as one. Any fool could see that coming.
The witches surely knew that overthrowing the royal family couldn’t produce a new government that offered them greater protection. Their plan had been to defeat the royal family, place Carla on the throne as their puppet, wipe out the Ho family, and leave the kingdom weakened. Even if it had gone flawlessly, it seemed it would only shorten their lifespans.
On top of that, the risk of failure had been too high. It had failed, in fact. The assassination at the heart of the plan had relied on Carla—a complete idiot who didn’t understand the weight of her own actions. There’d also been a major risk of the plot coming to light. It was only through good luck that they’d gotten everyone to carry out their roles without letting a single piece of information leak out.
Given how careful the witches normally were, any plan of theirs had to be worth the risk. All in all, it appeared completely illogical. Their reckless acts would do nothing but shorten their own lifespans.
“They have to be working with someone within Yeesusdom,” I said. “The only question is what they’ve been offered in exchange for handing over the kingdom.”
The witches’ thinking was shaped by a history of nine hundred years spent holed up in the royal capital. In a sense, they’d developed within a bubble of safety provided by the royal family, leaving them ignorant of the world outside. For them, it made perfect sense to cut a deal as a means of ensuring their survival.
If all had gone to plan, Carla would’ve been crowned as a matter of course, and then the chieftain families wouldn’t have had an excuse to interfere. The kingdom would’ve fractured, but it would’ve been easy for the witches to create a stalemate in which the chieftain families spent half a year arguing over what to do next. In that time, a crusade force would’ve rapidly assembled. The plot would’ve left our defenses weak. Nations—seeing a chance to plunder our kingdom with barely a fight—would’ve been eager to join the invasion.
Perhaps the Rube family to the north would resist the crusaders, but one family couldn’t hold them back alone. And with the royal territory under enemy control, invaders could be welcomed in the ports of the royal capital. We’d be wide open to attack.
The witches’ plan would’ve been close to perfect, except that it meant trusting the crusaders to uphold their side of the deal. My own experience told me that it was a fatal mistake, but the witches were grasping at straws—this plan had been their last ray of hope.
The crusaders had likely guaranteed the safety of a hundred or so individuals in exchange for an opportunity to capture the entire kingdom without effort. It was a small price to pay for a kingdom. No wonder, then, that the witches expected the crusaders to honor the deal.
“But Lyrica’s reports said there won’t be a crusade,” Myalo said.
“No one knows that for sure. Perhaps they won’t come once they see the witches’ plan has ended in failure. The problem is, the witches might not admit that they’ve failed when they report to the enemy.”
Now that the witches had let me escape, they’d gone too far to turn back. They had to make sure a crusade happened now, even if it meant lying in their reports. To the witches, crusaders were reinforcements capable of liberating them from a siege set by chieftains.
“I see... Now that I think about it, it makes sense,” Myalo agreed.
“It’s just speculation based on our current situation, but nothing else seems to add up. It’s the only explanation I’ve got.”
For now, we had to assume crusaders were on the way and prepare our defenses.
The second order included about ten thousand men. Destroying one of our own armies by encircling them, then slaughtering the soldiers would be utter folly at a time like this.
“I’ll need the royal swords. Assign ten of your members to the task. We have to start making initial preparations right now.”