Enlightened Empire

Chapter 375: Regret

On the plains east of Puscanacra - the seat of Governor Mayu Saqartu - the army of the league of lords had constructed a large camp, ready and waiting to receive their orders. Warriors numbering in the tens of thousands were camping in the shadows of the city’s wooden walls.

As the strongest city of Sachay and the seat of the governor, Puscanacra had never been directly attacked, not even during the civil war. Thus, a proper stone wall had never been necessary. The people of Puscanacra felt secure when they looked at their simple wall, because no matter what happened in Medala, nothing could touch them, wall or not. That was their pride. One look at the massive army amassed outside would confirm that notion. Only House Saqartu could collect so many allies in the south. Even the southern king would have to bow to their authority in the end.

However, if an observer were to take a closer second look at the army, they may have changed their minds. Although they were large in number, the warriors in the camp seemed listless, angry or confused. Some stood together in small groups and talked to one another as they pointed at pieces of paper, whispering things they didn’t want their masters to hear. Though of course their whispers were unnecessary, since their masters were too busy with their own matters to listen to their servants.

Just like the warriors, their masters were also eager to decide their future path. Inside a large room within Puscanacra’s governor mansion, two opposing groups were fighting over just that.

“We need to attack now! What else are we waiting for!?” as he screamed across the table, Lord Maygua – one of the southern kingdoms lord, and known for his temper -shoved a knife into the expensive wood. Any normal person would have been afraid, but all the people in the room were lords. They had all grown up around this kind of grandstanding and were unimpressed.

“For now, we are yet to know what really happened in Saniya!” Taruka - one of the lords along the Narrow Sea’s southern coast -shouted back, unperturbed by the empty gesture. “How could we attack blindly like this!? What will our allies and enemies think of us!?”

“What else do we need to know!?” Lord Ogulno replied. “Brother Rafun is dead!”

“Is that so?” Lord Taruka shot back, still unimpressed. “All this lord has heard are empty rumors. We do not know if the rumors are true. If they are, we do not know how Rafun died. For now, we should stay calm and operate with care, before we make any mistakes that we will regret. Already, there have been too many regrets for some of us.”

As he spoke, Lord Taruka stared at Ogulno, whose face turned pale in response. Everyone in the room knew what the lord had implied, and that it was meant as a slight towards Ogulno. After all, the lord of the copper hills had pointlessly antagonized the young King Corco, even though they were family.

Thus, he had now maneuvered himself into a corner, with no retreat. Of course Ogulno would want to fight the king to the death as soon as possible, because otherwise, his family might be destroyed in turn. However, Lord Taruka didn’t have the same problem. Just like most of the lords in the room, his conflicts with the king weren’t irreconcilable yet.

In the end, they had only tried to gain some benefits by putting pressure on the king. None of them had actually wanted to start a war. They had no open conflict with Corco, so they could still retreat. In the worst case, they would offer some family property and public fealty to receive forgiveness from the king.

Aware of the problem, Ogulno went quiet. In this room, his words weighed the lightest. However, he wasn’t the only one who wanted to force a civil war.

“So then what are we meant to do while we wait for confirmation on what all of us already know?” Lord Maygua spoke up again. “If we just sit and do nothing, we will look weak in front of our men. They are already restless. Inaction will slowly kill us.”

“I vote we first send a part of our troops down to Vallunaraju,” Lord Curichi added. “Lord Huaman has failed to join our side, and even sided with the king, despite our warnings. Now that he has heard about the death of Lord Rafun, he will be far more receptive to our ideas. He will not be willing to join a king who wants to eradicate every last one of our houses. If we send our countless hordes down south to pressure him, he will surely give in and join our cause.”

“You dare suggest that again!?” Maygua blew up again, pulling his dagger from the table and pointing it at Curichi’s face. “Every time we talk, you try this!”

“What did I say?” the shrewd lord tried to look innocent. “As we are members of the league of lords, other lords should respect us. If they know what is good for them, they should join us or at least remain neutral. I am simply thinking about the best course of action for us.”

“Who here does not know that your greedy eyes have stared at Huaman’s timber and amber business these years? And who does not know Huaman’s loyalty to the king? He will never agree to our demands, so he has to be punished by having his lands taken away, to be integrated into the surrounding estates. Is that not right? Conveniently, House Curichi is right next to House Huaman’s estate. Now then, tell us with an open heart that you have the best interests of the league in mind.”

“Nonsense!” Curichi tried to fight back, even though everyone in the room knew the truth. “The league needs to show strength, but we cannot rashly attack Saniya without any proof of Rafun’s assassination! Would it not best to first show our strength against an easy target? Huaman’s lands are in the south, cut off from any support from Saniya. He makes for an ideal target to crush and rekindle our men’s morale.”

“And you get to reap the benefits of our hard work.” Maygua sneered.

“Benefits can be shared,” Lord Curichi insisted. “This lord has only ever considered the benefits of the league. Do not judge others by your own wolfish greed, Villca dog.”

“Say that again you bastard! Do you want a duel!? We can go right here, right now!”

As always, the discussions of the noble lords had devolved into childish screaming contests. With an exhausted sigh, Taruka tried to steer the conversation into a productive direction again.

“Please, we cannot come to blows,” he tried to reason, “not now when our futures depend on unity. Governor Mayu, please speak up as well!”

The words scared Mayu back awake. All this time, he had been slumped in his seat and watched the lords in front of him fight back and forth. Now, as if awoken from a dream, he realized that the people to his left and right were not only real, he was also one of them.

With glazed-over eyes, Mayu stared back at Taruka’s wrinkled, weary face. A bit confused, he returned the best answer he could: “Huh?”

For a few seconds,Lord Taruka frowned at Mayu’s response, before he continued in a harsher tone.

“Governor Mayu, you are the leader of the league after all,” he said. “You need to guarantee harmony amongst ourselves. Everyone here has followed the Governor’s lead and pressured Saniya to benefit our estates. Now that the Governor’s plan has met resistance, we all expect to be led out of this crisis, back to success.”

Finally, Mayu was fully awake. That was right! He was the nominal leader of this group of lords, so he was expected to participate in their talks. No matter how lost Mayu was in his own dread, he couldn’t show weakness, or he would lose the precious power he had finally gained after all these years.

“For now, we should remain calm and assess the situation,” he said. However, he didn’t get the appreciation he had hoped for in response.

“We have done nothing else for three days!” A scream replied to Mayu’s careful response. “What is there left to assess? Governor Mayu, we have been slighted by that little king, he has ignored our warnings, and he has killed one of our own! We should attack right now to show our might!”

“We cannot attack them without evidence,” Lord Curichi refuted again, “but we can at least send a signal. I say we move south and deal with House Huaman first to show our strength.”

With only one sentence from Mayu, the room transformed into a complete mess again. Once more, the lords around him held another shouting match. Meanwhile, their leader sank back into his own fears, and once more tried to figure out how things could have gone so spectacularly wrong.

After a while, when everyone was tired out from shouting, they once again looked towards Mayu. Their expectant faces seemed to indicate that they wanted him to pick a side, but once again, he really didn’t know what they had been talking about. Too deep was he sunk into his own depression.

Still, he could guess well enough. The topics here were always the same, and his answer was simple. Mayu really didn’t want to go to war. He had never planned to fight against Corco in the first place, though that answer obviously wouldn’t satisfy anyone. Least of all himself, who would lose all his power once he surrendered.

The governor really wanted to wipe the cold sweat off his brow, but he didn’t want to look weak in front of his fellow lords. He knew how these people were. If they thought he was a weakling, they would eat him alive in seconds. Thus, uncomfortable as he was, he decided to find an excuse for his hesitation, one that would silence everyone screaming for war without offending them.

“We cannot move now.” He tried to keep his voice as steady as possible. “If we move north without enough justification, we will look like villains. If we travel south, we would move away from Saniya. Would we not look like we are escaping from the king’s troops?”

“That is true!” a lord finally agreed with him. “We would look like cowards, so how would it help us show strength?”

Supported by Mayu’s excuse, the pro-defense lords continued to argue, while the pro-attack lords were awkwardly quiet. Some of them looked at Mayu with resentment in their eyes, but the young governor couldn’t consider as much right now. Rather than worry about the mood of his lords, he slumped back in his seat, as if the previous excuse had taken all of his energy.

Because an excuse was all it was. He really didn’t know if a march south would make them look like cowards, or if they were justified in marching north. At this point, he was quite sure that he didn’t know anything. All he wanted now was to win some time. After all, what could he really do in his current position? He certainly wasn’t ready to go to war, not in their current state.

Back when he had threatened Corco with war outside of Kapra, he had never thought that they would really end up in one. Wasn’t Mayu’s league of lords in a much stronger position? There were enemies all around the southern kingdom, and the league included almost half of its estates. Without their support, wouldn’t the southern kingdom just get crushed by their foes?

Why would his cousin suddenly fight back, rather than appease them? Why couldn’t he just give in and hand over a few benefits? That way, they could have fought their external enemies together, and everyone would have won. Most of all, Mayu would have restored his family’s prestige without having to fight a single battle.

Now they were in a war that no one wanted, least of all Mayu. Could he really lead the warriors of the league to victory? He had never even been in a proper battle, let alone a war. The one time he had been in a fight that wasn’t supervised or part of a competition, his brother Atau ended up throwing him into the Mayura river in the middle of winter.

‘That’s where you belong, young master! With that name, I’m sure you two are connected by fate!’ Mayu would never forget the scathing words from his younger brother, and he also wouldn’t forget the freezing cold that had gripped him deep in his bones.

That had been his closest experience to real combat. How could he decide the overall strategy of their giant army? What if he made a mistake and got all of them killed?

As he thought about the consequences of his actions, he felt cold sweat run down his back. At the same time, he was burning up inside his heavy coat. However, he wouldn’t dare take it off.

Even if the other lords pretended that they hated their king, they were all imitating him well enough. Most of the lords in the room didn’t wear any sleeves, and wore the painful tattoos of their youths proudly, out in the open. Ever since his cousin’s demonstration during the Succession War, this had become standard fashion among the southern lords.

However, Mayu couldn’t follow along. He always pretended like he didn’t want to give up his favorite coat for some fleeting fashion, but the truth was that he wasn’t willing to expose his clean and unblemished arms. He really couldn’t stand another hit to his authority. Now less than ever.

“Governor Mayu!” someone addressed him again to bring him back to reality. “Now is the time to strike! Please order the attack on Saniya!”

Even after all this time, the lords around him were still debating, though it seemed like they had finally come to a conclusion. Expectant eyes from both sides of the table were staring at him and waited for him to give the order Mayu least wanted.

With great resentment, the governor looked at the lord who had just spoken. Wasn’t this lord just trying to push him into a hopeless war that would drive him to death? Worst of all, this was his own uncle.

Uncle Ogulno had shown up at the league’s camp right after the king had retreated from Kapra and returned to Saniya. Maybe he felt safer with an army between him and Corco. Either way, the safety seemed to have gone to his head.

Over the past few days, Ogulno had become more and more aggressive, demanding the other lords help him overthrow the king. More than anyone, he would want to prevent a reversal of fortunes from King Corco. Mayu understood that. Still, he couldn’t help but resent his uncle for his selfishness.

Hadn’t Ogulno been the one to convince him of this ridiculous plan’s feasibility in the first place? Hadn’t Ogulno said that nothing could go wrong, and that they wouldn’t even have to lift a single axe to obtain their victory? All of this, the entire mess,had been Ogulno’s fault, hadn’t it?

Old dog, don’t think I’ll dance to your tune any longer.

After some brooding seconds, Mayu had lost some of his anxiety, and replaced it with annoyance.

“No, Lord Ogulno.” He tried to speak with authority. “There is no point in acting now, not when we know so little. This governor will take some wine from his private cellar and distribute it amongst the men. That will be enough to lift their morale for a few days, until we know what happened in Saniya, and what the king intends to do. By then, we will be able to properly react. We still control most lords of the south, and we still have the larger army. There is no reason to panic.”

As he watched most lords give contemplative nods while Ogulno’s face soured, Mayu let out a quiet sigh of relief. With that, he had stalled for a few more days. Now he just had to come up with an actual plan. Preferably, it would be one his uncle wouldn’t be involved in, and one that could evade war altogether. However, just as Mayu wanted to stand up and end the meeting, one of his servants entered the private room.

“Governor Mayu, trouble!”

“What are you clamoring for!”

Now that he saw a chance to show his authority in front of his fellow lords, Mayu shouted at the hapless servant. However, the man only looked shocked for a second, before he continued to deliver his message.

“Governor Mayu, our scouts have just returned from the north,” he said. “The army of King Corco has set off from Saniya, and is already halfway on its way here. Their aim seems a collision with our forces.”

Again, Mayu felt like his brother had plunged him into the icy waters of the Mayura. This time, there would really be war, whether he wanted or not.