ARCHDEUS

FEUDAL AID(1)

Leiceshire, the Duchy of Sandwealth.

Leiceshire - The capital of the Duchy of Sandewealth and the largest city in the duchy. In addition to being a regional political center, Leiceshire is also a business and cultural center. Historically, Leiceshire is believed to be the city where one of the saints of the Hexatheism religion was born named St. Ariellae. That is why in honor of the saint's name, the presbhenon of this duchy was named in St. Ariella Presbhenon's.

The war that took place between the Kingdom of Artchania and the Kingdom of Ibeltia with the Duchy of Sandwealth as the center of the battle caused this duchy to once again take center stage.

Count Harol Kazastian Fertiphile, the Count of Fertiphile along with his thousands of troops had made basecamp around Leiceshire. Not only Harol, this battle call was answered by the entire noble family by sending himself or their heir as the command of each army.

There were about 100 thousand troops of the Kingdom of Artchania consisting of palace soldiers and various soldiers belonging to the nobility. Coupled with the city's population, this meant that 6% of the kingdom's population had been in the city.

Harol is currently meeting with several nobles, especially the Count of Sinteny and the County of Granadia. It was unbelievable that the coalition formed of 1 duke and 6 count had been at its worst. Even when the chairman of their coalition this the Duke of Sandwealth called out, only three count answered.

The Count of Morhust did not come because of his health condition so his position was represented by one of his sons.

The Count of Yorksall was unable to come and did not even send troops due to the recent defeat in the fief war against the March of Canadia.

The Count of Otilia was unable to come and did not send troops as a result of being fiefwarred with the March of Canadia.

So at this conference in addition to Count Fertiphile, Count Sinteny, and Count Granadia, also attended by Joshua as a representative of Morhust and of course there is Duke Sandwealth. But there is one more person, he is one of the centers of this coalition. One of the three princes and also the oldest prince, Prince William Frederic Charteris Augustus. He was the prince supported by this coalition to become the crown prince and the next king.

"Your Majesty."

The nobles saluted the duke and the prince.

Be it the duke or the prince both have honorific calls as His Royal Highness (HRH) which shows their equal position. But of course, Prince William as one of the successors of the royal dynasty had the prestige to be the First in the North-Earth Equivalent (Primus inter pares).

"Your Excellency, My Royal Highness and His Excellency My Lords, I thank you for gathering."

Benedictus Flavius Sandwealth, Duke of Sandwealth. He was in his 60s and was currently in a brief meeting with the princes and lords.

"I am very grateful My lords and My Lord Prince have reached out to help my region. My Lord, we will soon be meeting with other lords, before that the prince and I call on Gentlemen to unite our common attitude."

This is important especially when their coalition is at its weakest point as it is now. Do not let their current condition be used by other coalitions.

Yup, even in a war atmosphere even though they are still stabbing each other. That's politics.

"This may be a difficult thing for us especially when two colleagues are unable to attend and answer the call of Our Lord's Beloved King."

Harol and the nobles present just kept quiet while listening to the duke's speech.  Perhaps from the outside they all nodded and agreed to every word from the duke. But it will be different if each heart can be read.

For example Harol who secretly mocked all the duke's speeches in his heart.

He knew it was this duke who forced Yorksall to harass Canadia. As a result when the fiefwar exploded, Sandwealth did not provide any assistance to Yorksall as a result of which Canadia became increasingly confident and even continued her expansion into Otilia.

Then the duke was also the one who used Sinteny to continue confronting Norchaster in the north.

In the end regardless of whether it was a fellow coalition, they were also utilizing each other.

Then when all that was conveyed by the duke was finished Prince William also expressed his opinion.

"In this war there are 110,000 soldiers consisting of royal soldiers and coalition soldiers we will be the main troops while Norchaster will lead the right wing and Hornwall will lead the left wing."

This was none other than to be able to make William collect achievements. If he wins, his achievements will increase again so that with his image, his election as the next king may be greater.

Making the royal soldiers directly led by William and the noble warriors a coalition led by each noble has two purposes.

First, reduce the casualties on their part. In other words they tried to minimize the war casualties of their coalition by making other noble warriors as meat shields.

Second, make them the center of attention. Of course as the main force, they will have more soldiers and everything about the success of the war will be determined by their performance during the war.

For senior nobles like Harol and Duke Sandwealth to know all those things.

But not for Joshua. A young man who still has no experience leading a war must now command 8,000 soldiers.

The prince then presented a map.

"So we're gonna drag the Ibeltia soldiers here. They'll pass through the Ariellia River and force them through the Orbelic forest."

Prince William explained his plan smoothly. But Joshua had something stuck in his mind.

"So what's there to ask?"

When Prince William finished presenting his plan, then he asked for feedback from the others, Joshua raised his hand.

"His Highness the Prince, I would like to ask, wouldn't taking the Ibeltia warriors to pass through the Orbelic forest and the Ariellia River far from the border make them able to plunder the nearby city we have?"

Joshua saw the map at least if drawn in a straight line, the path of the Ibeltia troops would later pass through several small towns and many villages. There was no evacuation order before. Even if an evacuation order is carried out now, it won't be effective much less the war will soon explode."

But what Joshua did not expect was an expression of Prince William himself.

He did not look confused but instead this was like a lazy expression or a little irritated.

What's the matter? think Joshua.

Joshua slowly glanced at the other nobles but no one seemed to question the prince's plans.

Finally the prince spoke.

"Young Master Morhust, you may not understand very well because this is your first experience in the discussion of war strategy. But you must understand that in order to produce a magnificent victory, there must be a cost to be sacrificed."

What Joshua was unaware of was that this war was not just against the Kingdom of Ibeltia. But more than that, this is a war that can be a harvest of achievements for Prince William.

What would happen if Prince William won the war against the barbaric enemy forces, which destroyed the entire settlement, killed the citizens of the kingdom of Arthania with cruelty, and robbed the property of the people owned. Of course anyone who hears will feel that this is a war against the bad guys. A war that would free the citizens of Artchania from cruelty and oppression.

When that happens, Prince William will get a good image as a hero in the eyes of the people.

So in order to achieve such a great feat it would cost no small amount in this case they would have to sacrifice the lives of their own citizens. Even Duke Sandwealth did not say any rejection. That was because he understood, he had to sacrifice his citizens for their glory.

In the end this is nothing more than the moral hazard of leaders in taking advantage. Even if they fail, it is the people who are at the greatest risk. It is nothing more than human instinct which is a tamed animal.