Kaiser immediately had all of the remaining soldiers that were not injured in the previous war against Merkruz to quickly get ready. Only about 35 thousand of the original 50 thousand were still able to fight.

In the previous battle, around 2-3 thousand soldiers had died. As for the ones that were still alive, they had received injuries that resulted in some form of permanent disability that didn't allow them to partic.i.p.ate in the war. One of Cecil's Healing Arts could regrow limbs and restore a person's nerves, but the problem was that he could only use it once his Ki Cultivation reached the Transformation Stage.

With the overwhelming disadvantage in numbers, Kaiser was worried, but not so much. Unlike the Merkruz Army which had an M-Jammer, the Regulus Kingdom didn't have one. At least that's the info brought in by their scouts and informants.

Even now, when the Regulus Army was already closing in, the inhabitants of Silvaria could still use mana. This meant that all their cannons were still usable and so were their enhanced abilities.

While Kaiser was getting things ready for the Silvaria Army, Rowan had set off in a hurry after he received a report that his Kingdom's army was not far away from Silvaria. He was going to make a last-ditch effort to try and persuade his brother or whoever it was that was leading the army from attacking Silvaria.

It wasn't that Rowan was afraid that the Silvaria kingdom was going to be rundown, but he was more afraid of his Kingdom's army being thoroughly wiped out. Cecil didn't even need to come out. The Silvaria Kingdom's cannons were already much more powerful than the Empire's Mag-Cannons, and if not for the M-Jammer, the Silvaria Kingdom would have come out on top in the previous conflict against Merkruz without them having been pushed to the brink of their wall collapsing. Also, there were his fiancée's wits and strategies, coupled with the Silvaria Kingdom's powerful soldiers, Rowan had every reason to believe that the Regulus army didn't have a chance.

Even if the Regulus army was able to use magic now as well, there was an even more frightening mage present within the Silvaria Kingdom. He couldn't forget about Cecil's wife, Lucia. During the days when everyone was still recuperating, Rowan had inadvertently walked in on Lucia and Serilla's training which they held just outside of the valley. During that time, he was transporting his soldiers' families and spotted the two girls sparring with each other.

Serilla, who he thought was already plenty powerful, was having a hard time keeping up with Lucia who was firing off Mid to High ranked Magic spells like a mobile magic turret. She had done it with ease and didn't even break a sweat. With that woman there, he didn't want to imagine what would be the outcome of the Regulus Army's soldiers if all those high ranked spells fell on their heads.

******

"As expected, the words of a traitor," Albert sneered at Rowan who was forced to kneel in front of him.

"Brother, please, you have to listen to me, don't attack the Silvaria Kingdom and quickly turn back! You can't win!"

"Hmph! Trying to persuade me from attacking a weakened army? Do you think that it will work?!"

"What?! What weakened army?! You don't even know what happened! Those Merkruz b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were decimated by Silvaria! How could you fail to realize this small point?! Regulus can't even defeat Merkruz! What makes you think that you'll be able to defeat Silvaria who defeated Merkruz?!"

"Hah! The only reason why Merkruz lost was because a monster had suddenly attacked their formation! It wasn't because of the Silvarians!"

"You're wrong! That 'monster' who attacked was none other than the crown prince of Silvaria! He single-handedly destroyed Merkruz!"

Albert frowned a little when he heard this, but he immediately growled and punched Rowan in the face.

"Don't think that your words will frighten me! No human could accomplish such a feat! Defeating an army by himself, do you think I'm a child and that I would believe and be frightened by your words?!"

"Albert, you have to believe me! If you attack them now, you'll only experience a loss! A loss that you can't afford to have," Rowan desperately cried out.

"Tsk, your words are useless. Men! Take this traitor away and lock him up! When we return, he'll be executed for the crime of conspiring with the one who tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate the Second Prince!"

The soldiers around were a little hesitant, but they stepped forward and began dragging Rowan away.

"Dammit! Why won't you listen?! This is why father wanted to rescind your right as the crown prince! You're just a fool!"

Albert immediately snapped when he heard his words, he walked over to Rowan and smashed his fist into his brother's face.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"You can't even recognize that you're incompetent! How am I a traitor? f.u.c.k you! You would have lost the war against Merkruz a year ago without my fiancée! Where the f.u.c.k would you be right now without my or Fatima's help?!"

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Shut up!" Albert yelled as he swung his fist at Rowan.

Albert continued swinging his fists at his brother and the soldiers could only back away in fright. Their faces were hidden behind their helmets, however, they couldn't help but agree with Rowan. The first prince was indeed incompetent. He had no military achievement that he could be proud of, his swordsmans.h.i.+p, magic ability, and everything else was average. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't good either. All in all, he was just your average joe.

None of the soldiers understood why their Third Prince and his fiancée, the War Saintess, were suddenly branded a traitor. The most puzzling thing was why they were being mobilized to attack a Kingdom that had no previous hostilities with them. In fact, said kingdom only had good ties with them since their War Saintess was the Princess of that kingdom.

They couldn't understand, but it wasn't like they could go against the prince's orders. They were just like any other soldier, they had one task and that was to listen to orders.

Rowan's face was beaten to a pulp, but the defiance in his eyes and the scorn on his face didn't fade. Albert saw this and he immediately put on his iron gauntlet, just as he was about to swing his fist at Rowan once more, he was stopped.

"...you really are incompetent," Cecil said as he gripped tightly onto Albert's fist.

"W-what?! Who are you?! Peasant, I command you to—gahack!" Cecil didn't let Albert finish his words and immediately slammed his fist into his gut and sent him cras.h.i.+ng backward.

"Incompetent and rude," Cecil said, he helped Rowan up and immediately healed his beaten-up face. "Honestly big bro Rowan, how are you even related to this fool?"

"..." Rowan was a little speechless, but he was touched when he heard Cecil call him 'big bro'.

"This was your plan huh? To persuade an idiot... you would have had a much better time persuading a dog than him."

"B-b.a.s.t.a.r.d! H-how dare you insult and a.s.sault a prince of the Regulus Kingdom?!"

Cecil ignored Albert who was struggling to get up. He also ignored all the soldiers that were currently surrounding him and Rowan.

"You failed your negotiations. Are you going to stay here with that fool or come back with me?" Cecil asked.

"...Let's go... if even his finest generals and advisors couldn't persuade him, then that means they're incompetent or they also agree with his foolish decision to attack. Instead of using the non-aggression pact to hurry and stabilize the kingdom...he instead wages war against another kingdom..." Rowan said as he sadly eyed all the people around him.

Cecil shrugged and placed a hand on Rowan. He used Blink and disappeared along with Rowan.

*****

"Well, they're going to attack..." Cecil said after getting back to the Silvaria Kingdom's command center.

In the command center, it wasn't only the Silvaria family that was present. The other families that were part of the Kingdom's Council were present. It was a request made by the other families when they found out that Cecil had returned.

Not many knew about the boy because back on Earth, the successor was always living in seclusion inside the family's ancestral home and never once had contact with the outside world. Seeing the grown man who had just appeared within the command center with the Third Prince of Regulus, all of the family representatives began to size him up.

"I'm sorry... I couldn't do anything..." Rowan replied.

"...Nevermind. They coveted our lands and repaid our good intentions with evil, there wasn't anything you could have done anyway... but I have to ask Rowan, is this, what your father wants? The last time I met with him, he seemed like an amiable man. I don't believe that he is a two-faced b.a.s.t.a.r.d..."

"N-No sir... my father was bed-ridden a few months ago due to sickness and it has been my brother who has been running the kingdom... my father has nothing to do with this..." Rowan immediately replied. His father wasn't the best in the world, but he was a good king. He understood the differences of right and wrong, although he advocated more for peace and brought the kingdom's military to its abysmal state, the people loved him because he was able to bring them peace and prosperity.

Kaiser only shook his head in regret when he heard Rowan's words, "No wonder...what a shame...anyways, let's get this strategy meeting over with. Since we can all use mana again, our soldiers will be in top shape in the battle to come."

Cecil waited on the side and let his father arrange things. While he was observing the arrangements, he couldn't help but frown when he noticed that he and his wives were excluded from the battle.

"Father, what about me and—"

"You'll be under your sister's command."

"O-Okay?"

"You're moving in the same unit as Fatima, so pay attention, your role later in the battle is important."

Cecil only nodded and eyed his elder sister who smiled back and waved for him to come over. Cecil flashed next to Fatima and this caused his sister to nearly jump in surprise.

"I-Idiot! Don't scare me like that!" Fatima quietly exclaimed as she began pinching her little brother's waist.

"O-o-ow... s-sorry, but you wanted me to come over!"

"Then just walk to me normally!"

"S-sorry, I got used to using Blink so much. It became a habit..."

"...What did you even do to become like this...?"

"I worked really hard," Cecil replied.

"..." Fatima gave him a deadpanned expression and Cecil only snickered back in response.

"Pay attention, Cecil."

"Okay sis~"

After a few more minutes, the meeting finally ended. The Regulus army was still somewhat far away and Kaiser decided to use a little bit of guerrilla warfare. The mountain pa.s.s had plenty of smaller pa.s.sages that were hard to navigate in if one didn't know the exact layout of the pa.s.sages.

He was going to use these small pa.s.sages to attack the Regulus army and try to dwindle their numbers. As for why they didn't use this tactic back during their fight with Merkruz was because of the enemy's M-Jammer.

Without mana to enhance their bodies, Kaiser's troops wouldn't be able to navigate the pa.s.sages with ease. These small pa.s.sages weren't all flat roads and many obstacles needed the superhuman abilities that mana was able to give to the soldiers to navigate through.

Once the Regulus Army made their way to the walls, Kaiser would then have them be bombarded by their cannons and he'd send his soldiers to fight them head-on. From the mountainside, Fatima's unit would be lying in wait and once the battle started in full, she would lead her unit to attack the backlines of the Regulus Army.

They would quickly try to dispatch as many mages as they can before quickly retreating into a narrow pa.s.sage and make their way back up the mountainside and try to find a chance to attack again.

It seemed a little unnecessary in Cecil's opinion, but he could get the gist of what his father was planning. If they wanted to, they could have easily resolved the situation by using Cecil's might and a few invocations of Lucia's High Ranked Magic Spells, however, Kaiser wanted to display the might of his army so that it would deter other kingdoms from wantonly attacking Silvaria just because they thought that the kingdom only relied on a few powerful people to defend it.

The best outcome would be that the Silvaria Army could drive back the Regulus Army with minimal casualties. At least, that's what Kaiser wanted. Cecil had other plans. He'd go along with the battle plan, but he'd make sure that not one of his kingdom's soldiers fell in battle.