chsdbacks Chapter 217 – Planning For War
Chapter 217 – Planning For War
Chapter 217 – Planning For WarAnlesa looked out from the building where they were towards the clock tower that loomed over the city below. Their eyes saw the possible location of where everything could explode. In a few days, Abe would go up to announce whatever gargle he wanted, and it was an opportunity for Anlesa to strike. However, it wasn’t their only option, but all their options required a certain degree of violence.
[...Are we really doing this?] Eva asked with worry but a smidge of determination. What they were suggesting was far beyond the chaos they had involved themselves in before, in her eyes. A final conversation to sort all their thoughts was needed.
For a while, Eva had hoped this all could be settled by somehow just arresting the people involved, but the people involved were those in high places and while she wasn’t completely wrong. If they simply exposed the truth, change was likely to happen, but the problem was the speed of that change. If Abe and his people were allowed to do what they wanted at that time, the city would act, and Mary and Max could die. For Abe, they were a liability that he had been waiting for the perfect opportunity, and Luna believed he was already regretting not attacking earlier.
The exact moment he learned of the royal duo’s existence and arrival in the city was unknown, but Luna guessed that he originally wanted to kill them in a way that would benefit himself. Some sort of strategy that would put him in an advantageous situation. However, that window had long since passed, and now he wanted them gone by any means necessary. Whether it was age or arrogance, his patience had waned.
[Eh, what’s the difference compared to what we have dealt with before?] Syrus asked sarcastically.
Luna answered back with utmost seriousness. [How is it different from defending against a horde of mutated animals, raiding a church, or fighting in an arena? Last time I checked, we haven’t tried to overthrow a government yet and have been required to fight through a country’s armed forces.]
[A fight’s a fight, doesn’t matter to the opponent.] (Syrus)
[Now I know you are bullshitting.] Luna said, [You would treat each fight with the seriousness it deserved.]
[And? That doesn't change the core of this endeavour.] Syrus said solemnly, it was a mission even she hadn’t participated in before. [We got a hidden, or well, I guess public tyrant to take down.]
[...] Eva held back from commenting for a moment. This whole situation was fucked. She understood that Syrus was trying to lighten the mood a bit, so she wouldn’t be dragged down, but Eva hoped she had grown enough to face this horrible situation head-on. [What is going to be our plan? Is attacking head-on really the best solution, because otherwise, we need to find a way to drag Abe down before striking at his forces? There is a whole city, and if we can even direct a portion of them towards the actual target, then it would save us a lot of trouble.]
[There is certainly truth in that, as if the truth of what he did was known to everyone, then it would cause a riot in the streets.] Syrus replied, [His action brought the death of so many that basically every family lost someone, so the cause of such a tragedy would become a central target of hate. At the very least, there is enough evidence to make people believe that.]
The trio had already decided that Abe was at the very least partially responsible for the plague. Would they ever figure out the true details behind the event was a question for another day that might never come.
[There is already unrest due to the original handling of the situation.] (Luna)
[But, getting that information to everyone, and having people believe it is a different story.] (Syrus)
Unsurprisingly, yelling the truth in the middle of the city wasn’t going to cut it. However, Anlesa didn’t have many options available to them to go about this plan. Acting after everyone had the information was the easy part. Providing the information to everyone was the hard part.
[We might need to throw Mary under the cart.] (Syrus)
[Pardon?] (Eva)
[You want something that will make everyone believe the truth we are telling them, then we give them a truth they can’t deny first.] (Syrus)
[But that...] Eva was worried that the mother and son would be in more danger.
[Honestly, they are already in quite a bit of danger. It’s only a matter of time before Abe pulls the trigger. The only reason he likely hadn’t done it earlier was because of us.] (Syrus)
[But he could have dealt with them earlier? Then even put the blame on us after the act is done.] (Eva)
[That may work in stories and some real-life cases, but what would that do for him in this situation? If Mary is killed, then we could go on a rampage. If he lets people know that someone from the royal family returned and got murdered, that isn’t a great look, and people could partially blame him. Based on everything we have learned, he has been trying to reduce the amount of scrutiny he has been getting.] (Syrus)
[I still think he could have done it...? It certainly has its upsides...] Eva felt a little guilty even suggesting Mary’s death had upsides, even when talking about the villain’s perspective.
[Oh, sure, he could have, but he did not. So, it's likely he has no plan to immediately change his approach. The fact that we aren’t dead is likely already causing him enough of a headache.] (Syrus)
Syrus was well aware of the type of person Lavos was after repeated interactions with the man, and the consequences of his actions. She would’ve liked to have said she had never met a person like him, but she had met plenty. Though none came close to him in his ability to step over the line. She met and worked with plenty of people who would be considered not the best and extremely greedy, but most of them knew that lines existed for a reason. The ones that didn’t tended to end up dead eventually.
That logic wasn’t going to change any time soon; sometimes the payment happens to be delayed for a while, but it always arrives.
Syrus was going to make sure of that.
[So, after we spread the information, we will use the chaos for an all-out assault on his residence.] Syrus declared, [We cannot leave that man alone, because eventually he’ll finish the job and kill Mary and Max.]
[...And it’s up to us to kill him?] (Eva)
[We don’t have to kill him.] Luna suggested. [We can leave him in a state where he wishes he were dead. Gives the public a chance to let out their rage.]
[Likely not worth it, we don’t know the range of his abilities. Worst case, he might kill someone while backed into a corner.] (Syrus)
They went back and forth a number of times on the approach of the assault. They discussed everything they knew about the city, the guards, his forces, and when the best time to strike would be. The decision to kill the man was still left up in the air. Having him admit to certain crimes would remove a lot of future trouble, but Syrus felt keeping him alive at all was too risky.
The actual approach to fighting was something that was decided on pretty easily after a few rounds of suggestions.
[If it is possible, do we all agree with the approach of first spreading the information to the country?] (Luna)
They all agreed.
[But back to how, do we have any suggestions?] (Eva)
The crux of the matter is that currently, none of them had the ability or influence to get the message across.
[Well, if we can’t spread the news. That doesn't mean no one else can.] (Syrus)
[True… then besides information, what about fighting? Using your long sword or my wires would be a massive indicator for people who know us. We were good around it before with sheer strength, but I doubt we can expect to do the same again.] (Eva)
[Moonlight and Blood will still be our main methods. The demo of your secret weapon worked wonders last time, so we can use it again.] (Luna)
[Understood… I have made minor modifications, but I’ll explain those later.] (Eva)
[You did bring up a good point about weapons, though. Fighting with one is going to be essential, and I know where we can find a good weapon.] (Syrus)
The trio, once they agreed on the final details, began their most destructive plan to date.