Rebirth of the Phoenix God

"I can't believe that we did it. Even now, it's still hard for me to acknowledge that we created a country for ourselves…"

Shaking his head from the heigh of his horse, Victor murmured under his nose.

"Then you better get used to this idea quick. After all, we are not done… stabilising the situation yet."

This was the sad reality of their current position. To declare some lands as theirs was one thing, and to actually turn them into obedient possession was something entirely else. 

So far, their progress was as simple as it was to just walk into a town and declare it to be a part of a newly made country. While there were some voices of protests, with the local lord's army already shattered, the combined forces of mercenaries managed to sweep through the lands of their earned province without any greater trouble. But as great as it sounds so far, the reality was far worse than what one could expect from the current achievements they earned without any effort.

According to the information of the scouts, while the local lord was defeated in a battle, the fact that his forces were saved from the massacre meant that he still had some troops under him. And instead of giving out a fully-fledged battle against the mercenaries, this smart man continued to pull back, forcing more and more serfs from the land that he passed to join his newly created force.

"Yeah… But how about trying to just starve them out? It's not like we are forced to push our agenda all at once! Cut off from the rest of the Kiznar, he won't be able to hold on to his lands with the army that he created for himself."

Shaking his shoulders with clear disregard to their current opponent, Victor managed to put a grimace of annoyance on Fen's face with just this happy-go-lucky attitude of his.

"You can say that only because I agreed to take Shataz for myself. All the three other towns surrendered right away, meaning that both you, Orsha and that Hubriel fellow can already enjoy your new lands… But that isn't the case for me."

Given how he was the one to come up with the idea of reenacting the land payments for the mercenaries, given how he was the one that basically forced this idea on everyone else, Fen had no other choice but to swallow this sour pill and assume the control of the eastmost city of their new country.

And obviously, with the local lord continuously pulling back to the east and amassing more and more troops on his way there, it was the city of Shataz that would bear witness to the final showcase between the forces of the old and what was bearing the banner of the future.

"Oh, come on. It's not like that city is poor or anything. Even with all the costs of siege, you will be able to quickly recover. And just look behind you, isn't it nice to know that while everyone wishes to just go and enjoy their newly-earned lives, they still decided to follow you in order to bring that topic to its proper closure?"

Pointing his hand behind, Victor gestured at a relatively small army to even begin calling it like that. With only some of the local veterans deciding to join the new regime, their numbers didn't even reach four digits, putting them at just a small percent of what the other side could gather.

But once again, the difference of numbers would be pit against the difference in the skill and experience. While their small mercenary army was easily capable of forcing the local serfs that remained into their ranks in order to create the buffer of the cannon-fodder for themselves, Fen ultimately decided against doing so.

After all, the entire idea of taking over the land instead of receiving hefty monetary remuneration for their job was born out of the pity that Fen had over the fates of those poor people. If he were to start acting like one of the local lords just because it would be easier, then he wouldn't be any different from the people that he strived to take power away from.

"Don't try to sugar-coat it. Maybe if they were some poor folk then I could believe that they followed me because of naive thinking that I or all of us are some kind of heroes sent to liberate them."

Shaking his head in denial, Fen moved his head back towards the direction where their small army was heading. Even though he and Victor were two of the three leaders of this force, the two of them still took the job of leading the entire force from the front-guard, while leaving the safety of their backs to Orsha, the third commander.

"What do you mean?"

While his words seemed to imply that Victor had no idea what Fen was trying to point at with his own sentences, the mischievous expression on his face made it clear that it was nothing more than small, friendly bickering between brothers in arms.

"All of the mercenaries learned how to read the maps for a reason. Those people are not fighting for the idea, but for the sake of tangible benefits. And tell me, how long will that lord hold against our relentless advance before he realises what his chances are? Given how he participated in most of the raids that took place in this area, are you really that sure that once he realises how bad spot he is in, he won't reach out to the Shallian Kingdom in order to swear fealty to their King?"

This was the actual main worry of Fen regarding this campaign. As long as their tiny force was fighting only with the local lord, then just by the sheer difference of the veterans in their respective armies, they could easily claim the victory. Even if instead of battle the conflict would be resolved by a prolonged siege, without the third-party intervention, Fen was quite positive that they already had their victory secured. Unless…

Unless yet another force were to be involved. The difference between Kiznar and Shallia was obvious as soon as one would take a look at the map. Located more to the east and still holding on to one of the two most important cities of the old Kingdom, the local culture of the ruling class was far more sophisticated. 

Obviously, no one was naive enough to believe that in general, that country to the east was in any better state than Kiznar. The main difference between the two laid in the fact that in Kiznar, King had virtually no real power, allowing his subjects to run wild all over the country. On the other hand, just with how immensely rich Shallian's capital city was, it's King managed to rein his subjects in, turning the raids and local conflicts into schemes and brutal politics. 

Yet, what it meant for Fen and his friends, as long as the Shallian monarch decided to intervene in the current situation of the falling Kiznar heptarchy, he would be capable of easily amassing the forces of his subjects. In fact, one could say that instead of raiding each other's lands, Shallian nobles could do the same beyond the borders of their country, not risking any damages to their own domains by doing so!

"I don't think it will happen. While the perspective of getting new lands will always be nice, I don't think the costs of forcing us out of those lands would end up being smaller than any potential benefit for him. More than that, if Shallian monarch were to intervene in the situation…"

Taking a few moments to build up the tension, Victor picked his words only when he heard Fen's teeth clanking against each other in annoyance.

"I do believe that if he takes any action, he would side with us instead. While that might end up being quite costly political-wise, it would also mean obtaining a rather stable and rich ally to trade with."

Stunned by this revelation of his former commander, Fen just looked at Victor with curiosity in his eyes. Instead of attempting to defeat the point that this older friend brought, the young man clearly wanted to learn what made Victor formulate this kind of thought.

"Ah, it's pretty simple actually. Looking at the current state of affairs in Shallia, I think we can safely assume that their King isn't someone stupid. And if that's the case, then he should already be perfectly aware that their current way of living… Is not sustainable at all."

Only when hearing those words did Fen realise what his former commander was trying to say. Because just by spending a few minutes to think about it, any smart man would find it troublesome to not agree with this statement.

"So you want to say…"

Attempting to rephrase Victor's words in order to make sure that he understood them correctly, Fen never managed to finish what he wanted to ask.

"Yeah. It's only a matter of time before Shallia will run out of the riches they stole from the collapsing old Kingdom. While their country is managed way better than Kiznar, it's still not overseen anywhere as closely and meticulously as when the old kingdom administrators did that job. The only hope for Shallian King to preserve his position of power is to enrich his lands with trade on a huge scale, all the while creating as many friends as he could physically possible. And tell me, aren't our lands occupying the vital part of the road connecting Shalia to the Kinar Republic? Given how we are all hailing from Kinar, I think we will be able to offer far better trading terms to Shalia than Kiznar King was ever willing to!"