Rebirth of the Phoenix God

"I have a feeling that your schemes will get us killed. It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when."

Staring daggers at the young mercenary, Victor was clearly displeased with the approach that Fen enforced in this last bit of the grand plan. With the news from the north confirming that the Kinzarian monarch finally moved out of his capital in order to subjugate the unruly nobles, there was just a single thing left for Fen and company to do.

Cut off the other road that the Kinar Republic could use to trade with the Shallian Kingdom. 

"If you had any doubts about my ideas, you should've brought them to the table when we could still alter the idea, not now."

Not daring to lose his focus, the young man responded in a quick manner. The annoyance in his voice was real, although it steemed from different reasons than his friend putting a wrench in their plans.

"And how I was supposed to know that your plan would be leaked?!"

Even though Victor kept his voice silent, Fen wasn't naive enough to believe he was calm. And there was a good reason for both of them to be quite nervous. And that reason was right before their eyes.

"You don't know if they were leaked. Maybe that's just some huge caravan passing by?"

Compared to wreaking havoc in Kinzar, Fen didn't dare to let the reins of his bloodlust run free in the republican land. Because right now, his aim was as different from the objectives he was achieving in that norther, decomposing kingdom as it could ever be.

Back in the disputed land on the border of the reach of the Kinzarian royalty, he had to make sure that no witnesses would be left alive to tell the tale of what happened at Ofmase. On the other hand, right now, Fen and the company had to strike right at the moment when there would be a group of potential witnesses.

But never in hell could the young man expect for the road to be completely clogged up with carriages, soldiers and mercenaries from another group. In fact, if not for Victor's cautious request to scout the area a few miles both down and up the road, then the small mercenary force that remained after most of the soldiers returned to their homes for a short leave would be out, fighting the insane force that congregated on the exact the same spot that Fen wanted to see destroyed.

"It doesn't matter whether they were leaked or not. Look there…"

Still lying down under the cover of the tall blades of grass, Victor pointed his finger at the next convoy that was about to either get stuck in the insane traffic clog or just reach the destination when the Kinarian government wanted to achieve something. 

"I see even more carriages. Is there anything special about them?"

Unable to understand what his older friend was hinting at, Fen looked at Victor's face while making sure to keep his movements as slow as it was humanly possible.

"Look at how slowly they are moving. Even though the cargo is covered, it can only mean its extremely heavy. Just the fact that each wagon has two horses powering it would be enough to prove it."

This was indeed something new and worthy attention. With how relatively close their observation point was to the road, the two men could easily glance at the content of all the other carriages that blocked the passage on this vital road. 

"I think I know what you want to say with that. The one question that remains is how damn lucky they have to be to pick this time to do it!"

There was only one possible reason for such amount of troops amassing in a single area. There was only one possible reason for the same area getting filled with carriages. There was only one possible reason for carriages filled with extremely heavy wares to appear in the same place. 

While it was only a guess, if neither Fen nor Victor were wrong with their assumptions, then the place where the road was about to be destroyed, was a place where Kinarian republic decided to construct a damned fort!

"No. the one question that we need to ask ourselves is what the heck are we supposed to do now. Should we just settle for the limited benefits of the trade without a monopoly? While it would hit us in the treasury, I don't think we can do anything about it anymore. And let's be honest, I never thought that angering Kinar was a good idea, to begin with."

With all the info that they could gather from the simple surveillance like that already safely stored in their minds, Victor started to slowly crawl back. If they wanted to leave the area, they couldn't just stand up and let the other side any chance at spotting them. Only by reaching the other side of the hill they were currently at would let them stand up without risking being discovered.

"No. We can't allow for that to happen. If we want to rebuild our country in a time that wouldn't put us in danger of just being absorbed by the neighbours, we can't let this road exist. Tell me, do you think you are a diplomat good enough to seel any bullshit I would come up to the people down there?"

Finally reaching the peak of the hill, with just a few more moves of his hands Fen managed to reach the point where he could, at last, move to a more natural position.

"You already made me worried…"

With a deep sigh following closely after this sentence, Victor didn't bother standing up, opting to sit directly on the grass instead.

"Think about this objectively. There must be a reason for them to start working on that potential fort right now. And given our exploits in the west, I can only figure out a single reason for something like that happening."

As this talk was happening between two veteran mercenaries, Victor didn't need any other hints to catch on.

"War? But are you sure? Kinar is currently in the middle of its golden…"

Before even he could finish his words, Victor's eyes suddenly widened.

"Yes, right now, Kinar does prosper. But the same couldn't be said about Shalia. Do you remember our talk about choosing which country to decompose?"

It wasn't as if Fen wasn't perturbed by his realisation. As bad as the world surrounding them was so far, the war was still something that happened on the outskirts of the continent, something that only weak countries would engage in. Empire, Kinar and any other rich nation would opt to just sit on its wealth and suck the trade income with all its might. 

But what the mercenaries failed to understand, were the long-reaching results on their action in Kiznar. With Shallia losing its entire border with that decomposing country and without any knowledge about Fen's plans, they suddenly lost the only enemy they could attack to prevent their country from spiralling into the same situation that struck Kinzar. 

"Yeah. Holding to the single trade route that would connect Shalia with the rest of the western continent was the main objective we had after all."

Looking attentively at his younger friend, Victor continued to keep his eyes open as wide as before, indicating that both reasons and the results of what happened recently now dawned on him.

"Do not panic. Nothing is decided yet. In fact, we can use this situation to our advantage."

It felt as if some kind of prophecy appeared in Fen's mind. In a single moment, he could see all the future and the past, all the possible scenarios of what would happen. In this lone instant, Fen understood where his path would most likely take him. 

And for the very first time in a what seemed like an eternity, the young arcanist got scared.

"Listen. Right now, I don't think there are any hostilities happening yet. If I were to be wrong, then there would be far more soldiers at those crossroads. And that means both Kinar and Shalia are now only preparing for the inevitable. And that means…"

Instead of finishing his sentence, Fen allowed Victor to come to the same conclusion as the one that appeared in his younger comrade's mind.

"If everything were to start right now, neither of the sides would be prepared for the war."

Just like it was the case for Fen a moment ago, Victor suddenly noticed the possible consequences of the actions that his younger friend implied to be necessary.

"Listen. Most of the people lose in a war. But if we could push for it to erupt way sooner than either of the side would like for it to happen…"

Hearing those words, Victor's face lit up.

"The road that we are holding would suddenly become the only place through which both sides could covertly trade!"