CEO in a Fantasy World 4 Page 16

  The trio didn't respond and promptly followed after him, they quietly walked by the many tents and ragged shacks on the way. The two children couldn't help but look everywhere curiously. It was the first time they had ever traveled.

  They continued walking in a similar fashion until they reached the inner gates. Once the guards caught sight of Caesar, they didn't hesitate to immediately open the doors. Although they were interested in the identity of the three people following him, none of them dared to ask. Caesar's position in the clan was now only second to Musashi. They weren't qualified to speak to him.

  As such, Caesar leisurely walked by the gate guards, and in response, they saluted respectfully. The three following behind Caesar, more specifically the mother, marveled at the guards' respectful gesture.

  Caesar didn't bother explaining, and the family didn't dare ask. Soon, they passed the guards and walked into the large and luxurious mansion. The huge wooden halls and elegantly painted walls entered into their sight.

  While the trio behind him was still in shock, Caesar stopped a nearby maid, "please prepare a carriage, dried food for a week, and a temporary room for tonight" he ordered, to which the maid bowed and answered, "As you command."

  The maid then walked towards the family of three to guide them to their room, while Caesar departed and headed towards his room. He, by no means, wanted to enter into his room with another family, while Renee was waiting for him. In fact, he was already planning on apologizing for leaving at such a critical time.

  With this in mind, he didn't even glance back before leaving the small family in the dust. He trusted that the maid would treat them nicely and give them what he had ordered. If there were anything that the fox-kin impressed him with, it would be the maids.

  Thinking to here, Caesar soon arrived in front of his door. He hesitated a moment before turning the doorknob and entering. Once he entered the darkroom, he stripped his still wet and bloody clothes and entered into his undergarments.

  Caesar walked towards the bed and laid down on the right side, he put his arms around the sleeping Renee and held her close.

  Suddenly, she turned around and wrapped her arms around Caesar as well… "you reek of blood," she said softly, but the relieved smile plastered on her face showed her true thoughts.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  The next morning, Caesar uncoiled himself from Renee's tight grasp and stood up from the bed. He lazily stretched his limbs and yawned loudly while walking towards his closet. His messy hair rested on his shoulders, and his perfect abdominal muscles were being fully showcased.

  His loud movement awoke Renee, and she also stood up from the bed, her half-closed yellow eyes silently scrutinized Caesar, as if she was asking for an explanation. Although all she felt was relief last night, now she was more curious as to what he did last night.

  Noticing her gaze, Caesar smiled wryly and first dressed himself before explaining. He adorned a casual pair of tight black pants, tight burgundy tunic that perfectly authenticated his fit body. He then slicked his long hair behind his ears and sat with one leg over the other on the bed.

  "Although the trolls probably have a large number of stored supplies, I destroyed one of their large farms, which should set them back temporarily, but more so, make them fear another night raid. I don't want their guards to get a good night’s rest, but I also want them to be punished by their superiors," Caesar explained with a calm and soothing voice… attempting to make her fail to realize how dangerous his actions were.

  And as he expected, Renee didn't seem to care about his accomplishments, but more so the fact that he infiltrated the troll stronghold alone. Her brows furrowed as she softly opened her lips, "why did you, in particular, go alone… do you not understand how important you are to the fox-kin right now?" Renee retorted.

  Unfortunately, Caesar could not refute her words as they were not wrong in the slightest; it was foolish of the commander to attack alone. However, in Caesar's opinion, if you couldn't trust someone else to do it, you must put matters into your own hands.

  "Your grandfather and his elites were busy, not to mention the fact that most of our soldiers were tired from the tournament," Caesar said while wrapping his arm around Renee's shoulders, to which she just rolled her eyes, sat up, and walked to the closet.

  "I won't admonish you for your tactics, as you are the strategist, and I am merely your fiancé… but please treasure your life more," Renee spoke while putting on a black kimono with beautiful red clouds engraved onto it. Her previous sulking expression was nowhere to be seen, and instead, was replaced by a calm one.

  "Very well," Caesar replied curtly. He was fully aware of how selfish his actions were, as his life was no longer only his. He then sat up from the bed and headed towards the door, but before leaving, he pecked Renee on the forehead.

  "We'll be having a meeting with Musashi and the new clan heads at evening, but before that, I'll be speaking to Musashi about future plans," Caesar said as he walked out of the door, he wanted to make sure Renee knew what he was doing, albeit, he didn't tell her the full truth.

  "I'll be working with the maids to distribute food and other forms of care. I'll see you in the evening," Renee replied as Caesar was walking through the door.

  Caesar nodded his head in response and closed the door from behind him. He then walked through the long halls towards Musashi's room. He saw many frantic maids, nurses, and even doctors running through the halls as he walked.

  Judging by their fear-stricken faces, Caesar assumed that Musashi had completed the task. However, to confirm, Caesar stopped one of the maids that were running by him.

  "What happened?" he asked curiously, to which the maids face-first paled, and then she bowed.

  "T-the trolls… they finally attacked after a month of silence," she replied with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

  Caesar's outward expression darkened as he leaned closer and put his hand on her shoulder, "those damned cowards, attacking during the night and killing our warriors while they slept. Have they no shame?" Caesar said with an expression of anguish, which was, of course, faked.

  The young maid nodded her head in agreement, and her previous sadness almost vanished immediately and was replaced by anger. She clenched her fists tight and audibly ground her teeth, "how dare those scum act so despicable… they killed my son!" she shouted angrily and walked past Caesar, presumably to go help out the other victims.

  Once she left Caesar's line of sight, he continued talking to the many people that walked past him, riling them up in the same way. He would gladly enrage the fox-kin if that meant they would no longer feel fear. Morale was, after all, one of the most important arts of war.

  This proceeded for about half an hour until finally, he arrived in front of Musashi's heavily guarded door, which had double the amount of standard guards. Once they caught sight of Caesar, they breathed a sigh of relief and split, allowing passage.

  Caesar nodded his head thankfully as he walked by the guards. He then slid open the door and stepped inside the darkroom. The room was pitch black, except for a single lit candle resting in the middle-most area of the room. It laid on a small, circular table, and Musashi's barely illuminated smoking figure entered into his sight.

  His stature and gestures expressed his weariness. He raised his eyes to look at Caesar, before gesturing towards the nearby chair with his free hand. In response, Caesar walked over and sat down.

  They sat in relative silence for a few moments, before Caesar finally broke the ice, "thank you…" Caesar said quietly; he knew of the hardships he caused Musashi.

  "I don't need your thanks. I need your reassurance of victory," Musashi replied seriously. He was tired of war and games. He wanted to win so that he could rest peacefully.

  Caesar nodded his head and tapped the desk, "their defenses are much stronger than I had initially thought, not to mention their surplus of stored food… a siege would be impossible," Caesar said after a few seconds of th
ought.

  "What about defending?" Musashi asked while massaging his temples.

  "Impossible, their numbers far exceed ours, not to mention our limited supplies, they will just wait until we die of starvation," Caesar said with squinted eyes.

  Suddenly, Musashi slammed the table and growled at Caesar angrily, "So then what? Are we fated to die, no matter what?" Musashi snapped. He had just killed many of who he considered being his family. And now, Caesar practically just told him that his efforts were for naught.

  "We can win…" Caesar's words trailed off for a moment as his expression hardened and turned cold, "but you must die," Caesar continued, and silently observed Musashi's face.

  Musashi was first shocked, and then he laughed wildly, "When do we get started?" Musashi replied after roaring in laughter.

  "Right now,…" Caesar said as he pulled out a map from his storage ring, he laid it out on the table and started pointing at a few locations.

  Caesar then explained some of the contents of his plan to Musashi, to which he opened his eyes wide in shock as he stared at Caesar incredulously.

  "You mean to use that family you just rescued? How many trolls can you kill if your plan moves successfully, even though I'm old, I don't want to die for nothing" Musashi inquired curiously, as if dying for a good cause was his only goal.

  "More specifically, the mother. As for the number of trolls, whether they are children, elderly, or young men. They will all die," Caesar said coldly and stood up from his chair.

  "It's about time for the meeting. We'll put my plan into motion there," Caesar said while walking towards the door.

  As he walked, Musashi couldn't help but call out from behind him, "does my granddaughter know how coldhearted the man she married, truly was?"

  "Love breeds hatred, the trolls simply chose the wrong side," Caesar replied curtly while walking out of the door. Since the trolls wanted to harm his family, he would completely annihilate theirs. No one side is right during a war. It is only about who is left.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  After Caesar left the room, Musashi soon followed after, and they walked to the meeting room together. The many maids and doctors bowed respectfully as they walked by, and promptly, they arrived in front of the large double-doors.

  Caesar slid open the doors and walked inside, and almost immediately, he could feel a dozen pair of eyes examine him. The thirteen clan heads, alongside Magni, Tiberius, Joe, and Renee, were all present.

  Caesar was shocked to see that both Tiberius and Joe were present. However, it didn't show on his face. He acted as though their gaze was merely passing wind and walked towards his seat, while Musashi similarly did the same.

  There were three glamorous seats at the far end of the table, Renee sat on left one, Caesar on the right, and Musashi in the middle. Once they sat down, Musashi cleared his throat and laid down a large map that covered the entirety of the table.

  The map showcased the nearby terrain, clans, and distance they were separated by. Once everyone's attention was focused on the large and luxurious map, Musashi gestured for Caesar to stand up.

  In response to Musashi's gesture, Caesar stood up from his chair and walked to the middle of the room, garnering everyone's attention. He moved his slender index finger forward and pointed at the troll stronghold.

  "To formulate a strategy, we must first determine our enemy's strengths and weaknesses… the trolls have a surplus amount of stored food, weapons, and other supplies, not to mention their vast number of troops. In accordance with these facts, a head-on battle would be suicide," Caesar explained quietly as he moved his finger to the fox-kin stronghold.

  "On the other hand, we have a pitiful amount of supplies, low number of soldiers, and our defenses are pathetic. That is, of course, In comparison to the troll walls that are made of stone, ours are made of wood," Caesar further explained, causing the mood within the room to drastically drop.

  "So, then what do you, the esteemed strategist, no, general, propose we do?" Tiberius, from the corner of the room, asked sarcastically. If it weren't for Caesar, attempt to recruit them, his clan wouldn't have been attacked by the trolls. Thus, a small and childish grudge was somewhat formed.

  "Naturally, since a head-on collision with them is impossible, we need to use our intelligence to win. The trolls are a short-tempered and arrogant race, so we must use this trait against them. To do this, we must begin something I like to call Guerilla warfare."

  After his words passed, without waiting for a reply, Caesar pointed towards an area a few hundred meters to the left of the fox-kin stronghold, "A family of three that I rescued from troll stronghold will be moving down this road. However, there are surely still a large number of trolls in this area excavating the supplies from the furbolg clan" Caesar's words continued as he raised his head.

  "We will 'accidentally' give this family of three, some false information…" Talking to here, Caesar's speech was suddenly cut halfway by Faust.

  "You mean to send this small family into the clutches of death? And what false information shall we give them?" Faust abruptly asked, he didn't seem to be angry, but more so testing Caesar's resolve.

  "They will not die, as they hold valuable information, the trolls will first check if their words are true before killing them. As for the information, we will 'accidentally' tell them that Renee and a very small group of beautiful maids escaped from the clan and headed north."

  "What merit do we gain from doing such a thing?" Faust asked while tilting his head.

  "If they head north, their only possible destination would be out of the dark continent. Thus, the trolls would immediately send a small force to capture them… In which I presume, the troll prince would be a part of" Caesar explained, not bothered by Faust's questions in the slightest.

  Caesar then swept his gaze across the room and cleared his throat before continuing his explanation, "I had just infiltrated their clan and destroyed their farms, alongside assassinating a few of their guards… They are surely angered by my actions, which should cloud their judgment. As such, we will ambush the small group of trolls and kill the prince."

  Suddenly the table was slammed by Tiberius and a few clan heads, "wouldn't that just anger the troll chieftain and quicken our demise?" they roared in unison.

  Their roars did not anger Caesar, but instead, a broad smile formed on his lips, "precisely, in retaliation, the troll chieftain will immediately assault the fox-kin stronghold. However, that is exactly what we want."

  Tiberius and the few clan heads that previously roared had calmed themselves and sat back down. They wanted to hear the rest of Caesar's plan before rudely interrupting him again.

  "Clouded by rage, he will send his entire force at the fox-kin stronghold without the necessary preparations, thus, in response, a small group of elite fox-kin will stay here and bait them, while I and the main fighting force will lie down in wait and assault the troll stronghold while they are gone. We will take the supplies we can carry and burn the rest. While also slaughtering those that cannot fight," Caesar said and moved his finger across the map, pointing towards a small and secluded area next to the troll stronghold. He had found this area when escaping from the troll stronghold prior.

  "What about our citizens, and how are you sure this plan will work?" Faust asked after a few moments of hesitation. It took him a while to fully comprehend Caesar's words.

  "We must evacuate our citizens quickly. Abandoning the fox-kin stronghold is the only possible way to win… although I know some of you have a strong connection with this place, it must be sacrificed," Caesar replied.

  Faust nodded his head absentmindedly and started stroking his beard, "you didn't answer my question… how are you sure this plan will work?" Faust asked once again; this time, his eyes were examining Caesar deeply.

  "You can never be sure of anything; however, if we execute this plan perfectly, we have everything to gain, but nothing to lose!" Caesar said with clenched fists.

&
nbsp; Faust, Musashi, and the rest were silent for a solid minute before Musashi sighed profoundly shifted his attention to those still sitting, "If none of you have a better plan than this is the end of discussion… after we succeed with part 1 of the strategy, Caesar will brief you on the other details," Musashi roared with a domineering voice.

  The clan heads all nodded their heads and stood up from their chairs, "Renee, you will be the one to 'accidentally notify that small family… I trust you will be able to complete this objective wonderfully" Musashi spoke one last time before sitting back down.

  "As you wish, grandfather," Renee replied quietly and rushed out of the door, not sparing Musashi nor Caesar a glance.