"Father’s birthday is in a month, so we’ll strike then during his birthday celebration. I’m sure no one would expect it because most nobles will be there, and the number of guards will be higher than normal. But we have the element of surprise, and that’s what we’ll bank on." Amber, Crystal’s sister, was ready for the succession war to start and was tired of waiting.
She extensively studied her siblings’ factions and got as much information on them as possible. She wasn’t worried about her younger brother Beryl, who was a fool and a puppet to the church of Arion.
Crystal dropped out and wasn’t a threat. Even if she didn’t, she would easily be dealt with. That was Amber’s thoughts at least. The only problems she would face were her two older siblings, Ruby, the eldest, and Lapis, the second oldest.
Ruby was more straightforward and predictable. The problem was that she’s strong, really strong. Not only that, but her family was strong as well. Combine this with the Knight’s Order supporting her, and her military might was a force to be reckoned with.
’Thankfully, Ignis stepped down from the Knight’s Order Master, which greatly reduced my sister’s overall military might, but she’s just one woman out of many strong people, so her power can easily be replaced. The problem is Lapis. He’s a sneaky, slimy bastard who doesn’t have a limit to how low he would stoop just to get what he wants.’
Amber organized everything in front of her. Papers, documents, letters, books, charts, ledgers, and more. She had everything planned and was ready to start the war as soon as possible.
’I can’t act impulsively, though. If I strike at the celebration, I need to kill Father immediately, or he’ll be able to fight back and crush my forces. However, even if I do kill him, my siblings will have time to organize their forces and launch a counterattack, which will be bad for me.’
While Amber was deep in thought, a person knocked on her door in a pattern only her people would recognize.
"Come in." She answered.
"My Lady, I’ve acquired the clothing of two Holy Knights as you’ve instructed." The man bowed.
A grin formed on Amber’s face as she thought about the next phase of her plan. There would be no need to worry about her safety and her siblings launching a counterattack against her if she wasn’t the one to kill her father.
’Sorry, my dear little brother, but you’ll have to take the fall for me this time.’ She stood up and left her office to meet with her little brother, who would unexpectedly help with her plans.
"Nothing?" Crystal asked, staring at Zion in disbelief.
"Yup, nothing." He nodded, leaning back in his chair, still excited about being a father.
"What do you mean we’re gonna do nothing during the succession war?! You wan’t me to sit back and watch them claim what should be mine?" Her voice was rising slightly with frustration once she learned that Zion wasn’t going to do anything during the war.
Zion laughed. "I thought you would have gotten smarter during our year apart, but it seems that you’re still stupid."
"Excuse me?" Crystal worked hard, harder than she ever had in her life. She did what Zion told her to do, and she followed his plans. So she felt insulted when he didn’t plan on doing anything. It was as if her efforts were going down the drain. Then he called her stupid which only pissed her off even more.
Zion stopped joking around and sat straight in his chair. He looked Crystal dead in the eyes with a serious expression and asked, "Do you know the best way to win a war?"
She didn’t answer right away, taking her time to come up with a logical and well-thought-out answer. "Be stronger than your enemy? And if you don’t have the strength, then be smarter than them. You’re both stronger and smarter than all of my siblings, so I don’t understand why we have to take a back seat during the war."
Zion shook his head. "While your answers aren’t bad, they’re too vague. You can be smarter than your enemy, but that wouldn’t matter if you get completely dominated. You can be stronger than your enemy, but if you don’t know how to use that strength, then you’ll lose. The best way to win a war is to strike your enemies when they are least expecting it and hit them where it hurts. This could be showing strength, or, in this case, it will be joining the war after your siblings tire each other out.
They’ll be so focused on facing each other that they won’t even expect a third party to join. Or I guess a fifth party. They’ll be completely blindsided and won’t expect such a heavy force to strike once the war is reaching its end."
Crystal had to admit that Zion’s thought process was good, and it was the smartest thing to do. "I can’t believe I didn’t think of that."
"I mean, sure, I can just attack them all right now and win easily, but why waste resources fighting a full-scale war on four fronts when I can just beat up the injured lion? That’s strategy. Some may call it cowardice, but I call it ’I don’t give a fuck what you thinkice’ haha."
"What if they team up on us, though?" That was a good question, Crystal asked, but also a simple one to answer.
"Girl, I can wipe all of them out at full strength. Do you really think one or at most two factions that are at their weakest will pose a threat to me? Hell, even if one faction completely dominates the other, I’d still wipe them out without any effort. I can swipe my hands right now and, BOOM, they’re all dead."
"So why don’t you do that?"
Zion smirked, his expression maniacal. "’Cause that’s no fun."