The journey back to Patagonia was uneventful,the Shadowcorp agents had successfully stripped off all things of value from Baron Lejoys castle.
It was an exhilarating activity for the agents as even when there was no drinking or whoring, and even when most of the loot weren't going towards them , they were still happy.
The same couldn't be said for the nobles of Blackthorn as some of them almost had an aneurysm. They were still reeling from the news of the certain insult on their way of life when another news spread through the empire, the kingdom of Fantasia had pushed back the siege on one of their major cities, and apparently they had used the same kind of weapons as the rebels. This sparked an uproar through the empire,they began asking themselves if it was the Famtasians that were supplying weapons to the rebels or if it were the rebels that were supplying the weapons to the Famtasians. Both situations could really spell disaster for the Blackthorn empire.
If it was the kingdom of Fantasia that supplied the weapons, it would mean that Fantasia had both the technology and the funds to be able to create such devastating weapons, and also had surplus that they could arm the rebels with.
But this was not the case , reports from the spies embedded in Fantasia claimed that the weapons used to push back the last siege, were just gifts .
Ceaser had gifted Fantasia twenty ten pound cannons with at least three thousand solid shots with the gunpowder necessary to use them.
This was just a gift of ten cannons and they were able to lift the siege of the city when it was being besieged by thirty thousand troops with siege engines.
This single victory, prompted the Blackthorn empire to fast forward their invasion plans for Patagonia.
A month later in a town outside the empires capital, two hundred and fifty thousand men had been gathered by their various lords . The rebellion in Patagonia had gone on longer than it was needed and it was causing problems for the emperor.
One hundred and fifty thousand of these men belonged to the nobles while one hundred thousand men were imperial soldiers.
The men were divided into two as the infantry of two hundred thousand was led by the Duke of Winchester and the Calvary of fifty thousand men of which ten thousand were heavily armored was led by the bastard son of the emperor, Prince Marcellus.
There were also engineers,servants and slaves following the army numbering about ten to fifteen thousand people.
" Your grace, my prince the men are ready to march." A high ranking knight said as he rode from the front of the line.
Soon the trumpets sounded and the entire army started marching . If one was to view them from a high vantage point, what they would see is a long line of people that stretched for almost ten miles and resembling soldier ants marching.
The Duke of Winchester who was in the same age group as Prince Marcellus and was also his friend rode closely with the Prince .
They had been friends ever since they were children. Even when other children of the royal and noble families detested Marcellus for being illegitimate, William, the Duke of Winchester treated him like a normal human being.
This caused the Prince who was socially inadequate to burst out his shell and excel so much that a his age of twenty six , he had fought in forty battles and had only had to retreat once.
Even as he was not a threat as even the women of the imperial family were before him in terms of succession, he was still allowed a spot in the grand council and participated in the decision makings in the empire.
In his mind, invading the kingdom of Alfonse was okay till the rebellion began. All the men and resources that had been sent to take back a little town like Patagonia had been wasted and so his plan was that they would just blockade the town from both the river and the land and then starve them to submission.
That would have been his line of action if he was dealing with a conventional enemy which from the information that was given to him, they weren't.
As usual there was a bounty on Ceaser,it had now been increased to Ceasers weight in gold, and this signified how much of a problem Ceaser was creating in the fabric of the empire.
Back in Patagonia, there was an uproar amongst senior staff which were mainly sir Alfred, Brutus, Zack , Festus and some other people who made the first move during the beginning of the rene.
They had seen the amount of funds and materials that Ceaser had stolen from Baron Lejoys castle, at least they share that was allocated for government expenses and they were threatened by it.
" He's just a child, I mean how could he have done this without consulting us. Even if he was king which he is not , he should have spoken with us and taken permission before acting this way." Zack said, clearly he was very pained about the matter.
" So what do you plan to do?" Sir Alfred asked.
" We can obviously send someone to spy on him or we can capture..." A man said before he was interrupted abruptly by Brutus who half shouted at the man but kept his voice as low as possible.
" Are you mad , you want to spy on or capture Ceaser, do you think him to be human, what human do you think can make a weapon that obliterates and causes such destruction .
Do you know that the soldiers pray to him like he is some kind of deity, have you asked yourself of what happens to the spies caught."
" What spies?" Festus asked , genuinely confused.
" Exactly, no one knows that there are spies in the city, but I know they exist. I also know what happened when the men in black robes come for them, they just cease to exist." Brutus replied, his tone driving fear into the hearts of the occupants in the room, but he still continued.
" Think about it sir Alfred, do we really know who he is or where he comes from, all we know are the information he chose to give us.
Do you still remember what he said to us when we first met him?"
" He said that he'll make sure that we survived the Blackthorn empire." Sir Alfred replied.
" And have we not survived and even destroyed armies ten times our size, all the innovations we have seen, are they not the work of Ceaser.
If what I think is true, Ceaser might already know of this meeting and if that is the case , I suggest that we all go and beg for his forgiveness, Infact we can proclaim him king if it means that it will spare us from the men in black robes. But disregard any thoughts of blackmail, spying or threatening him because it puts your life in peril ".
This meeting and it's outcome, provided the necessary mindset that would eventually make his reform much more acceptable.