Rebirth of the Phoenix God

Looking at his master's face, Fen couldn't really believe that such a complex expression could appear on it. From the utmost disbelief, through devastating desperation all the way to an enormous relief. All at once flashed on Mark's face when he realised the meaning of Fen's words.

"Yes, I do realise that. But I'm not sure if my guess about why would you react like that yourself is correct. Tell me, your faction's proper name is…?"

Leaving the question quite open, the young mercenary looked sternly at the face of his mentor. There was no denying that this man saved his life. Even if he wasn't an absolute best teacher himself, he was always there for Fen back in the Archarity times. But now that Fen knew the reasons behind his actions, it was hard to look at him as if he was some parental figure.

"Old Kingdom Restoration."

Lowering his head with a sudden burst of anxiety on it, Mark tightened his fists.

From the two things, an extremely volatile situation appeared. Mark didn't know Fen was the heir to the only surviving bloodline of the original Pioneers. From the thirteen founders, only a single one survived the unknown disaster that nearly obliterated the north of the continent back when they appeared. And Mark was the one spying and using the last remaining royal descendant of this ancient bloodline, all the while fighting for the restoration of the empire created by Fen's ancestors!

"I… I'm…"

Just as Mark wanted to say something with his breaking voice, Fen suddenly raised his hand to stop him.

"I, for one, am not going to be a slave to my bloodline. Even if I'm using a lot of wisdom that they came up with, that does not compel me to follow through with the same mistakes they did. Even though the world around us is different than the one that my ancestors saw, the rules of power apply all the same."

Most likely noticing the underlying message behind my words, Mark sharply raised his head. With a look of disbelief, he seemed as if understanding my words was beyond the scope of his brain. 

"You want to say that…"

Simply speaking, Mark manipulated and used the most important person that his entire faction would be will to die for. And now, Fen was about to discard the power of his heritage to take over Mark's entire alliance, just by revealing his ancestry.

"In the end, I can't care less about what will happen here. I have my own duties, friends and obligations in the north. Heck, the entire warmongering situation that brews around us is mainly my doing, as I was the one to upset the balance of the entire continent. After so many sacrifices and efforts, I'm not going to cast it all away just to play royal in the remote south. The life on the continent beats on the east coast and in the central plains."

Shaking his head, Fen quickly confirmed Marks unbelievable guess. But at the same time, he decisively cut himself away from the matters of the city. This part of the situation quickly soured Marks expression.

"I'm not saying I won't involve myself with the situation here. Once my lands will reach a certain point, I might come to establish my influence here as well. If that were to happen, the situation could possibly change by an insane margin"

In fact, Fen was grooming this little plan of his for a long while already. Most of the time he spent travelling to the city, the young mercenary was trying to connect the dots of his needs with the lines of his means. And with the finalised idea, both sides could greatly profit from the situation.

"Change something? Boy, I don't know what you saw in that north of yours, but things work differently here. If you want to change anything, you need to be strong enough to back it up with a respectable strength of your own."

Hearing this response, Fen could only smile. It was only to be expected for his master to act like that. While he always had an abundance of resources and manpower given his position at the top of the resistance, Fen never enjoyed such luxury. Always starved for the tools to achieve his goals, he had to scramble everything that was within the scope of his means to deal with his challenges. 

That's why, when thinking about the simple and profitable deal he was about to make with Kinar, Fen could only smile in response to Mark's doubts.

"Fear not. I know how I can perfectly leverage my position to my own advantage. If we manage to achieve our objectives in the north, expansion to the south will be an obvious direction. We do not want to scare people off with a sudden expansion of a minor country, don't we?"

Given the method that the old Kingdom used to establish itself on those foreign lands, it was ingrained in the minds of the people of the continent to be wary of anything that grew too quick. That was also the reason why the current stalemate lasted peacefully for so long. No one wanted to make too many gains at once, so everyone moved to slowly chip away at their own enemies.

"Eh, I will leave it to you then. I guess I can only hope you will deal with whatever you need to do in the north quickly. The situation here… Is not good."

With his face once again souring, Mark looked helplessly on the nearby map. While I noticed its presence from the very moment I walked into the room, I didn't bother to as much as look at it. But now, graced with the elegant markings all over the leather I could understand what did Mark mean by whining at his situation.

With just a single look at the map, I understand that everything he was doing in those ruins of Akhaz, was just keeping his men busy before the inevitable loss. His forces could be compared to a single division of the Royal army, with over thirty divisions already placed at the border. Even after uniting with Hekarion, their forces could rally up to at most seven divisions, most of which would be completely worthless on the battlefield. 

There was only one way in which the central factions could survive the onslaught. It was to unite together, get foreign support and make attacking them just too costly. And what Mark was doing right now, wasn't aimed at increasing their chances at survival. He had nowhere near manpower to make a change. He just wanted to secure a better position for his own group in the new map of the continent that would appear once the wars would conclude. 

As admirable as his perseverance to keep their identity was, in the grand scheme of things, it was just pitiful. For Fen, there wasn't something like a chance too small to bother taking. If someone didn't do their utmost for the cause, they would have no right to complain if they would end up defeated. Only by giving one's absolute best, one could face the future with his head raised high.

And that poor impression that Mark made on Fen, was what decided the fate of the south. 

"I officially declare that Galvat mercenaries won't openly involve themselves in the southern conflict."

From a small gasp reaching my ears from behind the doors, I could tell that Kaisha heard my words. After all, she was bound to eavesdrop such an interesting conversation.

"We will remain in the north in our full force and won't influence the outcome of the civil war. But in case of someone seeking refuge from the war-stricken lands, we will offer it to them on a neutral ground just beyond the border."

Standing up from his chair, Fen looked at the depressed posture of his former master. Even though his plan was reaching far deeper and involved messing around with the empire for quite a lot, Mark didn't seem to be worthy of knowing it now. Unless he would change his ways to the ones that Fen could accept and respect, the young mercenary felt no obligation to make things easy for him.

"Kaisha, come. I know you are there."

Turning his face to the doors, Fen shouted gently. After some sudden rustling, the doors opened allowing Kaisha to get obediently inside. With her head hung low, Fen had trouble deciding whether she was embarrassed at getting caught or sad because of his declaration.

"While it's nothing official yet, I might have an important job for you. Given how you are in resistance, I could just order you to do so, but I prefer to use more humane means. If a small and easy part of one of my plans will properly work out, you will need to leave this place and work for me for an extended period of time. But you can believe one thing."

Turning his head towards his former master, Fen shut his lips tight before preparing his heart for what he was about to say. Even though it was necessary to shake the man awake from his depressed daze of leadership, it wasn't something that Fen could do either easily or without agonising over the guilt later on.

"You will do far more good for the resistance by working under my orders than by following this sorry loser. I will send you a letter once I know whether my plan will work or not. Once you read it, it will be all up to you whether to follow a general who lost his faith or the true heir of the royal ancestry that doesn't take no for an answer."