Before the moon had fallen and the early morning sunshine had brightened the towns, Blight was summoned to the State building once again. The more he thought about it, the more he realised something. Hardly anyone had a problem with the government in Revalty—no fearful whispering, no hateful comments, no sinister Enforcers patrolling the streets. Everyone, in spite of being dragged into an unwanted conflict, seemed to respect the man they called president. Blight made note of this as he strolled up the stairs, accompanied by two hulking guards.
"Welcome again, Mr Blight, and thank you for your patience."
Mr Arden himself stood at the entrance and had clearly been waiting for some time. Both men shook hands firmly and resumed their seats from yesterday.
"I hope you have come to a decision?" asked Blight, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, I have."
He had regained his tough demeanor. Arden stuck out his hand again, but this time, it was more than a greeting. It was a contract.
"I hope you're willing to take up the post of my advisor? You will naturally have everything you need, including Reinhelm's estate and power."
"I am honoured, sir," replied Blight, bowing deeply in a gesture of humility. Inside of him, however, had expected this result; he sighed to himself, thinking about the next moves he could proceed with, when Mr Arden unexpectedly spoke up again.
"So, Mr Blight, can you explain what we are to do next?"
Blight sat back, his fingers curled up under his chin. He took a deep breath before saying, "Yes, of course. Right now, your position in this war is quite disadvantageous, is it not? You aren't only fighting Ecclesia but their allies too. By waging war on them, you have, in a sense, waged war on the entire world. Were you not aware of that fact, sir?"
"I was, but I couldn't stand the fact that we were being chained and flattened by them either, so we—that is, me and Reinhelm—decided to start a war of independence."
"I see. You decided to fight out of your own free will?"
"Yes. Are you telling me I was wrong for standing up against our enemies?"
"No, I merely thought your approach was a little… flawed. Have you never considered breaking the bonds between Ecclesia and their allies or tried to make allies of your own before starting the war?"
"I attempted to reach out before the concepts of the war even emerged but to no avail. Ecclesia had all of them under their control."
"Hmm… Have you any plans for a counterattack?"
"Plans?"
Mr Arden squinted at his desk with great concentration, mustering every brain cell he possessed to come up with a reply.
"I… I have concepts of a plan."
Blight stared. The Revaltian president, though possessed an iron will, unluckily did not possess the same talent when it came to warfare. Nearly everything had been arranged by Reinhelm before his arrest, so forming strategies was naturally not his strong suit. Nevertheless, he looked up at Blight as if expecting him to procure a plan out from nowhere.
Recognizing this cue, Blight went on to explain further.
"What we need now are allies. The only reason why the country hasn't fallen is because you have the environmental advantage. The Ecclesian army has not yet adapted to fighting in the mountainous terrain surrounding your country. This will not last for long—it's already been a month since the fighting began and from the information I gathered as a Custodian before joining you here, I can tell you that they have no clear signs of wearing out.
However, there is one crucial link in their alliances that you—"
Arden held up a hand to silence him.
"Why do you speak like this, Blight? It is no longer 'you' but 'we'. You are now part of us."
"Very well, sir."
Blight bowed his head politely again.
"As I was saying, we should focus our efforts on separating the bond between Ecclesia and their main source of power—namely, the nation of Sardis. With Sardis out of the picture and possibly fighting for us, a small chance will arise for us to gain independence from Ecclesia."
"This all sounds very interesting," commented Mr Arden, fiddling with his pen with stocky fingers. "But I really don't see how we'll be able to sever the bond between the two countries."
"You can leave that part to me, sir. I'll briefly explain my idea. Since the alliance between the two countries is held together by one man, Mr Paulos, their leader's younger brother, all we have to do is remove him, pin it on Crowne, and let the events unfold. If we can accomplish this one task, victory will be within our grasp."
"When you say 'remove', do you mean…"
Arden shot a hesitant glance at him. Blight tilted his head slightly, his face clearly giving him the answer.
"Of course. In war, there will always be death, whether it is the soldiers dropping in battle or the civilians caught in the crossfire. Why then does it matter if an extra man dies for the country's sake? Your soldiers are already doing that on the battlefield."
"Still… There's a difference between killing an innocent man to gain an advantage and killing an enemy who's about to strike you down," said Mr Arden tenaciously but with a wavering voice. Shutting his eyes as if drifting off to sleep, Blight spoke with the same calm voice.
"Is there a difference?"
His mouth barely moved, yet the sound carried itself across the office effortlessly. A bead of perspiration slipped down Arden's forehead. What was Blight thinking?
"If you waver with the decision of making a righteous act and a harmful act to bring yourself an advantage, you'll never overthrow Ecclesia. You said killing an innocent man is wrong, did you not, sir?"
Mr Arden agreed with this point without hesitation.
"Killing innocent people never existed because they were never perfect in the first place. If you want, I can uncover Mr Paulos' wrongdoings before you if that would make you feel any better? Besides, if he doesn't die, who does? The country."
The once mighty president covered his face with a hand, debating with himself over this very undesirable decision. It was true—if Paulos didn't die, Ecclesia and Sardis would remain allied, which would spark disaster for them. He exhaled slowly as he gave his verdict.
"Very well. You will have everything you need to accomplish this task. Before you go, I have a question I want to ask you."
Blight nodded. Mr Arden took a deep breath to calm his nerves.
"Do you think we can win this war, Blight?"
The expression in his eyes almost seemed to be pleading hesitantly.
"As you said earlier, we're fighting against the world. Can we really do it?"
At first, Blight said nothing, only returning Arden's grave gaze with a composed nod. He paused, taking time to reflect on his words before replying.
"The world," he said slowly, "will soon be tipped in our favour."
And with that, he took his leave and left without another word.
—
An outrageous story blew up across the two countries the very next day. Announced across the globe in the form of newspapers, Blight's defection to Revalty shocked all who heard of it—all except, Sigerson and Grock. His entire estate was instantly confiscated by the rest of the Custodians without a fuss like a horde of hungry vultures.
What came next was even more startling—at least, for the citizens. The ambassadors sent to Revalty were gunned down in the streets, even with the multitude of guards protecting them. The culprits? Nowhere to be found. Of course, this naturally led to countless conspiracy theories spun around the Revaltian government, which strongly denied any association with the assassins but it was too late; the damage was irreversible. Ecclesia, within the same day the news was released, retracted their treaty and declared their intent to continue the fighting.
—
"What did you do?"
Mr Arden shot this question out with the force of a bullet. His veins bulged from his forehead as he clenched his desk furiously.
"Calm down," replied Blight, ignoring the president's fuming rant. Arden, in spite of himself, sank down onto his seat and buried his face in his hands.
"We'll be fine. Didn't I tell you to leave it up to me?"
"Well yes, but… I just don't understand! Why would you provoke Crowne into attacking us even though you know we're too weak to fight back?"
"Provoking them is exactly what I wanted. In fact, and I'm sure you haven't noticed, the entire proposal of a treaty was a trap set up by Grock. You see, he needs an excuse to drag Sardis along with them, otherwise their alliance, which is already rather loosely connected, will hardly be needed. Sardis will only help if necessary. If those ambassadors weren't killed by my men, they certainly would be by their own guards, whom Grock had personally sent and from whom I detected bloodlust. Oh, and by the way, Grock would never step into his enemy's territory if he can help it—the ambassadors were merely his pawns."
He also improves the Ecclesian citizens' morales by painting the Revaltians as the villains… The rebels won't like this…
Blight gave a long sigh. Arden had returned to his usual state after listening to this brief encouragement.
"You needn't worry, Mr Arden; everything's been planned out by me from twenty years ago."