"So, now that my little revolution has imprisoned our 'government leader' and placed him in his solitary confinement cell, let's focus on the situation at heart!" Kraft announced, pulled out his tablet, walked towards the War Room Table and placed it at the side. The System instantly transmitted the information into the War Room Table and the War Hologram slowly zoomed out while keeping Demopolis right at the centre.
At that moment, the Seven Cities that invaded Demopolis emerged on the massive hologram and the rest of the War Room Staff crowded around it.
"The Night Foxes have allowed me to gain some crucial information after a pretty nifty mind torture session with that Elite Church Agent. Apparently, the Church of the Afterlife has long since determined that the Seven Cities would fail, mostly based on their army size. They also firmly believe that we will be invading the Seven Cities as retaliation to take them under the wing of Demopolis or Pandapolis. No matter how you see it, they are just waiting for us to take actions, so they can twist the facts around, giving them an official reason to step in and 'defend' the seven cities."
"Ah, their standard 'Let me protect you from the evil peeps' move. Honestly, you would think they would be at least somewhat creative to not arouse suspicion after so many years, but no they still use that one story to much effect. I really wish they would create something fresh once in a while." Moloch commented as he finally enjoyed some peace.
Since his side of the battle had stabilised, Nubwort alone was sufficient to order around the commanders in the North Western portion of Demopolis to handle the rest. Meanwhile, the plushie took the time to savour a cup of green tea which Lynn had prepared at the side for them while listening to the crafty devil elaborate on his altered master plan.
"I guess, when something works rather well, there's no real reason to change it." Qiu Yue sighed, since that new information meant their plan had indeed gone to waste. Initially, what they wanted was to annihilate the armies that came to invade Demopolis and subsequently send a specialized strike team to attack the Dungeon Core of each city.
They could have performed this simultaneously, sending seven teams at once and grabbing them together so that there would be no chance for the cities' guards to even retaliate. It would have been a quick snatch job, which would have boasted Demopolis reputation, earning them the fear and respect of others.
Not to mention, it would have immediately added the productivity of seven new cities to their roster, which they could have turned into vassal states for either Pandapolis or Demopolis, allowing them to trade among themselves freely, thereby increasing their strength to fight against other worldly threats without much consideration. The idea of vassal states sprouted mainly because Jin had enough of managing various cities and wanted to concentrate on the stuff that mattered, particularly his Pandapolis.
However, with the Church having directly involved themselves by moving their personal armies into those cities as a sort of protection, it would just be suicide. According to the information Kraft had gotten out Elite Church Agent Ravis the numbers they had were rather overwhelming, to say the least. It was to ensure their Dungeon Cores were not vulnerable to a major assault. And because of rumours that the Demopolis' prison fortress had been destroyed rather easily despite its reputation to be unbreakable, the Church of the Afterlife took this as their excuse to send in masses into the Seven Cities. Knights armed to the teeth with the toughest armour and sharpest weapons had marched into each of the cities one day after their own armies had set out for the invasion.
"In summary, the real enemy is patiently waiting for us to deal with the invading armies and is ready to spring the trap, adding themselves to the fight to reverse the tide of battle, with a scale large enough that it would make our Demopolis look like a small little dot. " Kraft said as he checked his nails and blew the dirt out of them.
He obviously didn't care too much about the Church's plans and couldn't wait to show off his own plan for his listeners to be amazed and praise him after this mandatory explanation. (Jin emphasised on sharing information and keeping everyone updated, so the Devil Fox figured he should do the minimum after having kicked the person who would yap the loudest in a hole.)
"I think I get where Kraft is coming from. In essence, we can't attack them otherwise they will just brand us as the enemy of this world since the Church literally controls everyone." Lynn concluded. "But shouldn't things change now that we are in possession of the armies of those seven cities?"
"Oh Lynn, my sweet dear. You are SO SO RIGHT!" Kraft was elated that someone appeared to have grasped an inkling of his plans before he spilt them out.
"I see… Based on your violent and yet sadistic behaviour in torturing people, I roughly understand why you sent Jin away." Lynn folded her arms and began to formulate possible scenarios in her head.
"HMMM! Colour me interested! Come now, share with the rest of the group, tell me what you think I have in mind?" Kraft skipped his steps and went near Lynn, literally giving her both of his ears to listen to what she had to offer.
"With the cities' armies entirely gone from the equation, there is no plausible reason for the Church of the Afterlife to offer their assistance for the involvement to attack. All they can do now is guard their cities against threats and the potential assault from Demopolis." Lynn started to explain and that reasoning alone had indeed caused everyone to have all ears on her too.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Church of the Afterlife is supposed to be a neutral party, right? That is why they had to nudge certain cities. Well, in this case, the Seven Cities, to attack us so they could get involved, correct?" Lynn questioned and the Dungeon World minions nodded their heads, particularly Moloch.
"Then, without further provocation, all the Church can do is to defend the place," Lynn commented and the rest were following suit.
"So, what I think Kraft wanted to do is to not go in and save those people. That is one of the reasons why he had to put Jin away because knowing our boss, he would do rash stuff such as save everyone he sees."
"Aww, our Queen Peggie knows me very well." Kraft clasped his hands together and swayed around with happiness, seeing that she knew what was going on. "But can you also figure out what I AM going to do?"
"If you have decided to abstain from a direct invasion, I can only think of a few options. But I believe that my plans are shallow compared to the thinking of a sly fox." Lynn chuckled and yet Kraft continued to give Lynn the stage.
After all, that was one of the reasons why he allowed the two Sub System Users to stay for the meeting aside from the need to use their abilities for the upcoming portion of his new master plan.
