“With allies like these, who even needs enemies!?” - Famous last words of General Lothar Aberic of Eravo, in the famous defeat where a multi-national coalition force crumbled before the forces of the then nascent Clangeddin Empire.

“I gather things did not go satisfactorily, Your Eminence?” asked Ilona as her liege lord the High Regent walked into the command tent brusquely. The middle-aged general had seen the man grow up from a child to the present and was more than familiar with his habits and quirks, so it only took her a glance to see that her lord was not in a celebratory mood.

To be fair, nobody would be, after the loss they had taken today. Approximately ten thousand of Anduille’s troops went missing after the unexpected collapse of the outermost wall around Levain today, with most of them of uncertain status. They only found around two thousand corpses in the ruins between the walls, but whether the rest were buried under the rubble or taken captive was unknown.

“Heh. What gives it away?” asked High Regent Lukas Worsted with a dismissive tone. To say that he was rather annoyed at the moment was an understatement, as he had just returned from accosting the Marquis of Podovniy regarding the current state of their campaign, or rather, their losses so far. “Was it the scowl or the way I threw that flap open?”

“Those, as well as the way you walked into the tent right foot first. You only do that when you’re agitated about something,” replied Ilona nonchalantly. While Lukas was her liege lord and she showed him all the respect that entailed in public, in private she was more like an aunt of his and treated him roughly the way one would their nephew. “So I am guessing that this invasion is not going well, then.”

“Though not like anything’s gone according to plan so far, so I’m not surprised,” she added.

“You guessed it. Podovniy will attempt to eliminate the enemy reinforcements with what forces they had left tomorrow. He asked me to help contribute some troops to the endeavor, but I pointed out that this whole thing was his idea, so it’s his responsibility to take care of it himself,” said Lukas with a scoff as he sat down.

Anduille had agreed to the invasion on the provision that they would distract Caroma by sending part of their military towards the border while contributing less to the actual invasion force. In exchange, Podovniy would claim the Lion’s share of the benefits from conquering Levain as they provided the main force of the invasion.

What Lukas had in mind when he negotiated those terms was to gain some benefits without risking too much, while Podovniy would shoulder most of the risks instead. Unfortunately, Anduille already lost more people than Lukas expected they would barely a few weeks into the invasion, first to the mercenaries that kept pestering them along the way, then to the wall collapse.

He was of a mind to cut his losses and sue for peace at that point, which he bluntly stated to the Marquis of Podovniy. That was in fact the main reason why the man had relented to take on the brunt of the enemy forces in an open battle tomorrow. Lukas and his troops would only maintain the siege and keep the remaining enemy forces within the city occupied instead, which was a less risky endeavor.

One way or another, the course of the invasion would likely be set in stone by the evening of the next day. Even if Podovniy won, they would likely take quite a few licks and would no longer be in the condition to claim the lion’s share of the benefits, which suited Lukas anyway. If Podovniy lost? Then it was time to cut their losses and negotiate for peace.

Sure, it was a painful blow to take all those losses for no benefits, but if Podovniy lost, Lukas had an inkling that he might be able to claim some compensation from them after the fact anyway, so that suited him just fine. Either way he wanted only the best for his nation and nothing less. Sure, there was a chance that the Levainians might reject a peace offering and choose to fight on, but he deemed that an unlikely possibility.

If anyone wished for this invasion to be over as soon as possible, it would be the Levainians.

“Tell our men to prepare for siege battle again tomorrow, but also notify the commanders not to push too hard. Preserving our forces will be our main priority this time,” said Lukas to Ilona after some thought. Since the majority of the heavier siege weapons were Podovnian and had been wrecked in the previous day’s raid, it was not like his men were likely to breach the sixth wall anyway. “Tell them to keep the enemy occupied but not to push things too hard. We have taken enough losses as is.”

“Understood, Sire,” said Ilona with a solemn nod. “Would you like for me to order the scouts to range towards the south and keep it informed of tomorrow’s battle or would that be unnecessary?” she asked in turn. Lukas was glad that Ilona was the higher ranked general that survived his father’s folly. The woman had a good head on her shoulders and knew how he thinks well.

“Have that done, yes,” he replied with a wave of his hand. “Oh, also tell Yulie to pen two proclamations just in case,” he added, naming his head scribe. “Have her write one demanding Levain’s surrender with all the terms we can likely press for, she should know what I mean. The other will be a peace offering, again, have her include what terms we can stomach in it.”

“Got it,” replied Ilona without a hitch in her step. Normally a general would have protested if their lord prepared for the eventuality of defeat like that, but she was all too aware that things were getting untenable anyway. Better to cut their losses and retreat while the Podovnians were the ones taking the brunt of the Levainians’ offense than otherwise.