FALLEN ORACLE

**Chapter 8: The Wizard and the Tower (4)**

General Tros hadn't suddenly become easy to deal with. The reason he accepted Chen Yi's terms was that, half an hour earlier, he had received a confidential letter from the King. It contained only eight words:*"Unexpected complications. Seek opportunity to withdraw."*Though these eight words, stripped of context, left the general puzzled, his political instincts told him that something major had happened in the capital—something that made the King believe that going to war with the Duchy was no longer advantageous.Earlier, General Tros had assumed the King's decisive order to attack meant he had a way to counter such a massive cache of staves. Otherwise, forcing a war would have been unwise.As it happened, the King of Klem was now in great distress. On the stormy night a few days ago, a bolt of lightning had struck Yudian's wizard tower, burning both the tower and its master to ashes.Without Yudian's newly learned spell, the Kingdom had lost its means to counter large numbers of staves.Under the circumstances, if General Tros could withdraw safely, that would already be a stroke of luck.The King was not foolish enough to believe that Yudian's sudden death at this critical moment was a mere coincidence.But considering how Yudian had smugly boasted about interpreting the Great God Helu's message to start the war, it seemed likely that Helu was extremely displeased with Yudian acting on his own initiative. The lightning bolt was divine punishment.Of course, the King had no way of knowing that even if the day had been sunny, his prized wizard Yudian would likely have "accidentally fallen from his tower."General Tros, though unaware of the details or what Chen Yi had done, could clearly see that the strategic situation had changed dramatically. Since His Majesty had revised his orders, simply withdrawing the army intact would be considered a success.On top of that, he might even be credited with destroying the staves that could have become a major asset for the Duchy.---"Phew. Burning my own death waiver feels great," Mendes said on horseback after they left the manor."Chen Yi, can you just tell us—what exactly did you do these past few days?" Phil was still puzzled."No problem," Chen Yi said readily. "Once we've settled things with Carl's side, I'll tell you everything."He had now trained himself to lie without blushing.Of course, he couldn't tell them about the goddess. Nor could he tell them that, thanks to her generous teachings, killing a senior wizard of the Kingdom was barely harder for him than squashing an ant.---After a full day's ride, the three finally reached the mine west of the manor. After identifying themselves, they were granted an audience with Carl."In short, we've reached an agreement with General Tros. He's promised to release your father and the other prisoners and withdraw from the Central Plains. The condition is that the Duchy must destroy the staves discovered in the mine," Mendes explained the situation to Carl."Lord Carl, you must not listen to him!" An aged voice came from behind them."Why not, General Tuthan?" Carl asked the newcomer.General Tuthan appeared to be in his sixties but was still vigorous. Tall and strong, with a graying bushy beard, he commanded the Duchy's reinforcements sent to the Central Plains."The staves are almost fully cataloged. Once we have them, the Kingdom's army will be no match for us. Letting the tiger return to the mountain would be unwise," General Tuthan said.His father had been killed in the war sixty years ago in Rothesia. He had long craved a chance to confront the Kingdom directly.Carl said, "But General, the Central Plains have completely fallen into enemy hands, and my father is their prisoner. If we can recover our territory without bloodshed, why not do it?"General Tuthan replied, "Lord Carl, you're young, so there's much you don't understand. The people of the Kingdom of Klem are treacherous. Take this very incident: they attacked without declaration of war, striking the Sedek lands. Now they want to trick us into destroying the staves to gain an even better position. We must not fall for it.""Rest assured, General, my father always keeps his word. If he says he'll withdraw, he'll withdraw," Phil said."This is the son of General Tros," Mendes introduced. "The general sending his own son here shows his sincerity for negotiation.""Hmph. That doesn't mean our army should give up its current advantage." General Tuthan remained unmoved."General, may I have a word in private?" Chen Yi asked."Who are you?"Carl introduced him. "This is Chen Yi, my roommate. He's been mediating the ceasefire.""Hmm?"General Tuthan was curious. How had this seemingly ordinary young man succeeded in meddling in such a major affair? And stranger still, the notoriously difficult General Tros seemed to have actually listened to him and was willing to withdraw.Without waiting for a reaction, Chen Yi leaned in and whispered, "Think about it, General. After occupying the Central Plains, the Kingdom didn't advance quickly. They gave you time to catalog the staves. That means they must have had a way to counter them. If you attack rashly, you might fall into a trap. But if you don't attack, you can't recover the lost territory. So negotiation is probably the best outcome."General Tuthan nodded. "That makes some sense."Chen Yi stepped back half a pace and said in a clear voice, "If, after you've destroyed the staves, the Kingdom still insists on attacking, then the Church and the Academy would likely intervene as well. That's a situation they definitely don't want."With both commanders in agreement, the rest fell into place.General Tros honored his word, releasing the Duke and his family and withdrawing his army from the Central Plains. General Tuthan destroyed the staves discovered in the mine.One side destroyed the other's weapons. The other recovered lost territory without firing a shot. Both sides achieved acceptable outcomes, and a war had been averted.---"Phew. Our family bakery is safe." After all this was done, the four of them set off back to the academy."Chen Yi, now you have to tell us—what exactly did you do to bring about a ceasefire?" Phil asked.Seeing Carl and Mendes also staring at him with curiosity, Chen Yi had to explain. "Think about it. What's the key to war? Righteousness. Why did the two countries go to war? Simply put, because of those staves. As the saying goes, 'A common man may be punished for possessing a jade ring—innocence is no defense.'""Moreover, from a moral standpoint, both sides had a claim to the staves. The Duchy said, 'They were discovered on my land, so they're mine.' The Kingdom said, 'They were manufactured by me three hundred years ago, so they're mine.' Both sides thought their claims were justified, so war broke out.""But if you ask them what they plan to do with so many staves, they probably couldn't answer. What else can so many staves be used for? To prepare for war.""Taking back what belongs to you can claim the moral high ground. But actively preparing for war cannot. So once the staves are disposed of, neither side has an excuse to fight.""'I've destroyed the staves—how can you still be dissatisfied? What do you want?'""'Ah, you actually destroyed them? I was hoping to take them and use them to beat you without any good reason.'""I'm sure wise politicians wouldn't say anything so foolish.""That's it?" Mendes was skeptical."That's it," Chen Yi said with conviction.Of course, everything he had just said was pure fabrication.Righteousness? A pile of dung in the face of self-interest.The real reason war broke out was that both sides believed they had a chance to win.So the solution was to do the opposite: first, deprive the Kingdom of its means to counter large numbers of staves, thereby intimidating them; second, bluff to the Duchy that the Kingdom *had* such means, thereby intimidating them as well.That way, both sides would believe their chances of victory were extremely slim. Then they would naturally compromise and accept peace.And that—*that* was the true purpose behind every step of Chen Yi's plan.