Chapter 79: Seeds of Rebellion
Hearing King James’s question about the second advantage, a sneaky, knowing smile spread across Gautam’s sharp face. He leaned forward a little. His voice dropped to a more private, almost secret-sharing tone, making sure his words were mostly for the King and his closest advisors.
"My Lord," Gautam began, moving on from talking about Imperial trials and twisted stories to a more active, aggressive plan, "the second advantage, and the more powerful one for our long-term goals, is found in Estoria’s internal weaknesses. As soon as King Noor IV leaves his kingdom, which he must, and heads for the Empire of the Mountains to go to this... council, we will have a golden, unmatched opportunity." He paused, letting them think about what he meant.
"Right now, as Your Majesty knows, many of the noble families in Estoria are quite unhappy, even openly angry, about King Noor’s recent actions. Specifically, this big, kingdom-wide investigation he is doing against all the nobles in his country, looking for traitors and corruption. It has created fear, suspicion, and a deep, angry feeling."
King James nodded slowly. He looked like he understood grimly. He had indeed already gotten intelligence reports from his minister in charge of espionage. These reports detailed the growing fights and unhappiness between the Estorian royal family and many of its powerful noble houses. The seeds for internal trouble were already planted.
Gautam’s smile widened, and his eyes had a hungry look.
"We must, Your Majesty, take full and immediate advantage of this perfect moment of instability. We must use the noble, Sir Karlos Von Hagen, the one who recently ran from Estoria and asked for safety here in Roland. He is a valuable asset, an unhappy nobleman with connections and reasons to be angry. We need to secretly, and very carefully, send him back to his own kingdom."
"Using him as a leader, a rallying point for the unhappy people, and using whatever remaining power and influence of the Spider Syndicate’s broken network is still available inside Estoria’s borders, we must actively start a rebellion."
He leaned back a little, his gaze sweeping the room.
"Whether this rebellion completely succeeds in overthrowing King Noor or not is, in some ways, not the main point. The main goal is chaos. Even a partial rebellion that is eventually stopped will cause significant, long-lasting damage to our enemy’s kingdom. It will drain their resources, weaken their army, break their internal unity, and keep them busy for years to come. This will make them unable to be any real threat to Roland’s ambitions."
After hearing Gautam’s bold and ruthless words, King James stared at one spot on the polished throne room floor for several long seconds. He looked like he was lost in deep, strategic thought.
The idea of such a plan was huge – openly interfering in the internal business of a neighboring kingdom. It was a high-stakes gamble that could either cripple Estoria or backfire terribly if not handled well. Then, a slow, calculating smile spread across his face, a smile that matched Gautam’s own hungry satisfaction.
"Gautam," King James said, his voice filled with a new admiration for his planner’s cleverness, "you truly are an excellent, and thoroughly ruthless, strategist. I approve. I give this entire responsibility, the secret return of Karlos and the stirring up of this rebellion, to you and to Prime Minister Lebens. Make sure it is done with precision and so we can deny it."