Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 947: Fox and Forest II

CH947 Fox and Forest II

***

“I expect that you’ve handled the situation, right?” Alex asked.

Elder Ryan nodded.

“Rather than stop the bandits, we’ve let them fester in the Central County, leading to more desperate people rising up to banditry,” the old man began.

Alex’s eyebrows furrowed, but he remained silent, listening.

Elder Ryan’s eyes flashed imperceptibly before he quickly continued.

“With the situation worsening, we had our assets and agents spread false news, blaming the spread of banditry on the inaction of the Earl instead of the Barons. After all, the Earl did restrict how large a military force the Barons could muster. Even a farmer’s militia was capped,” he reported.

“It’s misinformation, not false news,” Alex commented.

The old man gave the young noble a look but continued anyway.

“After the… misinformation riled up the people, we also had our operatives form bandit groups that swallowed up groups of starving villagers who had turned to banditry. We then had them focus on attacking caravans and entities related to the Viscount or the Earl. The proceeds of these raids feed those affected by the raids of the Viscount’s men, including the villagers who became bandits out of desperation.

“Turning their own blade against them. Alpha mentioned you would prefer such a move.”

“I do,” Alex confirmed.

“That’s all I have to report,” Elder Ryan said.

Alex fell into thought over the report.

‘Finance—the destruction of the Layman Mine has them cornered.

‘Economy—our merchants control as much as they can.

‘Administration—those with the most influence over the most people have been converted to our side.

‘Politics—we have taken control over half of the land.

‘Military—disgruntled high-ranking officers who are discontent with their liege can be won over.

‘Security—we control the state of security in the domain with the bandits led by operatives of Dark Water…’ he mused inwardly.

‘Brick by brick, the encirclement to completely trap House Kellerman like lambs to the slaughter is almost fully prepared.’

Alex smiled to himself as he imagined a great circular wall, like a fence, surrounding House Kellerman. However, unlike city walls that protected their inhabitants, this wall kept them trapped, unable to seek aid as they were slaughtered like helpless lambs.

‘To take down a domain, direct military action is actually one of the hardest ways to go about it,’ Alex thought to himself.

He suddenly chuckled.

He recalled a story which, in some ways, was a continuation of the ‘Fox in Tiger’ story he had used as an analogy to describe his plan for the reparation talks with the Kellermans to his uncle, Edmond Fury.

After the fox tricked the forest animals into thinking he was the ruler of the forest, he didn’t immediately attack the animals of the forest. After sending off the tiger, the fox told the other forest animals that it wouldn’t eat them all. Instead, it described itself as a merciful guardian who had come to save the forest. In exchange for not killing all the forest animals, it would instead accept offerings from the animals—the weak and old who could no longer contribute to the forest.

The forest animals thought this was a good deal and accepted. Instead of fighting an opponent they couldn’t defeat, they could simply offer the weakest and most useless of their number to the ‘powerful’ fox.

First, they offered the severely injured who were only waiting to die anyway. Then they offered the old and elderly who could no longer hunt or forage for food and instead relied on the charity of the younger ones. Eventually, they began offering children who couldn’t fend for themselves. Finally, the strong animals began capturing anyone weaker than themselves to offer to the fox, driven by an irrational fear of being eaten by it.

At this point, the fox didn’t have to do anything. The animals of the forest themselves hunted and brought their fellows to it as sacrifices. They even began truly worshipping it as the guardian of the forest.

Eventually, the lie the fox told became the truth.

‘If the forest animals had worked together, they could’ve killed the fox. Heck, even the powerful tiger would fall against an onslaught of all the forest animals. Sure, it would kill some of them, but many more would have survived than the number that eventually survived—plus, those who survived would be free.’

‘However, the cunning fox used a few words to separate the forest animals—young against old, strong against weak, useful against useless. It fostered fault lines between them, and eventually, these divisions created an ever-growing cycle that gave it power and, by itself, maintained it. With little to no urging from him, the forest animals became the ones who maintained the system and power that enslaved them.

‘To take down a domain, direct military action isn’t the most effective or efficient method. That would only gain you a united, defiant defence. Instead, sow discord and disunity within the domain, then the people themselves would hand over power—their own shackles—to you.’

Alex suddenly shuddered.

Once again, he realised how very easily he could become a heinous villain.

“The failed territorial war has weakened the Kellerman military. Their finances are at a low, while their economy can be brought to its knees at any time. With the bandits, we can form the needed justification that goes around the peace accord.

“Why do you continue to insist on breaking down the domain—wasting time?”

Alex could very well say that a divided house was easier to invade and suppress than a united one, but he was in the mood for a more elegant answer.

So he said instead,

“Do you know how to cook a frog?”

Without waiting for Elder Ryan to respond, he answered himself.

“You don’t throw the frog into a pot of hot water; it will just jump out. No, instead, you place it in cool water, then slowly raise the heat. At first, it will bathe in the water, ignoring the increasing heat because it believes it can jump out at any time. By the time the water reaches boiling point, it will have lost its sense of the heat and begin to cook before it even realises it. But by the time it notices anything, its legs will no longer have the strength to jump out.”

He looked at the old man with a look in his eyes that caused the elder spymaster to shudder.

Calm Madness!

***