Reincarnated as a betrayed prince

Chapter 110: Doubts and Loyalty.

Evan and the others had managed to get everything ready to leave before the army could become a problem, and Evan had to get his arm treated and knew that he could not use magic for a few months, but now he had a massive problem in his plan. Scidros was literally a fortress city, and he was in no shape to even consider besieging it in any way... Nor that he could, even if he was in the shape he had been for the fight against Takuto. Facing mercenaries with a low morale due to doing things that they dislike to the point of retreating without even giving up one man was one thing, but doing a siege that would make an opening for a blitz attack for a rescue was an entirely different pain regiment. And that's without counting that covering up such a siege would be beyond impossible, even for him, and that would cause its own set of issues.

Even if Evan wanted to do a good siege to act as a distraction, he would have so many issues later on since that would attract too much attention. Then again, he would not even plan to do such a worthless tactic, and he had a better way to provoke a situation where he could do something far more profitable. And so he was in his office, looking at Noche who had been more of a hassle than usual.
Of course, Noche had been nagging Evan to use his trump card now that he had no other choice than to attack Scidros if he wanted to keep going with his plan or give up on the smugglers.
Legias entered the room with a pale face and a serious look, which made Evan sigh and get ready for even worse news. But to his surprise, Legias knew something that he didn't, and that in fact was an excellent new.

-Legias: Grandfather, we must talk. If you want to go after the fortress city of Scidros, you must know something. Thanks to uncle Sumeragi, I found where Mother's sunken guardians are.

-Evan: Oh? Wonderful. Do tell me. We will try to make time for regaining them, I know you have your own trustful comrades due to the Requiem Family. Leo and Circa, if I recall correctly. But having two retainers to assist you would be remarkable.

-Legias: Well, they are in Scidros prison, I forgot the name of the place. In there, they send rebels and only those who deserve a special treatment. Either they are the worst, or they are the enemies of David.

-Evan: Ah. That's quite the pickle. Then, I guess I better start doing the old style again.

Noche and Legias looked at Evan with a surprised face, they heard stories of his old style, but never had seen it. They thought that those stories were just false stuff to cover what Evan would truly do, but now they knew that he had been doing things differently until now.

-Evan: Yeah, let's do it in my style. Been playing soft until now, to keep David and any external force thinking that I was just toying with them and being petty. It's better to build up stuff without attracting attention, and seem confident but not excessively arrogant. Weave the people like you weave mana, Legias. Well, not in your case, you clearly need to step up your game in both areas. But well, let's do some mischief.

-Legias: How do you plan on handling that massive city, filled of followers of Zerax!? Grandfather, even if we use Noche, we will end up in deep trouble!

-Evan: That's why we won't handle it. The taller they stand, the harder their fall shall be. And you can't always keep everything without a crack. Even in a perfect chinese pot, a simple scratch can create countless cracks and end up cracking the pot. You only need to know where to strike, and I certainly do know where to strike.

-Noche: In that fortress city, there are no cracks. The only thing you shall find there, to my displeasure, is a lot of zealous followers of Zerax!

Evan chuckled while sitting down, and grabbed a match to ignite it. While he watched the flame, his eyes gleamed like if he was excited, and this alone made Noche and Legias shiver.

-Evan: Then, we only need to do a scratch at it. What are the best kinds of allies?

-Legias: Those who act on loyalty!

-Evan: You are right. What could get a group of men and women left to die through the worst of times? Loyalty itself. But loyalty only works either when everything goes well, or everything is so fucked up that you know that either you stay loyal or you die. Loyalty created from religion is the easiest one to crumble, specially when greed comes into play. The best kind of allies are loyal. The zealous, and the ones who do it for the sport, will always end up messing the one thing they have to do. The greedy will betray you the moment you don't give them more money.

-Noche: I suppose you plan on using their zealous thinking against themselves.

-Evan: Half of it is a gamble on that. The other half is using something wonderful called...Mercenaries. We won't appear right in front of them, we will not be treacherous snakes who work on sheer cowardice. I am always upfront about what I desire and how I will get it, but that doesn't mean I won't use underhanded methods. No innocent shall be hurt, we will pay a group of mercenary rioters to cause some riots. Use them to show their weaknesses, and then start riling people up not only with words but with actions. It will take at least four days to start cracking it, in worst case scenario, but then again... All takes time.

Legias and Noche could not believe that Evan said that in worst case scenario... Cracking the fortress city would take four days. They were used to Evan's absurdities, but this had just leveled up so much his level of absurd that it was like they were facing an entirely different Evan. Evan looked at them, knowing how they felt, and simply laughed.

-Evan: Come on. I just wanted to not risk it too much, to not attract the attention of other countries. But since I already attracted it, and Takuto is around... Turns out that we don't have to worry about attracting that much attention right now. So, if I have to go all out, then best I do get my political A-game. And in that, I have no weakening on me.

-Legias: 4 days. Can you pull that off, grandfather?

-Evan: It's like that time you pranked Flint. It's doable. Of course, all depends on the gamble. But the mercenary rioters? That's something that certain governments either did or tried to do. Never confirmed, and I am sure that even if it was confirmed... The culprits would just laugh at it. But well, the theory is solid and people can do anything for coin. So it won't be hard to find rioters that will accept being a mercenary for a few hours. And that's if we don't get a chance to cause a true riot, which would be even better.

-Noche: That said, you will need someone to handle that.

-Evan: Well, I do have a handful of people ready for the stuff. But I plan on doing something far better. Knowing of Falco, he'll try that nonetheless.

-Noche: But Falco is neutral.

-Evan: Falco's neutrality is like asking a bard to not cause massive misunderstandings in their songs. He'll just go off on his own. I know him way too well for that. He will send someone to keep an eye on me. Probably an assassin he can force into working for him, and with high reputation.

-Legias: What if Falco decides to eliminate you?