The room had not relaxed.

If anything, Julius’ last words had tightened every spine at the table.

"But..." the younger advisor pressed carefully, "if we do nothing, both sides will just fall faster, which would prevent the empire from exhausting its strength?"

Julius did not bristle.

He expected the question.

"We will not do nothing," he said calmly. "We will simply do nothing publically reprehensible."

He returned to the head of the table.

"Romanus will remain officially neutral in direct military engagement for now. No legions crossing borders. No banners raised on foreign soil. We will move to secure and maintain our existing holdings for now"

A few shoulders sagged in disappointment.

"But," he continued, voice sharpening slightly, "we will provide aid."

The Foreign Minister leaned forward. "In what capacity?"

"Food shipments," Julius replied without hesitation. "Grain primarily. Preserved meats. Dried legumes. Medical supplies. Bandages. Salves. Surgical tools."

"To the Eastern Coalition?" Sabellus asked.

"And the Slavic Federation."

Murmurs again.

"That will be noticed," one of the treasury officials said. "Visigoth will not mistake the implication."

"Of course they won’t," Julius said. "That’s the point."

He tapped the map again.

"They are fighting on multiple fronts. Their supply lines are stretched. Their forward armies must eat. Their wounded must be treated. If their enemies can sustain field operations longer, the strain increases."

"We risk retaliation," someone warned.

"We risk it either way," Julius replied. "Visigoth’s Emperor will turn his gaze toward us eventually. I would rather he do so exhausted."

Silence followed.

Julius let it linger before continuing.

"Our aid will not be charity. We will be making proper trade agreements to sell our wares while supporting their war efforts so on the international stage at least the emperor will have nothing he can use to incite others against us."

The Treasurer’s eyes gleamed faintly.

"That," he admitted, "is acceptable."

Sabellus, however, was still watching Julius closely.

"And beyond open aid?" the general asked quietly.

Julius’ expression did not change.

But something in the air did.

He walked slowly around the table once more.

"There is another element," he said.

He did not look at the spymaster seated near the far end.

He didn’t need to.

"Subterfuge" Julius continued.

Several of the younger advisors stiffened.

Even within the highest councils, the intelligence apparatus was spoken of sparingly.

"Our agents already exist within their borders," Julius said evenly. "All of their borders."

The Foreign Minister frowned slightly. "Within the Coalition as well?"

"Yes."

A ripple of unease.

"We support them," the minister said cautiously.

"We support their war effort," Julius corrected. "Not their unity."

Understanding dawned slowly.

"If the Coalition fractures too soon," Julius continued, "Visigoth can focus its might cleanly. While if it fractures to late certain partners of the coalition may seek to betray the others."

He paused.

"We’ll be precise, our actions deliberate but at the same time surgical."

The spymaster finally spoke, voice smooth and almost pleasant.

"Granaries burn easily in wartime," he said. "Especially when overextended. Wells can become... contaminated. Couriers sometimes vanish. Even supply wagons led astray"

Julius nodded once.

"We cannot openly defeat Visigoth," he clarified. "So instead we limit their ability to wage war and in doing so increase the numbers of their men who fall in this war."

"And casualties?" Sabellus asked.

Julius did not hesitate.

"The majority will come from their armed forces, however it is inevitable that civilians will die from our actions... though lamentable this loss is required, i would rather the emperor kill his own people, than to allow him to kill my own people."

The words hung in the air.

Casualties.

Not on the battlefield.

But in the cities and streets. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The concept of fighting a total war was still relatively new to the people of this world.

They had for over a millenium adhered to the Concordat in which the rules of war were extremely limited towards what was known as honorable combat.

However thanks to the actions of Francia in this timeline, the concordat was done with.

And dishonorable combat and actions were cropping up all over the world since no one knew when the others would likewise be employing these means.

Romanus was ahead of the game in this aspect, mostly because of the Root.

Thanks to the creation of this sudo intelligence agency, Julius had agents deployed across the world even if their overall number was not exactly overwhelming.

But even still being able to sow discord behind enemy lines was a huge boost.

Worst case, rather than burning down granaries, his enlisted men and women could even go as far as to burn the very fields themselves to the ground.

Wasting the effort, the crop and even the fodder leftover from the endevour.

Meanwhile other agents could enlist in the coalition forces or mercenary forces and using their position provide false information, or even act independantly upon the battlefield to force things to go our way, or unleash an unsuspecting trap like the river surge we’d used before, or perhaps an avalanche or even a rockslide depending on the terrain.

The greater number of casualties we can inflict upon the Visigoths the better.

Their initial army is the strongest they field, with everyone else being called up for service being lower and lower quality.

So my plan is to use the Slavics and this coalition as the grindstone that wil whittle away these ’elites’ of the Empire, until their quality falls to such a level that even with their superior numbers when faced with my very own Elite Legionaires, they can do nothing much more than fall by the wayside.

With only their warlords themselves posing a threat, but so long as my own heroes mainly, myself, Zeff, and Elheat serve on the battlefield as commanders we can openly combat any warlords they choose to send against us.

And for myself, especially getting the honour to slay another of the emperor’s warlords would be a great boon in the way of earning me points i can use to further invest in my own martial ranking, bringing me step by step closer to the power level of the Emperor himself.