"Your Grace. A message has arrived from Prince Ivan." Alexei lifted his head and looked at the messenger with a tired eye, but he held his hand out, taking the note.

’Father. I need you to trust me when I ask you to do this. Alfred has suggested something quite interesting.’ Alexei got a shiver reading the first line. His son always asked for the worst things. Closing his eyes, he saw Ivan writing the note with a wide grin.

’I need you to begin a large mobilisation of troops by the river that is separating Nogrovod and us. We need to stage what looks like an imminent attack. I will be returning soon to take over, but this has to be done before I arrive. Burn this after reading. We can’t have anyone knowing.’

Alexei frowned but said nothing, going over to one of his candles and doing as his son requested. Falling into thought, he couldn’t help but wonder what his son wanted, yet he felt inclined to trust him. Grabbing a stack of paper, he quickly wrote vague letters to summon his vassals and handed them out to the messenger.

"Send these out as quick as you can." The messenger bowed and ran off, leaving Alexei to return to work.

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A week passed, and Alexei sat at the head of a table, his most powerful vassals all before him. Each one looked at him with a great amount of respect and waited patiently for him to begin. It was a welcome sight for Alexei. Before the conquest of the Safreid lands, the attidute of his vassals had changed.

Before, it was a mutual understanding. Alexie left them alone, and in turn, they carried out their duties. But after everything changed. They happily helped him carry out his work. It had made his life much easier with the thing Ivan wanted to do and had all but prevented a civil war after announcing his plans to join the schism.

"Gentleman. As you all know, I wish to recreate the Silesian Empire, and if not me, then my son will do it. But this is impossible alone. As we all know, my plan to follow the Ammary Emporer into his schism was not an easy choice, but a necessary one. Sure, there were motives, such as the gold we would save by not paying the Church’s tax, but the main reason I did so was to keep our alliance with the Empire tight. The Blessed One has proven himself worth the risk, and if we succeed in breaking away from the church, we will have years of prosperity ahead of us."

The men around the table gave deep nods in understanding, and Alexei breathed a sigh of relief. While they agreed to help him, he knew that they could always change. "Right now, we need to project the strength our dear ally has. We can’t remain passive. So I propose to you all that we stage a mass mobilisation along the river border with Nogrovod. Make them anxious."

The room erupted into low murmurs. "Your Highness. Are you sure this is wise? Nogrovod has kept to themselves ever since we took Kosvo. Do we really wish to anger them?" A younger noble spoke up. Those around his age nodded in agreement and looked at Alexei.

"It’s perfect." An older noble answered before Alexie could. Many of them remembered the Old Empire and the glory they once had on the continent. The burning desire in their eyes to see it back was palpable and nearly dwarfed Alexei’s own. "Nogrovd has been weakening themselves for years fighting the Gotics." The noble paused, and his eyes flashed with a cunning light. "Your Highness, can we talk after this?"

Alexei nodded and looked back at his council. "I know many of you are skeptical, but you must understand. Vladmire’s achievements so far have been because we seized every opportunity. I know many of you distrust Ivan; personally, I think the boy needs to act more serious sometimes. But you cannot deny his ability to know when opportunity comes. The Safrid’s, The Empire, Kosvo, the Slathans. All of these military or diplomatic victories have been because of him. And once again, he has asked me to do this."

The men who didn’t like Ivan lowered their heads in annoyance. "We need to show our strength, but I can’t do this without you. Vladmire isn’t just me. I may sit on the throne, but it’s you, fine gentlemen, who keep things running perfectly for me. So, I will take a vote. All in favour, raise your hands."

The men looked at one another, and the old member of the nobility quickly agreed. The younger men looked around, with a few raising their hands and only three not doing so. "Send your summons. We will begin the mobilisation effective immediately."

The men stood up and bowed towards Alexei before leaving with the old noble alone. "Mikhail. How is Nina?" Alexei asked softly, his serious attitude from seconds ago gone.

"She is good. My daughter just gave birth, so she is currently helping her."

"Oh. Congratulations. I didn’t know." Mikhail smiled and leaned over, his eyes going hard.

"Shall we get to business?" Alexei responded in kind and leaned back in his chair, mirroring Mikhail’s own looks. "The Old Empire is a lovely dream, but we must be realistic, my friend. It’s a hard task. Our alliance with the Empire has made it feasible, but I think we shouldn’t try and recreate it exactly how it was."

Alexei raised his eyebrows in shock, hearing the words from the man’s mouth. He was much like him and wished to see it return more than anyone. Mikhail chuckled, seeing Alexie’s face, and shook his head. "The Gotics have made their intention clear. The gold mine is in the South of Nogrovod. Honestly, we don’t need it. It would be nice, but the cost of protecting it would make it pointless."

"Are you suggesting we give it to them?" There was no anger in Alexei’s voice as he weighed up the costs and benefits of such an act. On one hand, he understood Mikhail’s point, but on the other, he couldn’t accept letting his enemy have it.

"Hear me out. The gold mine is vital to Nogrovod alone. But with the rare mineral deposits from Kosvo we got and the ones we already own here in Vladmire, they’re obsolete. So, during mobilisation, we make it seem like we will attack. Nogrovod will be forced to pull troops from the south and defend against us. Let the Gotics have the South, and when they realise it was a faint and retreat, we actually attack."

Alexei let out a deep sigh. "It very dangerous. The Severians won’t take kindly to it, especially considering the schism."

"Sometimes we must take risks, Alexei. You have a chance to become the Emporer that you should have been. Boris was a fool. Don’t be like him."

"Watch it," Alexie said with a slither of murderous intent. Mikhail realised his mistake and quickly apologised. Even after a couple of decades, Alexei still hated his father.

"That was out of line, but you understand my point. I’m sure Ivan would say it sounds fun, so do it."

Alexei groaned and grabbed his head. "That boy would jump into fire if he felt it was fun." Mikhail heartily laughed but couldn’t disagree.

"He needs it." Mikhail carried on fixing his appearance. "Many of the younger fellows don’t understand Ivan properly. We both know how much of a snake he is, but they see a playboy who goes at his own pace. Even with his accomplishments, they don’t respect him. He needs more stability, and us old men can’t be around for him for long."

"I know. I understand why Ivan acts the way he does. Part of it is real, don’t get me wrong, but he plays into it too much." Alexei paused and tapped the table with his finger. "Let me think on it. It can work, but we need the Gotics to work with us."

The two stood up, with Mikhail giving a deep nod. "I’ll have things ready on my end if this is the way we go. But you can’t delay. We don’t have the Empire’s support if we do this. They’re too busy with the Commonwealth." Alexei understood and reached out, shaking the man’s hand.

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Deep within the Gotic palace, the air felt sticky. A servant carefully knocked on the door before entering the room, quickly covering his nose at the stench. A loud groan came from the bed as a large man slowly sat up. By his side, two women lay and moved around in annoyance.

"My King." The servant said nervously, looking at Theodoric. "A message has arrived from the Commonwealth." Another loud groan came from the bed as Theodoric pushed himself out of his bed. Walking to his dresser, he got a light robe, threw it over himself, and walked out. The servant finally felt like he could breathe and followed behind, handing the letter to his king.

Theodorci looked at it with uncaring eyes, but reading its contents, his smile grew slightly. "Summon my council." The servant bowed and ran off to carry out the order as Theodoric lazily yawned, walking deeper into the palace.