"Do you think that those 2 morons bought our performances?" Landon asked.
Lucius thought for a while before answering.
"Although we made some mistakes, I think that they believed our act.
Indeed!!... It would be better if they assumed that we decided to go against prince Eli because of rage."
"Hmmm.. Although I wanted nothing more than to grind their bones, this was for the best.
They would probably think that I turned them down because they had asked me rudely and also insulted my mother.
Stabbing his foot was the most we could do now.... after all, we aren't ready to face my brother's wrath yet.
It would be best to show that we were indeed afraid of him... that's why I didn't bother killing them.
We need more time."
As Landon walked alongside Lucius, they began to review their performance when dealing with those scoundrels.
When Landon had first heard that his brother's men had come, he immediately realised that he couldn't kill them like how he did with City Lord Shannon.
Who was his brother?.. He of all people, knew how smart Eli was.
When Eli turned 15, he was just 11 years old... but he had already heard of how Eli had dealt with several assasination attempts from the empire of Terique, as well as some nobles who had secretly opposed Alec Barn.
Although this sort of information was private, the palace walls definitely had ears... hence Landon had heard secretly heard about it during his stay at the palace.
And as the years went by, more crazy stories about Eli's life surfaced within the palace.
For his brother to survive till now, meant that he had many capable and quick thinking subordinates working for him.
And although Eli had his own personal army, Landon could easily tell that all those who worked for him (like Slytherin Cord), also had their own had their own armies as well.
This would mean that if Eli became serious with him, then all his forces could attack Baymard at once.
This also showed that Eli was well connected, and had several spies all around the empire.
Hence Landon was sure that if he had killed Brody and Titus, Eli would definitely be able to trace it back to him in no time.
Firstly, it was safe to assume that those 2 idiots, had probably spent the night at Riverdale city.
So how was Landon sure that they hadn't meet anyone there...or even sent a message back to Eli to talk about their arrival?
Not to talk about the fact that they had probably slept in someone's home or an Inn.
If anyone could confirm that they had seen those 2 in Riverdale city, then Eli would instantly know that he was responsible for their deaths.
In the entire Arcadina, no one messed with Eli's people.. unless they had a death warrant to their names and families.
Even if City lord Shannon were still alive, he wouldn't dare to make a move on these 2 openly.
Of course it was impossible for everyone to know all those under Eli.... hence Eli had given them 2 golden crests to use as verification of their identities, whenever they went out on missions.
If they showed those crests and anyone still dared to cause trouble for them, then Eli would definitely destroy that person's entire generation.
With all these reasons, how could Eli believe that his knight Captains had gone missing just like that?
Landon knew that his brother was smart and not easy to fool.
For this reason when handling Brody and Titus, he was very polite at the beginning.. so as to make them feel like he was still afraid of his brother.
If Landon had even killed, or heavy injured any of them.. Eli's attention would be piqued even more.
His brother would begin to wonder if there was a master, or some important personnel present in Baymard, who had given him the guts to kill or touch one of Eli's men.
And at that point, his brother would definitely take him serious and come to Baymard at with all his subordinates.
This was exactly what Landon was trying to avoid.
If his brother stopped underestimating him, then wouldn't he be at a disadvantage?
What was the point in acting all tough when he was clearly not that powerful right now?
Baymard wasn't ready for Eli's attack yet... Landon still needed more artilleries and militia before he could fight this battle.
Hence it was better for everyone to think that he was still weak, hungry and helpless.
In fact if they even went as far as to think that he was dead, then that would be for the best as well.
If every visitor could be killed, then why would he go out of his way to let the guards wear those rags as clothes?
Why would he allow such an image to be continuously portrayed?
If Alec Barn had also sent his people here, would he need to kill those ones as well?
If everyone that was sent to Baymard ended up dying on the way, wouldn't that look too suspicious?
Different enemies require different approaches, and not every strategy involved killing.
Also, the soldiers had told Brody and Titus that they weren't allowed into Baymard because they were afraid that their food rations would be reduced.
With this excuse, his brother would still assume that the land was completely barren.
And in such places, it wasn't hard for one to become barbaric... hence Eli would also think that Landon had been forced to learn how to fight, so as to eat and stay alive.
So with all these reasons, Eli wouldn't find it strange that Landon had fought Brody like a Barbarian...and even used a dagger to stab his foot when Brody insulted his mother.
The good thing was that from that point of view, Landon had still shown Eli that his nature was still a softer one.. and his mother was still his weakness
Hence in his brother's mind, it could be seen that because Landon had only injured Brody's foot... It was either he was too weak to kill Brody, too scared of Eli's wrath, or too compassionate.
All those traits, would make Eli lower his guard towards Landon.
And since Landon had said that he would fight to the death with 300 knights....it was still safe to say that Eli would appoint either Titus or Brody, to lead about 1000 to 2000 knights towards Baymard.
For this first battle, Eli would probably be absent, since it would be a waste of his time.
After all him being the crown prince, meant that he surely had other powerful enemies to deal with as well.
In this situation, 300 against 2000 was already over kill.... So how could he use all his men just to deal with Landon?
What Landon needed the most right now, was to buy more time for Baymard's development.... As well as continue his image as a sick, weak and helpless prince.
Sometimes, the best military tactic was to retreat before advancing.
Only in this way could he continue to protect everyone, as well as himself.