Chapter 53: The objective
His manner of speaking clearly annoyed the guards, but his words reminded them of every detail carefully.
It was true.
Failing now, with Cecily here, would surely be a failure for all of them, the soldiers, rather than just for Ryan. In the report, they would probably be sent back to the army with the slogan: They lack training. And they would be put through inhuman training.
They shuddered at the thought and remained silent.
"Good. Now, you may ask, what kind of strategy can start from one of the safest areas of the capital? The answer is simple: the thief has contacts in the castle, so he has power."
Ryan pointed to the residential area behind them. "The only area where the castle doesn’t have much power is here. Although there is protection, they don’t interfere much in the residential area out of respect for retired veterans and renowned nobles, so it’s the perfect place to forge alliances against the king and for someone to hide."
"That’s why the rest of my brothers haven’t been able to find this thief. He’s most likely hiding in this place. So, the mission is simple: we’re going to militarize the Veterans’ Housing Development; it’s time we started uncovering what’s being hidden behind these walls."
Finally, he took out a map of the area and placed it on a table prepared by Garner.
"The triangular shape of this area helps us a lot to take control, even though this urban area is the largest in the capital," he said.
This urban area was mainly composed of beautiful mansions, small castles, and lots of entertainment. It was practically an entire city, as there were casinos, places to play golf, horse racing, and so on, all built by war veterans and wealthy nobles.
400 people do not seem like a viable number to control because they are so large, but with Ryan’s knowledge and Cecily’s ability, it can be done.
This urban area was the same one he remembers from the novel, so he had quite a bit of knowledge about it.
He continued talking. "The 400 will be divided into seven groups. Sixty of 60 and one of 40. The Captains, Commanders, and Commander Garner will lead each group, taking charge of each area marked on the map."
Ryan then named the captains and commanders of the different groups and assigned them a specific area to defend.
One of the captains frowned when he saw the areas designated for defense inside the urbanization.
"Prince..." He asked to speak.
"Anything to add?" He asked.
"Yes. Aren’t these three areas all the areas of the three retired generals-in-chief?" he asked. "They are quite tough, I’m afraid..."
"Yeah. We must respect their privacy. After all, they are war veterans who have rendered great service to the nation," said Ryan, and the captain agreed.
Everyone did.
"But we are looking for a traitor; there is no alternative. Finding a traitor is a complicated situation, more difficult than finding treasure. That is why we cannot act gently," he said, taking out some letters he had written previously.
"When you are in their places, you will deliver these letters to the locals," he said, and seeing them a little worried, he spoke again. "I sent them letters beforehand, so you don’t need to worry so much."
They nodded reluctantly. They still thought that going into this neighborhood was not a good idea, but they couldn’t disobey Ryan either.
No one was here to stop them from obeying him, so they had to comply.
The strategic plan was discussed for another 15 minutes, going over every detail.
"You can go. Do it as agreed, and I assure you that in a few hours we’ll find that bastard," he said.
They simply gave a military salute before beginning to follow the plan.
They showed no respect for him, except for Garner.
This guy’s group has been placed explicitly in one of the corners of the urban area.
On the other hand, there was a group that stayed at the entrance near them. The smallest one and was led by Patrick, the Commander.
He approached Ryan when he saw them leave.
"It’s not that I doubt your abilities, Ninth Prince, but wouldn’t doing this be counterproductive for you?" he asked.
He had analyzed it all this time, and no matter how likely it was, he didn’t see much point in the Ninth Prince getting involved in this place. After all, if there was a 5 or 10% chance of not catching the traitor and those slim odds came true, Ryan would not only earn the hatred of all the great nobles and military veterans in this area, but what little military support he had would surely disappear.
After all, he was invading properties of extreme privacy and security. None of the princes dared to get involved here precisely because of that.
No matter how likely, it didn’t seem worth the risk. At least not for him, a prince fighting for the crown.
Even Cecily thought so, so the military wasn’t the only one. The thing is, she had heard Ryan’s plan in detail, and with her help, the probability of finding that guy was almost 100%.
Ryan would also think so if he didn’t know anything about the future or the importance of this place.
In the novel, Brandon gets involved with this urban area long after the beginning, about two years, and there are several reasons why he enters this place. The Butler is one, as are other antagonists who have a lot to do with that same guy.
According to the novel, these guys had strong connections in this place, but Brandon first had to amass a lot of power to be able to mess with the stubborn old men in this area.
Otherwise, they would have ruined him.
But Ryan decided to move against them so quickly for several reasons. First, he doesn’t know if Brandon is an ally of The Butler, which would be a significant change from the novel.
The second reason has a lot to do with the fact that he will cause numerous important events to happen prematurely if he disturbs these dangerous senior citizen wasps.