Chapter 37.1- And so the Dragons Danced
Added 2024-12-18 22:10:05 +0000 UTCIn the end, the plan was simple. It was a variation of what had actually happened in canon. Azula’s memories had been altered so she remembered being knocked unconscious after being taken captive, but nothing afterwards. Instead of springing her up out of nowhere which would have caused no small amount of suspicion to be sent my way, I’d had Long Feng smuggle her into the Earth King’s palace of all places. The army was still going to be necessary for pacifying the city and the rest of the kingdom so I was not keen to toss lives into the meat grinder that was the palace at this point.
Luckily, there was another way to handle things.
“So this man of yours, he’s trustworthy?” The old man asked for the seventh time today and I could just barely refuse the urge to sigh in irritation.
“Yes, General Hyo. I trust him. And like I said, I’m more than willing to take the risk of moving into the palace alone with my people” I offered, seemingly magnanimously. It was an offer that they unsurprisingly rejected. I had opened the gates and freed them from captivity. I was already the hero of this entire affair. That meant that they would want their own share of the renown that would come of this. The only place any of that would be gained was from the taking of the palace. So that meant I had to deal with creating a plan that would appeal to these people while still being effective enough to work without me placing my hand on the pulse and keeping control over everything at all times.
Sure, I could probably go at it alone. I had enough leverage that none would refuse me. But that would be counterintuitive. Depriving them of the glory of taking the palace was just rubbing salt into the wound and would gain me more enemies than allies.
A/N: In-progress, aye?
