"Ursus? I'll go speak to their Emperor personally about Chernobog."
For any country, its territory was of utmost importance. The Emperor of Ursus could never simply abandon the ownership of a mobile city. To put it bluntly, even if it was ruins, they were still Ursus's ruins. No one else was allowed to lay a hand on them.
So Ursus would definitely make a move next. As long as they defeated the Ursus army attacking this time and demonstrated that they did not fear Ursus, they could negotiate afterward.
Most matters in this world depended on strength. Even justice needed the strength to carry it through. Once Ursus realized that the price of taking Chernobog far exceeded its limits, it would naturally stop pressing the attack.
Once they repelled Ursus's first assault, they could seek out the Emperor of Ursus and properly discuss the matter of Chernobog.
If the previous Emperor, Uman Ivanovich, were still ruling Ursus, negotiations would have been extremely difficult. He had been a true war maniac and would never have compromised.
That Emperor had died precisely because of this. He had not abdicated due to old age or any such reason; he had been assassinated. As for who had ordered his assassination, there were simply too many suspects. Ursus's invasions alone had made people from countless countries hate him to the bone.
Even within Ursus, there had been no shortage of people who wanted His Majesty dead. Both the new and old nobility had been among them. Even Koschei, the will of Ursus, had been somewhat suspicious.
Admittedly, that war-crazed Emperor had brought great glory to Ursus through war, and plunder had made Ursus highly prosperous as well. But that had only been possible as long as his wars kept ending in victory.
That Emperor had