"If someone really was secretly pushing this forward, who do you think it would be?"
Fuchs asked calmly.
"Father, I..."
Arsen shook his head. Ever since hearing Li Si's intelligence, he had not slept all night, thinking about who would do something like push for war.
He had gone through every possible name in his mind, yet he could not find anyone who seemed particularly suspicious.
"Enough. There's no need to guess."
Fuchs smiled and took a precious cigar produced in the south from a brown wooden box, slowly cutting a smooth notch into it with small silver scissors.
After lighting the cigar with a match, Fuchs did not immediately put it to his lips. He merely held it in his hand, quietly watching the gray-blue smoke from the burning cigar drift through the air as he asked,
"Why stop the war?"
"Because a great many people would die?"
Arsen answered uncertainly. He had never been on a real battlefield.
"Indeed. How could there be no deaths in war? But you must also see what can be gained."
"Just as you and Li Si said, the Bertich Kingdom in the east has a foolish monarch and corrupt officials. If not for the Church of the Gods, our kingdom would have conquered it long ago."
"If the kingdom gained an eastern seaport, do you understand what that would mean?"
Fuchs looked at his most outstanding youngest son and offered a reminder.
"It would greatly benefit the kingdom's development, but..."
Arsen said uncertainly.
"You can see it too. The kingdom now needs war in order to seek change. Some costs can be borne, and the Church of the Gods' attitude has also changed."
Duke Hardt pointed out.
"So, Father, are we simply going to stand by and watch? Or even push for