Claude couldn't quite tell if the gambit was a success or failure—Gloucester and Phlegathon were with the Empire now, but no one was killed and the Imperial army made a retreat. They lost the Great Bridge, but they didn't lose any people.

He sat around the table they used for conferences—Gloucester's empty seat was, for the time being, taken up by Judith by his grandfather's request—while going over scenarios. They held siege on Count Bergliez's troops for the whole Garland Moon; early into the Blue Sea Moon, a few of the Golden Deer reminisced about the Rite of Rebirth and what happened in the Holy Mausoleum. Even now, not all of them could completely understand that it had been Edelgard commanding those mages.

It was strange for him to think about; the Flame Emperor, the Sword of the Creator and the mercenary, that entire year. When he saw Dimitri rummaging through Edelgard's room, there had been a practice assessment for strategy—from what Claude could read off it, Edelgard was on the right track with most of the questions.

Practice and real life are different—on a piece of paper their teachers wanted a specific answer, but in actual fighting even a complete slaughter could be a reasonable choice, albeit a bloody one—but the irony of a canceled assessment coming back to haunt an entire continent through this war wasn't lost on him.

Claude didn't know what to make of Edelgard or Dimitri at this point. It bothered him that they spent supposedly grew closer over dinners once a month for a year, but he couldn't quite understand what Edelgard wanted. Fame? Power? Grand speeches about witnessing history, Fódlan's future, change and justice didn't do much on their own—she said she wanted a revolution, but for what?

Dimitri wasn't much different. Claude thought he had the man figured out—cares for his friends, maybe a little dense and can't always realize a joke, but generally a good guy. Then Edelgard turns out to be the Flame Emperor, and all he talked about was 'them'—how she must have helped 'them,' how 'they' knew she was responsible.

The Holy Tomb still bothered him, too, because he had a feeling that mercenary wasn't supposed to protect Edelgard. He had a sense of déjà vu, but…backwards; that what actually happened wasn't what originally happened. It wasn't quite a memory—more of an idea—but Claude could've sworn that Dimitri pushed his lance through a gap in the Flame Emperor's armor created by the dark mage's attack. Some of the Golden Deer could imagine that as well, so if nothing else it wasn't just him.

Someone entered the room without much warning; he waved to Judith without needing to confirm it was her. All of the Golden Deer were busy with their own things—she was the only one left that wouldn't knock or announce themselves beforehand.

"The Imperial army is moving again," Judith said simply.

"Which way?" Claude asked, glancing at her.

"Towards Derdriu, from the looks of it."

He frowned. He had hoped they might leave them alone after taking Myrddin, but he knew it was a stretch. With that last gamble, the Alliance practically said "we're going to claim to be neutral, but we'll fight back if we need to." It made sense to go straight to the capital and be done with it.

His grandfather wasn't exactly in the best condition to plan for war, so Claude agreed to take the reigns unofficially—both pro- and anti-Imperial houses weren't exactly fond of him taking up the job when his grandfather was still alive, and as a compromise Claude was just given the authority to suggest any kind of plan he wanted without having to consult the duke.

"Can you gather up the other lords for an impromptu conference?" Claude said to Judith. "They should all be around the city somewhere. I don't want to waste too much time on this."

"I'll see what I can do," Judith replied, nodding. "Just make sure whatever plan you have is agreeable. You know how they like to argue."

Claude gave her a thankful look, and in her absence planned out his argument. It wasn't the strategy that he needed time to consider—that came fairly easily—it was trying to convince the other lords to listen to him. Things were better now that Count Gloucester was replaced with Judith and Lysithea was standing in for her father, but he could still recall the endless talking when he had to attend these things during the academy.

He knew what he wanted to say by the time they all came. He made his point, and after some debating and consideration, they came to a vote of all five in favor. No one else had any better ideas that happened to suit their regions better—Derdriu would be taking the largest hit, but they could keep the city itself secure so long as he had a good enough read on Edelgard.

So far, she hadn't taken any more lives than she needed to; the Alliance came away with minimal casualties, and he assumed it was for negotiation purposes. He would give her a chance to explain her reasons—they would still have to fight and there was a good chance they would lose, yet she wouldn't kill random villagers as she came across them.

Claude hoped that would be the case, anyway. He could worry about all the negatives side effects if the plan actually fails.

(A/N: A full chapter in Claude's view! …Even if it's a little short and came after both Rhea and Jeralt had chapters in their views. I just wanted to try to explain things from Claude's side.)