"So," Elmsworth spoke affectionately, ruffling his son's messy hair, "tell me, have you checked the documents you seized?"
"Yes father!" replied Lorian enthusiastically, like a little kid anticipating his father's recognition and praise, "we had scanned all thoroughly and found some interesting things!"
Elmsworth became instantly serious, "Alright, what are they?"
"first, it seemed uncle, contrary to what we had assumed, was not hub, but a spoke. He was just hub of Veridia…." Lorian replied.
"Wait, wait;... spoke, hub,... What are you saying?" Elmsworth asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lorian realized he had used a term people of this world hadn't heard about. The hub and spoke model was widely taught in MBA programs, especially in operations, logistics, and strategic management. But obviously, his father wouldn't know about it.
"My lord, picture a realm as a wheel." Lorian tried to explain the concept in a way his father would understand, "The Lord's castle sits at the center. The villages, knights, and markets form the outer circle. The roads, as well as Oaths are the spokes that connect them. When all spokes lead back to Lord, the wheel turns well. The Lord's strength goes out as protection, and their tribute comes back as support."
Elmsworth felt intrigued. "So basically, you are saying the Lord's castle is the hub; his lands are the wheel; and loyalty the spokes that keep the wheel turning."
Lorian's face brightened, "Yes, exactly!"
"Hmm," Elmsworth nodded, "But why did you say both roads and oaths are spokes? They are very different things to begin with."
"excellent question." Lorian nodded in accepting and apporivng his Father's intelligent remark, and felt proud of his father, "You see, villages, markets, knights, vassals all constitute the rim of the wheel. And the links, or spokes, connecting the rims with the Lord at the hub are different. Roads are physical connections carrying goods, people, and news, connecting villages and markets. Oaths are Social or legal connections carrying loyalty, duty, and trust- connecting Knights and vassals."
"Okay," Elmsworth tapped his son's back, "Understood. Go on!"
Lorian was amused to see his father realize there was more to the Hub and Spoke Model than what he had discussed. He felt that if his father were in his previous world, he could be one of the most successful entrepreneurs or industrialists.
"Yes father," Lorian continued, "In a hub‑and‑spoke system, each spoke connects directly to the hub, not to other spokes. Spokes don't depend on one another—they only rely on the hub for coordination. A spoke doesn't need to 'know' the others exist.
For example, one village doesn't need to trade directly with another village; both send tribute to the castle or the hub. Similarly, one knight's oath doesn't depend on another knight's oath; both ties individually to the lord. It translates to Efficiency, Control and Resilience."
"How?" Elmsworth promptly asked, as if he had already figured the answer by himself but wanted to confirm it with his son's answer.
"Yes," Lorian replied, as this scenario reminded him of his classroom, "You see, The hub manages everything centrally. Villages don't waste effort coordinating among themselves. It increases Efficiency of the system!"
"Okay..." the Lord nodded.
Lorian continued, "The lord keeps authority because all loyalty and resources flow inward, not sideways. And, If one spoke breaks…."
"Like a road is blocked, or a knight rebels," Elmsworth commented.
"Yes!" Lorian replied, "even in that situation the others still function- the wheel doesn't collapse."
"BRILLIANT, MY SON, BRILLIANT!" Elmsworth hugged his son so tight that he could choke. But Lorian enjoyed the feeling of being appreciated by his father.
"Thanks father!" he just replied with bright eyes.
"So, now what of this Cassian and the conspiracy you were mentioning?" Elmsworth quickly changed the topic to return to the main discussion.
"Yes," Lorian cooperated, "as I was saying, we had suspected the wheel of conspiracy that is trying to trample Veridia, Cassian was sitting in hub of it. But, from all the communications I discovered he was just one of the rim. The real wheel is not limited to Veridia only, but across multiple cities or maybe whole continent."
"So, you are trying to say," Elmsworth shared his understanding, "that there is a big wheel of conspiracy. And the conspiracy wheel spanning Veridia is part of that bigger wheel. Cassian is the Hub of the smaller Veridian wheel, but he is just connected to a Hub at the bigger wheel, and is not aware of other hubs of other small wheels in other parts of the continent?"
"Yeah…." Lorian replied excitedly, and suddenly he felt as if this wasn't completely new or breakthrough news to his father.
Elmsworth looked at his son and raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"Did you….." Lorian could not complete his sentence.
"Yes, I did," Elmsworth replied, "I never could believe Cassian could pull off a conspiracy on this scale on his own. No," he added, his voice hardening slightly, "I am not saying this out of affection as a brother; but because I know him too well. I know that he was ambitious and crafty enough to be part of such a conspiracy, but never charismatic or capable enough to pull this on his own. He is better at following instructions than instructing others. So, I always had a hunch, and your findings just confirmed it!"
"So you too knew that there was a bigger conspiracy going on at a bigger scale?" Lorian asked.
"Yes," Elmsworth chuckled, "And it was confirmed after the attack on the event. As you described the Hub-and-Spoke Concept, the different conspiracy players had little to no knowledge about each other, nor did they have any coordination, which led to multiple attempts on multiple targets at the same time, and all failed." Elmsworth affectionately punched his son's forearm, "See, not so efficient after all!"
"Ofcourse," Lorian replied excitedly, "limited collaboration is indeed a shortcoming of this model. Not only that, as all flows- be it goods, loyalty or information- must pass through the hub, it can significantly slow down decision‑making as a bottleneck is created. However, the biggest disadvantage is….."
"Overreliance on the Hub," Elmsworth completed his son's sentence, "If the Hub collapses, the whole wheel will crumble. Just like if Queen R'akin is taken out, the whole R'akin colony collapses!"
"YES!" Lorian was deeply impressed by his father's intellect; his respect for his father increased manifold.
"So, now that you know your Enemy's structure, its strengths and weakness, what do you suggest to defeat the enemy?" Elmsworth asked.
Lorian was a bit taken aback by this question. He rolled his head backward and exhaled, "first and foremost, we need to address the elephant in the room- break the wheel, that is rolling to crush Veridia beneath it!"