Same here. I was also thinking that maybe the king got bad intel on the northern kingdom, so he doesn't know how powerful they are. That's why Crow and Penelope would want to try to stop a war from happening. Somehow they could kind out how big the northern kingdom had grown and realize Brerra doesn't stand a chance.

Ooh, and maybe the northern kingdom turns the people of the conquered kingdoms into their slaves, which Crow and Penelope definitely wouldn't want to happen.