“Listen to me fellow nobles, we need to reform the military. Our war with Arria has shown a great flaw within our system. Despite the weakness of Arria, we were unable to take advantage of it because we couldn’t raise the necessary forces.” I begin my speech. If this fails, I fear that we won’t be able to defend ourselves against the Arrians when they recover. I need to push for some kind of reform.
“I see, we are just in luck, General Hudson is with us today. He is one of the few generals we have, who is experienced in Arrian war tactics. In fact, you may say he is our foremost expert.” Goldwell responds. The room has two floors. The higher-ranking nobles sit on the first floor while the lower ranking nobles sit on the second and third floors. About 200 nobles are sitting in this massive room. There is but two tables. One in the center for anyone bringing up issues for debate and one more for the archdukes. Leo is sitting on my right while Goldwell is to my left. I look up to see General Hudson.
“I thank you for letting me in this grand room. I am here today to talk about some plans for the future of the Allonian Army. First of all, I believe that we should do away with the idea of noble levies and for nobles to get rid of their standing armies.” He begins speaking. I’ll be honest, this won’t be a popular suggestion. Especially for the rich and powerful nobles. I look at the dukes in the crowd. Each of them are shaking their heads. Duke Whyte seems the most displeased. That isn’t very good. Out of all the dukes he is the most important. Having said that, this isn’t the end of the world. Many of the smaller earls look happy about this. They don’t have the money to pay for the knights they are employing.
“Are we going to sully our noble heritage with this insidious proposal. We will be giving away our ability to defend ourselves. It is the duty of nobility to protect the people. What will we become when we give up our most pertinent duty? We will have lost our noblesse oblige.” The duke of Midel speaks out with a fiery speech. Yes, it seems that this proposal is extremely unpopular with the dukes of the land.
“We will keep a guard for the free earls and dukes. This measure is to ease the strain from those who cannot keep an army as well as strengthen the central army so that we can defend our borders.” General Hudson continues. It seems that he has thought through this proposal. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know how to convince them. I stand up. The entire room goes silent looking at me.
“Great Nobles, I believe that this is for the greater good. Let us take a note out of the Arrians. Create an officer's school, a place where nobles can learn the art of war to defend our people. Let us be able to create an army for which we can lead to victory. That is our noblesse oblige. Our navy is already united under our great banner, why not the same for our army.” As I finish my speech, many of the nobles have gotten up and given their applause. We are not like the Arrians who look at reality, we look at ideals. Perhaps that is why our country has not fallen despite all reasons for it to have. We are also stubborn. We also value our nobility to the greatest extent. “I also propose opening the officer corps to lower nobles.”
“I have to say that is a tempting proposal.” I look to see Reynard speak. It makes sense that he of all dukes is the most open to this. The Duchy of Mitham is situated on the Border of Felworth and Aveven. If Felworth or Arria was to invade, Mitham would be on their route to the Allonian heartland.
“I get where you are coming from, but I also have to question letting a knight command our armies.” I look to see the Earl of Weyne has spoken out. Makes sense, he used to have the most influence over the Archduchy of Merey before I reinstated it. It seems I have made an enemy. Not that it matters. I created a stronger ally.
“I seem to recall that General Hudson won a stunning victory in the Battle of Sperra.” Leo spoke out. It seems those two are rivals. Makes sense.
“He was running away, even then he lost half of the army just so he could retreat into Poza.”
“Ah, but in the Battle of Sperra he fought against the Arrian general Boetio who had four times the army. Not only did General Hudson escape, he protected the Allonian flag and protected the Poza fortress until the end of the war.” Goldwell suddenly speaks out. His face a mask of calm.
“There is the fact that he brought back the Asherton family sword.” I speak up. It was a fine sword, sadly I would not be able to use it to its fullest ability. The nobles begin to furiously debate amongst themselves. “He is also one of the few Generals who is experienced in Arrian warfare.”
“Enough of this nonsense. We are here, as nobles, to discuss the future of our empire. Not the standing of one of our own valiant nobles. Let us make a vote over the fate of this proposal.” The Duke of Holingley speaks out. I have a feeling that he supports this proposal. Nobles then raise their hands. I look around the room. It is close, very close.
“It is our victory.” Goldwell whispers to me not seconds after the nobles raise their hands. The counters are still counting. After a minute, the three counters converse.
“The proposal passes. Let the glory of Allonia never falter.” One of them speaks out. Many nobles are happy, many are disappointed. Everyone gets up and begins to leave. I look to see Hudson still in the room.
“It is good to see you again your majesty.” Goldwell says giving a slight bow. “I must say that you have my full support in the venture.”
Look at him acting like this was my idea. While I do support it, this was all his doing. Perhaps he is using me as a shield for the hate.
“I must say, I’m surprised that it actually passed.” I look to see Leo standing by my side. “Do you think that the dissatisfied nobles will rebel?”
“It is possible, there are a large portion of them who don’t support this new restructuring.” I respond. This will be an important part of how I will handle this situation. I know that they raised their hands but I still need to know who they will support in a civil war. “Will you support me no matter what happens.
“You have my full support” Leo says without delay. Not that I am shocked. He is the one I trust the most out of all the nobles. I turn to Goldwell who is deep in thought. I can see why, many of the nobles against the decision are on his border. He would be practically surrounded.
“I will support you, for the empires sake.” He responds, his face impassive as always. However, there is no doubt within his golden eyes. “I also suggest that we make full use of Hudsons talent. He is perhaps one of the greatest military minds in Allonia at the moment. Duke Whyte should be more careful of him.”
“I see, then Hudson, as a mere knight I cannot make you the Grand Marshal of the empire, but you will become Marshal of the Archduchy of Silton instead. I hope you understand the importance of your new position.” Hudson gets down on one of his knees.
“Thank you, your majesty.” He then gets back up. I give a look to the other two. Taking the hint, they leave the room.
“Can you tell me about my father's last moments?” I ask. I have always been curious about how he died. Instead of coming back.
“Sadly, he left me to protect the rear in case we need to make a retreat. That is why I was one of the few who managed to escape with their lives.” He responds.
“Ah, I see.”
“You remind me of him.” I look at Hudson trying to encourage him to say more. “He was always focused on one goal, pushing for it until he achieved it. Though I must admit you have a better talent for words than he ever did.”
“I see... If there is nothing more, I bid you farewell.” With those words I leave the chamber. My goal having been fulfilled.
A/N: So Hudson finally appears in this book. He will be playing a major role later down the line, seeing as he is one of the most experienced officers in the allonain army. This is also the first scene where we see the House of Nobles. This is the legal body of the empire. It was built to ensure that the emperor never had complete control of the kingdom. As for a fact, the reason Allonia has a united navy was to deal with koryo pirates. Afterwords it was deemed necessary to protect the empire's trade network. Also Allonia is named after the Allonian Sea.
