[Kingdom of Yuinia, Capital City Fialis, Royal Palace]

 

"General Redwood, the meeting will be starting soon, all the generals have arrived. It would be inappropriate for you to arrive later than the Royal Family." Respectfully advised the attendant as he bowed.

 

"Do not worry, I will be heading there right now, I can't disgrace my Highness by arriving later than him, let's go!" Instructed the General.

 

The General and the attendant both walked out of the room as they walked down the pearl white, marble corridor. They noticed the enhanced security as more guards were positioned around the palace than usual. He thought, 'this was to be expected when a lot of the higher-ups of the Kingdom have gathered here today, due to an emergency summons.'

 

They arrived towards the large blue and golden gates of the great hall. The guards tasked with only letting in authorised personnel quickly panicked as they saw one of the last generals on the list arriving. They hurriedly opened the gates for him, and he returned a nod to show his gratitude for their service. 

 

The vast hall had three gigantic pillars on each side, a wide red carpet with golden embroidery started from the entrance and reached to the throne on the top of the steps. Noblemen stood on the left, and military officials stood on the right.

 

The General quickly lined up on the right side and awaited the arrival of their King. Some of the noblemen had mocked the General who had arrived late by openly showing their displeased faces. The General who was used to the criticism had ignored them and waited patiently in line. 

 

A few minutes later, the enormous gates opened, and two rows of Royal guards walked in with their swords by their sides. As they were about to approach the steps to the throne, they halted. The two rows faced one another as they positioned the hilt of their sword by their stomach as they held it upright.

 

All the Noblemen and the Generals kneeled as the King entered the great hall. He was an old man who had grey hairs, and his beard was well-kept thanks to his servants. The King wore a golden crown on top of his head, but with old age, it was more of a burden to his neck than anything else. He wore a red, fur cape which he had worn to battles during his golden years, but now it's just a reminder of how weak he has become. As frail as the King looked, he still had enough strength to walk with dignity as he carried an air of importance around him no matter where he went.  Considering his age, he was still powerful enough to put up a good fight against multiple teams of gold-ranked adventurers.

 

The crown prince followed behind him. The dreams he once held during childhood were shattered by his father, who had told him he would become the next great King. However, far into his old age, he still stubbornly clung on to his throne not wanting to give the seat up to his son. The Crown Prince was conflicted in his mind; he should have been happy that he still had a father who was alive. However, he felt betrayed instead. He was groomed to be the next King, and he would have gone on epic conquests during his prime and cemented his name in the history books just like his father. But reality had different plans in place, now in his forties, all he does is harbour resentment towards his father for bringing him up with false dreams and aspirations.

 

Behind the Crown Prince, followed the two Princesses who were his daughters, they grew up to be stunning young maidens as they wore beautiful long dresses which had the most exquisite embroidery within the Kingdom. They were adorned by golden and ruby jewellery as it covered their wrists and proudly wore their golden necklaces given by their mother.

 

The King climbed the few marble steps and sat down on his luxurious, red and golden throne, the crown prince and the princesses stood by his side. The royal guards moved to the back, and the meeting commenced. 

 

"I have brought you all here today to discuss important matters...our kingdom is in dire straits," announced the King.

 

The people in the hall immediately paused any thoughts they had and paid full attention to what was being said.

 

"First of all, we will discuss the topic regarding the looming war against the Kingdom of Caesinia. General Redwood, would you step forward and inform the others of what you had told me earlier in the day?"

 

A man in his thirties stepped forward. "Of course, My majesty, yesterday my scouts had returned from the border, and they confirmed the movement of large forces on the side of Caesinia..."

 

Military officials and the noblemen gasped in surprise from the news, and General Redwood continued after they recollected themselves.

 

"...Some of our experienced scouts had mentioned that the enemy forces deployed are just the advanced forces totalling 15,000, and not strong enough to completely take over our kingdom. But if we do not send an opposing force to deter them away soon. They could launch a preemptive attack on our forts closest to the border to gain an early advantage. If the war occurs or may I add when the war will finally occur." General Redwood informed the audience. 

 

Some noise could be heard from the noblemen side, which was split between two factions. One side wanted the war while the other was heavily against it. A nobleman from the latter side spoke out in anger as he shook his fist in the air. "We would've never been in this position if it wasn't for those bloodthirsty generals from over six years ago, who had used their positions to bully the other nations surrounding us. Now, look at us, their foolish decisions will bring our demise!"

 

Voices from the faction, for the war, erupted, "Preprosperous! You dare sully the name of the men who served before us! If it weren't for them, we would have long been dead!" fumed the nobleman who supported the war.

 

"You dare support those warmongers. Their foolish mistakes lead them to their deaths. The King had them all executed every single one of them. You dare help such people, treason!

 

Both sides erupted further into turmoil as one side accused the other of a serious crime. The generals who were lined up quietly on the other side started to feel uncomfortable as the actions of their predecessors had been brought up again. Not wanting to get dragged into the argument, they remained silent.

 

"Silence!" The King ordered.

 

Everyone had quickly closed their mouths and calmed themselves before the King, who couldn't elaborate any further due to his old age, which had taken the toll on him. He instructed General Redwood to continue.

 

"I would recommend sending 10,000 troops at first to our border followed by an additional 25,000 as reinforcements to deter them from launching a preemptive attack."

 

"Ridiculous, 25,000 men as reinforcements on top of the 10,000 we are already sending for the enemies 20,000? Have you gone senile with Age General Redwood? We should be sending at least 50,000 of our finest warriors and tanks. To be followed by 2000 elite mages from the Royal barracks. Those Caesinians dare to provoke us with mere 20,000 troops. It seems like they had forgotten their place."

 

Cheers erupt from the officials who support the war.

 

"Yes, that's right."

 

"We should be sending more!"

 

"We need to show them who the real power is!"

 

"Silence! It seems like you have forgotten your place, General Quentin, if we send such a large force it's telling them we are coming for war and they will respond with even larger forces."

 

"As I said before you must be going senile General Redwood. Majority of our military and population already reside near the western border of our Kingdom. Unlike Caesinia, where the majority of theirs is positioned on the west coast. So moving such large forces across the entire country further inland will be a logistical nightmare to deal with. On the other hand, our reinforcements will arrive quicker, unlike theirs. By the time we initiate an attack, we would have already conquered the entire eastern half of their country before we meet any real resistance. Are we waiting for them to move their entire army to our border before we react?"

 

Voices of support for General Quentin are heard.

 

"Yes, that's right."

 

"Yeah!"

 

"The longer we wait, the more trouble we are in!"

 

General Redwood had started to sweat from the heated exchange and began to feel cornered until he heard a voice of reason coming from the noblemen's side.

 

"If it weren't for the incident which had occurred six years ago, I would fully support your judgement General Quentin, but we no longer have our renowned elite summoners of the Kingdom. If you had forgotten, it was those so-called great predecessors of yours whose actions led to the demise of an entire elite royal branch."

 

General Quentin gulped, even he could not deny that the decisions made by the ones who came before him to be foolish and hastily made. It led to the quarter of the Kingdom's power being wiped out in a single day. If it weren't for them, they would have never even been in this position. He clenched his fist in anger as he had no sort of counter to those words. He thought 'I will remember this humiliation.'

 

General Redwood had nodded his head towards Mr Kensington to thank him.

 

"That's enough, hearing both sides, I will allow, 10,000 advance troops, 30,000 reinforcement along with 2000 elite mages from the royal barracks to be sent to the border." The King announced.

 

Everyone lowered their heads to show they had agreed since the King's words were final. General Redwood looked back towards the King, and the King raised his hand, allowing him to continue.

 

"Now that the first matter has been temporarily resolved, we yet have another severe matter to settle."