The court room was full of crowd. It was the day that a new crown prince was to be chosen among the tens of princes of the Kylaf Kingdom.

Ministers and court officials were all in attendance and were waiting for the king to preside.

The court was beautiful and lavish, walls adorned with mithril and gold with gems embedded in them. The light inside was bright as it was nearly noon. The throne was kept on a dais and below that level, in two rows opposite to each other were seats meant for the princes. Further below were the seats for the ministers and even further down court officials were standing.

Strangely, well not really strange for the people of Kylaf, there were no seats for princesses in the court, not even one. This had to do with the long history of Kylaf where patriarchy ruled great. Women, they weren’t exactly looked down on but were certainly excluded when dealing with real political matters.

One by one, the princes entered and took their designated seats. The ministers, foreign guests included, as well sat on their designated seats.

“Who are you? You’re in my place!”

What seemed like an argument among the ministers attracted everyone's attention.

“A woman?”

“What is a woman doing here?”

“She’s so beautiful!”

“What does that matter!? She shouldn’t be here!”

Everyone started to stare at Suzanne who was sitting in her seat in a composed manner. The discussions around her didn’t seem to faze her.

“This is where my name is written. So please, could you buzz off!”

Suzanne replied harshly and then ignored the old man who seemed to be having an apoplectic shock after being talked down to like that.

“You! This is where I have been sitting for years!”

“It’s a good seat, I agree,” Suzanne muttered unconcernedly.

It was indeed a good seat. It was only two seats away from where the princes were sitting.

“Get up!” The old man arguing with Suzanne released his Aura and seemed to want to use force to get her away from “his” spot.

“Buzz off!”

Suzanne only glared back and he nearly fell down on his butt. He stared wide-eyed and in shock. He seemed to be unable to digest that he had been bested so easily and categorically.

Still though, he didn’t want to give up. He looked towards the third prince who was laughing and chatting with one of his younger brothers.

When their gazes met, however, the prince seemed dissatisfied... it was enough of a signal for the old man.

He is old but not an idiot to make out that it is the doing of the third prince... Suzanne thought as the old man retreated with his shoulders slumped down.

“Looks like Princess Maria did a good job...” She whispered to herself. She knew that there would be some resistance to her position being so close to the throne, that’s why she was banking on the support of Princess Maria.

A sudden loud voice silenced all. It was the announcement that the king was about to enter.

“Long live his majesty!”

“Long live his majesty!”

“Long live his majesty!”

The whole court chanted as a short and fat man entered. He strode straight towards the throne and sat down emphatically. He then raised his right hand to acknowledge the crowd and asked them to take their seats.

He then clapped his hand once and that was the signal for the proceedings to begin. And the first thing to be dealt with was the appointment of the new crown prince.

It had been over two weeks since the news broke about the deaths of Troy and Mikhail. The populace had been in shock, not because of the death of Troy, though that had also stunned them, no, it was because of the news of the death of one of the pillars of their kingdom, Hero Mikhail. The news of war also worried them. However, two weeks was enough time for them to process this new reality. Their weeping eyes had dried up in these two weeks; and their life had returned to the way it had been earlier, in lack of any major changes due to the impending war.

And it was time, time for the kingdom to move on. The people as well as the officials have moved on from the tragedy of losing their crown prince as well as one of their heroes.

“All in favour of Leroy Kylaf being the next Crown Prince, say aye!”

“Aye!”

A loud voice settled it.

The second prince who was known for his debauchery didn’t look too pleased but that was about it. He didn't seem like he was especially sad or shocked.

Looks like it was all set-in motion a while ago... Suzanne thought of the unequivocal support for Leroy to become the crown prince. That woman, she is a worthy opponent; I have to up the ante!

Suzanne was sure that behind all this were the efforts of Maria, because she couldn’t see how that slight and effeminate man could have gathered this much support behind his banner.

The ceremony was short and succinct. Without any surprise or roadblocks, it was over as soon as it began. Leroy seemed satisfied and relieved after it was over while the king looked on disinterestedly the whole time, so much so that he didn’t even seem to notice Suzanne's presence.

This place is weird, he is effectively choosing his successor and the army is also in hands of the successor, what if he rebels? Weird!

After that, the court discussed some trivial matters, matters that had nothing to do with national security, and then everyone was dismissed.

Suzanne would have found it odd that there wasn’t even a single issue discussed about the war and how to deal with the aftermath of losing Hero Mikhail and the previous crown prince to the attack of the Frito Empire, but she didn’t. That was so because she had been informed beforehand and also because she was invited to the round table conference that was to be held the next day as a special inductee to the Tibal Alliance by the will of the new Crown Prince of Kylaf.

...

Suzanne was looking on as the discussion about the validity of the information rolled on.

The meeting of army chiefs from all the kingdoms of The Tibal Alliance was going on around a round table. The meet was hosted by the Crown Prince of Kylaf, Commander of the Army of Kylaf.

“Marshal Suzanne, may I ask you to once again recount the details of how prince Troy was assassinated right in the middle of the camp?”

The speaker was the army chief of Tibal Kingdom, Boufal Emiya, also known as the right-hand man of Prime Minister Tibal.

He looked the part of an Army Chief, with his wide muscular arms and his lanky frame. Anyone could tell just by looking at him that he was a serious man and a high level awakened.

“What do you want to know? I have already repeated it twice! It happened suddenly and was over before anyone could take action!”

Suzanne wasn’t one to take shit from, or be scared by, anybody. She had her pride and her principles. She couldn’t tolerate being looked down upon just because of the place she hailed from. Being a high star level awakened herself, she had a certain reputation to keep.

“But it doesn’t make any sense!” Emiya banged the table as he stood up from his chair.

“Let’s just leave the matter aside, there’s no need to interrogate our newest alliance member it won’t be good for our name...” Leroy intervened before the issue could get out of control.

“I have a question too since we are letting our hearts talk rather than our heads... why is a merchant here among us army chiefs?”

Suzanne pointed to Theodore Henry who was sitting on one of the seats around the roundtable and observing quietly.

“Let me answer that!” Emiya said authoritatively. “He’s here because the Henry Trading Association has entered into an alliance with us. And he’s the representative. Also, he’s here because I want him here!”

Suzanne didn’t reply to the challenging tone of Emiya. That also allowed everyone to calm down a little. However, inside her mind, Suzanne was fuming. She especially abhorred the smirking face of Theodore Henry. Why is that shit everywhere?

“Let’s move on from that...” Leroy began. “How are we going to deal with the increased offensive of Kyrgstan?”

The topic of Kyrgstan’s offensive reinforcements sobered everyone up. It was perplexing to them, “How can a small kingdom like that hold up against the might of The Tibal Alliance?” Leroy asked.

The earlier assumption that the Frito Empire was behind it didn’t seem to be the case. The intelligence report mentioned about them but the sheer number was confusing. They suspected a third force but could not figure out who it was.

“Can the intelligence be trusted?”

“Now, listen, we can’t keep doubting our own members. Also, I think that talks of there being a third party are premature at best. I suspect it is the work of Frito Empire and them alone!” Emiya emphatically quashed the doubt over the validity of the intelligence. Since the intelligence came from Henry Trading Association, and he was effectively their backer.

“That may not be entirely true...” Suzanne chipped in and that earned her the glare of Emiya. She though didn’t react to it. Is mentioning Eastern Continent, too early a move? She mused.

“What do you mean?” Leroy asked.

“I just mean we shouldn’t rely on information from just a single source... that’s it!” Suzanne didn’t want to say anything that would land her in hot water. She was new to the alliance and didn’t have enough say, yet.

“That’s true!” The others concurred and nodded.

“I think, we should take this new offensive volley as a one-off... And focus more on the other side... Seizing territory under Frito Empire's periphery should be our main focus!”

“I concur!”

Surprisingly for everyone Suzanne was the first person to agree with Emiya's proposal. Everyone seemed a little taken aback by this change.

“The old Emperor doesn’t have many days left, and we should take this opportunity to further weaken their chain of command,” Suzanne concluded.

“Yes. We should look to charge on Prathjag and Pritoria and unite them under our banner of Tibal Alliance. After that, we can rendezvous with our allied forces and take back the territory lost to Kyrgstan.”

This proposal by Emiya was quickly accepted by everyone. They then began to discuss strategies for the upcoming expedition.

The discussion ran long and Suzanne listened intently. She gave some timely input whenever the opportunity presented itself and that earned her some praise from the veterans.

“So as decided we will begin our expedition two weeks from now. It is a short time and we need to make preparations as quickly as possible. The expedition will rely on swift movement and decisive strikes. Within a month, we should be able to meet up with our troops at Kyrgstan.”

Emiya summed up the gist and then looked towards Suzanne. He took a long breath and then spat the following words. “The offensive will be led by NFA that is the Northern Forest Alliance. They will be supported by the Kylaf army.”

“Aye!”

“Aye!”

Sounds of affirmation resounded around the round table.