"What a situation, huh?" Lyle said, nervous.
The team was at their house, sitting in the small living room as outside the chaos and fear filled the streets, hordes of guards went across the city trying to calm down the commotion, which was going on fairly well.
The news about the Esteller Empire declaring war on Lisbea spread like fire on dry grass, and so did the terror amongst the lisbeans. It was nothing surprising, the king and his closest subordinates knew very well the reaction this would cause and attempted to keep it a secret for a while, but some things just can't be kept secret, at least not for too long.
By the noon of the next day the news of the war was all over the capital and by the evening almost the entire kingdom had become aware of it. They knew chaos would unleash sooner than later, but not this soon and especially not this big. Because of the recent victory against the Esteller Empire the king and his closest subordinates had assumed that the lisbeans would take the news with some degree of control.
It is clear they were wrong.
And even then, things had calmed down in comparison to the first few days thanks to some speeches delivered by Julius, and surprisingly, the help of some of the demons who had taken the decision to serve Lisbea, tagging the Esteller Empire as discordinated and way too self-conflicting. It sort of helped but the fact that those words came from demons really took weight away from them.
Today's very morning the same speech was given, however this time it was Julius who said it. It hardly differed from what the demons had said, but the mere fact that it was their prince who spoke this time helped a lot, especially since he had been on the battlefield against the demons.
As the external chaos calmed down, the party thought of how they should handle the situation.
"Of its entire residence in our realm, this is the first time the Esteller Empire ever declares war formally to a nation. I couldn't tell if it's a sign of respect or an intimidation attempt" Sylvana declared.
"Who knows?" Ascalon said. "The only thing we know is that blood is gonna be spilled, lots of it"
The room remained silent for a moment as the group tried to think on what to say next, but with everything going on at the moment, it was complicated for any of them to decide what should be discussed first.
After a few moments, it was no one other than Stella who broke the silence. "So… where does this put us?"
All of her companions turned to look at her.
"You know, we aren't soldiers, we are adventurers or mercenaries, I'm not really sure" She declared. "We have no obligation of participating"
"I fear we do" Lyle stated. "Had it been a war between humans I would say we remained on the sidelines as possible. However, this is the Esteller Empire we are talking about, remaining on the sidelines is just not an option"
As he spoke, Lyle seemed to get angrier, a vein got marked on his forehead and he began to grit his teeth. His companions were a bit taken aback by this display of wrath from the swordsman, it was atypical. Stella even got a bit scared.
Lyle took a deep breath, calming down as he apologized to his companions.
"I do agree with Lyle, after what they've done to us, this is something we can't ignore" Ascalon said, however the tone of his voice felt like it lacked some emotion.
"Despite not having such a personal vendetta against them, I also agree that this is not a situation we should just remain on the sidelines for" Sylvana declared.
Stella gulped, clearly nervous about the whole situation. "What about you, Mistia?" She asked, making all of the gazes drift towards Mistia's emotionless face.
"If Lyle says we should get involved, I'll follow his lead" She said straightforwardly.
Lyle got a bit ashamed by her statement. "Gods, Mistia, you don't have to say that, it's not like I'm our leader or something" He blushed as he scratched the back of his head.
"For what it matters to me, you're the closest we have to one"
"Well she does have a point, Lyle" Ascalon said. "Stella has no leadership capacities, Sylvana is more of a follower and Mistia and I don't care enough"
"Alright, alright, let's leave this conversation for later, right now, there is the war situation" Lyle said. "How… how should we proceed?"
"The best we can do is wait" Sylvana answered. "I assume that the most likely thing to occur next is that they'll begin to recruit adventurers and mercenaries, for what I know the Esteller Empire's forces are numerous, even with its alliances, the lisbean army will probably need as many people as possible"
"So… just sit and wait for them to call" Ascalon said.
Sylvana gave him an annoyed glance and nodded. Having in mind that they'd have to wait to join the war, it was necessary to make use of the time before that to get more prepared for upcoming events. Ascalon, Lyle and Sylvana decided that the make use of their time was to train, whereas Mistia observed them and Stella went on her own to pray at church.
Meanwhile, at the castle of the capital, a reunion was being held to discuss the war plans, they had lost valuable time by trying to calm down the anxiety and fear on the streets, they had to come up with an attack plan soon or they'd be dead for sure.
"Oh lord, oh lord" An old man murmured as he stroked his beard.
In the middle of a room there was a table where most of the presents were sitting at, including King John, General Drake, the Royal Cartographer, the Royal Accountant, the Master of Political Relations and the High Counselor of the king, the old man stroking his beard.
The king sat on one edge of the table while at the opposite side, prince Julius stood in front of a board with a map nailed to it. The prince looked desperate, the lack of sleep was noticeable from a kilometer away and his temper seemed long gone.
"My son, patience is a virtue. It is not wrong for you to feel like you do, but maintaining your composure is important" The king said. "Letting your emotions go off like this does nothing but to give the enemy an advantage"
"I'm aware, father. It's just…" Julius tried his best to keep his calm. "I SWEAR, IF ERBOW DOESN'T CROSS THAT GODDAMN DOOR IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES WITH A GOOD FUCKING EXCUSE I'M GOING TO MURDER HIM!" He failed miserably.
The old king did nothing but sigh at the outburst of his son. The Royal Accountant, a middle aged man in fancy clothes with a fancy mustache and a hairstyle that tried too hard to hide his progressive baldness, couldn't help but chuckle at the scene.
Julius noticed.
"What is so funny, Lord Serenity?" Julius questioned as a vein marked on his forehead.
"Oh nothing, I just find it funny to see people getting desperate" The man, Calem Serenity responded with an egocentric and relaxed smile on his face, gaining a murder look from the prince.
"Oh lord, oh lord" The High Counselor mumbled again.
"I bet it must be funny, seeing me getting worried for the fate of our kingdom" A clearly irritated Julius slammed his hands on the table, getting the attention of all of the presents. Shards of ice began to form at his feet and hands. "It must be really funny for a honorless bastard like you. Knowing that you can just disappear in a matter of hours while the rest of us stay behind and die for our people"
The tension was so dense that it could be cut off with a knife, General Drake began sweating while the king limited himself to stare at his son, knowing very well that if he were to do something, he wouldn't be able to stop him. It didn't help the matter that Lord Serenity's smile just grew wider with Julius' words, unintimated.
"My prince, may this tea calm down your nerves?" In the corner of the room, two demons, dressed as maids, had been standing in silence, the one who spoke was a fairly tall one with blonde hair and blue skin, with three horns coming out of her forehead.
The demon approached the prince with a cup of tea, the latter took it and drank it all in one go.
"Chamomile tea is great for relaxing!" The demon expressed with a big smile and a sweet voice.
"Yes, it is. Thanks Elizabeth" Julius said, somewhat more calm as he handed the cup back to the maid.
The demon walked back to the corner with a smile on her face to her companion's annoyance, who questioned her acting.
"Why do you enjoy this?" She whispered.
"Well, Judith, this is how things are, might as well make it easier to go on" Elizabeth responded with a soft smile.
Things began to settle down as silence dominated the room. The prince drifted his gaze from Lord Serenity's smugly irritating face.
"I'm telling you right now" The cartographer, a tanned woman of disheveled looks and black hair, spoke as she adjusted her glasses, her sight focused on a map drafted in front of her. "You're overestimating his capacity to act rationally"
"If I wanted counsel, I'd ask Lord Sinclair for it, Lady Hassan" The presumptuous accountant said.
"Oh lord, oh lord" The High Counselor murmured again.
"Whatever, I'm just trying to be nice" The cartographer responded without much care.
Drake sighed as he drifted his gaze towards the man sitting in front of him, a middle aged man with brown hair that seemed to be trying to ignore the problems going on in the room. "You're the Master of Political Relations, shouldn't you do something?"
"It is very much different to deal with the outsiders rather than our own people" Responded Kairo Cod, Master of Political Relations.
"In what sense?" The general questioned, confused.
"Diplomatic immunity"
Drake couldn't evade but to feel that he was pretty pathetic for a Master of Political Relations, so did Julius, although he's had that feeling for quite a while.
"In any case" Kairo said. "Even if General Erbow is absent I think we should start addressing the relevant topics, shouldn't we?"
"You're right on that" The king responded. "I believe you've already gotten news about our allies"
"Correct" The Master of Relations cleared his throat before continuing. "Our allies on Jin have accepted with enthusiasm to aid us in our fight against the Esteller Empire, they have also said that they've hired some mercenaries from the islands on the south east of the continent. I don't have much information but my spies should have information soon enough"
Julius seemed pleased about this information. "Alright, that's good. All help is necessary"
"And what about our allies in Savagastan and Crystalis?" Drake asked. The small reaction that the question caused in Lord Cod gave everyone an idea of what he would answer.
"Well…" The Master of Political Relations once again cleared his throat. "The people on Savagastan have refused to send their military to help us in battle, nonetheless, they'd said they'd give us economical aid"
Lord Serenity raised an eyebrow. "Ugh… that sounds like a huge debt waiting to happen"
"Nothing we can't deal with" Julius stated.
"You mean, nothing I can't deal with" Calem responded, emphasizing the 'I'.
"Oh lord, oh lord"
"Silence, both of you" The king said with the strongest voice his old throat could allow him to.
Lord Cod coughed to catch everyone's attention again. "And finally, the people on Crystalis have completely refused to help us in any way"
"Those cowardly bastards" Julius murmured.
"Well, in terms of position they are the most vulnerable out of the three kingdoms… makes sense…" Lady Hassan said as she looked at the map in front of her.
"Ok, so-" Julius began speaking as he looked at the bigger map nailed to the board, however, his words were quickly interrupted by his father.
"Lord Cod, I believe you are forgetting something, aren't you?"
Everyone in the room seemed confused by the king's words, they only had three military allies on Jin, Crystalis and Savagastan, any other kind of political relationship with other kingdoms were merely economical, trading and stuff of the sort.
"Umm… yes" Lord Cod dropped a sweat, aware of what the king meant. "I already got the response from the Horseshoes Khanate"
The mention of the Horseshoes Khanate seemed to alert everyone but the king.
"THE HORSESHOES KHANATE?!" Drake exclaimed in disbelief.
Julius slammed the table as he looked at his father. "ARE YOU INSANE?!"
"I am not. And before you ask I'm not senile either, I'm perfectly aware of our situation with the Horseshoes Khanate" The king responded with a firm voice.
"Oh-" Lord Sinclair murmured again but got interrupted by Julius shouting at him.
"SAY 'OH LORD' ONCE MORE AND I'LL FREEZE YOU ON THE SPOT!"
"Oh- gods…"
"Ok, you're safe"
The High Counselor took a deep breath of relief. "My king, as your counselor, I must seriously question your decision regarding… asking the Horseshoes for help"
"That's right father! Do you really think that they'll help us after what happened at the Battle of Truly Countless Bodies?!"
"Do not speak of that battle to me! I was there, and as far as I'm aware, I have been the only one who's been there ever since that battle ended" The king said with a more firm voice, however it didn't make the prince flinch. "The Horseshoes Khanate terrorized the continent for a long time and after that battle they were left without enough troops to defend themselves, everyone wanted to take on that problem from root, but not me. I, as new King of Lisbea, had the last word in the matter, and I spared their lives. I am the reason they even continue to exist!"
"That may be the true father, but what is also true, is that the Horseshoes Khanate has been subjected by Lisbea ever since then. What makes you think that they won't betray us the first chance they get?!"
The king took a deep breath of air. "Are you serious? Let me remind you that all of the Esteller Empire's supposed allies are under complete dominance of it, they aren't even allowed to have armies. You really think they would be so stupid to jump from one cell to another?"
Julius was left speechless.
"Even if they wouldn't betray us…" The High Counselor spoke. "I doubt we can count on their help, after all, Lisbea is the only one with legal power over them, and with the Esteller Empire causing chaos, they'd for sure go under the radar to grow their numbers once again…"
"I did consider that, and for that reason I have decided to give them a little incentive to participate" King John closed his eyes for a moment.
"What kind of incentive?" Julius questioned.
"To make them free again. As well as some gold and some of our horses of the best breed for them" The king said.
The entire room was surprised by the king's statement.
"Oh… gods, oh gods" Lord Sinclair murmured.
"M-My king… are you sure about that?" General Drake asked.
"He's right, do you believe those horse fuckers will believe any of that bullshit?" Lord Serenity exclaimed.
"Well…" Lord Cod caught everyone's attention. "They did. They accepted the terms proposed by King John"
"See it from where you see it, this is their best chance of being a free nation" King John declared. "Even if they don't believe me, I'm pretty sure even they are aware of the danger that the Esteller Empire represents" His gaze drifted to Lord Sinclair. "What you said earlier, about them letting the demons kill us so they'll be free, you really think they'd be so stupid to not notice who's the bigger threat?"
Everyone in the room, especially Lord Sinclair went silent at the king's statement, his words made sense, as surprising as it could be, he had ruled Lisbea for so long practically unopposed for a reason after all.
"And I assume you plan on fulfilling that promise" Julius said.
"I think you already know the answer to that" The king responded with a smile.
Before the reunion went any further, the unexpected sound of the door opening made everyone in the room immediately look at the opening entrance of the room. No one other than General Erbow was the one to enter.
"Hello every-" He greeted but got promptly interrupted by Julius.
"You stupid motherfucker! Do you have any idea of what goddamn hour is it?! You're late, even though I told you to arrive 30 minutes earlier, because I knew you'd be late!" The prince exclaimed with anger.
"Alright, alright, chill down my prince. I was late for a good reason" Erbow then pulls into the room a demon, a male of red skin with three horns on his forehead, brown hair tied up in a ponytail and a nervous look on his cyan eyes. "I took my friend over here for a good meal" He said, putting an arm over the demon's shoulder.
"How is that supposed to be a good reason?" The High Counselor asked.
Everyone in the room, including the maids, looked at the old man with an expression that said 'Are you stupid?', making the High Counselor feel stupid.
"Isn't it obvious Lord Sinclair?" The Royal Cartographer seriously questioned.
"He's clearly bribing this demon into giving up important information in exchange for food" Julius clarified.
"Oh, I guess that makes… sense…" Lord Sinclair felt ashamed.
"In all honesty, I would've done it for nothing, but since he offered to give me something, I thought I might as well just accept it" The demon declared. "My name is Jeremiah, by the way"
"Before anything, Jeremiah. We want you to begin spitting all what you know" Julius didn't waste time asking.
"Alright, what do you want to know?" Jeremiah asked with a smile.
General Drake was the one to ask. "I think it would be good to know the comparison in numbers between our armies, how many demons does the Esteller Empire have?"
Jeremiah gave himself a second to think on the answer. "If my memory doesn't fail me, and only counting our people on earth… hmm… about 2 million demons"
"WHAT?!" Almost everyone in the room said in unison.
"Hey, hey, calm down, I know it might sound bad, but honestly, out of those two millions, I bet only a million can fight, moreover, almost none of them has ever been in a fight any greater than a bar fight. I'm pretty sure some of your best magicians could obliterate a good chunk of them with a single attack, and if they do have some brains, they won't send their entire army to get one shotted" Jeremiah clarified.
"If you put it like that…" Julius mumbled.
"But you might have to be careful, with those numbers, they could send entire armies to five different spots at the same time, so that's to take on count. If you wanna have a chance against them, you'll need to focus on quality over quantity"
"You know, I'm not really sure if we should be trusting you, how could someone betray their people so easily?" Lord Cod stated.
"They are barely my people. When I was a kid, I saw Esteller himself massacring my hometown, besides, I have never really fit in with those guys. I was just a low rank soldier who got into the army because it was basically money for walking around and doing nothing all day. Until all of this shit happened of course"
In the corner, the maid Judith sighed. "I understand that feeling"
"And then all of the shit of the cannon happened and I was unfortunately chosen to go to the battle. However, so far everything seems to be going well for me" Jeremiah smiled. "Just give some nice food once in a while and I'll be glad to share everything I know, it's not much but is better than nothing"
"I… have the feeling that I can trust you" Julius said. "Erbow, you'll be in charge of taking care of him"
"Understood, my prince!" General Erbow responded.
"Very well, Jeremiah, I think we might have something good in our hands" The prince exclaimed, shaking Jeremiah's hand.