The people inside the hall came to a halt. It was at this moment that they needed to make a decisive choice. The sheer amount of forces shall be wasted against the enemy and the only way they can get through is to bludgeon through with pure power.
“I want to assess our forces that we have access right now. Please, everyone, give your opinion about these people.” Aspara suggested while observing the surrounding gazes filled with affirmation.
“I believe I will be the first to be mentioned! After all, I am Victoria, the summoned hero!” Victoria announces as she grandiosely stood up from her chair.
“…” A stale silence looms over the hall while everyone stares blankly at Victoria, befuddled with how confident she is of herself.
“It’s undeniable that Hero Victoria did the feat of repelling Exodus. Currently, it leads to one conclusion that she may come close in defeating the current Exodus, however, we may see undesirable changes in her abilities for the duration she is not in our sight as Archbishop Genesis explained.” Seran laid down his opinion with a serious thought.
“Hero Victoria, how did your scuffle with Exodus ended? What were the odds of you winning?” King Ridil supplemented Seran’s words by following-up with a question towards the person in question.
Upon gaining everyone’s attention, Victoria placed her index finger on her chin and ponders momentarily.
“Honestly, even though she was beaten and battered, she was still lively and full of energy. I’m coming close in expanding half of my magical energy but she, Exodus, is like an inexhaustible tank of energy.” Victoria made a short pause all the while her face flaring up in a blissful excitement. “She was so dangerous, daring, and so damn adorably twisted that my heart throbs so fast whenever I remember how we danced that night!” she added.
Victoria’s description and expression alone showed how she was affected by Exodus’ power and charisma. A lot of people in the hall don’t know Victoria’s actual strength and that includes Ersha Einhart and Seran Einhart.
Most can just size her up with her level of magical energy alone but doesn’t have any inkling idea what kind of power and abilities she possesses. To a certain extent, only Reysha knows that Victoria has the hardest defense out of everyone here.
“Our next candidate is Reysha Einhart. What do the people in this meeting think? What does the person herself thinks?” Aspara announces while taking an eyeful of Reysha beside her.
Before anyone could raise an opinion about Reysha, the person herself raises her hand quickly.
“…If possible, I don’t want to face her again.” Reysha said with an anxious gaze directing downward.
Reysha Einhart, for Yrsha and Einhart, is a goal they wanted to reach. Her strength and power that far above them has become the target of envy and thus, they aimed to become stronger in each passing days. Even among in the meeting, they know what Reysha is capable.
Seeing her raises her hand while admitting she doesn’t want to face Exodus again didn’t come as a surprise.
“No one can blame you. You were the only who is badly injured next to Demon Lord Ivy.” Mika’s words of comfort come across.
“Was it out fear? Was it reluctance? Either way, if Reysha doesn’t want to be in danger and that works in my earnest wish for her safety.” Ersha thought while quizzically observing Reysha.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“Reysha, if you are not feeling well, maybe you should head back to your room.” Mirsha said as she reached out for her dear daughter and caresses her head.
“……” Falikh kept a gentle smile on his lips even as his’ and Reysha’s eyes met. It doesn’t have any ill will behind it as it only consists of his earnest concern.
“Illogical…” Is the word that popped in Reysha’s head while looking downwards. “Facing someone like her, like Exodus, is illogical for me. I was easily defeated and all I could do was to stall for time. I don’t want to face her again. Contrary to how Victoria felt, I get this cold pitted feeling from the bottom of my stomach. Fear or not, the desire of avoiding her is imminent in my mind.” Reysha said to herself.
“Unlike I, Ivy Hellbeing, Reysha cannot recover any fatal wounds herself. I understand why the hesitation. Even if we are staking a lot in this war forced in our faces, I don’t want to force people who are unwilling.” Ivy stood up and said those words precariously with a little bit anxiety manifesting in her eyes.
“Yes, Demon Lord Ivy, you are one of the people we wanted to be in this battle because of your superior regeneration and power as a True Ancestor is both crucial. There’s also the vast expanse of knowledge that you have that may put us an advantage.
“Yes, yes, and…who? Is there anyone else?” Ivy asked around while steering her head left and right.
“Unfortunately, if we, the hailed strongest knights of our kingdom can just barely hold our grounds against a single homunculus, then it’s a bad choice to look at us. We are neither prodigy nor geniuses. We only run on sweat and broken bones.” Ersha said while gritting her teeth, feeling ashamed of admitting her very own shortcomings.
From Ersha’s words, everyone nodded, even Seran Einhart. Oliver wanted to raise a hand to prove that she also matter in this plan as she is strong, however, she herself is uncertain of the enemy so she just stood there quietly and calmly.
“This…is not a battle I can handle…I have to set my sight on my own priorities, however, if we cannot deal with Exodus accordingly, then our plan will fall apart.” Oliver inwardly said while clenching her fist.
“In totality, there are only two of them we can rely on…” Yrsha squeezes those words under her breathe with knitted brows.
A new case arises in the table.
They gave up on tackling Exodus’ army with numbers as hundred thousands of lives will be at stake. They already deemed that quantity-based solution will amount to nothing but dead soldiers.
The current solution is raising the quality of people who will fight against Exodus. They only have two people with Reysha bailing out. It’s not a question anymore if the two of them can defeat Exodus or not, the battle will be against Exodus together with her thousands of homunculus.
Anyone weaker than them can still fight against the homunculus with thousands of elite soldiers as a backup, however, they need to stretch a lot of necessities just to face Exodus’ army head-on. Preparing ten thousand in just two months is already difficult.
Gathering a few hundred thousand will be an impossible hurdle.
“Hmm…then, instead of just relying on them, how about you guys start training and improve yourselves in two months so you won’t shame yourselves, okay? Don’t try to just dump such work to them.” Falikh said those words sarcastically, meant to make fun of the people inside the hall who are capable of combat.
“…Eh?” Yrsha leaks out a voice from Falikh’s suggestion.
“I mean, you guys are talking about raising the quality of the people who will fight Exodus, right? Can’t you just all do that and improve yourselves in just two months? Leave the recruiting to us.” Falikh said with a sly smile to everyone will cocking his head forward in a mocking stance.
“A…two months training? I see, yes, we can train. We can still train while training our soldiers at the same time.” Ersha started pondering those words.
“Yes, train people who are not capable of battle but defense. There’s no need to directly clash with the enemy, as far as I am concerned. People who are gifted and has an explosive potential should just go and train.” Falikh’s last words as he returned back to his seat.
BAM!
Ivy suddenly bangs her palm on the table.
“Then, all we need is elite soldiers and warriors, right?! If that’s what we need, then I have a lot of people back in the Sirius Kingdom that are willing to fight! Yeah, I need to return to my Kingdom to prepare soldiers, elite soldiers!” Ivy, seemingly getting the idea, bolted up from her chair.
“The Sirius Kingdom where the demon lives…I see, if it is your land, it’s bound to have people stronger than us so that’s why…we will train.” Ersha grinned as a fire motivation started raising her tension.
“Yeah! I shall retrieve my ultimate weapon too, the Black Keraunos Beta!” Ivy grins.