A few weeks prior…

Darius seems to like weapons quite a bit. I noticed he was particularly interested in swords. I’ll have to get something a little better than a standard steel sword for him when he's older. Maybe something with defensive magic on the blade or something with…

“Tower Master, I have an urgent letter!” A messenger seemed to have kicked my door in without a single knock on my door.

Do these messengers ever knock?

“Hand it over.”

I started to skim through the letter.

"Hmmm."

The contents of the letter were... disturbing. The information was yet to be verified, and false flags were getting more common by the day, but things were different if the King thinks something is happening. James has always had a 6th sense of these kinds of things.

“Sigh, Looks like I'll be heading to the Capital. Messenger prepare a carriage for me, we leave the moment it's ready.”

“Yes, Milord!”

I wrote a letter to my wife and went to see Joseph. "Knock, Knock, Knock. Joseph, can I come in?" I waited thirty seconds for a reply, "Come on in." He set down a similar letter similar to the one I received on his table, one with the Royal seal on it.

"Looks like we both got one."

"Of course, I'm the Vice Tower Master, that's not a small station to have."

"Joseph, can you give this to Elaine? I'm heading to the Capital. I need to check on things personally there."

"Of course, but Darien do not forget about the enemies both inside and out, and make sure you're covering your back."

I didn't look into his eyes for too long before saying, "Send for Elijah and Tobias, and have them meet me in the Capital, and assign two loyal Knights on guard duty for my wife and son. I know your judgment is always sound with those sorts of things so I'll trust you with it."

"Treat this seriously, Darien."

"I am."

I handed him my letter before leaving straight from his office to the carriage. I knew he would keep things under control while I was away. No more words needed to be said.

When I arrived in the Capital, I couldn’t feel tension or urgency in the air, but if war really was around the corner, the citizens wouldn't know regardless of the seriousness of the situation. I went to my manor in the city and waited for a summons from the Palace, and called a few contacts to gather information while I waited. A Rat-Beast Person whom I often used for information gathering climbed through my office window late in the night.

"Lord Darien! Sorry for the intrusion!"

"Just come in already."

"Y-Yes from what I've heard Argons been acting strange lately. They have been doing large-scale war drills for the last three days, and on multiple borders to boot. Somethings on the horizon Darien, I can't tell you for sure what it is, but I know it's not good."

"Thank you, Hapley. Your information is always swift and reliable whenever I arrive in the Capital. I appreciate your speed and discretion."

"Yes, Milord!"

The greedy little munchkin was already rubbing his hands together waiting for his pay. I always tried to gather as much information as possible before dipping my toes into any situation and having a reliable broker made my life a lot easier. I threw a bag of silver coins to the man.

"Here, Hapley, have an extra gold coin, the situation is different than usual."

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"Th-Thank you, sir!"

"You can leave."

"Yes! I'll return if any more important information comes my way."

"I appreciate it."

The short Rat-Person scuttled silently over to my window and slipped out as naturally as an outgoing breeze. I sat in my chair silently expecting something to happen within a few hours or days, but nothing happened.

Two days after I left home I got a letter from my wife. She wrote a rather scathing letter in response to me taking off, however right at the end of the letter she wrote, "Come back safe to me and Darius, or I'll take from you the one limb you can't live without. Love Elaine." As I was starting to get tempted to go back home the situation changed. Argon started to move again.

"Argon is doing war drills near the border regions they are causing waves in most of the major powers. An attack seems imminent, but no one is sure who they are planning to strike this time. Their strategy now seems to be a feint strategy. No information has leaked from their side either, none of our spies have gained any information on their attack. It's just as much a surprise to them as it is to us." I was in a restaurant with one of my friends in the Capital when the new information arrived. I was expecting the situation to blow up again, but weeks went by without an attack.

However, everyone knew that the current status couldn't be maintained forever. Three weeks and two days after I arrived in the Capital I heard a report. "HUFF Argons HUFF crossed the border their army is HUFF moving in the direction of the Black Castle as we speak." Hapley was perspiring so much that he looked like he had just come out of the bath.

"I'll pay you later."

I didn't hear a response as I dived straight out my window and to my carriage. "Elijah! Tobias! At the ready!" Within less than ten seconds they both had leaped out of their rooms with packs in hand ready to go. Elijah wasn't fully dressed, but he came on time. "Tobias! Since you came dressed you drive! All Red Personnel meet us in front of the Palace! We move now! Elijah with me!"

“Understood!” "Ughh got it!"

I didn't notice anyone else heading to the palace or moving with any sense of urgency, but I couldn't afford to treat an invasion so lazily. We sped all the way to the Palace.

“Stop!”

When I arrived near the palace checkpoint, guards were already hampering our progress. I would have to force my way through a bit. I got out of the carriage and said, “I’m Darien, move.” “T-T-Tower Master. My orders are not to let anyone through sir!” “Then you’ll have to arrest me.” “Sir?” I snapped my fingers and the entry gate opened. Booooom!

“S-Sir! That gates over 300 years old!” I got on a Heral and went through the now open gate. "Eli! Tobi! Wait here!" I made my way past guards, soldiers, knights, and maids as I went straight to the palace doors. The knights standing at the Palace gates were Royal Knights so they were a bit on the tougher side.

“Halt!”

“Erik and Desmond is it? Move or I’ll be opening the doors myself.”

“Tower Master the orders from the King are for no one to enter the palace and no one includes you.”

“I’ve never been denied entry, whether the King is performing his duties to his wife or he’s taking a shit. If I want to come in I will.”

I could see sweat coming from their brows as they drew their swords. I lowered my stance a little preparing to cause a ruckus when the door finally opened. "Let him in!"

"Yes!"

When the door opened, Sir Winchester the crown's head knight, and the King himself were standing there. The king was the first to speak, "Darien, about to cause an incident, were you?"

"If the situation required it, I'd flip the whole castle over to find you." "Hahaha! They say your wife is the Red Lion, but very few know the Fury of the Salamander. Come, let's talk for a bit."

I followed behind the King and the Royal guard as they led us to the King's study. "Ernest is already inside and Peyton is waiting inside as well. Lord Winthrop is already at the border and will join our conversation through a scrying orb. You don't need to worry my wife isn't inside waiting for me to perform my duties as a husband." James winked at me before opening the door. All I could do was nod my head wryly in response.

As we entered the study the chief strategist Ernest Erendale had a chalkboard in the middle of the room and was explaining the current situation to Peyton and the rest of the Generals in the room. The Generals were nervously watching the chalkboard, but I didn't see anyone else lower in the command chain in the room. "The attack should happen soon, at least from the perspective of a military strategist I'd personally attack within the next day or so. Considering the supplies they brought with them, I'd say they are intending to quickly conquer the Black Castle before looting as many resources as they can on their way to the Capital." One of the Generals I didn't recognize shouted, "You're saying they'll just attack like that? With no warning whatsoever!" "Dalton, the warning was made known the moment they started moving an army of over 200,000 soldiers and three knight corps through our borders." The quiet that statement brought was heavy. The King spoke, "We treat this as an existential threat to the kingdom the moment we leave this room. I'm opening the royal vaults, and if we must we are to start the drafting process immediately." "Your Majesty! There is no way Argon pushes for a frontal assault like that! The moment they strike us they will face retaliation from all sides!" "True they will, but Argon may consider the pushback from the other nations as a small obstacle. They've been sharpening their claws and fangs for years, it was only a matter of time before they did something with it."

Dalton the chubby General said, "We need more information and time to make proper decisions! The moment we make a decision the repercussions could be unavoidable!"

"Dalton, if we do nothing we face extinction."

The General in charge of the Western Region and our Navy Commander, Lord Byron Eastwind spoke, "From what I can tell and from what we know so far Argon is striking us with a frontal assault, whether they have more plans or not we don't know, but just from the information we have so far they are going to strike us with a force, we can barely resist against as is. Elion has maybe 30,000 troops stationed in the North East. How many troops can we physically get to the East before Argon decides to strike?"

Ernest responded rather rapidly to the question, "20,000 we might be able to get 20,000 soldiers to the Black Castle before Argon fully engages us."

Eastwind said back, "Then we might as well make a plan around the Castle's collapse. Three Knight orders alone can conquer the fortress, let alone an army of 200,000. They are bringing far more force than they need because they intend to take the Castle rapidly, and move on through the northern region before coming straight here and taking the Capital."

"That's just madness!" Dalton howled.

"No, that's true."

I took a deep breath before saying, "I'll go."

Eastwind shouted back, "No! They'll focus all of their attention on you if you go! From Argon's perspective, they'd rather take your head than conquer the whole Eastern region!"

"I know, but I can hold the region until we can get the necessary force to resist. As long as I can survive the initial assault, I'll be able to methodically defend the Black Castle. My friend, please trust me."

The King shook his head and sighed before he said, "Darien, you can't go. If we lose you there is absolutely nothing stopping Argon from outright erasing us from the map."

"I won't die, James, I have a cute little son to return to after all. I'll leave after the meeting. Ernest, plan around my participation in the East. Elaine can manage the tower while I'm gone." I took a breath, "I'll hold the East."