Chapter 79. Hubert's Decision.
3rd Pov.
After everyone heard those words, heavy silence immediately descended the room because they all know that what their lord said is the truth.
As long as the parasite-infested fog is present in their land, mutated creatures would continue to appear and there's an even greater chance for them to become stronger as long as the fog exists, like what some of them encountered in yesterday's battle.
"My Lord, are we going to remain on the passive side? Aren't we going to do anything to stop this from happening?" Callisto said in hurry, afraid of the prospect of another monster wave attack.
"Of course, we're not going to remain silent in this matter. I decided that it was now time for us to finally faced this battle. Because we don't know if we're still going to remain lucky the next time they attack." Hubert replied as he look at them in the eye before taking a short pause.
"But in order for this to succeed I would need your help Callisto, your gift would be the key to solving this puzzle," Hubert said solemnly as he looks at him straight in the eye.
"We would go deep in the fog, deeper than what we have ever reached. We would probe everything around our surroundings using that special eye of yours to unveil its secret. But I'm warning you now, that our journey would not be easy as we might encounter a stronger foe inside that place ." As he patiently explains to everyone his plan to solve their problem.
"But that would be dangerous!" Sandra exclaimed, she stood up from her chair to try to convince Hubert to stop his plan.
"My Lord, we don't know what's inside of that fog, there might be a mutated monster from a rank 5 magic beast. Exploring that place would greatly endanger your life." Explained by her with a face full of worry.
"Then what do you want me to do here? Wait for our death to come?" Hubert yelled in anger. That causes Sandra to back down.
"That's not what I-" she was just about to explain her side but she was quickly cut off by Hubert.
"In the first place, it was our constant fear of the unknown that causes us to get stuck in this situation. Two months have passed, TWO MONTHS!" He said loudly, clearly running out of patience.
"And yet, what did we learn about our enemy?, Nothing..., we learned nothing." He said in a whisper-like voice.
"Fear! It is fear that stops us from doing any actions against this, but if we would let that fear consume us all, I'm afraid that death can only be the result for every one of us in here." Our lord said in a heavy tone as dread permitted the room.
"The more we waste our time, waiting for rescue the more dangerous it would be for us. Because that means we're just giving them more time to prepare and strengthen our enemy." This statement from him has caused everyone in the room to think deeply about their choices.
Contemplating the best action they must do in order to defeat this unknown enemy.
"We need to act now! and we better make it quick. And let's take this opportunity to search for clues while they're still recovering their strength." Hubert explains in detail before taking a glance at everyone's faces in the room.
Although none have voiced their opinion it is certain that most of us here have agreed with him. We rather take this risk than wait for our death to come to our door.
And for Callisto, although he has just fledged his loyalty to the Beaufort family, the two months time he stayed here has already proven that his decision is correct. There's the hope of reviving the Stratnan family in this place but he must first save the city from its doom.
To prevent any further harm from happening to their new home Callisto was ready to prove himself, and this is the perfect opportunity to show his loyalty.
"In order to protect my family and this city I'm willing to follow you, lord Hubert. My eyes can definitely find the culprit behind this chaos and with your power, I'm certain that we can solve this problem." Callisto said solemnly
"Or we could also activate the runes in the city wall in order to deploy its barrier that would be a safer approach." Lucas said suddenly after hearing that were willing to risk their lives.
"What runes?" Said by some voices since not everyone knows about this secrets.
"The florentine city has a barrier?" Callisto said in curiosity as he remain oblivious to many secrets of the Beaufort family.
"Master Lucas, you mean that you have a way to activate that ancient ruins?" Sandra said excitedly as she once studied those ancient runes under the city wall.
"Not just me, The entire Beaufort family can. Only someone with our blood can activate its power. But you should all know that once we revealed this secret to the world, we might become the enemy of many human forces inside and outside of the Turox Kingdom." Lucas sternly warns as he conveys the hidden meaning in his words.
Of course, everyone gets it, they all understand the importance of ancient ruins to any kingdom much more to the three empires. If the underground ruins of Florentine city was discovered it would definitely cause a great storm in the entire continent.
Everyone would do everything in their power to get their hands on this piece of relic, especially for working ruins like this. Wizards would flock to them in mass to study every inch of its parts in order to unveil it's secret.
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What's more, the capability of this ruin is to deploy a powerful barrier that doesn't need mana crystal to run since it has its own power source. This information alone would be enough to kill them all, an ancient ruins that still run to this day with an almost unlimited power supply is a great asset for any empire.
The Turox kingdom itself might even banish from this continent because of this information. So once they find out everything about this place there is a high chance that the Turox kingdom would erase Hubert and the Florentine city from its history in order to keep this treasure to their selves.
Of course, Hubert would definitely not let this happen. He rather activates the city barrier and lets the world know about this place in order to damage the interest of the kingdom.
With its powerful defense, Hubert is certain that even if the 3 empires worked together it would still take them some time to destroy it.
Hubert is certain that he can still negotiate with the 3 empires to set them free in exchange for this ruins but when it comes to the Turox kingdom even Hubert is not sure.
If it was the Turox kingdom of the past Hubert might still give them a chance to negotiate with him but the Turox kingdom of today is no longer the same.
For many years Beaufort family has been ostracized by the nobility of the kingdom for the mistake they committed hundreds of years ago.
Hubert's loyalty might be in the Turox kingdom but his trust in its words is little to none. Since this is the kingdom that their ancestors helped to build.
But the revelation of Lucas about the secret of their city has caused some of them to stand in shock with wide gaping mouths.
It is widely known that Florentine city has existed for hundreds of years, and yet no one from the kingdom has managed to uncover this information, not until Lucas spilled everything today.
Only the members of the 10 great families are aware of this secret and only today that it was revealed to several people who isn't a member of this group.
"Lucas! Enough." Daniel said as he failed to stop him from spilling the secret of the city.
"You have gone overboard revealing that thing to everyone Lucas. That information is not supposed to spread around it can put us all in danger." Hubert said as even him is pissed off about his son's mouth.
"I know what I'm doing father, besides were all in the same boat. Revealing it to everyone in this room won't change anything but it would help us build a better connection with each other. But I hope that as long as we have not revealed these ruins, all of you will keep this secret to your grave." Lucas explains gravely.
"There's a ruin underneath the city?"
"It can even deploy a powerful barrier.?"
"A ruin that can cause the death of all of us, well, that doesn't sound good to me."
Said by Captain Jack, Callisto, and Evan as they are the new addition to the knights of Florentine city.
This is the first time they knew about this dark secret hidden under the thick soil of the Beaufort territory.
"Please for the safety of our home don't let any of this secret leak outside of this room." Hubert said to everyone present in the room as all of them looked at him in dazed.
"We understand Lord Hubert, you can be assured that we would tell no one about this information." Said by Captain Jack, Callisto, and Evan at the same time as they put their hands on their chest as a sign of vow.
"That's also the same for us Lord Hubert we promised that would keep this secret in our graves." Claimed by every soldier present inside the room.
"Thank you, everyone." Hubert said after a sigh.
"Lucas I must say that your idea to use the barrier is good but have you thought about the food stock we have in the city?" Hubert asks solemnly as he looks at him in the eye.
"With our current population even if we used all the food we have in stocks, and rationed it carefully it's only enough to last us for 4 months after that we would all starve to death." Hubert explains as everyone's expression change for the worst.
"Can you guarantee that the fog would banish after 4 months? No one can. The best thing we can do right now is to fight back and solve this once and for all." Hubert declared as he watch the reaction of everyone.
"I would only take official knights as the member of this mission and it would be led by me, in this way we can move quickly from one place to another." Hubert said as he explains his plan to everyone in the room.
"Let's do it, Lord Hubert I fully supported this mission just tell us what we need to do." Hugo declared as he backed Hubert's decision.
"The 10 great families fully supported this mission we would do everything we can to finally solve this crisis." Daniel said as he stand up from his chair and give a solemn salute to Hubert.
"Then we will begin this mission by tomorrow but for now I want everyone to take proper rest as we would need every drop of your energy for that."
"Father can I come with you?." Lucas suddenly asks with worries engraved on his face.
"No, you can't. In case we failed this mission and we weren't able to go back within that day, I want you to immediately activate the barrier without any questions. Do you understand what I mean by this?" Hubert said immediately as he denies his son's request.
"BUT-"
"NO, BUT!" Hubert answered immediately.
"Lucas listen to me, alright?"
"If we failed to go back within that day it only means that the enemy is much stronger than us, and the only one who can protect this city is you. Without me and you, no one can activate that barrier. You need to stay here together with Michael." He said slowly while trying to hold back his emotion.
"You will be the next lord of this of this city, and you better promised me that you would take care of their family alright." Hubert said as he pointed his finger towards the knights from the 10 families present in the room.
"I- I u-understand f-father." Lucas muttered in a broken voice as he was busy trying to stop his tears from flowing.
Hubert looks at his son for a moment showing a small smile on his face and yet the strange look in his eyes bears the sadness of a broken man.
He patted his son's head that is almost as tall as him before hugging him in his arms.
"You would do great son. You definitely will." Hubert muttered in a low voice as he patted his son's back before walking towards Kiel.
"The same for you Kiel, I want you to remain here with my son to guard the city."
"Ha? But why? I'm also part of the knights from the 10 great families and it is my responsibility to follow you." Kiel said in alarm.
"I don't want your family line to end with you. Among us here you are the only that still doesn't have a child, and besides Lucas will need some assistance from someone like you. If we leave the city only a few knights would remain to guard it including you, my son, Michael, Evan, and Captain Jack."
"In case we can't come back I want you to guide him, and also take care of the 10 great families. I can't let everyone go with me because I don't want my son to face the world on his own." Hubert explains to Kiel as he looks at him in the eye before he put one hand on his shoulder.
For Kiel even though it was hard to accept his words but since it was requested by Hubert he can only nod his head in defeat.
"I understand...... I will take care of them with everything that I got." Kiel emotionally said before lifting his hands for a handshake.
Hubert immediately accepted it calmly and with a smile on his face, he bid his last goodbye.
"We're leaving by tomorrow wish us luck with our mission and if we have a chance to meet again I would invite you for a celebration," Hubert said one last time before proceeding to the front to announce one last thing.
"By tomorrow we would leave the city and I want you all to take the remaining time to say some words about your family. If we're lucky to go back I'll invite every one of you for a celebration." He. said before exiting the room.
Leaving everyone in deep thought covered in a solemn atmosphere.