Vernon was among the first to arrive at a particularly large room in the palace, situated on the ground floor. It was a fine room, fixed and cleaned, a long table placed at the center floor, chairs along with it. Gold and silver embedded on the wall, wooden furniture and crafts all around, and chandeliers to light up the place.
The first that arrived here were the servants and the knights. The king had yet to arrive. As it was closing in on the schedule, capital city aristocratic lords began entering the room. A few of them were already here in the palace when they visited the late queen in the throne room. Also, among the new arrivals were a few generals, one of them being of commoner origin.
Not long after, the king himself arrived and sat at the head of the table. He was wearing a formal outfit, and also wearing a tense and serious expression. Vernon remained standing at the wall with the knights on guard. If he was still the king’s butler, he would have been positioned somewhere close to him. However, that was no longer the case.
Vernon glanced at the two soldiers that arrived from the border. They were cleaner and more presentable than before, but one could see they were obviously tense. Could be because of the number of high-ranking nobles that were present.
Vernon then glanced at Marquis Teristro, brother of the late queen, sitting next to the king. He looked a bit haggard, likely because of the passing of his sister and the amount of work he had to handle and supervise.
The crown prince was also present, sitting beside the king. The other prince, however, was nowhere to be seen. Estevan was still out there, searching for his dear little sister. He had been searching around the city region for some time now, but to no avail.
“Lords of Wisteria,” the king rose from his seat and looked at his subjects. “We have urgent news to discuss.”
The nobles all fell silent and listened closely as the king continued.
“As you may know, the Tornridge Empire assaulted our city, which resulted in tremendous destruction, and terrible losses…” The nobles lowered their heads. “But, that is not where it ends. The same time they attacked the capital city, they sent out their armies to begin attacking our border.”
The nobles glanced at each other, their eyes wide in shock. If this was the case, all of them knew what this meant. It was something they’ve been wanting to avoid as much as possible. Something that would incur heavy costs.
The king took a deep breath. “We are now at war.”
A heavy air hung in the room. The nobles leaned back in their chairs, others placing a hand on their heads. The king sat back down.
“Will the soldiers from the border tell us about the situation from the last time you've seen.”
One of the two soldiers stepped forward. “The, the Empire attacked us during the night. They used strange contraptions which shot out balls of fire, and burst upon making an impact. They set off hordes of flames. We tried protecting ourselves from such attacks to a helpful degree.
“However, the Empire also had powerful knights and soldiers. And many of them were capable of magic. From our part of the defensive line, we were doing well last we’ve been there. But we don’t know how long the fortress would last. Furthermore, we don’t know the state of the other outposts and fortresses, and whether enemies had slipped through the mountainous regions or forests.”
Wisteria had a lot of forests and mountains. The kingdom tried covering as much of the border as possible. Placing fortresses and outposts to watch and guard the border. However, there were also parts of the border that would be hard to guard and pass through, which were also unlikely paths enemy armies would take. For they were filled with tough terrains, mountains, and monster filled forests. Still, they couldn’t guarantee no one would dare go through it. They only had to hope the outposts positioned further in the territory would meet and hold them off.
The soldier then continued. “The fortress commander had sent men to request more soldiers from the nearby towns and cities to help with the defense. Still, we are not sure how long our defenses would last, considering the intensity of the Empire’s attack… That, that is my report of the situation.”
The king nodded at him, and the soldier stepped back.
“As you heard, our situation is dire,” the king said. “We’ve made preparations for this moment. But I have to admit, they started their invasion way earlier than our predictions. But at least we have made progress. My son, if you would.”
“Yes, Father.” Eleden rose from his seat. “After we realized that Tornridge had been subtly sabotaging our kingdom, we started a top secret operation that would help us tremendously in the coming war.
“Firstly, stacking rations and optimizing logistics. This comprised buying a vast amount of grains and nonperishable goods. And these goods will then be stored in warehouses in different parts of the kingdom. This way, we can quickly obtain rations when needed.
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“Next are the supply routes. Aside from the main roads, we have also established smaller and secret routes connected to different crucial regions of the kingdom. This will help tremendously in transporting the goods. We have also acquired the full support of a large transport company.
“Next are weapons. We were concerned about a shortage of high quality weapons when drafting men. That is why we obtained the support of a weapons production company, which will also put to use the aforementioned warehouses to store weapons, and the routes to transport such weapons.
“Next is about the coordination of our army. The routes we prepared will also be used to quickly and safely deliver messages from one point to another. In addition, the knights have been taught special ciphers to be used in our messages to prevent the enemy from reading information in case a letter falls into their hands. Our generals have also been oriented on this matter.” Eleden nodded at the generals.
“Indeed. It is way more sophisticated than the coded messages we often use,” said one general.
“I doubt the Empire could easily crack it. Truth be told, I am astonished you were able to come up with such things,” added another.
Eleden smiled a little. “It was proposed and designed by my missing little sister, the princess.”
The generals let out sighs of astonishment. They didn’t expect that Princess Estelia would even come up with something that would heavily contribute to military matters.
“My dear little sister… is extremely smart. Without her… we wouldn’t be able to start our preparations.”
Vernon lowered his head, looking at the floor. That statement was true. Without the princess, none of this would have been possible. It was because of her they even discovered the sabotages the Empire had been doing all this time. It was all her plans that started these operations. It was an enormous loss to lose her in this crucial time.
“At any rate, everything was going well,” Eleden continued. “But with their full scale attack starting now, I regret to inform everyone that our preparations are far from over. It was supposed to take months more. Lord Teristro, supervisor of this preparation, if you would inform us of the progress.”
Eleden sat down and Teristro stood up.
“We haven’t made progress to the amount we’re comfortable with. As was originally planned, the minimum acceptable coverage we should get is seventy-five percent of the territory to the east of the capital. By my rough estimation, we have only covered around forty percent of the eastern region. With the supply of food we currently have in store is of great concern.”
From what Vernon had heard, there were obstructions with the operation. The biggest problem was obtaining supplies for the rations. Food was not unlimited after all. One of the causes of the problem was because they hastened things when the two imperial princes arrived. Their supply couldn’t keep up with the demand. They resorted to buying from merchants from other nations, but even that wouldn’t be completely enough.
“With the Empire now starting their attack, I fear we have to stop or slow down the expansion and focus more of our resources on the battles. We’ll make do with what we currently have. I have also prepared an intelligence network for us to use.”
A noble raised his hand. “May I ask a question?”
“Go ahead,” Teristro answered.
“How many spies do we currently have in the Empire?”
“Plenty.”
Another noble raised his hand. “We have recent news of outer nobles actually switching to the Empire’s side. Are there any more of them we should be worried about?”
“For now, we believe we have minimized the risk of outer nobles betraying us. Any other questions?”
A noble raised a hand. “About the secret preparation for war, why did you not tell us about it? We could have helped.”
“We deemed it unnecessary to let you know when we already had the support of the three biggest merchants in the kingdom. Furthermore, we couldn’t risk the Empire finding out our plans. We couldn’t risk anyone finding out, even if they were capital nobles. Because, as you may know, some of our nobles had already fallen to our enemy. Please do not take it personally.”
The nobles glanced at each other. They seemed both surprised and had understood the reason behind the palace’s actions. Surprised that they were doubted to begin with, and considering that others have betrayed Wisteria for the enemy, they understood that the crown had to keep it a secret.
Although, the crown itself didn’t completely want to keep the capital nobles in the dark. Only the princess wanted to keep it from them. She only wanted to involve those that could contribute greatly, and those she selected. But sometimes, Princess Estelia was too skeptical and distrusting, too paranoid. That was what Vernon thought to be one of her issues. True that it may be a good thing to do, to keep it a secret, but having too much paranoia, what did that tell her as a person? She would even be willing to keep her own family in the dark. That just wasn’t healthy.
It was something, truthfully, Vernon didn’t expect from her. At least, in the earlier times. Has she always been like that? Or did she change?
“At any rate, agents will be prepared for you to coordinate with. Whether to request for resources, or ask them to send and decipher messages, and some others. If there are no other questions, then we can return to His Majesty.”
No one raised a question. Thus, Teristro sat down. The king cleared his throat and remained seated.
“Capital noble lords will be assigned to different regions, you will be the bridge between there and the palace. Coordinate with the local lords, and the knights and generals.” The king received a map of the kingdom from a servant and unfurled it on the table. “As capital nobles, you are expected to oversee and lead those below you. Now is the time to fulfill the responsibilities of your rank. Do everything you can to help win this war. Do you understand?” He said those last words in a regal and stern tone.
Tension was obvious on the faces of the lords. None of them had ever experienced a fight of this scale, not to mention to lead. Although some of them seemed to be brave enough. Originally, the capital nobles were meant to just assist the crown here in the capital, often going out when ordered.
However, a certain princess wanted to put them to work. And work meant sending them out there. She reasoned it would be best for those outside of the capital region to feel the presence of the palace. To put it simply, these capital nobles would be the representatives of the crown. To ensure that the local lords would follow every command and fulfill what was needed of them. She figured that some of the local lords might become too cowardly, or just laze out.
This was almost reminiscent of the time she sent out agents to all noble households. She really wanted to keep a tight control and ensure certainty. And also perhaps she really just wanted to put these nobles to work.
The king read the map for a moment before returning his eyes to the nobles. “I will now start assigning you.”