[Kingdom of Yuinia, Royal Palace Hall]

The generals stood in line below the steps in four rows. Above the steps was the King, who was sat down on his throne. By his side stood the: Crown Prince, Princesses and his Guard. The recent events of the Kingdom and a possible war looming over his people had placed tremendous stress on the King, and he wasn’t feeling well.

The Royal guard was standing on the luxurious red carpet in between the generals. He started to brief everyone within the chamber.

“My Majesty, the 10,000 advanced troops have reached the eastern border with Caesinia and have proceeded to put up a defensive position. The 30,000 reinforcements are 160 miles behind and setting up camp, and the 2000 Royal mages are yet to be deployed.

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“We should send out the 2000 Royal mages as soon as possible. It’s best to have a strong force like them amongst the common soldiers of our army in case of any sudden attacks.” General Quentin advised.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. If we send a force from the Royal Barracks, then that could escalate the situation even further at the border. It’s already tense enough we don’t need to make it worse. They might respond with even greater forces if that’s the case.” General Redwood objected.

General Quentin became angry. “Are you serving our nation or theirs? Are you waiting for the people near the eastern border to be struck down before we make any decisive move?”

General Redwood had become upset that someone accused him of not caring about the people, but he kept a calm and collected appearance as he defended himself. “No, I’m just preventing a war which could hurt our people many times more, and with consequences which last much longer. You are just doing the opposite by speeding up a situation where a direct conflict becomes unavoidable.”

The King raised his palm and silence ushered into the hall. He finally spoke, “hearing both sides I would like to send the 2,000 mages from the Royal Barracks in seven days.”

The Generals bowed to show their respect to the King's orders. General Redwood was upset the forces were being deployed but also thankful they are delayed as much as they could.

All the Generals had raised back up and awaited the next topic to discuss. The Royal guard realised the first discussion has been concluded and spoke after receiving the approval from the Crown Prince.

“My Majesty, we have a report that a Gold-ranked adventurer named Ayane had aided Kibo in his escape when he was exiting from the Lizardmen Dungeon.”

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“Who is that adventurer! Bring her in this instant!” raged the Crown Prince.

“Right away, my Prince.”

The guard quickly marched to the back of the hall, and the gates opened. They brought in Ayane in cuffs as she hung her head low. Her hair covered her crimson red eyes. Ryzeu, Ayano and Lynessa trailed behind as they quickly stopped in front of the closed gates, and watched from a distance.

“You stupid girl, you dare aid a criminal who was wanted by the Royal Palace on treason! How dare you go against the Royal Family.” The Crown Prince fumed.

“To add to that, she is not even showing an ounce of respect to our King! Show her some manners.” Instructed General Quentin

The two guards kicked the back of her legs as she fell to her knees. She didn't make any noise as she kept her head hung low, not caring what was happening or will happen.

The Crimson Hunters looked on with their heads hanging in shame as they could do nothing but watch.

“This is troubling news, our suspect has escaped, and the deadline those other-worlders had given us is nearing. I’m afraid if we don’t have anything to show by the time they arrive. They will take more lives.” General Redwood explained.

Sweat accumulated on the foreheads of other Generals as they remembered how quickly the noblemen the other day was killed. A voice was then heard from the fourth row. A man wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief and spoke with slight anger mixed with nervousness.

“Thi-this isn’t right! If it weren’t for this girl we would have had him by now! She should be given to the other-worlders as a peace offering, so they make an example out of her instead!”

More voices were heard in his corner.

“Yes, that’s right!”

“It’s the best we can do in such troubling times.”

“We need to befriend them not turn them into our enemies!”

Ryzeu looked on in disbelief as to what he was hearing and thought, ‘Kibo is another-worlder? Did he come from a portal? The pieces of memories he had with him came together like a jigsaw puzzle as he began to realise how everything now made sense. Ayano and Lynessa were just as surprised and couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

Hearing the suggestions the King raised his palm and everyone had gone silent. He looked towards General Quentin to continue.

“Hearing the suggestions of my colleagues I would like to sentence the girl with treason, and instead of beheading her we should give her to the other-worlders who had arrived as a peace offering for missing our deadline.”

“Do you want to sell out our citizens for other-worlders? We should be looking out for our own, not selling them out! Every one of our lives is worth more than theirs ever will be.” General Redwood lectured.

“If she put some thought into her actions and did not sell us out for another other-worlder, she would have been fine. She dug her own grave.”

“No one knows Kibo is another-worlder, so to her, she was just defending her team member from false accusations.”

Having no counter to General Redwood’s statement, he let out a puff and looked the other way.

The King raised his palm once again, and everyone watched. The King nodded, which meant he agreed with General Quentin’s idea.

The Royal guards lifted Ayane and carried her out by her arms to a prison cell, and the Crimson Hunters had also left the hall.

Silence fell back upon the hall, and a voice was heard from an unlikely but beautiful person.

“I don’t dare interrupt the meeting between the military officials, but I would like to suggest sending the summoned Hero, to find the other-worlder as soon as possible.”

All the Generals lit up in surprise and happiness. It was like a ray of light breaking through the stormy skies and bringing hope down upon them. Cheers rang out across the hall.

“Yes, the Princess is right!”

“Of course, how could we forget!”

“Send him right now!”

“We are saved!”

“It’s about time he came back from his training!”

“It’s rumoured he has the potential of the legendary heroes from our past!”

“Call him back right now! We need him!”

The King stood up, and everyone immediately went silent as they were surprised by the unexpected movement from the King. Everyone in the hall quickly knelt on one knee as they awaited the King to speak.

“I have decided that we will call back the Hero from his training, and send him on his first mission to find the other-worlder immediately!”