Mid Evening - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

- Oliver Kaelallan ~

"Ugh…" I let out a groan as I woke up and tried to sit up, but was stopped by a pulsating sensation in my head.

"Why do you keep trying to sit up when you know it’ll hurt..." Helen looked worried as she came to my side and helped me lay back down.

"Ah.. t..thank you…" As I set my head back on the pillow though, I noticed that it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as before. -Did my condition really improve that much on its own?- "I.. think I’m a bit better today..." I spoke with reluctance since I didn't really believe it myself.

Lucy's eyes lit up as she jumped onto the bed. *pouf* "So, he really did heal you!"

Her excitement only made me confused though. "Who’s he?"

"Vasilias!" She responded immediately with a childish smile.

-What? Vasilias healed me?- I quickly turned to Helen.

"According to Martha and a few other maids, Vasilias was in here for several hours earlier." She looked a little stressed as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Noticing her body language, I carefully glanced around to make sure no one besides us were in earshot. "So, Vasilias did come back?"

Helen’s expression looked conflicted as she let out a sigh. "Haah.. yes, thankfully… Right when he returned though, he came by my office to give us a mix of problems and opportunities."

My face was quickly washed with a mix of anxiety and curiosity. "And what do you mean by that?"

"W..well, he destroyed my office and nearly killed the Grandmaster. Then, to top it off, while she was unconscious in the medical ward, one of her artifacts accidentally exploded and made even more of a mess… Outside of that though, Vasilias did give us quite an opportunity."

Ignoring the note about the Grandmaster, I noticed a subtle joy on Helen’s face. -Is it an opportunity in regards to the war? I think it's too early for Lucy to hear about that...- "Lucy, could you step out for a moment? Your mother and I have-"

"It's fine." Helen quickly cut me off with a slightly irritated look. "This will be a good lesson for her." She got up and walked to the nearby desk as she talked.

Lucy, who was still lying across my lap, just looked confused.

"Haah... Are you sure this is alright?" I felt warmth fill my chest as I saw Lucy’s childish innocence. -She’s done well in all her subjects. Is it really that bad to try and protect that lingering purity?-

"Yes." Helen’s expression was more serious than normal. "She is getting to an age where she needs to start thinking like a queen instead of a princess." *tap* Casually tapping the artifact on the desk, an eerie silence wrapped around the room. "Now, where do I start…"

Becoming slightly nervous after hearing her ominous words, Lucy turned to me. "W..what’s going on?"

But Helen didn’t give me a chance to talk. "There have been several assassination attempts on us recently, and, as I'm sure you know by now, the Tower was behind all of them. You have learned about them in your private lessons, right?"

Lucy gave a reluctant nod.

"I’m sure you were told they were a fairly weak group that could only be considered a big group of researchers, but that is not the case anymore." She gave Lucy a stern look as she sat down in the chair next to the bed. "As of a few weeks ago, the Tower finished creating a massive alliance with a majority of the smaller nations on the western half of the continent. This alone was a bit worrying, but a few days ago, we received word that 12 high-nation rank adventurers had gathered in the Kingdom of Zan to come and destroy Kaelallan."

Lucy’s expression quickly turned fearful. "But they can't attack us without declaring war!"

Helen looked like she wanted to laugh at Lucy’s purity. "Sweetie, those rules are akin to chivalry. At the end of it all, if one is strong enough, they’re.. optional…"

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"S..so are we just going to sit here and be destroyed?! The Grandmaster is hurt, Lawton is still recovering, Uncle (Osto) is still gone and Vasilias is sleeping!" She got more upset the more she spoke.

But Helen quickly shut her down. "Lucy, do you know why Vasilias is sleeping?"

"Huh?" Lucy was slightly taken aback. "Is he not just being lazy?"

"Haah…" Helen gave a disappointed look but remained calm. "He’s sleeping because his job is done."

But even though it seemed to go away, her anger returned instantly. "So he’s going to let us all die because he’d rather nap?!"

"Lucy!" Helen raised her voice and made Lucy’s aggression vanish instantly. It took a second for Helen to calm herself again. "Hooh… Lucy, what evidence do you have to prove that Vasilias is simply being lazy?"

With a slightly scared expression, she reluctantly responded. "I.. I don’t know…"

"If you didn’t have any, then why did you assume he was leaving us to the wolves?"

"W..well…" She carefully sat herself up with a slightly ashamed expression.

"Vasilias just got back after killing those very nation ranks, Lucy."

Her eyes widened immediately.

"Do you now understand how bad the situation would have become if you were in my position and made such an assumption?" She reprimanded Lucy with a firmer hand than usual. "I have told you before, sweetie, assumptions are not something people like us have the luxury to make…"

Seeing Lucy’s ashamed look as she fell into thought, I let out a sigh. "Haah…" -I guess she needs to grow more than I thought…- Trying to pull attention off her and give her a chance to sort her thoughts, I turned to Helen. "So, did you receive any other news from Vasilias?"

"Haah, yes, but I’m not sure how I feel about it." She let out a sigh as she calmed back down and sat down.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"According to Vasilias, the conflict in the ‘dragon community’ is somehow tied into all of this."

I looked at her with wide eyes, "So are the dragons going to interfere?"

"Most likely... Vasilias said that the dragons were probably going to destroy the tower themselves if things went well, which would end the war before it started."

"But at the same time, it would give us an opportunity…" My eyes quickly lit up.

"Precisely. If the tower falls, their alliance will fall apart too, leaving those nations as easy pickings."

But even though the situation looked so incredibly favorable, my feelings were still conflicted. -It’s true that this is a massive opportunity...- "But it would just incite more war..."

"Correct..." There was a short moment of silence that followed her confirmation before she turned to Lucy again. "So, Lucy."

She immediately stiffened up.

"What do you think we should do, without assuming anything, and only using the information you can recall with certainty."

"Uhm..." Her voice was shaky from the pressure, but she seemed oddly determined to redeem her earlier mistake. "W..well.. I think it's worth the risk..."

Helen didn’t seem very satisfied with the answer though. "And why is that?"

"Well, Kaelallan has been building its military since the war 6 years ago, so we are the strongest we have been since our founding…" She looked up to look for Helen’s reaction, but only shriveled up more when she noticed there was none. "To make things even better, the nations that were a part of the alliance now have no allies. We could simply take over as many nations as we could before they formed another alliance without worrying about a continent-wide conflict."

Helen stayed serious and didn’t change her expression at all though. "And what is to gain from taking such a big risk?"

"C..currently, what is holding us back is our lack of stone and ore mines. If we took over surrounding nations, we would immediately solve that problem while simultaneously being able to make more from tax whilst lowering the tax rate…"

Helen simply nodded to approve her statement, which seemed to spark a bit of confidence in Lucy.

"The lower tax rate would attract more people from outside, and give citizens an easier time climbing in status. As long as we don’t take a misstep, we will grow immensely in just a few years."

"And what will happen if we misstep, and how could we avoid it?"

Lucy started to clam up again. "W..we as a nation will either be abandoned by the Bay Alliance or drag them into a war that.. could destroy us completely… As for avoiding it…"

Silence filled the room as she struggled to think of how to respond. "What are the three things I have taught you to always avoid?" Helen’s tone was a tad warmer than before.

"Uhm.. greed, overconfidence, and jumping to conclusions?" She looked a bit nervous, but Helen just smiled.

"Exactly. Being level-headed, and being able to make good use of all available resources will make avoiding those things easy. You just need to be able to recognize them when they arise." As she stood up, she reached over and rubbed Lucy’s head. "I know you are trying really hard to live up to everyone's expectations, but you can’t let yourself get reckless…"

Lucy’s cheeks turned rosy from embarrassment as she thought back to getting reprimanded earlier. "I'm.. sorry…"

"Haha, it’s alright, sweetie. Just be a bit more cautious in the future, okay?"

Lucy gave a reluctant nod after a short moment.

There was a moment of silence that followed as Helen continued to try and comfort her, but it was eventually interrupted by Lucy’s stomach growling. *growl*

Her cheeks turned bright red immediately, but it only made Helen and I smile. "How about you guys go get some dinner, I'll have Martha bring me a bite to eat before I go to bed."

Lucy just gave me an embarrassed glance as she hopped off the bed though. "We will come to eat with you, Father… Please wait for us…"

She quickly made her way out of the room without letting Helen or me say anything.

"Haah…" I let out a deep breath as I looked at the door. "Please try and get her to eat in the dining room, and send in Martha. I need to look through some papers and have some time alone to figure out what to do about the whole situation."

"A..alright… Please just call me if you need something…" Before turning to the door, she gave me a quick kiss. "You know I will always follow your will…"