“Duke Fiesen, Earl Malai, thank you for waiting.”

King Gerheist strode into the royal chambers, with the two nobles standing up to greet their king. The King waved for them to sit down and taking a seat at the front of the table, removing his crown and setting it on the table, much to Ungel Harth’s chagrin. Standing beside them was a uniformed man, dressed in the red and orange uniform of a Gerheist General.

Ungel has been his father’s butler since his rule and now he is his son’s.

“My King, you cannot so carelessly set down a-“ Ungel protested, reaching out his gloved hands to the crown but Johan Gerheist raised his hand.

“No one enters this room until the two gentlemen leave.”

Ungel kept quiet and immediately bowed, taking the crown with him, cradling it as if it was a baby and locked the room behind him.

As the large oak doors with ornamental lions shut itself, King Gerheist looked at the two men.

“General Donovan, what has the General Staff said about the troops?” King Gerheist asked and General Donova, a man in his thirties but a distinguished veteran of the Carmine-Gerheist Wars, took out a scroll.

“Right now, we estimate 8000 men on the Carminian Border. Along the 25 kilometres wide border, there are a total of 6 defensive positions by the Carminian army. Their overseeing commander is Colonel Dusse.” General Donovan said as he read through the details of their briefing.

On the deathbed of King Johan Gerheist’s father, the late leader had summoned the entire General Staff.

“My time… Will be coming soon.” The man whom they had called the Lion of Gerheist croaked, slipping in and out of consciousness as his men held back tears, watching their King in such a frail state.

“That no good disgrace to the Carminian name… Will… Attempt to… Wrestle us to submission.” Volos Gerheist said, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

“Make plans for war… Even if we are to lose… Force it into a stalemate… Let them know that my son is not a pushover…”

“Propose this to my son… When it is ready…”

“Father, you should stop talking now. You need rest.” Johan said, kneeling beside his father and caressing his father’s forehead.

The sick man managed a smile as his son held his hand.

“And so I have lived 86 years of my life. I came to this world, my kingdom in ashes, but I shall leave it, a city of stone,” Volos Gerheist says, his strength seeming to return for a brief moment as he said those words out loud.

Then, his hand slips from Johan’s, as he breathes his last.

“That is a lot of defensive positions for a small border.” Johan groaned and General Donovan nodded.

“That is correct, my King. However, the General Staff is of the opinion that a chance of victory is not at all impossible.”

“Oh? How so?” the King leaned forward, as did the two nobles.

“Colonel Dusse is famous for being incompetent, even by the standards of the Carmine army nowadays. I believe we need to draw all of his men out onto the field to engage us.”

“And how do you propose to do that?” Duke Fiesen asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Duke Fiesen, the General Staff has learnt that Colonel Dusse is in a power struggle with certain sections of the loyalists. We suggest bribing Colonel Vava, a close friend of Colonel Dusse under the cover of a merchant company we can set up.”

Earl Malai nodded as he heard this.

“We can do it easily on my end. We have bribed many Carminian soldiers before,” Earl Malai said and General Donovan smiled appreciatively.

The discussion continued deep into the knight until dawn broke. Ungel knocked on the door several times, receiving permission to bring food and wine for all there. He left quietly each time, not looking at the parchments on the table.

In a game of kings, the less you know, the better.

Lord Black skipped his breakfast, instead opting to ride to the gates of Everett to watch for the convoy. In fact, he was not alone. Both he and Johannes were so happy that they have not slept for the whole night. In fact, Lord Black has sent out Kaisenberg and the knights earlier than usual to head out to greet the convoy.

“Milord, you are here too?”

Lord Black turned to face the accountant, Johannes, who seemed to have headed out early to wait for the convoy as well.

“How can I not? I think I have never been so anxious in my life,” Lord Black said, stretching himself, stopping when he heard a satisfying crack. Nowadays, even the servants remarked that Lord Black looked as if he had received a new tithe.

Truth be told, what Lawrence was carting over was worth more than a tithe anyway.

In the distance, a convoy of wagons rolls forward.

“Knight Kaisenberg and the convoy, my lord!” one of the soldiers ran forward to inform Lord Black who nodded, his lips quivering. Finally… Salvation is at hand…

As the knights rode forward, Lord Black saw what were splatters of blood on the armour.

Activating passive skill – Staunch the Bleeding

Replaces status condition: Bleeding

Activating passive skill – Hero’s Will

Replaces status condition: Shock

“Open the gates!” Kaisenberg yelled as a group of soldiers that Lord Black did not recognize rushed in, carrying a large wooden plank with someone laying on it. Old Man Frost was amongst the men carrying the plank.

Hurrying down, Lord Black and Johannes stared in horror at the person on the board. It was Lawrence Carstein, barely conscious, his face pale and a large axe embedded in his shoulder. A particularly nasty looking axe seems to have embedded itself in the area where the rivets linked his shoulder plate to the rest of his armour.

His attacker was lucky. Extremely lucky.

“What in the devil’s name happened!?” Lord Black shouted and Kaisenberg turned to salute his lord immediately.

“We were attacked by barbarians and we beat them back, but the Honourable Carstein…”

“P-Potion…”

Activating passive skill – Blessed

Replaces status condition: Poison (Nervosa)

Craig and Jacob were kneeling at Lawrence’s side and Lawrence reached into his pouch, barely taking out a potion of healing before his hands fell limply to his side again. Old Man Frost was about to reach for the potion but Jacob moved with a nimbleness that you would be surprised with, quickly feeding the potion to Lawrence who swallowed it quietly.

Soon, the colour returned to his face and he moaned in pain, “Pull out the axe!”

“Let me!” Craig said, taking out a bandage and slowly pulling out the axe to avoid messing up any muscles. Lawrence truth be told wasn’t concerned, but being able to heal such a large wound immediately would raise some suspicions with Lord Black, which was why Lawrence sat through the entirely painful process of having the axe removed.

“God damn it…” Lawrence gritting his teeth as the axe was finally removed. Lord Black on the other hand, was angry to the point where he was red in the face.