Benton was sitting in a conference room, watching as people steadily entered. He had finally gotten out of that god-forsaken mountain and returned to the city. The conference room was a sub room of the castle, and one of the princes was sitting beside him. The eleventh prince was an obnoxious man, and quite frankly a fool. Still, he would need to be careful around the man as he was gifted just like any of the royal family. Looking at the man from the corner of his eyes, Benton felt the heat building in his stomach. The man was making light of the situation, showing up in a multicolored suit, rather than a proper uniform.

Most people believed that every child of the royal family was great, but Benton know better. Only the first ten children were truly talented, the rest were not much better than himself. However, they were all gifted with a small fraction of the king’s power. All of his children had been granted a similar blessing to his majesty, but they paled in comparison. Even still, each of them was far better than any chanter. He scoffed at some people’s belief that it was the same power. Foolishness, the difference in power should be enough to prove that.

The meeting finally got started as the final man took a seat. They were seated around a wide circular table, a map laid out in the middle. A lantern hung from the center and acted as the only source of light in the room. They were in a hidden room of the castle, and the grey stone walls were etched carefully. The countries code of honor was written across the walls, surrounding the table, and all of the officials. It was designed so that they would always remember them, no matter what danger the kingdom faced.

Normally he would want to spend time reading it, but he had more urgent matters to move towards and motioned with his hands to silence the building whispers. The room grew so quiet, that the patter of rain could be heard. Considering their location, it probably meant that there was a storm outside.

“Report.”

Benton spoke first, asserting himself as the one to lead the meeting. His voice carried in the silence, cutting through it like a knife. A servant at the side of the room stepped forward. The servant was a boy, and despite his facial hair, General Benton knew that the boy could be no more than twenty years old. No amount of discipline and uniform could make him into a proper man. The boy held a few papers in his hands and began reading them aloud shortly after receiving the command.

“Reports have arrived from every city. It was a resounding victory for us, and we have won every battle.”

Whispering and muttering were passing through the seated officials, but Benton wasn’t at all shocked by the information. It was exactly what he had expected, he was more curious to see what their losses were. The boy knew better than to stop though and continued with his reports.

“We suffered ten percent casualties across the ascended, and only a single of the chosen had died. None of the knights faced any battle and received no casualties.”

The boy started going into more specifics of each battle afterward. Benton listened, and he grimaced at every use of the word ascended or chosen. Such terminology was disgusting. Those improved by the elixir were truly strong, but that wasn’t enough to grant them titles like those. It would merely overinflate their egos and lead to problems with control. He had attempted to stop such things, but the other generals didn’t share his opinions. His eyes slowly wandered over to Sir L in the corner. That man had grown too close with his charges, but he was famous for his compassion. It was ironic considering the devastation that man had caused in the previous war.

The boy continued talking for a little while, and Benton only listened superficially. Most of the reports were in line with what he expected. The chosen had been the ones to take the walls while the ascended acted as extravagant distractions. Each of the chosen proved their worth and had managed to take down several chanters each.

When the report moved to the city of Ogrish, Benton saw Sir L sit a bit straighter. That is where the majority of his division went, not to mention that Cedric boy whom he had grown close to. It was strange to see one of his stature care for someone like Cedric, but it didn’t matter. The results were enough to exonerate the man. The boy had somehow managed to kill almost twenty chanters on his own. That feat alone was impressive, but it was the other accomplishments that made him stand out. The boy had become someone who had received the respect of most of the enemy soldiers along the wall, and he had survived literal lightning too. A feat that was still being talked about.

Benton didn’t believe those reports at first, but there were too many signs of confirmation. The chanters had managed to summon lightning, a feat he thought was reserved for the royal family. The second princess had been able to do the same, and none of the king’s other children were able to recreate it. Chanters weren’t supposed to be able to do the same. Those heathens at the council were stepping too far. How many abilities of the royal family would they copy, such an act was revolting just to think about?

They would need to be put down, and he thankfully had the means to do so. Cedric and the other chosen seemed more than capable enough to kill the councilors themselves. If only the king would get involved, then their victory would be assured. As the thought entered his mind, he dismissed the notion immediately. He would need to discipline himself again, for such a belief was heinous. The king in his wisdom had never used his power on another living being, and wishing him to do so, revealed a weakness within Benton’s own mind.

There was a loud commotion after that bit of information, several of the generals worried for their next battles. Lightning was a dangerous thing to work with and was thought to be divine in nature. Many of them were probably doubting the efficacy of their battle, and he knew he should add his own input.

“Remember that the lightning had not managed to stop one of our chosen. Even if he was the most durable of the bunch, I bet more could accomplish the same feat. Furthermore, the elixir was almost ready for the knights themselves to use.”

While the majority of the knights wouldn’t be much stronger than the ascended, they would be far more skilled. Not to mention, that it would let them see who could handle stronger forms of the elixir. Cedric’s body had proven just as useful as his military accomplishments, as they had been able to slowly increase the purity of his elixir without his notice. Honestly, that boy was already a monster, and no one would listen to his desire to kill the child. It was too late now, and he didn’t think that boy could even die anymore. However, his mind hadn’t been greatly improved and he still worked well as a soldier and a test subject. The doctor was one of those who loved the child, using his developments as one of the key points of her research.

Benton would need to give that boy some credit, and even raise his station. He would talk with the others about it, but it was a consideration that would need to be made. Cedric was too powerful, and he needed to make sure that he felt bound to the kingdom. Scanning the crowd, he considered which of these had daughters that would be good fits. The boy was young, and Benton made a note to search for a partner for him. Sir L would probably even support that decision.

The discussion didn’t last much longer after that battle was discussed, and they moved on to what the next steps would be. This first attack had been an ambush, one he knew would have been before the council’s predictions. For all their supposed wisdom, their military tactics were pitiful. If not for their chanters, Larkin would have long since conquered Elpis. Finally, they had evened the odds and would begin their reclamation in truth. The discussion grew heated as they tried to figure out where to send each division. The divisions were marked by their most significant member, and the current discussion was on where they should send Cedric’s unit.

Despite his physical abilities still being a bit lower than someone like Brigid, his endurance made him unmatched. Each of the chosen already had the power to kill chanters easily, it was merely a matter of speed and endurance. Someone like Sam had managed to avoid any serious damage, but even that was less valuable than someone who could simply ignore it. Cedric’s value was high, and he was certain to win his battles.

Looking over the locations that the other officials were arguing about, Benton took what he could from their dialogue. One of the officials, a merchant of some kind wanted him to take one of the port cities. Establishing trade lines with other nations could open the way for reinforcements. Even as small as Larkin had gotten, it had left its mark on the world and had formed allies that would not perish so easily.

Another wanted him to take one of the more advanced cities in Elpis, hoping to use their technology and tools against them. It was important to consider such a thing, but he knew that most of the soldiers would feel wrong using those devices. Looking over the map, he ignored the other discussions. He saw the location.

He grabbed his stick and pushed a token over to one of the cities. The man was too large to reach the center by hand, and he needed to use a tool to move things at the center. He pushed the token over to the city of Thacktall, a mountain city positioned just beyond the reach of the capitol. It is also one of the most difficult cities to conquer, but it would let them better monitor all movements in and out of the enemy capital. The location would also prove pivotal to conquering the cities that the two officials had mentioned earlier. Honestly, it should have been the obvious location, but it had been neglected because of its natural protection.

It would be impossible to send a sizeable army to such a location, but a smaller force of stronger fighters would be able to make the journey. He would probably need to push the timeline for the knight’s first elixir test up. He would want to send some proper knights with Cedric, and it would be important to make sure they could at least try and keep up. It would be heavily guarded though, and Benton knew that the councilors would probably get involved now. The first battles had caught them off guard, but now they would be preparing to enter the fray themselves. Unlike the king and first prince, the councilors had no problem with using their powers against another person. All that did was prove to him, that the king was the only one to truly deserve his abilities.

There was a little debate on sending the boy’s troop to the location. It was deep into enemy territory, and while holding the city should be easy, they would not be able to send additional support to it. It would essentially act as a temporary conquest, and that annoyed many of those present. He was a little surprised to see that Sir L supported his decision, and Benton made a mental note to speak with the man later. He wanted to avoid getting on the bad side of the king’s brother, even if he wasn’t as powerful.