Lisk yawned, as he studied each participant at this gathering. The nobles appeared more or less the same, all wearing barracans and sporting enough jewelry to feed an army for a week. The warriors school pupils and sword masters provided a stark contrast, most of them wore a plain gray coat and yielded rusty weapons.

His eyes stopped when he spotted an unique presence in the room. That man. Lisk gasped. No. That boy. What in the name of the land.

A young man, appearing to be in his teens still, sat at a table by himself, but that’s not what made him noticeable. The adolescent had a husky build, wavy black hair, and large auburn eyes. Even though he was sitting, Lisk could tell that he was very tall. On the table laid a sword enclosed in a wooden sheath decorated with emerald stones.

An old hunchback sat down at the young man’s table and began conversing with the man. Lisk’s curiosity got the better of him as he leaned in to eavesdrop.

“That looks like a solid piece of metal.” The hunchback’s voice was coarse.

The young man glanced at the hunchback, and merely nodded.

“You aren’t from around here, are you?” The older man was clearly in a better mood for conversation.

Once again, the young man did not open his mouth as he answered by shaking his head.

Lisk initially thought the young man and the hunchback are of the same party, but that clearly could not have been the case. He was even more intrigued about the origin of this mysterious teenager now.

“Can I see it?” The hunchback pointed at the weapon on the table.

The young man merely pushed it towards the hunchback without a care. His eyes were fixated in the direction of Sir Pearce. The hunchback unsheathed the sword, sliding his fingers up and down the steel, and nodded approvingly. He was completely within the music of his own world as he rotated the sword around to admire it.

Lisk frowned as he watched the sequence unfold. The sword appeared mostly mundane to him besides the fact it looked very heavy. That can’t be very agile in combat. Lisk thought, but then again the young man looked like a titan so he might not struggle using his clumsy weapon. I would love to see him use it though.

Sir Pearce cleared his throat and grabbed the attention of all the gatherers around. The noise in the room faded quickly like a receding ocean wave. Sir Pearce was a bit stocky, with a rounded chin, and appeared less than noble-like than what Lisk would have imagined. He looked like he had too much greasy food. Lisk thought.

“Good people of Greater Birchland, I gathered you here to voice a grave concern of mine.” Sir Pearce spoke.

He sounds like he’s talking through his nose. Lisk snuck a glance towards the hunchback, and frowned as he realized the old man was still checking out the piece of steel.

“Our new king has broken barriers and a peace that had been upheld for hundreds of years. Our old king had not moved his army into a border he deemed untouchable because he knew the consequences of going into war with our neighbors is mutually destructive. What our young king is doing strikes me as a risky proposition.” Sir Pearce raised his wine glass, took a sip from it, and put it down, “I would like to hear some opinions.”

“I wholeheartedly agree.” A young man with dirty blonde hair and a long ponytail said, “Even if we conquer Crystal Lake Kingdom, we don’t have the proper naval forces to defend the sea. We are just asking for trouble.”

“It’s more than just our defenses. I don’t like making war with our neighbors who we have coexisted with for a long time. The animosity we have with the people there now is unpleasant.” A middle-aged man, whose facial hair covered most of his features, voiced his opinion.

“Points well-taken.” Sir Pearce nodded. He continued, “I also cannot comprehend killing their Duke who was intending to be an ambassador to resolve this whole situation. It was said all he brought with him was several unarmed servants.”

“We need to voice our opinions and have them heard by the king.” The young man with dirty blonde hair said.

Sir Pearce unrolled a piece of parchment and placed next to his wine glass on the table, “I have a petition here for all of you gentlemen to sign. I have voiced our concerns and the king shall see it. I just want you all to read over it and sign on the bottom.”

As people stood up to get in line, a man wearing a thick red leather coat got to the parchment first and proceeded to rip the piece of paper apart.

The gatherers watched in shock initially as the parchment torn apart into little crumbs. Then the dirty-blond young man’s face tingled with rage as he demanded to know, “What the hell are you doing?”

“This idiotic piece of paper does not need to waste the king’s time.” The man who destructed the parchment claimed, “King Joseph knows how to lead an army better than any of you. For he had been doing it since he was nine. Most of you here have never ever even been in a real fight, let alone on the battlefield.”

No one had a response prepared for the man’s words. Lisk supposed that there was truth to what the man was saying. Nobles in the Greater Birchland don’t ever learn combat because they have armguards that do it in their place. Lisk also r ealized that the nobles’ motive of keeping peace with Crystal Lake Kingdom could also be somewhat self-benefitting. The expensive imports, jewelries, vases, herbs and even some commodities like metals and spices, all came from merchants of Crystal Lake Kingdom. These merchants were skilled in sea navigation, mining, and herb harvesting. If Greater Birchland were to merge with Crystal Lake Kingdom, these commodities would be devalued because King Joseph would most likely ask for a redistribution of the resources across Greater Birchland.

The dissenter continued, “All your points are unintelligent to say the least. When we conquer Crystal Lake Kingdom, we would acquire their naval forces, and then expand our influence by the sea.”

“What about the years of peace we upheld? What about the potential unnecessary deaths of soldiers and civilians at the cost of a completely unnecessary war. Our neighbors do not propose any harm to us. Their existence only benefits us. They protect our borders and they bolster our trade.” Sir Pearce argued. His voice was shaky, perhaps he did not expect the presence of such a strong dissenter.

“The strong must get stronger to survive. If the strong does not become stronger but its neighbors do, then the strong will eventually become the weak. This is a long due and necessary action.” The dissenter said, then he raised his hand and called out, “Men, kill these rebels!”

Sir Pearce gasped. Ten people from the various tables stood up and withdrew their weapons. None of the nobles were even armed, so Lisk smirked as he scanned all the pale faces in the room. His heart was racing quickly as well though. He did not want to accidentally end his life in this place.

The tall young man who was sitting with the hunchback stood up casually and walked towards Lisk. “Better get out of here quick.” The young man muttered. Lisk, realizing the young man was talking to him, nodded and got onto his feet.

“Where do you think you’re going, kid!” One of the ten armed dissenters screamed at the young man, sprinting to block the doorway as he brandished his blade.

The young man disregarded the dissenter and walked towards straight towards the door. The dissenter, displeased at the lack of respect he is getting, yelled “dumb shit!” and swung his blade at the top of the young man’s skull.

The young man dodged the attack by simply taking a few steps to the right. He stared blankly at his attacker, then at the blade, and suddenly he tapped his own head, frustratingly remarked, “Oh gracious, I almost forgot! Hunchback, my sword!”

The hunchback, still sitting at his table, smiled, “You have to come get it yourself, I can’t lift it.”

“Who are you?” The leader of the dissenters who torn the parchment demanded.

“That doesn’t matter, General Farvale.” The young man smiled.

The dissenter’s face darkened, as he demanded, “Kill him.”

“General Farvale, why are you so secretive about your identity.” The young man smirked as he went to retrieve his sword. Two armed dissenters lunged their spears at him, but the young man quickly lifted his sword to counter the attack. As soon as the three weapons made contact, the two spears flew high and out of the dissenter’s hands, to a spot about thirty feet away. Two more dissenters swung their rod at him, but the young man deflected the first attacker’s rod with his sword, and stepped away from the trajectory of the second attacker’s rod, which then hit the ground instead. The young man took the chance to swing his sword at the second attacker, who was still readjusting his weapon from his previous miss, but it was too late. The young man’s sword landed on the second attacker’s neck, and the first casualty of the gathering made many of the nobles panic.

General Farvale yelled, “Go! All of you! Get him!”

Before anyone moved, the young man swiftly moved towards General Farvale, and his sword had landed on General Farvale’s neck.

General Farvale shuddered, “What do you want.”

The young man chuckled.

“You want me to release everyone here?” General Farvale frowned. He tilted his head slightly back so he was a bit farther from the blade.

The young man shook his head, “No, I don’t give about any of those people. I want two things. One, you let me, the hunchback, and that man right there in the humble clothes…” He pointed at Lisk, “…walk out of here. Two, tell Joseph to rethink his Crystal Lake decision. Tell him to use his head on the potential impact of the war and see what he thinks.”

“Okay.” General Farvale nodded.

“Move your guards.” The young man said.

“Retreat away from the door, all of you. Let the hunchback and the peasant through.” General Farvale commanded.