Prelude of War
"Hmm, this is pretty serious. We need to call back the reinforcements as soon as possible. The soldiers there are fighting for a king that already belongs to the enemy."
"It seems like that, your majesty."
I said as I looked at Tobias. I had come to his castle and requested an audience. Good thing the emperor's court was currently going on, making it easy for me to meet with him.
"And what about that woman that you talked about? Is she a devil too?"
"No, she's a human, a resurrector like me, to be precise. She's a dark magician, most probably in cahoots with the devils."
"I see."
Tobias pondered over the situation while I looked around. The courtroom of the emperor was majestic. It was very big, and the ceiling was really high, made out of some sort of coloured glass in a cone shape.
There was the emperor's throne, with a lion's face on its hand rest.
'Typical.'
The other chairs were lined up on both sides of the emperor, for his ministers and officials.
"How can you just believe whatever he says? What if he's a spy from the devils and only wants us to call back the troops? Look at him, he reeks of demon blood."
One of the ministers got up and roared with rage. It was a man with long hair and a big, curved moustache.
"Oh yeah, Earl Rollins? You think I am in cahoots with the devils too? Because I was the one who asked Earl Shura to look into this matter for me."
"What? An Earl?
"When did a new earl appear?"
Tobias said with a threatening and authoritative smile, looking at the Rollins guy.
"I-I wouldn't dare, your majesty. Please pardon my ignorance."
Rollins stuttered with his hand on his chest in apology, afraid he would lose his dear life.
"Earl Shura, please pardon my lack of hospitality. It seems like some people in my court have grown bold enough to trust my judgement.
All the other ministers started sweating profusely hearing the emperor's statement. Doubting the will of the emperor was nothing short of blasphemy in the Sahhan Empire.
"I misspoke, your majesty."
Rollins said as he silently glared at me. I had undone my disguise, as there was no need to be discourteous to the emperor, but that disguise made me seem like one of the demons/devils to these people.
'Man, can't I look a bit more angelic?
—-Or maybe I will just have to eat an angel in future…'
I shook my head at the silly thought, unaware that I just jinxed myself.
"Everyone, the court is over for today. Thank you for your participation. You may leave now."
Tobias shouted and the ministers looked at each other before getting up, bowing towards the emperor and leaving the courtroom.
"Earl Rollings, you may stay behind."
—-Gulp!
Everyone gulped a mouthful of saliva hearing that, pitying the poor earl Rollins.
But none of these sympathising ministers were kind enough to stop and even give a sorry look to Rollins, as they went out of the courtroom without looking back.
I could almost hear the phrase 'Your sacrifice will be remembered' from them somehow.
"Earl Shura, can you please follow me to my study? You too, Earl Rollins."
Tobias smiled kindly as he got up and started walking out slowly. Even his simple steps inside the courtroom seemed grand and majestic.
"As you c-command, your majesty."
Rollins hurriedly said as he followed Tobias. I followed him without saying a word.
I didn't notice the small smile that was continuously on Tobias's face.
***
"Please have a seat, Earl Shura."
Tobias said as gestured towards the comfy sofa inside his grand study room. On one side of the room was shelves after shelves specially & elegantly designed to keep different types of books.
I could swear this place had more books than the Morris's Alchemy house.
I gladly accepted Tobias' offer and sat down on the soft and comfy sofa. Even the hand rest was as soft as the rest of the sofa.
"I think I don't have to say it, but Earl Rollins, you'll have to stand this out."
Still with that smile on his face, Tobias said. Man, was he one to hold a grudge, it was almost to the point of being petty.
`As expected of a newbie, you don't understand how hard it is to be the emperor, do you?`
Prolus scoffed.
'What now? You are saying him being petty is alright? I mean, if I was in place of that Rollins guy, I'd consider myself as an enemy too you know? It's not his fault that I look like this.'
I unconsciously looked at my thick, metallic tail, swaying here and there.
'It is kind of cool though.'
`Dude, what do you think would happen if the Tobias guy just ignored his words?`
'Nothing?'
`He'd be taken as a pushover. An emperor can be petty but not a pushover. If he didn't reply to this blatant insubordination, then more people would start talking to him like that, and that would break his code of conduct. He's the emperor, a person who rules millions upon millions of people. It's better for him to not ignore small mistakes and become petty than to ignore them and become a pushover. In life, the higher you go, the more people there will be who want nothing more than to drag you down.`
'.....'
I felt a large ray of enlightenment covering every single brain cell. To think that such a simple action of the emperor can decide whether or not his people respected him or not.
After watching all those mediaeval movies and dramas, all I have ever thought of such emperor's was that they were just petty. But now that I think about it, every king or emperor that was kind was overthrown out of his throne.
'.....'
"Earl Shura, what are you thinking about?"
"Ah? Nothing much. I was just worried about the devil invasion happening right now."
"Hah! What a model pupil of the empire, truly admirable!"
~~Model pupil my slimy ass! He was just thinking random stuff. This guy sure knows how to charm people, tsk!~~
'Shut up you slimy little pipsqueak, are you revolting against your master?'
~~.....~~
Drew didn't say anything after that and Tobias started telling me about his plans with the Drisica kingdom.
"If it isn't too much to ask, I'd like further assistance from you, Earl Shura. Since you have a good grasp of the current situation."
Tobias asked politely.
"No need to be so polite, please speak up your majesty."
"Haha! Then I won't be polite. I would like for you to go back to the Drisica kingdom and clean it up from the inside out. Of course, I am not going to burden you with all of this alone, you'll have a whole army under your command, and one of our outstanding generals who's already familiar with this situation will help you."
Rollins, who had been listening to this whole conversation, was about to drop his jaws to the ground.
Of course, it was the same for me.
I was expecting another quest, obviously. But I wasn't expecting the scale to be this big.
"Your majesty, you should reconsider this, please. If something goes south, not only will we lose the Drisica kingdom, we'll also lose a large number of soldiers."
Rollins said, almost in a pleading tone. This time, I could definitely sympathise with him. But before I could say anything.
"Earl Rollins, you must have grown balls of steel to be talking back on my orders not once but twice!"
"I've committed a grave sin, please punish me your majesty. But I'll still have to stand my ground, th-this is just sending our precious soldiers to suicide."
My impression of Rollins improved drastically. To think he was such a patriot. Even willing to die in order to save the soldiers and the empire.
`Truly admirable.`
~~I know, right? He seems like the protagonist of the story and Shura is the big bad villain!~~
Prolus and Drew expressed their contentment. Wait, how was I a villai—
"I see, I always knew you were a patriot, Earl Rollins. But do you really think I have called you in here to punish you? I have called here to give you a chance to redeem yourself. Now, don't lose it and be careful with your words."
Tobias said with his eyes curved.
"His majesty is benevolent and wise. I wouldn't dare to question your decision anymore."
Rollins bowed his head with his fist on his chest. His expression filled with gratefulness and respect.
"Earl Shura, I assume you don't have any former experience with leading the army. That's why, I have organised for one of our best generals, and also our rising star to assist you on this quest. Apart from her, Earl Rollins will also be under your command."
'Her?'
Till now, I was thinking that this army general was some smelly dude, but it turned out it was a smelly dudette?
'All army people smell because of sweat!'
I was someone who believed in gender equality, so the girls deserved the same amount of punches as boys if they did something wrong!
"Let me introduce you to her, guard, send her in."
Tobias said and ordered the guard to let whoever was waiting outside, in.
The moment I saw the aqua-haired girl with weapons and armour heavier than even most guys, I knew exactly who she was even without looking at her nametag.
"Elexis??!"
"Oh, so you already know her?"
I unconsciously said her name out loud, and both Elexis and Tobias looked at me surprised.
How wouldn't I know the name of a person that was even more popular than celebrities? She was Elexis, the 6th on the unified ranking, and also, one of the sexiest women in the world (Shura's personal opinion).
'Man, am I looking forward to this quest?'
`Look at this guy. Who'd say that he just got engaged?`
'Just shut up, bitch.'
I retorted to Prolus's sarcastic remark.
***
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