Chapter 260: The Royal Conference (5)

Second Prince Rakan felt his jaw ache just from thinking about Keter. It was the spot where he had been struck by Riri, his strict swordsmanship instructor and warm lover. After hitting him, Riri had left the royal palace.

Afterward, Rakan learned that she had gone to Liqueur. However, he could neither follow her nor hold her back. He knew well that the Kadia she searched for her entire life was in Liqueur, and that once she entered Liqueur, she would never be able to come out again. Even though Rakan knew everything, he had no choice but to pretend he didn’t.

“I was trying to find a way out of Liqueur. I was planning to tell you the moment I found it!”

Rakan tried to reasonably persuade Riri, but he failed, and he was knocked unconscious for two full days by her rage-filled fist. When he regained his consciousness, not only had Riri, his seven-star swordsmanship instructor and precious lover, disappeared, but the royal palace was also in chaos due to the king consort who escaped and a dark wizard’s infiltration.

While dealing with the chaos of the palace and suffering the pain of heartbreak, Rakan thought of one person.

“Keter...!”

Riri discovered Kadia’s location as soon as she met Keter. Rakan hadn’t heard their direct conversation, but it could only be that Keter had told her. He had no idea how Keter knew the whereabouts of Kadia, a high elf, but Rakan’s lie had been exposed and he had lost Riri because of that. In truth, it was Rakan’s fault for deceiving her, but he didn’t think that way.

“I was going to tell her when the time was right, but this troublemaker ruined my plan...”

In truth, it was Rakan’s fault for deceiving her, but he didn’t think that way, and his anger turned directly toward Keter’s family, Sefira.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts and return to reality, Rakan cornered the deputy patriarch of the Sefira family, Hissop.

“Deputy Patriarch Hissop, I would like to ask you about that man named Keter. Who is he?”

The other family heads also listened carefully as rumors had spread that Keter was a secret weapon raised for a long time by Sefira.

Once again, Hissop non-hesitantly said, “Keter is my half-brother and a member of Sefira.”

Everyone waited for Hissop’s next words, but no matter how long they waited, he didn’t continue.

Thus, Rakan pressed him. “And?”

“That is all.”

“

Hah

, so you won’t say it yourself? Then I’ll tell you. Keter is an illegitimate child. It hasn’t even been half a year since he officially joined Sefira. It wasn’t even hard to find out what he did during that time. It was all openly laid out, as if he never intended to hide a thing.”

As the second prince said, Keter’s revealed actions were things that couldn’t be hidden even if one tried.

“He assaulted the merchant-lord of the only trading company that interacted with Sefira, and afterward, he tracked down and captured the knights of the Bydent family who had trespassed into Sefira territory. After that, he participated in the Sword of the South Tournament as an unaffiliated contestant. He became the first to stay in the palace of Lord Eslow, and even confronted Marquess Galahind, a powerful noble of the south.

Phew

... It’s quite exhausting to list all of it at once.”

The family heads, who barely knew about Keter, silently showed admiration. They had assumed he was just a reckless troublemaker, but his record was far more impressive than expected.

“Before going to Sefira, Keter belonged to the city of crime, Absinthe. How did someone from Absinthe manage to get acquainted with a lord, and even get along well with him? And that’s not all. He performed incredibly in the Sword of the South Tournament. I heard he used archery which is unlike anything seen before. Rumor has it that it was astonishing, like magic itself. So let me ask here and now. Keter’s archery, is that from Sefira?”

“It is not. That is an archery style Keter developed independently,” Hissop replied.

“Fascinating. A man from the city of crime independently created an archery style superior to Sefira’s? How could such a remarkable archer remain unknown until now? He should’ve stood out even more in a crime city. And why would someone that skilled remain there? Doesn’t that sound strange?”

Hissop agreed with Rakan’s suspicion. Keter had many secrets. Even his true affiliation wasn’t Absinthe, but Liqueur.

“My apologies, but I know nothing regarding that. Keter didn’t tell me anything about it.”

“Keter didn’t tell you? That’s strange. Aren’t you the deputy patriarch of Sefira? And Keter is a member of the family. It would be reasonable for him to tell everything to the acting head of the family, wouldn’t it? Or are you admitting that you’re nothing more than a puppet head?”

That wasn’t just an insult to Hissop’s pride but also a remark that cast suspicion on his relationship with Keter.

However, without a hint of wavering, Hissop immediately answered, “As you have said, Your Highness, Keter has been with the family for barely half a year. It would be difficult for him to develop any sense of belonging if we pressure him to confess his secrets during a period of adjustment.”

“In that case, I guess we can interpret all of Keter’s past actions as the will of Sefira. Especially the events at Sefira’s outdoor party.”

Although the nobles hadn't heard Keter threaten the princess by saying he would kill her, the destruction of the Council of Senior Nobles gathering was an open secret. Moreover, hadn’t Vector, the third son of the Browning family, been crushed by Keter? But even regarding that, Hissop nodded without hesitation.

“Yes. Keter’s will is also Sefira’s will.”

Everyone in the conference hall stirred. To the family heads, it seemed as though Sefira was provoking the second prince, asking what he was gonna do about it.

Rakan smirked, then crossed his arms and said, “We’ll see how long that confidence lasts.”

Rakan unexpectedly sat back down without delivering any reprimand. Yet, his attitude carried a confident composure, as if he could clearly see Sefira’s future.

Once Rakan took his seat, Crown Prince Rukan said, “The matter of Keter and Sefira is nothing more than gossip. Today, I intend to reveal to you all the fate of this nation.”

The crown prince, who calmed the atmosphere that had been stirred by the topic of Keter, looked around at the family heads.

Then he continued, “A global cold war has continued for decades. The empire claims to desire peace on the surface, yet behind the scenes, it is corroding our kingdom. We have decided we will no longer stand by and watch.”

Striking the gavel twice signified that every word that followed wouldn’t contain a single lie.

“The Lillian Kingdom will start a war three years from now.”

All the eyes of the family heads widened at Rukan’s declaration of war, even the noble families loyal to the crown prince. The same went for Second Prince Rakan. He shot Rukan a look as if hearing this for the first time.

***

War. That single word carried enough impact to scramble the minds of every family head present. That was no casual remark as the crown prince had struck the gavel twice before saying it. He was serious right now, more than ever.

Moreover, he said three years. He would start a war within three years. It wasn’t a short amount of time, but it wasn’t long either. A war couldn’t begin that easily, and once it began, it could only end when a victor and a loser were decided. Additionally, the country that lost the war would fall.

There was no such thing as a war ending ambiguously. In the worst case, both nations involved could suffer losses and collapse together. That was why war had to be approached with caution.

In truth, this royal conference wasn’t originally meant to be a place to declare war. It had an entirely different purpose, and only a few, including the second prince, knew about it. However, the talk of war was something absolutely no one had heard about.

One of the family heads raised a hand. She was the head of the master family of the west, the Forte family. Unlike the heads of all other swordsmanship families, who were men, the Forte family’s head was a middle-aged woman, making her stand out.

“Your Highness, we cannot start a war with Her Highness, Queen Lillian, absent.”

All the family heads nodded at her statement. This was common sense. The kings of each nation were not human. They were all divine beings. Though their retainers were human and could fight one another, who could possibly face a god?

The Four Lords of the Lillian Kingdom were said to be close to godhood, but only close. None of them was an actual god. Although there were transcendents said to be near to the divine, transcendents merely assisted gods and they couldn’t directly confront one. In conclusion, gods had to fight other gods, and for that, Queen Lillian herself was needed. These were issues and realities anyone could understand with a bit of thought.

War only began when one was confident in victory. Even when begun with confidence, one couldn’t guarantee winning. And to wage war without a god? There was no way the crown prince didn’t know this. Therefore, if he still insisted on war, he must have sufficient justification. The head of the Forte family was asking the crown prince for that justification.

“There is a way to face a god, so there is no need to worry about that at all. What concerns me is the matter before that.”

However, the crown prince brushed aside the absence of a god, as if it were nothing.

“Can the Lillian Kingdom overpower the armies of another nation? That must be our priority. Marquis Grace, what do you think?”

When called upon, Marquis Grace responded as if she had been waiting for this moment. “I have converted each nation’s military strength into numerical values. General soldiers score one point, one-star knights score ten points, and so on. Using this method, the Lillian Kingdom totals to 470,000 points. Our neighboring nation, the Baen Kingdom, has 350,000 points, and the Kingdom of Adeus has 420,000.”

When Marquis Grace clearly laid out the differences in military strength with numbers, the family heads admired her. Just when had she prepared something like that? However, Hissop furrowed his brows.

It’s difficult to see this as objective. Even comparing troop numbers, as was done in the past, is unreliable... This is no different from trying to grasp clouds.

Hissop wanted to object immediately, but he held back since the crown prince hadn’t finished speaking.

“It seems our Lillian Kingdom is somewhat ahead. In that case, preparing for war immediately wouldn’t be a problem.”

The crown prince looked around the family heads, as if asking if they didn’t mind in that situation. But none of them answered.

With a disappointed expression, Crown Prince Rukan continued, “As Marquis Grace said, our kingdom leads in military strength, but that alone isn’t enough to start a war.”

War wasn’t a simple game of numbers. Having a large number of soldiers didn’t guarantee victory.

“What is most important in war? I believe it is the knights. No matter how many soldiers there are, they are useless before a great number of knights.”

In theory, a two-star knight could face thirty soldiers, but in reality, a knight could easily slay a hundred. This was assuming the fight took place in a wide, open plain. In a narrow city setting, a single knight could hold off a thousand soldiers.

“Our kingdom has a higher ratio of knights than other nations. That is something to value. However, the Baen Kingdom has engineering technology, and the Kingdom of Adeus has an entire population trained as reserve forces. Just having more knights isn’t enough to guarantee victory in war.”

So was he suggesting increasing the number of knights? Hissop couldn’t discern the crown prince’s intentions. If that was all he meant, there would be beating around the bush in such a way.

“I am well aware that we cannot increase the number of knights within three years. However, raising the capabilities of our knights would be possible, wouldn’t it?”

That indeed wasn’t impossible. The family heads agreed.

“But training has its limits. It does help, of course, but it is far less effective than real experience. When an actual war begins, such training won’t be very useful. Then the solution is simple. They need to experience war themselves.”

Hissop wore a look of disbelief. Only now did the crown prince’s intention become clear.

“I will revive the domain wars, which were abolished two hundred years ago, under a new name. The Family Wars.”

Thump, thump!

This time, the second prince and a few family heads didn’t look surprised, as if they already knew about it.