Honey : The Empire's Treasure 377 Last piece

"The King already sent two warships to our front door. I very much doubt he will allow us to build up our army." Braeden responded, drawing attention to the two warships outside the windows.

"There is no other way... Today's battle was a clear forecast of what will happen if we go to war with the King right now!" Ailwin banged on the window plane.

Though he appreciated Mika's quick thinking and skilled Hackingcybing[1], it didn't erase the fact that his hands were tied when facing the those two warships. 

His soldiers, friends and family would have all died here today if it wasn't for her.

He was thankful, but also a little embarrassed that he had to depend on a little fledgling to save himself and his people.

"We(I) need to get stronger."

The room turned silent as they realized Ailwin was talking more about himself than about the Shadow Wolves army.

Calming his emotions, he spun away from the windows. "We need to bring the King's crimes to light. In front of the whole country, he won't be able to move against us so freely."

"How? Aren't you forgetting that Rowood City was blown up! All the evidence of what went on there is gone." Braeden pointed out.

"Damnit!" Ailwin slapped his hand on his office desk. "We need to think of something!? If we don't stop him, we won't survive."

For the next hour, the four of them sat in Ailwin's office discussing how to buy time from the King until chef declared dinner was ready.

 In the dining hall, Mika gave Braeden the stink eye the whole time while he was eating.

The tension between them was at it's worst, but the food was delicious. The whole dinner was muted with just the sound of utensils hitting plates and the occasional conversation here and there.

When the dinner was over, the chef brought out dessert. A tray full of small tarts filled the room with their sugary smell.

The flakey tarts and a tin of cold cream had everyone's stomachs rumbling for a taste.

"Ah! Tarts! Head chef you've out done yourself today!" Braeden exclaimed as he picked up a tart and ate the whole thing in one bite.

"Since we have guests, I thought to make something a little more special as a greeting. Please enjoy…" Leaving the servants to serve the cold cream, the head chef left the room.

A delicious dinner and a wonderful dessert had everyone's stomachs bulging as drowsiness was taking over their minds.

With one last tart left on the tray, and feeling like he has a little space left in his stomach, Braeden reached out to take the tart. Unfortunately, a fork stabbed it and swooped it away from his out stretched hand.

"What the…" Braeden's eyes followed the little tart. Looking up, he saw Mika taking a bite out of it.

"I was going to take that."

"I know." Mika slowly chew the small tart, savoring every bite.

"You know what? Fine! Take the tart for all I care!" Pushing back his seat, Braeden stomped out of the dining room, vowing to himself that he was going to get into those warships without the little brat's help.

The next morning, the whole encampment was busy as Braeden and Captains grabbed anyone and everyone they could to break into the warships.

"Braeden, I highly doubt this is going to work. Why don't you just apologize to Mikaela and ask if she will open the hatches for you-"Ailwin yawned as he tried to convince his friend.

"Wh! I didn't do anything wrong!" Braeden couldn't believe Ailwin would suggest such a thing.

"Well, ...technically you did say something wron-" 

"Besides!... Shouldn't you be the one to get her to open the hatch."

"Whether it's you or Mika who opens the doors, I'll still get inside either way, so it doesn't matter to me."

"You!… Who are you and were is my friend for the last ten years!?"

"Heh… Braeden, do you really need to act this way? Mika may seem a little bold at times, but I think it's quite cute."

"Ugh...get away for me, you are hopeless." Braeden mumbled as he walk away to supervise the men.

By midday, all the army's cybers[2] have given up. They couldn't break into the warships' mainframes at all.

In the beginning, they were enjoying the challenge, however, as the day wore on and failure after failure crashed their screens. The cybers were really wondering if the warships were actually under their control or was this a ploy by the royal guards.

"You guys still haven't broken into it yet!" The sun had already reached it's highest point in the sky and moved on, but they still aren't able to open the doors.

"Sir, the warships' mainframes are much more sophisticated than our own aircrafts. We are trying our best, but it's not good enough…sir." The Head cyber, didn't want to admit it but they won't be able to break into the ships.

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Maybe...get the one who took them down to open the hatches…" The head cyber said softly.

 "If I could do that, Why would I have asked you and your team to come here and waste everyone's time!" Braeden yelled before stomping off.

The head cyber felt no anger at Braeden's out burst, but he really wanted to meet the person who was able to hack into these mainframes.

So far, both General Gilwenys and the Commander have kept the matter hush hush. Even the rest of the soldiers onboard didn't know who took down the fearsome ships. 

Some of the people were saying it was one of the guests they had brought with them, but looking at the group, more than half of them were just fledgelings. There was no way a fledgeling could cyb into such advance equipment.

"Argh...I really want to know." The head cyber cried out.

"Sir, is some wrong?" One of his best men asked after seeing General Gilwenys shouting and marching off.

"No... We are be on standby until further notice."

"Yes, sir."

While the head cyb pulled his men back from the operation, Braeden stood in front of the two warships ready to rip his hair out.

"Apologize and ask her politely-" Ailwin came from behind Braeden.

"Never! Ailwin, never! I will get in there without her help."

[1] Hacking

[2] A hacker or someone who is good with technology.

Chapter end