World Development System 183 114. Decisions taken at the Royal palace.

In Dolores,

Antonio threw his wine glass as he heard about the previous incident from his Knight Commander, "What, They killed 100 of our men blatantly in the Eastern Port? Were you able to catch them?"

The Commander spoke with lowered head, "No Milord. by the time we arrived, they already left the port. However, this is a big stain on our honor. Our men are not at fault though, they were killed by the Ballistas when they charged to arrest them at the port. My Captain lost an arm as well."

The Commander thought, 'Do you expect me and my men fight against those ballistas? Am I stupid or what? We simply waited for them to go or else there would be more casualties without any results while at the same time the morale of our knights would have been low.'

Antonio got angrier as he read the report and roared, "This upstart really gets on my nerves. They dare claim to raise a storm and accuse me of the incident at Greenwoods village."

The commander spoke with a calm mind, "Why don't we use this incident to further strengthen our case against them in the Court tomorrow? I am sure the king will be pissed by now or maybe trying to think of a way to interfere in this battle."

Antonio rubbed his chin and spoke, "Hmm... Yes, We might as well use this incident to our benefit. Immediately prepare for my trip to the Imperial city."

****

Charlie smiled as he read about the report on Greenwoods Village, "It seems the foolish brother of mine was finally able to do something right."

The subordinate spoke with a cautious tone as his lord hated bad reports but he hated his subordinates more for not reporting important events," However, there is a worrying report."

Charlie furrowed his brows and asked, "What is it? Did he found out something about our involvement?"

The subordinate Robin shook his head spoke, "No, that's not it. Count John's men resisted Antonio's men when they were going to be arrested. In doing so they killed 100 of their knights without blinking. Our reports suggest that they were ordered by Count to evacuate immediately and kill if necessary to do so. It seems like he is already treating Dolores as his enemy. Meanwhile, there is heavy movement going on in North-frontier city currently after the previous incident."

Charlie sighed as he read this read, "Phew, it was good that I was cautious and didn't dirty my hands personally. Who knows if that count has the same personality as Brother Lukavv. That count sure is a lunatic and an incredible genius at the same time so it's always good to be cautious. We don't need to worry about him at the moment. We have anyway sparked the fire for this battle. Send the report to Radiant Church. It is their turn to go ahead with the plan."

****

King Lionheart smiled as he read the report about Greenwood Village's massacre. He thought, 'Probably done by those mercenaries, well this is to my benefit anyway. Now finally, I can move against that count and take over those technologies.'

King smiled and ordered his Knight to hold a meeting regarding the previous event, "Arrange a meeting between ministers. I intend to make a decision today. Also, call Plato and Master Eanred right now. I wish to take their counsel."

The knight made a knights salute and headed to carry out the orders, "Yes, your majesty."

****

Both Eanred and Plato were meeting right now after getting the summons from his majesty.

Eanred spoke gravely, "Are you sure, you want to do this, Plato?"

Plato shook his head and spoke, "I have already checked up with our guys, there is no sign of necromancers in North-Frontier Town. As for the dead bodies you have seen? They are most probably the other guys who participated in this war. Currently, we already have the Ballistas which are made from magic metal. So it's expected to be brutal as they have already tested the new weapons. I can't accept your wishes because my instincts say that this count is very dangerous. He has already influenced a lot of people in the Aelius Kingdom. The more he grows, the more dangerous he would be for the Kingdom and the Royal family."

Plato added with a grave tone, "Additionally, even if we choose to ally with that count, it's too late now. There is no turning back now after his slander job on the Royal family. You already know how he circulated about the previous scandal relating to Professor William. King is already pissed because of all the exposes. We could have still talked if it was hidden but he exposed all of this in public. Hypothetically speaking, if we have good relations with that count and chose to help him. Then you should what will happen, right?"

Eanred sighed as he well knew what would happen, "Can't we have a middle ground where we are neutral and play at the flashing point?"

Plato sighed and spoke the realities, "It would still be risky, Fjord was already having interactions with Dwarves and it would have only angered him more if we remained neutral after that previous battle where he lost 5000 of his men. I guess a lot of men will die. I hope the people of North-frontier find peace since it will be hell from now on. I guess that Count was really naive and tried to chew more than what he could."

Eanred shook his head and thought, 'Damn this foreboding feeling which I am constantly getting. How do I explain that this kingdom is in a dangerous position right now? If I had something concrete then I would be able to convince these guys to wait before taking any actions.'

Plato headed out and spoke, "Come, lets head to the chambers, I am sure decision has already been made by the King. Nothing can change it now."

Eanred shook his head and followed Plato.

****

After the meeting with King, Eanred had a bitter face while Plato still maintained his poker face as both of them headed to Court with his Majesty Lionheart.

After the King arrived, the proceedings for the important meeting started, The first important case was related to Greenwoods Village.

Antonio appealed to everyone "I am sure every one of you in this hall knows about the massacre which took just recently at my Border town Greenwood. Not a single person was left alive. All of them were indiscriminately killed by Count John and his men. Barbarians, Absolute Barbarians. I want to remind you all that the same happened with Duke Fjord and his men when they encountered Count John's men, only a handful of people survived that last encounter. And these are not baseless accusations, we have witnesses who can verify that they saw Count John's men heading to the Greenwoods village. I want justice for my subjects, Milord."

Eanred asked a question immediately, "Why is your father, Baron Mendez not present over here? What happened to him."

"Tch." Antonio irritatingly answered, "He is sick lately because of increasing pressures and hence I have inherited his position."

King furrowed his brows as he heard Eanred's question but didn't rebuke him as he was an important asset to the royal family, he thought, 'This old man just creates a problem if things don't go his own way. Neither is he confident in his predictions this time around. I can't wait around for the end of the war and miss out on my chance. I guess I need to give this old man some face and let him ask his questions. I anyway ain't changing my decision.'

King thought, 'From the looks of his answer, it seems he has some hand in this event. Well, I will accept his answer this time around.'

Lionheart stroked his chin with amusement and answered, "I heard about it. Your questions are quite reasonable. Continue."

Antonio spoke with a passionate voice which resonated with everyone in the court, "This is not all that I have to say, Count John's men killed my knights at Eastern port when my men arrived there to arrest his naval officers. They indiscriminately killed my men in cold blood without a shred of humanity, I lost 104 of my men, They impudently created an atmosphere of chaos and fear in the domain's populace while running off when we arrived with a larger army. With these impudent actions of Count John's men, we have decided to block Count John's domain for using our port unless they hand over all the culprits involved in both the massacres. I think this massacre was most likely planned by Demons as they are the only ones who could be this ruthless. I hope they surrender their Demon Generals Vlad and Dearil. No, I hope the Royal family personally interferes as Count John himself is the disciple of that Demon Vlad as most have heard in the underground. I am sure he did this to make a statement to everyone in the Kingdom. The very fact that they again defied the Royal Family's court by not even defending their case is proof in itself that they consider nothing about the rule of the Aelius Family. I hope the royal family takes strict action and bring justice to our men."

All of the ministers were in a hubbub after hearing about the actions of count John's men,

The trade minister expressed shock and spoke, "Really? His men dared to kill so openly? Does he not fear the Royal family even a little bit? He doesn't respect even a single law of ours."

One of the Dragon Knight generals spoke with a little bit of anger, "Who does he think, he is? He is acting as if he is already an enemy of the imperial city just because the previous verdict was not in his favor." he was already pissed by John's attitude from the previous time when he didn't show up.

One of the law ministers sighed and spoke, "Not to mention his blatant disrespect again by not showing up here today. He has fudged a lot of laws because of his use of language which can't be refuted unless the Royal family changes certain laws. I think Count John will certainly have to handover those culprits who killed those 104 men or King's anger won't be appeased."

Duke Rose's internal minister, Brandon this time raised an argument, "Taking a decision and stance without any investigation will create unnecessary rifts, Milord. I hope your majesty reconsider his decision."

It contained a certain bit of threat from Duke Rose's side that they would defy the royal throne if extreme measures are taken.

Antonio smiled and gave today's newspaper, "What if it was personally admitted Count John himself? See this today's newspaper where Count John claimed that his men killed our men for unlawful arrest. He personally gave such an order as he presumed that his men were in danger after the incident at Greenwoods Village. I am sure he is afraid of being found out and hence the immediate orders to evacuate. If he was innocent, he wouldn't have run off packing his bags like a coward."

Brandon sighed as he couldn't refute the facts laid in the newspaper. However, he knew of the orders given my Duke i.e they can't cut their relations with Count John regardless of the decisions made by King today.

Brandon spoke with scrutinizing eyes, "Isn't the coincidence between Baron Mendez getting sick and the attack at Greenwoods village very alarming? I think something is fishy for sure."

Antonio shrugged off as he spoke eloquently and explained, "Not really, Prince Hector and Duke Norman know about this as well, they were quite concerned for father's health for quite a few days already. I guess that Count got to know about this from his demon friends and hence decided to attack us at a vulnerable time with that show of strength."

Prince Hector smiled and spoke, "Yes, father. I agree with Antonio. I am sure those demons helped him spying on us and hence the attack when Dolores was at vulnerable times."

He also deliberately mentioned demons as he knew that his father hated demons that would only rub him off.

Brandon sighed and didn't bother refuting them this time as he knew that what would be the outcome.

Chapter end