Chương 406: Chapter 379. Preparing For What's To Come

Warrick Dreadnaught's Point Of View" They should be coming from the Northeast, right? With that, I want 4000 Soldiers each sent to both the Northern Border as well as the Eastern Border as reinforcements and to bolster their Staff. Make sure that at least 500 Long Range Magic Users are included in those reinforcements. As a matter of fact, just in case, make it so every Border Castle receives 500 Long Range Magic Users. I'll be demanding Dark Elves and Beastmen reinforcements as well.

I don't want any Elves to place their feet on Diablosian soil. Am I clear?"" But, Sire, are you sure about sending that many Warriors? Don't you think it would weaken the main forces of the Army?" Duke Dalton couldn't help but think aloud, he's usually been a thorn in my side when it comes to Military Matters... Usually, he's a war hawk, but now he's so conservative about solider placement." We need to keep Our Borders well-maintained and have vigilant eyes in case of any further complications."" Such as, Sire?""

Such as an allied attack full of Alfheim and Promethian forces."" I.. I see..." His pensiveness is strange to me. Perhaps he only wanted to play a part while he knew my stance on the war with Promethia? Regardless, the time for patience and strong defense is over. A new war has come to Diablos's doorstep and the starting salvo is entirely my fault.

I was too lax, I assumed that the Elves could be reasoned with since they've never engaged in a war with another Country of their own volition, I invited a hungry wolf into My Lands, and I was idiotic enough to allow it to scratch and bite My People and this Land. As Its King, I won't allow something like this to go unpunished. They wanted a war with Demons and I'll give them what they've wished for." Now that Duke Dalton's question has been answered, is there anyone else who'd like to speak?"

"..." Silence reigned over the Throne Room. I felt that it was a good thing, since I had no desire for any dissidents in My Court for this." With that, our Meeting is adjourned. Commit yourselves to your Tasks, Diablos and her safety depends on it."" Yes, Your Majesty." With that, the War Meeting was over. Admittedly, not everyone was present for it. Crest is busy with directing the Troops already, with things like deployments as well as sniffing out any Spies in Our Ranks.

The latter had nothing to do with the approaching war, it's just that the war coincidentally fell on the timespan we chose to go through our own ranks to out any foreign actors or sympathizers out of the Military. Along with that, Sandra is working hard covertly to dig up information on the most important task we've had since making it back from that Summit... Yes... The Summit... And my biggest mistake." King Warrick, where will you be heading to now, Sire?""

Relax, Jay, everyone's left, you can just call me Warrick. As for where I'm going, it'll be to my office, where My Wife is. We have somewhere to be tonight. You can follow, but after I enter my office, you can just wait there until the shift change, I've already instructed the kitchen to bring you a meal along with Keith. Alright?"" Yes, Sir."" Alright then." I walked with Jay to my office. He was the Royal Guard assigned to me today.

Since what happened, I've been assigned a rotating assortment of Guards to watch my back. I admit, it makes sense, but seeing as neither My Love nor I were injured from the Summit, I don't quite feel the need for all of this extra security. I feel like their time would be used better assisting Sandra's Covert Ops group, but sending Guards and Soldiers to do a Spy's work makes little sense. With my mind full of different thoughts about what to do next, I somehow made it to my office with time to spare. / BANG! /"?"

A loud bang drew my attention to the office, I quickly opened the door to find that it was covered in white smoke." Huck! Hack! Darn! I thought.. Huck! That it would work this time!" / SWOOSH! / Suddenly a gust of air became a twister as it sucked up all of the smoke, it was then blown out of the window into the night sky. That's when I could finally see what was going on in the office. It was mostly empty, except for My Wife and a table full of Mana Potions.

This was a scene that became a regular sight since we've arrived back home from the Summit. She quickly saw me after she was able to catch her breath." Oh, My Love! How was your meeting?"" Everything went well... I'm guessing you're still stuck?"" Unfortunately. And after I made such progress when we first arrived Home as well..." She looked a little dispirited... I messed up, just because I was in somewhat of a bad mood, that doesn't give me the right to make My Wife feel worse with my words.

It's been 2 months since the Summit. Because of John, none of the Royalty at the table were mortally injured from what we now know, was a Magical Device imbued with Explosion Magic... the kind of Magic that the Phoenix Royal Family only has had access to. How the Elves figured out how to harness that ability is outside of our knowledge for the moment. But just because we weren't injured, doesn't mean that we hadn't suffered losses. Innocent Soldiers lost their lives due to the explosion.

In fact, if it wasn't for John, no doubt everyone at the center of the explosion would be dead already. Alan, Aria, Leonard, Crystal, Aqua and I, we all owe John our lives. Because of what happened, Aqua had begun developing a Tracking Magic, so far, she's had little success, but she did make progress on something else." My Love, do you want to visit Sarah and Cynthia? For a change of pace?" My question brightened My Love's expression, I could see the smile that I Fell In Love with form on her face.

It made my own mood brighten as well. That smile was worth more to me than the air I breath nowadays." Sure!" My Wife quickly turned around to wash her face that had some dust in it from the explosion. She seems to be using some Water Magic to help out with the cleaning. Once that was done, she raised her arm and I could feel the atmosphere in the air change. Even more so when a dark, black hole formed near the wall on the Western side of the room.

Once it had formed, looking like a pool of black magma, the liquid-like filling of the hole eventually began to look disturbed and then light began to shine through the black liquid in the hole. Eventually, I could see a familiar place in the hole. It was My Daughter's home in Paradise. More specifically, it was the Foyer of her home." Let's go!" Grip! Pull! My Wife happily grabbed my hand and we walked into the hole and appeared out on the other end.

I'm still surprised that it took all of 2 weeks for Aqua to figure out how to open a Portal like John could with his abilities as a Summoner." 2 weeks... You're never going to stop impressing me, are you, Babe?"" It's less impressive when you realize how I do it. Who would've thought that the hint I needed to make it work would come from John himself? I'll need to thank him when we see him again." She had a bittersweet look on her face now... I can't blame her.

She explained it to me once she was able to use this Portal Spell of hers. She said that she was able to do it thanks to her Family's Special Magic. As a member of the Nova Family, their Special Magic, called "Gravity Magic", wasn't a secret to me. How she was able to use that ability to open a Portal is beyond me. Even when she took that piece of folded paper with 2 dots and stabbed it with a pencil.

Apparently, John used the same method to explain how his Warping Spell worked, but she apparently couldn't understand it until she studied the ideas behind it for around 12 days. Either way, it was too much for someone as simple as me, I'm just glad that her figuring out this Magic made her happy. Since it meant she could visit Our Children whenever she wanted. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation." KING WARRICK!? QUEEN AQUA!?""

Ah, I never get bored of this reaction!" The Head Maid... Janet, has reacted like this a total of 8 times so far. I would think she'd grow used to seeing us in these past 6 weeks, but I suppose a King and Queen, randomly appearing on random days, is a decent reason to be surprised. Aqua couldn't help but comment on the Head Maid's funny reaction." Hello, Mrs. Janet, is Our Daughter home?" She took a moment to regain her composure before beginning to answer us." Yes...

She's currently in the Main Office on the 2nd floor. Along with Lady Anna, Princess Cynthia, Princess Alice, Princess Charlotte, Lady Ruby and Ms. Emily. Would you like me to alert them to your presence?"" No, we'll walk up to them. It'll be fine."" As you wish, Your Excellency." With a bow that showed off her quite large horns, Mrs. Janet continued on her way." They've been meeting there quite a lot. I suppose it's for the same reason."" Yes, how quickly they all want to charge into Alfheim...

It's passionate, but too foolish to take seriously. Thankfully, Sarah and Anna know that as well."" Let's head to them and see if we can smooth anything over."" Sure thing." After the Summit, Alan and Aria wanted to bring Alice back with them to Bestia, The same with Leonard and Crystal with Charlotte. I can see why. The world has become a dangerous place so quickly. But Charlotte argued that she was now a Citizen of Diablos and had Responsibilities as the Chief of Staff for Paradise.

That meant that she couldn't abandon her new home in times of strife. Alice quickly joined Charlotte's argument as well, only this time she argued that as Sarah's Friend, she needed to stay with her during this trying time. Eventually, the parents relented to the wishes of their Daughters. To be fair, it only really ended in the girls' favor when Alice and Charlotte both brought up the idea that them leaving the Country would be looked at as a sign of distrust in Diablos from both Bestia and Darkheim.

The looks on their parent's faces were quite something when that thought had hit the table. Granted, I was thankful for it in a way. I wasn't quite sure how invested Darkheim would be in fighting this war, but now with Charlotte still here in Diablos, if I need to, I can use her as a hostage... I don't want to, but to win this war, Diablos needs Darkheim's Magic and I'll do what's needed to make sure My Country achieves Victory." Like I've said! We don't know what they're doing!

To run into them, head-on, is foolish! Look at what they've already done! We can't approach this like morons! We need to think! Until then, no running off like fools! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?" As Aqua and I approached the office, I could hear Sarah screaming, not with rage, but with frustration, it reminds me of the early days... When I decided to take a defensive approach to the war with Promethia while everyone wanted to form an offensive force and take the fight to Whitestone itself.

Aqua and I looked at each other, only to then be greeted with the door in front of us opening to see Alice, Ruby and surprisingly, Cyn, My Youngest Daughter, all leaving the room, they all were red in the face, not from embarrassment, but from frustration. Aqua and I waited for them to walk away, they didn't even have it in them to greet us, it looks like the argument is causing quite a deep crack to form in their hearts. Before leaving to look after Cyn, Aqua and I proceeded to walk into the office.

It was quite a tense atmosphere in the room. Sarah and Anna both sat at the large desk that John had used as his own, in front of them, occupying 2 chairs of the 5 that were available, were Princess Charlotte and the Human girl, Emily, that John had taken as his Secretary. They were all sitting with their hands in front of their lips, clearly trying to think about a plan of some sort to enact." Father, Mother... It's good to see you again. I'm sorry you had to hear that."

Everyone in the room noticed Aqua and I as we walked into the room together. Sarah was the first to greet us." It's fine, Sarah. We've had similar disputes back when you were small. I take it those 3 still want to form a force to invade Alfheim to look for Matthew?" Sarah nodded her head. It was as Aqua said, John is missing... Well, not so much "missing", we know generally where he is.

Once the dust, debris and dirt of the destroyed castle and land all around us had settled from the explosion, the brown, barren wasteland that formed from the beautiful, lush, green plains was rushed and filled by the Elven Guards who turned out to be Soldiers in disguise. We defended ourselves as best we could, all of us except for Alan had access to Offensive Magic, so we were able to hold out until our own forces arrived to beat back the Elves. The problem was how John was lost in the shuffle.

The only answer we could think of was that the Elves took him, but for what, I don't know. At first, I feared the worst, that was until Sarah and Anna had pointed at the earrings and rings they were both wearing when we returned to Paradise to regroup. They explained that John had given them the jewelry as a gift for their 1st Wedding Anniversary. They also carried a Spell cast by Lily, The Rose Queen, a Spirit Sovereign that John had formed a Contract with on them.

More or less, it showed the general status of whoever the jewelry represented, in the case of the sapphire gems that were glowing quite bright, it was John's own life. He was alive and he wasn't weak. I noticed during the Summit that the Elven Princess was staring at John as soon as she saw him, it was a stare full of passion. It looked like hate, but to me, it reminded me of the way that Yuria, Crest's Wife, stared at him when they first met.

They absolutely hated each other as kids, though for some reason, Yuria kept starting conversations with Crest... Women's minds will always be a mystery to me. Granted, I kept those thoughts to myself as I explained Princess Eve's general attitude to the girls. This led to the explanation that we arrived at. John was abducted by the Elves for some reason. Since then, not a visit goes by where I see Sarah and Anna both wearing their rings and touching them tenderly whenever we speak.

I can only imagine the worry that's going through their hearts and minds at the moment." Yes, they don't understand how complex the situation is... No, they don't even realize how lucky we are. We know he's still alive, we can tell that he's fine. Nothing's happened to him... That makes it all the stranger... Why did that take him?"" There could be a variety of reasons." The Human girl... Emily, she spoke up at the question that Sarah was stuck on." What kind of reasons, Emily?"

Aqua asked her quite quickly, for some reason, there's a sense of familiarity between them... I think it's due to the fact that Emily is a part of that "Alliance" for John that Aqua and Sarah started... Though in actuality, it seems to just be a coalition of women all vying to Marry him... And then Aqua gets to sit back and enjoy the show like it's one of those romance novels she's a fan of. Regardless, Emily answered Aqua's question."

Well, the simple answer would be as a hostage, another would be a bargaining chip with us in particular, or even Promethia."" For Promethia? What would they even want with him?"" Experiments to see why he was chosen to become a Paladin, maybe? Perhaps examine his brain?"" I won't let that happen." pressure... Anna's bloodlust began to pour out of her as she spoke. No doubt she imagined the brain examining could only be done after killing John or something similar." What else?"

After Anna was able to calm down, I noticed how Emily still seemed to have one other idea. I wanted to know what this last reason could be, at least to her. The girl took a moment before speaking, it looks like this would be an unpleasant answer." Well, I've read from old books back in Atheis, that in ancient times, before the start of a battle, when a tribe was certain that they would go to war.

They'd send a small platoon of Warriors to raid the enemy tribes and capture the Son of the Chief of the Tribe or something similar." Everyone in the room became tense as Emily caught her breath from speaking." And then?" Princess Charlotte asked for her to continue." Well... The victimized Tribe would request the return of the Victim. This would happen in a field or somewhere similar, the Best Warriors of the Tribes would show themselves for this hostage release...

Then, the kidnapped Tribesmen would appear, still bound in ropes or chains, he would be forced to kneel in front of his fellow Tribesmen and then he would be beheaded. Then the Tribe would attack the shocked, grieving, angry Tribe." Pressure..." And who would win these battles, Emily?" Sarah released her own bloodlust. Her mana began to release into the room as well... Since when has My Daughter's mana become so... Dark and heavy? There was a feeling of malevolence to it.

I haven't felt this kind of mana in a very long time... Not since the Battle for the Throne that I was able to win. Emily reflexively swallowed before answering Sarah's question." The victimized Tribe would usually be too emotional, driven by their rage and grief... They would lose." The room went silent after Emily had finished answering the question. All I could think about was the fact that I would never allow that to happen. I would charge like an idiot to save him, it's My Responsibility to do so.

Aqua and I dragged him into this world, I'll be damned if I let his life be cut short because of whatever false justification That foolish Elf King had for starting this war. My thoughts, however, didn't matter much. As Sarah and Anna's unified voices cut through the silence of the room and took everyone's attention. Almost like 2 daggers through someone's heart." I see."" That clears many things up." Sarah simply muttered "I see". Anna's words seemed to have reflected how both Sarah and her were feeling.

I was somewhat worried about them, seeing as they're both My Daughters now, one might be a Daughter-In-Law through her Marriage to John, but that doesn't take away from the fact that both Aqua and I view her like a 3rd Daughter." What does it clear up for you both?" Anna only stared at me, she heard my question, but she simply looked to Sarah to answer for the both of them." it's simple, Father. The answer really didn't change for either of us.

When we found out what happened, we already knew what we needed to do if the worst came to pass. If they were ever to take the life that belongs to us or their actions are what caused him to die. There was only one answer."" And what would that be?" Sarah looked calm, as if I asked her what color the sky was. Still, that didn't hide the emotions in her voice, rage, loss, anger, sadness and intent... Murderous intent. And it oozed out of her as she answered my question with 4 words." Extermination of all Elves."