The merchant country, Pena, had a House of Elders under the queen. It was made up of old-timers that have spread their roots throughout the land, merchants who have amassed a fortune, and warriors who have vanquished monsters. Although it looked different, this was none other than the organization that regulated the profits of the influential people in Pena.
It was to that very organization that a proposal had been brought.
The marriage of Raksha El Pena and Brandika Rual Fatina.
Queen Rashka was turning 19 this year, while archduke Brandika was an honorable and brave man. Their union would essentially be a tug of war. One with Pena trying to absorb the Red King into them, while the Red King tried to suppress them.
“Nothing good would come out of getting involved with the Red King! Just look at the royal family of Elrain Kingdom!”
The one who said that was Allen, a childhood friend to the queen and a vice-commander to the Order of the Blue Knights. He was against their marriage.
His words weren’t false, for Elrain Kingdom was at the brink of defeat when they hired the Red King to fight for them. Unfortunately, the price of that was that their supposed King Yuguno was now currently being treated as nothing more than decoration. Their survival was guaranteed, but in exchange, King Yuguno now no longer meddled in politics.
“Perhaps, but the threat from the north is approaching. Already the goblins are 4,000 strong, and the Kushain believers are 5 times their numbers. Do you have any hopes of winning? What with that half destroyed Order of the Blue Knights of yours?”
Allen’s fervent speech was only met with a cold gaze from an elder.
“That’s why we should quickly rebuild the knight order! We still have the holy sword! It’s too early to be pessimistic!”
One of the people from the queen’s faction spoke, but the argument that came shooting back was equally cruel.
“But Aizas, its master, has died. It will take a year before the holy sword finds another master. Unfortunately, that is simply too long. Why did the knight-commander have to die?”
As that grave voice resounded, criticism turned to Allen.
“We shall form an equal alliance with the Red King and accept them into our lands, regardless if the weakened Elrain Kingdom, Kushain Believers, or the goblins be their prey…”
“I can’t change it. It’s obvious.”
Allen clicked his tongue internally. Just the thought of how these people could have possible struck a deal with the Red King and were currently trying to make this marriage succeed made him feel like dung had been rubbed all over him. If he could, he would really want to cut these people down right here and now.
Take care of the princess…
Aizas’ last words were what brought Allen’s raging heart back to a calm.
But he knew full well that he couldn’t fulfill them.
It would be hard to maintain this country without the support of the council. It was impossible to keep a country running on feelings alone.
That’s why Allen tried to speak reason into them once more. Again, he stood up in this battlefield without a sword.
“You overestimate the Red King! They have already lost to the goblins! Rather than relying on some mercs, it would be better for us to rebuild the Order of the Blue Knights!”
The reason the council wasn’t keen on rebuilding the Order of the Blue Knights was one – it would increase Allen and his people’s influence, and two – raising the sand horses cost a lot of money.
Sand horses were amazing monster beasts that could move quickly through the desert for a long time, but they had one problem. They could only eat living monster beasts.
Catching monster beasts were in and of itself a problem. Not to mention, finding such prey within the desert.
From the perspective of the council, Allen and his order lost a bunch of valuable gifts that the council had given him. Of course, these sand horses were indeed powerful weapons.
Truth be told, when the Order of the Blue Knights were in good condition, their might was something that earned them much envy. But after one battle, they were left half destroyed. The desert bandits thus took this to mean that their might had fallen and have once again made an appearance. Dealing with them would once again cost money. Which is why the young Allen was currently rebelling like this.
From the perspective of these people that have left their name in the council, this wasn’t an interesting situation.
The late Aizas was much better than Allen. He was someone who understood his opponents well and understood the politics of this country. Although he had few zealous supporters, that was also what made him ideal as a companion to the queen.
But then he died, and the one to succeed him was a young zealous warrior who has lived his life without having anything to do with politics.
But advantages and disadvantages were two sides of the same coin. While the zealous Allen might not have been suited for politics, he was unyielding when it came to his own beliefs.
The way he thought of his own country single-mindedly attracted a lot of zealous supporters around him, most of which revolved around the young who found the elders disagreeable.
This was also not amusing to the council, but Allen had no way of understanding this.
Pena’s misfortune was that it had no one who could calm the young army in times of need, while also mending the relationship between the elders and the warriors.
With only Queen Raksha able to stop Allen, the elders found the situation dangerous.
If they were to allow the Order of the Blue Knights to be rebuilt, all of their possessions would be gradually used up for the sake of the country. That was how dangerous they saw this situation as.
In the end, the meeting for that day closed without any conclusion.
Allen felt that if only Aizas were alive, the elders would have surely understood.
