The next day, the entire Palace of Edelweiss was buzzing with activity.
Servants hurriedly walked the hallways, as they fetched things that were needed for the conference.
Guards were positioned in every corner of the palace to prevent anyone from harming any of the Sovereigns.
Each King had been given the right to bring two guards with them inside the conference room as their protectors. Since the recent incident had shocked the entire realm, they didn’t feel safe without their own guards by their side.
William was one of the first people to enter the room, while waiting for the other King’s to arrive. Standing behind him were his two friends, Sha and Zhu, who served as his two protectors.
William didn’t bring any of his personal guards, namely Astrape, Bronte, or Titania, inside the conference room because he was afraid that everyone would just ogle them instead of focusing on the discussion at hand.
The meeting between Sovereigns was an important issue, so he didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere by having beauties that could topple nations by his side.
William waited for three hours as all the Kings gathered inside the room. All of them looked dignified in their own right, and the Half-Elf could tell at a glance that they were true Kings, and not someone like him, who was crowned an Emperor because no one else would take its place.
“Welcome, dear friends,” King Alexis said as a way to start the conference. “I know that you are worried about your respective kingdoms, so let’s get straight to the point. Several days ago, we encountered a threat that we have never seen before nor heard about in the past.
“A threat that turned our peaceful world upside down. Fortunately, our Guardians, His Excellency Ifrit, His Excellency Silenus, and His Excellency Henkhisesui, came to our rescue in order to drive the invaders away.
“Unfortunately, they were unable to protect everyone. If not for the fact that his Majesty, William Von Ainsworth was here visiting my Kingdom, things might have gotten completely out of hand.”
King Alexis glanced in the direction of the Half-Elf and the latter bowed lightly.
All the other Kings then glanced in William’s direction. However, their gazes were not ones of gratitude, but contempt.
“So, this is our great savior,” The King of Quince, Kieron, said in a sarcastic tone. “Must we thank you on bended knees?”
The other Kings stared at the Half-Elf as if dissecting him piece by piece. Silence descended inside the room as the Kings did nothing, but simply stared at the Half-Elf who had a calm and collected expression on his face.
“Do not think for a moment that we didn’t find this call for a conference suspicious,” Kieron stated. “I mean, if you are going to create a farce, you should go through with it until the very end. You’re losing your touch, Alexis,” the King of Quince snorted before continuing his statement.
“Imagine, only a day had passed after the invasion and you immediately sent a messenger to inform all of us to gather here in your Kingdom to discuss a Grand Alliance. Oh please… we were not born yesterday, Alexis. At the very least, you should have waited for a week to make it look like it was all a coincidence, no?”
All the Kings glanced in the direction of the King of Edelweiss. All of them wished that they could slap him silly until he coughed blood. Their capital cities were attacked, and yet, he only had one, old, and decrepit fortress destroyed as proof that his Kingdom was attacked as well.
This made all the king’s teeth itch.
Since the Gunnar Federation was established, all of them had been fighting in the shadows. No large scale wars were held, and yet, each one would intentionally make things difficult for the others.
Even so, none of them went as far as to break the delicate balance that they had created for the past hundred years.
Alexis remained calm as if he was enjoying everyone’s attention. A moment later, a laugh escaped his lips, breaking the tense atmosphere that had descended inside the conference room.
“As expected of my rival, you understand me well,” Alexis commented with a smile that made all the guards standing behind their respective rulers want to draw their swords and stab him until he became a pin cushion.
“But, allow me to correct your little misunderstanding, Kieron,” Alexis stated. “A farce was it? You call this a farce? Tell me, if William didn’t send reinforcements to save your capital cities, do you think this farce would have ended with just a part of your city being destroyed?”
Alexis laughed once more, and this time, his laughter grated on everyone’s ears, similar to nails scratching a chalkboard.
“Well, let’s get straight to the point.” Alexis finally stopped laughing and lightly tapped the table with his hand. “What you all experienced is just a preview of what is going to happen two years from now.
“If you think those hundreds of giants were already a threat to your Kingdoms, then what will you do facing millions of them? Tell me, compared to that farce, would you rather see the real deal? Oi oi, don’t even think that you will get away with just a capital city being destroyed.”
Alexis then snorted. “Fools, you should thank us for showing you such a farce. Because if we were serious, none of you would be standing here right now.”
“Y-You!” Kieron roared as he pointed his finger at Alexis’ face. “Who gave you the right to play with the lives of others?!”
Alexis smirked as if he had just heard the greatest joke in his lifetime.
“Play with the lives of others?” Alexis sneered. “Excuse me? Is there anyone inside this room who doesn’t play with the lives of others? Are you that innocent? How did you become King then? Don’t make me look down on you, Kieron. Just admit the fact that in the face of absolute strength, the schemes that you used to become the King of Quince were useless!”
The King of Edelweiss, Alexis, raised his voice as he stood up from his chair.
“Last year, the Granary that was newly built at the border of my Kingdom, which was meant to feed the villages near the Border, was burned down,” Alexis said coldly. “Do you know how many people suffered last year? Do you know how many people went hungry?”
Alexis then raised a finger and pointed it in Kieron’s face before his words, filled with restrained fury reached everyone’s ears.
“Do you know how many people died?” Alexis asked.
All the Kings frowned, but none of them spoke. For them, this was just one of the many things that they had done to each other over the past hundred years.
“So?” Kieron asked back with a sneer on his face. “Do you know how many died when you built a dam, cutting off the flow of the water that went to one of the cities on my border as well? Do you know how many farmers lost their only source of water with which to irrigate their crops? Be grateful that I only burned a granary. I would have burned the villages along your borders if my wife didn’t beg me to stop!”
Alexis snorted. “Exactly my point.”
The King of Edelweiss sat down on his seat once more, and patted the top of the table twice.
“All of us are guilty of playing with other people’s lives,” Alexis stated. “The only difference is the severity of how we play with the lives of others. But, there is one person who is very different from us. An Emperor who rules an Empire whose lands far outstrip our own. And yet… he refused to play with the lives of others in order to get what he wanted.”
The King of Edelweiss then raised his hand and pointed at the red-headed teenager, whose head was lowered.
“It is him,” Alexis stated. “In order to make a Grand Alliance, he decided to meet with the Demigods and used force to make them bow down to his will. Those are Demigods. They’re not a cabbage that you can see growing in your fields that you can buy in bulk.
“For what reason did he do that? Simple. He wanted to ask them to talk to you guys about joining an Alliance for the sake of defending, not only your people, but your kingdoms, and everything you hold dear. He did all that because what he wanted to protect was not just his Empire, but this whole world.
“Do you know? While talking to him, I felt extremely dirty. It was as if all the filth in my body was oozing from my very pores. If it were me, I would have gone on a quest to make this entire world bow to me. But, he didn’t do that. He’d rather go and beat up some Demigods, so a peaceful resolution could be made.”
p
“Now, let’s stop talking nonsense,” Alexis said with a determined look on his face. “Are you ready to fight the last war that we will be fighting in this lifetime? Or do you plan to run away and hide, until your cities, your kingdoms, and everything you cared for in this world, gets trampled by the very Giants that you faced a few days ago? Believe me when I say that the next time you see them, it will no longer be a farce.”
A solemn silence descended into the room before Alexis said the words that everyone didn’t want to hear.
“The next time you see them, it will be the real deal. And I hope that, when that time comes, you will be standing alongside me, in a battle not for our sake, but for the future of the next generation.”
