"What happened to the two who came running back? Can't we send them in?" One of the commanders asked.
"Those two are never stepping on the battlefield again. Severe PTSD has essentially ruined their lives, and I'm not so cruel enough that I'll send bound to die kids to the battlefield," The king answers.
Suddenly, a knight came bursting through the doors of the rooms, covered in sweat and blood from head to toe.
"John!" One of the commanders shout and judging from the badge on his chest plate, and I could only assume he was a commander as it was the same badge that every other commander had.
"We have information on the war!" The man whos named John shouts.
It didn't seem like good news as John was clearly panicking. You could even tell what his expression was like even when his face guard was up, covering his eyes and mouth.
"Well, get on with it," The king says, clearly feeling the panic and fear radiating from the commander.
"We succeeded in conquering the [Blood Swamp], but only a few hours after when we thought the enemy retreated, one woman, came out of the forest.
In the beginning, we thought she was surrendering, but suddenly, thousands, no hundreds of thousands of undead monsters came crawling out of the ground. She instantly turned the tides of the war, killing almost half the stationed soldiers we had just moved.
And then, to top it all off, a boy in his late teens came out of the woods as well with ghostly white wings and a white tail that whipped around with two opposing flames.
We decided not to underestimate this guy, but it didn't matter as he began to summon thousands of undead monsters alongside the already overwhelming wave, causing us to be forced back into the beginner forest," The commander says, breathing heavily and breaking down on the ground.
My cute little son has been taken to the battlefield, huh? Alright, let's see how you do... future king.
The tension within the room returned as everybody's face darkened… besides Lan, who still seemed to be enjoying himself with a plate of food.
"Lan… can you create an opening for us? Should be easy, right?" The king asks Lan, who suddenly started to pay attention.
"How much?" Lan asks, clearly trying to extort more resources from the kingdom.
"*sigh*... what do you want?" The queen sighs.
"Money. Give me some diamond coins, and I'll go to the battlefield. But remember, you only said create an opening," Lan says before leaving the war council without even saying goodbye.
But it seems nobody cared as they just proceeded with the meeting after dismissing John and getting him some medics to take care of him.
"Now, we'll wait for him to make an opening, so I'll be going to the battlefield as well. I feel this will fail like every other time, but this is probably our last stand.
Reyna, you stay here and make sure no other kingdom tries to take advantage of this situation. Also, try to calm the citizens or provide morale for just the kingdom in general.
Finally, I will be taking all the soldiers left to push through and get this region. We'll move tomorrow morning, so make sure to prepare yourselves," The king says, eyes filled with determination.
The commanders seemed to be set ablaze by the king's confidence, so they joined him while the strategists offered to create an opening plan that the king immediately accepted.
On the other hand, the queen immediately left the meeting room so the people who are actually going to war could focus on creating a plan that could potentially help change the tides of the war.
"Seems the war councils for the next few days won't happen," I mutter as soon as we leave the room.
"Yep," The queen replies monotonously.
Did she want to participate in the war?
"It's alright. I already know what you're thinking… but, you're incorrect as I've been waiting for this to happen for a while. The perfect chance to kill all the high-ranking members of this kingdom," The queen says out of the blue.
My jaw slightly dropped, with my pupils dilating at the same time.
"I guess it was about time to tell you about the secret project I've been working on for years," The queen says, eyes filled with determination.
As we make our way down the massive hallway, we were greeted by a few royals who tried to get a favor from the queen like usual, but I just stood in between them and looked as intimidating as possible.
This made them slowly back away, ensuring they didn't disturb her while we made our way to the training room.
…
"Hey, Bridget, Elisa, Dorna, come here!" The queen calls out to the training room.
In just a few seconds, the names she called appeared in front of her without hesitation while kneeling on one knee, displaying their overwhelming loyalty.
"It's time we make our move," The queen says, causing all three of them to flinch in shock for a second before standing up and following the queen down the hallway.
I just stood in the archway between the training room and hallway, unaware of what I was supposed to do.
"What are you doing? Follow me," The queen says, which I immediately answer with a nod.
As I follow her down the familiar long hallway, we arrive at her room, where I had stayed for the past couple of nights.
But, there was something different today about it. The usual 5 maids that were always present had multiplied into 30 maids who were carrying various weapons.
Their usual expressionless face was now filled with determination and loyalty whenever they glanced at the queen who walked to the barren wall right next to her bed.
She then bent down and whispered something, causing the wall to open almost instantly, and judging by how behind the wall was entirely made from rocks, I instantly assumed somebody used [Earth Magic] or possibly [Grand Earth Magic].
"Don't look so shocked. Just follow and don't ask questions," Bridget says as she walks through the open wall, which led to a spiral staircase leading down.
All I do is nod my head before following the queen down the spiral staircase.
I was still filled with confusion, but as it seemed the air around us was filled with tension, I decided to follow them while waiting for something to happen.
Tump Tump Tump Tump
The staircase continued for so long that I lost track of time but assumed that at least one hour had passed, making me heave a sigh of exhaustion.
"Stop," The queen says, lifting her hand in the air, causing everybody to stop in their tracks.
The Queen places her hand on the stone brick wall next to us and then closed her eyes, probably trying to find something.
Since the queen tried to sense something, I also focused on my senses and calmed my breathing. This caused my heart rate to drop to a very unnatural rate that would've killed mostly anybody.
Huh? What the hell is that?
Immediately after sensing around me, I found an opening behind the wall right next to us. It was extremely long, but the surprising part was at the very end.
There seemed to be a city? And there were hundreds of thousands of humans, beastman, dwarves, and elves living together in what seemed to be a utopian society.
"Okay, I found it," The queen says before letting Dorna place her hand on the wall, causing it to open up like the previous one.
Ah, so she was the one who did that… I guess [Grand Earth Magic] is perfect.
So I guess whispering and checking the wall was only a distraction made by the queen in case anybody was watching... smart.
We all walk through the open hole, only to be met by a large dirt hallway that you would assume a mole had dug from how rugged the walls and ceiling were.
It was as if we were ants crawling through that mole dug hole, creating a sense of insignificance within ourselves which was a bizarre feeling.
"Take your calming pills; otherwise, you're going to go insane," The queen says, and when I turn to look at the maids surrounding me, I saw that they were breathing heavily and sweating profusely.
And it seems it wasn't only the maids, but the 3 guards that the queen had brought along, but their reaction wasn't as severe as the maids.
On the other hand, the queen seemed pretty fine, just about as fine as me, which I assumed was due to [Grand Mind Magic] stepping in and stopping me from going insane?
Wait… haven't I already gone insane, or have I gotten desensitized to terrible situations. Or maybe desensitized to common sense?
"I don't know," I mutter before seeing Bridget stick out her hand with a white pill in the center of her palm.
"Thanks," I say before chucking the pill in my mouth.
Gulp
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