Chapter 11: War
The office was plunged into darkness, only a candle lit it somewhat from the corner of the room.
An old man sat with his back to the window, through which the black night sky could be seen, concentrating on writing on a wad of papers. The quill in his hand kept moving, sometimes he scribbled something, sometimes crossed out, sometimes returned to the ink pot, and the movements began again.
The only other movement was that of his other hand, swapping one sheet for another and forming different piles.
The desk in front of which the man sat was filled with these sheets, notes describing and recording all the things that were going on in the Duchy of Barnes.
On the old man's left was a shelf full of books, which listed decades of reporting.
To his right was a gigantic map, covering the entire wall. Although it was not very precise, an entire empire was described in it.
Starting from the northeast to the center, and covering almost a third of the total territory, was the lands directly controlled by the empire of Elyria.
Completely to the west and covering three-quarters of the left side of the map was the kingdom Storona, controlling a rectangle-shaped territory that bordered the empire.
To the east, under the empire's territory, was the kingdom Daksina, which descended to the bottom of the map and was shaped like a comma.
To the south, under the kingdom Storona, and going back to be stuck between the empire and the kingdom Daksina, was the kingdom Prasthana.
The latter had a difference with the other territories: there was much more detail. Dotted lines cut this kingdom into five parts, with one slightly larger than the others. These were the different duchies. Four being controlled by dukes while the last was controlled by the king himself.
The Duchy of Barnes was located in the south of this kingdom.
If we were talking about what was off the map, then to the south were a few small countries, forming a coalition. These lands being of extreme poverty, nobody deign themselves wanting to control them.
To the east was the ocean. A sea monsters infested place that men were unwilling to venture into, with many legendary creatures in the deepest parts. Only the inland seas were passable. To the west and north were other human countries, kingdoms and empires.
The old man, who had his white hair tied back, had lifted his head to look at this map. He couldn't help but sigh, as he was only a poor duke of one of the worst duchies of the poorest Kingdom possible. But even then, he was still loaded with multiple problems.
* bang *
Suddenly, a crash echoed through the room as the door swung open. A warrior entered unceremoniously, breathless, with a letter in his hand. His face was pale.
"Duke Chrisfold! It's urgent, very urgent!"
The Duke, who had frowned at the intrusion of this man, motioned for him to approach immediately. For a warrior to be breathless and ready to collapse for running, there was something really urgent.
The warrior approached, and with a trembling hand held out the letter to the Duke, who grabbed it with a sharp movement.
He took his letter opener and opened the envelope on which a seal was engraved. It was that of the intelligence department of the duchy. The duke feared the worst.
He took the message inside and unfolded it to read it. He only read half of it before his face turned pale. He stood up suddenly, knocking his chair upside down, and banging the ink bottle that destroyed all the documents on his desk.
But he didn't care about anything but the letter as he was still focused on reading the letter, his hands shaking.
He crushed the message against his desk in a fit of rage, and yelled at the warrior still present.
"I want all the nobles of this duchy here right now, do you understand?! ALL! Not tomorrow night, not at 10 o'clock, NOW! Whether they are drunk, having an orgy, with family, or in their bed, I don't give a damn. I don't want a single missing noble, is that clear ?! THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR !!"
The warrior, terrified by the Duke's reaction, fled as quickly as possible to the barracks. Arriving inside, he transmitted the orders and a few minutes later, all the soldiers took their horses before spreading in the whole duchy.
A great upheaval affected the Duchy of Barnes that night.
The Duke, again alone in his study, knocked once more on the table. Unable to control his rage, he threw everything on the ground with a wave of his arm.
After calming down a bit, he turned to put his chair back on its feet, only to collapse on it, as if all life had left him.
"We are doomed."
In one room was a large rectangular table. Dozens of nobles were present, each representing their family and were seated around the table.
At the end of the table was Duke Chrisfold, sitting on the main chair for this assembly in the middle of the night. Directly to his left and to his right were General Chrisfold and wizard Mardrick, respectively, who had already been briefed on the situation.
The commanders as well as the counts of the duchy were seated after them, on the same level. For the other noblemen, the further one was sitting away from the main seat, the less important the status of the person was.
That is why Roland, one of the only two counts who were commanders as well, was sitting directly to the left of General Chrisfold's chair. He was actually wondering what could be so bad that the Duke had gone looking for everyone in the middle of the night.
The duke spoke. He was much calmer than before, but he himself knew very well that it was only a facade that might not last long.
"Well, with everyone here, and each of you wondering why you're here, I'll be blunt."
After a weak pause during which he looked into the eyes of each of the nobles, he continued.
"The king of Prasthana, our beloved king, knows about our rebellion."
As the words left his mouth, exclamation sounds erupted in the room, eyes widening in shock and fear.
"SILENCE."
The noises ceased instantly. It was not the Duke who had spoken, but his brother. The mana infused into the voice of an Advanced Warrior awakened and calmed everyone instantly.
"Stop behaving like children, at least have the dignity of being silent as a nobleman!"
The Duke, hearing his brother's criticism, thought back to his reaction in his office. His expression didn't change, but for a moment he thought about silencing the warrior who had noticed him somehow.
"Duke Chrisfold, what do you mean by that? How can the king know about it?"
"I'm getting there. I got a message earlier in the evening."
He took out a letter and put it in front of him. Although it was crumpled, and even torned in a few places, no one pointed it out.
"This one comes from one of our agents who infiltrated the capital of the kingdom. He is saying in this letter that he has seen one of our agents, a colleague, a man who fights for our duchy, bringing a message to the king. So he was captured to question him about this message. What message do you think this man could have given to the king himself !? "
His voice grew louder towards the end, he tried his best not to let his anger escape, but he honestly wanted to cut off someone's head.
The nobles seated around the table couldn't believe their ears, a betrayal!
"Duke, maybe this message is not genuine, maybe it is a lie to make us act in haste?"
Hearing these words, some of them could not help nodding their heads.
"And how stupid are you ?! Can't you think for a moment ?!"
The burst of voice silenced this noble in stride. It was the wizard Mardrick who was speaking. And although he was not really a nobleman, he was at least the older one in this place. It was without taking into account that he was arguably the most powerful one as well.
"Whether it's genuine or not doesn't matter! If it's true, then it is in our interest to start the war on the spot, otherwise the kingdom will have too much time to prepare. And even if it is wrong, then someone outside of this duchy knows about our preparations, and he could tell the king whenever he wants, and we won't even know. In any case, if we delay the war any longer, we're over. "
An intense silence ran through the room. Roland understood what the wizard was saying, and he actually agreed. If they didn't go to war now, the risk of having to face a kingdom prepared was far too great.
They were to launch a lightning attack in the heart of the kingdom without giving it time to reunite the armies of the other duchies, or it was just over as they had no chance of victory against the whole country.
Their times were now numbered, every nobleman was in the know.
A commander suddenly spoke.
"Duke Chrisfold, if any of our men really betrayed us, I don't think he's all alone, but above all, there's a good chance a nobleman in this room is behind the whole case."
"Even though this is true, we certainly don't have the time or the means to point our fingers at each other. There is a traitor in our ranks, but he will be able to do nothing more than give information to the enemy. He did not have time to muster his armies, so this information will be useless to him. We therefore have no choice but to do with it and launch the assault knowingly. "
The duke rose from his chair, and, looking at each individual, declared to them in a loud voice.
"Today marks the day of the revolution. For our citizens, for our rights, and for our lives. Today, the Duchy of Barnes declares war on the kingdom of Prasthana."