As the members of the round table finished bowing to the Queen they all sat down, there were a total of 15 people within the hall, Rululan sat beside General Rudlert, while the Queen sat beside the empty King's seat, the one who sat at the other side of the King's seat was a man wearing silver armor who displayed great spiritual energy to Rululan's eyes.
"A Màchite does not have the right to stare at his highness like that" said by a man adjacent to General Rudlert, his face was scowling and his eyes was clearly showing anger towards Rululan, "Now now Arctus the town of Maldore is far from the capital" said another, "Indeed it is far, thus you wouldn't expect someone like this kid to learn respect" snickered a woman, "Your highness with all due respect, this boy doesn't need to be at your mercy" said Arctus while staring right at Rululan, the Queen sat there with eyes closed while the one wearing the silver armor looked at Rululan and smiled softly. General Rudlert nudged Rululan's arm and whispered "All the Elfieds here are Generals of different sectors, i know they may sound rude but they are just as shocked as you are" Rululan nodded, a sudden attack has never happened ever since the end of the great siege, all 4 empires had agreed and signed on the heaven will and contract of peace and prosperity, thus if one attacks the other, great heavenly punishment will fall down towards the attacker. Even though the Town of Maldore is little compared to the Town Capital it still is part of the Elfied empire and unless its an inside job, other suspects will naturally be the other three empires.
The empire of Halmian, filled with humans practicing a balance on all sorts of art, from swords to magic, The empire of Vanguards, templars and knights practicing swordmanship and holy arts, and The empire of Wullbred practicing legal necromancy, meanwhile The Elfied empire practices on healing and rogue arts. Other than these four empires and the arts they specialize, no one is allowed to follow a darker path such as demon summoning and demonic control for several reasons and great risks. First is the one who practices such a taboo art will surely loose their spiritual power in exchange for dark energy, or in simpler terms, the exchange of soul to power, the risk within it is great simce spiritual power is akin to the being's existence, without it, its almost equal to a being with no heartbeat and no mind of its own. Second, demonic arts promises great power and control in exchange for greater sacrifice and unruly tortures of the innocent. Lastly, if the one who practices such art looses focus even just a bit, the dark power will engulf their whole being and turn them into a new demon waiting for another fool of a master.
The demon back at the forest is surely one who practiced demonic arts and failed to regulate it as their power grew out of hand, and now after being awakened it's hunger for souls lingered leading to the mass death of those that ventured within the forest. Rululan and Mymyrr were the only two who left the forest unscathed, further seeing the cause of the eerie silence they both experienced. However, the one who set fire throughout the town can't be the demon in the forest.
Rululan's mind swirled with all possible explanation and clues in pointing out who made the fire, as the hall was again silent once the door opened, a man, wearing a long white silk robe, almost illuminating as same as the bright moon on a calm night, his long elegant hair brushed his shoulders and softly dropped up to his waistline, and on his right arm rested a small silver dragon with eyes blue as sapphire and its tail curled up on the man's arm as if a bracelet. His spiritual power much greater than anyone in the hall. It was the King of Elfied, King Ardiel Elfied.
Everyone stood and bowed to his presence, the hall suddenly became quiet. As they were seated the King glanced at Rululan's direction, no expression on his face or even a word, he preoceeded to sit at the King's chair and closed his eyes for about a minute, no one dared to break the silence till he spoke "I have recieved the news, and I can vouch for the Vanguard's as they did do not have anything about this" the King spoke, General Arctus seemed to have a hint of frustration in his face as he listened, while the others were silent as ever. "You're Highness, the people of Vanguard are as plently as ours, one may eventually make such felony!" General Arctus argued, King Ardiel glanced at his direction and he automatically sat down and shut his mouth, the King then looked at the entrance of the hall and nodded at the two Elfieds guarding the door, "I have my word and so does the Main Templar of the Vanguards, as he spoke the door opened and another man marched inside, he wasn't like any Elfieds, his ears weren't long and pointed, it was more like a Halmian's ear, his physique however showed bothe ellegance and power almost the same as the King's. Rululan couldn't help but follow ever single step this man makes while walking towards them, his hair was tied into a low ponytail, his armor was black adorned with gold linings, by his waist was a longsword sheathed in an elegant case of ebony and gold markings, his silver eyes reflected still water under the illumination of stars, his skin was almost comparable to that of the finest pearl. Seemingly in a trance, Rululan didn't notice his slowly gaping mouth, the man knelt down and bowed, "My apologies for disturbing such a meeting" his cold voice echoed in the hall, it sent shivers down Rululan's spine. "As to what King Ardiel has said, I, Vallier, the Main Templar of the Empire of Vanguards, swear under my name, the innocence of my people."
Everyone was silent, the King motioned Vallier to stand up, "General Rudlert, this child?" the King asked, Rululan gulped after hearing those words "He is Rululan your highness, one of the two survivors" General Rudlert replied, the King nodded and looked at the empty seat on Rululan's left side, "and the other survivor?" he asked, General Rudlert replied "the other one was Mymyrr Valign of the Valign family of rougues your highness, he is currently visiting his family as the wish of General Liann himself" the King nodded once more and looked back at the templar "If you wouldn't mind, you can sit beside the child Vallier" he continued, Vallier nodded and went to sit beside Rululan without any word. "You better behave yourself more now Rululan" General Rudlert whispered, Rululan looked at him and gulped "w-why?", General Rudlert shook his head sadly, "you may not know this but he is considered to be the most silent yet brutally powerful templars ever to live in this world, he may look old but he's only 24 and he has already made a huge contribution to the Vanguard Empire as the youngest main templar, thats equal to the main general in commad in our Empire" hearing General Rudlerts explanation Rululan started to tense up, he was sitting beside a scary person, and to top it off, the one sitting beside him accomished great lenghts who is just 5 years older than him. "Will your friend join us?" the Queen asked, Rululan didn't know how to respond, he did hear Mymyrr say that he'll be back but he doesnt know when he'll be back, General Rudlert seeing Rululan having difficulties in answering spoke in his stead "The boy Mymyrr will not be joining us Your highness", the Queen smiled and nodded "very well, let us start the meeting" she added, "hah, General Rudlert you seem to take a liking to that Màchite going far enough as talking to his stead" General Arctus hissed, Vallier looked at him almost equal to a glare, General Rudlert shook his head in a dissapointed manner, and General Arctus went silent once more. Feeling all the more unwelcomed, Rululan couldn't help it anymore, he stood up and bowed apologetically to everyone in the hall. "Rululan, sit down, dont mind his words" General Rudlert said encouraging him to sit back down, all eyes were on Rululan now, he gently shook his head and smiled softly "I think it would be better without me in here, although i may be a survivor prior to the issue, i can always speak about it without needing to be in a meeting like this" after saying his words he bowed more apologetically and started to walk his way outside of the hall. "Hah! no matter how you act as educated as you can you're true colors will always show Màchite!" General Arctus' words echoed throughout the hall as the doors closed behind Rululan.