. . .
Inside the command office, Derman found that the General has not arrived yet, which was to be expected as he had finished with Lord Rolland earlier than he thought. The military command center where the General lived was not in the palace, just one street away from it, while all the administrative authority in the capital resided inside the palace the military was only represented by this command office, where the high officers of the army met with the king for meetings and debriefings.
Inside the office, two officers in uniform were on their desks, one was a wizened, tough-looking lieutenant, identified by the single small golden crown woven in his shoulder, while the other was a young captain, with two golden crowns signifying his rank, he must have been some 30 years old at most. They both stood and bowed respectfully, he nodded back to them and looked out the window and waited.
Before General Bicar Namos took over the military, most officer ranks were given to nobles, now though, there were more and more of the common people rising to the officer rank, however, the Royal Academy had requirements for entry, one of those requirements was high education which mostly only nobles had, it was surprising that the General did not change that requirement, what he did do though was open a military school for children, where they would be trained and educated from a young age, which with time will see more of the common folk entering the Royal Academy.
After some time, the Army General came. Bicar Namos was the literal incarnation of how a military commander should be, he was tall, with wide shoulders and a muscular body, he must have been at least above fifty-five years old, however, he looked not a year older than forty, all strengthened ones aged slowly, there were some that even lived to the age of a hundred and fifty. Derman had genuine respect for this man, and he was eager to have his support.
"Army General" He said, greeting the man, he did not bow his head, a royal must never bow his head to anyone, and especially in his weakened position, if he was to be seen bowing his head to the commander of the military, even if only out of respect to him, it would be taken literally that he was submitting to the military.
"My Prince" the man said with a deep rough voice, and slightly bowed his head to him.
Derman hesitated about how to get directly to the subject, and finally he addressed the officers standing at attention at the side of their desks in the office "The General and I will speak privately" H told them, they looked at the General, who said nothing, then immediately stood and left, closing the door behind them.
"General I know you are a man who loves honesty, so I will not play any games with you or lie to your face, the king is dead by the empire's hand, and the prince, my younger brother, is dead by mine. I know you supported him and wanted him to succeed my father, but that is no longer possible"
With a flat voice, the man asked, "So you want me to support you?"
"No"
General Namos narrowed his eyes, and kept silent.
"What I want, General, is for the military to be on the ready, the empire could cross the border any day now. What I want, General, is for the military to defend this nation"
"To defend? Not attack?"
"We are not capable of attacking the empire, we have neither the manpower nor the resources to do that, and even if we are to attack, then with what objective? The Empire is too large, and has too many soldiers for us to invade, what we need to do is rally the other nations and coordinate a joint defense, that way we can keep bleeding the Empire's resources until they give up"
"And vengeance for the king's murder?"
"The king is dead, we will care for the living now, for our people, that is all that matters now"
General Namos searched his eyes for a long time, until an uncomfortable silence stretched in the office, whatever he saw there relaxed his expression, then he said, "The Military will do as you say, Prince, I already gave the orders for the regiments to assemble and for recruitment to start the moment I was informed that the king was killed. I agree that we can't attack, but I'll make sure those bastards pay dearly for his death, he was a good man"
Derman felt as if a mountain was lifted off his shoulders, but then he noticed something, assembled the regiments as soon as the king died? "what would have happened if I said that I wanted to attack the empire?" he asked, even though he knew the answer.
"Then I was going to stop you, by force if necessary" he answered, with a flat tone. He bowed, more deeply than before and turned to leave, but before he walked away he hesitated and looked at him with sympathy, "I'm sorry for Lady Surafim's murder, she was a good woman, and I know Prince Kalan was the one who ordered it, so I don't blame you for killing him, if you didn't I would have done it myself"
Then he left, leaving Derman alone in the office, with tears streaming down his eyes.
Ever since he woke up, he was doing everything he could to stay busy and not keep thinking about her death, she was gone, and there was nothing he could do about it, he should move forward, he knew that. Nevertheless, he did not stop himself from grieving her death, so Prince Derman wept, until he was interrupted by a whisper.
"Why are you crying?"
Surprised, he hastily wiped his tears and looked around, searching for the source of the voice. There was no one in the office but him.
"Who is there?"
No one answered him, he was alone in the room, and he knew that there were no secret passages connecting to this place. So feeling awkward, he left the office while shaking his head.
. . .