...Glasgow Kingdom's capital city...Syvie...
...The Throne hall...
"Your majesty, princess Trisha indeed did us a great favour by bringing us the blueprint. Even though it's still incomplete we can still discover mineral locations that are unknown to the world, giving it to the Romel Empire just because of our loyalty to them is stupid" A black-haired man packed into a ponytail said while gesticulating.
"Uhuh, Count Heyward! Are you saying the King's decision is stupid?!" Another man standing opposite him shouted.
"Marquis Prestcote, the king has not made a decision on this which is while we are still debating on it. And by the side you've been picking so far, I can't help but question if you are a loyal subject of Glasgow or Romel empire. Forgive me your majesty but this shouldn't even be a debate. That blueprint is on the body of a princess of our kingdom, the decision to send it to Romel, means we are sending her. Have we thought of how she will be treated? Have we thought of the chances of Romel even trying to swallow us up with the information they have? We are a kingdom, not a state!!" Count Heyward concluded.
"Do you think we should disregard the alliance?" A pot-bellied man standing next to Marquis Prestcote asked.
"No... I think we should think of ourselves first before thinking of the good of others" Count Heyward replied.
There was silence in the hall for a short while.
"What do you have to say about this Duke Griant, you are the only Duke we have in this kingdom, your opinion matters much." The King said, he was quite old, seeing that his chin was covered with white beards and his eyes were almost closing plus the wrinkles on his face were much.
"Your majesty, I am not worthy of that honour but I think what Count Heyward is saying is right...but instead of focusing on minerals, why don't we use this advantage to enlarge ourselves?" Duke Griant said, he had no beards or moustaches and seemed to be the youngest amidst all the officials. His red, long hair slightly covers his lean, gentle face. His beady black eyes were set delicately within their sockets. A sword left a mark reaching from the right side of the forehead, running across the nose and ending on his right cheek. Even though he had a soft smile on his face, he still looked scary.
"What exactly do you mean when you say enlarge ourselves." The person opposite him who was called Marquis Leland said, afterwards followed a subtle murmur amidst the rest of the officials.
*Uergh* *Uergh*
The murmuring calmed down after the king cleared his throat.
"Continue Duke Griant," The King said.
"Thank you, your majesty. What I'm saying is something anything a loyal subject can think of. The Temper Kingdom had a little internal dispute, the ruler they have is a young lady with no history of some sort, we have the blueprint, we have the alliance of Romel, we don't need to tell Romel empire about the blueprint we have, we can use both Romel and the blueprint to swallow up Temper, increasing our territorial and military strength for us to be able to defend ourselves against Romel"
"But do you think Romel will fight with us in a war that is supposed to make us stronger when they still have King Gilgamesh of Uruk to worry about?" The king responded.
"I know, that is why they will be interested in this war the moment they know about a blueprint of our continent being in the Temper Kingdom. We do know of how much Romel wants to conquer Uruk."
The King squinted his eyes, not that it particularly showed, however, the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes got tighter. "...so we tell Romel the blueprint is with Temper, with their desire to conquer Uruk they will want it. However with the blueprint, an inexperienced leader and Romel's military, we can take the kingdom, expanding ourselves...it's still incomplete, when this over do we submit the blueprint to Romel then, if they conquer Uruk, it'll be bad for us because Romel will grow stronger." The King said.
At this point every other official in the hall was just learning, it was as though it had turned into a private conversation between Duke Griant and the King.
"That is why we must send out people to find the second half of the blueprint, it must be found before the end of the war. When we give Romel one half, we can hold onto the other half, which means during the duration of Romel fighting Uruk, we must fortify ourselves with the other half. No one knows much about Uruk as it is a kingdom that has managed to live in isolation and yet rules the world of trades, but I know it won't be easy for Romel even with the blueprint."
*Buhahahahahahahahahhahahhaaa*
The King let out a loud burst of laughter, "As expected, having you as my subjects calm my worries of having these other airheads." The King said at top of his voice, he stood up and walked down the stairs, reaching Duke Griant who was the first person on the left lineup. "Good, good." He said.
Duke Griant bowed in response.
The King looked around, "You all heard that? I don't have to start telling you what it is you need to work on, do I? Now dismiss!"
They all bowed and began to walk outside the throne hall.
The King clicked his tongue, "...sixty years of being on this throne and I am still always disappointed at their inability. He looked over at Duke Griant who was still standing beside him.
"Duke Griant, do you want to play chess with me?"
"It'd be an honour." He bowed as he responded.
... ... ...
... the Temper Kingdom...Tirianae city...
"Ah! finally, I'm here!!" A certain white-haired guy spread his arms into the atmosphere as he reached the front city gate of Tirianae territory. He was suddenly stopped by the soldiers as he was about to enter.
"What do you seek?" The first soldier asked.
"I came to apply to be a mercenary." He replied.
"..." The two soldiers looked at each other, "...the application has been closed." One of them responded.
"Uh?...alright can I at least enter the city?" he asked.
"No! Come back after the subjugation!!" The soldier responded with his voice.
"You don't need to shout...when will that be?"
The soldier looked at him for a few seconds.
[Your Affinity with the Tirianaen soldier has reduced to rock bottom]
"Find out on your own! Now go away before you are imprisoned."
This certain man rubbed and scratched his hair, he fell on his butt, "Ah!! damn!! do you know how long it took me to reach here?! How can you tell me to go away!! ahh!!"
"Should we just imprison him?" They said to each other and before they were done with their conversation he was gone.