The light pressure from the golden lips disappeared, and Kilian looked down to see the light and body of Rayden get distorted, slowly fading away.
The bird had also disappeared and Kilian sighed and got up.
His stiff legs stumbled over the floor and, he fell to the bed, exhausted.
The days after were busy.
Jasper would wake him in the morning to drag him to the study, making Kilian deal with paperwork for the Valen fief.
His directions and explanations on how Kilian should handle it was incredibly boring, and Kilian tried to retain what he could.
At least his management of numbers seemed to be more than satisfactory to Jasper, who would study Kilian's sheets after he had scribbled down calculations for expenses, by using certain equations from his old world.
After this Jasper would give Kilian encouraging expressions and bring even more work to the table.
There was a knock on the study Kilian, and after a short reply from Kilian, Dante opened and stepped through the door.
Kilian's face lit up.
"Dante!, welcome back"
There was an awkward silence, where Dante simply nodded in reply, then stayed at the door, standing, decked out in his uniform.
"Dante…?"
Kilian could tell something was different between them, but he could not understand what it was.
'He probably feels guilty again'.
Kilian swallowed hard, knowing none of what had happened on that field had been Dante's fault, but at this moment, his words were stuck in his throat.
'Will there be a time he gives up following such a stupid master like me?'.
Kilian was about to call out to Dante when Jasper entered the room again, hurrying over to the desk.
"Valen is being summoned to the war council again, you have to attend".
Kilian got to his feet in a hurry, almost knocking the chair back.
"Did they find Rayden?"
He didn't know why his insides were suddenly in turmoil, but he wanted to know more.
Jasper shook his head.
"I do not know any details, Young Duke".
Kilian got up and followed Jasper out of the room, with Dante keeping up behind them.
They did not take long to arrive at the building where he had attended the previous meeting with his grandfather, but this time he entered the room and sat down in the chair, with the plaque for Valen in front of him.
Jasper and Dante had not been able to enter with him, and he sat there staring down the many nobles in the room, all seemingly staring back without showing courtesy.
The air felt heavy, and a snort was heard from across the table.
The eldest son of Count Heathgrave was staring daggers into Kilian, making obnoxious snorting sounds, as if to emphasize his contempt for all to hear.
'What was his name again…?'
Kilian tried to remember the old memories he had obtained when getting to this world.
"Fran…cis". The name rolled over his tongue.
The memory he had found was not a good one, and he in return sent Francis a condescending smile, knowing he had a higher rank in this place.
It was a small victory in his mind, but for now he would enjoy it to the fullest.
The sight of Kilian's expression made Francis step forward as if he was going to attack Kilian right then and there, but the Count moved his hand out to stop the motion.
At least the father seemed to use his brain more than his son.
The clear animosity between Kilian and the rest of his family was picked up by the other nobles in the room.
Kilian could only shake his head at Francis, finding the young man stupid for even trying anything when the King would be there any second.
This motion seemed to only anger Francis even more, who now looked like he was about to blow up.
Kilian sat back and emphasized the motion when crossing his legs and rested his hands in his lap, looking back at the Heathgraves with a smirk.
He thought he might as well enjoy this moment of power, and relaxed into the chair, waiting patiently for the meeting to start.
His warm smile was sent to the other nobles present, his eyes locking on to some of theirs, catching them in blushing.
Both men and women, especially the younger generation who were standing as heir representatives, were smitten with the golden-haired man.
The king arrived and the room went silent. Everyone in the chairs nodded as a small courtesy, then turned their surprised gazes at the many knights that followed.
Men in bloodied uniforms and armor had entered with the king as if they were arriving straight from a battle without rest or time to clean up, to be presentable for the country's highest nobles.
Kilian found it commendable, but a few scoffs were heard from around the table.
"We lost.."
The words were stuttered by one of the knights, who stood shaking in front of them all.
Many nobles gave him condescending looks as if the man had lost his pride with those two words, but the king placed his hand on the man's shoulder, mumbling something, making the man calm down.
"This is no longer a war where we can send our knights only".
The king's words made the room silent again.
"Every house here has capable descendants in both combat and magic, the country needs them".
Kilian had an inkling as to what was happening, and the now stunned looks on some of the nobles present showed they had too.
"Every house will represent themselves in this fight, you were trained to be the elite of elites at the Academy, and it was not to just sit around tables, while others fight for you."
Muttering and small outcries were heard.
Kilian thought the king resembled his grandfather in some ways, both being from a time of no-nonsense and many battles, but since then the country had been lucky to have had peace.
'People forget so quickly, and end up repeating the same mistakes'
Kilian thought to himself, sighing at the frightened look some of the nobles already bore on their faces.
The King continued.
"The Amarell Dukedom's young heir has fallen and with him, most of our frontline. They are currently retreating back to the capital… we are losing."
The King let the words sink, and studied the nobles' many expressions before continuing again.
"The creatures supporting the enemy forces are unknown, and we do not have enough information, all we know is that they are hard to kill."
Kilian knew what he meant, magic which was the country's main battle power besides some poking metal sticks had been almost useless against the harpies.
Even with everyone having mana and some sort of magic capabilities, an actual battle mage, useful in combat would be 1 in 50 knights. Even then, a Healer would be 1 in 200, if not less.
The Valen knights had taken more damage than expected, during the ambush, when traveling to the capital.
No one had thought it possible that Cratos Valen had not been enough to easily suppress any number of sudden enemies.
There was still magic that the normal knights could do, but it would not be more useful than a sharp sword, and would only be superior in short 1-on-1 close combat situations.
Kilian's head was feeling a headache coming on, remembering all this info from the many documents, Jasper had vigorously made him memorize in just a few days.
He secretly sent Jasper a small thank you, as he was relieved he knew this information now.
"You all have 1 week to have at least one representative from your family join, each family will decide for themselves, who they will send."
The room went silent.
The King had asked for them, or their heirs to join on the frontlines.
Nobles were trained in combat since they tended to be born with the most proficient skills in magic, but normally they would hold a higher position as a commanding officer, and would not see much battle.
From what Kilian knew, the only nobles with such experience would be the King and Cratos Valen, his grandfather.
The nobles had over time inbred the real magical abilities, and they would make sure the commoners knew the gap between them as well.
Kilian was honestly surprised the king did not demand more nobles from each family for this fight, but the war was still being assessed, and no one knew the full significance of what was to come.
After all, from what Kilian had read, this country had never lost a war. Surprisingly.
Kilian knew his grandfather was already sent out, so he did not have to go, but the horrified expression that was marked on his brother's face was almost amusing.
Based on how Francis was acting in front of all the nobles, it seemed he was all bark and no bite, as the young man looked like his leisurely world had just ended.
Kilian could only smile at the thought of karma existing in this world, a smile that only infuriated Francis more when noticing Kilian's stare was on him.
He remembered the time his brothers had dragged him out of his room, stating how he was too dirty to be in their mansion and had thrown him into the garden's fountain, to clean him off.
The incident caused the young Kilian to suffer from a cold for two weeks after, but the worst thing was the indifferent stares of the servants who acted as if he didn't exist, when he was crying for help.
Kilian shook his head knowing he shouldn't dwell too much, after all, these were not really his memories, but somehow that didn't make him feel less angry or resentful at the actions against the young Kilian.
'At least they will never know they actually succeeded in getting rid of the original Kilian'.
No, instead he would make sure they would regret treating their own brother the way they had.
Kilian left the meeting, following the king as his grandfather had done the previous time.
He was unsure if it was correct etiquette, but since the king did not correct him, no one else dared to.
'Sure feels good to have preferential treatment now'.
Kilian had to admit it felt good being known as a Valen, and he smiled at the Heathgraves as they had to wait for him and the king to leave first.