The time of day was still relatively early. The sun hadn't set and was only beginning to reach dusk. Even so, despite the early time of day, a rather shady and less than legal deal was taking place within an inconspicuous building near the border that separated the Re-estize kingdom and the Baharuth empire.
After their little run-in with the princess and Arthur, the duo of Marquis Bulloupe and prince Barbro had left the castle under the guise of getting fresh air from the castle.
The two of them were now in a cabin that was not deserving of noble company, a fact Barbro made completely clear from the very beginning but had to accept.
Barbro was seated on a chair while the Marquis stood beside him, and in front of them were two people.
One of them was Leinas Rockbruise, the only female member of the four imperial knights of the empire, she was a beautiful blonde haired woman with long hair, part of her face was covered by one long bang, hiding the eye patch on her right eye.
Despite half her face being hidden she was still a captivating woman with fair skin that looked smooth and supple, she had a nice mole on the left side of her face below her lips and she wore dark brown Armour and with her she carried a spear.
Sitting beside her was a decrepit old man with long white hair and a long white beard. The man presented an image of a wise old sage who knew the secrets of the arcane arts.
"Alright then, let's begin"
Fluder Paradyne spoke however Barbro frowned.
"Where is the emperor?! does he believe himself to be above this meeting?"
Fluder did not answer but instead looked at the Marquis that stood beside the Prince.
"Your Highness, please understand that two figures of Importance can not meet in such unpleasant places, and You can not be seen meeting with the emperor"
Bulloupe explained, when he brought the idea to the prince, he had planned on doing this alone and perhaps have Blumrush accompany him, but the prince insisted he wanted to come.
Barbro clicked his tongue and remained silent. He was not pleased, as he had hoped that meeting with the emperor would allow him to negotiate for better benefits and support.
"Worry not young prince, I am closest to the emperor more than anything in the empire, the emperor holds my word at high value so be assured that emperor will hear of whatever deal you wish to negotiate"
Fluder assured the prince, but Barbro simply snorted, completely disregarding the old man's words
"We appreciate your words, Lord Fluder Paradyne, and we shall endeavor to ensure that you top get what you need from us"
Fluder nodded to Marquis words, truthfully Jirciniv wanted nothing to do with this meeting or rather meeting with treacherous nobles left a bad taste In his mouth as such he let Fluder handle this with the added caveat of Fluder Negotiate for whatever he wants rather than what the emperor wants.
"As you know, Lord Fluder, we came to you in hopes of aid with a problem, that problem Being two fold"
Bulloupe said, and Fluder nodded at his words. The old man had an idea of what they might want, but he was unsure why that would be twofold.
"One part is that the prince requests aid from the empire in his endeavor to usurp the throne as it has become apparent to us that he may not be able to claim it in the expected way"
"Hmm"
Fluder Hummed whilst nodding and pretending to be thinking about the matter.
"So you want forces that will help in a coup, is that it?"
Fluder bluntly stated and the Marquis gave him a silent nod, unlike Jirciniv Fluder did not judge them harshly for being traitors after all he did not care however he does see why Jirciniv would have such a distaste for nobles of this ilk.
"Before I tell you mind demands, I would like to know what is the other thing you wanted, just to make sure I get the full picture"
"the other part is entirely irrelevant to this conversation. It is in regards to the swordless swordsman I'm sure you've heard of him"
"indeed, his name comes up frequently amongst the workers and adventurers, I hear his sword is so swift and fast that it looks like never draws if during battle"
Fluder confirmed, the fame of the swordless swordsman was something that had reached quite far, Fluder was also quite aware that said swordless swordsman was recently given a noble title.
"You see, at the moment he is a threat to not only the prince's life but a threat to the whole royal family, no one seems to have noticed but I have caught a glimpse of his true nature, that man is a demon wearing human skin…"
Fluder could see the fear within the eyes of the Marquis as he spoke about this individual, and he could not help but have his curiosity peaked.
"Is that so?"
"Indeed, however there is no one who is capable of beating him in combat, not Gazeff not blue rose, as such I was hoping that during the war, you could perhaps work to ensure he does return from the battlefield"
"So want me to kill him because you believe no one else would be capable of doing so?"
"yes"
Fluder gave off another look of deep contemplation, he was only interested in the Re-Estize kingdom because Of the golden light, he wanted to study it and he was certain other mages wanted to do the same, so having Sole rights on that place will be ideal for him.
"very well, you have yourself a deal. My only demand is that I want a piece of land of my choosing once we've completed our side of the deal"
"of course, you have my word as prince that we'll ensure that you get what you deserve"
Barbro stated before standing up and offering a handshake to seal the deal, Fluder followed suit, and the two shook hands, reaching an agreement.
.....
[Next day]
Within the throne room, The nobles were gathered to discuss the coming war with the Baharuth empire, however despite being here to discuss ways in which to defeat the empire many of the nobles were simply here for self interest and simply wanted to push the ideas of their own or the ideas of their faction.
If one's strategy was the one that helped the kingdom defeat Baharuth then that victory Will be attributed to them and will gain significant reward, so to the nobles of the Re-estize kingdom war was something to gain political powers from.
Currently the room was divided into three, Renner's faction, the nobility faction and the Royalty faction, out of the three the Princess's faction was at a disadvantage as it wa composed of smaller nobles with little political power, her major backers were Baron Pendragon and Viscount Aindra but it was fine.
"your Majesty I propose we have the royal army be stationed on the front lines, as the largest army in the kingdom it gives us a numerical advantage not only that but the rest of our forces will be on standby waiting to rotate should your army sustained too much damage"
A suggestion from Marquis Bulloupe, at first glance it seems rather reasonable however it was clear that the Marquis wanted the king's army to sustain damage so that he may use his own force to swoop in and take credit for any possible victory.
"Majesty, I propose that we use create an army made up of all the noble houses, only take about half from each house and have that army be the one who face the Baharuth army and have your army be the one to protect the rear and rotate should the combined force take too much damage"
Margrave Urovana suggested, Urovana was more concerned about a possible couple, as war time is usually the prime opportunity for nobles who want the throne to seize the throne while everyone is at the plains.
At least by his suggestion the king's army would be the first to respond to such a situation and be able to leave the battlefield without worry of the army not having back up, but his suggestion was met with dissenting opinions.
"you would dare have his Majesty's army do something so cowardly?"
"such tactics are beneath his Majesty"
Various Nobles expressed their opinions, mostly one from the nobility factions, among the one who thought the titles of Duke was too far to reach, they instead wanted more land as such saving the king's army when it has taken too much damage will guarantee a reward of land.
"I would like-"
"your Majesty Marquis Bulloupe's suggestion is the most sensible"
Princess Renner's words were drowned out as another noble spoke over her. Of course, he did that intentionally.
"I would like–"
"Your Majesty, clearly the nobility faction has self-interest in mind with their strategy. Please consider my strategy as I believe it is the better option"
Urovana interrupted Renner this time, causing the princess to frown slightly, the interruption was done on purpose again, She knew why that was.
"I would like to–"
"Father consider Margrave Urovana's proposal, his is the most sensible strategy"
Zanac stated purposefully interrupting his sister, although he much rather hear what she has to say unlike most in the room, she was still a rival for the throne and he'd rather she not gain any more achievements.
"are you–!!"
*CLAP!!"
A sudden and loud clap laced with a small amount of Demon lord's haki reverberated throughout the room and forced all the nobles to suddenly shut up and quickly turn towards its direction, their bodies becoming stiff all of a sudden and their hearts momentarily gripped by fear.
Luckily for them, that sudden fear vanished the moment they became silent and paid attention to the originator of that clap.
"Gentleman, the Lady wishes to speak, I'd appreciate it if you let her speak"
Arthur's voice was calm and collected, yet it carried a menacing that made everyone in the room sweat drop and immediately heed his words.
Although it was unfortunate as his interrupted prince Barbro, who was about to speak and that interruption only further amplified the prince's dislike for him.
"Thank you Arthur, nice to know that someone within this court has some manners"
She stated with a smirk on her face, she enjoyed watching Arthur display his power. It made her feel a certain type of way.
"Father I have a much better suggestion, so if you'd be willing to hear me, that would be appreciated"
She spoke, it was utterly disgusting how everyone seemed to be out for themselves, perhaps Purging the nobles would be a good idea, The empire is doing far better without them.
"Alright my daughter, please offer your suggestion"
The king allows her to speak. Being the only woman in a room filled with men must be difficult, so it's understandable that she has difficulty being heard.
"While I do believe that the idea of rotating our army whenever one part of it sustains too much damage, I believe you all are focused too much on which army does what.
you're looking at this war as something to gain individual achievement from rather than something to collectively win. This is why we've never won and only ever reached a stalemate with Baharuth"
Renner stated, this wasn't even a strategy meeting, just a meeting for one side to get the one up on the other, she had always thought they were all incompetent but it's quite surreal witnessing it.
"Excuse my rudeness princess but I don't believe you know what you are talking about, over the years we've been slowly whittling away the empire's forces, over the years they've been using less and less soldiers in their army so eventually these wars will end with our Victory"
Marquis Bulloupe informed, and Arthur held back his amusement before speaking.
"Did it ever occur to you all that the empire might have been doing the same, did it ever occur to you that Baharuth has been using less and less soldiers to give you a false sense of hope.
The fact that you've only ever reached a stalemate with them despite Baharuth using less forces should have indicated to you all that Baharuth was far more powerful than it seems"
Arthur stated.
"nonsense, if that was the case, they would have crushed us long ago"
"Regardless of all that, I have a strategy that may help us finally win, so please listen"
Renner quickly moved on from that topic, it was pointless trying to change the minds of the delusional, although her eyes did look toward Marquis Raeven, she had pegged him to be much smarter than the rest.
'then again, he probably gets shut down whenever he tries to suggest something something sensible, after all, my father is quite the coward'
She thought before turning her eyes back toward her father and began to detail to everyone her strategy for the war.
....
A/N: I wrote this while listening to nerdcore music. It was kinda fun.
Sorry for the late chapter, had a block and I didn't want to post here without posting on patreon
Also check out Shipping fest( Naruto Au) and tell me your thoughts on it.