( The Unity Palace, StrongHaven City )
Almost as soon as Julien wrapped up his meeting with Cedric, he was called in for an emergency war council meeting by his information head Nysa, which prompted both him and Cedric to walk-over from the throne room to the war council room in urgency.
By the time Julien reached the war-council room, he saw that his son Nathan was already in there sitting alongside Nysa, his information head and Commander Thalion, the chief-of-army for all his forces.
Although Julien did not approve of Nathan's attempts to pretend like he was the crown- prince, since only the crown-prince was allowed to attend war-council meetings, he decided to let the matter slide just this once, since he did not wish to discourage ambitious behavior in his children as well.
"My Lord…."
"Lord….."
"Father…."
Everyone stood up in respect, as soon as Julien walked into the room, however, Julien did not care much for the formalities.
"Sit–" he said, not even taking a moment to soak in the greetings as after years of receiving them daily, he had grown quite numb to them.
"What is it Nysa? Why have you called for an emergency war council meeting?
I hope you understand that Sir Cedric and Commander Thalion are very busy men…. I ho–" Julien started, however, he was forced to pause mid-sentence as he observed the man that showed up at the door of the council room.
"Apologies for being late, my lord…. Flying is prohibited within the palace walls and I don't walk too fast" said a handsome man with a thick beard, as he walked into the war council room, holding a massive staff.
"Welcome, Tower Master Zephyr…. I did not expect to see you here today" Julien greeted, as he eye'd Nysa anxiously, wondering as to why she had invited the leader of the Mage Association to this meeting.
Just as Julien thought, that they had reached full attendance, yet another important figure showed up at the door-step of the war council room, as he began by saying–
"Apologies for being late, My Lord, I wa—"
"Just come in Alaric, I don't care that you're late" Julien said, cutting the man off before he could make some lame excuse.
"Thankyou for being so gracious" the man said, taking his seat within the council room, as it was his arrival that bothered Julien the most.
"So…. Nysa, mind telling me the reason behind why you have called for our chief military strategist, Alaric and Tower Master Zephyr to this meeting today?
Because, unless all hell has broken loose, I don't see a reason behind bothering these fine gentlemen," Julien said sarcastically, as he expressed his displeasure over Nysa having invited all these men to the war council room without taking his permission prior to the meeting.
"I apologize for having called for all the members of the war council without consulting you prior to the meeting, however, all hell has indeed broken loose My Lord.
The demons have started to mobilize a massive army towards the Western Duchy, today" Nysa said, as her words immediately caused the atmosphere within the room to shift considerably.
"What do you mean the demon's have sent a large army towards the Western Duchy?
It has not even been 3 months since they started to bother us on the Eastern Front… but now they want to start a three-pronged war?" Asked Thalion, the master swordsman, who was also the Supreme Commander of all forces, with a frown on his face.
"Yes. This time the enemy has mobilized two demon counts and their full forces towards the west and they seem to be making rapid progress.
They have already started to squabble with the nomadic barbarians that live to the west of our borders and are covering a lot of land fast" Nysa said, as her words caused the mood within the room to plummet.
"So what if the demons have opened a new front though?
It just means that they are spreading their army even thinner than usual.
There is a reason behind why no-one controls the region of the dense forest near the eastern boundary and the desert near the western boundary because the risk to reward ratio simply does not exist.
The demons will lose 20% of their forces before they ever make it to our borders and even then, they will be forced to live in arid desert conditions with no reliable food sources, while we will hold them off from entering our territory.
The western border is our most secure front…. Trying to break through from there is suicidal" Julien said, as he did not understand what the fuss was all about?
There was a logical reason behind why the borders of the current Empire only stretched for as far as they did, because it only logistically made sense to control that much land.
"I'm afraid that the behavior of the Demon Army this time is different from what it was in the past," Nysa said, as she finally began delving into the real reason behind why she had called for this meeting.
"The demons have always been stronger and physically superior to us, however, drunk on their savageness they never learnt how to use weapons, or practice the nuanced art of cartography.
The demon army usually always takes a haphazard route to reach any location they wish to raid, which generally costs them to suffer many misfortunes, however, this time it seems to be different.
This time, on their journey from the north to the west, they are taking only the most optimal path, which is least dangerous and are minimizing their needless conflicts with the barbaric nomads.
Not only that, they have also started to make strategic demands on the north. Asking to exchange prisoners of equal value, as they seemed to have gained insight into our military structure and what soldier is considered what rank within our army.
Our estimate is that the demons have came across a human that can speak 'Demon Tongue' and is now teaching the demons to read our maps and our ways, which is a cause for major concern for us, for a demon army that knows of our ways is the most dangerous opponents that we can ever hope to face" Nysa said, as her words sent alarm bells ringing in the heads of everyone present in the room.