Remembering his younger brother, Emperor Valentin couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
The true reason his younger brother subjected himself to the self-exile was deeper than his being infertile.
Only by the time their father, the late Emperor Idelfonso came back from the war was he able to settle in the north to accompany him until his last days.
Emperor Valentin was not sure if his younger brother was already alright with involving himself again with the matters of the capital.
But the situation calls for him to persuade his brother to do such. Thus, he had no choice but to ask him directly.
Making up his mind, he took a deep breath and announced his decision, "Then everyone will have to return to their post and continue their tasks, while I'll have a correspondence with the North to provide us the troops to go with the rest of the territories!"
"We follow His Majesty's orders!" Leon and the rest replied and left to come back to their posts.
As for the Grandmasters Andvari and Reuben, they intentionally stayed behind to talk to Emperor Valentin for a little bit longer.
"Grandmasters, I am very grateful for your support during this time. I am so ashamed that I have to involve you in this matter of the Empire."
Emperor Valentin bowed to the two as he was really embarrassed to disturb the grandmasters like this.
"No, don't mind it. The matter of the curse could be considered a threat to humanity. So we find no fault in taking part in this endeavor." The two grandmasters replied with ease.
Unlike Valentin's father who had the responsibility to lead the empire as an Emperor, Grandmasters Andvari and Reuben were not required to give their assistance to the Empire as a privilege of being an S Class Mage.
All the S-Class mages had the right to not pledge their loyalty to any territory of Prasinos. However, their responsibility rests when humanity is threatened.
"Even so, as the leader of the Seirende Empire, I would like to plead for your assistance in lending our aid to arrest the traitors outside the capital."
Emperor Valentin still did not take for granted the favor given by the two elders because of their relationship with Eli and his Father.
"Rest assured, His Majesty. We will be with you until we defeat the enemy that brought chaos to the empire." The two replied yet again.
"Then, I will not be holding you for long, Grandmasters. I'll have to send a request to the North for the accompanying troops." Emperor Valentin gratefully bowed and bade them goodbye.
Now already alone in the office, Emperor Valentin contemplated how he would be asking his younger brother for his assistance.
He was not sure if his brother was already ready to get out of the secluded north to stand up for the Empire.
The guilt in his heart couldn't help but bother him as he remembers this fact, yet he needed his younger brother's help right now.
So with a heavy sigh, he leaned back onto his office table and pulled out a certain drawer underneath. The compartment contained a royal blue brocade box that was laden with silk embroideries.
With trembling in his heart, he opened the brocade box and saw the communication stone inside that was inlaid in a broad ring.
He took it carefully in his hand and placed it on his finger. Up until this point, he was still hesitating about calling his brother from the North, but he still did it.
Injecting mana unto the stone he mumbled, "To Fidel.."
The communication stone lit up in bright red and pulsated until someone from the other side answered Emperor Valentin's call.
On the other side, a noble-looking man stared blankly at the window.
He had an appearance of a man in his late forties, however, the traces of age was not able to mask the charm and beauty he possessed with his blood-red hair and crystal-blue eyes.
The only thing regrettable about his appearance was the solitude that he exudes. His jewel-like eyes wandered at the vast peaceful lands that could be seen from his window.
Every Seirende citizen would just need to take one look at him to determine that he had the Seirende's blood running through his veins.
The man was none other than Fidel Vonn De Seirende, the younger brother of Emperor Valentin, and the Governor of the Sleeping North.
As Fidel stood in deep silence, he noticed a resonance coming from underneath his bedside cabinet.
His eyes flickered for a moment, hesitating if he would go near and investigate the resonance or ignore it. But before his heart could decide, his mind had already commanded his body to step forward and reach for the drawer.
Pulling one compartment revealed a blue brocade box, identical to the box that Emperor Valentin possessed.
He opened the box and looked at the ring, with the same engravings as the one on his brother Valentin - an insignia of the Seirende and the Northern territory intertwined with each other.
The ring was pulsating as if waiting for him to pick it up and answer the call, but he only stared at it blankly.
Fidel thought that his actions would already stop there. However, his mouth opened, and answered the call, "Brother…"
On the other side, Emperor Valentin was about to cut the call after waiting for the other party's response.
Just as he was about to stop injecting mana into the communication stone, he heard a voice that he had not heard for almost three decades.
Yes, three decades.
Remembering the duration of his estrangement from his younger brother, Emperor Valentin was reminded of how he was a failure when it comes to managing his own family.
Aside from the long list of shortcomings he had for his wives and sons, he also allowed his relationship with his brother to rot like this ring in the brocade box.
But now the two communicated again for the first time, and he had no idea how to proceed with this.
"Fidel…It's been a long time…" He mumbled softly, but the Creator knew how many emotions were put into that sentence that he spoke.
"Y-yes it is, brother. I was surprised by your call…" The person on the other side was also struggling with the obvious awkwardness in his words and tone.
But Valentin was not here to find fault in his younger brother's words.
"Yes… I apologize for the sudden call, however, I have a matter that greatly needs your help." Emperor Valentin took a deep breath and told Fidel everything.
He knew that small talks wouldn't mend the large void that has been left open for decades in their relationship.
So he opted to come before him not as a brother but as the Emperor of the Seirende Empire, to also help his brother be at ease with the tormenting awkwardness.
"I see… Then how many troops do you need?" True enough, Fidel's tone became at ease due to the approach used by Valentin.
"I might be needing about half of your armies to cover the East and the West Territory.
As to the south, it has been sanitized by the last clean-up operation. Most of the inhabitants of the south were only collateral forces of the west and east.
The time between the clean-up operation and the chaos was not enough for the traitors to reestablish the forces they previously built in the south."
Emperor Valentin gave Governor Fidel a detailed view of his plans so that his brother would also understand why he did things the way it was.
"And so we have determined that the forces to be sent must focus on the last two territories which coincidentally belonged to the biggest noble factions in our Empire." He continued.
"Hmm, I see. I might need a longer time to assemble everyone to organize a large army to go to the West and East."
Governor Fidel analyzed the information he received from his brother and subconsciously nodded his head in approval.
"Perhaps, I may need two more days to organize enough troops to cover both territories. Would this be a problem?"
Emperor Valentin was startled to find out how cooperative Fidel would be.
He didn't expect that it would be this easy to ask for his help. In his mind, he thought, that the hesitation in his heart was mainly brought by the guilt he was feeling.
This feeling enabled him to underestimate the character of his younger brother, who truly loves the Empire deep in his heart.
"No, it wouldn't be a problem. Do not also be worried about the means of transportation of your army.
Your nephew, the third prince, has been commissioned to assist you in activating the portals connecting from the north to the other two territories."
Emperor Valentin replied with a hopeful tone.
"Teleportation arrays? Are you sure? This would entail the empire a lot of rare resources."
As Governor Fidel was saying this, he was not opposing the use of teleportation arrays.
He was just genuinely surprised that his brother, whom he have known to be frugal, was now using the mana stones without worry.
"Cough.. cough…Do not worry about it. Lately, the Empire has been blessed with a few tributes from the allied lands. We have enough to transport everyone for this operation."
Emperor Valentin could only come up with this story as he was caught off guard by Fidel's question.
How could he explain to him that the supreme mana stones were given to him by his youngest son and future daughter-in-law as their allowance for secretly visiting his beloved grandkid?
