Another day for everyone in Prasinos.
Some welcomed it full of hope, but others with compelling intentions to do something they dreaded doing for the longest time.
The smoke of war intensified, but it is not to the point of being obvious.
By saying it is not obvious, it meant that it is generally peaceful within the walls of the biggest forces in Prasinos -Seirende, Vanderford, and the Green Wave.
However, it was obviously felt and would be particularly tragic for the kingdoms that were neutral and too small.
These territories are tiny, quite insignificant compared to the Great Three, which means that they will not have the ability to withstand the indirect effects of war.
With their economies becoming dependent on one of the bigger territories, they are pressured to think of who to stand with the war.
These small territories could not afford to survive in the crossfire of a war between two great nations, but they could not remain idle either.
As such, even when there was no direct proclamation of wars coming from the great giants, the monarchs, and leaders of these kingdoms were already thinking of ways to survive in the war.
Fortunately, the ever-benevolent Seirende Empire had already foreseen this scenario. As part of the First Victor's first mandates for all of the future successors of the family:
'If in time our Empire had to go to war, protect the nations outside our borders as long as they stand with us on the same cause. Seirende does not hurt their friends. Seirende does not neglect them either."
With that Emperor Valentin secretly sent countless of disguised envoys to go to the allied nations and far lands to lend them a helping hand and inform them ahead of time of what was going to happen.
There were also some non-affiliated territories that took the initiative to reach out and express their goodwill to the Empire. Naturally, Emperor Valentin mandated that they be protected as well.
"Sigh… Leon, we can't do this with just the two of us. Even if we used all our secret guards and resources, we cannot handle the war preparations in secret while also appearing to be busy with the transport."
In his office, Emperor Valentin rubbed his aching temples as he read the reports coming from different foreign territories.
Some of them were requests of refuge, others were accounts of goodwill to warn the Empire that someone from another territory appeared to place a massive order of weaponry and other magical artifacts.
While it was their decision to have Kazimir, Antoine, and the other officials uninformed of the decision, the workload for this matter will be too much for the two.
"Father, I think it is time for First and Second Brother to also know the situation. They have proven their abilities to cope up and lead during the past six months when we were suddenly struck by an internal war.
I believe that we can trust them to help us in this case. Of course, the fact that the paladin is from our Empire must still be kept an utmost secret until the final confrontation." Leon suggested.
Hearing Leon's words, Emperor Valentin let out another regretful sigh,
"Son, it is not because they were not trustworthy. But the people working with and for them could not be trusted.
Say, the factions that support your brothers were also nobles who in some way or another interacted with the envoy during the tournament. We do not know where their loyalty lies."
"But Father, at least trust my brothers. I get that it is now hard to find people whom we can't trust. But we could not suspect everyone forever. Everyone has learned the hard way last time in the matter of the Vesalas, which includes First and Second Brother as well.
I am sure that they have their own means to check who among their people can be trusted and who among them is only good for less critical work.
With that, we can save a lot of effort and time, which means that we will have a lot of time to prepare."
"Besides, while this will most likely involve the temple, we cannot leave the political things to the Seirende Temple to deal with." Leon continued to persuade his father.
Emperor Valentin closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to calm his mind.
"Alright… let me think of it a little more. I'll make my decision tomorrow." Emperor Valentin replied in a helpless tone.
"What is the progress of the preparations?" He asked Leon, trying to refocus on another urgent matter.
"The construction of the vehicles and mechanisms are on time. If there are no troubles on the envoy's end, we might be finished next week and could start the journey two weeks from now.
As for the envoy…" Leon squinted dangerously while saying,
"He seemed to act nonchalantly and unsuspiciously. But the more he idled, the more I believe that he is up to something.
I know that I had no evidence, but my gut feeling has never failed me before… I could only grit my teeth and watch out for his sudden attacks. But so far, he hasn't touched or done anything to our people."
Emperor Valentin nodded in understanding,
"Well if that's the case, ensure to complete the preparations on time and see. It's only either, his preparations were already laid out even before he was appointed as an envoy, or his real plan would start during your departure…"
"For me… I believed more in the former one than the other."
"I will, Father…" Leon bowed and saluted.
After reporting to the Emperor, Leon immediately went to the construction site to oversee the progress of the preparation.
Coincidentally, he learned from the assistants that Kazimir and Antoine were also around entertaining the envoy who suddenly visited without prior notice.
"Since we do not have any senior officials that could handle the envoy, the supervisor could only summon the First and Second Prince who was coincidentally around to oversee the goods and raw materials being delivered to us." The Supervisor explained with an apologetic tone.
"Do not feel anxious, you've done the right thing to call the First and Second Prince." Leon nodded and gave the supervisor a look of understanding.
Then he immediately proceeded to ask where the three were and headed straight to them.
"Crown Prince Ranon, First Brother, Second Brother." Leon greeted the two.
"Oh, Third Prince you are finally here! I received an urgent message from the Main Temple just this morning so I went to inform you right away, only to find out that you are not around the site.
But fortunately, I found the First Prince and Second Prince and told them directly my concerns." Crown Prince Ranon smiled in a friendly manner while acknowledging Leon's presence.
"I see… I was coincidentally fulfilling the summons by His Majesty. If it is not too late, would you mind sharing to me your concerns as well? Probably over tea?" Leon asked.
While doing so, he also did not forget to glance at Kazimir and Antoine to join them in the conversation which surprised the two.
Crown Prince Ranon was amused by Leon's reply.
His words earlier meant that he was supposed to be entertained by Leon as the manager of the construction site as soon as he showed up because he came here on official business.
He also meant that if not for Kazimir and Antoine immediately coming forth to entertain him on Leon's behalf, he would have been disrespected.
These words also meant to sow discord between the brothers!
However, Leon's reply not only did not contain any words of apologies but also firmly established that the reason for his absence is also something of equal importance.
And because he actually came into the construction without informing him in advance, it was only appropriate for him to wait until Leon's prior business was settled.
However, instead of appearing to be offended and humiliated, Crown Prince Ranon only chuckled nonchalantly as he patted Leon's shoulders, "That made a lot of sense, Third Prince! Alright, then let's talk about the matters over tea as you suggested."
Leon glanced at the hand that was placed on his shoulders, he felt a sense of disgust over it but did not show it outwardly.
He could only wave his hand like a proper host and lead the men to his lounge.
