88 A Commotion in the Royal Court

A few days have passed since the declaration of war from the Church of Light and the Kingdom of Virpal. Both sides have been busy but the general populace of both the Holy Oulvgar State and their opponents have been unconcerned with the current state of affairs. Naturally, the people on both sides support the war and they even have something in common with each other, they don't believe it is possible for them to lose, thus don't believe there is anything to worry about.

For what the masses call the Alliance of Humanity, their people see the Sea of Trees and the Holy Oulvgar State it houses as a small ant, a pointless attempt from a small number of undesirables to overturn the status quo. Seeing themselves as a far superior force and expecting the whole fiasco to be over within a few weeks time.

For the Holy Oulvgar State, its people similarly don't believe in the possibility of failure, although this is mostly due to the Oulvgar population being religious zealots who don't believe Astur can possibly lose. The Warband is a little more realistic though. They have much experience fighting with the other nations of Vopal and have been refitted with new equipment to further increase their fighting capability. Despite the smaller numbers, most people from the Warband believe that while perhaps a full victory is out of the question, they can likely withstand and push back any invading force. This belief stems from the fact that from the population of the Holy Oulvgar State close to 95% of it is a fighting force, additionally since the population is also almost entirely made up of Demons and Oulvgar, the individual fighting strength of each combatant is significantly higher than their opponents.

Currently, in the Royal Palace of Virpal, the King of Virpal is in a meeting with his court and the Cardinal overseeing the cathedral in Virpal's Capital.

"Your Majesty, your Eminence, the Republic of Lithro and the Kalthros Empire, as well as the Republic of Hinthro, have pledged their support to the crusade and will be sending troops to assist," the Minister of Foreign Affairs says.

The King scoffs, "Those profiteers. If this was a fight against those from the Hinterlands, Lithro and Hinthro would remain idle as they always have. The dogs from Kalthros are even more obvious, they clearly just want an excuse to plant troops in our borders."

"Then do we deny them crossing the border?" the Minister of Foreign Affairs asks.

"Of course not. They claim to be answering the call of the Church, so we can't turn them away," the King turns to the Cardinal sitting nearby, "Isn't that right, Cardinal Apollon?"

The Cardinal nods, "I understand your concerns, your Majesty. Rest assured, I will make sure the Order of the Dawn keeps an eye on them so that they won't cause you any trouble before they leave. I must remind you, do not take our foe lightly. His Holiness has received word directly from the God of Light that our opponent is an actual threat. And just for the Church, but for the continued sovereignty of the nations of Vopal."

"Very well, but if something does happen, expect me to find the Church for answers," the King says before turning to the Minister of Domestic Affairs, "Putting the matter of the war aside for a moment, is there any news regarding the supposed sighting of a spaceship?"

"There are plenty of people who claim to have seen a spaceship, but there are no pictures to back their claims. All surveillance cameras failed to reveal anything and the witnesses claim that their cameras weren't working as it was descending. Are satellite surveillance wasn't able to pick anything up either. The investigation team hypothesised that the spaceship likely has some sort of advanced anti-surveillance system," Minister of Domestic Affairs concludes his report.

The King shakes his head and sighs, "Very well. While important, we can afford to place this matter on hold and focus on the crusade for now. How has the scrying been going? Any details regarding the situation in the Sea of Trees? And what of our spies, I heard we sent some in some time ago?"

The Spymaster of the Kingdom frowns, "The situation isn't looking good… for us. Before anyone says anything, I specifically mean the espionage situation. It's always been difficult for Scryers to see into the Sea of Trees, there is something about the land there that makes it difficult, but recently a strange haze has shrouded the Sea of Trees and our Scryers can't penetrate it at all. As for our spies…" the Spymaster shakes his head, "They had been ousted quite some time ago and the haze has prevented any new spies from entering, they all get lost and return to the entrance. We believe it to be the work of a special magic, but we've our mages haven't been met with any success in deciphering it. All we can say for certain is this haze isn't natural and is actively blocking us."

"Then what do we know?" the King asks.

"The main fighting force of the enemy consists of the Warband led by the Warden and the so-called Oulvgar. According to the few reports we have, the Oulvgar are essentially hyper-intelligent monsters when compared to regular monsters, in actuality, their intelligence is closer to a human's. At the top of the hierarchy is the person they refer to as the Forest Goddess. The Oulvgar's own description of her is that she is the bringer of knowledge, life, and… uh, explosions, for some unclear reason. Further investigation found that this person's name is Astur Kojuuin and she even has an ID Card from our Kingdom, although the card is from the previous century. Our spies in the other nations have also found the same person listed in the database of the other nations, making it hard to determine her origins. We're also unclear of this Astur's combat capabilities."

"All we know is their leader's name and the basic composition of their soldiers. So we know nothing, am I hearing this right. Can't anyone tell me anything of substance regarding this Astur and her people?" the King asks.

And just as the King asked, his wish is granted. A messenger runs into the room.

"Excuse me for intruding, your Majesty, but bring news regarding the Holy Oulvgar State."

"You may speak," the King says, hoping to hear something good.

"The Town of Hadrow has been forcefully subjugated and annexed by the enemy. The Town of Dawn has also agreed to an unconditional surrender. Both are small towns that border the Sea of Trees."

"I know I said I wanted substantial news, but I wanted good news! What exactly happened and when did this happen!" the King shouts.

The messenger reels back slightly in fear before catching his breath to speak again, "Your Majesty, it was… a couple of days ago when this took place. Communication to the settlements near the Sea of Trees has been difficult lately and both Hadrow and Dawn are being watched to prevent leaks. It was a loyalist from Dawn who risked his life to breach the lockdown and bring us this news."

"Someone make sure the brave loyalist who brought the message to us is rewarded. Now explain what happened," The King demands.

Not willing to waste any time, the messenger continues, "It happened a few days ago, the Holy Oulvgar State sent an Ultimatum to its neighbours."