9 The Night of Awakening

The Supreme Commander towered amid King Alvis and King Hagen. He looked in the eyes of the Emperor's statue and said, "What a beautiful day? The air is so fresh."

Imhotep went under the archway and turned around to look at all the nobles, the Kings, and the Queen. His low ruffed voice reached to the farthest soldier.

"I thank all to attend this old man's retirement ceremony."

He looked at the Kings, and said, "Some of you must have been wondering about its sudden announcement. If I list down all the different reasons, then we would all be here for quite a while. And a few don't seem to like this place enough to extend their stay."

Imhotep let his gaze wander to the horizon and said, "But I still owe a reason to the world. How about this? I am feeling tired."

Nobody felt less at the Supreme Commander at this confession. He had been already leading a raiding team in the Galactic War before he had assumed his current title. And there was no need to mention his time leading the campaign. Anyone would dread if one were to imagine the Galactic War, based on the written accounts, let alone leading the armies three times.

"Every 100 years, our sons and daughters have to put their life on the line. And I am ashamed that I won't be able to help if they were to need it next time. But the young always overtake the old and by the grace of The Oldest One, the world has plenty of the young."

He eyed the Royals and found King Antiochus was already clasping his hands reverently.

"I won't take much of your time. But we must attend to the matter of succession first."

All the nobles, the Generals, and the soldiers braced themselves for the outcome. Only the Supreme Commander could recommend his successor. And if more than half of the Galaxy's Kings voted in favor of his recommendation, then that candidate would become the next Supreme Commander.

"Kings and Queen, please follow me to the meeting chamber. The Dukes may come along."

Before the start of the speech, the Generals had already positioned themselves behind the Supreme Commander. The Supreme Commander suddenly turned around when the members were approaching the archway. He looked beyond the approaching 'Pillars of Future', and said, "Lt. General Eydis, join us."

A simple order had left all the nobles and Generals dumbfounded, save General of the 1st Quad. Never was there a case like this mentioned in the historic documents, where a Lt. General could attend the succession meeting. Boudicca experienced the electricity coursing through her veins. Even when she was not the recipient of hundreds of questioning gazes. But the girl standing by her side didn't show any flaw in her manners.

Boudicca imagined the heaviness of topics that the members would discuss in the chamber. Her thoughts were yet to reach their climax when she heard someone had called her name. The sound was like the notes of Zither making its way down from atop a high mountain. Hundreds of eyes stared at her this time, a few were full of questions and a few of sheer envy.

"What? I want to have my little niece around me. Don't tell, am I not allowed to do that here?" Queen Eluned asked the Supreme Commander with a coquettish grin. The Supreme Commander didn't argue with her but silently showed his displeasure.

One should not take the trivialities of women to heart, especially of the woman in power.

Boudicca, cornered by the lingering gazes of the nobles, scurried to the Queen.

"Aunt, this… this wasn't necessary."

"Come on now. Don't be like this, you know I don't like meetings." The pair of Aunt-Niece chatted as they were entering the meeting chambers.

*

The chamber itself was a tiny part of the Hall but big enough to lose the sense of one's existence if one were to stand by oneself here for a moment. Seating placement wasn't much different from the common way of a Parliament House. Four blocks were surrounding the Speaker's desk, with rows of seats in a semi-circular manner. And main chairs led the rows of each block. The kings and the Queen took their place on those chairs and the rest of the Nobles sat behind their respective leaders.

Boudicca was not qualified enough to sit among the Dukes but was important enough to stand by the side of her Aunt's chair. There were two seats on each side of the speaker's desk, facing the nobles, for the Generals. Boudicca, for a moment, met Lt. General's eye, who was also standing behind the seated General of 1st Quad.

"Before we start with the inevitable topic, I have another less important thing to tell you."

Boudicca noticed all the members were clueless about this sudden declaration.

"With a heavy heart and relieved emotions, I announce the retirement of my old friend–General of 1st Quad, Duke Einar Sigsteinn."

Every member, including the Kings and the Queen, gave a surprising look at the mentioned General.

General Einar stood up under the interrogating gazes. He said, "Your Majesties, when the Supreme commander announced his retirement, I hadn't found myself too surprised. I had seen this day coming, in a way."

Boudicca saw a hint of a sad smile on the Supreme Commander's face.

The General chuckled and continued, "I sat a whole day in my office thinking things through. Finally, I too have decided to give my services a rest, using the enormous shadow cast by his retirement."

With that General took his seat and everyone chanced upon the Lt. General standing behind him whom they had already forgotten. Boudicca saw the hideous expression on General Grimwald's face. And King Hagen took interest in this unimportant topic for the first time, using his raised brows.

"As everyone may have already guessed, General Einar had recommended Lt. General Eydis. Within three months we would officially promote her."

A wave of cheery atmosphere washed over the Dukes of 1st Quad. But Boudicca did not know about the thoughts of the Red Dragon, seated at their front.

"This is wrong!"

A defiant scream rang out from General Grimwald, who was now standing at the center of attention. Boudicca felt him more scared rather than agitated as he was studying the mood of King Hagen and his entourage from time to time.

"Every Lt. General in the UGF is more experienced than her. Not to mention, Lt. General Otmar of the 2nd Quad, who is strongest among others." The handsome General was staring daggers at the young Lt. General. And the cheery atmosphere of the Dukes of 1st Quad had now taken a full turn to match their stark red greatcoat.

General Grimwald blabbered, "We have always given the priority to that Lt. General who has the most immediate prospect of becoming a Duke. What qualifications does she have to have the rules changed for her?"

"We also do not agree with this bias and the Supreme Commander must provide an answer for this," one of the Duke of the 3rd Quad said.

Boudicca saw the priests nodding at these words. She hadn't thought that the Kingdoms would take this much interest in the position of Generals. The HQ did not assign a General of UGF a Quad based on their original kingdom, but the availability of the position. So it did not need a General of 1st Quad to be a native of the Kingdom of Divine Beast, which was in the 1st Quadrant of Galaxy. And such was the case this time.

General Einar was a native of the Kingdom of Life-Authority. But he had overseen the forces and security related to the Kingdom of Divine Beasts. Nobody had a problem with it. But Boudicca had missed a very crucial point. Lt. General Eydis wasn't a mere young officer.

"Supreme Commander, you can't hand down the position of General of 1st Quad to her. Given that she is the eldest daughter of King Alvis," King Antiochus said, shaking his head.

Boudicca bit her lower lip and nervously looked at Eydis. But they didn't need to reply. Neither to the accusation of Duke nor to the King's declaration.

"What qualifications does she have?" the Supreme Commander repeated that question. In an amusing manner, he said, "Well, General Grimwald, what do you think about this? That in her 3 years of service she has amassed merits whose worth is more than the combined worth of all the Lt. Generals in your army."

"But that doesn't mean…" The shoulders of the General of 2nd Quad had slumped on the mention of the merits of his officers. But the Supreme Commander had cut his excuses short.

"Or, that Lt. General Eydis has already passed the General's Trial."

"What?"

A single word but of different voices resounded in Boudicca's mind from all around.

"Impossible…," General Grimwald muttered to himself, but all the members there had shared his feelings.

"Impossible? You don't need to be a Duke to pass the General's Trial or have you forgotten about that, General Grimwald?" the Supreme Commander sternly asked.

"But that is just a theory…," Grimwald doubted.

"Are you implying that I, the Supreme Commander, am lying?" Imhotep narrowed his eyes at all the members that were present.

Even with the Queen's calm demeanor, Boudicca felt her brows were quivering at the question.

"No, he didn't mean that, Supreme Commander." For the first time, King Hagen interjected with the matter. The rest of the Kings and the Queen had already considered General Grimwald a dead man.

"I have already given all Generals a copy of the Trial's Data. You can access it after the completion of the ceremony."

The queen gently looked at the young Eydis and said, "Impressive."

The melodic voice was still echoing when King Antiochus chimed in, "Admirable."

For the first time, after coming here, Boudicca saw a cherry red color on Eydis's cheeks. Suddenly, a beast's growl came out from her left. No, it wasn't an ordinary growl, but it also felt like a forest was being battered by a terrifying tempest.

The Red Dragon, King Alvis, was laughing.