Chapter 4: War
As Ethan was inspecting the quest the sound of the war horn going off alerted Ethan and his gaze moved to the horizon where an army of knights could be seen approaching over the hill.
"William!" Ethan shouted.
A middle-aged man with black, white hair and short moustache with black attire entered Ethan room. William Kenworth was the royal butler; he served his father and now William serves Ethan as the new King. The Kenworth family has sworn servitude to the Darkwood family for generations and is the most loyal of all the families in the kingdom.
"Your Majesty" William replied.
"Call for my Generals to meet me in the war room"
"As you command!" William replied and left the room.
Ethan stood at the head of the table with 3 Generals surrounding him.
"Uncle Asher, how many men can fight, how many are wounded and what are the casualties". Ethan asked to a robust middle-aged man with short brown hair and a scar over his left eye.
Asher Stormborn was a loyal and trusted friend of Ethan's father, and he watched Ethan grow up.
"Your Majesty, following the death of the previous King we lost our strongest warrior and another knight at stage 2 Apprentice died in the ambush with roughly 60 trainees. Those who are wounded amount to 30 Trainees, and we only have half our military strength at our disposal. Only us 3 generals remain."
"General Magnus, what is the scale of the invaders?'' Ethan asked.
"Your Majesty, they have 140 Trainees and only 4 of their Generals are accounted for, including their King Orion Thornblade. The man replied.
As soon as it was heard the 3 generals countenance changed drastically. King Orion was the Blackthorn kingdom's 5th stage apprentice knight and their strongest combatant, only the previous king was able to contend with him.
"And the enemy's strength?"
"Two stage 1 Apprentice knights and one stage 3 knight excluding their king."
When he heard that the rival king was a 5th stage apprentice knight, he searched through his memories for related information.
This world is divided into different tiers for kingdom and in those kingdoms, knights were the mainstay force. The strength from weakest to strongest was Trainee, Apprentice knight, Mortal knight, Human knight. Ethan didn't know if there were stronger realms but even the strongest kingdom only had Human knights.
This little kingdom of his only had 5 apprentice knights with his father being the strongest at the 5th stage and Asher and Magnus being 4th stage and 3rd stage apprentice knights respectively. The last remaining general was only a 1st stage apprentice knight.
The thought of being at a disadvantage put Ethan in a sour mood. They were outnumbered and outgunned, the only thing in their favor was the defenses of the castle.