Edward Williams (5)

While the barbarian observers were impressed by Aureus, Aureus was far less so at the state the battle was heading. The creases on his forehead furrowed deeper as the battle approached its end.

Tarin was in a similar state as the battle reached its apex.

Only when the Aureus army reached a tipping point and started slaughtering the demon beasts on the field as they achieved better position did Aureus give out the final commands.

Aureus shot a look at Tarin who was attending him. Tarin voiced his discomfort at how the demon beasts appeared to be probing the strength of the army throughout the entire attack.

Aureus's expression took on a grim cast as he agreed with Tarin's assessment.

"If it was not clear before, the beasts are far more dangerous than the previous iterations. At least then, they only had numbers and mindless frenzy." Aureus said as cast a look over the battlefield once more.

"Highness, compounding the issue would be how we have no idea which are the demon beast leaders. This will be an enemy we will be fighting without being able to identify it's leadership core." Tarin replied.

Aureus nodded and ventured that nothing is as disarming as an unknown enemy.

—

During the night, Aureus's war council reassembled in the tribal chief's house with the tribe leaders.

As they went over the after battle reports, it was clear that the beasts launched probing attacks at all four walls. The only place where they attacked in full was the southern wall manned by the Blue River tribe.

Even the tribe leaders could put two and two together and surmise the demon beast's intentions of going after the weakest in the pack.

Aureus suggested embedding his archer corps with the southern wall to provide further support in the coming battles.

Ranar was stoic but he bowed his head towards Aureus after his suggestion.

Going through the reports on the north wall's battle, the observers were struck by an anomaly. A young barbarian youth was surrounded by the Grey Rock Tribe's elites as he wrecked havoc by summoning large aether blasts and hurling them onto the demon beasts. The observers all agreed that the youth had a minimum of 10 in aether rating.

As Boulder prepared to move off after the council, Aureus asked to be introduced to the valiant warrior who held the northern wall with a single unit. Boulder flashed a wide grin and said that was his son, Wolfe. The atmosphere amongst the Aureus army officer shifted a little as they learned the identity of the mysterious valiant warrior.

Aureus smiled in return and asked how old was Wolfe and his aether rating. Boulder replied that Wolfe was fourteen this year and that they never had the means to test his aether rating hence it is an unknown. This caused many brows to be raised in the tent.

As Boulder was exiting the tent, he said that he would send the order for Wolfe to meet with Aureus. Aureus in turn beckoned to a messenger for it to be dispatched back to the Aureus army to bring back a measuring set for aether core rating.

Both Wolfe and the messenger entered the tent at roughly the same time. Aureus grinned and introduced himself to Wolfe. Wolfe simply bowed in return and maintained a stoic and taciturn manner.

Tarin , Johan and Denter had been sizing Wolfe as he entered and all three were generating tension in their poise whenever Wolfe stood near to Aureus.

Calvus, the weakest in terms of martial ability amongst the four, asked what was going on. Denter simply replied "A heavy scent of danger surrounds that child, he is strong enough to pose a danger even to me." As Calvus heard the answer, his brows scrunched as he reviewed the distance between Wolfe and Aureus.

However, Aureus gave no sign at all of being concerned. He even continued treating the stoic Wolfe in a very friendly manner and inviting him to partake of drinks with him.

Aureus personally asked if Wolfe was willing to take an aether core rating test administered by the Aureus army. Wolfe nodded numbly.

As Wolfe grasped the measuring orb, a scintillating light burst from the orb and shrouded the entire room in halos.

As the light died down, the magical technician in charge was gasping for breath as he choked out the result "Ele….Eleven. A rating of Eleven, highness. With how the orb reacted, it is likely that this aether core will develop into a twelve."

As the technician finished pronouncing the results, all eyes zeroed in on the stoic young man standing in the middle and a variety of expressions filled the faces of everyone in the room.

As everyone muttered amongst themselves, Aureus simply asked Wolfe what kind of sphere was he using. Wolfe summoned his sphere and presented it to Aureus.

Aureus took the sphere from Wolfe and examined the sphere it in depth. Barely a few minutes passed when Aureus shook his head and returned the sphere back to Wolfe. At the same time, he sent a runner to get a new set of spheres.

"It is quite impressive that you managed to achieve such battle results using such an outdated sphere," Aureus said.

"It was what I had," Wolfe replied.

Aureus indicated to Wolfe that will no longer be the case if he was willing to accept a gift from him. Wolfe simply nodded by way of reply.

As the runner returned with the spheres, Aureus himself personally took it and presented it to Wolfe.

This gave rise to even more mutterings as it was unprecedented for a prince of Astrea Empire to bestow a gift unto a barbarian.

As the mutterings formed a discordant symphony, Edward was struck by various thoughts.

Any who could distinguish himself in the Aureus army would have little trouble in excelling in other areas in life but there was a particular culture in the Aureus army. Fools running their mouths and giving structured and logical arguments without even touching macro perspectives or the human side of the issue found themselves cast by the wayside at record speeds.

There have been plenty of examples throughout Aureus's command that any officer of any caliber knew what is what and shut their mouths accordingly. Plenty of entitled nobles wishing to earn their house a name by attaching themselves to a prince of the empire by broadcasting their virtues- existing or imagined- quickly found themselves gracing the exits of the Aureus army camp.

It was worth noting that many such officers has become the butt of many jokes about noble officers trying to speak above their level but without the skills to either back themselves up or extract themselves from the mess they landed themselves in. Edward thought that bullshit existed in every realm but on the whole, he approved heartily of how Aureus has dealt with it.

Edward himself had very little tolerance for bullshit during his career as a military officer himself but recognized the necessity of it and how convenient it can be when it comes to protecting one's career from fools. Over the years, it has raised his appreciation for the silent but truly capable ones.

That said, it was not as if Aureus himself had any objections to nobles enlisting in his army. He simply made it clear that pedigree carried little weight in his army and there was no faster way of getting the boot from his army by demonstrating that one is a fool. Of course, it has shortened Aureus's political capital to play whenever he returns to the core realm but in return, his army is a true fighting machine. On balance, he himself transferred many of the noble officers with a recommendation from his army when he received the posting to the outer realm and not a single one save Tarin decided to stay.

Edward personally felt that it there was any flaw that Aureus had- it was him being far too reliant on his inner council. Granted, he stacked the deck and ensured that his team was the cream of the crop. However, group think and the attached myopia comes along with such a setup.

Edward wondered whether the day will come whereby he has to stand his viewpoint against the entire inner council and Aureus himself. Edward truly did not relish such a thought.

"Would you be willing to take a mentor in the sphere arts?" Aureus asked. This question silenced the room.

While Wolfe had an incredulous expression for the span of a moment, he quickly nodded after.

Aureus signaled Johan to make his way over. Johan looked as surprised as the officers surrounding him but his steps were swift and sure as he approached the duo.