The Black Tiger General

"Federin, no matter what you do in this life, never underestimate the legacy of Leuven; especially a matured child of the line."

Those words rang within Federin's mind as he departed the throne room of the king and returned to his duties. He couldn't understand why his father was so fearful of Leuven's direct descendants. But if there was one thing Federin knew about his father, king Fedor, it was that the old man was an ambitious character who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. For example, the death of Darius' two sons, just as the latter had suspected, where all orchestrated by Fedor.

Although he had no proof of this suspicion, when he was younger, Federin had once overheard his father giving commands to a lieutenant to eliminate Darius' first son during the war. Since Fedor took care of one, chances were that he also arranged the death of the other.

So, if such a man who was ambitious and took great risks feared a matured descendant of Leuven, there had to be a reason for that.

. . .

While the Castellans had their own meeting, the various other powers who were present in the capital were also having meetings of their own. They were all going through the list of students and making decisions about whom to extend invitations to as well as the details of the invitations.

"Aiya, recruiting these students would be a challenge. Even though this seems like a golden generation, that's all the more reason why everyone would offer up their best prices." The vice minister of the Department of War, Montero Wirtz, sighed.

In the room the vice minister sat, there was a table with a chair behind it, set at one end of the room, backing a floor-to-ceiling french window. On the chair located behind the table was a middle-aged man with a hefty frame and an impressive beard. He gazed at a report before him, which was compiled by the vice minister, with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Of the 'One throne, three godly generals and five great families', this middle-aged man with a beard was one of the three godly generals of the Great Dawn kingdom. The other two generals ranked 5th and 12th in the top 20 generals rankings in the entire ten kingdoms and three empires whereas the man seated here ranked 17th. He was also the only one amongst the three who started from the very bottom as a non-affiliated mage, and rose to the top.

The famous Black Tiger general, Tiansu Wodanaz.

"It doesn't matter. Send an invitation to anyone you think is worth it regardless. Whether they come to us or not depends on them and their resolve to serve the kingdom. We can't start offering so much benefits far beyond the norm just because the nobles are doing so." Tiansu said.

"Alright, minister." Montero replied.

The Department of War worked differently from the other six departments. Whereas most departments had only one head, the Department of War had three heads, which were the three godly generals. Each general had two assistants; one who would function as the deputy general while the other takes the role of vice-minister. Montero was the vice-minister of the Department of War, but reported directly to Tiansu.

The reason why the Department of War had three leaders was to prevent a situation where the minister would side with an external or internal force to harm the kingdom or the royal family like in a coup. With there being three ministers, while it was possible for one to be swayed, the other two or at least one, wouldn't. For a figure like a minister, their movements were watched so convincing one to change support, while possible, was incredibly difficult, much less convincing two. And for a decision to be carried out by the Department of War, two out of the three ministers had to be in support.

Regarding Tiansu, since he was the lowest ranked of the three generals, most of the 'menial' tasks were left to him. For instance, recruiting new blood and organizing the training camps. Nonetheless, as a godly general, Tiansu still controlled a huge portion of the military.

"That's right. Duke Arnhaunt's son should be participating in this tournament too, right? I didn't see his file here. Why's that?" Tiansu suddenly asked.

"Sighs. While it's true that a tiger can't beget a dog, not all the children of a tiger are destined for greatness." Montero sighed.

"What do you mean?" Tiansu frowned.

"Although the little kid managed to progress to the next stage, he hasn't shown any special quality yet. Sure, he's a peak second-stage Guardian mage which is quite impressive, but there are some other young mages at his level who are doing better than he is. Even the little kid from the Forster family had shown more quality than Asher." Montero replied.

"Oh? Is that what you think? 'Not all children of a tiger are destined for greatness'? Haha." Tiansu laughed.

Montero felt awkward as he couldn't understand why his superior was laughing at his statement. Just when he was about to ask, Tiansu stopped laughing albeit his eyes looked at Montero with a hint of mockery.

"Sorry about that, my dear vice-minister. Your joke was just too good." Tiansu chuckled.

"Yes, you are right; not every child of a tiger is destined for greatness. But how about a dragon? Or an immortal? Or a god? You seem to forget what we called General Leuven. The God of war, and not 'tiger' like I go by. There's a reason why since the inception of the Great Dawn kingdom, only one man has the title of 'God'." Tiansu said seriously.

"You should know that after the First Great Sou war, there was another war that came right before the Second Great Sou war, right?"

"Yes. The Battle of Pierrot." Montero nodded with a serious expression.

Every member of the military had to know about the Great Dawn kingdom's history, especially those relating to wars. The First Great Sou war was a civil war in the Great Empire of Terra that resulted in the formation of the Great Dawn kingdom, the Kingdom of Terra and three other kingdoms. As for the Second Great Sou war, it was the Kingdom of Terra's attempt at reforming the Great Empire of Terra. However, prior to the latter war, there was another war that took place called the Battle of Pierrot.