The King Returns (3)

Eiliandir stood up from his Throne and took out a piece of paper, "Welcome your majesty. I will now report the situation of the kingdom if you see it be wise.".

Arthas raised his eyebrows and gestured with his right hand, "By all means, tell me.". Eiliandir nodded respectfully and cleared his throat, the room became very silent.

"The population of Lordaeron has reached 3 million, half of which are immigrants from east and south. The reproductive rate is extremely high and by estimate, we will have more than 5 million population on our hands by the end of this generation. This is all thanks to his majesty laws regarding reproduction and his great orders. However, by my estimate, we will encounter food shorter in the next generation if this continues. How is this matter to be dealt with?"

Arthas frowned and calmly replied, "The Farmlands produce enough crops and we have immense numbers of livestock in the pastures and that is if we exclude all the food produced on the other sites of the kingdom, even if we are behind, it shouldn't be by much. How much should we increase the food production?".

Eiliandir fell into thought for a moment and replied with focus, "Depending on the ratio of male and female, we would need between 10%-23% increase in production.".

Arthas turned towards Dumir, "Is the machine I wanted ready? The one that used steam to make the wheels spin.".

Dumir stood up and answered loudly, "Aye, your majesty. We are awaiting your orders.".

Arthas nodded with a smile, "Good, send a few dozen to Eiliandir with instruction on its uses. It should be enough to speed up food production.". "Eiliandir, this matter will be fixed with those machines, what else..."

The latter took out another paper, "Orc legions and scouts have been spotted south of the Wall. We need to prepare for a possible conflict with them. After we wiped out the orcs in Dol Guldur, they had grown quite vengeful. The Scouts report the number of Orcs in Mordor is increasing every day with the help of Sauron's dark magic, we are not aware of their exact number but it is beyond 200,000. It seems Sauron has designs to start a war with us, What are your orders?".

Arthas raised his eyebrows, "Do you even need to ask, we shall prepare to fight them. Tell me the situation of the Army, Also, Morgan how is the situation in Camelot? Are the knights and paladins well?".

Eiliandir wanted to say something but Morgan interrupted him, Her tone respectful, "Your majesty, Camelot is in optimal condition. We have 900 knights and 300 paladins ready for combat, all are elite warriors. I will put my life in their hands without a second of hesitation."

Arthas nodded and turned towards Eiliandir. The elf sighed and took out another paper, his eyes were filled with indignation when looking at the papers on the side, "The army is in optimal condition, however, many veterans especially older Paladins including, Valentin, Atanas, Dimitar, Zoran, and Bard among humans and Therion, Lúthedir and Dammriel among elves and Dwomar among Dwarfs are living reclusive lives and need to be called back. As you are aware paladins age several times slower than others so they should all be in prime condition especially the elves.".

He sighed and picked up another paper, "The rest of the army is as following: 50,000 foot-soldiers that include Swordsman and spearmen, 10,000 Archers that have acceptable training in close combat, 5,000 Cavalry from which 1000 are Archers on horseback, 40 trebuchets armed with explosives, these are the human forces. The elves include 1500 elite swordsman and archers, 500 elite cavalries, and the Dwarfs have 8,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalries. This is if we call all able-bodied to the battle. We have 1,000 knights and 320 Paladins all armed with elven weapons and horses. And, your majesty most elite squad is armed with Dragon scale armor led by sir Valentin who is currently not there so it is left to the hands of Lord Morgan. These are the trained forces, we have enough weapons so we can double the numbers on humans if we put an age restriction and recruit from the masses. That is all."

He swallowed his saliva, his mouth clearly tired from talking since he was doing it loudly. Arthas's face focused in concentration for half a minute and nobody talked.

He looked at Morgan and said sharply, "Gather all the knights and paladins, I will leave you in charge till Valentin comes back. Find Valentin and Bard and give them the Authority.".

He looked at Virion, "I want you to go and reinforce the walls and your assassins, work with Dumir on the walls. They need to be reinforced as much as possible, I don't want any breaches.".

He said to Dumir, "I have given you some blueprints and ideas for the walls, implant them. Also, take out the Zeppelins and give each Lord one of them. It would speed up the traveling and strategic speed.".

He turned to look at Thalrog, "Thalrog, I need you to Recruit those who have no important work and are between the ages of 18-35, be lenient to those who have families, and promise them that the King will take care of their family if they die on the battlefield. Train them and arm them. Tell the masses that a war with Darkness of Mordor is coming and the King can't stop it without their help, tell them that they need to protect their families and friends themselves as the king can't win alone. Manage everything, you are in charge of the main Army."

He smiled towards his right, "Ysildea, I want the aid of Yggdrasil, I need a surprise attack on Mordor so preserve a part of your forces. Gondor and Rohan will need help, Yggdrasil will be that aid. Seek alliance with Galadriel and Thranduil and send all the allied forces to Gondor and Rohan. Also, I am going somewhere and in the meantime that I am not here, you are the acting King of Lordaeron. Don't disappoint me.".

"Eiliandir, Go to Silvermoon and craft as many weapons and armor as you can, I leave all other works to you including the food of the army and war preparations, seek council with Ysildea if you need anything."

"Dumir, create all those war machines that I told you about and bring out all the gold and minerals you have on storage to help Eiliandir. Report to Ysildea."

"Is everyone clear?"

All the Lords stood up and nodded respectfully, Arthas smiled in satisfaction and gestured towards them to sit down. "Sit, it's not over yet."

They all sat down with perplexed faces expect Ysildea who looked calm. Arthas turned towards the people standing in front of him(nobles etc.) and smiled coldly. "Did you all listen well?"

The nobles felt slightly unnerved by his look. He clapped his hands, "I have to commend you, you are truly proteges in this thing. The names I call, come out and stand in the middle of the room, Branden Austen, Roland Sky, Derick Lionheart.".

The Three in question walked with calm faces, however, panic could be seen deep in their eyes, they hid it well.

Arthas stood up and slowly walked to stand right in front of them. His eyes filled with a sunny smile, "So, while I was enjoying myself for a few years, essentially on a break from the ruling thing. I did some digging and created a spy network for fun... It paid off extremely well. Call it the investment of the century! Do you know what I found out?"

The three looked at each other and frowned, The one named Roland stepped forth, "Your majesty, we assure you that we are loyal to you and could never do anything that would endanger Lordaeron!".

Arthas slowly nodded with an understanding expression on his face, "I see.". Suddenly, He brandished Frostmourn and fiercely beheaded the one named Roland. His head flew into the air and hit the ground after rolling several times, it landed in front of Derick's feet, who looked on with growing horror.

Everyone in the room flinched as they saw the fountain of blood gush out of the headless body that was a proud noble of Lordaeron a moment ago. Arthas took out a piece of cloth and wiped the blood from Frostmourn and turned to look at the other two.

He smiled cheerfully and turned toward the one named Branden, "So, let's continue. Will you confess or is another demonstration in order?".

The Noble named Branden said frantically, "Your majesty we didn't betray you! Please spare us!!". Arthas shook his head and said condescendingly, "You oppressed many families and threatened to silence them after taking away their wealth or women. You plotted and schemed with these two and tried to poison me 13 times, all failed of course, in order to put someone else on the Throne, obviously yourselves. All these I can forgive, but you three conspired with Sauron in the south to sell sensitive information so that he would spare you. interesting strategy because if we won, well, you would still be nobles, and if they won you would survive but that all depended on secrecy which you failed in that regard. You were going to tell Sauron all these Strategies that we created now... Did I miss anything?".

Branden and Derick turned pale with fright. Arthas saw their reaction and shrugged his shoulders. "So that confirms it. Which do you prefer, Death by beheading or death by a deadly poison, Ironic right? By the way, your families and close friends and connections will be banished to the south of the wall after all their wealth is confiscated and given to the families you bullied. I sincerely hope they survive the orcs but we both know that's impossible. Where is Sauron now, right, nowhere? "

Derick fell on his knees and shouted with tears in his eyes, "Your majesty, show us mercy, please! I beg of you. Spare our family, just punish us! Please!". Arthas ignored him and turned toward Morgan with a carefree expression, "Take care of them as I have ordered before you leave to do you duties, okay?". She nodded solemnly and Arthas smiled in satisfaction.

He looked back at the two and saw Branden looking at him coldly, he grew curious. "So, what is your trump card. Mr. Dead noble Austen!"

The noble smiled with ice in his eyes, "You will lose and Sauron will slaughter you all! I curse you to an eternity of misery at the hands of the true lord Sauron!" he yelled the second part.

Arthas seemed unfazed as he turned around and slowly ascended the steps to sit back on his Throne, he then calmly said but in his voice slight melancholy could be detected, "Do you know why people yell when they fight verbally? I think it is because their hearts are distant. When two lovers look into the eyes of each other they don't need words to convey their intent and words, a mere gaze is enough, that's how close their hearts are. This is why when two enemies meet they shout and yell because their hearts are distant, when friends and family talk, they do it with a low voice because their hearts are close. That is why when I see someone shouting and yelling at me, I realize his heart is distant from mine and he does not feel an attachment to me in any form whether as a king or a friend. I feel sad that you, who have been in this council for over a decade, have such a distant heart but it also relives me because I feel no guilt. Morgan, Public execution for his betrayal, Investigate and execute any who has had hands in his dark dealings. That is all, you are dismissed."

He looked at the scribe who sat on the side of the room recording everything and said, "Leave as well, I want to be alone.".

Everyone left except Gandalf who sighed. "Betrayal is a very hard thing to deal with."

Arthas sighed and put on a fake smile, he looked at Gandalf, "So when do we leave? It's been decades since I have been to Hobbiton and I feel quite adventures. Don't think I don't know you were going there after this visit. The War won't happen for a few months, after all, we should enjoy life!".

Gandalf shook his head with exasperation, "And, here I was worried... Let's go right away! Another Adventure awaits us. Let's pay a visit to our old friend. Oh, by the way, where is your beloved?".

Arthas's face turned sour, "Let's not talk about that. That's a sore spot... I wish I had a child but you know full well my essence is too potent for any woman to bear... Believe me, I tried with many females. Areth was the only one who could bear it but she left one day and never returned without saying anything...".

Gandalf saw the mood turn depressing so he offered kindly, "How about we talk about magic on the way?! I believe we have never gone into detail. I am a wizard unlike the elves you hired, I might be able to give you some new knowledge, hopefully."

Arthas stood up with excitement in his eyes, "Yes!". He summoned Mila and after getting supplies for their journey left Stormwind with Gandalf. He also left behind a few detailed orders for Ysildea. She wouldn't or better to say couldn't betray him so he left her in charge and made Eiliandir have a feast of success that night...(I will explain her origins in the next chapter.) Also, she was the second most powerful being in Lordaeron after him.