A Naturally Failed Order

Inside the Silver Palace, two days after discovering that the princess was alive, most people were working hurriedly and a look of concern settled on most people's faces. The Lords had several meetings and those below them were receiving the most diverse orders.

Amongst all this was an old man who had just arrived at the palace, hurrying up the stairs. Some guards tried to talk to him, but he ignored them and kept going. He wore a blue tunic over light armor common to guards with the symbol of the blue goddess fan.

— General... You... — Said a Lord trying to intervene in his path.

— Not now. — He simply replied.

His goal wasn't something far away, he was heading towards the king. Seeing a few seconds later a room guarded by two guards wearing white cloaks, he opened the door of the room ignoring the two guards who watched him anxiously.

— Illias!!! — He called, raising his voice as he entered the room.

Illias was alone, there was only a large brass table littered with books and papers, some still untouched, others open and thrown to the floor, and some currently in use. The content of all this could be quite relevant considering the need for the king himself to have resolved to verify them, but given the situation nothing there was relevant at all.

There was nothing in the white room but the large table and chair of the same material and Illias himself. About two-thirds of the space was empty, not even a shelf or countertop existed.

— What do you want, General? I hope your high tone as you enter here is relevant.

— Illias... — He answered coldly, calming down. — Why did you deny my request to go get them?

The king wasn't looking back at him, he seemed busy with whatever he was doing.

— It wouldn't be necessary, if they're alive they'll come back on their own if they can. — He replied without thinking twice.

— If they succeed? I read the report sent by Jord, Noella almost died and Illye was extremely injured and you still think they come back alone? It's irrational!! — Zellaorte replied raising his voice when he almost shouted at the end.,

For a moment he was tempted to ignore even the king's orders to go after them and even then he couldn't and he didn't even know if he could if he tried because if he really wanted King Illias could lock him in this room without him being able to leave. Being King was not something simple, the person had to be strong enough to be over most of the other Lords, this mainly in Aggron was more than mandatory due to being a kingdom that emerged from a coup d'état.

— General Zell, I suggest you think carefully about what you're going to do once you leave this room. I won't stop you if that's what you're thinking, but there are a lot of dubious points about their return and I always think twice before making any decisions. — Declared the king closing his eyes on all of this.

— And what dodgy points would be preventing you from sending a squad after your daughters? If you got three generals together we could get them here before the next daylight, so why? — Complained the general putting his hands on the table and facing the king.

— According to the reports they were saved by someone who fell from the abyss at some point before them, which makes no sense. — Ilias declared, looking at the general's hands on his table, staring at him to remove them as he spoke. — There's no way anyone can get out of there, at least that's what we and all or almost all the kingdoms of Az know about that place. Even so, someone went out and brought two people who had just fallen in there with them.

Ilias put his hands on his head tiredly, remembering everyone who questioned him about this decision secretly directly or not, Zellaorte had only been the first one who had done it in such a brazen way by invading his room. It was a little complicated to keep order and he had to use his position to silence some, something he didn't often do in such a simple and ignorant way as he resorted to.

— Think with me, General. At the very least it would have to be a Lord who left there taking them, an ordinary person would not make sense, and being a Lord that person would also be presumed dead by the Book of Lords of Quaresma. — He stressed when telling this.

Illye and Noella were making that trip under the king's orders, it was a simple visit made every two years by some general or representative of the king, the issue was that at the time of the trip most of the generals were busy elsewhere, Zellaorte himself had headed for a city to the west that was facing a strong storm with the aim of appeasing the situation.

Their trip consisted of visiting the city where Cardinal Jord resided and, after that, visiting the salt mines in the region, which were one of the main sources of income in the southern part of the kingdom and were exported to several other kingdoms.

The visit wasn't something secret and at the same time it wasn't something to be divulged to everyone. Only a day or two after the retinue left would lords and palace officials be notified, and that still only the most relevant ones when they were missing.

The problem was, if the Shadow Assassins were after them at any point, the information leaked out too soon, be it in Dellaria or anywhere else in between. This was something at the time indisputable as a credible fact.

The general was still quite angry, but the king's questions were plausible enough. Not only that, the way the king was conducting the conversation wanted the general to follow his line of reasoning easily.

— If they never actually died, then just falling into Aven'Nath gets one treated as dead in Az's view, the world at large. Their name was back in the book, they warned us about it, but they didn't say anything about this person. — Explained Illias having suddenly remembered something.

The king opened a book at his side and took out a piece of paper with a small orderly list of names and descriptions of those names.

— Quaresma is omitting the identity of this person, it is likely that someone big on the Blue Council knows his identity. Even so, I cannot discern whether this person is a danger to us or not, just as I don't believe this is the best time to send our Lords and Guards out of the city. They were taken by Shadow Assassins, nothing prevents them from waiting for us to go after them and I guarantee they are capable of killing any of us given the right moment. — The king pointed out without showing any emotion about it.

He was holding facts and possibilities high enough attention so as not to act yet.

— Even though they're my family, I can't put more of my people at risk so easily because of them like that. — He concluded as he handed the list to the general.

Accepting the paper, still confused and anguished with the answers he was getting, Zellaorte analyzed everything written on that paper as he walked away from the table and started walking inside the room.

The list stated the name of the lord, what his authority governed and the cause or circumstances surrounding his death. That is to say, it was a strange list of random Lords from even a few hundred years ago.

Entannia Forkal, the Autumn Lord, missing on a mission during the first war between Aggron and Malzer.

Inzeker D'Ostrion, the Night Lord, a vampire who exiled himself to the Salt Waste during the fall of the Empire, was one of the Emperor's top knights and the cause of his sudden death around that time is unknown.

Kamaell Des'Astrien Vallen, Lorder of Vultures and former follower of the Lord of the Moon, half-blood and the last known Golden King after the Golden Throne disappeared along with the Emperor, he was hunted by three different forces during the fall of the Empire, reported cause of death is suicide caused by the Assassins from the shadows.

Sitrit Ondas, Lord of Light, killed by Aggron in an attack on Malzer, although her death is confirmed and whereabouts of her body thereafter are unknown.

…

…

…

— All the people on this list are Lords who had no successors, they were the last and their Authorities are presumed dead due to so long without new users. There are others I haven't listed there, but I've tried to focus on confirmed kills in the expanse of territory between Aggron, Malzer and the Salt Flats. — Declared the king as soon as he noticed the man in front of him reached the end of the list.

There were nine names in total on the list, each one specifically described as such. General Zellaorte then realized that within a day and a half of receiving and gathering the information from Quaresma and Cardinal Jord, King Illias and possibly those he had entrusted with this particular task had then deduced everything from this Score.

He didn't question if there really was someone or wait to find out who it would be when he arrived in the capital, since early on he was already aware of who it could be.

— My king, are you saying that one of the people on that list is highly likely to be with them? — Being surprised by such revelations, Zellaorte thought about the possibility of facing one of these people.

Having any of them as allies would be good, but on the other hand it would be extremely bad if such a person turned out to be an enemy, just the idea complicated his reasoning. According to what Zellaorte knew about some of them, it might take at least three Phase 5 Lords to defeat some of them, and with a lot of difficulty.

There was a consensus that most of the old Lords were several times stronger than the current ones even when comparing Lords of the same Authority. Someone who lived two hundred years ago or more was probably more dangerous than someone from now.

Age was a matter of strength most of the time, and for that reason survivors of the Battleground were even treated differently from other Lords after them.

— Yes, but it doesn't necessarily have to be one of those people, I can't deny the fact that it might even be a successor to one of those Lords. In the end it's still an open question, we just narrowed down the possibilities. — Explained the king.

It was a plausible theory, and it was better than no theory.

All of Zellaorte's anger had dissipated, yet there was still a feeling of disgust hovering in his mind. For him such decisions, however logical they were, should not be something a parent should do.

Zellaorte was Noella's master, who taught her how to use the Blue Aura and who was basically more present in her life even more than Judge Noellum who was her father. To Zellaorte, the young woman was almost like a daughter he had helped to raise. It wasn't just him, due to Noella and Illye's mothers having died a few years ago, the two were basically raised amongst lords, servants and palace guards.

It wasn't just that they were the king's daughter and niece, they were both part of the palace.

— What do you intend to do then, my king, just wait and pray that they arrive alive? — Zellaorte asked in a still ironic question.

Ilias didn't answer him.

Being questioned like that wasn't the first time, but when it came to something about his family he could say it was the first time. Illias looked into the eyes of the general in front of him, he could almost see the lightning flashing through the general's eyes.

Aggron had a total of twelve generals, eight of whom were responsible for the largest cities in the kingdom, except one of which was the exclusive responsibility of a Cardinal of the Blue Temple. Zellaorte was known as the strongest among the generals due to having the greatest destruction capacity among them all. He would never betray or revolt against Aggron, Illias was sure of that, but that didn't mean he wouldn't do as he pleased or ignore orders if he felt he had to.

— Prepare Captain Celli and a few more Lords, they should act as a form of protection once they arrive here. — He ordered the general. — I will not send anyone out of the city for a period of a week for any reason whatsoever, even if they blow up half the kingdom no lord is to leave the capital until further notice from me. Am I clear?!

With this answer, or order more precisely, Zellaorte tightly clenched his fists. It wasn't what he wanted and not even close to what he expected.

However the king wasn't done with that, clearly realizing how tight the general was holding back, Illias continued.

— Get ready together with General Dellair and the new Captain, if you can detect that they need real help or we receive any message about it, move forward without thinking twice. We have to take advantage of the fact that heaven is our territory most of the time. — The king pointed out, creating an exception for his own order and sending a smile to Zellaorte.

The general who until then was looking at the ground saw the king smiling.

— I don't think they can trust me anymore after what happened, but this isn't about me anymore. Trust Noella's verdict, she was trained by you so if Jord's letter didn't come with a request for help then she must think she hasn't gotten to the point of needing it yet. — Illias explained.

However, at the same time, he had a bitter opposite thought.

[I won't deny that I really hoped they might be dead. Perhaps the Blue Goddess pities this fool who ordered them to almost certain death or them who suffered it all.]

The discussion ended with this, Zellaorte did not take long and went in search of gathering the Lords prepared for this. Illias stayed in that office, he didn't move from the room, and he didn't look back at his papers either.

The king watched the door through which the general left, remembering the only person who normally invaded without thinking twice and was not punished for it.

[If regret could kill I would die again and again because despite all this I would still do it again, as many times as necessary.]

Leaving that aside, the king turned his attention back to what was yet to happen.

[Not even Jord has commented on the appearance of those accompanying them. First Lent omitting this information and now also a Cardinal doing the same. They know it won't take long but they still want the time to stretch out as much as possible. What do they want with it?]

Only silence continued to reign, yet the king had something clear in his mind about everything involving this matter.

Your kingdom wouldn't be anyone's plaything.