Kings and Executives

"Your highness. A report coming from Dawn that Kaztek have developed weapons and are currently circulating throughout the entire nation, Luminus also confirmed it as well. Kaztek might be planning to go to war against the other nations."

          The king, Herman Seran turned to look at the messenger after postponing his meeting with the nobles concerning the waves of monsters attacking every year.

          "Are you sure about this? When did Luminas confirmed this? Who is the one that confirmed it?"

          "It was confirmed two days ago, your highness. You must be busy that you might have forgotten about it. And the one that confirmed this is the king of Luminas himself, King Bernard Luminas."

          King Herman turned to his adviser who is just standing beside him to confirm this and he just nod his head and added, "You told the messenger on a whim to confirm it with King Bernard. It was a hectic day so it is understandable if you forgot, my king."

          He felt so ashamed to have dismissed something so important because he was busy the other day and apologized to the messenger in his mind before asking him about the details.

          "Please tell me everything."

          A few executives of Dawn went to investigate various groups that belonged to the dark faction and they actually confiscated magic weapons that are far more advanced than what is being made in the country. They also have an evidence that support their claims, the dagger that was sent to them as proof.

          They interrogated all of the groups and they all said the same thing, a man in jet black clothes offered them the weapons for free without taking anything and just disappeared.

          Some of the groups find it suspicious and just hide the weapons away thinking that it might be dangerous and would trigger something while some used the weapons for their crimes and ought to be useful for them, that is until Dawn apprehended them and confiscated the weapons.

          "This is more dangerous now that I heard about the report. That person that gave them the weapons must have want them to test it. This is dangerous. Why now of all times?" King Herman immediately dismiss the messenger and turns to his adviser who is bearing the same thoughts.

          "That man, whoever he was is testing the weapons on our people."

          "So you think the same as me, huh? Dawn immediately figured out that it was Kaztek before anyone else. They move really fast. Please assemble our men to assist them in the investigation. We cannot let them do all the hard work this time." He said with a cold tone.

          "Your highness, I may sound like an idiot but, can we just leave this to them? There are a lot of things that we should be concerned about. The monster waves every year is far more dangerous than the Kazteks in my opinion. Leaving it to them and putting more effort in the safety of the citizens during the waves will be advantageous for us. The Lord of Dawn is a capable man, even when he is still young, he is more than able to take care of the Kazteks if we asked him."

          King Herman looks blankly at his adviser who held the Lord of Dawn in high regard when he used to despise the Lord in the past.

          "You seem to trust him that much. Did all of his deeds finally got to you?" he said with a teasing tone.

          "I'm just stating the facts, your highness. If we take care and erect more sturdy walls, the citizens will feel assured that they will be safe. The only thing that we have to think about after that is how to keep the monsters away from the walls. The magic engineers are also doing their best to create an artifact that would repel them away."

          "Well, you have a point. It is indeed troublesome to take care of the after math every time the wave arrive every year. No matter how much we prepare, they seem to have grown stronger every time. The expedition team is also not doing any progress in lessening their number and ended up with a loss all the time."

          He looks at his adviser and come up with a brilliant idea.

          "How about we do this?"

          "What do you think is the lord doing right now? We have already sent the report to his side. Do you think he had read it by now?"

          "The Lord is quite the busy man. He might have tossed it inside his room for now and read it later. That is what he had been doing in the past after all."

          "What? Tossing away a report after giving us that assignment?!"

          His partner looks at him in disbelief and sighed.

          "I told you. He always do that when he is still here in the headquarters. If you don't believe me then you are free to do so. You clearly don't know the Lord."

          "You seem to forget that I just joined here two years ago. The Lord is long gone before I arrived and he had not visited the headquarters since then."

          They are served with tea as they sat inside the canteen of the headquarters while waiting for their order.

          "Please take this as a token of apology for your late meals."

          They accepted the generosity and enjoyed the tea as one of their colleagues join them in the table.

          "I heard the report. Is it true?"

          "Its real just like that scar on your face."

          "Please don't joke around senior Luke, Vante. Do you know that I was the one who ended up being punished the last time you did that?" he said as the two stare at each other.

          Luke then pat Kirby's shoulder and said that it was just a joke.

          "We are like this all the time so don't think too much about it." He said with a smile and then giving him the same face that he did when he punished Kirby in place of Vante, the latter felt ominous and bid farewell to his life.

          "Let's put that aside for now. I heard that he got in. I only got to see him from afar. How about you guys? You are always here on the ground floor so you must have seen him right?"

          The two looked at him and nod their heads.

          "That guy, huh? He is not really exceptional compared to the other candidates. If it weren't for the Lord's will, we would not even be able to step foot inside the evaluation area."

          "I know. He really is mediocre no matter how much I think about him. The difficulty of the test are the same as when I joined so I am well aware of it."

          "Right. So you are saying that that guy is not really worth it?"

          The two nod their heads in unison while Luke pictures out how terrible he must have been for the two of them to have the same opinion.

          "Then the Lord must be truly exceptional. I hope I get to see the Lord again. Well then, I partner is here. I don't want him to beat the hell out of me after escaping his grasp. See you guys later."

          "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN LUKE!? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU HAVE LEFT ME?!"

          "HELP ME! ANYBODY! SHE'S A MAD WOMAN!"

          They both watched as Luke is getting a hell of beating from his female partner and chuckled as he tries to break free from her.

          "At least senior Rikka avenged me for last time." Kirby sighed.

          "Don't think too much about it. Luke is an asshole from time to time but he is a good guy. I don't know how many times he saved me from a lot of troubles." Vante said with a rather calm tone.

          "EEK! That means senior Luke is taking out his frustrations on me! You wicked bastard! Why are you telling me this just now!?" he exclaimed to himself as their food arrives.

          "Thank you very much-!"

          The smile on their faces as their food arrives disappeared when they saw a shadow behind them.

          "Please don't be him. Please don't be him. Please don't be him. Please don't be him."

          Cold sweat run down Kirby's face as he turns his head around.

          "Gener-al!"

          His voiced cracked that made the others force to suppress their laughter and greet their officer in charge.

          "Have you eaten yet, General?"

          His eyes turned to Vante who is stuffing his mouth with everything he can before he is ordered.

          "Vante, can you accompany me now? There is something important I want to tell you."

          Just listening to his voice made Kirby's confidence melt like cheese. Vante immediately stood up and followed behind the general. Kirby felt relieved that his partner is the only that is called by the general but when he is about to sit down and enjoy his meal, he felt a hand grabbing his shoulder.

          "Hmmmmph mhhhm mmmhhh mmmhh? (Partners should stick together. Did you forget the rules?)"  

          Vante dragged Kirby out of the canteen while still munching on his food and Kirby on the other hand has nothing.

          "You wicked bastard! You should have told me to at least grab a few bites first!"

          "Well, that's your fault. You should have anticipated anything to happen when you saw me stuffing my face with food."