Chapter 73 A Proposition to Ozen

Decem 20th of 4831 AS

In the throne room in the capital of Kujyuri, Ozen was having a meeting with his council members over the recent letter delivered by the group of his 4 youngest sons. They had arrived a couple days prior and had already left for Shisayama as they intended to spend time with Rulu in an impromptu vacation in preparation for the heavy amount of work they would face at the change of the season.

Ozen would have usually scolded them for skipping out on their work but realized that it was better that they went to Shisayama to protect Rulu due to recent events. He could also trust Shizu and Yashimu to whip their younger brothers into shape as the noticeable bruise on the second youngest was still noticeable when he arrived in Kujyuri.

Deftly bringing his attention back to Jerome, who was the current speaker of the meeting, Ozen listened as he relayed the contents of the recent letter.

*

To King Ozen,

During a recent expedition into the western mountains of Shisayama, I came across a meeting of two suspicious men. One was likely a bandit as he hid his face with a red bandana that covered the low half of his face, another notable feature was the scar on his left eye. The other man was dressed in noble attire, but I was unable to identify him. The regal attire of his blue and yellow clothes made him out to be a wealthy man.

In their possession was the illegal item of curse bait which myself and Yashimu have deduced to be from the nation of Uzuru. We have attached the recent reports of monster attacks that were likely perpetrated by the use of the illegal item.

We wish to petition to your highness to request for support of the emperor's forces to instigate an investigation of the nearby lands of Shisayama to search for possible Uzuru spies. This is also in preparation and as a precaution to a possible invasion from Uzuru who have had a streak of inciting war with the empire.

Lastly, we would like to inform you that Rulu has safely arrived in Shisayama, but that there has been an attempt on her life. We are currently investigating but are limited on what actions we can take as Kokona is unable to sniff out any criminals.

From,

Ordained Knights

Shizu & Yashimu

*

Jerome grinned at the end of his recitation of the letter, he was glad that neither Shizu nor Yashimu were able to find out more about the noble man as he was a close associate. He then, with a convincing act, spoke out in mock shock.

"This does not bode well my King. I find it too opportune that we found the probable cause for the recent monster attacks in Shisayama. I do agree with your children's suggestion of petitioning support for the emperor's aid. I am willing to present financial aid for such an endeavor."

Ozen gave Jerome a small smile as he could see through the act that Jerome was giving, he had long known that Jerome was not in favor of his reign but chose to tolerate him as the nation was low on manpower and needed his wealth to sustain numerous key businesses of trade with Yamato.

Ozen truly believed that Jerome had potential as his father was a close friend of his that was instrumental in his rise to power. So, giving the young man the benefit of the doubt, he gave him his favor, but it had started to grow thin.

Jerome was able to use this to his advantage as it acted as a good cover for his covert activities to create ties with the more wealthy and "noble" Great General Dekumo. While his attempt to kill Rulu was foiled, he was again machinating another ploy to bring Ozen's name into the ground.

"I thank you for your offer of financial support, I shall begin writing up a proposal to the emperor in the coming days. I must ask that the rest of the council start preparations for another possible war. While an attack from Uzuru is predicted to come many months from now, I would prefer that we are ready at a moment's notice."

Snapping to attention, Jerome listened to his king and bowed in acceptance of his orders. The other council members did the same and began discussing the details of troop reallocation and the large-scale supply exchanges that would need to take place over the course of the next few months.

In total, the nation of Kujyuri had a force of 100,000 trained soldiers who were available to fight, but this could be increased with the forced conscription of their countrymen which was easy to instigate as many were patriotic. This was also compounded by the faith they had in their emperor and his divine origin as a furuhitokami.

Many have heard the legends of the emperor's feat of wisdom and strength. Jerome was one such devoted believer, albeit an overzealous one. The emperor's legends talk of his ability to bring the dead back to life, power to destroy a rival nation in a single day, and the ability to move mountains.

While many would scoff at such ludicrous stories, the people of the empire very much believed in the validity of their emperor's power as it was only a decade ago that a nearby rival nation to the north was destroyed by the empire and its land subsequently absorbed.

This was also the subsequent reason why the nation of Uzuru had started its campaigns of war against the empire as the destroyed rival nation had friendly relations to the people of Uzuru and was considered a place of worship for their religion.

As his council members discussed amongst themselves, Ozen was contemplating in his mind about the news of the attempt on Rulu's life. He felt that it was too coincidental for such an attempt to be made at the same time he had allowed Rulu to leave the capital. He began to suspect that there were traitors in his court and made a mental note to keep an eye on Jerome.

He also noted the last part of Shizu's letter. While the mention of Kokona's being able to sniff out criminals was likely taken as a small joke made by Shizu, it was actually a warning. Kokona was a hororon and the hororon were not known to have a keen sense of smell. This was different for Kokona as it was an unusual skill as it was a different breed of Hororon.

Kokona was much larger than a regular Hororon and had a few other natural traits that a normal Hororon would not have at its disposal. These traits were only known to Rulu and her family as they had kept it a secret to allow for the limited communication of warnings or secret messages.

The warning constituted that he would have to go meet with the Hororon stable master in the future as the mention of Kokona and her sense of smell were not a coincidence to Ozen. After planning his next actions in his mind, he then asked Jerome about the next topic to discuss which Jerome enthusiastically discussed.

"My King, I have received news that the nation of Shaho has asked us for assistance with the increasing issue of monster attacks in their nation. They have petitioned to allow us a division numbering 2,000 soldiers to help bolster our own forces if they would send a force of 1,000 men to help cull the monsters in the spring season."

Ozen thought for a moment and recalled what he knew of the nation of Shaho and their nation's monsters. The earth dragons were cause for concern as their scales made it difficult to injure them, but with the recent findings of the blue stones as a catalyst for his thaumaturges he believed that they could easily handle them.

Earth dragons, while physically strong, were weak to magic as they had little resistance to its effects like most biological life. It was rare for monsters or men to be resistant to magic energy and those that had resistances were rare.

Ozen spoke to agree to the proposal but added a question of his own.

"I can agree to such a proposal, but I wonder why such a deal was not brought to me sooner? Nevertheless, who of our council would be willing to go on this trip to Shaho?"

Jerome spoke on behalf of the council members as he made his opinion known and placated his king's suspicions.

"The proposal was brought to us only recently. I apologize for not bringing it to your attention sooner. As an apology I would like to recommend two of my apprentices and a few of my personal mercenaries to the trip to Shaho. If possible, I would like to recommend Shizu's apprentice to accompany them as they would need a skilled thaumaturge and blacksmith to support them."

"That would have to be discussed with Shizu and Azi personally as I cannot easily give out the services of other ordained knights who are not present at the current meeting." Ozen rebutted and further added. "Additionally, Shizu is currently working to secure our trade routes to Yamato so I wish to not take her only apprentice away from her."

Jerome grimaced as he had hoped to get Azi on the trip by offering some of his own men in exchange, so he attempted to convince Ozen with logic and reason.

"But my king, the force of 1,000 men must be accompanied by a blacksmith and a substantial number of thaumaturge to increase the chance of success. The nation's blacksmiths are already commissioned to work on increasing our supply of weapons and they will be wholly unavailable due to the needed preparation for the future war.

Additionally, the number of thaumaturges in our nation is limited as our supply of them was already low to start with. Shizu's apprentice is the only one available to move freely and has the capabilities to fill both roles. This would also be a good experience for the young man for his future growth for the benefit of the nation."

Ozen thought to himself that Jerome was right but could smell that he was plotting something behind his back. He did want the boy to travel to new lands to learn new skills but he aired on the side of caution due to Kajima's warning. He made his previous stance clear as he would not force the boy to go on the trip.

This caused an argument to spark between Ozen and his council, but it was easily placated as Ozen told them that they would be able to convince Azi when he came to the capital at the end of winter. Ozen argued that they would still have enough time to fulfill Shaho's request even if Azi chose not to go as he suggested that he, the King, would go himself either way.

Jerome and his supporters agreed to the compromise it allowed for an opportunity to get the king isolated in another nation.