Rise of the Horde

"Insolence!!!"

"Outrageous!!!"

"Guards! Get this man out of here!"

Right on cue, the old fogeys in the court voiced out their opinions one after the other. All of them strongly condemned the content of the letter one after the other. None of them was willing to be outdone by the other. They were all trying to win the grace of their monarch and avoiding his wrath.

The young man who became the sacrificial one had already accepted his fate. He didn't even struggle a bit when the guards took him away. On the bright side, he wasn't beheaded right there and then and there was still a chance for survival.

"I say, we send the Ereian Royal Army after those traitors. Have them punished for their insolence and bring back the soldiers to defend the capital against the invaders," one of the old men suggested.

"And how do we do that? Commander Barika isn't present in the capital. And I doubt that they would listen to just anyone's command," the opposition contradicted the suggestion.

"We have his majesty here. They would listen to his words. Less they be committing treason," he quickly rebutted. The old man with his long white beard was confident that the king would find his suggestion optimal.

"And who do you suggest would command them? Don't tell me that you are recommending your son to be the one in-charge of them?" the opposition party quickly responded. The man had a neat styled –hairstyle, suggesting that he was someone of a militaristic background by the way the he presents himself.

"Why of course. My son had been studying the arts of war since he was young. He entered the army when he was not yet of age. Participated in battle despite his age, who else do you think I would recommend?" the old man quickly answered.

"Enough!" Gyassi growled. The bickering of the two was just adding to his annoyance. They have always been at odds against each other. They represent their own interest and always clashed in his court which contributed to his irritation. He had long been considering the abolishment of their positions and removing their powers.

But they have been long entrenched in the ways of the court and suddenly getting rid of them would be hard. They all hold sway in the minds of the people and antagonizing all of them would surely lead to a huge scale rebellion.

At first, King Gyassi thought that as long as he sits on the throne and becomes the monarch, his words would be the law but he was gravely mistaken. Despite being the monarch, there were some things that he was powerless against.

"The rest of the Ereian Royal Army shall stay in the capital. They should not be mobilize in such troubled times, especially to just catch some traitors." He declared his decision.

"His majesty is wise."

"Sending out the Ereian Royal Army would leave the capital almost defenseless."

The experienced men of the court quickly echoed. Many of them were also distrustful of the old man. They are not aware of the scheme that he was currently cooking but it was better to prevent it from happening now than later.

"But since you were adamant at having those traitors punish and recovering the soldiers. I tasked you with raising an army to do so. You are given a month to do so and have them back here to aid in the defense of the capital and in our retaliation against the invaders." King Gyassi made use of the opportunity that was presented.

The other members of the court snickered after their monarch declared his decision. The old man was in a whole heap of trouble now. Those who were in cahoots with him were dismayed.

Raising an army wasn't an easy task and this had been a headache for him for so long. His reign was lacking in the number of soldiers to reinforce his rule but luckily someone presented him with a chance to have an army for free.

"But… Your majesty, raising an army is a daunting task. We will need large amount of funds to recruit and train soldiers. Their equipment and the supplies to maintain them," the old man was trying to find a way to deflect the task that was suddenly thrown at him.

"Don't worry. I leave the decision of choosing the commander of the new army to you as a reward," the king smiled as if that was just a reasonable reward.

"His majesty graceful…"

"Such an honor…"

"Don't waste the opportune moment"

The old man smiled wryly. He didn't know if the words of his fellow court officials were truly congratulating and cheering him on or was actually mocking him. One thing for sure, his coffers and his family's would surely bleed heavily with the task that was given to him.

"Any news from the army sent to intercept the invaders?" Gyassi's expression turned serious once again. He had sent the kingdom's strongest fighter to eliminate or impede the invaders but there was still yet to be any news from them. The last message that he received was that of the Baron Ragab's treason.

"There is no news from them, still," someone quickly responded to his query.

"Then that would be all for today," he dismissed the court then retired back to his chambers. The king's mind wandered off while heading back towards his chambers.

He was confident with Ishaq's might; the orcish army would certainly be destroyed. After getting rid of them, his plans of expanding the kingdom would be set in motion. He was already receiving news of the troubles that was happening with his neighboring kingdoms and he wanted to make use of the chaos to expand his territory.

He dreams to elevate the kingdom into that of an empire and contend with the power of the south.

King Gyassi wanted to exceed the previous ruler before him, in all fields but he still had a long way to go.

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