Chapter 14: Chapter 14

“Tonight we feast!”

Raising his cup high into the air, Saulus cheered to his people.

“Ura!”

The entire mass of people gathered at the vast plaza before the royal castle, standing as one, thrust their cups into the air. Once the single cheer, sung by thousands of voices erupted, the air seemed to vibrate along with this cheerful declaration.

After taking a quick look at his cup filled with some light juice that could barely classify as a beer, Saulus offered a good smile at the bad situation before downing the questionable drink in one go. After all, the shorter the torture, the better.

“Everyone! As we are feasting here, the vile Akay that betrayed the country…”

Thankfully, the awful job of addressing the soldiers directly didn’t last long. After the official greeting and initial cheer, his officers took over the job and started revving up the soldiers. Saulus’ part to play in this theater had yet to truly come.

Sitting down on his chair, Saulus took a quick look at the corridor behind him. Even though the entire legion, except for the doubled line of guards, was packed into this single plaza, the place didn’t seem crowded at all.

Apparently, the castle and its immediate surroundings of the Burn household were already ancient upon their establishment. Venna’s bloodline history in this area was relatively short, with her grandfather inheriting the entire place thanks to some strange and shady scheme.

Yet, outside of how durable this ancient building was, one couldn’t fail to admit one aspect of the buildings created by the hands of people long gone. How sizable everything was.

I wonder how long they will last…Looking at his hardworking officers while sipping his poor excuse of a beer, Saulus continued to watch the periphery of the entire camp. His turn to speak would begin once he heard from the one person he was looking for.

Sadly, no commotion appeared anywhere at the camp before Gabriel finally bothered to send him a quick glance. With the young man’s attention instantly snapping back from lazily enjoying himself to a perfect focus, he quickly readied himself for what would happen next.

Regretfully, as much as Saulus abhorred public speeches, his position forced him to practice this kind of oratory skill required to rally soldiers. He had mastered this skill to the point where he could spew nonsense for any amount of time without a single fail.

“…And now, I will let you hear from our glorious general himself! Everyone, pay your damned respects to the man who brought us this victory, for he is about to speak!”

Saulus had only one target in mind when initially making his entrance. To stall for time. The longer it took for Gabriel to introduce Saulus to the great crowd in front of them, the longer it would be before the general had to give his own speech.

And with how vital the message he had to everyone that was waiting, Saulus was the last person to happily start placing his pieces on the board before knowing all the information there was to find. Standing up from his chair, Saulus walked forward.

“Legionaries!”

In the grand scheme of things, standing up wouldn’t change anything regarding how far his voice would reach, but its aim was something else entirely. A simple thing of a general coming out to his people. When Saulus learned about this from the Pleiades back in his early years, he couldn’t believe how effective something so simple could be.

And now it was his turn to check it out for himself.

“Today we stand at the twilight of this pointless battle that we fought and before the dawn of a new world!”

Saulus’ words held quite a lot of disturbing suggestions in them if someone was intelligent enough to see through the cover of what he was openly saying. Obviously, if someone was intelligent enough to see those hints, he would be also intelligent enough to understand that it was all but a part of the official propaganda.

“While some might say that our great formation might face some uncalled for challenges in the times to come, I can say for sure that our recent victory will bring riches and glory to everyone!”

Using hard and uncommon words while speaking about the tough parts, while endeavoring to use the simplest diction possible, while describing the benefits of joining his cause. Saulus couldn’t believe his eyes when the teachings of the Pleiades once again proved to be correct.

With the crowd cheering at almost every single word, the general used his entire potential to stall the inevitable for even longer… Only to finally give up.

If no messenger has arrived yet… then I can’t wait any longer. This annoying feeling of waiting for something that was sure to appear, just without the knowledge of when… was truly infuriating. But given no choice, after a few more minutes of spewing nonsense to his soldiers, Saulus finally turned toward the place where he was sitting before his speech, only to gesture at something towards the entrance of the palace’s corridor.

“Men!”

Shouting as loud as he could, Saulus quickly gathered the attention of the entire crowd on himself.

“You fought well!”

Hearing the praise directly from the mouth of their supreme leader, legionaries chanted.

“Let me show you what we will keep fighting for!”

There were no more chances for Saulus to stall any longer. They had to make the grand reveal today before the news from the first legion would arrive. Before everyone in the camp noticed that there would be no backing out of this situation. A situation that most of the second legion members never willingly put themselves in!

“My lady, come out, please.”

Turning his back to the soldiers, Saulus looked deep into the darkness of the corridor. And from it, Venna in her white dress came out.

In an instant, the entire plaza turned silent. The sheer grace and majesty that Venna projected all around her was enough to silence several thousand men at once.

“Men! Give your best salute! You are in the presence of her majesty, Queen of the Burn Household!”